Rain

Dance

'Rain Fly' - so called in T&T - a flying termite popular during the rainy season, they shed their wings soon after flight. Try catching them you are left with the tiniest of wings in your hands.
Rain Fly

Grey

Spiel

A Shimmy

Opening Windows

Depths

Dawn

Evening Sky

evening sky
a *blue jean flits between
electric wires
--gillena cox


*blue jean - Blue Grey Tanager

Plate Friday

Surfed across to Crafty Green Poet and brought the 'Plate Friday' theme to Lunch Break
This is my most recently bought plate and now my favourite; Its a scouped glass square 24cm; with an orange printed design
before supper-
a bird lingers
on the gate
--gillena cox

See also Plate Friday at
Crafty Green Poet
and at
The Weaver of Grass

Corpus Christi

Corpus Christi translates to mean body of Christ, this is a public holiday in Trinidad and Tobago, The Thursday after Trinity Sunday; the folk culture sets this day aside as the start of the rainy season and a day for planting house crops like pigeon peas, corn, and hot peppers. The catholic religious sets this day aside to process through the streets praying and singing hyms in reverence to Jesus Christ who offered himself to his disciples at The Last Supper and commemorates the institution of the Holy Eucharist
corpus christi-
a luminous moon at dawn
reshaping

Round Moon II

Round Moon

Dog Days

Bright Heat

Midday Heat

Popping Out

One Blossom

One Blossom, is the third part of a three parts, the first two parts are - One Feather and One mango; you can views these at Sketchbook Mar-Apr 09

Daisy Five

Daisy Parts 1-4 at Simply Haiku Summer 2009 in The Modern Haiga Section

A Walk

(on advise; this post has been edited, to make clearer, the text on the haiga image)

Mother's Day Musings 2009

Hi----
before i make my introductions, i'm going to spill the beans a little. I grew up in Chaguanas with both my parents, siblings, and my paternal grandmother; i have been living in St James since 1972.
About my mother, well, she was always hitting me - with a belt, a cup, a pot spoon, wet clothes while she was washing, you name it, she'd use it to hit on me.
"Mum that wasn't very nice"
Needless to say i opted not to discipline my children in that fashion.
Okay, so moving along. I'm not one of those people who idealize Mum. Growing up, what i liked about my mum was her cooking. Now don't get me wrong people, i never disrespected or ill treated my mother; thats the truth.

My favourite people are my children and my husband; now thats not to say therein only sweetness and no bitterness are, but read on people.

Let me introduce you
Meet my Mom her name is Mary; and my Children -: daughter Yanda and son Khama.


My father is deceased, 1999; his name - Job.
My husband Anthony, reneged on his responsibility to me and the children when in 1978 he left us to go to New York-USA to study, never returning to our home.

So that makes me what? a deserted woman since we were never divorced; or maybe, a woman who rose to meet her challanges with faith? -------------------

Well, i'll let you fill in the blanks.

As a child i always prayed that i would be financially independent, I sometimes use that as a yardstick when i affirm "Yes God answers prayers."

Well being a married mum, with an absentee husband was very challenging, but i love being a mom to my kids, who were the perfect kids - naughty and nice; until they left home and mutated into two people i'm striving each day to know better.

dinner plate auralia your leaves
the same and yet different



SO; HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY TO ALL YOU MOMS OUT THERE

revisit Mother's Day 2008

Do leave a comment, Tell me something about you, your Mom, your kids, someone you think is an outstanding Mom;
if you e-mail me your mother's day musings, be it bitter or sweet i'll edit this post and add it. MUCH LOVE
--gillena

A tribute to my mother: She was not faultless, tended to be negative toward life on Earth, was very judgmental as to our depaortment, and complained about my father too much. BUT, that is a big word which covered whatever faults there were. She loved us, was always there for us (there was a void when she wasn't home when we got home from school), taught us right from wrong, read the Bible with us and always had her private daily devotions (I recall her praying for us--she often prayed out loud), laughed and cried with us, saw that we were regularly in church, set an example of piety before us. That is a rich heritage I shall always remember. She has been gone some twenty years but her legacy remains strong. I thank God for my godly mother.
--Quentin Clingerman; US


