28 July 2009
Winter Beach
The sea is deep green,
darkening further out
on an indigo horizon,
frothing in whirlpools of white,
where it laps the sand
coming in close to the cliff.
Above the cliff-top trees
a small hawk sails over
in one long glide of still wings,
so close that I look up and see
the dark beak and eye,
red throat and golden belly.
It’s long since I inquired
what messages the natural world
would speak into my mind.
Today there is nothing. I watch
the ocean roll and the hawk pass,
magnificently indifferent.
2 July 2009
Tweet Poems for May & June 2009
(Tweet poems = poems on Twitter,
140 characters max.)
#1
Falling into music/after a night & day/of pursuit through a maze./Now safety, lullaby, dream;/lock th door & sleep/until morning.
12/5/09
#2
walking the meadow of despair/surprised by sudden rainbow/after I lifted my head
14/5/09
#3
I inhabit a strange landscape here./An underground spring bubbles forth/breaking the smooth surface.
15/5/09
#4
In the grey fog/you know we're there./We shine our lights.
#5
Coming through dark/bends in the road/other lights passing/show me I'm not alone.
#6
Wild & cold out/dangerous seas/crashing non-stop.//Yet we are warm/in our stone-floored house/we are safe/in these present moments.
23/5/09
#7
Black cat walks in/from cold night/gazes at us/raises his tail/as if disdainful/goes to the door/& out again./Are we so unexciting?
24/5/09
#8
My time autumn/my place tropics/here & now/my hair grows thick/my nails get strong/I’m jungly/I’m becoming/leonine.
25/5/09
#9
slender as bamboo/white flowers in her hair/she stands straight/peace in her eyes/strength in her voice
5/6/09
#10
Vets call her tortoiseshell./To me she looks grey/except that as she moves/it seems that waves of light/ripple through her fur.
#11
My island rises/in dreams or when rain/settles dark, or the ocean/wallows and froths./I remember being held/contained by its shores.
19/6/09
#12
Soft night at home/after the long long day./I sleep awake/& dreams begin:/I’m driving & driving/the long road home/to be with you.
28/6/09
140 characters max.)
#1
Falling into music/after a night & day/of pursuit through a maze./Now safety, lullaby, dream;/lock th door & sleep/until morning.
12/5/09
#2
walking the meadow of despair/surprised by sudden rainbow/after I lifted my head
14/5/09
#3
I inhabit a strange landscape here./An underground spring bubbles forth/breaking the smooth surface.
15/5/09
#4
In the grey fog/you know we're there./We shine our lights.
#5
Coming through dark/bends in the road/other lights passing/show me I'm not alone.
#6
Wild & cold out/dangerous seas/crashing non-stop.//Yet we are warm/in our stone-floored house/we are safe/in these present moments.
23/5/09
#7
Black cat walks in/from cold night/gazes at us/raises his tail/as if disdainful/goes to the door/& out again./Are we so unexciting?
24/5/09
#8
My time autumn/my place tropics/here & now/my hair grows thick/my nails get strong/I’m jungly/I’m becoming/leonine.
25/5/09
#9
slender as bamboo/white flowers in her hair/she stands straight/peace in her eyes/strength in her voice
5/6/09
#10
Vets call her tortoiseshell./To me she looks grey/except that as she moves/it seems that waves of light/ripple through her fur.
#11
My island rises/in dreams or when rain/settles dark, or the ocean/wallows and froths./I remember being held/contained by its shores.
19/6/09
#12
Soft night at home/after the long long day./I sleep awake/& dreams begin:/I’m driving & driving/the long road home/to be with you.
28/6/09
Tanka on Tuesday: June 2009
(from the MySpace site "Tanka on Tuesday")
8/6/09
head on the pillow
one hand tucked under your cheek
as I gaze at you
your sleeping face turns to mine
your mouth open a little
17/6/09
In sudden bloom
in brief winter sun
two white orchids
surprise my front garden
with reminders of spring.
23/6/09
after much rain
two rosebuds bloom bright pink
in mid-winter
on the beach two children
beam as if they know me
30/6/09
a lifetime of stars
from cold south isle or tropics
loving Orion
(called Saucepan here upside-down)
and always seeking the Cross
8/6/09
head on the pillow
one hand tucked under your cheek
as I gaze at you
your sleeping face turns to mine
your mouth open a little
17/6/09
In sudden bloom
in brief winter sun
two white orchids
surprise my front garden
with reminders of spring.
