“I discovered haiku/senryu/tanka by accident by way of the martial arts. To be honest, I enjoy reading poetry as much as I do writing it, whether it be traditional or experimental. Where I fit on this continuum I’m not entirely sure, but I’m not unduly concerned.”
~
every day year zero i swallow a rainbow
Failed Haiku #106
~
last view of the sea
from the prison bus
windsurfer
Prune Juice 48
~
cracked mirror
the war nearer
than i thought
Failed Haiku #106
Hi Steve,
Ah, Pelé, God of Football, and co-starred with Sly Stallone in a WWII football movie!
Glad you are open to many approaches to haiku, as this poetry genre was always more than its perceived sum or limitations.
last view of the sea
from the prison bus
windsurfer
Prune Juice 48
Packs a punch. I wonder how long the sentence was. I met a UN Peacekeeper who served 20 years in a British prison. Totally illiterate when he was imprisoned, and probably suffering from all kinds of trauma while on duty during the Kosovo War of 1998 and 1999, which resulted in the Yugoslav army’s withdrawal and the establishment of the United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo.
I guess these two people were opposite ends, one was physically and mentally abused by nuns at a Catholic school in Ireland, because he was left-handed, and couldn’t read or write, the other person perhaps escaped to ‘sea’ as a surfer, but still got caught up in something bad?
The former UN peacekeeper was taught to read and write, and compose poetry by a visiting poet-in-residence (not me this time).
I never saw my ex-UN peacekeeper again but it seemed poetry turned him around, on the path he should have been allowed to lead. He was as big as the fictional Jack Reacher by the way but very real.
Alan
(Alan Summers)
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I enjoyed learning about you and reading a sample of your haiku. The windsurfer and the prison bus in particular was stellar!
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I especially liked your 2nd senryu: very poignant. I confess I didn’t understand quite a few of your crossword words, so I guess I’ll have to look them up!
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Thank you all for engaging with my writing, I must admit it took ages deciding which poems to include and even then I wasn’t sure. Trying to emulate Pele and the ‘ginga’ style of football aged 11 are some of my happiest memories.
You are so right Alan about the power of poetry. I do low status manual work and writing in my head gets me through the day. It also gives me some kind of a voice.
I am enjoying the word searches, commentary and poems. Thank you Kelly.
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