As far as Mother's Day went... My focus this year was more on what kind of a mother I have been to my two grown daughters. There are lots of contentedly good memories mixed in with regret for mistakes I have made. If I could have children now at age 49 rather than at age 19 as I had done...I would do things a whole lot different! Ah! the wisdom of age. But, gratefully I have close, honest, loving relationships with each of them. When I find myself criticizing my mother and aspects of my childhood I remember her undying love and the fact that she was young once too.
sweetness
with the thorns
mother's day
--Robin Beshers; US


just my love and me
strolling down a country road
wildflowers in bloom
--Nan Forehand; US


mother's day -
some black locust petals
on her grave
--Tomislav Maretic; Croatia


My mother; she is the one with whom I open my heart fully without fear of being misunderstood...
--Devika; and others have posted their musings directly to COMMENTS

Lily Of The Valley

lily of the valley image from World Of Flowers

My grandmother was a market vendor. She sold in the Chaguanas Market - herbs and spices - chives, thyme, nutmegs, bay leaves, cloves, cinnamon; and sweet broom for clothes cupboards. She also made chocolate logs to be used for making hot chocolate drinks. She used cocoa beans, which were washed and sun dried, then crushed to remove the shells, then cloves and cinnamon sticks were added, this was then ground in a hand mill; then shaped into small chocolate logs. She also made and sold sugar cakes (not a cake but a candy made from grated coconuts).
I never called her grandmother, i called her Dee, like most other folks did; but that was not her name. A few other grownups called her Janee, but that too, was not her name.

Lily of the valley;
The memory of my grandmother Dee
Scents my mind.



in response to email questions i've edited to include -- my grandmther's name Veronica; Veronica Mitchell

A Poem In Your Pocket

ending April
one more poui blossom
falling /gc


--previously published (in Magnapoets)
flower show
a child tells me
her favorite color /wk


sunset -
she draws a red thread
through her embroidery /jm


Spring time –
in my secret pocket
a dry lime leaf /md


No money
in my pocket book...
but so many haiku! /vm


Pick my pocket now
Finding mostly lint from wash
A poem pops right out /qc


bowl of soba
on the first day of Spring
picking my teeth /jc


tobacco crumbs
in a wrapped clipping--
beware the raindrops /rb


--又ここに若葉光に揺れてをり　
--mata koko ni / wakaba hikari ni/ yurete wori
here I come again
young leaves swinging
in sun beam /sn


power failure
an employee explains
a sit-down strike /rp


ending April
so many winter haiku
not yet written /jt


gc--gillena cox; TT
jc--Joseph B. Connolly; Nevada USA
jm--John McDonald; UK
jt--Juhani Tikkanen; Turku Finland
md--Magdalena Dale; Bucharest - Romania
qc--Que Clingerman; USA
rb--Ralf Bröker; Germany
rp-- Reason A Poteet; USA
sn--Sakuon Nakamura; Tokyo Japan
vm--Vasile Moldoan; ROMANIA
wk--William Kenny; Whitestone NY USA

Renku -- 'A Poem In Your Pocket'-- editor/coordinator - gillena cox; TT

All the poems in this sequence remain the copyright of the individual writers and should not be used without their permission

April 30th - A Poem In Your Pocket Day

Earth Day 2009

Have a HAPPY EARTH DAY 2009
First launched as an environmental awareness event in the United States in 1970, Earth Day (April 22) is celebrated as the birth of the environmental movement...Earth day history

Earth Day
I circle the date
in green

Earth Day
a note in
my kiyose
--William Sorlien; Minnesota, USA


violet asterisk –
somebody wrote my name
across the Earth's day
--Ralf Bröker; Germany


earth day-
holding a bouquet of flowers
in the check out line
--John Merryfield; Mexico


earth day
fallen petals adorn
the waste bin
--Polona Oblak; Slovenia


Under our feet
thousands of cherry petals…
still Earth Day
--Magdalena Dale; Bucharest - Romania


