Friday 31 August 2012

haiku in translation


I am enjoying a new book by Austrian poet Rudolf Kraus. It is his haiku collection mein haiku schmekt gut - edition Roesner 2011 ISBN 978-3-902300-59-1 www.edition-roesner.at 


I've sort of 'translated' a couple into English:


one two three four five
the second row is seven
one two three four five

create a haiku 
though i am not japanese
i think i can count


Hope these made you smile as much as they did me.



colours


choose your colour if you can

or easier

take the colour they give you

or

harder

be yourself and be all colours

or

be no colours

or

just be



Thursday 30 August 2012

haikushima 10: a nuclear haiku for all those unfortunate babies and children



through the clouds

the children see the stars; but

their shoes are leaking



In the rain the contaminated plumes of dust and steam still issuing from the wreckage of the atomic reactors will cool and fall to the ground to join the radioactive dust and debris from the four original explosions. The longterm poison contained therein will collect in odd corners, along roadsides, in the gutters and drains, in the playgrounds, and all too often it will get onto the children's shoes . . . the children will touch their shoes with their fingers, and in time a mother may notice her child has developed a skin blemish . . . or a strange swelling in the neck . . . or is breathless . . .



Latest: Pacific Cod caught up to 350 kms from Fukushima found to contain high levels of radiation.



Curiosity, Enlightenment and the Paralympic Spirit


Yesterday I watched the opening ceremony of the 2012 Paralympic Games on TV.

I was inspired by the words of Professor Stephen Hawking who said: Look up at the stars and not down at your feet. Be curious.


This morning, as a consequence, I wrote the following:


An unquenchable flame exists within the human spirit. As a species we continually strive for enlightenment. 

With our technology we can now look out to the cosmos or peer into the world of the quantum particle in our quest to know why this boundless universe exists at all.

But history warns us that there are those who would have the world otherwise; who would seize its technologies and discoveries and reshape them to fit their own beliefs and prejudices; who would not hesitate to use great armies and much of the world's resources for their own despotic ends. 


Today, as always, there are also those who would gladly extinguish the flames of curiosity, scientific investigation, freedom, equality and progress and plunge the world into another nightmare age of darkness, superstition, and ignorance.

These dangerous so-called leaders have sometimes briefly succeeded, or apparently so; but even then during those epochs when ignorance was wisdom they instinctively knew deep within themselves that they could never really succeed.


Fortunately there is a mysterious something, a power of sorts, in the human spirit which is much greater than delusion and self-proclaimed greatness.


Setbacks along the way serve only to make us more determined to achieve our goal.


We shall continue on our journey of discovery with a burning curiosity that drives us relentlessly forwards.


We will do it because it is our raison d'etre. It is our future.


Monday 27 August 2012

Mainichi Daily News Haiku Contest 2012


A reminder that this year's free-to-enter Mainichi Daily News Haiku Contest closes on 31st August.

There's a link to the relevant Mainichi Daily News page in my A-Z Links at the bottom right of this blog.





Sunday 26 August 2012

My Summer Pause 2012



In the boulder fields
I collect my thoughts
. . . gather my strength


Saturday 25 August 2012

An Austrian Summer 2012


The summer
spent

far from the sands
of times and tides

the daily papers
pushed aside

from tonic breeze
and lemon sun

one's length
and breadth

 An Austrian Lake
no longer washed
in wars and propaganda . . .


__________
gw2012

Tuesday 21 August 2012

Saturday 11 August 2012

haiku







those forbidden fruits

were ne'er forbidden  








the garden grows between our ears





Tuesday 7 August 2012

Yellow Flower



the crowd 
the heads bowed 
and the one encircled by the many 
the yellow flower 
the one unbowed 
not proud


Monday 6 August 2012

Wednesday 1 August 2012

haiku



the red sun sets 

and through the trees

the hunter aims to go