HAPPY NEW YEAR

the world descends on sydney
at this time of year
the locals escape to wherever
yours truly to the peace and quiet of the outback
away from the crowds

looking up at the milky way
on this lovely evening
i wish you all a happy new year
may 2018 bring peace and prosperity
to you all

away from the crowds
i welcome in the new year
with stars in my drink

Haiku Horizons

they named me
after the goddess of peace
a misnomer

Carpe Diem Haiku Kai - The Christmas Story

someone needs to explain
the christmas story to these kids
vicar is not amused

Haiku Horizons

silent night broken
santa claus caught nicking
the family silver

The Ride of the Valkyries

never underestimate
the cook bottle washer and nurturer
she is multi tasked

Carpe Diem # 1325

[OFFICIAL VIDEO] God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen - Pentatonix

THE SILLY SEASON







christmas shopping
christmas carols
christmas cards
santas
crowds
traffic
noise
impatience
honking horns
planes overhead
noise
parking lots full
queues
to do lists
to buy lists
more lists
noise
christmas trees
tinsel
baubles
sales
shopping bags
more shopping bags
shopping trolleys
dance of the shopping trolleys
kids screaming
noise
thoughts racing
clickety clack
clickety clack
must get home
must get home
in one piece



door slams behind her
collapses into chair
quiet
peace at last
at least
for a few moments






Wishing Everyone
A Merry Christmas
Peace and Goodwill
  
Thank you for your visits throughout the year.

Friday Music Challenge # 18 - MLMM

Midweek Motif - Poets United

Celebration.





holiday celebrations
can be a lonely time
for those without family or friends
accentuating isolation failure and desperation

the lucky ones have a friend
a real friend
a true friend
it only takes one
and you can get through anything

Haiku Horizons- Fire

the inferno's out
still smouldering after all
these years and years

Bushfire



a smokey sunrise
all the signs are there you can smell
imminent danger



cosy by the fire
another christmas eve goes by
another silent night

Photo Challenge # 192- MLMM

equations drawn on
a pert bum-a thinking man's
wet dream

For The Weekend

a little magic
i bought a christmas tree with
changing coloured lights

it blinks in the night
purple green blue and pink
it makes me happy

Carpe Diem Haiku Kai
Write about a little wonder that makes you happy

Narcissus

he does not have Narcissus' physical beauty
but they share a couple of character flaws
self - love and vanity

where does this self delusion
and baseless self confidence come from

did mother convince
this neanderthal look alike
that the sun was shining
out of his dark nether region



arrogance and hubris
caused anger in the gods
nemesis turned narcissus into a flower

wonder what nemesis has in mind for the donald

Midweek Motif -  Poets United

Carpe Diem # 1318

love is a mystery
dangerous and exciting
a force for mayhem






dutch marta hari
tiptoeing through tulips
or spilling secrets
victim of love or a hard
hearted calculating spy

Haiku Horizons

human polluters
everything they touch they ruin
even the ocean

Louise 1929 chevalier ~ FIN

memories of my nan
in marcel wave hair curlers
wearing a huge apron
bustling away in the kitchen
singing
every little breeze
seems to whisper louise


my nan loved maurice
he sings very good engleesh 
just like your grandpere 



FOR MY DEAREST GRANDMOTHER
who envied Maurice Chevalier's good English !

Haiku Horizons
Heeding Haiku with Chevrefeuille MLMM

Bitter Sweet

he had gone
just before christmas
she felt renewed
an enormous weight lifted
from her crippled shoulders
found herself smiling again
pleased to be alive





ran into a distant acquaintance
not seen for many years
wow this is some marriage you have
you are positively glowing

she smiled politely
am actually getting a divorce
sorry...must fly
got to catch up
on a life






Midweek Motif - Poets United

Lang Lang - For The Weekend

Troiku

watching his fingers
flying over the keyboard
brings smiles and joy

like butterflies
tapered and delicate
he zips through the notes

lang lang's a marvel
an incendiary musical missile
aimed at the senses

watching his fingers
like butterflies
lang lang's a marvel

Tale Weaver # 147 MLMM
November Theme ' Music' Imaginary Garden With Real Toads

Le Scandale

 The Swing  - Fragonard 1776



legs apart no shoes 
french eroticism
three centuries ago



Haiku Horizons

Raga Bhairav Hindustani Classical Music Flute Play by Aditya Rao Mumbai

Quatrain For Sumana
AABA

sad notes through the still air wail
accompanied by heat and  the cow's swishing tail
languid afternoons so tranquil and calm
spiritual and  mysterious like colourful veils

