All posts by Stella Pierides

Stella Pierides, British poet, writer and artist of Greek descent. Books include: Of This World (2017) and In the Garden of Absence (2012), both Haiku Society of America Merit Book Award winners, and Feeding the Doves (2013). Stella served on The Haiku Foundation Board of Directors. She concieved and co ordinated the feature Haiku for Parkinson's for The Haiku Foundation.
Blog, Haiku

‘not breathing’ 20/100 #100daysnewthings

Image

not breathing—

scent of plastic

in the air

Wuerzburg,Der Grosser Sitzende,haiga,

20/100 #The100DayProject #100daysnewthings #EarthDay

I read we even breathe plastics!

https://edition.cnn.com/2018/04/22/health/microplastics-land-and-air-pollution-intl/index.html

.

I took this photo during a recent visit to Wuerzburg. It is the Großer Sitzende (Big Seated), north side of Wuerzburg Cathedral, a work by Maria Lehnen.

Blog, Haiku

‘gut bacteria’ 9/100 #100daysnewthings

Blog

‘city of water’ 1/100 #100daysnewthings

watermill,Augsburg,Watermill am Brunnenlech is my 1/100 #100daysnewthings

city of water

floating on your

Roman past

Augsburg is applying to be included in the UNESCO World Heritage list, aiming to secure its unique water management system for the future and make it visible to the whole world.

It says, “Canal landscapes and water towers, waterworks and water power characterize Augsburg. In the interplay of innovative spirit and technical mastery, the city had a system of water management unique in Europe for 500 years. Artistically designed magnificent wells and buildings of world renown to this day of the appreciation of Augsburg water art.”

Best wishes to #Augsburg for their application!

 #the100DayProject #Unesco #water #haiku #haiga

Blog, Projects

#The100DayProject

Having read Dorothee Lang’s blog post on the #The100DayProject, I am tempted to take part. I will have to choose a theme and create something daily, for 100 days on it, posting the result on Instagram.

#The100DayProject, #100daysnewthingsA  couple of problems: I didn’t want to join yet another social media channel, and have only a few days to find a theme to focus on for the project starting on the 3 of April. And how could I possibly find the time? For these reasons, and many more, I decided to . . . give it a go.

I am settling on 100 days of finding new, to me, things. Of opening up to new ideas, other ways of thinking, other people; expanding my horizons! And I’ve just signed up on #Instagram. I will be using my iPad to post. Daily hashtags: #The100DayProject #100daysnewthings #poetsofinstagram

Each day, I’ll be searching for, finding and posting something new to me. It may not be new to you, but to me, it may be an epiphany. ‘It’ may be an interesting quotation, a piece of information, a discovery or re-discovery, a haiku or other poem or text I discover in me, a photo of something I hadn’t noticed before…you get the gist.

Thank you Dorothee for the inspiration and encouragement!

Blog, blog items, Haiku, Journals 2018

‘Lullaby’ in Wales Haiku Journal

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It’s at its loudest in the early morning hours. Before light dissolves darkness, before the neighbour leaves for work, before the birds start singing, his laboured breathing comes over the baby monitor whispering, gurgling, rattling, spluttering…

I lie awake listening to the crack of thunder, the roaring waterfall, the sounds of the sea emitted from his chest. A car starting, the exhaust backfiring, the train leaving station. The boat reversing in the harbour. Light rain. A soft mieow. His breathing renders a whole world. In this soundscape, I make out the stories he told me when years ago he put me to bed.

Soon, light dispels the apparitions, and his breath comes over the monitor soft, steady, regular, lulling me to sleep.

music of the spheres
how we became
human

*

In the inaugural issue of Wales Haiku Journal, Spring 2018