I can see the stars
Rotating in unison.
No, wait, it’s the clouds.
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Category Archives: Haiku
Stellar new haiku
Filed under Contemporary Arts, Creativity, Haiku, Ideas, Inspiration, Nature, Poetry, Writing
New haiku
Knee deep in heather,
Bright red sock wavers aloft,
Boot stuck in peat bog.
Filed under Art, Children, community, Contemporary Arts, Creativity, Haiku, Ideas, Inspiration, Nature, Poetry, Writing
Winter Haiku
A belated Happy New Year.
This is my first post of 2015. (Not including my last post which was a reblog.)
I started following a blog by Ashi Akira and he’s inspired me to get my haiku quill out. (It’s a fascinating blog – particularly the story about the Japanese and American WWII fighter pilots – well worth a visit.)
Rabbit carcass rots,
Heather bends its purple head,
Wuthering Heights call.
Listen to the song
Of the sparrows in the hedge,
Feeding time for chicks.
Filed under Art, Contemporary Arts, Creativity, Haiku, Ideas, Inspiration, Nature, Poetry, Writing
Things for which I am grateful #365/365.
Some folks might think this is a bit of a cheat. I started with my kids and I’m going to finish with them. In my defence, I have two of the little rascals so I’m counting it as one post apiece.
There is nothing more precious to me on this Earth than my two daughters. Anyone who has children will know that something changes inside of you – chemically, biologically – and nothing else seems to matter.
Of course, this doesn’t apply to every parent, and true, the pesky varmints do get on your nerves a lot of the time. And yes, they bicker constantly. And they manage to talk in a stream of consciousness James Joyce would be proud of. But, when all’s said and done, they don’t outweigh all the adorable moments. I simply couldn’t live without them.
It’s been an epic year of blogging. Thank you for sticking by me and I wish you all a very happy, healthy and prosperous new year!
Right, I’m going for a lie down.
Here are my 365 things that I am grateful for:
1 My daughters
2 Water
3 Poetry
4 Baths
5-7 Notebooks, pens, pencils
8,9 Butterflies and moths
10, 11 Softball and baseball
12 Fresh coffee
13 Sound / masts
14 Indoor toilets
15 Stepping Hill Hospital
16 Birds of Paradise
17 Roget’s thesaurus
18 Mother Earth
19 Clingfilm dispenser
20, 21 Yorkshire pudding and onion gravy
22 Jorge Luis Borges
23 Classic cars
24 Curry
25 Tim Berners Lee
26 Charles Bukowski
27 Yorkshire
28 Shiraz
29 Food
30 Katell Keineg
31 Tao Te Ching
32 A roof over my head
33 Peat fires
34 Street art
35 Friends (as in – mates, not the T.V. show)
36 Wilfred Owen
37 The Penguin Café Orchestra
38 The fry-up
39 Wolves
40 W.B. Yeats
41, 42 Cherry blossom trees and haiku poetry
43 Bread
44 Boules
45 Maps
46 Refuse collectors
47 Candy Chang
48 Sparrows
49 The tomato
50 Studio Ghibli
51 Oliver Jeffers
52 Johannes Gutenberg
53 Tom Waites
54 The cello
55 Mothers’ day
56 The Phoenicians
57, 58 Bacon and brown sauce
59 Tulips
60 Fish and chips
61 Giselle
62 Airfix
63 Firefighters
64 Rain
65 Libraries
66 Raymond Carver
67 Toulouse-Lautrec
68 The Goldfinch
69 Wings of Desire
70 Silence
71 Elizabeth Barrett Browning
72-99 Ireland
100 Talking Heads
101 Sylvia Plath
102 Yorkshire Sculpture Park
103 My mum
104 Modigliani
105 Kurt Vonnegut
106-128 Electricity
129 The pop man
130-147 Comedians/comedy
148 Commando magazine
149 Pastry
150-156 Social media
157 David Bowie
158 Football
159 D-Day
160-194 France
195-230 Novels
231 Graphic Design
232 Viva! Roxy Music
233 – 274 Art
275 Betty Blue
276 Writing
277 Joy Division
278 – 287 Scotland
288 – 324 Italy
325 – 352 Photography
353 Leeds Utd
354 Love
355 Universe
356 Advertising
357 Pan’s Labyrinth
358 – 363 Democracy
364 Miscellaneous
365 My daughters II
If anyone wants to read any of the previous posts simply type the title into the search box on the right. (It’s underneath the ‘topic’ cloud.)
