Thursday 25 October 2012

North Norfolk

Lazy mists in drifts,
Geese in urgent formation
Span the salt marshes.

Autumn puddle


Friday 12 October 2012

Haiku

Truth is under pressure
A leaf dances
Poised between alternatives.

Ibis


Wednesday 19 September 2012

The Painted and the Painter



The Painted and the Painter

Put risk on the scales
Weighed against safety ....
This time
It 's not attractive.
Hawks and creeps surround me
Waiting for my weakness
To swoop like jackdaws
On my perceived 'jewels'.

What does he see this artist?
Unknit  my  forehead,
Remain bland, in control.
Relaxed, he will see
My status
My riches
My red gown,
Not my dilemma,
The monkey knot of possibilities.
My mask is in place
I'm still now, even smile
This man will see me not.

I will look at my outward self and see
What the world sees.
How futile my false face was
This man has glimpsed my soul.
He has shown my care,
Seen my uncertainty:
my hands betray me.
Artists should not be trusted
He has found my hidden skin
And wormed his way inside.
My contradictions are exposed.


He's begun to watch me
His eyes flickering from 'the pose'.
Seeing his portrait has disturbed,
His air has changed.
Have I been too bold?
My task is to flatter -
To paint rainbows on puddles
BUT butterflies are not worms.
I like this man
I don' t want lies to be his epitaph.
He's been gentle with me;
I'm a fly to his spider
But he's not tried
To trap me in his wishes,
He has given me freedom,
I'll give him, sincerity.


Inspired by Pontormo 's Portrait of Cosimo (Medici) the Elder

Wednesday 11 April 2012

Final days of Lent

Trickles of water
etch their way through the mudflats
        small, but eyes rest there.        4.4


Planing on thermals
the gannet achieves
effortless, joyous
                      freedom.                 5.4

Good Friday
The temple's veil ripped -
No barriers left between
              God and humble man.         6.4

His death like his birth
is of infinite mystery -
               faith, but not knowledge.         7.4

Old friends are rejoined
Blue and green blend to turquoise
              Colouring of joy.            8.4


Wednesday 4 April 2012

Lent Challenge Week 6

Dawn touches the porch
before the huge East End Glass
                     The least shall be first.         28.3

60
60 has gained in status:
‘Now we are 6’ has been reborn
as ‘Now we are‘60’ and appeals
 to present seekers for aged
Christopher Robins. Before
Our ‘strapped for cash’ existence
60 was the age of recline
Goodbye work, welcome other things....
It’s a transitional age today:
Forgetfulness and prime in union.
To ancient Babylonians,
60 was beautiful
Perfectly divisible
By a raft of numbers;
Before fractions, this meant much.
Mathematicians, they yearned
For measures for shape:
A circle’s degrees became 360:
The joy of symmetry
6o exalted by times 6,
Arbitrary, yet chosen.
The excitement of trapping form,
Cake division simplified.
It adds mystique
                To a benchmark age.               29.3

Pushed in the scanner's mouth
The scanner growled and sang its divining
                  and made magnet pictures.               30.3

An ostrich on pro-sac
panic petrol buying
              Where have we gone wrong?         31.3

Palm Sunday
Cheers turned to jeers
then "Crucify"
in six days;
Palms to sticks
Love to stone.

After the Operation
"Don't hobble, don't limp"
Beget smoothness:
                  We take walking for granted.         2.4


Hands which blessed others
were nailed to a cross
             to bring us deeper blessing.         3.4

Thursday 29 March 2012

Lent Challenge - week 5

M1 Junction 9
Beneath the wheat lies
our past: a pagan temple,
                  Shapes seen from the air.          21.3

Tilt the earth more and
the Sahara's green,
               twist a knee and freedom's lost.     22.3

Some words damage us
churn like leaves in a whirlpool
                        killing confidence.                 23.3

Great poster, smart words
A call to passing eyes:
                     "Write more poetry".            24.3

Dew lights each thread,
the death trap sparkling its lure
                         greedy for victims.                        25.3

Walls divide people,
paper ripped in two
                    Forgiveness the new mountain.            26.3

May flowering in March
Hosepipe bans in April but
                       The sun makes us smile.                 27.3

Thursday 22 March 2012

Lent Challenge Week 4

Our lemon tree bears one lemon
in mottled green,
-a year's growth-
                              but Time perfects!                14.3.12

Church Cleaning
Sewn hassocks tell stories:
often done in memory
                                 always in love.                 15.3.12

Wind through tissue paper,
responses to a picture,
                                 Ideas take root.                  16.3.12  

After the funeral
Stark against the hillside
stands a white deer amongst brown,
                               Spirits lift to joy.                   16.3.12

Millennium window Great Malvern
Dawn touches sunset
Bringing fire to stained glass art,
                        Time, in a moment.               17.3.

