Entrance Exams (Haiku)

a strange sound, like rain ---
boys' chorus like early plums ---
baseball helpers running.

Spring is in the air... but not yet anywhere else.

"a scent, such as never clings, to ought save happy, living things..." (from Rennaisance by Millay)

I popped my nose near the screen this morning, and a lovely smell was wafting around, a smell of things quietly awakening, not yet stirring, but considering, in their earthly beds, what it would be like to grow, and stretch graceful branches toward the endless blue above, arch delicate leaves to touch the canal, whisper to the neighborly birds so still and intent before flight. The plants are breathing, their sweet scent tells us that spring is near.

I wore my new sweater to school today. The students exclaimed when they saw it, it is a very festive striped sweater, red, green, yellow brown and white. I like to wear bright colors, to remind the students that there is a bright and happy world outside, and inside their hearts. The always appreciate it when I wear bright colors. I think that it helps them feel more excited about school, too. Colors have been proven to have emotional effects. If I wear bright colors, I hope that it will help them to associate English with fun and excitement, and help them to focus more in class.

The Windblown Seed

A log set to drift...
An insect in a typhoon...
A seed carried to another land...

Sets root
as only it can
and it can only
survive in another land
where its leaves might grow strangely
or its flowers face another hill
against a sun
from another angle

But it sets root
into the earth
determined
by destiny
Set out to live
Punishment
and blessings
Life
as only can be seen
from this angle

Grow
Grow little seed
into that sun
into that mountain
It is the same air
the same sun
and the same Earth
in perspective