I’m excited to share the first response to my call for poems honoring a reader’s loved ones with three haiku from the wonderfully generous and talented haiku and tanka poet Adelaide B. Shaw. These poems, she writes, were inspired by her mother and father–both of whom passed away in autumn. Thank you, Adelaide, for these three haiku:
chill autumn winds
blowing in memories
of loved ones gone
I wear his sweater
to take away the chill
of his absence
simmering pot roast
I taste her touch
in the gravy
And, from me, a poem for my father, whose leather chair has a place of prominence in my living room:
falling asleep
in my dead father’s chair
with my glasses on . . .
I almost see what it’s like
to pass away peacefully
Skylark: A Tanka Journal 1:1, Spring 2013
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About Margaret Dornaus
I’m a writer and a teacher, as well as a haiku-doodler. I live in a beautiful woodland setting, surrounded by native oak forests, that inspires me to record haiku snapshots of luna moths and our resident roadrunner, and even an occasional black bear as it hightails it across the top of my road, my mongrel dog barking at its heels as I watch with wonder.
My work as a travel writer has appeared in publications from The Dallas Morning News to the Robb Report. You can find examples of my travel writing–as well as excerpts from a travel memoir I’m working on–at my other WordPress site, Travelin’ On.
What more than that do you need to know? Only that I started this blog with an eye toward collaboration. Got a haiku? Send it my way. . . . I’m all about new visions & voices.
Best, Margaret
Haiku-doodle 
What a lovely idea, Maggie. Three beautiful haiku from Adelaide and a poignant tanka by you.
Below I have posted a haiku I wrote about my Dad’s summer seat after he passed away, three years ago. I have also included one for my younger sister, Sheelin, who died just a few days after her seventeenth birthday, and also one for my gran, who was a great character.
another winter . . .
my father’s garden seat
still creaking
A Hundred Gourds 1:3
Sleeping Beauty
under a Celtic cross
little sister
grandma’s kitchen . . .
a star-covered teacup
for the gypsy lady
Frogpond Autumn 2012
Thank you so much, Marion! I’ll be posting your lovely haiku tomorrow!
Thank you for posting these gentle, relatable haiku and your powerful tanka.
Thank you, Janet. And thank you too for your wonderful tanka, which I’ll incorporate in my next post!
Thank you, Margaret, for posting my haiku.
Your tanka relates a similar feeling I have sometimes when I begin to fall asleep, that slow, closing down of everything around me.
Adelaide
My pleasure, Adelaide . . . Thank you for your comments and for adding your clear voice to my blog.
Best, M.
Thank you, Margaret, for all the wonderful poems in your All-Souls Countdown. Here are two tanka in memory of my parents:
the book
of wildflowers
my mother bound—
among the brittle leaves
these four-leaf clovers
–Gusts 17, spring/summer 2013
I lay your sad ghost
in the west room
of my heart. . .
the mockingbird sings
what he doesn’t know
–second place, Tanka Society of America 2013 contest
Thank you, Jenny, for your beautiful poems. I’ll be posting them soon!
Thank you, Margaret!
You are most welcome, Jenny!