Advent…
logs becoming flame
becoming heat
.
Advent
Category Archives: Haiku
Breaking through the grey
.
breaking through the grey…
rays of hope
Time reflections
time reflections
the quiet flow
of water
Evening light
evening light ...
using AI to give it
warmth
Interesting! After I posted the haiku, above, I checked AI for its opinion. AI came back with the following poem:
AI enhances the scene,
Evening light gains warmth and glow,
Human eye still guides.
In its poetic response, AI addressing the question about ownership in collaboration, tryies to reassure me about any concerns I might have regarding authorship. In the interplay between human creativity and AI enhancement, I am told, I still have the rights to my vision!
Yes, but for how long?
Felt world
Honored and thrilled that my haiga series “Felt World” is featured this November 2025 at The Haiku Foundation website.
Haiga Galleries.
“Felt World in the title of this Gallery alludes both to the world as experienced through our senses and emotions, in the immediate, embodied understanding of it; and the world of those interested in felting, in transforming mainly wool fibres to the matted material referred to as felt, through a process involving heat, moisture, pressure, and elbow grease.
Take a look here
For background information on how I came to felting and haikufelting, you may find this essay interesting: Felting Haiga [or, Hairballs to Haiga: The Evolution of a New Hybrid, “Haikufelting” here
lapping against
Lapping against
the walls of her dream
Venetian tide
.
Dream of St. Ursula
Vittore Carpaccio
The effort to discern
Windy day
windy day…
letting go of the pain
of others
Homeward bound
homeward bound
a sudden pull towards
the light
The Past Present (Haibun in Blithe Spirit)
Every Wednesday morning, seven of us serving the life sentence of Parkinson’s, tear through Mering Heath, in the south of Germany. Brushing against coarse grass and heather, stabbing the ground with our walking sticks, thrusting ourselves forward, we fill our lungs with the heather-scented air.
During today’s cooling-down session – swinging upper body left and right, extended arms loosely following, slowly catching our breath – the leader of our group relates the history of the place. In the 1700s, a building housing the Court of Justice stood exactly here by the Galgenbach, the Gallows stream. It was here that executions ordered by the Court were carried out. Crowds gathered, watched and cheered with the tightening of each noose, with each trap door opening. They watched the 15 minute-dance of the hanged, and then walked home.
hangman’s elm
the ancient tree creaks
and groans
.
In Blithe Spirit 35. 2 p. 70
Renunciation
immersion into light renunciation
Morning light
morning light
a scattering of birds
punctuates the sky
World Parkinson’s Month
April is World #parkinson ’s Month! A month to increase awareness about this complex neurological disease, and support those impacted by it.
While scientists race to find a cure, there is a lot that can be done to help with quality of life.
Take a look at Parkinson’s Europe, the section on Self-help and Living Well:
https://parkinsonseurope.org/…/self-help-and-living-well/
The Davis Phinney Foundation is a good resource to explore: https://davisphinneyfoundation.org/resources/
The podcast series Two Parkies in a Pod offers advice and tips on how to cope with chronic illness, and the specific challenges of Parkinson’s: https://www.2parkiesinapod.com/
The Haiku Foundation year-long (2024-2025) series ‘Haiku for Parkinson’s’ features #haiku as a tool that may help calm, reframe problem(s), and generally improve the quality of life for those living with disease and the psychosocial entanglements it involves:
See, e.g., ‘My Dyskinesia’: https://thehaikufoundation.org/haiku-for-parkinsons-my…/
Interview of ‘Tim Roberts living with PD’: https://thehaikufoundation.org/haiku-for-parkinsons…/
‘From Haiku for Parkinson’s to Haiku for Healing’: https://thehaikufoundation.org/haiku-for-parkinsons-from…/
‘Through the Lens of Positive Psychology’: https://thehaikufoundation.org/haiku-for-parkinsons…/
And a song by Birdie Belgium, tribute to her mother who lives with Parkinson’s Disease: https://www.google.com/search?q=birdie%20belgium%20song…
https://parkinsonseurope.org/2025/04/07/birdie-belgium-releases-new-song-for-parkinsons/
What do I find helpful in my own journey of the disease? My family and friends; the ‘Betreutes Laufen‘ walking for Parkinson’s group in Augsburg, the Ping Pong Parkinson (PPP) group in Augsburg and the dedicated PPP Course in Koenigsbrunn (see also the nationwide PPP Association https://www.pingpongparkinson.de/); being part of the international online community, writing and reading haiku; felting, gardening…
wildflowers
the lightness of hope
and renewal
In Arta
Happy to see 3 of my haiga included on pages 35 and 36 of the online Romanian Journal of contemporary art, Arta! See here
Grateful thanks to Andi Dumitrache for including them.
Camera obscura
For the last hour
My old poems
Scaffolding
scaffolding for
her childhood memories…
first day of spring
Returning …
returning ...
brushing against coarse grass
and heather
Lunar eclipse
lunar eclipse …
when darkness makes us
visible
.
Painting over
days growing longer...
painting over the brown leaves
with fresh green
Election day
.
election day
the long queue of cars
to the flea market
.
Tectonic faults
tectonic faults
cutting the puppeteer's
strings
Em dash
the time it takes
to become immortal
em dash
All the answers
I don't have
all the answers
snow moon
Wool, soap, water
wool, soap, water
I name my first pot
Adam
Far side of the moon
far side of the moon
the things you never
tell me
Seaquakes
seaquakes…
cracks appear on the walls
of Hozoviotissa
.
Hozoviotissa is the iconic monastery on the island of Amorgos. It is built on the steep south coast of the island at an altitude of 300 meters.
The Clock and Rooster
What would you do if you knew this was the last night of the world? In Ray Bradbury’s short story and the recent Chamber opera inspired by it, couples, who have all dreamt the same dream about the world’s end, struggle with this question. Displaying doubt, disbelief and denial, as well as acceptance of their forthcoming demise, they argue, fight, hug, open their most expensive bottle of wine. The mundane response when facing the extraordinary. After all, the end of the world doesn’t sound as alarming as the Apocalypse!
And yet and yet. What would you do? What would I do? It is time to explore what our answer might be. Even more so than in 1951 when the short story was published, even when certain diseases propel some of us to an accelerated end. Seconds away from disaster, according to the Doomsday Clock, with wars erupting in ever more places and wildfires scorching dearly held assumptions, it comes to this: there is no time to lose.
dreaming…
sweat rolls down
midnight
*
Haibun responding to “The Last Night of the World”, a Chamber opera by Agustí Charles inspired by Ray Bradbury’s short story of the same title. The State Theater of Augsburg commissioned it, and it premiered on 24.1.2025 at the Brechtbühne im Gaswerk. I saw it a few days later.
the boats I missed
the boats I missed…
lucky bamboo
Photo taken during my visit to
tim – Staatliches Textil- und Industriemuseum Augsburg (State Textile and Industry Museum Augsburg).
“In the exhibition LIMINAL SPACES, tim is showing works by Dorothée Aschoff (*1965)… In her works, Aschoff explores the existential conditions of being human. What does it mean to set out, to set off or even to have to flee? What boundaries stand in the way? And which landscapes – whether stormy seas or rugged mountains – must be overcome?”
See also here
howling
howling
outside my window…
wolf moon
.
Lake fog
lake fog…
the slowly dissipating
self
.
Día de los Muertos
Día de los Muertos
the ones we loved
the ones we lost
