April 27, 2026
Lively Neighborhood
eavesdropping
slender crisp crescent
of horizon-shrugging moon
rises before sun,
captures whistled wakening
pillow-talk of red robins
—dotty seiter
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1.75 x 1.75″; watercolor and ink on paper
Make Yourself at Home series
2026
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Notes about poem and art:
• With “eavesdropping” I share a predawn neighborhood observation, adhering to the classical Japanese tanka form of 5 lines of 5 – 7 – 5 – 7 – 7 syllables with a mid-poem pivotal turn plus my own stricture to end no lines with prepositions, pronouns, or articles—a considerable and enjoyable challenge! I was pleased to honor a 1,300-year-old structure while using a contemporary voice, infusing personification, anthropomorphism, and metaphor into what traditionally would have been more understated, naturalistic observations.
• I recently participated in Karen Abend’s online Sketchbook Revival Challenge. During a zoom kick-off, she offered a series of quick prompts, with opportunities to scribble, doodle, paint, write, and play in our sketchbooks. The quick-moving aspect helped me dive in intuitively without overthinking. The Hatches is what filled one of the tiny squares on my page, using ink and watercolor paint to create a whole neighborhood of colorful crowded houses.
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9 responses to “Lively Neighborhood”
I love when your poems give us a little window into your early morning walks. I never thought about us eavesdropping on the birds…but that’s certainly what we’re doing!
At first glance you painting is just a colorful geometric design….but THEN I saw all the houses. And once you see them….I can’t unsee them and imagine a close knit community where everyone is welcome!
MaryAnn, thank you for these reflections!
I’m grateful for your affirmation of the little windows into my early morning walks and for your affirmation of my moving beyond an original observation of crescent-moon-to-my-left-birdsong-to-my-right to the poetry held within.
And it totally tickles me that first you saw no more than colorful geometric shapes and then you saw all the houses, the close-knit community, the welcoming neighborhood! Yes!!!
Carol, thanks for your feedback. I took an enjoyable deep dive with this spare little poem. Glad you heard the beauty in the phrase pillow-talk of red robins. I was out on my usual predawn walk, reveling in the seasonal shift to predawn walks that include the song of songbirds; I found myself wondering, who were these birds making noise before sunrise?!
Your lovely phrase: quilt of community : )
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oooo, love that you picked up on the horizon-shrugging moon, Lola! When I first spied the moon on the day that inspired this poem, I thought of it as horizon-hugging b/c it was so close to the horizon, and I loved the alliteration, BUT it was on its way UP, and confidently outpacing the sun, SO horizon-shrugging it became!
And thank you for the hug of your OHs and AHs and AHAs. Grateful!
Also delighted with your taking note of how tiny this little jam-packed piece of art is : )
The crescent of the moon was like the cupped hand of the universe amplifying the perhaps-meant-to-be-private conversation of the robins! I had a great time engaging with imagery, syllable count, pivots, and more in this poem. I’m grateful for your enjoyment—thanks!
LOL at the ever-present distorted impression of size that comes with posting images on a web page! The image of the 1.75 x 1.75″ photo above, of The Hatches, appears not only considerably larger than its real self in my journal, but also slightly larger than its “quilt” image above which is itself multiplied 4 times hahaha!!!
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Thank you, Dotty. For sharing your joy fueled creations! xoxo
Bravo!
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