Prayer garden

Yesterday, while waiting for the start of our haiku meeting, Southern California Haiku Study Group (SCHSG) in Pasadena's Pacific Asia Museum, I wandered near a theological school. Nearby, I saw a prayer garden, so labeled, that was closed to the public. I went closer and peered through the gated place. It had a man-made waterfall and lots of small trees and shrubs. Serenity and peace exude from the place. After looking a bit I sat down on a concrete bench nearby and wrote this poem.

prayer garden
the answered ones
are blooming

Actually, this is not the one I read at our usual sharing at the beginning of each meeting, but an earlier version.

prayer garden
how many unanswered ones
are left there

Chinese ink painting haibun

Saturday, February 20, I participated in a Poets on Site reading highlighting the art works of Hyunsook Cho displayed in the Gallery of Contemporary Art at the Paciific Asia Museum in Pasadena, CA. Her works, “Sketches of China: Works on Paper” were on exhibit in the museum from January 6 to February 11. Sketches present the artist’s re-interpretation of traditional Chinese ink painting in different media - watercolor, gouache, graphite pencil and dried leaves collected by the artist in China. Members of the Southern California Haiku Study Group wrote poems, either haiku or habun, on their favorite painting. Here is my haibun or prose poem with Hyunsook's painting.




No matter where my restlessness and sense of adventure lead me in my travels abroad, the call of the tropical sun proves irresistible, beckoning me home to a familiar place where I grew up. The venerable and ancient mountains always bring balance and sense of power in my life. In their shadows, I am refreshed and strenghtened to face life’s challenges once more.

in majestic display
the China mountains
of my childhood

shell gathering

On August 30, the Southern California Haiku Study Group (SCHSG), of which I am a member, held a reading of its 2009 Haiku Anthology at the Pacific Asia Museum, in Pasadena, California. Titled "shell gathering," I have five of my haiku included in the anthology.

Here is one of them:

hospice window
she gazes at the birds
flying to sunset

More information could be found in the SCHSG blogsite:
SCHSG BLOG