Today's poet

[Mossdog]

The Border(s)

I wasn’t sure of the eventual evolution
In a fragment my cortex was neatly bypassed
An unconscious, implicit
leaning into me -leaning into you
With Wainrights central fells clearly in view
The smell of coffee and a turquoise tie.
Sometimes the earliest memories
Are the most salient.



and by the master....

Leaning Into The Afternoons by Pablo Neruda

Leaning into the afternoons,
I cast my sad nets towards your oceanic eyes.
There, in the highest blaze my solitude lengthens and flames;
Its arms turning like a drowning man's.
I send out red signals across your absent eyes
That wave like the sea, or the beach by a lighthouse.
You keep only darkness my distant female;
From your regard sometimes, the coast of dread emerges.

Leaning into the afternoons,
I fling my sad nets to that sea that is thrashed
By your oceanic eyes.
The birds of night peck at the first stars
That flash like my soul when I love you.
The night, gallops on its shadowy mare
Shedding blue tassels over the land.

It's always been my inclination to enjoy leaning (sorry couldn't resist), but a turquoise tie! Guess I'm just sartorially challenged. I like it Frecks. It immediately conjures solid images and ambience for the reader. And remember - you're a master too.

[Mossdog]

Some fantastic stuff on here atm. It's inspired an increase in haiku activity

watery sunshine
pierces ethereal mist
September morning

About time too DT. I've suffered haiku withdraw over the last two days of forum absence.

Inspired by today's venture - The Mallerstang Yomp:

by any Standards
Mallerstang's rainbows contrive
the spectrum of bliss

[XRunner]

Absent Friends (by Walter Wingate)

My heart absorbs me more and more;
My world of friendship narrows in.
The new I hardly care to win;
The old are fewer than of yore.

But in the space from eve till morn,
Affection, cramped upon the nest,
In wider ranging finds a rest;
And I am not so friend-forlorn.

For never one have I forgot;
Their voices in my heart I hear;
I am myself their souvenir;
We shaped each other, thought with thought.

At times a merry meet we hold:
At times upon my mind is left
That aftermath of the bereft,
Regret for kindness overcold.

New flowers on April's breast they see,
New stars about the winter moon:
And new delights may change the tune
That keeps the old refrain for me.

If friendship there has changed its stream
To feed the homestead where they live,
If they forget, I must forgive:
Yet rather will I trust my dream;

My dream, that nightly soars above
The barriers of time and space,
To watch their gaze upon my face
Till recognition leaps to love.

[XRunner]

I hoped to post this poem by Ted Hughes on Wednesday or Thursday night:-

Harvest Moon

The flame-red moon, the harvest moon,
Rolls along the hills, gently bouncing,
A vast balloon,
Till it takes off, and sinks upward
To lie on the bottom of the sky, like a gold doubloon.

The harvest moon has come,
Booming softly through heaven, like a bassoon.
And the earth replies all night, like a deep drum.
So people can’t sleep,
So they go out where elms and oak trees keep
A kneeling vigil, in a religious hush.

The harvest moon has come!
And all the moonlit cows and all the sheep
Stare up at her petrified, while she swells
Filling heaven, as if red hot, and sailing
Closer and closer like the end of the world.

Till the gold fields of stiff wheat
Cry `We are ripe, reap us!’ and the rivers
Sweat from the melting hills.

The next harvest moon to occur at the autumn equinox will be in 2029!

[Harry H Howgill]

The Stoat

serpentine slinker
stopping with a sloe eyed stare
black tipped tail twitching

Aha, the forum is back. Hello again everyone.

I love this.

A stoat ran in front of me last week at work. He stared at me in quite a threatening way before scampering away on his stoaty business. It was like I'd just been eyeballed by someone on a clandestine mission.

[Harry H Howgill]

I finally got a copy of Wing Beats, a book with haiku about birds. Its quite good but I genuinely think that there a number of posters on here that can produce haiku of equal or better quality. You have all set high standards.

There are some good ones in there such as...

winter sunrise
the bullfinch in the quince tree
turns a deeper red

and...

drystone wall
a dozen rooks face
in one direction.

Most of the haikuers in there seem to forgo the 5,7,5 but I still prefer to write in that format. I see it as a bit of an extra challenge.


Here's one from me for today.

Limp Starling greets me
Gift from a misguided cat
I prefer chocolate

[Derby Tup]

Couple of birdie haiku inspired by a lovely afternoon spent in the Dearne Valley

stooping peregrine
terrifies roosting lapwings
watching birders thrilled

bashful water rail
appears briefly through reeds
shy and secretive

[Einar]

This has been a great page. Here's one from a friend just back from Chartres cathedral. It's her first haiku, with more of a city theme:

Tall spires dream skywards,
Filigree within. Lives etched
In stained glass and stone.

[freckle]

Absent Friends (by Walter Wingate)

My heart absorbs me more and more;
My world of friendship narrows in.
The new I hardly care to win;
The old are fewer than of yore.

But in the space from eve till morn,
Affection, cramped upon the nest,
In wider ranging finds a rest;
And I am not so friend-forlorn.

For never one have I forgot;
Their voices in my heart I hear;
I am myself their souvenir;
We shaped each other, thought with thought.

At times a merry meet we hold:
At times upon my mind is left
That aftermath of the bereft,
Regret for kindness overcold.

New flowers on April's breast they see,
New stars about the winter moon:
And new delights may change the tune
That keeps the old refrain for me.

If friendship there has changed its stream
To feed the homestead where they live,
If they forget, I must forgive:
Yet rather will I trust my dream;

My dream, that nightly soars above
The barriers of time and space,
To watch their gaze upon my face
Till recognition leaps to love.

Ah........what a relief to be back...i thought you were all gone ...like FOREVER!!!!!!......what a totally apt poem X Runner...cool!

[freckle]

You went away
and i was numb
with the void
then I begun
new journeys
and the recollection
Life is after all
adaptation

x