Walking into the storm

The NaPoWriMo prompt today is to write a sijo. I’ve never written one before, so I adapted a triolet I wrote yesterday, which in turn provoked a haibun to explain why I wrote the triolet. Here are all three.

Walking into the storm (haibun)

Yesterday I wrote a triolet. It had been storming all afternoon, thunder, lightning, high wind, heavy cloud and intermittent downpours of rain and hail. Redmond pestered and pestered to go out for a walk, so in the end I put on rubber boots, raincoat and took the pair of them out, across the meadow, to walk along the stream under the trees. Needless to say, Redmond soon decided this wasn’t exactly what he meant, and Bix got into a state of high anxiety. Both of them bolted for home the last stretch of the way, and waited by the stove to be towelled dry. The triolet came after.

so much green air
squeezed from heavy cloud
rivulets leaping

Walking into the storm (triolet)

We walked into a storm today,
the sky was dark, the wind was high;
I called to you, you wouldn’t stay.
We walked into a storm today,
You hunched your shoulders, turned away;
You might at least have said goodbye.
We walked into a storm. Today,
the sky turned dark, the wind too high.

Walking into the storm (sijo)

We walked into a storm today,
the sky was dark, the wind was high.

I called to you, you wouldn’t stay,
just hunched your shoulders, walked away.

I never thought the storm that broke
would be the one that meant goodbye.