city park -
each icy puddle
kicked into shards

blackbird dusk -
next door's cat
mooching home

au revoir Simply Haiku

I'll miss you!

No news as of yet on the Simply Haiku website but the archives and search facility are to stay live apparently.

Always sad to see the passing of a quality journal.

Tinywords

Hello and season's greetings!

my Christmas haiga is on Tinywords today 

autumn's end -
from somewhere on the allotments
whistling

this year
the Christmas lights blue
on the council's tree

Tinywords is back

Tinywords is back after a lengthy break (hooray!) starting on December 1st. A haiga of mine will appear somewhere in Issue 1.

See http://www.tinywords.com/ for details.

the drunk
so forceful
yet so light
when she barges into me
voices her opinions

out of nowhere
a whirlwind of leaves
travels down the road

daybreak -
each clump of grass
has its shadow

after all these years
still dancing it's routine
the beggar's cup


[Blithe Spirit 19:2]

the silence of pines -
midges in a shaft
of sunlight

silver on velvet -
the busker works his thank yous
into the song

rush hour…
two women embrace
then sign their goodbyes

 
 
[Published: Presence #39]

caught in the full-beam
the hare's tail
this way and that

these short evenings
in last year’s leaves
a blackbird skull


[Chrysanthemum #2]

daughter and
mother the
same hard face

low sun
beneath the web
the blue of a bluebottle



[First published: Blithe Spirit 18:4]

wheeling above the spinney
leaves and
jackdaws

quality time...
Dad's funeral stories
still making me laugh

all afternoon
my raindrops
race the others

mountain lake's stillness
my stone skips across
the sky

Chrysanthemum 6

Three pieces of mine have been included in the latest issue of Chrysanthemum.

If you can't read PDF files you may need to download free software to view it.

still there
above the stump -
a favourite tree

the physio's talk -
we break half-way
to stretch our legs

indian summer
an off-key greensleeves
stops mid-tune



I guess this one will only work in the UK

Three Questions - Tobacco Road

Just to let you know I have answered Curtis Dunlap's three questions and I am featured on the Tobacco Road blog this week.

If you haven't answered the questions yet yourself, why not give it a go?

dead in the folds
of the dry washing
a dragonfly

the late film
I wake
for each subtitle




published Blithe Spirit 18:1

down country lanes -
at every bend
jackdaws




first appeared in slightly different form in Shamrock #5

Limboland in Lynx

Hey, remember my MS sequence "Limboland?"

It has just been published in the latest edition of Lynx

by way of a prologue:

football match
we speculate the nature
of the symptoms

small children crowding round
suddenly I become
the moth expert

indian summer -
across my desk
a butterfly shadow



published Blithe Spirit 17:4

new windows
on every pane
a tiny spider

look away now if you're squeamish

the sound of my blood
squirting into the tube -
the phlebotomist and I
share a silent smile

Elvis costume
the circle of pavement
round the busker

welcoming the wait -
the gentle rhythm
of the clock shop

Shamrock 11 online

The latest issue of Shamrock is now online. Shamrock is the online journal of the Irish Haiku Society. It has a couple of pieces by myself that have previously featured on this blog.

A feature of Shamrock that I particularly like is it's haiku tour of Europe, featuring work by prominent poets and potted histories of featured regions. This issue focusses on the Benelux countries.

Work by Adri van den Berg, Marc Hendrickx, Werner Lambersy, Bart Mesotten and Ida Gorter caught my eye in particular and a fascinating history of Dutch haiku has been provided by Max Verhart.

It's also pleasing, given that the Irish Haiku Society is still relatively young, that Irish writers are starting to dominate the content.

Shamrock 11 is available at http://shamrockhaiku.webs.com/currentissue.htm

first day of term -
an earthworm inches
across the playground

September dawn -
resting in the dead rose
a dead bee

Prune Juice resurrected

Good news for Senryu lovers, after being ditched by Modern English Tanka Press, the journal Prune Juice is now under the editorship of Liam Wilkinson (also "curator" of Three Lights Gallery).