23/6/09
after much rain
two rosebuds bloom bright pink
in mid-winter
on the beach two children
beam as if they know me
30/6/09
a lifetime of stars
from cold south isle or tropics
loving Orion
(called Saucepan here upside-down)
and always seeking the Cross
1 July 2009
Eastward on long stems: haiku for June 2009
3/6/09
May drizzle.
The rosebush grows taller
and sprouts new buds.
5/6/09
How reassuring
back in the day, that my shrink
watched "Lost in Space" too.
8/6/09
Look! a rainbow
arching over our street
against grey sky.
12/6/09
Morning chill
pale sunlight filtering
through fern leaves.
19/6/09
For Aung San Suu Kyi
the lady’s birthday
today she turns 64
yes we still need her
20/6/09
Winter solstice
the sky is one grey cloud
rain comes down heavy
************
June sun
lightens the grey sky
as I would your cares
21/6/09
moonlight and jasmine
through billowing blue curtains
night fills the cottage
night in your cottage
jasmine scented and moonlit
wafts to my daydreams
I'm in your cottage
wafted on scent of jasmine
and blue-white moon rays
************
this time of Solstice
the world protests injustice
the wheel turns for change
(inspired by seeing the cyber-community mobilise
for Aung San Suu Kyi and the Iranians)
26/6/09
unpruned roses
lean eastward on long stems
June sky drizzling
May drizzle.
The rosebush grows taller
and sprouts new buds.
5/6/09
How reassuring
back in the day, that my shrink
watched "Lost in Space" too.
8/6/09
Look! a rainbow
arching over our street
against grey sky.
12/6/09
Morning chill
pale sunlight filtering
through fern leaves.
19/6/09
For Aung San Suu Kyi
the lady’s birthday
today she turns 64
yes we still need her
20/6/09
Winter solstice
the sky is one grey cloud
rain comes down heavy
************
June sun
lightens the grey sky
as I would your cares
21/6/09
moonlight and jasmine
through billowing blue curtains
night fills the cottage
night in your cottage
jasmine scented and moonlit
wafts to my daydreams
I'm in your cottage
wafted on scent of jasmine
and blue-white moon rays
************
this time of Solstice
the world protests injustice
the wheel turns for change
(inspired by seeing the cyber-community mobilise
for Aung San Suu Kyi and the Iranians)
26/6/09
unpruned roses
lean eastward on long stems
June sky drizzling
12 June 2009
Stocktaking
I began this blog on the 29th of June last year. I've posted 76 poems to date, from a still growing list of 326 subjects so far. Obviously I'm not going to finish by June 29th this year. There have been many interruptions. Nevertheless I enjoy doing it, and have found it a valuable tool for self-understanding, so I'll continue on – not for 365 consecutive days, but certainly for 365 of these pieces. And perhaps I'll just keep on forever ... or indefinitely, anyway. :)
8 June 2009
“Rain, rain, go away. Come again another day.”
Prompt: an adage remembered from your childhood.
Only 9.30 and the rain begins.
Market day, and I forgot
to do weather magic. Luckily
got the inkling anyway,
brought the gear at least,
now drag my tarpaulin
up over the roof of my stall,
and pull my table into the centre.
The client doesn’t want to wait
while I put up the clear plastic walls.
I tell her again, as I do twice a month,
what she already knows. She,
as always, tells me she knows.
“So what do you need with me?” I ask.
“You make me feel soothed,” she says.
I fold and reshuffle the cards.
As soon as she leaves
the shower turns downpour,
I put up the walls. Then I sit cosy
with coffee, waiting it out.
Some stallholders pack up and leave.
Most stay, grinning at each other
from under the sheltering tarps.
Sammie, who sells the crystals,
comes past, smiling. “Look,” she says,
pointing to light in a corner of sky,
"It’s going to be sunny again.”
And soon it is. Someone – was it her? –
has remembered some weather magic.
(We hear already of hail at Byron Bay.)
Here, someone must have chanted
the rhyme all children learn
to use like a charm when very young.
Wise magic the parents impart,
not understanding they do,
from generations and centuries
of folk who lived close with the earth.
We need rain, mustn’t send it away
forever, just till another day.
