A Way of Understanding

A Way of Understanding

Deep silence in the mind is a void,

we are told – but I see it more

as a tunnel, a conduit

taking awareness out

to meet Larger Mind

('universal

consciousness')

and merge

with.


Another nonet for Fussy Little Forms at 'imaginary garden with real toads'.

Keeping Watch

Keeping Watch

In the hushed solitude of late night –

communing with moonlight and owl,

drifting clouds, oceans of stars –

I gaze down through the pane

at our little street

in its calm, still,

slumbering,

silent

dark.

A nonet for Fussy Little Forms at 'imaginary garden with real toads'.

Nautilus

Nautilus

Curving

gradually

through pearly

and nearly translucent

fragile white chambers which once

contained a living, moving creature of the sea,

culminating in a spiral not golden but logarithmic –

this beautiful shell is dead,

a lovely skeleton

ghostly white,

unearthly

pure.

A second 'fib' or fibonacci poem written for Camera FLASH! at 'imaginary garden with real toads', this one word-based rather than syllable-based.

Shell image by Edward Weston. Fair Use.

Oh, Sweet Mystery

Oh, Sweet Mystery

That

coil:

shell, ear,

cochlea,

unfurling fractal

or visible Mandelbrot set –

is it the building-block of life

(blueprint, pattern, form)?

Symmetry

attracts 

be-

lief.

A double fibonacci (or 'fib') written for Camera FLASH! at 'imaginary garden with real toads', where we are invited to be inspired by this Shell image, which is by Edward Weston and available for Fair Use. (This poem is in the original fibonacci form, based on syllable count.)

Complaint

Complaint

My fingers

cannot grasp

with feeling –

tingling, numb.

A pinched nerve

in my neck?

The doctor

can see me

in four days.

Another for Fussy Little Forms: Tricube at 'imaginary garden with real toads'. (Yes, this one is autobiographical, I am irritated to say. But pleased to note how well the form lends itself to the topic/mood.)

Winter Light

Winter Light

Its brightness

these mornings

promises warmth.

Venture out

and that sun  

proves ice-cold.

As when we

meet – your smile

glittering.

Written for Fussy Little Forms: Tricube at 'imaginary garden with real toads'.

When?

(Trying the Tetractys)


When?

When 

– never? –

will you feel

my eyes on you,

see my hands reaching before I can stop?

How can you remain always unaware?

I want you to

tell me of

lightning

now.

(Want

that you

know lightning.)

But I suppose

you are just someone who likes the quiet.

In Fussy Little Forms at 'imaginary garden with real toads' today, Marian invites us to attempt the tetractys. Mine's a triple tetractys (the idea being that one reverses the form with each new verse).

That Moment When ...

That Moment When ...

you’re reading

a book she’d have liked

and thinking,

when I’m done

I must lend … then it comes back:

two days gone, she died.

Another shadorma for dVerse MTB

Haunting

Haunting

What is that 

phantom I discern

through the fog?

Can it be…?

Yes! It’s that shadowy form

(whisper): shadorma.

At dVerse, in Meeting the Bar, we are invited to try a shadorma, a syllabic form with rather mysterious origins. 

NaHaiWriMo 2018 Week 4

NaHaiWriMo 2018 Week 4

PROMPT #22 THE FIRST FROST

grass blades

edged with white –

my childhood

PROMPT #23 RASPBERRY, ORANGE, PUMPKIN, LIME, COFFEE, CHOCOLATE, OR CHERRY CHIFFON PIE

she tries out

all the flavours –

seagulls crowd          

PROMPT #24 HOT WATER BOTTLE

cold nights –

my cat hunkers down

across my thighs

PROMPT #25 DRESSING UP

rainbow

through grey clouds –

no thunder

PROMPT #26 HOMEMADE SOUP

Mum’s soup –

better medicine

than laughter

PROMPT #27 RAINBOW JELLO

birthday cake 

children laughing

quarrelling

PROMPT #28 BUTTON JEWELLERY

“jewelry” –

she changes the spelling

between thunderclaps

***

early Spring

daisies and clover

dot the lawn

late Summer

fallen frangipani

brown in the heat


Shared with Poets United's Poetry Pantry #395

NaHaiWriMo 2018 Week 3

NaHaiWriMo 2018 Week 3

More for this years' National (really international) HaikuWriting Month.

