We are back in New York this week visiting my parents. It is a transitional time of year with cold winter winds yielding to warm spring breezes. And, this trip exhibited these fickle weather patterns precisely. In Hamburg, New York (yes, that is really a place) the cold north wind whipped across the now slushy waters and only partially frozen Lake Erie. Thawing one day and refreezing the next, no one knows what each day will bring – especially since the forecasters seem to be wrong so often.
Tuesday, the morning of our first full day in Western New York, it was 3 degrees above zero when my husband took our dog for her morning walk. The actual temp was 19 degrees but with the wind chill, my phone told me it was 3 degrees. The wind was rushing across the nearly re-frozen lake and picking up as much iciness as it could.
But today, Thursday, it was a warm 65 degrees, only 70 miles up the Thruway (I-90) in Brockport by early afternoon. I looked out and saw a Great Blue Heron watching the pond water, now completely thawed, behind my parents’ house. This stirred the poet in me and I jotted down some lines of a haiku on my iPhone.
The other inspiring site I had today was a shelf cloud that slid into the area just before noon. Thus, I tried my hand at a modern haiku. Did you know that modern haiku while still brief and bringing imagery to the reader do not necessarily follow a 5-7-5 pattern. It’s true. I’ve had trouble writing haiku without following the traditional syllabic rule. But, maybe today’s will be a start.
shelf clouds slide into sight dividing sky between heavens and I springtime rains fall fast © Carol Labuzzetta, 2022
Today is Poetry Friday, April Fool’s Day, and the start of National Poetry Month. I typically have trouble posting early enough on Poetry Friday, thus being one of the last of the day, even though I post by 10 o’clock in the morning. I’d like to do better and post earlier to garner more readers and comments from Poetry Friday poets, but I know it won’t be possible every week. I’m also trying to do this in deference to my fellow Poetry Friday peeps Downunder and other places where it is already April 1st.
My nature chapbook poems were in the capable hands of an editor this week, and that is so exciting for me! Finding an editor to review my work is a major step! I am so very grateful!
In any case, I did it this week! I posted! It’s 8 o’clock at night on March 31st and I have my Poetry Friday post done! Yay, for me! Our host this week is Heidi at My Juicy Little Universe. Please visit her blog as it is chock full of great referrals to more poetry and exciting announcements! Thanks for hosting Heidi.
The Apples in My Orchard 
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