For The Weekend

Tale Weaver #145 - MLMM

Waldmuller


Unlikely Conversation

almost 200 years ago
a young girl
oblivious to everything around her
is engrossed in reading a message
not an unfamiliar sight today
eyeballs glued to the iphone

the stalkers
were better dressed
back then too
they don't bring
flowers nowadays

Don't You Worry 'Bout A Thing

it was
the time of wonder
stevie wonder

dancing at 'poppies'
in the lane
the smell  of
coconut oil incense plumeria
still stamped on my memory

i still dream of
flashing white smiles
pale coffee coloured skin
in pink sarongs
delicate limbs adorned in silver

before
steroids and gym pumping
before alcohol
before hard drugs
before the virulent infection
of  western  tourism and greed
took hold

the time
of kerosene lamps
batiks  and kubayas
has long gone
but lives on
when i hear this song

spring weather does this
love swirls through dance moves and smiles
hope and joy renewed







Heeding Haiku with Chevrefeuille - MLMM

All That Glisters

two neutron stars collide
billions of years ago

cosmic violence
produces planets  with  gold




when we deplete our resources
we will mine more from other planets
unless a giant meteorite zaps us
and showers us to smithereens

all the gold trinkets
wont seem  important after all

Midweek Motif  - Poets United

Cherita Form

the monsoon rain sets in

the dragon flies flirt
with basho's frogs

the monk
looks on smiling
saturated in wet orange

Wordle#178 - MLMM

suede gloves and a boxcutter
are thrown with haste into a drop box
the  espionage agent's brow
glistens with beads of perspiration 

whispers fill the night air
the spruiker  solicits his wares
an obscure lurid poem by ovid
going for a song
a favourite of dilettantes

she finds the copy
of mutiny on the bounty
with a shrivelled calyx
book marking the instructions





the life of a spy was far too intense
besides 007 was a bitter disappointment in the sack
she was beginning to regret giving up her day job
as a librarian

Haiku Horizons

hypocrites take note
logs have no business pointing at
specks in other's  eyes 

SEPTEMBER SONG - WILLIE NELSON

even the leaves
do not cling on
forever

Carpe Diem Haiku Kai

A Fibonacci Poem

look
at
this van
messages
written over it
seen at the beach this afternoon
i wonder how many men would agree with this quote

Chrysanthemums

Heeding Haiku with Chevrefeuille - MLMM


beautiful flowers
sturdy colourful and cheap
a poor person's rose

Silence

in the wee hours
the fridge humming
the clock ticking
a calm settles over the place

this is my precious time
my special time
i look forward to this
all day long

propped up against big colourful cushions
in oversized animal print pyjamas
eating  a cold mango
or sipping a baileys on ice
i sink into luxurious thoughts
escape for a few hours
my sticky fingers typing with love

Midweek Motif - Poets United

Wordle 177 MLMM

chaste self possessed white sweet clover pollen animate dowry
exhaust sprout arc the conventional position fawn devour

True Love

the fawn brown eyed girl
hair the colour of pollen
chaste as white sweet clover
self possessed
sprouted from the biblical arc
ignorant of the conventional
or any other position
had a huge dowry settled on her

her husband' to be' instead of devouring her
with his eyes became animated at the thought
of having enough money to buy
a new exhaust system for his car

Haiku Horizons

kids slurping ice blocks
bare feet shorts hats and singlets
summer approaches

For The Weekend

 SHADORMA

brings back thoughts
of endless summers
carefree days
they are gone
never to return again
memories

Such A Dear Old Lady

maisie was a nice woman

always allowed people
to get into the bus before her
gave up her seat for pregnant
women or the infirm

happy to help
answered questions for directions
assisted blind people across the road
picked up and returned items dropped from bags
to distracted  shoppers

looked after neighbours' mail, pets and gardens
whilst they were on holiday
always provided tea and sandwiches for tradesmen
bundled up clothes and things for charity
knitted quilt patch for the needy

then the day arrived in a flash
maisie was old herself

often missed the bus
because everyone shoved in front of her
 stood all the way clutching her walking sitck

when she dropped her purse
no one helped to pick up the contents
grumbling
as they stepped over her to get out

she had to go to hospital for a hip replacement
the neighbours were too busy
to collect her mail or look after her old dog
first time she had asked for a favour in forty years

her remaining relative had rover euthanased
because he would be too much for her to manage
making  a diary entry to check funeral expenses
a quick calculation of what her property was worth
eyeing off her few bits and pieces before driving rover
to his last visit to the vet

maisie  returned home

three months later she was found dead in her cottage
the neighbours consoled each other as the police
put the the tiny body bag into the car
if only they had known
if only she had reached out and asked for help they said

'such a dear old lady'






