Mayfly Cover!!

 

Each issue of Mayfly, a haiku magazine published by Randy and Shirley Brooks, features a haiga--a pairing of haiku and visual art. The haiku is selected from the previous issue and the art is a commissioned sumi-e painting by Lidia Rozmus. One of my haiku goals was to get into Mayfly someday, which I did in the Summer 2020 issue. But to be chosen for the cover was beyond my hopes. It was on my haiku bucket list. I always thought it would be really awesome to see what a gifted artist like Lidia would do with one of my haiku. And it was! Thank you, Lidia!

Isn't it interesting how the moon is encircled by the waves in the painting? It reminds me of a Qigong stance called Embrace the Moon. What do you see when you look at it?

I wrote this haiku in response to a prompt from Tia Haynes. I think it was from Haiku Dialogue on the Haiku Foundation website. Anyway, Tia suggested we write about water and this haiku popped into my head. Tia herself writes a lot about motherhood and that's what I was thinking about when I wrote this. I was thinking about the creatureliness of women's bodies, about blood and amniotic fluid, and how our creativity is cyclical and connected to nature and to Mother Moon. So thanks, Tia!

What I didn't know about this whole process, was that Randy and Shirley would very generously send the original painting to me! Wow! Thank you!

As usual, Kevin was as happy as I was. He got teary eyed when he I told him about it. Thank you Kevin!

So we took it to Shara Prindle at the Frame Shop here in Coshocton and she had the perfect frame for it. Now it's hanging on our living room wall. Thank you, Shara!

And I just have to say that the day this painting arrived in the mail, back in February, was a very difficult day for me in a very difficult month in a very difficult season. But when I opened the package and saw what was inside, tears immediately welled up in my eyes. It felt like the Divine Mother was patting me on the back and whispering, "All will be well."

And it is.

Thank you!