Today's poem is written to a favorite recipe of my mother's. I've made it a few times in the last few months, I think in part because I miss her, and in part because I (weirdly) miss her handwriting.
When I was growing up, a teacher’s annual pay wasn’t spread over 12 months, so summers were incredibly lean. Most days we were grateful for the garden, but sometimes, we'd just had enough.
Hmmmm ... Is this haiku or senryu? I could make a case for this being a nature poem or a poem about human character. It's hard to know. In any case, this follows the 5-7-5 format. You can read about both these forms at 10 Types of Japanese Poetry: A Guide to Japanese Poetic Forms.
I hope you'll come back tomorrow and see what new inspiration I've found for a poem. Until then, you may want to read previous poems in this series. I'm also sharing these poems on my Instagram in case you want to see them all in one place.
April 1 - Senryu to a photo of my grandmother as a child
It is absolutely NOT weird to miss your mom's handwriting. I still keep a file of saved emails so I can revisit the cadence of my mother's voice, even though I can no longer remember exactly what it sounded like. And we still make recipes from my childhood from cards in her handwriting.
ReplyDeleteTraveling back in time in two ways, Tricia. I also love coming across recipes in my mom's handwriting and she still lives up the road! These are sensory treasures, they wake buried synapses.
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