haiku hit

Want a quick hit of haiku?

I am currently participating in a Junicho lead by Ashley Capes and was asked to submit three haiku for a summer verse. Here are the poems I submitted:

      still dawn
      every cloud is
      a dead lamb

                                              kissing
                                              behind a stand of pines
                                              the sun slips

      lightning
      sky to sea
      and back again

To see which one was selected head over to Issa’s Snail. There are some mighty fine verses waiting for you!

To a girl, swimming

My heart is your sky
and the sun is the only
gold we need.

Tidal Notes

I

drinking cask wine
and smiling at her
I inhale the warm summer perfume
of her dress
II

light purrs into the grass
on days like this
I see all men
as brief as birds
III

dusk feathers the day
into vague bits of dream
while the pulse in my neck taps
trouble          trouble
IV

naked night swim
our drunken limbs
fumble over moons
of flesh
V

softening skin
our bodies
dance in time with
the river’s heartbeat
VI

skipping stones
across a glass river
each bounce
shatters silence
VII

bird song lost
in the air of morning
we drift home with
the outgoing tide

 

* this poem was written collaboratively with Cindy Keong. You can view more of Cindy’s work here: http://clk27.wordpress.com/

Everything is Sky (part 4)

                   (Day Four: Carnarvon Gorge, Boolimba Bluff)

 

 

Those dark moments before dawn
standing by the river, its skin like
the wrong side of satin sheets.

*

wrens settle like rain on the tree fern

*

Five hundred stairs up Boolimba Bluff
the kookaburras start laughing.

As we reach the plateau, a wedge-tail cuts
through the sky, polished as opal.

Everything is Sky (part 3)

                   (Day Three: Carnarvon Gorge, Wards Canyon and back)

ferns shimmer chest deep on the Eastern Grey

*

Rainbow Serpent arches
through paintings of boomerang
and vulva, disappears
into the history
of stone.

*

in the amphitheatre
the honeyed-orchestra
of bees

Everything is Sky (part 2)

                   (Day Two: Roma to Carnarvon Gorge)

a black snake pulls
heat from the bitumen

*

Out here, grass flowers red
and roos line the road
their ribs sprung open.

We drive, smiling
in the sun’s early gravity
cattle grids flooding our heads
with thought’s rhythm.

*

At Baloon Cave
a cluster of ancient
handprints reminds me
of the impression we make.

*

two butterflies circle
each other
in the heat of love

*

Late afternoon breeze brings comfort to us.
I can feel in the dragonflies’  crimson vibrations the coming storm.

Everything is Sky

(Day One: Brisbane to Roma)

driving west, the road is
everything, until it’s sky

*

The crows have stopped to bathe
flitting like conversation
in and out of the irrigation ditch

*

admiring the sunset
a galah empties its eyes
into the windscreen

*

At night, silence rushes in
assaults our tired ears.

We sit in bed, weighted
down by heavy tongues.

Outside a curlew cries and again
we find that basic need for language.

Collaborative Ghazal Project: The Ghazal of Another Lost Shark

A big thank you to everyone who sent me their pearls of thought as part of this project… I have now strung them together into a poem that I think sings quite beautifully.

So here it is… The Ghazal of Another Lost Shark! Look forward to hearing your thoughts on the poem.

The Ghazal of Another Lost Shark

Tonight as rain hisses on stones, you come to me.
The breeze that lifts the curtain calls your name to me.

A rooster’s yellow beak opens the dawn, taking with it
my dreams, as the heat of morning breaks in me.                          (ALS)          

Another waits in ancient Xi an for the same dawn.
A traveller remembering they could not wait for me.                   (Therese)

Rumpled with sleep an early morning kiss smooths
out the creases, as you fold into me.                                                      (Cindy)

Velvet silhouttes of eucalyptus leaves on lace.
What, I ask, to make of them? What to make of me?                      (Brad)

A flint struck on the horizon relights the day.
A wind stirs thought, the senses rise, earth quakes in me              (tipota)

I feel your tear drop soothe the thing that burns.
Your skin is cool, your breath refreshes me.                                       (Therese)

She comes and goes, she heaves and sighs, she domes and dips,
my thirst she knows and, salt-lessly, she slakes me.                          (John)

Silently slipping sandal-less away at night,
love goddess, dry bone, Earth’s only child, forsakes me                 (John)

Return to the water Lost Shark, only
there will you find the depth of me.                                                          (ALS)

Waking Hours

This is how I wake:
your face at the foot of the bed
the colour of honey
a safe haven for first steps.

People’s Day

Here in Brisbane, it’s ‘People’s Day’ at The Ekka. I am just about to pack my bags and head off to take in all the tastes, sounds, scents and sights of the show… and remember, if you are at The Ekka today, come along and see us at 5pm on The Community Stage.

Here’s a few haiku to start your morning and bring a little of The Ekka into your day.

                                                                          dodgem cars
                                                                          waiting for the sparks
                                                                          to fly

grand parade
the lowing of cattle
drowns in itself

                                                         
                                           pink nose of the bull bristled by our scent