Number 35
Topic: People you meet in a monastery guesthouse
Title: ‘Guests of the Monastery’
***
temporarily unavailable
*****
Number: 34
Topic: Parents/Family
Title: untitled senryus
***
beneath the Cape Lilac
our parents play together
ξ
in the kitchen spices
on the bookshelves law
ξ
she chart stars
he loves cricket
together they drink tea
*****
Number: 33
Topic: First Impressions
Title: ’Frida Downunder’
***
A strange twin I’ve picked
you might think:
the diminutive Mexican artist
and you, yet though it’s true
her eyes were brown and
yours are blue with a hint of green
in them something like Frida’s
fiery beauty can be seen
and the same kind of strong soul
ξ
Neither denying – nor
being confined to -
the box ticked ‘disability’
your unlikely sister and
you simply spill over
the categories with fierce delight
and undiminished appetite
for sensuous and artistic life
*****
Number: 32
Topic: First Impressions
Title: untitled haiku
***
on the wide streets of old gold towns
sunflowers thrive
*****
Number: 31
Topic: First Impressions
Title: ’Tory, the Explorer’
***
I once met a woman called Tory
and heard just a part of her story
but enough to reveal
she has nerves of steel
and loves life’s adventurous glory
*****
Number: 29
Topic: Lego
Title: ‘How it works’
***
These bricks are not what they seem
Their magic must work in a team
By themselves boring
Together they’re soaring
and building whatever you dream
*****
emeralds on velvet
jewels of my heart
Russian Blues
*****
Number: 28
Topic: Hope
Title: three haikus
***
frost melts
the moon is never gone for long
ξ
dried lichen
rock skin comes alive
with rain
ξ
after the fire
green fronds
on blackened bark
*****
Number: 27
Topic: Limpets
Title: ‘Five things we can learn from limpets’
***
1. Strength does not depend on size.
§
2. It can be hard to spot what is rock
and what is not.
§
3. Some snails are themselves gardeners.
§
4. We might design mines or find cures for cancers -
limpets ride out the tides.
§
5. Not everything that looks like a limpet
truly is.
*****
Number: 26
Topic: Housemates who drink too much tea
Title: ‘The Middle Way’
***
When housemates drink tea to excess
and their speediness escalates stress
there’s no need to panic
or flee when they’re manic
Just calmly suggest that they drink less!
*****
Number: 25
Topic: Fairies at the bottom of the garden at Ferdinand Crescent
Title: The Garden Dwellers
***
You won’t find their presence
noted on any census
nor mentioned to anyone
but the most intimate
and trusted friend
ξ
It is easier than you
might think for them to pass
unnoticed by day or night
They alight so gently
ξ
And so many of us
are dazzled by Disney
even children sometimes fail
to see nature’s fierce beauty
- the flowers – the fairies – the love
*****
Number: 24
Topic: Grace
Title: ‘Grace’
***
temporarily unavailable
*****
Number: 23
Topic: Workplace Annoyance No. 2 – Failing to do your dishes in the staff kitchen
Title: Memo to All Staff
***
It has come to our attention
that the webcam of conscience has crashed
I.T. has diagnosed general system failure
In this state of emergency
we are acting swiftly
to prevent outbreaks of cholera, typhoid
and kitchen rage
The simple measure of doing your own dishes
(Yes, you. Yes, every item. Yes, every time.)
might just stop the slide into outright war
So we’ve installed an external webcam
just to make sure
*****
Number: 22
Topic: Workplace Annoyance No. 1 – failing to replace the toilet roll
Title: senryu
***
the holder empty
my heart starves
no-one commits to paper
*****
Number: 21
Topic: Running away to the country
Title: ‘The Spell’
***
Take two parts dream
one part practicality
place in an earthenware flask
and allow to fill with rainwater
stopper with duty and put aside
in the back of an untended wardrobe
or under a tree in the wilder corners
of the garden
On this much all the records agree
from here on in it gets blurry
ξ
Some, by all accounts, tend
the site like a shrine
bring frequent offerings -
seeds, a bit of fencing wire,
old straw – till one day,
so the neighbours say,
they are gone for good,
having left early
ξ
Others may visit just as often
their hearts full of longing
but empty hands
till time withers both
desire and duty
ξ
A rare fragmentary manuscript
hints at the possibility
of reaching the desired space
without geographical shift
but sift as we might
the precise method is lost
so you’re on your own here
ξ
One thing is clear -
if years have gone by
and the content’s
not evaporated
then conjure all your courage,
loosen the stopper’s grip
pour a libation
to the rest of life
and – taking your cue
from Ulysses – leave
ξ
Late is not too late
*****
Number: 20 b
Topic: Photography
Title: senryu
***
new media cannot kill
art’s infinite
depth of field
*****
Number: 20
Topic: Photography
Title: Depth of Field is Infinite
***
A critic said art was all over
when Fox Talbot first clicked a shutter
but this craft joined the fold
with art forms of old
thus proving some critics are nutters
*****
Number: 19
Topic: Point Peron
Title: forthcoming
*****
Number: 18
Topic: The challenges of teaching grammar
Title: ‘The Calling’
***
It’s a difficult task to enamour
students in the study of grammar
‘The art of letters’ in Greek
grows yearly more weak
yet it still casts its own special glamour
*****
Number: 17
Topic: A vision of a caring, inclusive Hilton or anywhere!
