a bit too early

as predicted, it snowed yesterday and today but mostly a dusting. but somehow it still feels like spring. especially as i saw and heard the first robin of the season yesterday evening. a plump adult singing alone, the fluted notes ringing in the soft spring rain. the snow on the ground has all but melted but then this is minnesota where snow storms in april are not uncommon.

21/22: we got lots more snow although less than half the ten inches predicted. so instead of candytufts and dandelion fluffs, we had snow flurries. went for a walk around silverlake to see how the geese are doing. the lake is now completely ice-free but there were very few geese. it was a lazy saturday afternoon, overcast. most of the mallards were asleep amid the flurries and the restless geese. a lone mallard was repeatedly diving and then fluttering to shake the water off its wings, almost as if it was trying to get rid of something clinging to it. heard the first "potato chip" but couldn't see the goldfinch. friday was also the vernal equinox, officially the first day of spring. despite the robin and the goldfinch and the buds bursting with life, the snow decided to defer the festivities. hopefully not for too long.

pondered a bit on haiku/hokku and what belongs and what does not. specifically, was thinking about the appropriateness (or lack) of including things like jet engine noises in haiku as a photo taken on blackdog lake brought to mind plane roars (the lake being close to the airport). the belief that only sounds of nature should constitute haiku not only seems dogmatic but also seems a perverted view of buddha nature. it is the same mind which says that a dog does not have buddha nature. poets like david coomler are attached to form and your average haiku world, english language poets writing about random things in random versifications are attached to emptiness. there is clearly a middle path, even though one cannot pin it down in words. and as i wrote an, someone might be inspired to write about fallen hair in the bathtub but i probably would not- even if it turned colour in autumn. an also had me thinking about the use of "i" in haiku. there definitely is a place for it no more important and no less than any other natural phenomenon. the mind which separates "i" from nature is no different from the mind that removes it altogether. most of the classic poets including ryokan have used "i" albeit sparingly. after all, there is the alaya vinjana, which observes. this is a more neutral, a pastel coloured consciousness as opposed to a flashy, gaudily dressed ego mind. of course, some poets might disagree and say the first kiss or the day after are equally valid haiku topics. i think i would agree but it also depends on how it is written and the mood it evokes.