Legal Commentary

of palms and cherry blossoms

By David A. Giacalone

Among the items on the crowded mid-March f/k/a To Do List this weekend I find both palms and cherry blossoms.

There are lots of places to find news about Palm Sunday events, or commentary about the religious meaning of Palm Sunday (e.g., discussion for kids, and adults, or a coloring page), and there are many webpages devoted to the beauty and botany of the cherry blossom. I figure you’ve come to us for some related haiku and senryu, and that’s what you’re gonna get.

Saturday night
a priest crosses the road
with an armful of palms

Palm Sunday
following the plow
to church

Palm Sunday
young rabbits
in the pet store

………….. by john stevenson - ?Saturday Night? - Some of the Silence (1999):
?Palm Sunday? - Quiet Enough; ?Easter rain? - Pilgrimage, 2006

palm sunday
the gospel choir
hypnotically swaying

…………………… by ed markowski -

the boys giggle
when the priest says ?ass? ?
Palm Sunday

……. by dagosan

Palm Sunday
we polish off
the Easter candy

…………. haiga: poem by dagosan; photo by Mama G.
(original at MagnaPoets JF, March 29, 2007)

We wrote about the Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival this time last year — click for our 2007 post (which included information about the Washington DC festival, too, along with a bit of cherry blossom philosophy). In addition to gorgeous trees in bloom, the folks in Vancouver have an invitational haiku contest every year. See their 2007 Haiku Contest winners, and their 2006 Haiku winners.

In 2006, seven of f/k/a?s Honored Guest Poets had haiku selected by the VCBF judges for special recognition; in 2007, five members of the f/k/a Honorable Guest family had winning haiku. Each of their selected poems can be found in last year’s post. Here are a few from 2006:

grizzled poet?
a sprig of cherry blossoms
in his knapsack

. . . . . . by Laryalee Fraser

cherry blossoms
a street vendor hums
the Ode to Joy

. . . . . . . . . . by peggy willis lyles

cherry blossoms
the one that falls
on mother?s headstone

. . . . . . . . by ed markowski

And, here are the 2008 poems by our Honored Guests chosen for special recognition by the VCBF judges:

- Alice Frampton, Gary Hotham and Peggy Lyles were 2008 Sakura Award winners:

cherry blossom rain . . .
I take the convertible
back to the showroom

……….. by Alice Frampton

the rest of the day—
cherry blossoms
to spare

….. by Gary Hotham

blossoms
on a leafless bough?
the evening star

….. by Peggy Lyles

And five more of our f/k/a friends won honorable mention:

shaking off
cherry blossoms
the deaf dog

….. by Roberta Beary

evening breezes
stir the cherry blossoms?
a newborn’s sweet breath

…… by DeVar Dahl

a blanket
under the cherry blossoms?
two freckled faces

……. by Laryalee Fraser

patio breeze
leaving the blossoms
fallen

……. by jim kacian

cherry trees in bloom . . .
the cracked sidewalk
of the science museum

……. by paul m

Full post as published by f/k/a . . . on March 15, 2008 (boomark / email).