Poetic Musings: Burnt House Haiku by Shokyu-ni

On my return from Tsukushi at the close of March, I found that my hut had been destroyed by fire. Looking at the ruins, I composed this verse.

violets here and there

in the ruins 

of my burnt house

Haiku Mind: 108 Poems to Cultivate Awareness and Open Your Heart

Shokyu-ni

Commentary: As her poetic response to a personal tragedy depicted in the joshi (prefatory note) , Shokyu-ni's haiku addresses centuries-old question: how to confront or deal with the adversity in one's daily life? We can't control what happens, but we can control our response to what happens. And our response depends on our way(s) of seeing the reality on the ground: "the paradox, the complexity, how the good and bad are often intertwined... violets in the ruins" (p. 14)

And the following haiku could be read as a sequel:

wild violet

making a home

where I am

tinywords, 23:2, December 1, 2023

Jeff Hoagland