365 Project: Jan 11 - 25

Well, this is almost certainly not going to end up being a 365 project, as I have missed several days already, and it's only January. It will probably end up being about a 250 project, if the current rate continues. Further declines in productivity will, of course, shrink that number even more.

11/01/11

'Leaf at Dusk'

12/01/11

'Tribute'

Only a tribute,

this is not the best haiku:

Refrigerator

(See the best haiku in the world here, if you don't understand that one.)

16/01/11

Note written this day: given that discipline has never been a particularly strong point for me, trying to undertake tri-weekly exercise and daily creativity starting on January 1 may have been a bit ambitious. (And the exercise isn't going that well either.)

'On Pausing to Look Around'

At first I didn't notice

how

the path sloped

gently down.

Eventually I realised I couldn't see

as far

ahead

as before

and thought I must be descending.

But the drop was gradual,

nothing sudden, nothing obvious to alarm me.

Then I thought of heading home,

and when I turned,

I saw how very far

I had to climb.

17/01/10

In Asia, a sauce,

but in Spain, the Hebrew God:

Oh, versatile soy!

18/01/11

'Archeology'

In a digital age

I'm still printing my photos

and putting them in labelled albums.

I'm not sure why I persist -

photos fade after all, when well-secured images

can last forever.

But I have a need

to see the chronicle of my

of our

life,

and to create an artifact,

so there will be something left.

19/01/11

There's that headache that aches and that sears,

which is brought on by tantrums and tears.

But don't worry, they say,

it'll just go away,

in around about 25 years.

22/01/11

I drew a mind-map of my assumptions and derived beliefs. I'm not going to post it here because who the hell wants to see it?

23/01/11

An attempt at a 'letter haiku' - 5-7-5 letters per line. No idea if this is a pre-existing form or not.

Child

awakens

Tears

25/01/11

Funny

spending your whole life

surrounded by a thing,

seeing it every day,

picking out the connections,

and never completely getting it.

Funny

to finally get it,

and still be unsure

how to grasp it.

Read more!

365 Project: Jan 6 - 10

Five more days of my 365 project. Three poems (none of them haiku, though one of them did begin life that way) and two photographs. Also, the entry for the 9th was thought of on the 8th, forgotten on the 9th, then shot, together with the other photo, on the 10th. Still, better late than never, I guess. Also, I apologise for the bike poem. It's awful, but I wrote it, so here it is, I suppose.


06/01/11

'New Bike'

Grab a fistful of throttle
and lean
into the thunder rumble,
dragging a peg through the curve.


07/01/11

'Seascape'

I am standing at the edge,
and clear green waters wait below.

When I hit, there will be the
slap
of the surface splitting under my feet.

Then will be the cool of the sea against my skin,
scorched and dried by the sun.

Tiny bubbles will swarm around me,
crawl over my skin and through my hair.

I wish I could find it in me to
jump.


08/01/11

I don't want to write
a fucking poem tonight,
or a phrase
jotted
down
like
some
list.

And I wonder if this
ridiculous
act of self-anulling
protest
counts for a
single
god-damn
thing?


09/01/11

'Mortar and Pestle'




10/01/11

'Floating'

Read more!

365 Project: Jan 3 - 5

The next three entries in the project: a piece of photo editing (the photo is old; the editing is my first attempt at the 'popping out of the frame' look), a poem, and a haiku.


03/01/11



04/01/11

'Metapoem'
There was a time
when words came thick
and fast,
tumbling from my pen
like European fruit-pickers
with expired work visas
tumble from Kombi vans
when the Department comes knocking.
Now they are beligerant,
grudingly giving up a haiku perhaps,
but glowering
and sulking if I ask
for anything more.


05/01/11

haiku
My beautiful child,
a simple wish for you now:
won't you bloody sleep?

Read more!

New Year's Resolution

As a general rule I don't make resolutions each January. In fact, I don't think I've every made one before in my life. However, this year I'm at least setting myself a goal, or a project. Since I frequently catch myself spending prolonged periods of time playing games on my iPhone and reading - consuming - and often feel that I am not creating very much, I'm going to attempt a creative 365 project. That is to say, one creation per day, everyday, for 2011. A this stage I'm thinking that this will either take the form of a photo or a poem (at least a haiku) per day. I'll upload them piecemeal as I get time.

(Incidentally, if you want to see some really good photographic 365 projects, head over to Flickr and search for 365. You will find some people with real talent and, equally impressive, commitment.)

So here are two haiku (because I am too lazy to start with anything harder). I suspect that there is something rather wanky about taking haiku seriously. On the upside, only one of these can really be accused of that.

01/01/11
This specific pain,

for to us a child is born:

sleep deprivation.

02/01/11

Quiet hours of night:

The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes

and a glass of scotch.

Read more!