The Pause That Refreshes

July 27, 2026

The Pause That Refreshes

first morning, norton pond

dockside scrambled-egg
breakfast—sun shines, breeze riffles,
neighbor waves, loon calls.

—dotty seiter

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Notes about poem and art:
• “first morning” holds the pure delight of Dave’s and my having landed ourselves at a perfect vacation spot—a pause that refreshed—on a pond in Maine in early June. You might be amused at how many drafts this simple haiku underwent, at my leisure, before reaching its ultimate point of simple capture.
• Room to Grow holds the focused refreshment of pausing a few weeks post-vacation to develop a tiny paper canvas cut from the piece I painted in Maine. I worked on in the midst of a family gathering in which those who participated came and went in changing combinations and permutations over the course of two weeks.

artist at play

after kata hull, norton pond poem, prepping camp art

Posted by:

Dotty Seiter

10 responses to “The Pause That Refreshes”

carol lee

July 27, 2026 at 3:54 am

Sometimes the smallest of things are the most difficult. Would love to see the various iterations as the poem develops, like are art work develops. Love the feel of the fresh breeze, the good breakfast as the loon says its good morning.

Editing is always part of the process. Taking away and adding!

Love how you are disrupting the squares but they are still holding their own!

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1. Dotty Seiter
  
  July 27, 2026 at 5:41 am
  
  Carol, your original comment came through, as well as your second iteration (which I’ll delete); thank you for taking the time to rewrite when it seemed that WordPress wasn’t sending your original. That has happened with comments I’ve written—frustrating!
  
  I agree that sometimes the smallest and simplest of things can be the most difficult!
  
  Maybe sometime I’ll keep a record of all iterations of a poem as it develops. I wonder what it would be like to take in at the receiving end; even with something as short as a haiku, there might be dozens of revisions en route, with just one syllable changing per iteration! Maybe if I can hold the idea in mind, I might just show 2-3 snapshots of a particular poem’s revision.
  
  Thanks for letting me know the few words here evoke palpable connections—your feeling the breeze and hearing the loons saying good morning.
  
  I’m also very appreciative of your observation of the “both-and” of my disrupting the squares in this color study AND having them nonetheless “hold their own.” Yay!
  
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Joyful Puttering

July 27, 2026 at 8:02 am

Oh how I love a pause that refreshes! And finally capturing that moment at Norton Pond in your final haiku is as refreshing as it gets!

Love love love the little Room to Grow extraction. So simple and so captivating!

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1. Dotty Seiter
  
  July 27, 2026 at 8:56 am
  
  Thank you for loving that pondside pause that refreshes with me. At home I also eat most summer breakfasts al fresco, so eating outdoors isn’t unusual, but that breakfast, on that dock, on that pond, in that sunshine, on that morning still lingers vividly and actively in my memory!
  
  And thank you so much for your loving what you so aptly refer to as a little extraction and describe as so simple and so captivating—you have captured my experience exquisitely!
  
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lolajovan

July 27, 2026 at 2:35 pm

oh lordy, the way you boil down words to the barest essence is a monstrous skill! HUGE! I am not surprised at all by the number of iterations a haiku requires…I imagine trying to create a painting with a few lines – each line would have to be just exactly right. Oy!

Room To Grow surely has a grace and ease to it. The changing combinations and permutations of participants flow around this piece easily. It is a place of rest. Love! xo

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1. Dotty Seiter
  
  July 27, 2026 at 3:33 pm
  
  Lola, thanks for getting the “monstrous” challenge behind writing a haiku! The challenge is in essence the premise behind these (translated) words attributed to Blaise Pascal: I have made this letter longer than usual because I have not had time to make it shorter. While I mostly don’t aspire to meet all the requirements of classical haiku, I do really like the process of holding myself to the strictures of (1) 17 syllables, (2) three lines in a pattern of 5 syllables, 7, and 5, and (3) staying true to the idea I want to communicate.
  
  Whoa! Thanks too for reflecting back the grace, ease, flow, and place of rest you see in Room to Grow. You’ve found words for how I felt as I developed this tiny bit of real estate.
  
  xoxo
  
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Sheila Marie Delgado

August 3, 2026 at 3:18 am

Scrambled eggs in the sun, by the water! Heavenly! :o)

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1. Dotty Seiter
  
  August 3, 2026 at 5:36 am
  
  Such a gift to carry my simple breakfast out on a tray, across the little ramp to the floating dock on the lake encircled by trees under the wide sky, and enjoy my scrambled eggs and veggies in the fresh air!
  
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Sheila Marie Delgado

August 3, 2026 at 3:27 pm

You reminded me of my family (extended) summers in the Colorado Rockies. Eating in the great outdoors, near a lake or a babbling stream.

Just the best, and the food some how tastes better too.

Simple joys! xoxo

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1. Dotty Seiter
  
  August 3, 2026 at 4:17 pm
  
  Food eaten al fresco does taste better! I eat bkfst and lunch on our back deck every time weather allows, and Dave and I picnic every evening from June thru about September : )
  
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