Welcome, poets! Frank Tassone here, ready to host another exciting edition of Haibun Monday. Today, we wax (hybrid) poetic, blending prose and haiku together. And what inspiration will move us today, you ask? How about the Flower Moon?

This Wednesday marks the appearance of May’s full moon—traditionally called the Flower moon:

The Full Moon of May is known as Flower Moon to signify the flowers that bloom during this month. There is a myriad of wildflowers which bloom in May in the Northern Hemisphere, where these traditional Full Moon names originated. For example, many types of anemone, wild garlic, indigo, bluebells, lupine, sundrops, and violets, to name just a few. It is no wonder that the colorful displays these flowers create in nature have inspired people to name this time after them.

Other names for May’s brightest Moon phase are Corn Planting Moon, Mother’s Moon, and Milk Moon, from the Old English Rimilcemona which means Month of Three Milkings, when cows were milked three times a day. Some sources refer to it as Hare Moon, but this name is more common for the March Full Moon.

I don’t know about you, but I am fascinated by the moon! It’s beauty rising above the horizon and at its height in the night sky: I can’t get enough of it! Some poets also share this fascination:

Amores (III)

E. E. Cummings – 1894-1962

there is a

moon sole

in the blue

night

             amorous of waters

tremulous,

blinded with silence the

undulous heaven yearns where

in tense starlessness

anoint with ardor

the yellow lover

stands in the dumb dark

svelte

and

urgent

           (again

love i slowly

gather

of thy languorous mouth the

thrilling

flower)

This poem is in the public domain.

Michael Dylan Welch

still water—
the blue heron
steps in the moon

blue moon—
drips from the awning
keeping time

Courtesy of Graceguts

Peggy Hale Bilbro

Full Moon

Mangos. Melons. Tomatoes. Peaches. Two handfuls. Not enough, or more than enough. After losing my own mangos, small as they were, I am suddenly aware of the variety and beauty of breasts, how they bounce and snuggle together in an intimate embrace; the young ones so casually pert and innocent that they defy any effort to subdue them; the perfectly round ones that mound up into a beckoning décolletage most likely the result of a little augmentation and to my eye not nearly as interesting; the full moon globes of nursing mothers weighted with love;  grandmothers’ more like udders gently swinging telling of a life of giving and nurturing, now a soft resting place for any small body needing comfort. Breasts everywhere I look. I don’t know if I am jealous or fascinated, or both. I try not to stare, but my god! what breathtaking abundance of life! 

the weight 

of what we don’t see

till it’s not there

courtesy of Contemporary Haibun Online

How about it, poets? Ready to write some moon haibun? Feel free to take yours in whatever direction inspires you: just allude to the Floral Moon.

New to haibun? The form consists of one to a few paragraphs of prose—usually written in the present tense—that evoke an experience and are often non-fictional/autobiographical. They may be preceded or followed by one or more haiku—nature-based, using a seasonal image—that complement without directly repeating what the prose stated.

New to dVerse? Here is what you do:

• Write a haibun that alludes to the Flower Moon.
• Post it on your personal site/blog.
• Include a link back to dVerse in your post.
• Copy your link onto the Mr. Linky.
• Remember to click the small checkbox about data protection.
• Read and comment on some of your fellow poets’ work.
• Like and leave a comment below if you choose to do so.

Have fun!