the last train speeding past old chestnut
Category Archives: Poems
‘Shadows’
Shadows
I’m walking around the world without leaving home… How? By using a pedometer: it tracks my steps and lets me know weekly the distance I’ve covered. Occasionally, it congratulates me on earning a badge for achieving high step counts (per day) and distance milestones. The exuberant software emoticon that comes with the email makes my day. Earlier on this year, I celebrated walking the length of New Zealand: 1593 km long. A couple of weeks ago, I received a badge for walking the distance covered by the Great Barrier Reef, all 2574 km of it! Now of course I wish I had really been there. On the other hand . . . what is reality?
blood moon . . .
gliding in and out
of earth’s shadow
.
And here are my New Zealand and Great Barrier Reef Badges:
‘missing’
missing from the rainbow burnt umber
.
Prompt: umber
‘Dear Yannnis’
Delighted that my epistolary poem ‘Dear Yannis’ (Ritsos) is given another airing on RE / VERSE, the online journal.
‘Little Eagle Press presents poems previously published. Well worth another look, we think,’ they say. Thank you to Ralph Murre for giving my poem a second chance, and for the photo art image he created that accompanies the poem. Take a look by clicking here
‘long night’
‘upon’
upon
hearing the news…
wild geese
.
prompt: upon
‘Reporting back’
Reporting back
In case you’ve noticed my absence from my blog, I’ve been working on a book of haibun stories and I am thrilled to report that I am near completing the first draft. Like my previous fiction books, this one is spun around the three poles of self, society, and politics. The emphasis though is different. More about this later. Unusually, for me, the title for this one has been elusive. In the past, I used to have the title before I wrote the book. Not so with this book.
I may be asking for your help to pick a title, though how this could be done without prior knowledge of the book is a good question.
And another thing! A translation into German of my book of short stories and haibun titled ‘Feeding the Doves’ (Fruit Dove Press, 2013) is being readied for printing as we speak. So that you know, dear reader, I haven’t been skiving!
in tune
echoes from the island belfry
reach the mainland
‘after all’
.
after all the trips silver shallows
.
Photo (reworked) from a walk in Faversham, earlier this summer.
‘Nothing’ haibun at the ‘other bunny’
Nothing
Please don’t read beyond the title. This is not a poem, nor is it a haibun, short story, or flash.
It has no beginning, middle or end. No development of any sort. It is here as a no thing, and by reading it you gain nothing. Unless you make it into something.
petals or thorns
a scratch on the surface
of infinity
Published at ‘the other bunny‘ August 3, 2015
‘cherry blossom’ and ‘question time’ in Sonic Boom
cherry blossom
a bar regular vents
his spleen
.
p 24
*
question time
the where, when, and how
of peonies
.
p 25
*
in Sonic Boom
‘numerically speaking’ and ‘blending spring’
Delighted to have two of my one-line haiku published:
*
numerically speaking the soul sucks
*
blending spring with daisies you get a billboard
+
Bones – journal for contemporary haiku (in PDF)
no. 7, july 15, 2015
‘mother’s day’
mother’s day
pushing all the wrong
buttons
.
Frogpond 2015, 38:2, p.11
‘ash wednesday’
ash wednesday
my thin layer
of platitudes
Frogpond 2015, 38 : 2, p.11
‘deep blue skies’
deep blue skies
the dragonfly’s limpid
efficiency
AWAD: limpid
.
Sharing from last week’s excursion to Bad Bayersoien; a swimmer got into difficulties and the emergency doctor had to be called. He was there in a matter of minutes, by helicopter. Impressive! I hope the swimmer had a speedy recovery too.
On dragonflies
sizzling noon
sizzling noon
how can silence be
so loud
Photo: From my walk in Bad Bayersoien
‘butterfly’
butterfly–
maundering on
about herself
.
AWAD: maunder
‘fardel of sticks’
fardel of sticks
the apple tree’s fall
from grace
,
AWAD: fardel
‘rambling rose’
rambling rose—
her hair caught
on a thorn
.
AWAD: ramble
and the haiga I made using this poem is from a photo of a dark passage under a bridge in the old town of Guenzburg
‘absorbing’
absorbing
sunlight through her black habit
sober nun
.
AWAD: sorb
‘connate leaves’
connate leaves
the taxi driver’s
quiet humanity
.
AWAD: connate
‘on the road’
on the road—
the wounded deer’s
panting
‘viola’
viola
the splenetic kid stops
and listens
.
AWAD: splenetic
‘helianthus’ and ‘garden vistas’
garden vistas
the rocket salad
piled high
.
rocket: arugula
*
helianthus
enervated sun emits
a plasma flare
.
AWAD: enervate
‘summer evening’
‘in high spirits’
in high spirits…
precipitous vineyards
of the Mosel
.
AWAD: precipitous
Mosel wine region
‘fructuous hours’
fructuous hours
the riverbank awash in
crabs
.
AWAD: fructuous
‘prolegomenon’
prolegomenon…
pressed between the pages
morning glories
.
AWAD: prolegomenon
‘thin clothes’
thin clothes—
turbid veins of the heart
of darkness
.
AWAD: turbid
‘no smoke without fire’
no smoke without fire
on swidden hills
blood red poppies
.
AWAD: swidden
‘tenebrous rooms’
tenebrous rooms
even the sun
papered over
.
AWAD: tenebrous
