The OutlawPoets
were invited to post an unlimited number of poems to the lucky
terms haiku thread. The theme included lucky terms such as
a rabbit's foot, an arrowhead, a 4-leaf clover etc.
The editors of Sketchbook selected their Monthly Haiku Choice from
these submissions. The Choice haiku are published in the
September 2007 Sketchbook.
For posting
convenience the haiku thread is reverse numbered. An author
index is offered at the end of the poems
The Luck
Haiku Thread
My new Daruma-san
-
I paint his second eye,
he looks surprised.
In Japan, the most
popular good-luck piece is an egg-shaped doll with a
fierce face and blank eyes, called Daruma-san. To make a wish on
a
Daruma-san, you first give him the gift of sight by painting one
eye. Then
you make your wish and wait. If the wish comes true, you reward
your
Daruma-san by painting his other eye. With this second eye for a
wish-come-true he is said to have “both eyes open,” which means
that there has been success in some endeavor.
#77 Zh.R.(Russia/USA)
laughing Hotei
clay belly worn smooth
from rubbing
#76. rm
We hit our Easter
eggs
against each other - mine survives,
lucky me!
(Done in the
Russian country villages.)
#75 Zh.R.(Russia/USA)
A child makes her
wish
on an apple - pulls the stem
only lightly.
(If the stem
remains intact, the wish will be granted.)
#74 Zh.R.(Russia/USA)
the coin
has been rubbed smooth
double-headed luck
#73 ts, Cdn
A fairy ring
on my lawn; stepping in
for good luck.
#72 Zh.R.
(Russia/USA)
halfway into space
she defies K2's
death zone
(This is the
mountain once considered cursed for female mountaineers:
http://www.dawn.com/2004/07/29/int11.htm
http://www.k2climb.net/story/stories/
50yearsofsummitsonaMountainnamedK2Jul312004.shtml)
#71. rm
horseshoe over the
door
crucifix on the wall--
nothing left to chance
#70. mk, CA
morning Greyhound
the sun rises --
her tattoo peeks over her waistband
What's lucky about
this you ask? Well, the observation made me feel
damn lucky. Observing and writing has it's privileges.
#69. mk, CA
roulette wheel --
he touches the luck pouch
in his pocket
#68. dpk, USA
angel charm
her fingers fly across
the test papers
# 67. TS Cdn.
a rabbit in the
cage
the grass is coming by itself
two times a day
# 66. Ginka
Biliarska, GB
Scaring away
a black cat, I lose
my talisman.
# 65. Zh.R.
(Russia/USA)
what a happiness-
though in the meadow
there are only three-leaved clovers
# 64. Ginka
Biliarska, GB
still
on the battlefield--
a soldier's runes
# 63. dpk
on a roll at last
he blows on the
loaded dice
# 62 rm
My Christmas luck:
we bump into each other
under the mistletoe.
#61 Zh.R.
(Russia/USA)
jump time in March
beat
mad hare zig-zags the fox run --
luck is a hole
# 60. mk, CA
dark clouds --
she gives him a kiss
for luck
# 59. Deborah P
Kolodji, California, USA
Mom's old garter
graces her daughter's leg
happy days!
# 58. ts Cdn
yellow lehua
blossoms
magic mana
for the dancers
The yellow lehua
is very rare and said to be good luck to have them
growing around you...I have two it is sacred to the goddess of
the
hula Laka
# 57. sbm Hawaii
green bells bloom
among weeds—my neighbors
forgive me
it is customary to
give a 'green bouquet' for good luck
on St. Patrick's day, not to mention, it's lucky my neighbors
forgive
me for not pulling weeds . . . love.
Give the luck of the Irish to someone special by giving them
green
flowers in March.
# 56. an'ya
crosseyed hoodoo
moon
for a gravewise rabbit foot--
sinister mojo
# 55. mk, CA
At last she finds
her three keys on a ring...
in a frozen rain pool...
Three keys worn
together symbolise the unlocking of the doors to
health, wealth and love.
# 54. Zh.R.
(Russia/USA)
lunar eclipse
the ying yang
of good fortune
# 53. ts Cdn
heavy mist
water for my
wishing well
# 52. sbm Hawaii
his back to the
augurs
he faces a setting sun --
the ides of March
# 51. mk, ca
pot o gold....
beans n brown sugar
cooked with hamhock
# 50. sbm Hawaii
Doing laundry -
in grandpa's pants pocket,
a dried acorn.
Carrying a dried
Acorn is believed to give the gift of youth to the
wearer. It can also be used for wealth and attraction of the
opposite
sex.
49. Zh.R.
(Russia/USA)
Queen of Hearts
unlucky in love...
off with his head
# 48. sbm Hawaii
they fed the groom
crescents under the stars
she waits within
*The Crescent and
Star: This symbol is a powerful love talisman that
also symbolizes sexuality, wisdom and well being.
# 47. ts Cdn
a beetle
crawled over her shoes
she scans obits
*The Curtin
University of Technology, Perth WA sates: It is bad luck
if a beetle crawls out of your shoe and when a beetle crawls
over
your shoe it foretells death.