Ruth
"Where you go, I shall go"                      
Love and trust walk together,
                          Faith truly blessed.               18. 3              

We basked in the sun
the red admiral and me
                       sharing our delight.                 19.3.

Disabled
Weigh up the distance
Balance pain against the Gain:
                 a fractured glass choice.           20.3

Wednesday 14 March 2012

Lent Challenge - week 3

Spurs versus Stevenage
Expected to lose,
cheered to win, to defy fate
                            and give us all hope.                7.3.12

Journey to work
Pink against the brown
bald, stark tree-lines are softened:
                          blossom has arrived.               8.3.12

Crouched in fear, victims
cringe with each bombardment as
                           Syria self -harms.                 9.3.12


Figures in a field,
caressing it like lovers,
                    detecting the past.              0.3

Pause a moment
Underground posters
ask for ‘acts of kindness’.
Are they so rare that
we have to log them?
Or, is it to make us stop
-          reconsider –
     ask ourselves
When did I last act kindly?
In our beleaguered world,
where price is all,
kind acts cost nothing
but thought and acting upon it.
Perhaps the posters seek celebration
                   of a more selfless world.                11.3      

Dark and fraught with stuff
handbags are pits, deceiving
                        hands groping for keys.               12.3

Standing in a Square
full of squares, in black and white
                     I move like a knight.                     13.3

                   

Thursday 8 March 2012

Lent Challenge Week 2

Mixed Motives
Lurking in shadows
lie 'not so good' reasons for
                           apparent selflessness.             28.2.12

Booby
Muscles tense, shock,stare,
confirm: my blunder is stark
                          -tummy knots tighten.              29.2.12  

Vapour trails scar the sky
Blue tits dart to and fro,
but
                          both have purpose.                1.3.12


Skeins of mist strata
the dawn landscape of Malvern
                      and - problem solving.             2.3.12

Encounter near Royston
Twice a day he walked
the green lane; between, in danger
                          he cleaned metals.                3.3.12


Angela R.I.P.
Snow on a sunflower,
Disabled, but no self pity,
                     She enhanced life.           4.3.12

The Dictator's journey
Fight
Freedom
- for the people
Win
Power
Enjoy
Me
                   Stay, at all costs.         5.3.12

"No nectar", the bee moans
only barren blooms
              of futile greenhouse stock.   6.3.12

Thursday 1 March 2012

Lent Challenge

This year I have given myself the challenge of writing a haiku everyday and putting the results on my blog. The results I suspect will be varied in quality especially as the weeks pass!
Week 1 
Loved objects, playthings,
distractions, edge my desk and
                            prick memory wells.                  22.2.12

Lent
Take on or give up?
Practice self discipline and
                                touch the desert.                     23.2.12

M5
Light skies silhouette
God's spires, giving permanence
                                To our rushing world                   24.2.12

Malvern Priory
Low down and sheltered
lies the towered ship of souls,
                                        drawing climbers' eyes.                           25.2.12

Anne Knotsford
She's knelt in prayer now
for centuries: is her faith
                                    a true memorial?                        26.2.12

Demure snowdrop heads
droop, crocus smile to the sun
                                 Daffodils fire forth.                        27.2.12

Mixed motives
Lurking in shadows
lie 'not so good' reasons for 
                                 apparent selflessness.                     28.2.12

Sunday 19 February 2012

Fascination

Ornate and twirled lies
a cross on a baseball hat:
Faith or decoration?
Chocolate box beauty,
Sun on sparkling snow
but there's
Shooting in the woods.

Monday 16 January 2012

Mugs of time

My mugs are laid out
for the cull:
they fight
showing
their place in my past.

Storm



At the bar

A huge wall of waves
builds where tide meets swell; powers
trip over themselves.