May Day haikus

As a way to experiment further Playing as Being, I set up an alarm on my iPod Touch, every 15 minutes for about 12 hours on Saturday May 1st as I was going about many house chores. I picked up a «sonar sound» hoping it would help me plunge deep into Being. I stopped for 9 seconds at least, sometimes a bit more. Then I wrote down some words in the form of haikus. Here are some of them, with very little editing.

Stopping and freezing

Standing behind a red chair

Holding on to it

So aware of sounds

Dog barking, angry barking

Early Saturday

Reading the paper

Feeling the texture, touching

In my opened arms

Aware of breathing

Closing my eyes and feeling

A pain in the chest

Birds chirping singing

One with all layers of sounds

The beauty of it

Caught cleaning the sink

Listening to the radio

Frozen statue smiles

Exercising knee

Lilacs almost in full bloom

Sheets hung on the line

Stopping to see

White cherry blossoms, lilacs

Smell of glass cleaner

In messy front room

I’m opening the window

Letting in fresh air

Sorting junk, stretching

Arms above head, opening

I appreciate

A high stack of books

I’m moving it to my desk

To sort it later

Clear pangs of hunger

Will finish just this sorting

And will prepare lunch

Choosing a pepper

Washing with care, awareness

A flash of orange

Stopping 9 seconds

Still chewing a piece of bread

Noticing the taste

Folding sheets, will it rain?

Fresh scent, lilac polka dots

Pleasurable chore

Political debat

On the radio as I scrub

The floor and my soul

Talking with my Dad

In his nice courtyard downstairs

Sitting in the swing

Breathing in the rain

Listening to it, stopping

Even in hurry

At the coffee shop

The girl with great black hair smiles

Five hundred grams please

Opening the door

Climbing up the stairs slowly

Saw slow snail moving

Took a while to stop

Froze in front of yellow wall

Eager to lie down

Have to stop, reading

Hurt knee up wrapped up in ice

The pain is sharper

Focus on a word

«Carlingue»: it opens up worlds

It is raining now

I’m closing my eyes

On the smell of newspaper

My hands are quite dry

I’m feeling chilly

Smelling flowers and trees scents

Brought by the cold rain

Tired and hungry

Holding my face in my hands

I stare at the rain

Opening the fridge

Abundance of fruits and vegs

Looking at the clock

Forgot to restart

But it came back to my mind

It was time to drop

Feeling connected

To myself with a light thread

Throughout the whole day

Focusing on sound

Sonar alarm echoes far

Where am I and who?

Bunch of pens in hand

I freeze in mid-air feeling

The pull to action

Moving kitchen chairs

Dusk falling on trees in bloom

A child playing voice

Looking at sunset

Purple clouds yellow pink sky

Breathing the coolness

I’m watching TV

Laughing and folding towels

After vacuuming

Should make the bed now

Wounded knee needing to rest

Sonar sounding pain

Forgot the timer

Yet I remembered on time

Getting into it

Could not hear sonar

Was away scrubbing bathroom

And washing the floor

I’m almost finished

Will clear my desk on Sunday

It would take too long

Fresh from shower

Lavender essential oils

Feeling happy, light

Vacuuming carpets

Put away laundry basket

Almost almost done

A strong urge to plunge

Into Twitter tweets

Will stay afk

Witnessing my mind

Position of my body

It is very late

I’m brushing my teeth

Fed up with writing haikus

Wishing oblivion

Inventory search

Avatar is dressed in pink

Where is the black dress?

 Pilgrimage in India 9 seconds by 9 seconds

 (haikus tweeted while travelling in India in February and March 2010, starting at the end)

Still jet-lagged tired

Can't focus on anything

Giggling and sleeping

Napping all day long

Pink flowers sent by a friend

Cuddling and laughing

Airport once again

Longing for home and my bed

And boarding again

Very cold morning

Amsterdam WiFi's café

Swans on the canal

Dharamsala 

Hats, scarfs and warm gloves

We cuddled into our shawls

Listening drifting

Rainy, windy, cold

Yet the Sangha is in bliss

With His Holiness

HH on iPod

Tibetan next to me here

Bows to tiny screen

Cloudy McLeod

In pink silk kashmiri coat

In WiFi cafe

No booking, trusting

Best room with a view

Balcony, snow peaks ;-))

Early in temple

No chanting but much chatting

With great mountain views

Eternal snows wow!

