Wordless Poems
Billie Wilson

In a dream, I am discussing haiku with a classroom of high school students. I turn to write one of my haiku on the blackboard. The instant I finish writing, we are all in India. We watch as a woman weaves twigs, stones, and flower petals into a beautifully-patterned wall hanging, translating my haiku into a wordless haiga. She smiles at me, and I know she is me -- from a former life or from some time/space parallel that happens easily in dreams.

Just as suddenly, we are in the middle of the Arabian desert, and my haiku is written in the sand. As we watch, each letter of each word is replaced by a gemstone -- a diamond for each "e", a ruby for each "t", an emerald for each "r" -- then opals, garnets, agates, amethysts, sapphires -- until all the words vanish. Only the gemstones sparkle in the desert sun.

an empty page
fluttering in the wind
cherry blossoms

Billie Wilson's haibun is published here with her permission.