While preparing my talk for this weekend's Haiku Society of America Spring Conference put on by the Southeast Region, (--who, me? Working on something right up til the last minute?--), I came across a lovely memory from the conference I coordinated two years ago on St. Simon's Island. We held our meeting at Epworth by the Sea. As our group walked the grounds on a ginko, we came across a most wonderful surprise - a beautiful large plaque paying tribute to Peggy Willis Lyles (1939-2010) and featuring several of her haiku. None of our little band knew it was there! A very special encounter.
Just as I was getting serious about haiku myself, our region - and the world - lost one of its brilliant poet-stars to cancer. And Peggy Willis Lyles was evidently as fine a human being as she was a poet. (You can read more about her life and work here.)
I'm grateful she left so many glorious haiku. I plan to read a couple of them from this monument in my talk on Saturday, which is called "Reach of a Live Oak - Haiku and our Family Tree." Click on the image to see larger. (Below are a couple of the poems which I look forward to sharing on Saturday.)
lap of waves
my daughter molds a castle
for her son
for her mother
bluets
roots and all
and one of my favorite haiku, ever - one which many people know:
I brush
my mother's hair
the sparks
Take time to seek out more of her work; you'll be richly rewarded.
Looking forward to traveling to St. Augustine for the meeting, and catching up with a few favorite poet-friends there, too, including our own Michelle H. Barnes! :0) (Michelle was at our 2017 conference as well - you can read my wrap-up of it, along with more of these haiku from the memorial plaque, here.)
Speaking of haiku, for this week's round-up, hop over to Reflections on the Teche, where Margaret shares a fun adventure with her students creating pi-ku. What's that, you ask? You'll have to click over to see her clever, outdoors-y assignment!