Wednesday, 25 July 2012

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.

Monday, 23 July 2012

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.

Thursday, 19 July 2012

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.

Wednesday, 18 July 2012

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.

Tuesday, 17 July 2012

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 ‘crĂȘche’ 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’?