Friday 24 January 2014

Fuku


The power of the news is worrying,

Not the news itself so much . . .

But those who can't see for the Sun.


Sunday 19 January 2014

Haiku


The third glass of beer 

The colour of sunlight 

On autumn leaves




Tuesday 14 January 2014

He




He created the Dinosaurs
and then He killed them
with a volcanic blast 

or an asteroid shower 
or something
 of that sort

He also created 
the Fish of the Sea 
and the Birds of the Air
and the Property Bubble . . . 

and  the Scientists

and then He killed 
a % of them 
and a % their servants
and a % of the servants of their servants      

in the Wars 
and the Inquisitions 
and in the Plagues
and in their Laboratories 

where they were hungry for knowledge
armed only with their unseen whiteness
 and their scribbles of dust 
on their wallboards 

and were looking to improve the future  


- or maybe He didn't.

Say it was the fruit

that He showed them 
that
killed them. (But 
not the Raptors) 

This fruit

- Is it more than a reflex?
 . the electric sparks of an eel 
looking for dinner
>the flight of the pigeon going home to the egg 
the scream of a Dinosaur dodging the bullet . . . 






Our survival on Earth is based on percentages.  The time on the Doomsday Clock is 23:55


Friends of silence


There is too much noise in the silence.

Following up on the poem Ad Lib (post below this one) I was pleased to discover the existence of a website called  Friends of Silence.

Not only
is there not enough silence
in the world
there is not enough noise
of the right kind.

Not only
is there too much noise
in the silence
there is not enough silence
in the noise.

Most noise in the cities where so many of us spend our time is nothing but background interference. The noise of the mobile phone in the supermarket, the noise of non-stop traffic, the noise from the building site, the ubiquitous noise of bing-bong announcements, and all the rest of it.

The poem Ad Lib highlights the noise interference during a theatre performance or a concert. In this example it's in a theatre during a vital scene in a play.

The habitual nervous coughing, the inconsiderate loud coughing, the bandwagon of coughing where one person starts and the rest jump on board, are an unpleasant distraction for performers and most of the audience.

Perhaps the website Friends of Silence is a refuge when background noise drives us almost insane.


Ad Lib


Martin Schwab
image credit: Kurier 

Ad Lib

I remember a scene  
Unscripted - 
How a leading actor 
The veteran Schwab 
Abruptly halted a play 
And thereby saved 
As they say 
The day  

With a flick of the wrist
He produced a white square
From his pocket
To show a full house
The role of a cloth -
How to stifle a cough

To great and thankful applause. 



Friday 10 January 2014

Reward Posters




The presents have been exchanged
and another year is in these woods

where the trees are hung with portraits
of family pets, those dogs now gone

to chase the deer and squirrel.
In the wild wet woods

some creature glimpsed and freedom
called that dog, that freedom that left her

holding that useless lead. And shouting
his name in vain. Her dog is gone

and along the paths and trails she now
posts photographs on trunks

with details of her reward in cash.
Your dog like an outlaw knows his name

and he won't turn back. Freedom
sends him on . . .


Wednesday 8 January 2014

fuku




in the blue pacific  

where bottom feeders glow in the dark

the daiichi trash can 



Tuesday 7 January 2014

haiku



bread and cheese

your riverbank snack 

the hookline ends



Sunday 5 January 2014

Wallpaper for Unwanted Visitors




Tom Stephenson's recent blog entry reminds me that I have, as you can see, an amazing photo of wallpaper. I took it last year in Venice. Unfortunately I can't remember any other details. It's clearly a design suitable for that spare bedroom so beloved by happen-to-be-passing relatives who just drop-by-for-the-weekend and might be the solution if you don't want your interfering mother-in-law, for example, under your feet yet again next Christmas.

The Shooting of Franz Ferdinand



A rock beside a road
I walked was cut
but not to mark the shooting
of Franz Ferdinand.

Would world events
have played out otherwise
if he had missed
the target deer, 

that royal boy*
beside the woodland stream
behind the house
that day

I have to wonder.



*"that royal boy" is a reference to Crown Prince Rudolf who shot his first deer at the location described. Rudolf then went on to commit suicide at Mayerling by shooting his mistress and then himself.  Franz Ferdinand, originally third in line, was eventually promoted heir to the Habsburg throne. In 1914 Franz Ferdinand was assassinated by Gavrilo Princip in Sarajevo. The Great War  of 1914-1918 followed when Austria declared war on Serbia and a large part of Europe rushed to join in seeing it all as a kind of Boys Own adventure.
Apparently there's a technical term for the phenomenon raised in the poem. It's known as the butterfly effect. I came across the term in Stephen King's exploration of time travel. 11:22:63 is the book's title.


Saturday 4 January 2014

haiku




blue swimming pool

empty now in fog and frost

two dogs sniff around 



Wednesday 1 January 2014

In the End




In 

the End 

Nam created Dog 

in His own Image; 

In His own Image 

created He 

Him.


- from Chapter K9 of The Unknown Book of Nam's Penultimate Daze -





My New Year's poem titled Bukowski Night (written in 2009) can be found by entering my name, Gwilym Williams, in the search box at Ink, Sweat & Tears (<<< click link).  Thanks to Helen Ivory and Kate Birch for keeping this amazing poem up there. And also thanks to Charles Christian for accepting the thing in the first place. 




NOW BEING 

THE YEAR'S TURN 
IT'S INTO THE UNKNOWN FUTURE WE GO 
AS TRAVELLERS IN SPACE ;  

IN GOING WE MAY WISH OURSELVES LUCK 
AND SHOULD WE FEEL THE NEED TO PRAY 
WE SHOULD PRAY TO THE KIND GODS WHO SEE OUR GOOD SIDE; 

AND WHEN WE PRAY 
OR DO NOT PRAY 
AS THE CASE MAY BE 

WE MAY REMEMBER A LESSON OF HISTORY: 
FEAR BREEDS HATE, AND HATE IN TURN BREEDS INJUSTICE 
WHICH BREEDS BRUTALITY 

WHICH BREEDS MORE FEAR . . .  
BREAKING THE CIRCLE WILL BE DONE 
BY ELIMINATING FEAR 

AND FEAR WILL BE ELIMINATED 
BY REPLACING IT WITH LOVE. THERE ARE 
THREE THINGS: FAITH; HOPE AND LOVE 

AND THE GREATEST 
OF THESE 
IS LOVE. 


WE MUST ALWAYS BE GUIDED BY THE GOLDEN RULE
UT TIBI SIC ALIS

HERE IS MY TRANSLATION IN PLAIN ENGLISH: 
BE GOOD TO YOURSELVES AND BE KIND TO OTHERS.


My thanks to the many of you from all over the world who visit this website. I am deeply humbled.