Prune Juice will be a web-only publication from now on and it's online home is at http://prunejuice.wordpress.com

Submissions are currently being accepted for Issue 3 which will be published in 2010.

Notes from the Gean - Issue 2 now online

Just a note to let you know I have five pieces in Issue 2 of Notes from the Gean - just published and available at: http://www.geantree.com/indexcover.html

That's it - I'm off to Croatia for a week and a bit. I hope my web of nerves will stand the temperature. My favourite seasons are autumn and spring which is probably why I write more summer haiku than for any of the other seasons. It's a reactionary thing, I guess.

Currently planning a chap-book, which may come to something, or it may not.

Here's a few of my summer haiku that have been published in the past:

oppressive heat
from the block of flats
a tuneless song

scent of car wax
resting on the bonnet
a ladybird

heat haze...
slumped with their ice creams
the firemen

fading tattoos
he hauls her wheelchair
from the beach

(oppressive heat, scent of car wax and heat haze were first published in Blithe Spirit, fading tattoos was first published in Presence)
(the first three inspired by London: Hackney, Stoke Newington and Hornsey respectively. The last one was written in Swanage, Dorset)

Before I go, excuse me while I plug my other blogs:

Dave's Magical Brain is my Multiple Sclerosis blog
phase - one is my general diary-style blog that I have only just started - it's early days, so be nice to it.
I also have a twitter presence, so I can be checked out there too - no haiku but general observations, remarks etc.

If I get web access while on holiday, no doubt I'll post something. In the meantime I am packing a notebook and pen.

August 2006

taking Mum the long route
back to the hospice -
the heather in bloom

carku (?!?)

in the old car
an old man and
an old dog

The beauty of an in-car notebook is that you can jot down ideas, random observations and proto-haiku while at traffic lights, in lay-bys etc and then forget them. Until one day (today in my case) you decide to take it out and trawl through for anything worth working on.

here's a few more...

long day -
my car's central locking
clunks it's welcome

later
on the same road
the dead crow
still points the way

mizzle
dotted across the moor
the backs of sheep

hospital car park
a woman with a neck brace
reversing

[...or should it be gnisrever? - as awkward to read as it is to manouver]

driving the line
between green and blue
spring hilltops

By way of explanation - I drive a hundred miles a week between work and home through the hills and back lanes of Derbyshire. It is one of those rare occasions that I find myself alone, so driving familiar routes away from the rat runs gives me space to think. I also think I need a camera living permanently in the car.

suddenly noticing it
the sideways    _dart
of a hoverfly

Important word plinth spot online

Alan Summers' plinth spot is now viewable online. I know one follower of this blog (Herr Broeker) had his word read out.

Check it out at http://www.oneandother.co.uk/participants/Alan_S

Well done Alan!

Oh, yeah, ermmm...... "SERENDIPITY!!!"

through
the roaring of trees
chinooks

ignition
a spider's dash for cover
on it's wing-mirror web

Alan Summers' plinth-spot

What's important to you that can be summed up in just one single word?

Alan Summers would like as many people as possible to send him "important words" and he will read out as many as he can during his hour on Trafalgar Square's fourth plinth on Monday.

I think this is an interesting project and an imaginative use of his hour in the spotlight.

For further details on the thinking behind it and how you can despatch your word visit http://www.oneandother.co.uk/participants/Alan_S

Alan's website: http://www.withwords.org.uk/

scree -
             all
                   the
                           way
                                     into
                                                     the
                                                                       lake

break in the clouds
leaving my gardening shoes
a black beetle


first published: Blithe Spirit 17:1

currently awaiting latest BS (19:2) - now more than a month late.

the leash
              snaps
                      taut
a man barks orders to his dog

growing unrest...
on the baby monitor
lightning static



first published: "Storm" - BHS Members' anthology 2007
thanks to "E" for the inspiration

St Swithin's Day

My late Mum's diary from 1943 (aged 10) has the following entry for July 15th. It is so perfect, it is almost a senryu.