Only 9.30 and the rain begins.
Market day, and I forgot
to do weather magic. Luckily
got the inkling anyway,
brought the gear at least,
now drag my tarpaulin
up over the roof of my stall,
and pull my table into the centre.
The client doesn’t want to wait
while I put up the clear plastic walls.
I tell her again, as I do twice a month,
what she already knows. She,
as always, tells me she knows.
“So what do you need with me?” I ask.
“You make me feel soothed,” she says.
I fold and reshuffle the cards.
As soon as she leaves
the shower turns downpour,
I put up the walls. Then I sit cosy
with coffee, waiting it out.
Some stallholders pack up and leave.
Most stay, grinning at each other
from under the sheltering tarps.
Sammie, who sells the crystals,
comes past, smiling. “Look,” she says,
pointing to light in a corner of sky,
"It’s going to be sunny again.”
And soon it is. Someone – was it her? –
has remembered some weather magic.
(We hear already of hail at Byron Bay.)
Here, someone must have chanted
the rhyme all children learn
to use like a charm when very young.
Wise magic the parents impart,
not understanding they do,
from generations and centuries
of folk who lived close with the earth.
We need rain, mustn’t send it away
forever, just till another day.
1 June 2009
Early morning cold: haiku for May 2009
8/5/09
Early morning cold.
I sink into my warm bed
like mothering arms.
**********************
The nights have turned cold.
In my dreams they gaze at me –
my dead mother’s eyes.
15/5/09
A wild grey ocean
surprised by two bright rainbows
then one vanishes.
***********************
“It lies about us” –
so Jesus said of Heaven.
Do we make our own?
22/5/09
Howling and shrieking
the wind is all round the house
bashing to get in.
23/5/09
Responses to friends’ LiveJournal posts:
From across the world
the arc of your dawn rainbow
brightens my morning.
***********************
It seems the whole world
is assailed by rain and storms.
I hear nothing else.
29/5/09
"Droughts and flooding rains"
we learn from early childhood
in this "wide brown land".
(Acknowledgments to Dorothea Mackellar)
Early morning cold.
I sink into my warm bed
like mothering arms.
**********************
The nights have turned cold.
In my dreams they gaze at me –
my dead mother’s eyes.
15/5/09
A wild grey ocean
surprised by two bright rainbows
then one vanishes.
***********************
“It lies about us” –
so Jesus said of Heaven.
Do we make our own?
22/5/09
Howling and shrieking
the wind is all round the house
bashing to get in.
23/5/09
Responses to friends’ LiveJournal posts:
From across the world
the arc of your dawn rainbow
brightens my morning.
***********************
It seems the whole world
is assailed by rain and storms.
I hear nothing else.
29/5/09
"Droughts and flooding rains"
we learn from early childhood
in this "wide brown land".
(Acknowledgments to Dorothea Mackellar)
30 May 2009
Inner Workings
Prompt: looking below the surface
My electronic washing machine
sings to me when it’s finished a load.
My doorbell too, when pressed,
regales me with a tune.
And every mobile phone
sounds its personal music.
What does this express –
a pleasant conceit, or hubris?
To what do we aspire
in making our digital world?
Was not the Universe
created by a tone?
My electronic washing machine
sings to me when it’s finished a load.
My doorbell too, when pressed,
regales me with a tune.
And every mobile phone
sounds its personal music.
What does this express –
a pleasant conceit, or hubris?
To what do we aspire
in making our digital world?
Was not the Universe
created by a tone?
24 May 2009
It Slips Down Suddenly
Prompt: The unexpected
It slips down suddenly
into a black pit, sliding
out of the top of my mind
and vanishing, between
one moment and the next –
a name I’ve known
for 25 years, just gone.
I know quite well
the person of that name,
his place in my history,
his place in his own.
I can picture his face and form
in front of me now, I can see
the clothes he usually wore.
But down the deep hole
where that name has fallen,
there is no pursuit
there is no retrieval,
no hook long enough
to reach and bring it up.
This crevasse is bottomless.
Is that how it happens,
so quick and easy?
Only a moment before,
something is there as always,
known and about to be said –
and then it’s an absence, as if
it had blanked out years ago.
It slips down suddenly
into a black pit, sliding
out of the top of my mind
and vanishing, between
one moment and the next –
a name I’ve known
for 25 years, just gone.
