Category Archives: Haiku

February 21, 2016

Renoir’s Intriguing Lady

By Kat Myrman

Auguste Renoir Odalisque 1870, oil on canvas


Eyes piercing, flash gray
Lips, on the cusp of a smile
With secrets to tell.

kat ~ 21 February 2016

For TJ’s Household Haiku Challenge: Choose a painting or sculpture for this week’s prompt. Recently while visiting the National Gallery of Art, I happened upon this painting by Renoir.

Once she had captivated me, I couldn’t look away. I imagined that she had quite a story to tell, but alas, she lounges suspended in colorful oil paint daubs on canvas for eternity intriguing passersby like me.

Read other haiku or enter your own HERE.

31 Comments   |  tags: , , , | posted in Challenges and Writing Prompts, Haiku, Poetry

February 21, 2016

Monkey Brain

By Kat Myrman

 

Photo from Pixabay.com

 
My crazy monkey brain!
Prone to incessant word churn.
So I write Haiku!

kat ~ 21 February 2016

Happy Year of the Monkey! A haiku for Haiku Horizon’s prompt: Monkey. If you would like to read others or enter your own, click HERE.

4 Comments   |  tags: , , , , , | posted in Challenges and Writing Prompts, Haiku, Humor, Poetry, Uncategorized

February 19, 2016

Moon Whispers

By Kat Myrman
moonoverswanseabay

Photo Credit: Sonya Oldwin

Crescent Moon whispers
as Horizon blushes pink
promising delights.

kat ~ 19 February 2016

A Three Line Tale for the photo prompt challenge from Sonya at Only 100 Words. There is a saying that says “red sky at night, sailor’s delight”.  I thought of this when I looked at the photo above. Today I penned a Haiku (3 lined poem/tale) for you. If you would like to read other tales or enter your own, click HERE.

34 Comments   |  tags: , , , , , , | posted in 3 Line Tales, Challenges and Writing Prompts, Flash Fiction, Haiku, Poetry

February 19, 2016

Friday’s Word of the Day Haiku – Cosmology

By Kat Myrman

cosmology

Happy Friday! Today’s Dictionary.com Word of the Day is Cosmology. Originating from the Greek words kosmos (order/world) and –logia (discourse), it might surprise you to know that astronomers, philosophers and even astrologers have been studying Cosmology since ancient times. Through the years, mathematicians, engineers, physicists and even religious figures and politicians have weighed in on the ever evolving theories and philosophies of Cosmology. Here are a few names that you may recognize:  Plato, Aristotle, Copernicus, Galileo, Isaac Newton, Henrietta Swan Leavitt (one of the first women to enter the field of astronomy), Edwin Hubble, Albert Einstein and Stephen Hawking.

One of the most popular theories, of course, is the Big Bang Theory, but the evolution of the study of Cosmology has not stopped there. Other theories to be introduced in later years include the Oscillating Universe developed by Alexander Friedmann based on Einstein’s general relativity equations, the Steady State Universe (which opposed the Big Bang) and then a number of theories that have expanded on the Big Bang including, Inflationary Universe and Multiverse theory which see our organized, observable universe as one of many in an infinite cosmos that operates basically in a state of chaos.

The one thing we can know for certain is that as long as there are universes to discover, there will be great minds who seek answers to the questions, what, where, when, why and how. As for me, I prefer to gaze at the stars, become lost in their magnificence, and write poetry. BAZINGA! 🙂

Speaking of poetry…here’s my Haiku…

Theory not faith
Informs the Cosmologist
Starting with a Bang!

kat ~ 19 February 2016

 

 

18 Comments   |  tags: , , , , | posted in Challenges and Writing Prompts, Essays, Poetry, Random Thoughts and Musings, Word of the Day Haiku

February 18, 2016

As Smooth as a Milk Maid’s Skin – Haiku

By Kat Myrman

jenner462_best

Dr. Edward Jenner

Well…this is interesting!

The saying, “As smooth as a milk maid’s skin” has a very interesting history. At first blush one might imagine that it meant milk baths or sweet cream facials for milk maids who, because of their ready access to milk, had exceptionally smooth skin.  It is true that certain milk maids did have smooth skin, but the truth is more sobering.

I found this snippet in Wikidpedia:
The expression “as smooth as a milk maid’s skin” means exceptionally smooth. This phrase came about as a result of exposure to cowpox, which causes no serious symptoms, but does convey a partial immunity to the disfiguring (and often fatal) disease smallpox. Thus, milkmaids lacked the “pockmarked” complexion common to smallpox survivors. This observation led to the development of the first vaccine.[1]

The first vaccine, in fact, was performed in 1796 by Dr. Edward Jenner in Berkeley (Gloucestershire), England. He discovered that milkmaids who had contracted cowpox did not get smallpox. When his patient Sarah Nelmes presented symptoms of cowpox on her hand, Jenner  “took the pus from a cowpox lesion and inoculated an eight-year-old boy, James Phipps, the son of Jenner’s gardener. After the boy got a slight case of cowpox, Jenner exposed him to smallpox. As he suspected and much to his relief, young James remained unaffected by the deadly disease.  (Read more about Dr. Jenner HERE.)

The visions of milky white, soft, beautiful skin that I once imagined when I heard this saying are definitely not what those who initially coined the phrase intended! The truth is quite gruesome, what with cowpox pus scrapings and human experimentation. But I suppose it is the final result, discovery of a vaccination against a deadly disease, that matters most.  Here’s the Haiku then…

She was one so fair
“As smooth as a milk maid’s skin”
implied survival.

~kat – 18 February 2016

This Haiku is in response to Ronovan Writes Weekly Haiku Challenge with the Prompt Words: Milk & Smooth. If you would like to read other Haiku or enter your own, click HERE.

42 Comments   |  tags: , , , , | posted in Challenges and Writing Prompts, Essays, Haiku, Poetry