The things I find

Today I came down with a case of cleaning frenzy in the studio. Not just cleaning, but decluttering as well. You know what I mean! Artists have a reputation of being messy, but frankly, I prefer tidy and organized so I can think more clearly.

One of the happy finds was a haiku I wrote in December 1979. I am including it here with some photo images so it won’t be lost again.

HAIKU

Wake up in the morn

And see the pretty sunrise

From Kaaawa

Mountains by the sea

I see the lion crouching

My own waterfall

Five white horses graze

O’er fence where grass is greener

At Kualoa

Salt spray, ocean mist

Turn on the windshield wipers

It isn’t raining

Slick bay reflections

Morningside of Oahu

Oriental hills

 

Sunrise

Kualoa

 

Remembering the Manoa Falls Trail

Sloshing rain puddles/
Feeling like a kid again/
Muddy, barefoot, soaked.

Ponding, waterfalls/
Scents of wet green earth surround/
Warm island winter.

Copyright 2014 Rebekah Luke

In January

Water lily pads
breathe, wait for lotus blossoms
in Spring. Wind chimes sound.

Copyright 2014 Rebekah Luke

For the birds

Two peacocks appeared

in my garden this morning

looking for salad

 

On the right and left

I missed their iridescence

not their loud love calls

 

Five six seven eight

chickens mingle, look for worms

don’t dare touch cat’s food

 

Fat dove out-raced them

for the tasty little bits

of breakfast. Oh, birds!

Copyright 2013 Rebekah Luke

Last night

 

Moonlight sonata

wakes me at three forty-five

streams in my window

 

Silence of peacocks

differs from the night before’s

loud cacophony

 

In the cool stillness

I fall back into dreamland

until rooster crows.

 

Copyright 2013 Rebekah Luke

 

Avos and cocos

Morning light bathes tree

of avos sunny yellow

against blue-gray sky.

Like miniature

candied eggs hanging from tree

our avocados.

Through second-story

window kukui and avo

part for coco trees.

Fuzzy lollipops

wave in the gusty trade winds

two coconut palms.

As long as the tree

avocado grows and grows

birds will have a home.

Avocado Pear

I offer a haiku and a painting to honor and thank the avocado tree.

This year it produced 15-20 fruit, judging by the number of sprouting seeds on the kitchen counter. That’s a bumper crop. Usually we  gather just six, but each weighs three pounds. They’re super good, and I try to reserve a couple for the previous homeowner, Linda, who was a good steward of the aina (land) and planted the tree.

The season is over, and we’re enjoying the last of the fresh guacamole.

If you would like a little avocado tree from ours to plant in your garden, and you live in Hawaii, let me know.

Copyright 2009 Rebekah Luke

“Avos and Cocos” is from my book From My Window Seat: Views and Song. —RL