Title: ‘A Tale of Two Trees’
Subtitle: ‘A true fable of Hilton’
***
Temporarily unavailable
*****
Number: 16
Topic: ‘For 6b – a class of writers’
Title: ‘How to Recognise a Poem (Your Own)’
***
You know
when you walk on a bush track at noon
the birds are hushed by heat
but down near your feet leaves rustle
and you smile to yourself
because another creature is near
it’s like that
You know
when you feel grumpy for days
nothing’s right and you don’t know why
then it shifts and fat drops of rain
kiss the dust on the pavement
the air is alive with possibilities
just before the water roars down
it’s like that
You know
when you get an ear worm
three or more words together
that tease you so much
you can’t get them out of your head
Sometimes it lasts for years
it’s like that
You know
when you ride barefoot in winter
and your feet slip off the pedals
and you stub your toes
the pain takes your breath away
but it’s worse when your old best friend
tells their new best friend
your deepest, secret shame
and now everyone knows
Then, a universe away,
the cold coal of rage
becomes a diamond rhyme
it’s like that
You know
when you wake up from a dream so luminous
you rush to catch it
and though it slips through your net of words
the moth dust left behind on the mesh
glows softly for years to come
it’s like that
You know it’s like that
You know it’s like that
You know it’s like that
don’t you?
*****
Number: 15
Topic: ‘For 6b – a class of writers’
Title: ‘How to Recognise a Poem (Other People’s)’
***
Relax! It’s an open secret
even the hunters disagree
So why not make your own safari?
Here’s how to begin:
Enter the bush alone
Listen with your own ears
Look with your own eyes
At night by the fire
read aloud a thousand and one poems
one each for a thousand and one nights
Do not hunt the poems
they will creep up to the edges of your camp
when you are ready
Spend time with the animals themselves
not their captors
This makes you free
to decide for yourself
what is poetry
*****
Number: 14
Topic: ‘For 6b – a class of writers’
Title: ‘How to Recognise a Poet’
***
1. The Water Method
For a start, don’t get distracted by daffodils
and that old Greek daffodil guy
who got caught too long at the waterhole
Anyone stuck on how things look
is unlikely to be a poet
2. The Rhythm Method
Do they dance? At the very least tap their feet?
Do they click sticks, or their fingers,
or empty out the cutlery drawer and shake spoons
whenever there’s half a chance for a party?
May be they have a rap sheet for poetry
3. The Picasso Method
Cry babies, cowardy-custards
rude girls who laugh too loud
Dreamers who read under the desk
or under the blankets by torchlight
or not at all
but simply look through the windows
longing to wander outside
In short, anyone who is all awkward angles
and cannot conceal how much they feel
is highly suspect of being a poet
4. The Elders Method
Parents of baby poets do not always know
how best to rear their odd offspring
Such infants require quite a bit of care
while they are staring at the stars babbling
they may accidentally forget themselves
and roll into a fire
Older ones innocently hunting honey
often take poison bait
The lucky ones are found by elder poets
before it’s too late
5. The Foolproof Method
Get up early. Decide, Weetbix or toast?
Go the long way round to school
so you can check out the spitfire nest
Look up at the sky at least three times
before going inside
On the way home glance sideways
in the shop window
or go swimming
Look at the water’s surface a moment
before diving deep and coming up laughing
or simply check the mirror
while you clean your teeth before bed
Could be the poet you are looking for
is you
*****
Number: 13
Topic: Birth
Title: ‘Heaven and Earth for Midwives’
***
Don’t believe a word you’ve heard about birth
Nothing prepares you for the agony
The engines of earth rumble
tectonic plates grind and part
pain pours through your belly like molten lava
until the gates of heaven open at last
and you are delivered
both baby and world newly born
Nothing prepares you for the ecstasy
of meeting your newly-minted miracle
*****
Number: 12
Topic: Ups and downs of life when you are trying to live your dreams facing failure in times of hardship and putting everything on the line for it. Plus the glimpses of hope on the journey.
