Too hot but not for #haiku

Outside in the night
clouds hiding all but large stars
fireflies bursting past.

I wanted a glimpse
of the heaven-borne station
missed it by minutes

The heat drove me here
but here there is no coolness
just me and limp cats.

hoodoos guarding Bryce
ladies with protective hair
layers of rock types.


cloverleaf symbol
place of interest, useful
for shortcut commands

Protect me, show me
the way: places of interest
ancient and modern

Posted in cats helpful cats, haiku | Tagged , , | Comments Off on Too hot but not for #haiku

Musing about passing on knowledge

As you noticed, last night I looked a couple unrelated things up on the web and so jotted down a couple related haiku as a result. Part of my brain knows that this is an incredibly silly idea (silly in the best sense all the way around). Another part says well, often part of the learning process is to tell or share that new knowledge with someone else. Through that sharing, we’re forced to digest the new information and make ourselves ready to explain it in our own words to someone who may not have had the background we did when we first looked it up.

So for example: last night I was browsing music related to the Queen’s Jubilee (there’s not enough of it, I tell you!) and some of it is too “churchy” for me but when I clicked on one title, a very familiar tune came ouot from a title that wasn’t familiar. What’s that mean “The Old 100th? The Wikipedia article was full of information about the earliest version of the tune (1551) and different lyrics developed by different sects and one, in fact, written for the current Queen’s coronation.

I could have sat back in my chair after reading this, given a little ‘huh, how about that, it’s what I encountered as The Doxology’ and moved on. I find that process of passing along tunes for various uses and adjusting tune and lyrics over the years to be interesting though and I passed it along to you, dear readers. I’m less likely now to forget it all myself.

Everyday we talk to people, in person or by posting digital words to someone’s screens and we adjust their world a bit. We might not know where those ripples go or what effect they have.

Something to keep in mind! Pass it on, share the info, let your power through knowledge go out and change the world!

And if you can summarize your new knowledge in haiku form, go with it!

Posted in haiku, In the neighborhood | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

End of Hot Night #haiku

It’s so hot that keyboards and trackpads don’t seem to cooperate. So hot, ironing seems absurd.

I did iron awhile
the many seams flattening
as I was wilting

Now I will attempt
to sleep, despite the night’s heat
and star-shaken sky.

Posted in deadlines | Tagged , | Comments Off on End of Hot Night #haiku

The things you look up, now with bonus #haiku

That’s right, who’s got your back on this hot night? Who’s looking up stuff you didn’t even know you didn’t know? That’s right.

The Old One Hundredth
best known psalm and melody
sung to God and Queen.

Old 100th is commonly used to sing (and is named for) the version “All People That on Earth Do Dwell,” made from Psalm 100, which originated in the Anglo-Genevan Psalter (1561) and is attributed to the Scottish clergyman William Kethe.[4] Kethe was in exile at Geneva at this time, as the Scottish Reformation was only just beginning. This version was sung at the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in 1953, with harmonization and arrangement by the composer Ralph Vaughan Williams. The first verse is as follows:[5]

All people that on earth do dwell,
Sing to the Lord with cheerful voice.
Him serve with fear, His praise forth tell;
Come ye before Him and rejoice.

and what’s more, Sandra Boynton said “This whole hashtag thing seems a little random to me.”. I responded:

are hashtags random?
chosen by one they might be
not so, by a crowd.

but if you have doubts or need more info there’s always this.

Posted in haiku, the creative process | Tagged , | 1 Comment

Doing the work

**mounts the soapbox and spouts off about getting in there and doing the work, every day, no matter what, no matter what you get done…**

**dismounts soapbox**

**sits down in shade with cooling beverage and ponders the availability of air conditioning and setting up the ironing board nearby**

It’s a hot one folks – be careful out there and stay hydrated!

Posted in deadlines | Tagged , | Comments Off on Doing the work