Monday Mantra

~ Live & Learn

bird,tree

Woodpecker,
why so much effort
for such little gain?

~ Jim Harrison & Ted Kooser, Braided Creek: A Conversation in Poetry

 

Credits: Image: wikimedia. Poem: Thank you Steve Layman for pointing me to Braided Creek.

 

16 thoughts on “Monday Mantra”

  2. What a lovely photo and amusing haiku.
    Woodpeckers certainly make a noise with their beaks on trees. The last time I heard one, I thought it was a hammer drill in the woods. The huge sound could be heard a long way off and then I espied one green woodpecker working his beak off for something too small for me to see!

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      1. I think it’s set out as one, but not everybody who writes haiku sticks to the traditional syllable count and there’s nothing wrong with that, although some would argue otherwise. Even the great haiku masters have varied their count occasionally. As in novel writing, it’s all a question of knowing the rules first and then breaking them when the spirit moves.

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  3. A small gain in life, however small it may be, may be just the requirement for our life to move forward. Without it we may still be looking to start. Either a meal or a new home, a possible mate, a family the woodpecker may think! Great post!

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