Category Archives: Poetry

“Shirk” Friday’s Word of the Day Haiku Challenge


Sometimes a word has two very distinct and separate meanings. Take “Shirk” for instance. Most of us are familiar with shirk the verb. The Online Etymology Dictionary provides us the origin of “shirk” the verb:

shirk- 1630s, “to practice fraud or trickery,” also a noun (1630s, now obsolete) “a needy, disreputable parasite” [OED], perhaps from German schurke “scoundrel, rogue, knave, villain” (see shark (n.)). Sense of “evade one’s work or duty” first recorded 1785, originally in slang.

But did you know that Shirk is also a noun with a completely different meaning? Here is Shirk the noun as defined in Wikipedia:

Which brings me to today’s challenge…to write a Haiku using today’s word…

To Shirk? Or be a Shirk? – A Haiku

A rogue or scoundrel
shirks one’s duty, but a Shirk?
Unforgivable!

~ kat ~ 16 October 2015



Autumn Rose

  
She’s a late bloomer,
Lured by Autumn’s frosty nip,
Cool passion in red.

~kat 15 October 2015


“Over” – Haiku Horizon’s Haiku Prompt

IMG_4483

The sun and moon shine
over every inch of earth
all things are worthy.

kat ~ 14 October 2015

This week’s prompt for Haiku Horizon is “Over”. If you would like to see more haiku click HERE.


the memory of you

i only saw you for a moment…
pink perfection, but you had
already gone. how can you
miss someone you’ve never
met? sometimes i wonder
who you might have become,
who i might be today had
my body not failed you.

there was no funeral,
no heartfelt epitaphs…
no records or witnesses
that you ever were, except
for me, who once carried
you deep inside, the child
i never held but can’t
forget, especially when
the memory of you
interrupts my busyness
and touches my heart.

kat ~ 12 October 2015

It’s a loss no one talks about. Grieving is considered an indulgence. Well-meaning souls will try to console you by reminding you how blessed you are to have other children, or if you don’t, they’ll assuredly mention that it was all part of some divine plan, or for the best…nature’s way of protecting you from a less than perfect child…of course none of these things are of any comfort when a mother miscarries.

I lost my child some 33 years ago in October. It wasn’t until this most recent nudge that I remembered that it was in October. We try to get on with life…to count our blessings, but we never forget. The void of tonight’s new moon simply reminds me that I’m not meant to forget. And that it’s okay to remember and to grieve.

(This poem was featured on Women’s Spiritual Poetry Blogspot on October 16th, 2015)


Grief Amidst the Pines – A Haiku Challenge from RonovanWrites

 Grief Amidst the Pines – A Haiku

Nestled amidst green,
a Sapling’s first Autumn,
grief consoled by Pines.

Kat ~ 12 October 2015

Nestled amidst green, a Sapling’s first Autumn.
A Sapling’s first Autumn, grief consoled by Pines.

Another Haiku Challenge from RonovanWrites, with an added challenge to “go Nature” with this week’s challenge words…Grief & Pine. Challenge accepted! 

Updated with the actual sapling that inspired this Haiku…☺️

Have a great day everyone!