gathering
the strength to heal…
hazel tree
Gathering
Category Archives: Haiku for Parkinson’s
Unpicking
Reflecting on the current climate
.
unpicking
the spring canvas…
freezing wind
.
In Blithe Spirit 36, no 2, p.15.
Happy World Parkinson’s Day!
Happy World Parkinson’s Day friends!
This is the day for persons with Parkinson’s, their families, friends and healthcare professionals to work together to promote awareness and increase the profile of Parkinson’s Disease.
Resources to explore:
Davis Phinney Foundation: stories, tools, strategies, real-life insight
https://davisphinneyfoundation.org/resources/
Parkinson’s Europe: How to lead a full life with Parkinson’s
Bas Bloem: Parkinson’s Weekly videos presenting latest reasearch articles on PD.
https://oruen.com/category/podcasts/parkinson-weekly
Haiku for Parkinson’s: Helping negotiate the challenges of the disease and improve quality of life.
Poets living with Parkinson’s:
Tim Roberts: Interview https://thehaikufoundation.org/haiku-for-parkinsons-interview-tim-roberts/
Martin Pickard: Poem about Parkinson’s
Stella Pierides: My Dyskinesia
Stella Pierides: Parkinson’s Toolbox: The Case for Haiku
hushed sounds…
.
hushed sounds…
snowflakes soaking up
the light
adult bibs
Delighted to appear in issue 3 of Flying Fish Haiku Journal! Many thanks to Editor Richa Sharma for including this poem:
end
of the line…
adult bib
It connects to earlier work on the same theme. In 2022, reflecting on the problems faced by persons living with PD, I wrote about the qualities of haiku that recommended it as a tool in the Parkinson’s toolbox.
Briefly, I saw haiku as a container or vessel into which one could pour “all kinds of experience—the beauty of sunsets and cherry blossoms, the exhilaration of climbing personal ‘mountains,’ but also the depth of loneliness, the pangs of pain, the embarrassment of acid reflux—and transform them, in a few words, into a manageable, livable experience”.
The three ‘adult bib’ haiku are attempting exactly that. Failing facial and throat muscles result in spilling drinks, dropping food and dribbling, becoming a daily cause of distress. The adult bib becomes an essential helpful piece of clothing, making life easy for the carers, but at the same time infantilizing the person wearing it. What does this mean? Has the person with Parkinson’s reached the end of the line?
end
of the line…
adult bib
The extent of humiliation is plain to see:
birthday present…
his adult bib embroidered
with ducks
However, the situation may be saved:
birthday meal
his Chef's Apron
sparkling white
“birthday present” and “birthday meal” both in CHO 20.2, “First-person reflections on the art of writing haibun”,
Advent
Advent…
logs becoming flame
becoming heat
.
Breaking through the grey
.
breaking through the grey…
rays of hope
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
Concrete head
concrete head
my efforts to give it
a soul
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
Morning light
morning light
a scattering of birds
punctuates the sky
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
Arts and Crafts Market, Neuburg an der Donau
Happy to share with you all the news of the forthcoming Kunsthandwerkermarkt in Neuburg an der Donau in which I am taking part. Eighth and ninth of March 2025, only one week away…I can’t wait!
The images below show some of the works I will be showing.
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
Far side of the moon
far side of the moon
the things you never
tell me
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.
howling
howling
outside my window…
wolf moon
.
Día de los Muertos
Día de los Muertos
the ones we loved
the ones we lost
clocks going back
clocks going back
tobacco smell clings
to my childhood
.
Sempervivum
Succulents are great plants! I’ve been rooting them on stones, but this, this is another story! Wood decays…
sempervivum
the decaying stump’s
dream
Creeping sepia
creeping sepia
even my iPhone stopped
recognizing me
Creeping sepia: is a relatively new kigo. Alan Summers, winner of the first modern kigo contest, writes:
“A combination of the transition into Autumn (Fall) as Summer fades, and a mixture of climate change effects bringing out an urge for a nostalgia of historically fixed and clearly defined seasonal shifts of the past. This might also include childhood/family photographs that might have been in colour but now have a creeping sepia effect.”
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