# 46. ts Cdn
# 45. Omitted
under which ice
surface
do you wait?
humble loon
*On June 30th 1987
this coin "the loonie" replaced the one dollar
banknote. In the 2002 Winter Olympics the loonie became infamous
and
lucky.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loonie
# 44. tm CA
kissing the baby's
hand
my lips brush against
the jet bracelet
I don't know if
this is international, or specific to T&T but; In T&T
a jet bracelet linked in gold is placed on the baby's wrist to
ward
off negative forces.
# 43. gillena TT
My Russian hosts
beg me to have a third drink:
"God loves Trinity"
Trinity is "Troitsa"
in Russian, and another meaning of the word is
"trio" and anything that comes in three or done three times. In
Russian,
number "three" is "tri" (read as "tree"), as in Trinity. The
haiku's last
line is a Russian saying (translated word for word), and it
means that three
is a lucky number and anything done three times is good for you
and it
will bring you good luck. Or should I translate it this way:
My Russian hosts
beg me to have a third drink:
"God loves things in threes." ?
That, probably, is
better - less confusion, I assume.
# 42 Zh.R.
(Russia/USA)
helping hand
a golden charm depended
maloccio
In Italian
language, the evil eye is called "maloccio". If someone
has given you evil vibes, there is a hand sign to perform, which
is
believed to keep the evil spirits away from you. There is also
an
amulet that you can wear (or hang somewhere like keychain, car
mirror
etc) that protects you. It's called the "mano cornuto"
"hand-horn".
# 41. Judith
Gorgone
No luck for me
at finding arrowheads.. .
Unlucky future ahead?
# 40 Zh.R.
(Russia/USA)
mother's garter
slips easy over the thigh
on the new bride
The custom of
'something old, something new, something
borrowed and something blue' hold well in T&T Wedding garters -
images http://tinyurl. com/2vwfjl
# 39. gillena TT
under the arc
of a rainbow,
the chicory is blue
# 38. jw, USA
her bridal dress—
the white heather gleams
in the moonlight
*The finding and
picking of white heather is considered lucky in
Scottish traditions. This is partly due to its scarcity and also
due
to the belief that white heather grows on ground where no blood
has
been shed. This idea was made popular by the Victorians.
First crocus...
Shopping for a husband,
I buy five talismans.
# 36. Zh.R.
(Russia/USA)
long trip...
white sheep in the meadow
relieve the heart
# 35. ro
After scaring
the black cat off my path,
I trip and fall.
# 34. Zh.R.
(Russia/USA)
clink of cutlery
*blackeyed peas and rice
New Years Day
* For Trinidad and
Tobagonians, blackeyed peas and rice cooked
together called a 'blackeye peas and rice cookup' is thought to
bring
good luck in the coming year.
# 33. gillena TT
rainbows
the silver lining
encasing each tear
finally
a pot of gold
# 32. Judith
Gorgone, US
eyes closed
fingers crossed
after sighting
the shooting star
# 31. gillena TT
light
casting a rainbow
beyond the tears
# 30. Judith
Gorgone, US
fingers crossed
to hear
the results of the lottery
# 29. gillena TT
bowed head
curled bamboo stalks tied
with red ribbon
a t-boned Chevy
in the intersection --
fuzzy dies on the road
# 27. mk, ca
open fan-
ladybug* round and round
the rose
* some people also
use the name ladybird
In many countries ladybugs are a sign of good luck. They are
considered lucky because ladybugs save crops from bad pests
(aphids).
Farmers everywhere consider them lucky. All roses get aphids and
ladybugs eat aphids.
http://www.dierinbeeld.nl/animal_files/insects/ladybug/index.html
# 26. tm
neutralized
between the holy 2 and 7 -
two zeroes
#25. ro, IL
Talismans on sale
-
trying to guess
which one's the luckiest.
# 24. Zh.R.
(Russia/USA)
street racing
Mom's car
St. Christopher
slides sideways
#23 rm
pointing at a
rainbow...
cancels out
its good luck charm
# 22. shanna
new baby...
blue eyes shine from
the sweater
# 21. ro
without a penny
or a wish,
a fountain
# 20. jw, USA
wishing well
greetings--
clearing up the dry hole
of lots of money
# 19. db, UK
My health is good
she says
and spits three times
over her left shoulder.
The Russians spit
over their left shoulder (not really spit wet, but say three
times "tfoo, tfoo, tfoo" - the sound of spitting) in all those
cases when Americas knock on the wood. I personally am not
superstitious at all. But if I say, for instance, something like
"my health is real good" at the presence of a Russian friend, I
would be told, "spit three times over your shoulder". And I have
to do that, otherwise the person would feel bad thinking that something
may happen to my health. She won't really be scared, but she
would feel uncomfortable and that would make me feel
uncomfortable too. So, it's the only case when I do what is
customary to do for Russians in a conversation. It practically
has become a habit for the Russians.
# 18. Zhanna
P.Rader (Russia/USA)
long trip
a child's shoe dangles
from the car
# 17. ro
mother's meatloaf-
grandfather knocks
on wood
# 16. tm, CA
new couple...
squeezing a coined dough
on the door of dreams
# 15. ro
his leather jacket
proclaims him a Cobra
snake earrings at church
# 14. ts
alpha and omega-
where the praying mantis* kneels
are angels present?
* The sighting of
a praying mantis is believed to bring luck. Japan,
Africa and China believe this. And many parts of Europe say that
seeing a Mantid is lucky and that a Mantid kneels when angels
are
near.