poetry diary

I rhyme to see myself, to set the darkness echoing. (Seamus Heaney, from Personal Helicon)

Month: September, 2012

Still life, in the kitchen

Peppers lie uncut;
a knife amongst onions
glistens with sweetness.

——-

For haiku heights September challenge. I cooked Provençal Sauce last night (and my recipe has sweet peppers).

After the parting

Nails losing their gloss,
she sits contemplating space,
but the train has left.

——-

For haiku heights September challenge. (With apologies to the woman opposite me in Bristol station last week who inspired this.)

Spring Dawn

A blackbird calling
as the sun rises, renders
all the world in song.

——-

For haiku heights September challenge.

Au Lapin Agile

A crowd not breathing;
two women dancing with drums,
moving like water.

——-

For haiku heights September challenge. The prompt is ‘agile’ and the phrase that came into my head was ‘au lapin agile’, which is French, but beyond that I couldn’t remember anything – so I looked it up, and it turns out to be the name of a famous cabaret club in Montmatre which was the haunt of struggling writers and artists at the start of the 20th century. (I have been there in spirit many times, and in reality 20 years ago). So just right, really.

The Milky Way

Stars gathered to hear
new sounds in the darkness, but
it’s only a child.

——-

For haiku heights September challenge.

Autumn

Smoke rises from leaves;
an old man watches traffic,
and we all move on.

——-

For haiku heights September challenge.

By moonlight

Clouds obscure the moon;
as the owl swoops silently,
a tired mouse stumbles.

——-

For haiku heights September challenge.

Loneliness

Your fingers touching
mine, as snow settles outside:
I feel them still.

——-

For haiku heights September challenge.

At the seaside

That colourful stone,
disturbed by winter storms, turns
to sand in my shoe.

——-

For haiku heights September challenge.

Drawbridge

A squirrel pauses;
chestnut branch like a drawbridge,
defending summer.

——-

For haiku heights September challenge.