Clarity Pyramid: FAE

Cherry blooms, clouds

FAE
Fairy
Magical

Winged joy in child’s heart
Connected to nature
Hides in imagination

“For to have faith is to have wings.”

Copyright 2014 Brenda Davis Harsham

Note: The quote is from Peter Pan, by J. M. Barrie. This was inspired by Paint the World with Words, hey, Amreen, I hope you are feeling better soon!! (She apparently had a bad week or two.) A Clarity Pyramid is a poetic form with so many rules that I decided not to write one, right before one popped into my head in that mysterious way ideas have. I’ll set out the rules: 7 lines, increasing in syllable count, 1/2/3 then 5/6/7 culminating in an 8 syllable quotation. The title should be the one syllable line, bold and in all caps, and then the rest of the poem describes or elucidates the title.

Be Crabgrass Haibun

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Picture by Penny

Crabgrass can grow on bowling balls in airless rooms, and there is no known way to kill it that does not involve nuclear weapons. — Dave Barry

Crabgrass can grow without fertilizer, mulch, watering, edging and protection from other plants. It springs up in any crack or crevice in the walkway, in the middle of the lawn or between bushes and the house foundation where light shines for less than five minutes in a day. What if good thoughts were like that? Even if the day was dark and cold, with a stiff wind blowing the rain sideways. What if happy thoughts took root like crabgrass, growing deep roots, sending thick green arms in all directions, blocking all dark thoughts from coming near.

Peter Pan taught Wendy to concentrate on a happy thought, and she could fly with the help of some fairy dust. What could you accomplish if you concentrate on a happy thought? Picture it taking hold like crabgrass and nothing can kill that happy thought. Perhaps you could even smile, all day long.

I’m going to be the crabgrass. I’m concentrating on the ocean. My happy thoughts involve a waterfall, a volcanic valley, snorkeling and the best sushi I ever had in my life. Do you know where I was? I hope you have a happy thought that can take hold like crabgrass.

blue waves curl inside
lapping on the golden shore
of my memory

Copyright 2013 Brenda Davis Harsham

To find the prompt for the haibun, click on the Ligo Haibun Challenge.

Fairy Independence Day

Do you believe in fairies? Say quick that you believe.
If you believe, clap your hands….
Every time a child says, ‘I don’t believe in fairies,’
there is a fairy somewhere that falls down dead. ”
— James M. Barrie, Peter Pan.

Eleanor did not believe in fairies, but she was careful never to say so, just in case. She could never be sure. Occasionally, if she clapped her hands in the garden among the long purple blooms of the butterfly bushes, it was her secret.

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Eleanor was named for the former first lady, Eleanor Roosevelt. July Fourth had arrived, and she was very excited. She had been studying the Revolutionary War in school. She wished she was finally old enough to stay up and watch the fireworks. Since her mother was refusing to let her, to console herself, she read her favorite biography on Eleanor Roosevelt again. She asked her mother to read more about her on the internet, and surprise of surprises! Eleanor Roosevelt had commented on fairy godmothers.

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