Haiku

Warm sun, fresh green leaves
Fluttering against blue sky —
Spring’s jubilant dance.

The other day I was driving home from work, and it was a glorious late afternoon. Here in South Georgia, this is late spring. All the spring bulbs have done their thing in February, and the summer flowers haven't yet kicked in. But spring is still fresh and new, and the landscape is a palette of every possible green. This particular afternoon the sun was golden, which enhanced the colors all the more. I was inspired to write something... words that took a haiku-like form came to mind.

To me, haiku is perfect for capturing a moment — a verbal photograph. I went to Wikipedia and refreshed myself on the traditional haiku form, and learned a bit about the history of haiku. What struck me was a quote on the page: “One Western critic who arrived at an understanding of haiku was Roland Barthes. In his 1970 work Empire of Signs, Barthes wrote that the haiku has the simple meaning of a child pointing his finger at something and saying, ‘this is how it is.’” This is exactly how I felt in the moment.

(It’s funny to look at all I just wrote, and how short the haiku is in comparison. Maybe I would have done better to just let the haiku stand on its own.)