Spring Breath

first morning of spring
nature takes an icy breath
exhaling colour

Kim M. Russell, 2017

My response to Carpe Diem #1183 first day of spring (haruno saisho no hi)

Chèvrefeuille says that this month he is taking us back to the classical haiku by exploring classical kigo (season words) for spring. He reminds us that a kigo is a word that points to the season in which the haiku was written or took place. He has taken the kigo for this month from the Kiyose, a collection of season words in Japan.

Today our kigo is ‘first day of spring’ (haruno saisho no hi) and to make this kigo more alive for us, Chèvrefeuille has shared a few haiku by Basho (translated by David Landis Barnhill):

Our challenge is to create a haiku in which the first day of spring is present or at least something that points towards that kigo.

 the last snow is melting
snowdrops open in silence
the first spring day is here

© Chèvrefeuille