Stella Pierides

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small mercies
windswept hair and the sea
on my lips

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deckchair –
I dream of its beech forest
home

Deck Chair

Prompted, posted on the NaHaiWriMo extension April 2011 here The prompt was: Trees.

(The photo is from Wikipedia! I really like this deckchair!)

Peach Tree

Suzi Smith, of Spirit Whispers, hosting this month’s Festival of the Trees, asks  us to think of trees which make us tick, inspire us, which get the metaphors flowing. Well, there is no question, for me there are three trees: the lemon, the fig and the olive. (earlier posts here and here). I wrote a novel with the lemon tree in the title as well as in the centre of the main character’s home; a poem about olive trees, which won second prize in the inaugural edition of Big Pond Rumours Poetry Competition, 2007, and, well, the fig tree features in the novel too.

But there are others, of course, there are others. I have a peach tree in my garden, resting against the wall of the house; two pear and three apple trees; a plum tree, various conifers, and a yew, in addition to my three lieblings! If you knew the size of my garden, you would understand that fitting so many trees in such a small space is no mean feat – but I simply enjoy having trees in my garden: sitting under them, watching them grow, flower, and prepare for winter, harvesting their fruit…

So we established I love trees. But is there one in particular? Thinking about it for the last week, wondering which one is really the most and absolute favorite of mine,  I finally came to a decision. I made a choice. My favorite is, breath deeply, yes, it is the Tree of Life. The tree of all trees, the tree that contains all of my trees and all trees and beings and life, in a nutshell. Or is it the other way round? Is it the case that each tree contains in itself the Tree of Life, and all that it represents? I’ll let you decide.

Today, Arbor Day in some parts of the world, I’d like to share a few pictures of my trees and a few of my tree-inspired haiku and micro-poems:

trap door
the scent of lemon blossom
carried by the wind

tree of life
an olive branch was never
enough

in the garden
a bush warbler serenades
plum tree blooms

against the fence
a forgotten willow broom
buds

Domesday Tweet

The last fruit from the Tree of Life
picked, weighed and DNAed,
graced Kew Garden’s Eden Landscape.

[In escarp March 26, 2010]

More tree pictures in my Scrapbook here

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trap door
the scent of lemon blossom
carried by the wind

Prompted, see NaHaiWriMo here.

Wonderful news! One of my haiku, ‘Chrysalis,’ was highlighted in issue 17 of Haikuverse, in Melissa Allen’s Red Dragonfly. Honored indeed to be included alongside, well, I don’t even dare mention names… you have to go and read for yourselves.

Melissa Allen’s blog is a must read if you are interested in Haiku, Haibun, Haiga and related forms. Informative, and fun to read, it will blow your socks off; it will surprise and delight you edition after edition. Go and see…

Also in my news: my very short story (vss) ‘Cruelty’ has been selected to be included in the Upper Rubber Boot Books anthology of work from Seven by Twenty. The anthology will be named 140 And Counting, and is expected to be released as an e-book by the end of 2011.

Finally, forthcoming:

Haiku ‘Vineyard’ in Shamrock, the Haiku Journal of the Irish Haiku Society

Haiku ‘Zen Garden’ in ‘A Handful of Stones’

Flash Fiction in 52250 A Year of Flash: ‘Fishing’

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firing clay –
once again playing
gods
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Prompted, posted on fb NaHaiWriMo extension 2011 here

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spring horse—
the robot rides without
a smile
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Prompted, posted on fb page of NaHaiWriMo extension here

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peonies –
soon after the snow
white lies
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Prompted, posted on NaHaiWriMo extension fb wall here

See also informative post about peonies on the World Kigo Database here

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egg tooth–
chipping away at the shell
of this haiku

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What is an egg tooth? Accrding to Wikipedia ‘ the egg tooth is a small, sharp, cranial protuberance used by offspring to break or tear through the egg’s surface during hatching.’  See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Egg_tooth

This is a prompted haiku, posted on the fb page of the NaHaiWriMo extension 2011
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Passion Play –
what is the price
of love?
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Prompted, posted on NaHaiWriMo extension 2011 here

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earth to earth–
half the garden under
my fingernails
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Prompted, on Earth Day 2011. See also here

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for your eyes only–
cherry blossom lit by
the full moon
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This haiku, prompted, was posted on NaHaiWriMo’s  facebook page here

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garden fence –
weeding round her narcissi
my neighbour
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learning to trust
my nature?
windmil
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tree of life
an olive branch was never
enough
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old people’s home –
she looks for her cherry tree
again and again
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boxed in
the nightjar flaps its wings
in vain
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Thames mist—
street lights join
the Milky Way
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Ammersee

April sun sets over the Ammersee. Magical!