I know quite well
the person of that name,
his place in my history,
his place in his own.
I can picture his face and form
in front of me now, I can see
the clothes he usually wore.
But down the deep hole
where that name has fallen,
there is no pursuit
there is no retrieval,
no hook long enough
to reach and bring it up.
This crevasse is bottomless.
Is that how it happens,
so quick and easy?
Only a moment before,
something is there as always,
known and about to be said –
and then it’s an absence, as if
it had blanked out years ago.
15 May 2009
Don't You Miss Going To See the New Star Trek Movie, Hear!
I didn’t want it to stop
until it did stop, perfect
in its unforgettable conclusion,
and I threw my fist into the air
raising Andrew’s arm with mine –
we’d been holding hands throughout.
He gripped mine tightly and laughed
as I exulted: “Yeah!”
Wednesday prompt: "Don't you ..."
until it did stop, perfect
in its unforgettable conclusion,
and I threw my fist into the air
raising Andrew’s arm with mine –
we’d been holding hands throughout.
He gripped mine tightly and laughed
as I exulted: “Yeah!”
Wednesday prompt: "Don't you ..."
10 May 2009
Opening darkness: haiku for April 2009
3/4/09
The rain is roaring
drowning out the surf’s thunder.
North and south, there’s floods.
10/4/09
The cloud-covered moon
the full moon, at 2 am
showed herself, I danced.
**************************
I'm full of poems,
long ones, crowding out haiku –
but soon miss my friends.
16/4/09
sunrise
and the vast river
waiting
17/4/09
A fine new morning:
sunshine after days of rain.
We wake, smile, embrace.
22/4/09
White noise
and outside the sea
booming.
******************
opening darkness
seeds half realizations
first widening blooms
******************
wild ocean tonight
thundering, coming down hard
and foaming the dunes
******************
A poem in tanka form, with senryu feel, about haiku:
Haiku on Friday (MySpace)
I started the group
so I’d learn to write haiku
from skilled friends who joined.
They are skilled, I’m still learning –
but I’m seen as an expert!
24/4/09
Tibetan Prayer Flags
At length the weather
will erase what is written.
Prayers are renewed.
**********************
Earth Day
We wake to sunlight
and the planet still here
the morning after.
On the other hand ...
Enjoy what we have!
Sweet awakening today,
and how much longer?
- Devil's Advocate
25/4/09
Dawn Service, Anzac Day
At Gallipoli
a bugle sounds the Last Post
then comes Reveille.
Old enemies, side by side
remember, and pray for peace.
29/4/09
To Sandra
(for her profile page on MySpace)
You’re a restful place
for me to come and visit
sometimes … it’s enough.
************************
Bright green lorikeet
flashes past me as I walk,
vanishes in tree.
The rain is roaring
drowning out the surf’s thunder.
North and south, there’s floods.
10/4/09
The cloud-covered moon
the full moon, at 2 am
showed herself, I danced.
**************************
I'm full of poems,
long ones, crowding out haiku –
but soon miss my friends.
16/4/09
sunrise
and the vast river
waiting
17/4/09
A fine new morning:
sunshine after days of rain.
We wake, smile, embrace.
22/4/09
White noise
and outside the sea
booming.
******************
opening darkness
seeds half realizations
first widening blooms
******************
wild ocean tonight
thundering, coming down hard
and foaming the dunes
******************
A poem in tanka form, with senryu feel, about haiku:
Haiku on Friday (MySpace)
I started the group
so I’d learn to write haiku
from skilled friends who joined.
They are skilled, I’m still learning –
but I’m seen as an expert!
24/4/09
Tibetan Prayer Flags
At length the weather
will erase what is written.
Prayers are renewed.
**********************
Earth Day
We wake to sunlight
and the planet still here
the morning after.
On the other hand ...
Enjoy what we have!
Sweet awakening today,
and how much longer?
- Devil's Advocate
25/4/09
Dawn Service, Anzac Day
At Gallipoli
a bugle sounds the Last Post
then comes Reveille.
Old enemies, side by side
remember, and pray for peace.
29/4/09
To Sandra
(for her profile page on MySpace)
You’re a restful place
for me to come and visit
sometimes … it’s enough.
************************
Bright green lorikeet
flashes past me as I walk,
vanishes in tree.
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