heart chamber
fire extinguisher
fire extinguisher after the long drive my burning feet
alveoli
open door air inflates the alveoli
extreme heat
extreme heat a bead of sweat rolls into my eye
being there…
“Parkinson’s”
Parkinson’s the slowly advancing desert . HSA Members’ Anthology 2021
ping pong
following the ball's trajectory ping pong
washing day
washing day a story behind each mark .
he fills his calendar
.
soon to retire he fills his calendar with seed starting charts
If you are wondering what happened to the greenhouse…here it is! With its shade net hat, as it is very hot here, reaching 93 Fahrenheit or more.
Still work to be done to the surrounding area, but the greenhouse works already. We’ve sown various seeds in eggshells and egg boxes, planted rosemary cuttings, tomato and cucumber plants…Well worth the time and effort …
.
.
City Farm Augsburg
Today, it was Open Garden Day in Augsburg. I visited private gardens and enjoyed seeing what others do and think about their gardens, gardening in general, the climate…Everyone I spoke to is thinking of a future of water and energy shortages and how to adapt their garden to survive with less water (no, nobody mentioned planting cacti!) and energy.
Back home, looking through the photos I took, I see mainly sheep and hens! And the City Farm Augsburg, one of the participating gardens, and the one I enjoyed the most. What a fantastic collection of plants, herbs, vegetables, weeds, animals, all growing happily together! Ildi, our guide and co-leader of the project (the other co- being Bennie, her husband) presented the garden project and their efforts to make it self-sufficient. The farm has neither water nor electricity. They collect rainwater for all their watering needs!
And the best part: for the last month, I had been looking for a comfrey plant for my garden. None of the garden centers I went to stocked it. Some didn’t even know of it, or thought of it as a weed. But here in the City Farm, it was flourishing, growing masses of flowers. When I declared my interest, Ildi dug out two plants, one flowering blue and the other purple, for me!
https://cityfarmaugsburg.wordpress.com/about/ the garden seems to have grown since the video.
What a good day it was!
mid-summer
mid-summer the fragrance of roses in the air .
The beautiful roses are from a friend’s garden.
(Fragrance from memory,)
Mariupol
onion skins
does it matter if I change my mind onion skins
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LandArt, Bonstetten
From my Sunday walk in the Augsburg Nature Park, Westliche Waelder (Western Forests), in Bonstetten.
Hama Lohrmann created an art trail as part of the “LandArt Project, Bonstetten.” He positioned nine installations, unique and constantly changing due to the influence of time and weather, across the six-kilometer circuit through the forests surrounding the village. He collected the pieces of wood for his works on his walks through the forests and used them as they were, without cutting, sculpting, or in any way shaping them.
Explorations in transience, humanity, fragility…and more, esp. for me, as I managed to get lost in the forest (but was soon back on track)!
swollen river
My haiku in Charlotte Digregorio’s Daily Haiku blog. Many thanks to the editor for re-printing the poem (Modern Haiku, 45:2, 2014).
Good Friday
Good Friday the distance between heaven and earth
freeze frame
how to still my swaying… freeze frame
still time
Parkinson’s Awareness Month
Tulips for Breakfast
Body language
Sixty years ago, she swallowed her grandmother’s most valuable possession: a ring, the only object to have survived the forced expulsion from their ancestral lands. The very ring that her grandmother, every night before bed, kissed and raised to the sky as if God needed the daily reminder that he had let her down.
Since that day of the half-accidental ingestion, and for two years afterward, the child was forced to use a potty, so that her grandmother could search its contents for the ring. To no avail.
In the summer of 2021, however, the ring exited the girl—now a grandmother herself—as if of its own volition. Effortlessly. The symbol of her family’s pain that her muscles had smothered, had been released. She heard the sound and to her astonishment, saw the ring lying at the bottom of the toilet bowl. Feeling nauseous, and while trying to steady herself, she accidentally pulled the chain that flushed away her long-held secret. She caught a glimpse of the ring before it disappeared in the swirling water to join the big, open sea.
letting go—
hunger for Scheherazade’s
stories
*
In Drifting Sands Haibun, issue 14, March 2022
journey home
Otherwise known as Eurotunnel!
tin soldier
tin soldier on the smoldering pile spring frost
duvet
Pleased to see that my “duvet” found a home in Blithe Spirit, vol 32, no 1!
icicle
Happy to have won third prize in The Haiku Foundation February 2022 Kukai
theme: icicle
icicle . . . how long will he take to forgive me
— Stella Pierides (51 points – 4; 3; 2; 5; 3)
Remarks below are by Dee Evetts, THF Monthly Kukai Commentator. He is an internationally known haiku poet and author of “The Conscious Eye” series on contemporary themes in Frogpond in the late 1990s and early 2000s.
I find that a great deal is implied here. It is winter. There has been a falling out, and apparently a felt culpability on the part of the writer. Possibly the weather (or another circumstance) has forced the couple or pair to be together when they might otherwise have chosen to put some distance between themselves –– at least for part of the day. There is a prevailing silence, and at best, monosyllabic and toneless exchanges when strictly necessary. This is one of those “suit yourself” kind of domestic stand-offs. It is true that I am embroidering –– even weaving my own version of the poem. Another reader will come up with a different story. What counts is that the poet has given us room to speculate, while at the same time giving us the very concrete image of the (how gradually?) thawing icicle.
For What We are About to Receive
Haibuphoria!
“For What We are About to Receive” my haibun on Drifting Sands— A journal of Haibun and Tanka Prose, Issue 13 (edited by Adelaide B. Shaw) is now online in both Web and PDF versions. https://drifting-sands-haibun.org/…/for-what-we-are…
The whole issue of wonderful haibun is available here:Web: https://drifting-sands-haibun.org/ Enjoy!
Introducing Haiku
I am thrilled to be teaching the course Introduction to Haiku (and related forms) for the second time at Parkinsons.Art.
Parkinson’s Art is a non-profit organisation run by artists and writers living with Parkinson’s disease.
Its mission is to:
- Promote the benefits of art to those affected by Parkinson’s Disease
- Provide a platform to collaborate and share artwork
- Showcase Parkinson’s art and raise awareness through exhibitions and events
Trevor Woollard, who set up Parkinsons.Art, noted that a lot of the major charities in the sector focus – rightly so – on exercise. But there are huge numbers of people who are less mobile or not sport-orientated or don’t have that kind of ability. And they’re often forgotten.
“Exercise is important – but so is exercising the mind and soul.“
The course, starting 12 February 2022 and running for 8 weeks, is free. All are welcome to apply (see Homepage). But hurry! Places are limited!
juggling
tracing
tracing
the river to its source . . .
long night
Honorable Mention in The Haiku Foundation December kukai 2021
angel wings
children’s choir
Stella Pierides 