Paws, Petals, & Wings

Haiku & Senryu of Cats, Flowers, Bees, and Butterflies

By Michelle Hoffmann

A cat waits quietly at the edge of the garden.

A butterfly settles on a tulip.

Bees hum among the lavender while somewhere nearby, a kitten prepares to pounce on absolutely nothing.

Paws, Petals, & Wings is a collection of 100 haiku and senryu by Michelle Hoffmann celebrating the small, beautiful, funny, and fleeting moments found in nature—and in the curious creatures who share our lives.

Throughout these poems, cats wander freely among flowers, butterflies drift through summer afternoons, bees go about their endless work, and gardens change quietly with the seasons. There are roses touched by morning rain, peonies heavy with blossoms, sunflowers facing the light, wild violets hiding in the forest, and magnolias dreaming beneath the moon.

And, naturally, there are cats.

Cats sleeping in patches of sunlight. Cats chasing shadows. Cats staring at us as though they remember a time when they were worshipped as gods. Kittens discovering snow, butterflies, toys, and the complicated art of catching things that refuse to be caught.

The poems move between the playful observations of senryu and the quiet imagery of haiku, allowing humor and wonder to exist side by side. Some capture nothing more than a beautiful instant. Others carry a hint of something deeper—memory, change, freedom, companionship, or the awareness that even the loveliest moments eventually pass.

But another one is always arriving.

Paws, Petals, & Wings is a book for cat lovers, gardeners, flower lovers, butterfly watchers, bee admirers, poetry readers, and anyone who has ever stopped what they were doing because something small and beautiful caught their attention.

Read a few poems with your morning coffee. Keep the book beside your favorite chair. Take it into the garden. Open it to a random page when you need a quiet moment.

Because sometimes the world doesn’t need to shout to get our attention.

Sometimes it only needs a paw, a petal, or a pair of wings.