Stories Hidden in Fingers of Grass

What sings to you?

Hello, Grass Murmurers!

Today, in lieu of a cohesive essay, I have three part prose poem (or three micro-essays if you prefer) that goes with the haiku comic below. Think of it like the Beatles’ song A Day in the Life¹.

serenaded by
a chorus of coastal grass
led by a zephyr

Stories Hidden in Fingers of Grass

I

As a child, I wondered what angels sounded like when they sang. I have since discovered that angels, or perhaps bodhisattvas, sound like the murmurs of coarse coastal grass as the wind moves the blades like a skilled flautist delicately pressing the precise keys to conjure the melody into existence.

II

I remember the exact moment when I learned the word zephyr. I heard the word in a scene in the 1987 adaptation of Anne of Avonlea. The character Morgan Harris uses the word in talking with Anne Shirley. The word “zephyr” felt like an incantation. While my mom continued watching Anne sort out her love life, I ran over to our thick Webster’s dictionary, which now seems to have been a preposterously and impossibly large book. It took me forever to find the word as I wasn’t sure of the spelling. And then I saw it on the page. That glorious strange spelling. A word that not only started with a “z”, but ended with a “yr”. A word I seldom used because the moment rarely felt right to deploy such a sacred word.

III

The roar of the ocean was drowned out by the blustering of the wind and rustling of the grass. It was the first time since I was a child that I had spent so much time examining blades of grass. The beautiful thing about wild grass is the variety of textures, colors, and shapes of the blades. Each finger is as different from its siblings as I am from mine. Ever since that unseasonably cold August afternoon, I can’t look at a manicured monoculture lawn in suburbia and not feel a pang of sadness.

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Be the poetry you want to see in the world!

Custom Haiku Comics

Last year, for a limited time, I offered anyone who wanted one a custom haiku comic. I called it digital busking.

Now, I’m once again doing some digital busking. This will also be for a limited time.

Here are a few examples of the comics from last year:

How does it work?

If you want a custom haiku comic you can reply to this email or email me directly at jason@weirdopoetry.com. Tell me what you want me to write the haiku about and who it is for. Last year, lots of people ordered these as gifts.

Then I get to work and within 1-2 days, I send you your custom haiku comic. I will also send you my Venmo information and my PayPal link. You then pay me whatever you want, or nothing at all—all guilt-free.

The comic is yours to do with whatever you want. I will send you a high-quality version in case you want to print it out and a social-media-friendly version. I reserve the right to use the comics in my portfolio or to publish them as part of a collection of comics.

If you’ve ever wanted your own custom haiku comic, or you’re looking for a unique gift for that hard-shop-for friend, email me, and let’s get started making some poetry magic!

Cheers,

Jason

1. For the song A Day in the Life, the Beatles took part of a song that John Lennon had started but not finished and a fragment of a song that Paul McCartney had been working on and put them together to make something beautifully weird.