Title: ‘Busking’
***
Plant your feet foursquare
on the gritty street corner
leave behind pride and shame
turn your face to the winds of change
Sing out your soul
Sing till there’s nothing left within
Then begin again
Set out for the Emerald City
leave behind desire and dread
take what comes on the winds of tomorrow
Dancing child
Shopkeeper glaring
Cursing drunk
Silver coins falling
Each a gift dropped
into the begging bowl of dreams
Leave behind wounds and trophies
wear your heart out on your sleeve
whatever grieves you can be turned to gold
through the alchemy of art
Travel light and life conspires
to keep alight the dreaming fires
*****
Number: 11
Topic: Friendship
Title: ‘Secular Sacrament’
***
Thin porcelain
Chunky white china
Battered enamel
Any vessel graced
by tea taken in your company
is made holy
*****
Number: 10
Topic: ‘White Rabbit’ (Jefferson Airplane song)
Title: ‘Eat me, Drink me’
***
The skin we are wrapt in to begin with
is permeable
Watch any loved infant
you can see free exchange
between outside and in
When we grow larger in the world’s eyes
the inner skin dessicates if we are no longer
pliantly present
Energy cannot move through contracted pores
and battering down the doors of perception
with chemical hammers risks disintegration
Yet wonderland flares irridescent
in the sunlight of ordinary days
Go ask snakes, I think they’ll know
the way to shed again and again
coming out tenderly and bigger each season
No need to go off chasing rabbits
they come to you in music of the sixties
and lovemaking and the rush
of water on rocks
The supple and subtle snakes
unhinge their jaws
and swallow ecstasy whole
*****
Number: 9
Topic: Dreaming of possibilities
Title: ‘Theatre of Dreams’
***
A sign is posted at the stage door
Entry by Invitation Only
However long they scowl
and skulk in the alley
No cold critic
No sneering sceptic
No resigned realist
will be admitted
The way is well barred
by forces they cannot comprehend
Only the invisible pass stamped
Willing Suspender of Disbelief
gains entry here
In the secret theatre of the heart
the curtain rises and tryouts commence
Zen austerity
Baroque costumery
The wild, open road of the Milky Way
Each possibility more enchanting
than the one before
Late at night the performers have supper
with the critic, the sceptic and the realist
Together they hammer out a business plan
for the Patrons of Possibility
*****
Number: 8
Topic: The pleasures of exercise
Title: ‘Not all highs are illegal’
***
First find the form
that calls to your spirit
then pay up front
in the small change
of sweat and ache and time
in the dance studio leaping
on the downhill run,
wheels spinning
meeting the ocean at dawn
or the river at dusk
like a secret lover
pleasure enough for
any animal on earth
*****
Number: 7
Topic: In the package (a gift of a beautiful glass ring)
Title: untitled haiku
***
sunlit river
leaves drift
glitterfish leap
*****
Number: 6
Topic: Deep satisfaction
Title: “Beware the Chimæra”
***
We track the spoor of happiness
through prickly thickets of desire
or stumble worn down endless
dead end roads of duty
Lured onwards by that Chimæra
deferral we remain
willfully blind to the subtle signs
Our quarry does not appear
until we sit for a while in stillness
grow eyes to see the sand-filled print
the bent blade
grow a soul to hold
the deep satisfaction
of being here
* * * * *
Number: 5
Topic: “The Drudge of Housework”
Title: “The Drudge of Housework”
***
The nightmare is daily repeated
and arguments frequently heated
the dust and the dishes
seem to eat up our wishes
to be fairly and equally treated
* * * * *
Number: 4
Topic: Sustainable sex
Title: “Sustainable Sex”
***
Alas it’s a human conundrum
that lusty love turns dull and humdrum
Don’t go looking for pills
to cure your ills
Know that to keep hold of love you must give some
* * * * *
Number: 3
Topic: Old Age
Title: “Invisibility has its consolations”
***
You see, perhaps,
the folding of skin
You do not know
the rich and secret
dolls within
I’m every age I’ve ever been
while you are merely
young and thin
* * * * *
Number: 2
Topic: Camping in Dwellingup/swimming in lake
Title: “Baptism of a sort”
***
Black water beckons
come as you are
smooth divers
crabwise tumblers
ginger toe dippers
clothed alike in
riversilk dusk
breathing peace
* * * * *
Number: 1
Topic: The first pome
Title: “It will appear”
***
Indra’s net flings jewels
across the night sky
the silver and blue catch fire
so, too, the leap of affinity
in your eyes as you weave
nets of love to hold and heal
and then let go
into infinite indigo
This page has the following sub pages.