Wake up to Daylight
Thinking about God's green Earth
Birds pecking at seed
--Que Clingerman; US


Psalmist's Earth Day
resting in greener pastures
our Shepherd at work

Been busy in the yard with treating dandelions and clover which infiltrate my grass and spraying for ants which populate our area like sand. On a serious note I usually celebrated Earth Day with my class as a teacher. Earth Day needs a long hard look at progress and priorities.

forty years old now
a grassroots holiday
in midlife crisis
-- Reason A Poteet; US


beginner
she prays the seed
into the earth
--Bill Kenney; Whitestone NY USA


Earth day...
planting trees to become
giants of hope
--Keith A. SIMMONDS; T & T


panta rhei...
point in the universe
our Earth
--Krzysztof Kokot; Poland


Solar system
celebrates: happy
Earth Day!

We don't like
your kisses asteroids,
stay on your way!

Earthy Day party --
Mars pays court
to Venus...again

Earth Day --
a bit tipsy Jupiter totters
on his path

Blue Marble -- so many lifes in your blues!
--Tomislav Maretic; Croatia


soft breezes blow south
relief from hot days in spring
marine layer cools

no electric air
needed today open windows
bring shaded sun

cats chew green leaves
ecology of felines
earth day everyday for them

recycle what
hurts earth
save planet mother

--Michelle Rose; US


Mother earth's belly
mostly protected by
salty water

Our own moon
behind the heavy clouds --
I wanted to live in Jupiter!

(Jupiter "owns" 63 moons, counted now, I think one of those is seen more frequently ?)
--Tikkis; Finland


Earth day -
amongst the stars
a garden
--John McDonald; UK


Greeting from Poland I think of the destruction caused environment by the mines

gold mine -
the rain forest
and smaller
--Andrzej Dembonczyk; Poland


I should embrace the earth
but, ah dear, only two hands
are not enough

global heating-
health before wealth
for people and earth
--Vasile Moldovan; Romania


mirthday far off
as water sighs and cries
earth day thinks fresh
--Joseph B. Connolly; Nevada US


It's Earth Day today?
Too bad my tank was empty,
so Earth un-friendly.
--HaikuKelly; US


pruning shrubs
eve of Earth Day-
cirrus overpass
--gillena cox; TT

Earth Day asterisks 2009:-*Green Generation Campaign *renewable energy *green jobs *global dimming earthdaynetwork

Days before Earth Day 2009, President Obama's Energy Secretary Steven Chu gave a press briefing at the "Summit of the Americas" in Trinidad and Tobago where he laid out the potentially disastrous consequences if the world community doesn't unite to combat climate change read more

Poems in this Earth Day sequence are the copyright of the individual writers and should not be reproduced without their permission

Earth Day Haiku coordinator - Gillena Cox; TT

revisit Earth Day 2008

April Scribbles 2009

send a Plumeria e-greeting
April Scribbles 2009 is a solo photo renhai
The RENHAI is a new form created by Vaughn Seward
Vaughn blogs at masago-no-haiku

Fish Scale

Easter 2009

At the church where i fellowship, St Mary's RC in St James, Trinidad; The easter vigil takes place on the Saturday evening, the day before Easter Sunday.
The church is thrown into darkness, then light, symbolic of The Risen Lord is brought into the church, the congregation have their candles lit, passing the light on, one to another, spreading it throught out the whole church. The vigil continues with scriptural readings and hymns; followed by the celebration of Holy Mass.
Easter vigil--
we accept again The Light
into our hearts
--gillena cox; TT

HAPPY EASTER TO ALL visitors to Lunch Break
Share an Easter tradition e-mail me

HAPPY EASTER!!!
On the Good Friday the bells are silenced and conjunct with ropes,The boys run out onto the fields and roads with their wooden clappers calling the people to mass. and it bells again at Saturday evening and Easter Sunday, of course!
silent bells –
the boy’s wooden clappers
call us to mass
-- Tomislav Maretić; Croatia


Lee dyeing his eggs
--Michael Baribeau; US

Hint of

April Showers

Happy Poetry Month

William Shakespeare said “Men are April when they woo, December when they wed. Maids are May when they are maids, but the sky changes when they are wives.”