"Rained all day. Grandma came for tea"

remission ...
in the rear-view
the crow settles back
on the roadkill

my colleague
flirting with the workman
endless summer rain




Published: Riverbed - Autumn 2008

Three Lights Gallery - Summer of Love

I have one poem at the three lights summer of love show.

http://www.threelightsgallery.com/summeroflove.html

The show commemorates the 40th anniversary of Woodstock, and the theme is peace and love.

Worth checking out as always.

after every
bottlebank smash
her burst of giggles

summer night
the old stone wall
still warm




published Presence #35

sultry night
yesterday's spider
in the bath again

dead bumblebee
the ground around it
darkens with raindrops

terraced windows -
a sun-bleached doll
staring skyward

flip of a switch
a crane fly's shadow
capers across the ceiling

summer evening
a spent bee
clings to the washing

back seat of the bus
two girls share an ipod
- their blank gaze

straight down the valley
air force jets -
the screaming of swifts

dance class melée
my weekly nod
to the other dad




published Presence #35

still talking
after I’ve gone . . .
the widow next door

full moon
the wind stirs the darkness
in the fox field

office move -
fixed to the lights
a remnant of tinsel

his dates end
where my daughter's begin.
for a split second
she rests
on the bench

the lanes
heavy with chervil -
spring thunder


If you don't already - I recommend signing up to Twitter and following Matt Morden. He is about to start a John O'Groats to Lands End cycle trip and will no doubt be haikuing his way down the country.

If you want to follow me, I am at http://twitter.com/daveserjeant though I rarely post haiku - just general life observations, with hopefully a little wabi sabi thrown in.

winter gloom -
outside the stadium
a lone drunk salutes

...............[Bramhall Lane, Sheffield - Dec 2006]

Previously published at: 3Lights Gallery and Football Poets

Congratulations to Sheffield United who have made it to the Division One play-off finals.

break in the clouds
leaving my gardening shoes
a black beetle


published Blithe Spirit 17:1

Note: starting to get the garden sorted now the weather has turned and the builders have left.

no rain ...
no storm ...
the cloud's silence
as it passes over




Note: I have just joined the Cloud Appreciation Society

writing up field notes -
in my pocket still
the perfect skimmer


Published Blithe Spirit 18:4

explainatory note: This originates from way back when I was a geology student.

laundry pile
in the pockets of her school dress
daisies

MS Awareness week draws to a close today.

I would like to thank people who have left such kind comments about Limboland. I had a few doubts about whether I should make something so personal public, but poetry is about sharing, and haiku, by it's very nature, is poetry of personal observation and experience. I am currently humming and hah-ing over whether I should bat it round a few journal editors, but I don't know...

Believe it or not, there is a lighter side to having MS as my recent attendance at my local MS Society branch meeting demonstrated. So while Limboland can be quite sombre - reflecting my diagnosis year - I may put together a sequence of MS senryu at some point.

Anyway, thanks again for the comments - they were very much appeciated. I was quite taken aback!

D

MS Awareness week

It is Multiple Sclerosis (MS) Awareness Week across the globe. To mark this, I have written the following haiku sequence.

