Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Lotus Love

Another haiku poet who I ran into at the Haiku North America Conference was Jessica Tremblay, a former Qubecer who now lives in Vancouver. Jessica is known for her haiku comic strip Vieil Etang, which you can look at on her website at http://vieiletang.site.voila.fr/. She also writes a blog called Tess in the West (tess-in-the-west.xanga.com).

I mentioned to Jessica about my own blog and she said that what she loved most about the Montreal Botanical Garden were the lotuses. She asked me to send her some photos, but I didn't get to the garden until early September and by then the lotuses were at the end of their bloom. But I did manage to get some photos and write a few poems.

So, this is for you, Jessica! Hopefully we will meet in the garden in person one day--either here or in one of the many gardens in Vancouver.

I'll start with a photo I took earlier in the summer.



lotus leaves
large
as umbrellas
I know where to come
on a rainy day



my mother
both strong
and beautiful
lotus flowers
on tall sturdy stems



my pen tumbles
into the lotus pond
no way
to take back
my words


patches of water
shining
in the lotus garden
in my life too
small pockets of light

I meditate
on a lotus flower--
the softness
of petals
protecting the seed



those unusual seed pods
of the lotus--
older women
have such
interesting faces


















1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Hi,

The website address for Old Pond Comics has changed and is now located at http://oldpondcomics.com/

My new blog was also relocated http://oldpondcomics.wordpress.com/
You can subscribe to the blog to receive daily comics. Just enter your e-mail address.

Cheers,
Jessica