Late winter is a transitional time, revealing things we may not have noticed and helping to prepare us for a new season. I really enjoy haiku, from Basho to Jack Kerouac’s “American Haikus.” For me, haiku can feel like a kind of peaceful medicine, like deep breathing or sipping tea, illustrating balance, helping me be in the present. I have written these “late winter/spring” haiku in appreciation for the life around me in these days of change.
“late winter/spring”
late in long winter,
glittering snow melts from pines –
do I now miss snow?
late winter’s warm day –
songbirds and children playing –
flies, also, and mud!
March’s rains reveal
roads with litter and potholes –
but, oh, to be warm!
juniper branches
broken in storms, perches now –
where birds sing of spring
—M.L. Folkedahl-meehleder, friend of Prairiewoods