Familiarity (haiku)

Familiar this
my solace and my comfort
Warming like sunshine

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Home (haiku)

Home, where my heart is
Comfort at the end of day
in my safe haven

Lift (haiku)

To wake to music
A simple song lifts the day
Sunshine from the rain

Tri-Haiku XI (winter blue)

I am winter blue
Born to December, I chill
to iron cold bone

I am winter blue
To brittle January
icy fingers spread

I am winter blue
But with yellow I will change
to the green of Spring

The Word

I found a word
It was quite small
In fact it wasn’t
much at all
But when I added
it to others
It blossomed with
it’s new found brothers

Saying something

CAPITAL LETTERS THEN
WHAT’S THAT ABOUT?
SOME SAY IT IS RUDE
AND AKIN TO A SHOUT
BUT SOMETIMES THEY AID
TO SOMETHING I WANT TO SAY
SMALL CAPS AID TO VISUAL
IN A PARTICULAR WAY

From the silence

There’s an element here
in these words with an essence
as I capture my thoughts
from the past and the present
For me it’s an outlet
A poetic license
to say what I feel
with a voice from the silence

Finding words

This pen will find words
every day without fail
Whether I’m well
or whether I ail
For there’s always a nuance
I’ll want to portray
Of the life that’s around me
day after day

Aintree

It’s raining up on Merseyside
Aintree in the rain
Where I’ve come up from Liverpool
on an early train

There’s not much going on here
unless you are a horse
For here’s when the Grand National
is run on this racecourse

Tri-Tanka I (tanka)

To start this series
in thirty-one syllables
Japanese Tanka
A short song to bring you joy
Jemverse social media

So here are first lines
Crafted by the poet’s hand
Found and captured here
To form and syntax structured
Voicing life in five short lines

Tri-haiku X (tears)

To open your eyes
as bright sparkles sting and fall
It’s ok to cry

Embrace my sorrow
But then tomorrow bring smiles
that I may see joy

As sometimes a tear
will fall from my eyes with joy
as something moves me

©Jemverse

The safe warmth of home

Steel grey seas with iron chill
it’s with whimsy that I peer
at the beach I know so well
in summer brings such cheer
Yet now the winter’s icy hand
has me firmly in its grip
As grey green waters frenzied churn
with northern winds are whipped

Why Do I Do This?

A writer of modest talent can only hope one day to put together a word or two—on on a rare week, a phrase—that’s worth keeping. This is not the conceit of perfectionism. This is just the reality of a mediocre vision that cannot totally grasp and share what floats in and out of view. It’s the frustration that has to be managed—The gap between what might be glimpsed, a brief impression of something sublime, and the skill that, were it a painting, only produces stick figure drawings.

So the experience is one of enduring a sense of constant failure, working to press my cheek up against the foggy glass that keeps me from the truth, but still trying to catch a scent of it and convey it honestly….Throwing the lariat a thousand times at a stallion that prances just out of reach, hoping that one more throw will tame the beast and bring him nearer to feel the heat and the true wild life of him.

That’s the job. (Neurotic? Of course it is. But what’s a little neurosis among friends?). It’s just a matter of putting up with failure long enough to feel the hot breath of something beautiful. It is insanity. But oh, so seductive.

December

No.4 of 12 in the Jemverse ’12 months II’ series

December comes and tradition
sees the tree go up tonight
Decorations hanging all around
‘most everywhere in sight

For us it sees a birthday
Holly’s twenty-five this year
and sharing it with Christmas
always brings us all good cheer

Tri-Haiku IX (yellow)

A little yellow
as a splash against the green
Memory of warmth

This yellow fills me
Drives away my winter blues
Hums a cheerful song

And I am yellow
Reflecting the sunshine here
I shine to the day

Winter leave me now

3 of 3

This brittle chill, this iron cold
this fall from grace for me
is winter in a nutshell
and a few words, certainly
So I fund solace in these times
with words that speak of sun
and warmer days of sunshine
when winter days are done

Winter for me now

2 of 3

These winter days of sunshine
warm coats to brave the cold
Swift walks upon the hill and field
to keep from growing old
Then home to nice warm slippers
and scalding mugs of tea
Warming toes beside the fire
this winter here for me

Winter with me now

1 of 3

Eight line stanza thinking of
the winter with me now
Brittle chill, not warming sun
cold upon my brow
But dressed up warm its good to brace
the iron winter chill
for as it passes Springtime looms
and ever closer still

Tri-Haiku VIII (winter)

Behind winter’s veil
the brittle chill sent shivers
and I felt the cold

Behind winter’s veil
I dressed up warm to the chill
with best foot forward

Behind winter’s veil
I felt the warm of the sun
for a brief moment

A little summer still

There’s yellow in the garden
a little summer still
despite the fact it’s winter
and we have November chill

So I’ll hold this to my heart
for its promise is right there
Reminding me that summer
will be mine again to share

Gone

When I was last in Cardiff
the old hotel was there
Boarded up and derelict
yet still with life to share

But now it’s been demolished
leaving just an empty space
Its bygone age has left us
with a sadness in its place

Travelling West

It’s dark outside, this early hour
the night is not yet done
Yet I’ve been up for quite some time
For me the morning’s come

Ahead for several hours
a journey beckons me
Travelling down to Cardiff
from Sussex by the sea

Tri-Haiku VII (music)

Here’s to the music
Through the years has kept me sane
and continues now

Here’s to the music
A melody for my life
wholesome to the core

Here’s to the music
‘long as I have ears to hear
It’s my sustenance

Red IV (haiku)

Crimson the blanket
Warm and crisp and crunchy soft
To rest in Autumn

The Wellington

Moored now at the Temple Stairs
where she’s been since forty-eight
The Wellington lies white and proud
A museum ship of late

Tri-Haiku VI (Autumn)

Gold from the sunset
falls as such with autumn leaves
settling to the sea

A sea of crunching
Yellow, reds and gold are here
there beneath my feet

And just like the beach
this November paradise
Autumn comes again

Out of Sync

Winter throws me out of sync
and I’m not sure where I am
I’m so used to the warmth you see
that I’m not sure that I can

And yet when in my brand new coat
with colours bold and strong
I’m brave enough to face the cold
and find a different song

Poetic

Moody skies above the Thames
on early winter morn
I’d shiver in the brittle chill
save for the coat I’ve worn
But Tower Bridge beneath the blue
with massive skies right there
Is such to take my breath away
That I just had to share