Midweek Motif Poets United

A Dope Fiend's Swan Song

laconic posturing on stage
wearing an ambiguous costume

imitating  a cantering pony
toying with the electrics on his guitar

singing in a self invented spare key
not mellisonant but
more of a tortuous wail

alienated his few remaining fans

adjurant suggestion
seek treatment
get the lockjaw sorted

Wordle 176  MLMM

A Treat

an open air bath
the song of willy wagtails
freedom for a while

Haiku Horizons

Carpe Diem Haiku Kai - Love

i know it feels like love
but there's always a problem
with peeling paint

The Journey

the journey is a challenge
minnows swimming
and darting in and out
amongst the sharks
performing an arpeggio
of survival techniques
yet all heading  in the one direction
towards the ferryman

he beckons in the distance
more visible on the horizon
than before

some travellers have huge galleons
filled with gold bullion
not understanding the ferryman
cannot be bought

their understanding
of camels and needles is
of stock market commodities

they will have to jettison
the lot before boarding

others are just swimming
a slow breast stroke
their treasure  -
a majestic dazzlement
in  nimble fingers
the living joy hidden
in their ears eyes
hearts smiles and words

Mid Week Motif - Poets United

Carpe Diem - Love

Josef and Victoria Ulma  - WW2


"greater love hath no man than this that a man  lay down his life for his friends"
John 15:13

polish catholics
who sacrificed their lives to
save their jewish friends

Haiku Horizons

even sand castles
do not escape the dead hand
of bureaucracy

Fibonacci poem - 12358

                                         i
                                    wish you
                                were with me
                               watching the tv
                 you could paint my toe nails bright red

Saturday Mix - MLMM

For The Weekend

Shadorma

rainy day
gardens need a drink
a lovely
wet friday
been a while since it's rained here
ducks and frogs give thanks

Carpe Diem Haiku Kai

for poetry blogs
kindred spirits unite
in thought and in words

Blue Moon - Diane Shaw (Jazz version)

there are so many songs
written about the moon
she finds solace in the corny ones
escaping
into their chocolate smooth melodies
hoping that once in a blue moon
something special will come her way
and she will be granted
just a short time
of peace  joy  and kindness
freed from her tormentor
freed from her duty
trying to remember
what it was like
what she was like
before she unwittingly
like Mr Rochester
embarked on the road to hell

Mid Week Motif - Poets United

Carpe Diem Haiku Kai

a young girl's first time
looking up at the sky wishing
she was back at home

Photo Challenge 185 MLMM

G Larocque



joined for decades
in mutual blindness
vows promises
progeny and real estate

they rest on their
long term laurels
congratulating themselves
on matrimonial success

a necessary delusion
to keep the dynasty
in tact and ongoing

Haiku Horizons

a little treasure
leaf stick and a walnut shell
made into a boat

Sundays Whirligig

This weeks words  come from " The Great Horned Owl" by Sallie Wolf: 

owl perched tree night birds sun

rose crows caws caused found flee

the crows plaintif  caws caused a flurry 

flocks of birds

perched high in the jacaranda tree

flee just before sun up

 

the night owl

finds a bunch of red roses

on the table

 

her heart sinks

as she gingerly steps over

the broken glass

 

another peace offering

that means nothing

Poets United....Poets Pantry

 

 

Dionne Warwick - That's What Friends Are For

Erasure Poem

To Autumn

John Keats, 1795 - 1821

Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness, 
  Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun;
Conspiring with him how to load and bless 
  With fruit the vines that round the thatch-eves run;
To bend with apples the moss’d cottage-trees, 
  And fill all fruit with ripeness to the core; 
    To swell the gourd, and plump the hazel shells 
  With a sweet kernel; to set budding more,
And still more, later flowers for the bees, 
Until they think warm days will never cease,
    For summer has o’er-brimm’d their clammy cells.

Who hath not seen thee oft amid thy store? 
  Sometimes whoever seeks abroad may find

Thee sitting careless on a granary floor 
  Thy hair soft-lifted by the winnowing wind;
Or on a half-reap’d furrow sound asleep, 
  Drowsed with the fume of poppies, while thy hook
    Spares the next swath and all its twined flowers:
And sometimes like a gleaner thou dost keep 
  Steady thy laden head across a brook; 
  Or by a cider-press, with patient look,
 Thou watchest the last oozings hours by hours

Where are the songs of Spring? Ay, where are they? 
  Think not of them, thou hast thy music too,--
While barred clouds bloom the soft-dying day, 
  And touch the stubble-plains with rosy hue;
Then in a wailful choir the small gnats mourn 
  Among the river sallows, borne aloft
    Or sinking as the light wind lives or dies; 
And full-grown lambs loud bleat from hilly bourn; 
  Hedge-crickets sing; and now with treble soft
  The redbreast whistles from a garden-croft, 
    And gathering swallows twitter in the skies.

Autumn - Jorge Cardenas  

PLUMP HAZEL

close bosom friend

conspiring 

to bend

plump hazel

sweet and warm 

sound asleep

drowsed with the fume of poppies 

with patient look 

thou watchest 

hours by hours 

a wailful choir

small gnats mourn

loud crickets sing

and now

soft whistles from twitter

Midweek Motif - Poets United 

Spring in Sydney

just before nightfall
lights twinkle on the headland
the cobwebs blow away

schnitzels sizzle in the pan
the  surf  pounds on the rocks
 ice cubes clink in the glass

the balmy breeze
curls round the swimmers
drying on the balcony