How can I cast
a vote on words, first or last,
about which jewel is most beautiful,
which gleam has most lustre,
which breath brings most life,
which blood drop is most red,
which penstroke draws most beauty, said?
for surely it is wrongful, worse!
to cast a blessing or a curse,
these poems are treasures all
and should remain upon the wall!
Eeeh, poems from poems, about poems – could this be contagious?!?
but, even so, nonetheless,
though every one I do bless,
when all is done it has to be
it’s number one, the 1 for me
Forgive my playing – here’s what I mean: well done WordWoman, they’re everyone a joy these poems and you have some mighty talent in you!
So, the first pome, the first vote!
wonderful all. I’d love to come to the cafe. For me its no.1 Puts me in mind of one of mine
Oh far flung night
silence of radiant blaze
the wind lashed trees
in wild ecstatic dance
sings to the stars
and i in jaw dropped wonder
gaze
What bliss . . . poets speaking with poets, and poems speaking with poems! I love this song to the stars – thank you for sending a shiver across Indra’s net.
White Rabbit brilliant. Wonderful stuff. For no discernible reason I thought you might enjoy this:
She
She showers her love
upon the waiting,
aching, droplets of humanity,
as seeds are scattered to the earth,
or strewn stars
with careless grace
take up their predetermined place
illuminating empty space,
reward enough for dancing.
The humble bumble bee
in just such manner,
alights upon a totally random,
completely ordained ,
selection of exquisitely tender
translucent hymns to beauty,
not pausing to consider
the propriety of her flight,
or whether to budget her dance of visitations.
And who would trim
the wild free rose
or censure stars
or rein the wind
when freedom flowing in our veins
like water down a mountainside
reminds us just to sing.
Ah for every discernible and discerning reason I do, indeed, love it. Not sure I’m meditating sufficiently often to digest such bliss of reciprocity!
It’s number nine for mine.
As well as disbelief, I’m willing to suspend maturity to put me in my natural state. The critic, sceptic and realist are a bilious bunch who cultivate negativity to remain comfortable. Prevaricate and be damned , follow your instincts and it might just work. And if it doesn’t work,so what, it’s the doing that counts and not the judgement.
Ah, a person after my own heart, I detect. And I offer my heart in return!
I am finding it so hard to vote, but gotta give a special mention to the 6b poems. They are amazing – wish I’d had them to read when I was 11!!! Am most joyous to have them to read NOW.
I also note that the busking poem seems to belong in the same basket somehow…
And I so love the last lines of Chimaera poem. yep yep yep.
hope ghost town goes well today
Ah, yes I think I partly wrote them for my own inner eleven year old. I’m so delighted you like them!
I cant vote because I am a felon (jk). Absolutely amazed and impressed with the creativity. Beautiful!
ah, but I make an exception for Felonious Monks . . . No need to vote really . . . happy that you’ve read and enjoyed. The venue for all this is the same place Josh made his Fremantle debut, singing of his grandparents. There wasn’t a dry eye in the house that night (and not just rellies either – the whole audience was very touched)
No 17. Utterly beautiful brought tears to my eyes.
And no. 21 also moved me deeply. Regrettably a theme all too familiar to me.
Wow, I’m really delighted that ‘A Tale of Two Trees’ is moving people – tears and tingles! It was hard to write, but worth it. I’m not sure I understand the ‘regrettably’ (although I deeply applaud your choice of the right word!!! It’s a rarity. Regrettably, most people opt for ‘regretfully’). You have been a country dweller, haven’t you? And you seem to me like a man who lives his dreams.
Hallo WordWoman,
it’s been a while since I dropped a line. What wonderful poems – they make me laugh, cry and wonder.
You’ve given us a veritable Aladdin’s cave of treasures here, and thank you for it. Loved “two Trees” and laughed aloud at “the Middle Way” and wished “Secular Sacrament” was written with me in mind! Lucky 6B – wish I’d had that teacher to bring alive something so precious. My schooldays were a bit of a desert – but even deserts have their upside, as I now know.
re 21. “Running” – as you know the bible says “the virtuous woman buyeth the land” – and thus, it was so. Late, is indeed, not too late!
Chris – whoever Chris is, seems one of my sort, and whoever asked for Russian Blue too!
May Indra cradle you softly in her net.
KV
Oh it’s so good to hear from you. ‘Secular Sacrament’ was penned for your sister countrywoman, who would have no problem with sharing!!! One more sleep, then to the Monastery I hie! Yay!