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tin cry–
tired of bending, always
bending

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“When a bar of tin is bent, a crackling sound known as the ‘ tin cry’ can be heard due to the twinning of the crystals.”
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dream boat—
still waters and
a silent moon
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chrysalis –
when did I learn about
Venus?
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my diary –
more plum pudding
than plum fairy
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wind chimes –
at the garden gate
the ode to joy
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for the journey –
a sprig of thyme
between his teeth

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This haiku refers to the custom of placing thyme on or inside the coffin. It is supposed to give courage to the departed and facilitate the journey to the other world. See Wikipedia here.

Of course, thyme,  being an aromatic herb with antiseptic properties, has a variety of culinary and medicinal uses: For instance it is a major ingredient in mouthwash! I mainly cook fish with it!

(Prompted NaHaiWriMo extension April 2011)

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spring rains –
the wheel of fortune
rusts
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fairytale –
one thousand and one nights
breathe in this haiku
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The Arabian nights, the original collection of stories with roots in ancient and medieval times, originate from all over the Middle East and further. The basic story-telling frame involves Scheherazade telling a story a night to Shahryar the King who, disappointed in love, executes a succession of his brides after their first night together. In an attempt to keep herself alive, Sheherazade begins a tale without finishing it, so that the King, enthralled, spares her life in order to hear the rest of the story. If this rings a bell with writers who have been told to make their stories exciting to survive/avoid rejection, then so be it. In the end, we all have to survive to tell the tale.

In addition to the fairy tale, one other association is to Ai Weiwei’s 2007 exhibition in Kassel, Germany, named “Fairytale.” Ai Weiewei exhibited 1001 antique Chinese chairs, on which 1001 volunteers from China sat, and a structure made of 1001 antique Chinese doors salvaged from Ming and Qing Dynasty houses that had been built-over in times of rapid development. As he is reportedly held by police at present, I hope he finds enough tales to tell his captors.

This haiku was written in response to a prompt set by Melissa Allen during the April extension of NaHaiWriMo.

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iron of heaven –
Mars or Venus
round my neck

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Egyptian hieroglyphs… refer to meteorites as the “iron of heaven.”
Meteorite from Venus: extremely rare, debatable whether any meteorites from Venus could ever find their way to a necklace…
See also http://nyti.ms/ejDgzE

This haiku was writen responding to the prompt set by Melissa Allen, NaHaiWriMo (continued into April 2011).

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clean living–
salad leaves
and lemon juice
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old cat –
fluttering in her mouth
a dragonfly
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black tea no sugar
we wave without
smiling
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who do you think
you are fooling, crescent moon?
even frogs grow old
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While the NaHaiWri Mo 2011, which I thoroughly enjoy and learn from, is continuing for the month of April, I am also joining NaPoWriMo 2011. The challenge, and pledge is to write a poem a day, each single day, for the month of April.

NaPoWriMo, or National Poetry Writing Month, is an annual project. In the words of its founder, Maureen Thorson, NaPoWriMo commenced in 2003, when she decided to take up the challenge (modeled after NaNoWriMo, or National Novel Writing Month), and challenged in turn other poets to join her. Since then, she writes, the number of participants grew larger every year, and many writers, organizations, national and international, take part.

Well, phew! What a challenge, though, naturally, the daily poems are, and can only be first drafts. And, cheating a bit, I plan to use some of the haiku, senryu, and micropoems I will be writing for the NaHaiWriMo challenge; or at least versions of them.

Meanwhile, many thanks to Maureen Thorson for her brilliant idea and sustained effort. Indeed, congratulations Maureen!

For simplicity’s sake, I will be using my main blog (on which I post on various other issues) for posting. I will be giving links to other places I home my little ones in. Join me on this journey. Or better still, join the NaPoWriMo and write them yourself!