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Cantankerous Yorkshireman wants to be ‘liked’.
Dear Fellow Bloggers and Followers,
I wanted to ask a favour…
Hello?
Where did everyone go?
I’ve finally gotten round to setting up an author page on Facebook and I’d be very grateful if you could pop along and ‘like’ it for me. Here’s the link:
https://www.facebook.com/thereisnocavalry
What’s in it for you?
Well, you’ll get to hear the latest about what I’m working on. (Big deal.)
A sci-fi short story called ‘Little Snow’.
I’ll post some funny stuff about writing. (Meh.)
Tell it like it is.
There’ll be some words of wisdom and encouragement from famous writers. (I have a Pinterest account too, you know.)
Aaawww.
Let’s be honest, it’s really just a vehicle to promote my books. So, if you’re not that interested in novels, short stories, poetry or screenplays written by a cantankerous old Yorkshireman, then it’s probably not for you.
Buy my books!
Filed under Art, Books, Children's books, Children's stories, Comedy, community, Contemporary Arts, Creativity, Haiku, Ideas, Inspiration, Literature, Poetry, Screenplays, Short stories, Writing
Things for which I am grateful #41 & 42
Cherry Blossom trees and haiku poetry.
Pink Cherry Blossom
Tree rains petals upon child’s
Outstretched fingers.
If you’re unfamiliar with haiku poetry, it’s the Japanese art of writing verse in 17 syllables over three lines – 5 – 7 – 5, respectively. Although, a lot of contemporary verse tends to ignore the exact syllable count. Personally, I usually, (but not always), stick to it. I find it adds a certain amount of discipline.
The stone
Meets its reflection
As it skims across the lake.
I have a theory why non-Japanese poets ignore the syllable count because, when the great haiku poets such as Basho and Buson were translated into English, (or any other language), they didn’t conform to 5-7-5.
Maybe I’m mistaken. If anyone knows, feel free to share the knowledge.
Siesta time nears,
Though the fountain does not sleep.
Listen, it speaks: Shhhhhhhh.
By Hiroshige
Filed under Art, Contemporary Arts, Creativity, Haiku, Ideas, Innovation, Inspiration, Literature, Poetry, Writing
Let me fail in Sunshine – new post.
I’ve been a busy little bee of late publishing my first novel, Love is Blood.
Well, I’ve now also published my first collection of poetry, called Let me fail in Sunshine. It’s split into three sections covering childhood, nature and love.
When I first began writing poetry in my teens, I tried to write how I thought poetry should be written – T.S. Eliot, Wordsworth, etc, like I’d learned at school. This was unnatural and forced. (Not to mention, crap.)
It was only years later, after discovering the works of Raymond Carver and Charles Bukowski, that I realised it was okay to be me. Not to try and be someone I’m not.
So, I found my voice.
It wasn’t long after, that my work started getting published in poetry journals, periodicals, websites and anthologies. Many of the poems featured in this collection have been published in the U.S., Britain and Ireland.
Some of them are humorous, some are heartbreaking, while others will fill you with joy.
There are a couple of sample poems under the image of the front cover. I hope you like them. And, if you do, maybe you would be so kind as to pop over to Amazon and buy a copy of it please? (Just click on the cover image and it will take you through to Amazon.)
THE DEPARTED
Holes appear in wardrobes,
Cupboards stare agape.
Delft wrapped in newsprint,
Boxes packed and taped.
Naked patches,
Where photographs once hung.
Dusty bookshelves
With no stories to tell.
Bulging suitcases
Clambering for the door.
Except, I’m not the one,
Going anywhere.
GUILTY.
The pole from which I hang
Is normally meant for the washing.
Today though, I am out to dry,
Swinging like a criminal
By the neck of my t-shirt.
It was my means of escape
That captured me:
Across Mr. Gordon’s garden,
Through the hedge,
Over the shed roof,
With the crab apples,
Down the washing pole,
Where I now hang.
Filed under Contemporary Arts, Creativity, Haiku, Ideas, Inspiration, Poetry, Writing