I was diagnosed with Relapsing Remitting Multiple Sclerosis in 2008 after a particularly bad attack and Limboland was inspired by the journey from attack to diagnosis. For a more thorough account of my experience with MS please visit my 'Dave's Magical Brain' blog at http://davesmagicalbrain.blogspot.com

Limboland

no hint of a smile -
for once my doctor says
"take it easy"

on the scan room ceiling
cherry blossom -
the staff retreat behind glass

not crying yet ...
your chin dimples
as you talk

diagnosis
I salute the magpie
anyway

on the news a terror attack ...
my leg
numb again

from a packed lift
a man on crutches
follows me to clinic

new year's eve
the bowl slips from my fingers...
smashes

Just a note on the cherry blossom haiku. Diagnosis of MS requires an MRI scan, but to eliminate other possible ailments including brain tumours an initial CT Scan is performed. This was described to me as being like sticking your head in a giant washing machine and I reckon that's a pretty good description. I don't know if it is the same in other hospitals but at the Royal Hallamshire in Sheffield they have a light box on the ceiling of the scan room with an image of cherry blossom on it. I presume this is to calm the nerves while your head is x-rayed. I thought the experience lent itself very well to haiku, partly because cherry blossom is a well used seasonal reference. I guess this is my take on the traditional cherry blossom haiku.

Limboland is also appearing on the MS Society website: www.mssociety.org.uk

http://www.mstrust.org.uk/msawareness/
http://www.mssociety.org.uk/get_involved/campaigning/ms_week_2009.html
What is MS? (requires pdf reader): http://tinyurl.com/c26vgq

unexpected -
your smile
mine
all day

midnight calm -
a screech of tyres
and a horn far off

hospital regular -
my confident limp
past reception

perfect sky
the right-angle bend
in a contrail

published Blithe Spirit Vol 18 No 4

first mow of the year
stones
where the snowman stood

in every painting
a horsey
the toddler first to notice

(for E)

[Ben Nicholson exhibition - Tate St Ives, Easter 2009]

rush hour
two women embrace
then sign their goodbyes

housing estate -
two small boys
take in the Porsche

Three Lights

I have two senryu in this season's show on Three Lights Gallery. Plenty of good stuff as always. Check it out at www.threelightsgallery.com/lightenup

following a pencil -

four pairs of eyes

follow mine

home from the dentist
my face
gurning from every mirror

Simply Haiku retrospective

I am honoured to have been included in the six year retrospective of the Simply Haiku website: http://www.simplyhaiku.com/SHv7n1/haiku/retrospective.html

My piece is on the "Place" page

sea mist ...
watching the seal
watching me


Raasay - Easter 1992

Published Presence #36

MS poem

............giving
..........a lift
........to something
......unseen -
....a hill
..i used to find
easy

For R (Happy Birthday! - can't believe you're 5!)

art gallery -
a toddler stoops
to watch a spider

(originally published Blithe Spirit 16:3 Autumn 2006)

MS Poems

I am currently putting together a sequence of haiku/senryu inspired by having multiple sclerosis. I have probably written 20-odd poems so far of which about four, maybe five I'm happy with, plus a couple of slightly longer tanka-like poems, which by their morphology won't make it into the sequence.

I was hoping to publish them somewhere in time for MS Awareness Week which is late April in the UK, but time is too tight. They probably won't see the light (together) until 2010. I would imagine I should have maybe another four poems that are any good by then.

It's difficult, because you can't really write about MS without wanting to write about individual symptoms, but when you do, it is invariably awkward and clunky. The best pieces so far tend to be about the wider implications of the illness. I have a couple of MS Society events coming up, so I will see if anything suggests itself while I attend these.

on the news
a terror attack...
my leg numb again

after I've gone
the widow next door
still talking

just missing my train -
the platform staff
slagging their workmate


I just had two senryu accepted for a forthcoming "show" at Three Lights Gallery. The one above wasn't one of them.

I thoroughly recommend the site for quality haiku and individual shows by some pretty big names in the world of haiku.

Offline / online

Hi

I've been busily being lazy over the last couple of months. I had a hectic year haiku-wise in 2008 starting with setting up the British Haiku Society online discussion group and culminating in getting published in Simply Haiku on my first attempt.

2008 was also quite a busy year on a personal / health level (see my other blog), so I needed to kick back and forget submission deadlines for a while.

Whilst worrying about updating my website, I thought it might be time to start making my life easier and to set up this blog instead.

So here we are...