Photo China 2005, Marie-Claire Holmes - Click to enlarge.
The prompt for this week's One Deep Breath was to write Haiku about rituals. Since time immemorial, waiting has been a necessary ritual: waiting for rain; waiting for a sign; waiting for a birth; waiting for death. Waiting for wars to end and governments to form; waiting for things to get better; waiting for a clue.
Waiting is sometimes an angry position to be in; often it is a humbling experience. The person waiting is - for the moment at least - virtually powerless, at the mercy of forces beyond one's control.
These seven Haiku were inspired by memories of various times in my life when I was forced to wait - for a phone call that never came; for a careless friend who didn't bother to show up; for critical news from a hospital; for word about a job offer; for my daughter to return home from a trip.
I've always found waiting difficult, which is why so many images sprang to mind. The last one was inspired by the current political climate.
The view can't reveal
the story he waits to hear;
A child coming home.
Looking down the street
Waiting for joy's arrival;
Long-delayed embrace.
Waiting for something
or someone long overdue
Minutes seem like hours.
Angry position
powerless right now, waiting
for someone to act.
Waiting by the phone
secretly fearing the worst;
Miracles needed.
Longing for a sign
of grace, a reason to smile
Waiting for the news.
Peer at the heavens
searching for portents of hope;
Troubles down the road.
I enjoyed these. As someone who is "waiting" right now for some major life changes to happen (moving, going back to work, my kids starting school and daycare) I feel these.
Waiting.
Posted by: krista | 19 July 2006 at 16:07
Beautiful picture and moving words.
Posted by: jinxthegypsy | 12 July 2006 at 18:07
Powerful photo and powerful words. Waiting reminds me of India. It was humbling, it left me often powerless...but it is something that I wish more Americans could experience.
Posted by: Jessie | 12 July 2006 at 16:21
Oh, your photo is so befitting of your topic. That searching look on his face, impatient, concerned...
Posted by: Willow Grace | 12 July 2006 at 06:43
These were all great! I'm a "worry wart" and hate being kept waiting :) Very creative. XXOO
Posted by: Tammy | 11 July 2006 at 21:51
haikus can be so challenging, to capture emotion in such few words and so dictated a structure... but you've done so WONDERFULLY. Thank you!
Posted by: Teece | 11 July 2006 at 20:10
This photo so many words inside of me, I am not sure which to even write. You are amazingly talented Tara!
Posted by: Kristen Robinson | 11 July 2006 at 17:55
Hi,
great haikus Tara,
waiting can be very irritating at times..but what to do...its ingrained in the want of results...
Posted by: abhay | 11 July 2006 at 13:20
I love this post very much Tara.
I don't like to wait........but then your post made me think about desperate people and:
waiting for better days
waiting to find lost people
waiting to heal
waiting for a friend
waiting for humanity to cheer themselves
waiting to get water or food or shelter
and then I thought about: Hope, waiting may be to hope (esperer)
and also:
waiting your love at the end of the day
waiting to see the sea or the mountains
waiting for the good wave to surf
waiting for a baby to be born
and then I realise that some waitings can made you grown....
Than you again Tara!
Posted by: Catalina | 11 July 2006 at 10:57
Waiting. The bane of my life!
(I have waited for you so long, rivers of water qre running down my face)
You've expressed the different facets so well.
and the photo is wonderful, too.
xoxo
Posted by: Colette | 11 July 2006 at 06:27
How well you've evoked the anxiety of waiting--sometimes in happy anticipation, other times in dread.
Posted by: patry | 11 July 2006 at 05:17
I can indentify with each Haiku you have written. Very well done.So brave of you to put it out for us all!
Posted by: naturegirl | 11 July 2006 at 05:05
Tara, these haikus were great. I can relate to all of them in some way. All beautifully written, all from the heart.
Posted by: bella | 11 July 2006 at 04:26
I am the world's most impatient "waiter," and these resonated deep in my heart. Especially "Waiting for someone long overdue...minutes seem like hours" - How true!
Posted by: becca | 11 July 2006 at 02:21
You are incredibly insightful. I am really intrigued by this idea...I've waited so much of my life, but I've never thought of it as such a defined thing as what you articulate here.
I'm going to think on this...
Posted by: josephine | 10 July 2006 at 22:53
"Minutes seem like hours."
How we've all had this feeling, watching the clock, anticipating. Time can't go fast enough at times, and yet life rushes us by too quickly, too often.
I love the way you manage to make your poetry seem so effortless!
Posted by: madeleine | 10 July 2006 at 22:42
I can sense all the emotions entangled with waiting when I read these Haiku. Splendidly done!
Posted by: mikim | 10 July 2006 at 21:59
In awe of your magical haiku powers - just reading these sprinkles me with your fairy dust of inspiration!
(and it takes me hours to complete just one!)
Posted by: bb | 10 July 2006 at 21:34
the simplicity of the haiku form is deceptive isn't it - you've packed so much in to these little poems. brilliant x
Posted by: susannah | 10 July 2006 at 21:09
A lovely series of haiku and the photo is great.
Posted by: CraftyGreenPoet | 10 July 2006 at 19:59
waiting leaves me more bored than angry. i wonder why that is, come to think of it? anger would be a sensible response, but i just yawn. yet another example of how i'm not wired right!
Posted by: ally bean | 10 July 2006 at 19:20
Oh, these are all so beautiful, Tara. One really reminds me of my kids, when they are waiting for their dad to come home. :)
You make us think so often, but here you remind us that you are a moving poet, as well.
:)
Posted by: amber | 10 July 2006 at 17:16
These are wonderful! I can identify with most of them, but especially felt a big "yes" when reading the third. You have really captured "waiting."
Posted by: Star | 10 July 2006 at 16:22
Love these haiku's. As you know I am doing a lot of waiting in my life right now.
Posted by: yolanda | 10 July 2006 at 16:15
very powerful, I agree that photo is the perfect compliment
Posted by: jennifer | 10 July 2006 at 15:33
What gorgeous haiku! And a great photo to match. : )
Posted by: Jodi101 | 10 July 2006 at 15:06
I love the photo, and all the haiku were excellent. My favorite was the first, though. I am a mother, too. Very evocative.
Posted by: Nancy | 10 July 2006 at 14:38
Darn! I wasn't finished yet...(guess the computer couldn't wait :-)...anyway, you nailed so many emotions with so few words...exact and provacative!
Posted by: susanlavonne | 10 July 2006 at 14:36
At the root of the impatience from waiting, I see a more overpowering emotions...empathy,longing, and concern :-)
Posted by: susanlavonne | 10 July 2006 at 14:31
Tara, your writing is beautiful. It reflects the way I feel sometimes. Especially this one about waiting. I'm just here... waiting.
I'm glad to have found your blog.
Kay
Posted by: Kay | 10 July 2006 at 14:03
Oh the tension in those haikus. The photo fits in beautifully with the post. Lovely.
Posted by: Sheela | 10 July 2006 at 13:58
great reflection of the angst we feel while............ waiting..
Posted by: diana | 10 July 2006 at 13:19
Powerful haikus. You can definitely hear your impatience in the way you wrote about these incidents.
You don't like waiting much, do you? Like waiting for France to win the World Cup... next year...
Posted by: Neil | 10 July 2006 at 13:04
Waiting is never easy, is it? Your writing captures that tension so well.
It's so good to read your words again!
Posted by: tinker | 10 July 2006 at 11:32