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    Sedona.Biz – The Voice of Sedona and The Verde ValleySedona.Biz – The Voice of Sedona and The Verde Valley
    Home»Sedona News»Sedona Lit: Cactus Haikus
    Sedona News

    Sedona Lit: Cactus Haikus

    June 13, 20168 Comments
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    Sedona Lit is a series by Dr. Elizabeth Oakes, an award winning poet and former Shakespeare professor. A Sedonian of three years, she will highlight the literature, written or performed, of Sedona, past and present.

    photo_elizabethoakes_216By Elizabeth Oakes
    (June 13, 2016)

    Here we are again – in a Sedona summer, when those weaponized plants, the cacti, split open with color so saturated it seems to be swarming around them, like the bees, as well as coming from them.

    It’s the season for poets and photographers too. I sent out a call to Sedona and environs, and they answered. Here are twelve haikus, all hot-off-the-press written for this column, and four photographs for a Sedona.Biz convocation and celebration of cacti and creativity:

    Overnight Cactus flowers appear
    Fragile beauties in the heat
    For a moment a yellow dream
    (Victoria Nelson, artist)

    20160613 oakes1a

    A saguaro’s crown—
    No blossoms, only sighs
    New from the other world.
    Alberto Rios (Arizona Poet Laureate)

    20160613_oakes2On one day each spring
    exotic blooms burst and die
    on patient cacti
    (Mary Heyborne, writer)

    Cacti like Women
    Beautiful Nature Today
    Dangerous Tomorrow
    (Nicholas Kirsten Honshin, artist)

    purple cholla buds
    host bobbing black beetles,
    pollination partners
    (Gary Every, writer)

    Sedona Gift Shop

    Desert blossoms wave –
    fluorescent colors swim in
    tentacles of thorn
    (Elizabeth Oakes, columnist)

    Glochids on my lips,
    Buried deep in grimaces.
    I kiss the cactus.
    Eric Vaughn Holowacz (cultural engineer)

    20160613_oakes3gold white scarlet burst
    from cacti’s liquid cores in
    sexual laughter
    Cat Anderson (writer-editor)

    fox tails thriving
    among the prickly pear –
    sanctuary seekers
    Bill Ward (writer)

    Laughs from clowns and gifts
    Tawa pulse of sun and peace
    At Hopi dances
    (Andrea Houchard, philosopher)

    Saguaro arms bent
    Morning dew shines on sharp pines
    The day is brighter
    Kathy Mackey (photographer)

    20160613_oakes4Softness sits on hooks
    Like memories in my heart.
    See, but do not hold.
    Kate Hawkes (theatre professional)

    To the poets and photographers: thanks ever for sharing your creativity! To the readers: please feel free to add a cacti haiku of your own in the comments section below!

    I’ll be doing a column on Monsoon Poetry, so when you see the clouds gathering, grab your pen or laptop and watch for my call. Only requirements will be that it be five lines or less and that it be about the Sedona monsoon (not, say, just rain in general). Remember, you don’t need to be a professional writer, just a Sedonian or an Arizonian!

    Healing Paws

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    8 Comments

    1. Janice Carter on June 13, 2016 11:24 am

      I loved the Haiku. I was too late for this one, hope to write Monsoon Haiku, Fun! Love, Janice

      • Elizabeth Oakes on June 15, 2016 7:39 am

        Thanks for replying, Janice! I’ll be looking for your monsoon poem!

    2. Adell Shay on June 14, 2016 3:19 pm

      Oh these are delightful, et al!

      I love your writing, Libby – every stroke I’ve read or heard. Thank you for showering my consciousness with your unmistakable, yet utterly unique birdsong.

      • Elizabeth Oakes on June 15, 2016 7:40 am

        Hope you’ll send a monsoon poem, Adell! Thanks for the note!

    3. liberty lincoln on June 14, 2016 5:38 pm

      Very nice… Haiku friends… luv you all

      • Elizabeth Oakes on June 15, 2016 7:40 am

        Thanks, Liberty! Appreciate your comment!

    4. kate hawkes on June 15, 2016 12:03 am

      Thank you for these beautiful words and images and for inviting me me to be part of it. Monsoon here I come.

      • Elizabeth Oakes on June 15, 2016 7:41 am

        The pleasure is everyone’s, Kate!

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    How’s it going up there in heaven? It’s Father’s Day here on Earth, and I’m thinking of you—missing you—now that I’m one year older than you were when you passed away. I just want to thank you for everything you taught me. Thank you for taking such good care of me. Thank you for helping me walk when I couldn’t walk. Thank you for making me strong against all adversity. Thank you for teaching me how to look behind the scenes and see what’s not being shown.

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