Ida Freilinger

Bellevue, Washington

Always an avid reader while growing up in Springdale, Pennsylvania, I worked as a secretary for Gulf Oil Corp. after graduating from high school. I started writing poetry while working for a writing degree at Metro State College in Denver. After moving to Seattle, I heard about Haiku Northwest and decided to join. I enjoy reading haiku at our meetings and the critique-type discussions that follow. I have a husband and two grown children. Haiku have always intrigued me because of their depth of feeling and brevity. My favorite poets are Robert Frost and Lawrence Ferlinghetti.

black-cap chickadee

lands on trim winter brushwood

to trap a spider

red, yellow tulips

how they turn my attention

to that corner plot

the crab apple tree

its white blossoms

tipped with snow

shoveling compost—

smoke rises from

the inner heap

plastic blossom—

the wee hummer feeder

is half empty