I would like to recall one morning sometime last February - a morning when the sun was so shy to come out of the horizon.  The sky was so covered with gray clouds. Sporadic drizzles came and finally the rain. Feeling lazy to do anything productive, I decided to spend my time at our covered terrace just looking at my surroundings and listening to the chirping of birds.

My cell phone rang.  It was from a friend – a special friend and my almost daily chatmate,  located in the wilderness (her description). A message in haiku! Joyfully taking the bait, I replied in haiku.  And that started our exchange for the next hundred minutes. It was a unique way of updating ourselves with the current happenings in each other's current world. We enjoyed the exchange so much and even jokingly labelled it a “haiku war”. Of course in between the haiku poems were lively comments and laughter. I can shout to the world that it surely made our day! 

Confronted with the challenge to make a daily post, and caught with so many concerns for the day that night came with not a single haiku spun, my cell phone came to my rescue. Good thing I had that “war” kept in my chat box. Too precious to delete. So, with my friend's permission, here I am sharing it in this blog. 

a haiku war

Friend   :        running  through the rain                                                    

                       a girl in yellow raincoat 
                       laughs like morning sun

Me         :       lingering in bed
                       circles of water i see
                       through a window blade

Friend    :       some kids braved the rain
                       soaked to the skin, unperturbed
                       but how can that be?

Me         :        oh that bird again
                       my early morning delight
                       twig shakes as it leaves

Friend    :       through the foggy fields
                       then to hazy mountain side
                       a hawk disappeared

Me         :       grayish is the sky
                       promise of a drab morning
                       coffee smells so good

Friend    :       used to be just one
                       now there's a couple of them
                       egrets in the yard

Me         :        rain, rain, and more rain
                       pools of water surround us
                       tank overflowing               

Friend    :       the fog is thinning
                       sun's persistence struggling through
                       but then, so does rain

Me         :        a favorite perch
                       of a number of small birds
                       tv antenna

Friend    :       on the other side
                       battle between sun and rain
                       remains to be seen.

Me         :       wind getting colder
                      and seemingly stronger too
                      branches wildly dance

Friend    :       firewood is crackling
                       a sight and smell that i love
                       oh that homey fire

Me         :       eraserheads singing
                       two puppies so entertained
                       facing amplifier

Friend    :       under a table
                       a bundle of firewood lay
                       i need a broomstick

Me         :        legs, feet getting cold
                       puppies scratching and licking
                       giggles can't resist
   

Me         :        wind getting calmer
                        swaying branches calmer too
                        will the sun smile soon?

Friend    :        can't say sun's winning
                        until it comes shining through
                        till sky becomes blue

Much as we wanted to continue something came up so, our exchange had to end.