What say you email me i'll add it to this post

--Reason A. Poteet from US says
April seventeenth
marks the first of thousands
phone call number one
My husband calls me almost daily. No phone call has been as thrilling and anticipated as that first one on April 17, 1974, nearly thirty-five years ago. He
asked me to go to a movie, first date


--Quentin Clingerman from US says
Oh April showers
Rain dandelions galore
Yellow pollen falls


--William Sorlien from US says
When I first started writing poetry, I "installed" some guerilla art at the poetry park by Lake Phalen in my hometown,using chalk on the asphalt walkways to entice passersby with haiku. That summer evening there were much needed heavy rains and I got to watch the verses melt away, one by one...
evening rain
my poems washed away
to feed the earth


--Cindy Tebo from US says
between the blooms
of red bud and forsythia
nature's perfect sense of timing

Stories

Spiritual Shouter Baptist Liberation Day

Today, March 30th is a holiday in Trinidad and Tobago. 'Spiritual Shouter Baptist Liberation Day', quite a mouthful but if you speak to the observers of this holiday, they will tell you that there are baptists and baptists.
The baptists, who all take their name from Saint John the Baptist have long been in our society as a religious group; but the shouters, when they got their holy spirit visions, they took to the street shouting, singing and chanting, sometimes trance like. They are the ones who were persecuted, ridiculed, harassed, imprisoned and chased off the streets.
Well up until 1951 when the law stated it was Ok for them to freely practise their religious rites.

bare feet step-
the swirling, swirling
waters
--gillena cox

Happy Holiday March 30th 2009
Monday 30th March 2009 - the 13th anniversary of this holiday
more info here

Blue Vase

Blue Vase a 2007 photo senyru

Sea Of

Eye

Send an Ixora e-greeting

Tortuga

Nestled in the hills of Monserrat, in Central Trinidad, amidst a constant twittering of birds, is the beautiful little church of Our Lady of Monserrat; a rustic wooden structure; overseeing, from the highest point of the Central Range, miles of cultivated land sloping down toward the coast of the Gulf of Paria.

Hundreds of Catholics visit Tortuga on September 8 each year to be part of the street procession in the patronal feast. This village church is famous for its statue of the Black Virgin, which is kept in a small niche inside the Church.
One reported view of how the statue came to Tortuga, is that it was brought there by the Capuchin monks from Spain.

The Spaniards were the ones who called the hills Montserrat Hills because they resemble Montserrat (mons serratus),a jagged set of hills in Barcelona, northeast Spain, where a famous monastery was built in 880 AD.

smell of rain-
circling circling
chicken hawks

My Tortuga Pics
link to Tortuga

Windy

Afternoon Moon

green fig - in Trinidad and Tobago, green bananas that are used for cooking.

Pulling Weeds

Twists

Morning

Hiss

The Music

wait for slide show OR click view all images

Tuesday evening-
mas and crowds mix and mingle
of colour

--© gillena cox 2009

this post has been edited to include a Tuesday evening mas slideshow

And So

Hmmmm, i can breathe again
My son - Khama had a car accident the Saturday before my birthday. The car is a write off. He is alive and well but for minor pains and bruises. I am grateful, i am thankful. Today Lord, and again, my hope is in You. Today is my son's birthday
and so…

Love Circle February 14th

gifts to loved ones-
European florists sell
flowers from Gaza

-gillena cox, TT

*

my eyes brimmed with tears
it seemed to take forever
my first Valentine

As a first grader in school, I thought the teacher would never hand me a card from anyone. Everyone at my table had at least one and in tears I longed to hear my name called out.

