May Flowers

The cherry tree has been stripped of blossom, but the first of the honeysuckle is blooming in our garden, in time for this week’s flower moon. Its scent floats on the breeze, having survived the wind and downpours to which this May has subjected us. This morning, the sun is shining on a cascade of brash flowers the colours of pear drops; compared to them, the scentless pale pink bistort bottle-brushes seem demure.

bright painted ladies
as soon as the moon rises
she outshines them all

Kim M. Russell, 24th May 2021

My response to dVerse Poets Pub Haibun Monday: Flower Moon

Frank is back to host this week’s edition of Haibun Monday and inspire us with the Flower Moon, May’s full moon that appears this Wednesday, signifying the flowers that bloom during May. He says that other names for May’s brightest moon phase are: Corn Planting Moon, Mother’s Moon and Milk Moon, from the Old English Rimilcemona, which means Month of Three Milkings, when cows were milked three times a day.

Franks says that he is fascinated by the moon, as are the poets whose work he has shared: e.e. cummings, Michael Dylan Welch, and Peggy Hale Bilbro.

Frank invites us to write moon haibun, taking it in whatever direction inspires us, or just alluding to the Floral Moon. in one to a few paragraphs of prose—usually written in the present tense—and preceded or followed by one or more haiku—nature-based, using a seasonal image—that complement without directly repeating what the prose stated.

47 thoughts on “May Flowers”

    1. We are lucky to have honeysuckle that blooms twice: once in spring and then again in summer, And it’s right outside my window – I can see it from my desk.

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  3. I am sure these flowers look fantastic lit by moonlight! I’m pleased your honeysuckle survived. We didn’t get much cherry blossom here because of frost, but we are starting to get fruit which is rather lovely!

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  5. Gorgeous:

    “a cascade of brash flowers”

    “the scentless pale pink bistort bottle-brushes seem demure”

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  7. Our honeysuckle was blooming at the same time the air was thick with oak pollen, so I had to admire them through the window, but I enjoyed seeing the hummingbirds’ appreciation for them.

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  9. Our honeysuckle blooms as the cottonwoods fill the air with cotton balls, and the allergies abound. Your poem fits right into the love songs for Spring others have spawned out here on the trail.

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  13. honeysuckle grows along the highway I drive to Grand Rapids. On Saturday with the windows of the car open the route was perfumed until I hit the city. A lovely flower with a beautiful name, and a poem to do it justice.

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    1. Thank you, Lisa! I love honeysuckle. My grandparents had some in their little garden and I’ve enjoyed the honeysuckle here for twenty one years. We did have jasmine on another trellis, but the nettles choked it.

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    1. Thank you! Bistort is a herb I have never used and I should find out m ore about it. Those pink bottle brushes come back every year, no matter what.

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