Kentucky Haiku & Sketchbook Spreads

A series of nature-inspired lines and watercolor sketches in celebration of nature on a farm in Kentucky with family

While visiting family in Kentucky, I found Haiku to be the most compact and portable way to hold my experiences. My sketchbook drawings (scroll to the bottom for spreads) also helped capture the essence of being, just being.

BOS-PHL-LEX

Waiting for plane wings

To take us to Kentucky

Family awaits

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Kid in middle has sweatshirt hoodie cinched shut to catch zzz's. We got to the airport way too early. Enough time for the oldest to snooze and for me to draw/watercolor this first page.

First Morning

Dawn breaks, I awake

Brief mono no aware

Firmly plants me here

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"Mono no aware" (物の哀れ) is a Japanese concept that translates to "the pathos of things" or "sensitivity of things." I felt it deeply while visiting family in Kentucky. For more on this concept, visit

PresentWordTravels-by Sammi 静辰

and their post on Sakura blossoms. Also, enjoy the song of same name by indie rock band, “Great Grandpa”.

Rocketcress

Bulrushes whisper

Fresh breeze tickles rocketcress

Dragonfly alights

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Kentucky in the springtime is glorious. I sat for over an hour at this pond on my sister’s property documenting the bulrushes, listening to their sound, and trying to capture a dragonfly on camera. Thanks to Google Lens, I discovered Rocketcress (which is edible).

Short Farm Haiku

Free to pee,

You and me.

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Great Pyrenees farm dogs, Delilah and Jumper.

Rooster

Red wing blackbird squawks

Attacks the window, seeing -

His own reflection

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This is a daily morning ritual for this bird. My sister calls him her "rooster". In the video below, the sound you here is my son closing the door upstairs, coincidentally at the same time Rooster hits the sliding glass door. Why he does this every morning is beyond me. Looking at his reflection? Looking for a mate? Threatening a perceived rival?

Paleozoic

In Kentucky creeks,

Ancient sea lilly fossils

Await the gleaners

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Kentucky fossils from the Paleozoic era are all over creek beds, this land once covered by warm shallow seas.

Lingering

Lingering late breeze

Shakes Eastern black walnut leaves

Moments fly away

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One of my hopes on this trip was to discover native trees and plants. Luckily Spring was in full swing so I could Google lens new leaves.

Sandstone Arch

Shy Mayapple blossoms

Under leaf and sandstone arch -

A hiker's surprise.

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At the base of the Natural Stone Bridge in Kentucky, we discovered mayapple blossoms living alongside Canadian nettle.

Spring Ephemeral

Nibbled here and there

Withered trillium -

Pale ephemera

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My first ever trillium sighting (in the wild) at Natural Stone Bridge Park, Kentucky.

A Two-fer

Our ears strain in vain

On slivered moon evening

For coyote howls

••••••••••••••••••

Darkened pond harbors

Only deafening peepers

Singing their love songs

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A true story from our last evening in Kentucky. We never heard the howls, just the peepers. I think I now have a collection of Kentucky-haiku (Kentucku?)

Sketchbook Spreads

Morning view and Rooster squawks

20-lb monster cat “Poof” and Great Pyrenees “Delilah”

My sister’s shop produces patches (top left are my favorites), Crinoids & Corals, and Ace the Quarter Horse.

Basketball boys in Somerset, KY and Ben waiting to figure out whether he wanted to participate in target practice (damn this sketchbook sucks for watercolor!)

A favorite cup from my sister’s house, from which I drank coffee every morning. I have since purchased my own!

Thank you for reading!