Winter Tulips

January 4, 2016


Peachy tulips
against the frosted window
in a cool room
is this how I need to treat you
to keep your love alive


A blizzard
all the reasons you made up
for leaving -
a cut-glass vase
displays flame tulips


Driving home
through a swirl of snowflakes
on the seat beside me
eggplant
lavender tulips

     c.p.

Family Farm back in print

Family Farm: Haiku for a Place of Moons is again available! The 1999 first edition has been out of print for several years. Reprinting at first looked overwhelming. The original press had closed without saving plates, and it seemed impossible to reproduce Shirley Horn’s outstanding illustrations.

Years pass and technology changes. Thanks to the cooperation and generosity of many people, beautiful copies are once again available to purchase at the Lulu and Amazon online retailers.

This collection of over 300 haiku follows the seasonal cycle of life on a New England dairy farm. It is divided into thirteen parts - the twelve months and Christmas - with each part bearing a Native American name for that month's Moon. 30 black-and-white illustrations.

Vanishing Moon

Lunar eclipse photographed through a telescope from Woodslawn Farm on November 9, 2003. Photo by Dave & Stephanie Purington.

I wrote these haiku and perhaps 20 more in November 2003, when Dave, Stephanie, Katy, and Elizabeth gave me running commentary on the event, which I did occasionally see for myself through a carefully-positioned-and-held mirror. From what I remember, a total lunar eclipse is definitely worth staying up late for. Probably even more so when it's a supermoon.
          Carol

Vanishing Moon

On pale grass
the blackness of my shadow
full moon

Disappearing moon –
my eyes find one star
then a thousand

Earthshine
we whisper
into the stillness

Total eclipse
the color of the night
changes

Vanished moon
no conversation on the hillside
where owls talk

Totality
cold air touches me
all over

Returning light
the wind that touches my cheek
again only cold

Fragrance of coffee
in the warm kitchen
window moon


[Schedule for the supermoon lunar eclipse of Sept. 27 to 28, 2015,  including description of the stages.]

A full moon rises over the eastern horizon in this photo taken from Woodslawn Farm by Herbert Purington, circa 1972

A bright sliver of the moon (not an eclipse) seen from Stuart, FL in, 2015. Photo by Nancy Purington.

September 27, 2015 lunar eclipse photo taken from Rutland, MA by Jim:  "About 11 pm, a few minutes after the max. Perfect viewing conditions."

Moon watchers, Colrain, MA, September 27, 2015, around 10 pm