Wednesday, February 05, 2025

Not Dying

It's a strange kind of limbo, chronic illness, not dying and yet not recovering. I've slipped into another world. When I visit the world of the well, which I rarely do, I find it a whirl of colour and light and sound all around me, making me dizzy and breathless. A ride that I need to get off. A world in frantic movement, rushing towards... What? Why? 

I used to live there too, caught up in it and spun around to its hectic tempo. A dance it seemed impossible to resist, like a gale force wind. Most people are whisked past, autumn leaves, too fast to make eye-contact. A few offer brief glances, in their expression is something like regret, maybe concern, before they are flung into the air by the next gust. 

I retreat, watch from a window, from a place that is steady, peaceful, slow. Grateful for the shelter of what might appear to be a prison or monastic cell, sentenced and confined by a profound lack of energy to this contemplative life. 

winter storm
the ferry crossing
indefinitely postponed

Blithe Spirit Vol.35 No.1 February 2025 

a dream
about the summer
of love
deep in this
winter of hate

Blithe Spirit Vol.35 No.1 February 2025 

farewell
to my dream lover
waking
to the soft embrace
of this familiar room

Songbirds Online Anthology 2025

in the news
the story of a man
who died
alone
in a public place

hedgerow #147 2024


Wednesday, November 27, 2024

white butterfly
thoughts
of Kodokushi
and other ways
of escaping

bus engine
espresso machine
laughter
how loud it is
in the outside world

Blithe Spirit Vol.34 Number 4 Nov 2024
ill in bed
he shakes with laughter
at the absurdity
of being a human
ill in bed

Humour: The British Haiku Society Member's Anthology 2024

Saturday, October 05, 2024

the left half
of the tree
leafless
since last summer's
drought

Blithe Spirit Vol 34, No 3, August 2024

a lamp
in the shape
of a bird
the curve of its head
in my hand

Scrabble game
my opponent
apologises
for a high-scoring
four-letter word

Blithe Spirit Vol 34, No 2, May 2024



city balcony
a child kneels
head bowed
towards
the coming storm

Russian dolls
in our youth
we learned how
to build a shelter
and retreat to it

a dusty path
through olive trees
why has this memory
survived
through all the years?

Presence Issue 77 November 2023



Wednesday, August 30, 2023

a flat light
under a thunderous sky
she tells me
her side
of the story

an open window
in an empty building
a pigeon
disappears
into the dark

he talks about
how he found meaning
on a mountain top
a gust of wind blows
his words away

Presence Issue 76 July 2023


weak sunshine
a yellow bucket
full of rain

no longer
newsworthy
misery
that just drags on
from day to day

Blithe Spirit Vol 33 No 3 August 2023



Friday, May 12, 2023

morning haze
dreaming of a new 
King Arthur

restaurant closed
a pigeon hunched against
the chill

new year
a bag-for-life
blows past

Presence Issue 75 March 2023

 


Monday, December 19, 2022

guided
in somatic practice
by a wet dog
I give myself
a good shake

Water - The British Haiku Society Members' Anthology 2022