Poets Salon: New Year Firsts

POETS SALON

– 01/15/20

Hosted by Kath Abela Wilson

first engagement
my third marriage the only one
with grace

~ Kath Abela
(ephemerae #3, 2018)

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First walk. Photo haiga by kris moon

Kris moon (kondo)

first walk
the cat calls me
home

so elusive…
my first dream
already
forgotten

“Hatsu” is a word in Japanese meaning the first time somebody does something , like a a baby’s first steps. It is an important word in celebrating Japanese new Year because it is believed that the first things one does in the new year sets the tone for the rest of the year We try to do something significant on January 1. So if you like to paint, your first painting is important, If you write poetry so is the first poem you write. Walking is something very important for me and my cat usually comes out to greet me on my way back home.

One’s first dream of the new year “Hatsu Yume” is said to have special significance . I dreamt of Mt. Fuji My first new year’s here and that is supposed to be very lucky. I also dreamt of it when I turned 70, so I am quite sad that I cannot remember at all what my new year’s dream was this year.

Just down the road from me is a very old tiny shrine which always gets decorated for the new year. “Kagami Mochi “ or “rice cake mirrors”with a daidai or mikan ( kinds of citrus fruits ) are common decorations . Contemporary kagami mochi are often premolded and with an imitation plastic daidai are sold encased in plastic. I wasn’t surprised to see this year’s zodiac mouse substituting for the daidai, and felt sorry for it.

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First fire (Photo – Peggy Hale Bilbro)

Peggy Hale Bilbro

the same stars
14 billion light years away
Eve and I

new year
another opportunity
to find me

January
I greet the plants
still gathering their strength
for new life
as am I

in the garden
through frozen earth
the reach for light

first man
to discover fire
did he regret it

We just returned from a New Year visit with our daughter. She is in an exciting, challenging time of her life and loving the feel of it! It is wonderful and rewarding to watch her as she creates her own future. I still feel the excitement and the challenge of life, but now I count the hours as very precious, while she is still looking towards a limitless future. How life changes our perspective as we move through the years.

my young daughter and I
her memories of days
mine of years

now she’s grown
her future measured in years
I count my days

my daughter
holds my hand
careful mom
I remember the times
I held her in my hands

I live in Huntsville, Alabama, with my husband and my green babies. We have three children, now all adults. My daughter was my last child, a happy surprise who continues to amaze me with each new adventure she undertakes. My life and hers are full of beginnings and endings, which only lead to more beginnings. There is always another ‘first’ around the corner as I watch her continue to blossom.

Ο

Two on the bridge (Photo – Peggy Hale Bilbro)

New Year Firsts: Quotes and Credits

Kris moon (kondo) first arrived in Japan by ship in 1972. Well known in international Japanese poetry form circles, she now lives in a lovely mountain village west of Tokyo.

Peggy Bilbro’s roots are in the western U.S., but she has lived in Alabama for many years. She draws on her life in those two different environments as well as her global travels as she writes both long and short form poetry in English and Spanish. Each new experience opens a creative door.

Kath Abela Wilson is currently the prompter on the inspiring haiku page on Facebook, NaHaiWriMo. You can see instructions here on how to join her and an interview about her haiku life.

♣ Send your submissions by midnight Sunday, Pacific time, on each week’s theme: “New Year Resolutions“, or suggest your own theme. Send short poems, haiku, senryu, tanka, cherita haibun, tanka prose, short prose poems, etc., or your own unique approach, to Kath Abela by Facebook message or click here to email her directly. We can feature your work again after five months. Multiple Submissions can be saved to appear later:

1. Send a short bio, comments on the theme.
2. Send photos or artwork by you, if possible.
3. No attachments except photos.

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