Imaginary friends don’t talk back as much. That’s one reason to ask their opinions. They don’t know what’s really going on, but sometimes they have an interesting perspective. Real friends will try to set me straight according to their views of the direct path from here to there but they are often as wrong as I am.
I take a walk which takes me on a path temporarily away from all friends. There’s mystery before my eyes. The trees are budding. There will be Spring regardless of my wintery dreams.
BIRDSONG THROUGH BLUE SKY
WINTER’S BRANCHES TRUST AND BUD
WOULD THAT I COULD HEAR
Text: Linked to dVerse Haibun Monday. Victoria C. Slotto is hosting with the theme of tree buds.
Photos: “Tree Buds”, above, and “Early Blooms”, below.
Beautiful commentary and haiku, Frank. 🙂
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Thank you!
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Lovely walk Frank! I love “Would that I could hear.”
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Thank you!
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Your photos are always so exquisite and speak reams. Your walks always take me with you. I love the last line of your haibun and your haiku – it is perfect!
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Thank you, Toni! I am glad you liked that last line. It was the central point.
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I like that idea of listening closely. The birds here are definitely singing but the buds barely whisper, I suppose. Beautiful.
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Maybe they sing through the birds. Thank you, Victoria!
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Beautiful words, amazing perspective!
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Thank you!
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Very welcome!
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I like that it is a kind of pun: “Would (Wood) that I could hear.” Tree advice, wisdom that surpasses that of any friend.
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It is a pun now that you mention it. I like how you interpreted this. Thank you, Amaya!
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“but they are often as wrong as I am.” Love where you took this Haibun… enjoyed it very much.
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Thank you, Margaret! Even the wrong way sometimes leads to the right end.
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I like your bit of wisdom… It is important who you listen to. Perhaps if you listen closely you will the buds cracking open!
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They may speak in ways letting me know which path to take and where to look. That you, Dwight!
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What smart philosophy.
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Thank you!
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Is it the buds you want to hear, or the thing they hear that makes them bud? I like your musings here, Frank, and the theme of trust.
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Now that you phrase the question, I don’t know. I suppose it would have something to do with following the right path. Thank you, Sarah!
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Hi Frank,
imaginary friends sometimes have a different perspective.I love this Frank. Nice pictures
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Yes and sometimes they know the right answer. Thank you, Ben!
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I wonder what they’d be saying?
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They would probably have nothing particular to say to me, but indirectly whatever it is might make the path going forward clear. I don’t what that would be. Thank you, Jane!
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🙂
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Our daughters’ stuffed animals always had a lot to say. I guess that’s because they weren’t imaginary. 🙂
I also wonder what the buds would say. They are probably talking, but we can’t hear them.
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That’s true that stuffed animals aren’t completely imaginary. I don’t know what they would be saying, but hope it would be interesting. Thank you, Merril!
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I like your walk down an imaginary path that led to a clearing of the mind.
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Those walks do clear the mind. Thank you, Gina!
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Your words inspire hope. Listening to the unknown motivates faith in new beginnings.
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It does take faith and trust to listen to the unknown. Thank you!
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Frank this is probably the most perfect haibun I have read. I loved it. And yes, I have imaginary friends who don’t really know what is going on (lol) but listen. And comfort. You hit a nerve with this haibun and the haiku is lovely and deep. More, please, Friend Frank
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Those imaginary friends usually listen to me rambling and sometimes I imagine they send me counter advice. There’s nothing like a real friend (or nature around me) to add something new to the conversation. I am glad you liked this, Jane! Thank you!
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I agree. but having a ‘real’ friend is a rare experience when we have such constrained lives. Nature is a bit more generous. As for imaginary friends….the characters in my books started out imaginary but damn if they didn’t take over the novels and wrote them themselves. I was just a scribe. LOL. i could never had fashioned the dialogue or the events. And I believe strongly that when we do trust our imaginary characters (some who become close friends…) we can write way beyond where we are at the time. Others I am sure understand this. I have talked to a few novelists about this phenon….one Lucia Robson says this is the same for her. In any case our imaginary friends aid and abet us at times we really need the advice. counter or not. LOL
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I think you are right about those imaginary friends. Sometimes I wake up in the morning and there’s an idea which came from nowhere. All of a sudden there is clarity and I don’t see how I got from the evening before to the morning and then I feel like a scribe as well. The first draft at least is close to automatic writing. Then the more conscious censor comes in to make sure the sound is right and the meaning isn’t too crazy. At times I think those imaginary friends are just me, but at other times it would not be hard for me to believe in real muses. Or real imaginary friends.
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Oh Frank! I agree! I don’t know what to call this but it has directed so much of my writing, especially dialogue in novels. I have no experience with something, something cultural or confusing as things can be, and I find if I just throw over to the characters, they bite and chew and form it up .LOL. Yes, perhaps automatic writing. So many people haven’t a clue as to this and some actually are writers! Yes, the first draft is done, and then the censor comes in and corrects, deletes, arranges things around, etc. I think there is something of the ‘theta’ brain wave pattern here going on…in control. I was so mystified by this that I had to do some research. Very little was written until I got into this particular subject. You know what? though I had contempt for the idea, there might be something of ‘channeling’ going on here. The more diverse our writing is, the more I believe in the possibility. perhaps we are conduits to the personality of characters that we tap into . I haven’t a clue…but I do know that writing is such a solitary pursuit that I don’t get out much into society and these characters swirl around in my life and each one contributes something that becomes of great interest. Maybe this is what people mean as muses? I never believed in them, but I think our imaginary friends are so deeply part of our lives that we can’t deny them. Perhaps it is best to just make room for them and let them do the heavy lifting in writing. This has been my experience from the beginning, but I have only been writing longggg since 1990. Thanks, Frank. It’s good to know that someone else experiences these rather exhilarating things and mysterious things also.
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That’s a good idea about trusting the characters to do the heavy lifting in the story. It is like trusting a muse because it is hard to believe they can do anything at all and yet the story or poem gets written somehow. I’m pretty sure my brain isn’t writing this stuff. There’s something or someone out there helping and doing the heavy lifting.
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yep, that’s my take on the story, too. At least we know that we aren’t ever alone.
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Sometimes we get answers when away from all others, even those imaginary ones. Distance makes the path clearer. Love your words.
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Looking for a change of perspective is sometimes a way to see better. Thank you, Mary!
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I love this… to me it describes our need to be lost… we do not need our friends telling us another wrong way… also love the sense that spring will come no matter what we think…
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Good point about having a need to be lost or at least get a different perspective. We can trust that spring will come. Thank you, Bjorn!
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Oh, looks at those beauties! Your spring to close by.
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Spring is close by. Thank you, Misky!
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A beautiful poem, Frank.
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Thank you, Robbie!
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SMiLes.. For A Rest oF Nature As Tree oF LiFE
Tells No Fallen Tales witHout Words
aS tHere WiLL
be no
lies
iN eYes
thaT SPeak
MoRe tHaN FaLLeN
Letters Leave Cold..:)
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Thank you, Fred!
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SMiLeS AGAiN
Frank With
Welcome
And
Thanks Again.:)
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