Carpe Diem Utabukuro #9 Ruth Yarrow

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

It's time again for an episode of Utabukuro in which I ask you to choose a favorite or special haiku or tanka with memories. You can choose a haiku or tanka by yourself, a classical or non-classical haiku or tanka by the poet or poetess of your own choice. No prompt or theme  to follow just free choice.After sharing your favorite haiku or tanka please tell us why you have chosen that haiku or tanka. And then write an all new haiku or tanka inspired on the haiku or tanka you have chosen. 

This week I have had some trouble to find a haiku poet/ess for this episode of Utabukuro, but finally I found a few nice haiku by a haiku poetess named "Ruth Yarrow". I searched the Internet and found a lot of information about Ruth Yarrow (1939 - ) and a great list of haiku written by her.
Of course I have read them and I really was caught by one of her haiku which I will share here as my favorite haiku by Ruth Yarrow:

evening
our paddles drip
into liquid sunset

© Ruth Yarrow

And I have a brief biography of her:

Ruth Yarrow was born in 1939 in southern New Jersey and grew up in small college towns from North Dakota to Ohio. In the 1950s, a nature study camp she attended in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia led her to choose Antioch College in Ohio for its strong environmental education program. She taught science with the Peace Corps in Ghana, and then earned a Masters degree in ecology from Cornell University. 

While on the environmental studies faculty of Stockton State College in New Jersey in the early 70s she taught a course on the natural world seen through world literature. In this class she asked her students to write haiku and got hooked herself. She taught ecology in colleges and environmental centers for many years while volunteering with such organizations as the Nuclear Weapons Freeze Campaign.

When their two children fledged, she and her husband Mike moved to the Pacific Northwest where they reveled in mountain backpacking. In Seattle, Ruth worked with Physicians for Social Responsibility for nuclear waste cleanup and with the Fellowship of Reconciliation on peace and justice.

Ruth Yarrow (1939 - )

After her husband died in 2014, Ruth moved back to Ithaca, New York to be near her children and grandchildren. Ruth has had more than 650 haiku in the major journals and five books of haiku published. She has given readings and workshops, judged contests, and served as an editor and Haiku Society of America regional coordinator. She says that writing haiku helps her be aware of the richness of life. 
Ruth Yarrow is now the honorary curator of the American Haiku Archives at the California State Library in Sacramento, for the season 2015-2016.

Here are a few other haiku written by Ruth:
 
through twilight
the waterfall bends the flood
into sound

spring drizzle
rounding the thorn
a drop of light

© Ruth Yarrow

But back to the haiku which I gave above as my favorite; Why is that my favorite? Well I will try to tell you ...

evening
our paddles drip
into liquid sunset

© Ruth Yarrow

This haiku is first a beauty ... I can see the scene in front of my eyes, that sparkling sunlight as the drips from the paddles are falling and breaking the reflection ... such a fragile image. It brought a nice haiku written by Chiyo-Ni in my mind:

Touched by the line
Of the fishing pole —
The summer moon

© Chiyo-Ni
   
And I found a wonderful painting by Elisabeth Zartl inspired on this haiku by Chiyo-Ni.



Touched by the line
Of the fishing pole —
The summer moon

© Chiyo-Ni
painting by Elisabeth Zartl

And now I have to write/compose an all new haiku (or tanka) myself inspired on that beauty by Ruth Yarrow. Here is my response:

full moon
broken reflection
a chestnut

© Chèvrefeuille

This episode of our special feature Utabukuro is open for your submissions at noon (CET) and will remain open until September 12th at noon (CET). Have fun!