A poem I wrote in early February 2019, while recovering from my third stroke. I have slightly revised a few words, and altered the title – originally “Time and the Sea”
Time In A Turbulent Sea
My time, weeks, days, and hours have gone
My time, between one procedure and the next
Time to explore this healing castle
Time to write about realities and dreams
Time to chat to eager listeners
Time to observe the people living within
Time to think about the world’s problems
Time to visualise pictures of tomorrow
I am not a patient in his bed
I am free-standing and waiting instead
I am a walking and talking local poet
I am not allowed to vacate the site
They want me near, to study my plight
They want me here, to secure my bed
They need me near, to look into my mind
They need me here, so I am easy to find
Solstafir – Midaftann, Translated Lyrics
Mid-Evening
Now I have come home
After a journey on the deep seas.
The wave was so high,
The saltiness ate everything up.
I drowned in a black hole,
I pulled at the hand of death.
So high, it was so high,
And the moon lighted a path, yes the moon high in the sky,
And the moon lighted a path, yes the moon lighted a path.
So high, so high, wave of the sins, wave of the sins.
Today I wrote a Senryu and a Haiku, and they were both about the ‘nature’ of existence, so I thought I could present them here as the one poem … I think my idea worked ok. Please Note, All Photos: were taken by Derrick Knight and are copied from his site and reproduced here on my post with his permission. >> https://derrickjknight.com
Over on Weekly Prompts, the Weekend Challenge is the word: Warning. Please go over and visit their fabulous site by clicking on >> Here My poem below “Trees Without Shadows” is a subtle WARNING from Mother Nature.
Today I was prompted to revise my poem from June 2020, because I had just received a lovely hand-designed “Penguin Christmas Card” from my Philadelphia cousin.
My owner left me Locked up in the courtyard Nothing unusual about that He left me some biscuit treats And a full bowl of water
However, he forgot To close the wire security screen Well, best I break in And protect our kennel “What would you have done?”
I started clawing and chewing At the exposed wood door Firstly, I dug a small hole An opening I could bite My industrious teeth into Whoops and drats! There was another layer On the inside too!
I wasn’t sure why My boss told me off When he arrived home I thought I was only trying to help He didn’t appreciate my creativity
Time passed and Christmas arrived My extended family Were joking and laughing At my aunt’s gift for Dad Woof, woof. “A Doggie Door for me!”
Hello dear readers and followers, I now write for “Coffee House Writers” magazine on a fortnightly basis, and my poem “On Days Like These”, whch is an Assonance style of poetry, is in this week’s edition of Coffee House Writers Magazine. … please click on the link below to view my poem, at Coffee House Writers. >> https://coffeehousewriters.com/on-days-like-these/
If you are looking for some recommended reading, I have the following book reviews for you from Merril D. Smith, and Ivor Steven/Derrick Knight. Curl up with a cup of coffee and read on…
River Ghosts by Merril D. Smith
This delightful volume of over 50 original poems is Merril’s debut poetry collection, published by Nightingale and Sparrow Press. The striking cover was designed by Merril’s child Jay Smith, maintaining the strong family connection which runs throughout this book, dedicated to the memory of the author’s mother, Sylvia L. Schreiber.
The book is haunted by ghosts, from the title poem onwards:
ghosts in dusty grass sit still in the long ago, a gull’s laugh breaks the silence… echoes
These echoes are a recurring and unifying theme throughout the book, in keeping with the author’s dedication to her mother, whose “laugh still echoes.”
There are echoes of the distant past, in poems such as ‘Antikythera Mechanism’ and ‘Jawbone: Homo Sapiens,’ which display Merril’s interest in, and strong connection with, ancient history:
His epitaph, “eight teeth, one broken.” Not living, no longer here, yet not completely gone.
True, too, of the skeletons of the more recent past. ‘Observe, And Again’ carries echoes of the Holocaust:
Freighted bodies bound for the unknown—
a train to hell where fear is the constant.
Atrocities prefigured in ‘The Pogrom:’
and I do carry within me the burnt ruins
of that long-ago pogrom—
an incipient conflagration—who knows?
All levels of history and deep time are here, from human history to the evolution of the universe; subjects close to my heart, as is the historical reputation of women, so thoughtfully examined in ‘Through the Ages, She Is Blamed:’
scared of her knowledge, scared if she’s free those named and nameless who do not see it is they, not she, who commit the atrocities.
There is so much to love in this collection! I could go on, but I encourage you to discover this stunning debut for yourself: River Ghosts is available from Amazon.
Perceptions by Ivor Steven and Derrick Knight
Perceptions is a cross-continental collaboration from poet Ivor Steven (Australia) and photographer Derrick J. Knight (United Kingdom). Here are dragons, faeries, foals and swans captured in verse and image, which complement one another perfectly. The images are predominantly of nature, and perhaps reflect humanity’s struggle to find a place within the natural world, in the ruins of so-called ‘progress’, as evinced by Ivor’s poem, ‘Mankind’s Dirty Hands:’
within nature’s naked forest waiting for mankind’s dirty hands to stop the desert sands from ravaging the last strands of what remains hanging over our land
The poems are a mixture of haiku, senryu and longer poems featuring Ivor’s trademark end-rhymes:
All the world is green within my midday dream please, do not disturb me let me sleep, let me be (from the poem, ‘Let It Be’)
Other contributors who deserve credit are Derrick’s wife, Jackie Knight, who has provided some excellent photography (I particularly like her images of birds) and of course, Ivor’s niece, Kerri Costello, who designed the cover, and linked the book to yet another continent (she lives in the US).
The book (available from Lulu) is a fortuitous combination of verse and image. Despite his own advice to the contrary in the section ‘Do not quote me,’ I will end with what strikes me as a most pertinent quote from Ivor:
“A poet following a poet, gives you poetry in motion.”
It is a testament to the friendships formed on WordPress that these two artists have been able to collaborate successfully and bring this globe-spanning project to fruition!
Happy Reading, Ingrid
Again, Thank You Ingrid, and here is a poem you mentioned in your review …
There Will Be An Answer
All the world is green Within my midday dream Please, do not disturb me Let me sleep, let me be Let it be, let it be
I do not comprehend Your unnatural trends Of killing your neighbours After kicking in their sacred doors
Do not listen to me
Hear the breeze among the trees There, under nature’s ancient marquee She wisely decrees
Live in harmony like the bees Co-existence is free
Ivor.Plumber/Poet 