Tan Renga Wednesday on Friday: Last Leaf

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a last leaf

swirls on the wind towards the east -

first snow falls gently

the falling snow is pleasant

the icy roads are not so

~Chèvrefeuille & cie~

notes

The Hokku stanza was written by Chevrefeuille. The Ageku was created by me. I do like the snow, but I hate driving on icy roads. I've had a couple incidents when doing so which left me with a bit of PTSD. I tend to tense up when I have to drive on icy roads, which makes doing so a bad idea.

I will try to catch up with the poems over the next few days. I was working on a short story for blog.reedsy.com. If you are looking for a short story contest with no entry fee, they have a weekly contest here. Go to the apps section of the page and choose "story prompt."

Also, if you're looking for help with editing or publishing your book, you can look at what Reedsy has to offer here. Using that link will get you $25 credit on any of Reedsy's services.

I believe I may have had another TIA. There always tends to be a cognitive shift when one of these happens. It's hard to explain. It isn't as if I'm having short term memory issues (well, no worse than I ever did). It's simply that the WAY I think changes. At this point, I find myself needing to be a little more measured in my output. I get tired very easily. It's frustrating because although I've never been a Type A personality by any means, I've always been very productive.

I know that I'm vulnerable to vascular problems because of my diabetes. Well, I'm perfectly happy to keep my blood sugars in check, which I can do if I have, you know, ADEQUATE INSULIN! Which my health care provider and Medicaid seem to be conspiring not to provide me. Going without insulin for weeks at a time is, I don't know, a bad thing when you're diabetic. 

The elite devils in charge of things don't care about that, though. They want the poor and the handicapped dead. Of course, then they won't have anyone to do the menial jobs that they revile, but I wouldn't give them too much credit for being smart.

Yeah, I said "handicapped" instead of the more politically correct "disabled." I honestly don't see what the difference is. I can apply both to my own condition, and I don't find either one offensive. Sometimes people become so busy picking nits that they forget to work on the issues that really matter.

Carpe Diem #1784: Rain at the Crossroads

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soaking wet signpost

I try to read while trudging

through wet pampas grass

soaking wet signpost

water running in my eyes

watercolor rain

I try to read while trudging

always try to do too much

must learn to focus

through wet pampas grass

the signpost just up ahead

slips further away

Santoka Taneda & Cie

Notes:

The assignment today was to take two Haiku by Santoka Taneda (3 December 1882 – 11 October 1940) and turn them into a single Haiku, then turn that Haiku into a Troiku. 

Here are the two original Haiku:

soaking wet

I can’t read the letters

on the signpost

walking through

the bush clover, the pampas grass,

walking on through them

© Santoka Taneda

Carpe Diem Summer Challenge 2019: The End of Summer

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the end of summer

can't come soon enough for me

I'm sick of the heat

~Cie~

Troiku Challenge 2019: Day 12: White Valley Clouds

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after the rain

breathing deeply

white valley clouds

after the rain

not so much rain as spatters

it's still much too hot

breathing deeply

inhale the worry and fear

future uncertain

white valley clouds

seem to smirk at each other

telling lies of rain

Jane & Cie

Notes:

The "sleigh" of this Troiku was created by Jane Reichhold (1937 - 2016). The Three Horses of the Apocalypse are my doing--or possibly undoing.

Carpe Diem Weekend Meditation #89: Extreme Haibun: Is It Too Much to Ask For Rain?

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“Is it too much to ask for it to rain?” I ask as I spend another summer steeped in sweat.

Yet I remember the year when the flood came, another year when I often asked: “is it too much to ask for it to rain?”

I remember the wave slamming into the side of my car, the terror as I wondered if I would be swept away into a field which had become a choppy lake.

I did not ask for it to rain for a long time after that.

when something well-loved

becomes a thing of terror

everything changes

~Cie~

Image from the Longmont Times-Call

Notes:

For those who are prone to questioning my veracity, the story related above is 100% true and I had PTSD following the incident. One of the ways in which this affected me is making me unable to write for a long time. People lost their lives during this flood, and I didn't know why I wasn't one of them. I've never done anything which I believe makes me worthy of continued survival, and yet, like toenail fungus, I persist in hanging around long past my sell-by date.