Storm Before The Calm

A storm is raging in my house today, the storm of cleaning and laundry and trying to make my house a comfortable place to be. The occasion? Usually, the only thing that motivates me to really get this place in shape is the threat of having guests over. This time, the motivation is quite the opposite: starting tomorrow, we will have a kid free home for almost three days. It's not much, but we'll take it, after almost 13 years of non-stop kid care.

I do not want to spend my kid-free time cleaning or doing laundry. Neither do I want to try to relax in a house that needs to cleaned, amid laundry that needs to be done. So, today is the day. The day to make a difference.

So I'm cleaning, and writing haiku, and ignoring Lady E and Little T. Haiku and coffee will get me through to freedom.

* * *

Hard and lousy work

To make home a pleasant place

Let me get there soon.

* * *

Grabby hands bind me,

Keep me from my busy day.

Wait: it's just laundry.

* * *

Small things seems too plain.

Blah, next to NPR talk.

I'm making people.

* * *

You seem my savior.

Then I have too much of you.

Coffee: life, balm, curse.

* * *

Just pick strawberries.

That is your one and only chore.

Two girls: one whole day.

* * *

Keep eyes on the prize.

Fold, tidy, wipe, clear, scour.

The calm is coming.

* * *

Dizzy

Yesterday, my day consisted of getting new tires, searching for live crickets, buying live silkworms instead, trying to talk to the rackin-frackin insurance company, dealing with a daughter who keeps pooping in her underwear, working on art projects for Father's Day, watching part or all of three world cup games (we're sad Cameroon lost), going on a handful of errands (including one that earned me a beer with a favorite family), completing and mailing next school year's enrollment forms, and feeding people.

No wonder I am dizzy.

This past Sunday, we drove five hours, 2.5 hours into the foothills for a birthday party and 2.5 hours back. Once again, my love for farmland and foothills was re-affirmed and strengthened. It's absolutely beautiful out there in the middle of nowhere.

The linguist Geoff Nunberg, a professor at Cal, did a radio essay yesterday on the NPR program Fresh Air about how haiku has been all over twitter. You can listen to it here:



I do not twitter, but I like playing around with haiku. So here are two, inspired by my last couple of days.

Haiku for a Busy Day

Much to take care of:
Bank, friends, forms, art, food, futbol.
Done. Good and dizzy.

Haiku for a Road Trip to the Countryside, Where I Wish I Lived

Miles take me there.
Landscape lulls me to silence.
But I don't sleep there.

* * *

Join the Haiku party: post yours in a comment!

* * *

Haiku for My Children

Crying in the night,
Heart sinking at losing sleep.
Catching up with you.

***

You: force of nature,
Caught in rare quiet moment.
What is it you see?



***

Evening windows up.
Kids playing, shouting, running.
Neighbors hurry by!

***

Soccer game muddy.
Gives me dirty laundry, and
Boys that smell like earth.

***

Escape to shower
Revel in water, steam, warmth.
Can still hear mayhem.

***