Bilingualism

Swahili & English - so far the only time I've tried a bilingual poem...

Utafiti                                                Research

Watoto                                              Children
Na nguo kabichi ya skuli                    In green school uniforms
Wanafaraha                                       Are Happy
Na wanasema wengi,                        And talk much,
Wanataka mimi kupiga picha             Wanting me to take a photo
- Nakweya gari yangu                      - I climb onto my car
Kuona wote.                                     To see them all.

A pair of shorts

From Kuta

Bali-shore, bay-curves, beach-space;
The Sun sneaks away,
Surely to a lesser place –
The Sun sets, the whole sky’s on fire,
And a volcano sends
Its own message to the Moon.

Tree line

A cherry blossoms,
No-one sees –
The blossom dies,
You see.

Three brief offerings

Not haiku, just short...

Gone-face

There’s a face over there,
Looking at me sitting here,
Watching the night-time world go by.
No-one else can see it,
There’s no-one else here anyway.
If I look straight back it goes away.
The inner space behind the face,
Is fine this time;
If it stays I just don’t mind,
But if it speaks I’ll scream.

In/Action
Level minds not level heads
Are what we need
To make, create, inviolate,
Though many words are said.

Slide

Your tongue drags across my eye
As I force myself to stare,
Then, blinking,
Return the gift.

Three modern haiku

Teacher's lament

It's sunny outside,
I want to play in the dirt,
Marking pays the bills.

Entomology

Tell me bluebottle;
Why come indoors just to bang
Your face on the glass?

The garden planner

Speckled wood basking
On dry soil, new pond half-dug
Soon for water-bugs.

The Desert Man

The Desert Man

The Desert Man sits in his arid haze,
Staring at the sun,
While dark-lined accusations
Skate across him,
Barely scratching,
Wounds closing even as he watches,
Sealed by the heat of an inner fire,
Fuelled by the words of a friendly liar,
Whispering like thunder,
So no-one else can hear
As they drift
Past him, through him,
Looking but never seeing,
Casting bolts of ignorant assumption
From bows strung with ego
While he waits
On a streetlit corner of his mind,
Calling to the masses,
Delivering tracts on Stoicism
With the silent, knowing vigour of the dead.

Puns and wonders

Puns + wonders =

Punderment

Do gironauts travel on the dole?
Is James Blunt rhyming slang?
Is birodiversity lots of pens?
And is a ‘crêche’ a Surrey prang?

Can a machine start without warning,
Once it has a warning sign?
In the Navy do they really play
The sticky-biscuit game?

Is ‘Applecore’ West Country punk?
Can you phone Hemline for skirts?
Is a blumpkin ever really done?
And what’s the point of ironing shirts?

Why do people wait by an empty road
‘Til the green man says cross over?
Is the worst reason to do something
Because that’s what you’re told to?

Is a bland Conservative the same old (s)tory?
Do Libertarians eat for free?
Is a Tinkerbarrel a plus-size fairy?
And who first thought of trying cheese?

Is unadventurous music
Airing on the side of caution?
At a meeting of proctologists,
Should you all table a motion?

Are chavs displayed in the Asbolean?
Does a wormcast predict where worms will be?
Is drizzle the suburbia of weather?
And do buzzards soar to find their ‘keeees’?

Five brief offerings

A selection of (very) short, but non-haiku, verse...

Ink

A Maasai warrior
Raises his spear
And leaps after
Invisible prey
Every time I move my arm.

One in All

Each of us
Contains seven atoms
Of Caesar’s Last Breath;
Or so it’s said.

Chilled

To drink
Or to climb,
It’s nice,
Equatorial ice.

Water Gypsy

A Child
Walks a crayfish on a string;
Dogs run free.

Tactile

Curves are
To touch and hold,
Or they would be straight.

Signs of the times

Dim-witted adverts, pointless labels, nannying imperatives - they're all around us, best ignore them...

Signs of the times

‘Delays possible’ – are there places where they’re not?
‘No user-serviceable parts inside’ – you’ll find that is a lie,
‘For your safety and security…’ – somehow I think it’s not,
‘Trespassers will be prosecuted’ – how, when it’s not a crime?

‘Only in cinemas’ – where else would new films be?
‘Architect-designed’ – can a house be otherwise?
‘Less than 5% fat’ – d’uh, it’s sugar so it would be,
‘Extreme – for MEN’ – oh, like when a tissue is ‘man-size’?

‘May contain nuts’ – well, yes that’s why I bought it,
‘No unauthorised access’ – I’ll make that choice, thank you,
‘Stop at red light’ – well who would have thought it?
Despite all of the above, I still know how to queue.

The Long Way Round

Long Way

Blood on the door
Dead man on the floor
A Zen experience on a jungle bus
Worlds apart, he’s up once more.

A West End train
A dubious stain
Misty river forest highway
Pink thing spitting pink again.

Another call
A shot-glass squall
The desert Charon rides the flow
Cut the rope and watch the fall.

The gremlin's progress

Another true Kenyan story...

Gremlin

Tiny cat –
Big ears,
Bloody nose
And broken tail;
Cries
And follows,
Eats from a crab-shell.
Sleeps in a bag
And quietly
Goes to America.