Reason A. Poteet, USA, IN


my best Valentine
red, foil “I Love You” balloon
from a teen-age son

At an age, when parents are non-existent, our church youth had a balloon fund-raiser and my son bought a balloon for me.

Reason A. Poteet, USA, IN


“puppy love” spelled out
my worst Valentine mem’ry
the gift of a dog

When our son married and took his dog, my husband suffered terribly from dog-withdrawal. The next Valentine’s Day he showed up with
a new puppy and I can’t remember anything else in my shock.He knew how much I hate dogs.

Reason A. Poteet, USA, IN

*

Valentine Day:
last year's card
still unopened
-Keith A. SIMMONDS, TT

Happy Valentine to all those who love,to those who want love, to those who want to love, but cannot love, and to thosewho cherish love above all else!Let the light of love keep leading usto togetherness and hope for a betterworld!

*

Steadfast in every
Situation faithfully
Love is life's constant


Happy Valentines Day
-Que; US

*

paper doilies
and red construction paper
her first valentine

a baby girl
mother's valentine's
present

Valentine's Day is my 55th birthday. The doctor told my mother I was "too smart to live" and would be dead by my 5th birthday. (All because I cried when he drew his hand back to spank me!)

-Brenda; US

*

Mostly, when I think of Valentine's Day it's the exchange of love and gifts between those who are in love - married or dating couples. Yet, it's the love of friends (for those who are single and not in a relationship) that is so very meaningful and lasting. In His wisdom, God did not only mean love for lovers. Today, I have been touched by the blessing of love today from the Lord and my friends. I feel exceptionally blessed and fortunate. If you've been touched like this, then you are, too. Happy Valentine's Day to everyone.

Michelle ; US

*

A Valentine's Day Game Dating through the Ages

Love Circle Feb 11th 09

Today Feb 11th is my birthday; i'm coughing, sneezing, headachy; but its my birthday, the day i like second best to Christmas day; the day i reaffirm in the words of Descartes "ergo". Thanks to all who sent me greetings; much love in return
Visitors, friends, e-pals welcome to my online birthday party

celebrating life
again-
morning prayer

sweep of
the street cleaner's broom-
first sounds

first feathered call-
crowing of the roosters
in the distance

somnambulant cooo
cooo of pigeons-
morning light

quietly-
my thoughts expand into
haiku to you
-gillena cox; TT

*

happy birthday
love circles
around you

live aloha
shanna; Hawaii

*
Gillena様

sakuo様から
グリーティングカードが届いてます！！

ご覧になるには下記のＵＲＬにアクセスしてください。

http://www.eastbeans.com/cr.php/123405605067gESr
（カードは60日間ご覧になれます。）
*

Gillena: For the birthday special, I send this haiku inspired by a friend who received her husband safely back from his second tour of duty in Iraq.

this year’s gift of love
getting him back from Iraq
she needs no other

Reason A. Poteet, USA, IN

*

birthday love
crossing my computer screen
february sunshine

an'ya; US

*

bright stars twinkling
in the great blue sky
~birthday festival

Happy birthday, Gillena
Keith Simmonds; TT

*

Happy Birthday to you, my friend!
May you have all the love and blessings possible today.

Michelle Rose; US

*

Hihippity hop
Hoppy hoppy birthday too
Having rarebit stew

Que; US

*
Hi G:


Happy birthday from me to you.

Anthony OConnor; CA

*
Gillena,
Thanks for the gift of your site-
I found something most useful
for my "budding" writing career.

Many happy returns, darlin'!
Willie-- **WHCworkshop

*
Hippo bird deer doe ewe
Hippo bird deer doe ewe
Hippo bird deer deer Gillena
Hippo bird deer doe ewe

Jim; CA

*

birthday party-
a string of haiku
garners the day
-gillena cox ; TT

Thanks to all of you who sent greetings by email, and posted at comments; you made my day special.

**WHCworkshop - a yahoo poetry group

February Rain

February rain
the lingering redness
on poinsettias
-gillena cox 2009