Smiling Tibetans, sunny

Love Dharamsala

Awakened at dawn

Having to pack once again

How to travel light

Pondicherry 

My good Hindu friend

Brings me to see six temples

Some very hidden

Barefoot all day long

The soles of feet burnt by heat

And very dirty

Saturn dressed in black

With him a sacred raven

At dusk in India

In Kali's temple

With a few hundred pilgrims

A baby crying

Sunday in temples

Blessed by a she elephant

Quite moving darshan

Anniversary

The Mother worshippers are

All over the town

Invocation sung

Before closing event

National anthem

Women in saris

All Indian men in pastel

Pink and lilac shirts

In hot pink sari

Going with friends to rooftop

Restaurant by sea

Tirumurugan

Translates in tamil one verse

Of my new poem

A work in progress

I will read in faculty

On Monday morning

Tea time soon, five talks

Some good some not very good

Then a few questions

Waking up early

Wearing a sari today

Will I remember?

The corpse in white silk

A dead woman passing by

With firecrackers

Conference noon break

Sleeping on the beach a while

Waves of tamil sound

Happy to be back

All over Wifi breakdown

Now have it in room:)

Vision of future

Everyone is twittering

Listening lightly

Montreal paper

Interview about India

English in India

Sitting in next row

My friend Ajith from Delhi

Sending me email

In Pondicherry

Official ceremony

Is all in English

The moderator

He is from Bachkortostan

Utterly funny

At Quebec studies

Wifi in conference hall

Quebec in the world

Swimming all day long

In turquoise delightful waves

At Auroville beach

Starry night black sky

Jasmine flowers in my hair

In Pondicherry

Delhi 

Shifting shapes in sky

Flying together as one

Glowing in the sun

The lost ancient art

Of training carrier-pigeons

With weird sounds and moves

Love doves were flying

All afternoon over roofs

Most unexpected sight!

Learnt later it is

Inherited from the Moghols

Still used in Delhi

In a cool bubble

Light in shiny pink sandals

Imperial quiet

Rewriting my talk

India is awakening

An inner tiger

Varanasi 

Cool lavender boats

Elephant trotting in town

Ganges in the fog

Mothers with infants

Begging for shampoo, in rags

Smiling and hopeful

Found Wifi at last

Sitting on floor on cushions

And they vacuum:)

Ghats under the sun

Sheets drying by the Ganges

Colors and flowers

Ghats's sleeping bodies

The holy river at night

Cows, dogs and saddhus

Trusting my instinct

I trust each of my own steps

Dancing with Shiva

Delhi 

Rickshaws dusty roads

Chai at Imperial Hotel

Pink sky, smiling kid

Cell phone noise, can’t book

Tibetan accent and mine

For Dharamsala

Porridge and toast

Fresh orange juice milk coffee

A pilgrim's breakfast :))))

In rare book sections

Oxford bookstore Connaught Place

On an holy quest

Dal and chapatis

Wrapped in blankets under stars

On the roof terrace :))

I’m taking a nap

Wrapped in fragrance of spices

And sounds of India

Tweet a Dutch haiku

Body scan not yet installed

Just security

Before the trip

Mozart, coffee, happy cat

Purring, looking, curious

Playing with shadows

Frozen white river

We blink our eyes in the sun

Fractal light designs

Suitcase hand luggage

Everything is packed already

Now friends, now goodbyes

Dressed as a sherpa

I hiked in Montreal's streets

To the hairdresser :-)

Opening the door

To the beauty of winter

As the cat comes in

The comforts of home

Warmth, coffee, papers, laughter

Next week on the road

Slow and light snowflakes

Morning shades of pearly gray

Squirrels in the trees

Deleting some words

With less details is better

Text is taking form

Phone call to India

Car will be sent to Chennai

No worries all set

Back to work writing

Staying focused and dancing

With the world and words

Flowing with the flow

Never the same river no

Now walking for air

To write an essay

Deep with flowing clarity

Project for the day

Awakened by cat

The bedroom quiet and warm

Tweeting in the dark

In light of iPod

You look over my shoulder

Smiling good morning

Instead with 'brushes'

I paint on iPod touch (thanks!)

Which is lots of fun!

An essay to write

On Quebec literature

For talk in India

Awakened at four

By a dreamy playful cat

Drifting back to sleep

Writing conference in French

Filling Indian visa form

Tweeting in English

Wordsmithing haiku

With a word stumbled upon

On a twitter link

Delicious haikus

Full of blissful life and joy

On Sunday morning

Eating red cherries

On a sunny Saturday

Reading the papers

Texting an haiku

Lying on my lilac bed

Delighting in yours

Lhasa de Sela

Constellation of beauty

I will miss your soul

Ah! Breakfast in bed

And after a good night's sleep

Haikus lines just right!

To do to do list

India in a month or so

Dancing with the world

A sync flock of birds

Flying back home in a V

Guardians of love

On palindrome day

Rachel is getting married

On my laptop screen

Play as partying

A Psychic City of friends

Flying a carpet

Cranberries brewing

With cinnamon oranges

Breathing in red glow

Welcomed by the wave

Unraveling revelling

In a broken tweet

Twitting first haiku

In one hundred forty chars

Nine seconds nutshell