When It’s Time
What will I leave
or give away when it’s time
for winnowing?
___my haiku journals, published
___and those never seen
four novels dust covered
two notebooks of stories–
will these explain my life
___the love and joy, fear and worries…
___will they make any sense?
wishes were few
some came easily
others not at all
___will those left behind know
___that striving is the only goal
After Reading Basho
white birches in snow
the simplicity of form
in his poems
pink camellia
even as it browns with age
keeps its symmetry
algae covered pond
all that lies hidden
under the surface.
© Adelaide B. Shaw
Adelaide B. Shaw has been creating Japanese poetic forms—haiku, haibun, tanka, and haiga—for several years. She has been published widely in print and on line in the United States and abroad and has won several awards. Her haiku collection, An Unknown Road, won a Mildred Kanterman Merit Book Award for 2009 sponsored by the Haiku Society of America, and is now available as an e-book on Amazon Kindle. When not writing Japanese short poems, she writes short stories and has been published in a number of journals. She lives with her husband in the small rural community of Millbrook, New York. Samples of her haiku and other writing may be found at http://www.adelaide-whitepetals.blogspot.com.
The Loch Raven Review 