Adventures in Haiku

Begin to Last

Egg and leaf

Blowing and rolling down

Rain forgiving

Glades beginning

Sun rays form slices

Clarity shining

Windows remind

Slender plans forming now

Begin to last

Haiku-poems consist of respectively 5, 7 and 5 syllables in three units. In Japanese, this convention is a must, but in English, which has variation in the length of syllables, this can sometimes be difficult. Toyomasu.com

Steve Martin's version of haiku does not follow any of the traditional Japanese rules. He is not generally revered in Japan for his remarkable work but here in America he is one of our most respected artists. Martin created the fictional poet, John Lillison also known as, 'England's greatest one-armed poet'. He has given us two memorable poems;

Pointy Birds

Pointy Birds, O pointy birds,O pointy pointy.
Anoint my head, Anointy-nonity.

In Dillan's Grove.

In Dillan's Grove my love did die,
and now in ground shall ever lie.
None could ever replace her visage,
until your face brought thoughts of kissage.

Croquet Motocross

Our family likes to get together whenever we can and one of our family traditions is to play games in the yard. One game that we invented is a variation on the old, traditional and somewhat boring game of croquet. You remember croquet. Wooden balls, mallets and those fragile little wire hoops that the balls always bounce off of and never go through when you want them to.

Croquet motocross is a lot more fun and it is aerobic!

Object of the Game:

To be the first to hit your ball across the field, strike the wooden stake and then get back and put your ball through your own wicket before your competitors.

Rules of the Game:

1. Place all of the wickets in a line across one side of the lawn and place one of the multi colored croquet posts at the other side of the lawn.

2. A referee is stationed at the post to be sure that all players are competing fairly.

3. All contestants place their wooden balls in their own wicket and stand behind with their mallet all pointing toward the wooden stake at the far end of the field.

4. When someone shouts "Go!" all of the players hit their own ball as hard as they can toward the stake at the far end of the field.

5. All players are allowed to hit other contestants wooden balls along the way and send them off course but ultimately the goal is to hit your own ball and make the trip back over the field, hit the post with your ball and then go back and hit your own ball through your own wicket.

Metier

"Kathy, I'm lost," I said,
though I knew she was sleeping,
I'm empty and aching and I don't know why.
Counting the cars on the New Jersey turnpike,
They've all gone to look for America"
Paul Simon - America

Forrest Gump's great gift was clarity of heart. He lived a transparent life without the comfort of an emotional veil or disguise. The popularity of the character was due to the fact that Forrest was the manifestation and expression of his own internal rhythms and lived life for all to see at the mercy of his reactive 'self'.

Forrest Gump's destiny was to live each day tossed by the waves of life that we all experience without a the stabilizing sail or keel that every person needs to stay afloat. This story was narrated to the audience as Forrest was about to embark on the most tragic event of his life, the death of his beautiful Jenny. As pragmatic as ever, Forrest endures this death and sees the gift of his child and the chance to be a father as a hopeful chapter in his life. Having lived a life of shocking clarity and earnest intensity, the character has no need for redemption and there is no tragedy to be found in his simple journey. It is rare in real life when we are introduced to an adult person who has been blessed (or cursed) with the gift of perfect introspection.

Clarity of heart is the natural gift that children have. Adults must protect this fragile ripple until the child experiences their own journey through life. Then, hopefully, the grown adult will carry the memory of what it was like to be hopeful and trusting and to see the broad scope of life as a series of challenges rather than an impending tsunami. Better yet, life could just simply be like a box of chocolates.

mé·tier
Variant(s): also me·tier \ˈme-ˌtyā, me-ˈ\
Function: noun
Etymology: French, from Old French mestier, from Vulgar Latin *misterium, alteration of Latin ministerium work, ministry
Date: 1792
1 : vocation or trade 2 : an area of activity in which one excels : forte