Category Archives: Poems

Blog, Haiku

Haiku #8 April 2011

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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)

Blog, Haiku

Invisible coat 7 April 2011

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Cuento Magazine
CuentoMag Cuento Magazine
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for sale/ invisible coat/ dry clean only
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This poem was published 6 April 2011 by Cuento Magazine.
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It attempts to cross genres… does it remind you of’ ‘For sale: baby shoes, … .’  But then that was a short story. Or does it associate more with sci-fi cloaking devices? Fairy tales? And so it goes… play with it!
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Blog, Haiku

haiku #6 April 2011

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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.

Blog, Haiku

Swallows in La Calebasse

swallows –
coat and gloves
sent to the attic

 

hirondelles –
manteaux et gands
au grenier

 

“Swallows”, the haiku I wrote responding to a prompt in the Facebook NaHaiWriMo, was one of several picked to be featured for March (2011) by Vincent Hoarau in his sparkling site La Calebasse. I am both honoured and delighted – especially since he translated it into French! This is my first haiku translated into French, indeed another language, and I must say I love the sound of it. Thank you, Vincent!

Vincent’s site is well worth visiting. He generously collects and translates other poets’ work, presenting it alongside his own.  His work and collection were recently commended by Melissa Allen of Red Dragonfly, a must-read blog for haiku enthusiasts.

 

(To find my Swallows on La Calebasse, you need to scroll down the page here to find it – towards the end. I hope you will enjoy all the haiku featured there, they are delicious.)

 

Blog, Haiku

haiku #27 March 2011

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earth report —
besides love, caesium
in water and in the air

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Following the news on the BBC that “leaking water at reactor 2 has been measured at 1,000 millisieverts/hour – 10 million times higher than when the plant is operating normally.”
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