PROMPT#15: DAFFODILS IN A BREEZE

daffodils nod

schoolgirls dress up

for the ball

PROMPT #16 CHICKADEE

endearments –

my old cat pants

in the heat

PROMPT #17 WASHING A CAR TO MAKE IT RAIN

no-one

washed their car today –

it didn’t rain

*

please

leave your brolly home –

we need rain

PROMPT #18 OBI SASH

her costume

neatly in place –

new daisies

PROMPT #19 THE RUB-A-DUB-DUB OF A WASHBOARD

grandma

elbow-deep in suds –

good drying day

(*A good drying day is both hot and windy. In Australia that says Summer.)


PROMPT #20 A GENTLE ROCKING MOTION

rocking gently

the tinny at rest –

fish not biting

***

cold beers –

dinghy at anchor

rocking

PROMPT #21 APPETIZERS

kisses

to neck and earlobe –

early dawn

21/2/18


Shared with Poets United's Poetry Pantry #394

NaHaiWriMo 2018 Week 2

NaHaiWriMo 2018 Week 2

My responses to the prompts for week 2 of NaHaiWriMo (National Haiku Writing Month, which is actually international and happens on facebook). Luckily we are allowed to go wherever a prompt takes us; we don't have to stick literally to the exact words or image.


PROMPT #8: PAINTBOX

shut the door

on this cold grey day –

fetch the paints!

PROMPT #9: BEATING THE HEAT

late summer

my cat flat on the floor

stretches flatter

***

driving no aircon

I turn my mind

to haiku

PROMPT #10: INDIAN COTTON SHIRTS

thin cotton shirt

skimming his torso

that summer

PROMPT #11 PILSNER GLASSES

they click glasses –

outside in the heat

distant thunder

PROMPT #12: THE BUTTON AT THE TOP OF A BASEBALL CAP

in the street

the kids have hits, thwack! –

he adjusts his cap

PROMPT #13: THE LITTLE STORE ON THE CORNER

cat food

and ice-cream –

last minute

PROMPT #14: PULLING TAFFY

toffee

sticks to my teeth –

sweet dreams


Also shared via Poets United's Poetry Pantry #393

Words Fail

Written for Midweek Motif ~ Word at Poets United
and for MTB — Brevity at dVerse

Words Fail

I wanted to think of a wonderful word,

and craft a poem around it: a word

to dazzle and exalt. But the heat. 

The fan stopped dead. My cat panted 

and frothed. I choked on a wordless shriek.

NaHaiWriMo 2018 Week 1

NaHaiWriMo 2018 Week 1

Every year on facebook Michael Dylan Welch hosts National Haiku Writing Month (the shortest verse form on the shortest month) – except it's really international. Participants write at least one haiku a day, to prompts (which I often find challenging). Senryu are also permitted. We don't HAVE to write to the prompts, but I usually do; I think it's part of the fun. I'm sharing mine here as well, a week at a time.  

PROMPT #1: BITING INTO A TACO

that rich taste

the nearest I’ll get

to Mexico

PROMPT #2: RAILWAY TIES

from the road

hot metal shimmers –

disused line

PROMPT #3: GREEK COFFEE

Greek coffee –

sunshine remembered

in dripping rain

PROMPT #4: CREAM CHEESE WITH CHIVES

poetic –

creamy white page

punctuated


PROMPT #5: LISTENING TO THE RADIO

my father

intent on the war news –

clenched fists

PROMPT #6: CUTTING THE LAWN

the grass grows 

too high too fast –

Summer rain

PROMPT #7: WRAPPED IN A QUILT, WATCHING A METEOR SHOWER

8 of Wands –

move swiftly

from the doona

8 of Wands is the card of Swiftness. The arrows in the Rider-Waite-Smith deck and decks inspired by it always put me in mind of a meteor shower.  (This is from my copy of the Robin Wood deck.)