Haiku for Mother’s Day

My mum is so understanding. Even at the grand old age of 52 (eek!), I still have this urge to make stuff – origami bunnies that pop up in the post, water colour floral offerings that really should be kept in the dark, pom pom fancies that unravel with no warning and all manner of misshapen knitted and crocheted objects. And she receives them benevolently, smile in place and serene demeanour. So what to do for this year methinks?

So while putting together our Mother’s Day email, I came over all creative and had a fancy to include some poems or sayings about Mums. But while online searches came up with deep and meaningful verses none of them really spoke to me or seemed to be about my mum. So `write something yourself’ said that not always helpful voice in my head. `Yikes! Where to start?’ countered that doubting and timorous voice in reply!

What is needed here is a short, pithy achievable means of putting in to a few words some thoughts and recollections about my mum and what she’s meant to me at different times of my life. And then – da da dahhhhh – thank you Simon Mayo! For some reason, I remembered his teatime haikus on his BBC 2 radio show. I could do that I thought and here are my efforts!

Such fun – and once I started I couldn’t stop! Why not give it a go – we can all be creative with a haiku; general rule is 3 lines, 5 syllables in lines 1 and 3, 7 syllables in line 2.  But I say, when the urge strikes, go off piste and go with the flow!

Billowing sheets pegged
Aired completely to be dry
My mother taught me

Change of direction
Big decision to be made
She says be free, you choose

Tense words spat out again
Silly arguments return
Mum keeps smiling on

Moving furniture
Easy chair stuck in doorway
She can’t stop laughing

Bawling baby sounds
Chores to complete all day long
She never stops love

Miranda on box
Falls over but keeps smiling
Such fun says her mum and mine

Rushing to work now
Tea on the table at 5
Children to Brownies

She has got older
When did this event occur?
It surprised me, why?

Ringing on the phone
Always happy with my news
It matters to her