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Morning all,
a couple of haikus for consumption this morning…
Crease
Rain bobs battered leaves
Waxen creases burst their banks
Roots greedily drink.
Rust
Frost-dampened sawdust
coats paint tins and pots. Ivy
tendrils ‘round rusted lock creep.
***Thanks for reading!***
On days like this I struggle to believe it happened. It did, though – right here on this beach.
Ankle-high rollers curl in over the pebbles, just a trace of foam on the forerunners as they lazily reach up the brown sand. It’s flat calm as far as the eye can see, with matted grey clouds reflected back up towards the sky.
As changeable as the sea, they say. If only that were true. Since you were taken from me one spring morning I’ve tried to follow, I really have. I’ve waded out from our private little beach, out as far as you did that day. The undertow signs promise much but deliver little. I haven’t felt so much as a tickle around my ankles when I’ve stood waist deep out there.
I could weight myself down of course, be dragged beneath the waves as Virginia Woolf was. That seems too serene though, not at all like your experience. I want to fight the tow the same way that you did. I want to hear the pebbles rattle and shift underneath me, to see the sun’s rays slant down through the sediment-heavy water as I strain for the surface.
No such luck today. The saltwater laps gently around my chest, languidly stirred into movement by the limpest of winds. It’s not even chilly.
I shiver nonetheless. A man who has experienced shipwreck shudders at even a calm sea. They say that, too.
***Thanks for reading folks. Any comments much appreciated!***
An ethereal little haiku today on the theme of ‘billow’…
Translucent billow
Current-borne, through seaweed drawn
Tentacles trail long.
***Thanks for reading folks. Comments always appreciated!***
‘Is there a problem?’
The surreptitious closing of the door suggested that there was.
‘I’m sorry to inform you,’ began the official in a nasal voice. ‘That under section 27(a) of the Substance Abuse and Doping Act 2016…’
‘No,’ mouthed Ian, his eyes wide. ‘No.’ Continue reading “Performance Enhanced”
The Handmaid’s Tale
Margaret Atwood
Vintage Classics
GBP 8.99
‘Maybe the life I think I’m living is a paranoid delusion…Sanity is a valuable possession; I hoard it the way people once hoarded money. I save it, so I will have enough, when the time comes.’ Continue reading “Book Review – The Handmaid’s Tale”
A little haiku this morning on the theme of ‘Grey’…
Grey smooth-shattered shale
Huddled high in wave-lashed caves
Sea foam flecks strike dark.
There was a time, you know, when I wouldn’t even have made it onto the open market. I’d have been snapped up as soon as it was murmured that I was up for sale. Phone calls would have been made. Guide prices would have been met and exceeded. My plush grass would never have had the indignity of a lawn sign thrust into it. Continue reading “Sell Yourself”
Recently there has been a furore over a scene, or more accurately lack of a scene, in the Neil Armstrong biopic ‘First Man’. Despite the American flag being shown on the surface of the moon, there is not (brace yourself here) a shot of the flag actually being planted into the lunar soil (I told you it was bad). Cue much gnashing of teeth on social media and spluttering indignation from several U.S. politicians. ‘…A terrible thing…’ bemoaned President Trump, whilst Senator Marco Rubio described the editing decision as ‘…total lunacy…’. It was an easy win for both men; they hoovered up votes on the right of their party, whilst offending a Hollywood which was overwhelmingly blue in the last election. Not being from that side of the pond, I decided to search for some controversy myself. I was unsuccessful. Continue reading “A Matter of National Insecurity”
Here is my attempt at today’s one-word prompt of ‘large’, run courtesy of Swimmers. Thought I’d haiku this one as I’ve already posted today…
Low-slung winter sun
Rinsed large through scudding rain-cloud
Ceding hungry night.
This is the last article in my series on writing. It addresses a subject feared by some authors and relished by others – that of submission. There is something magical about sending a story out into the world. Once it leaves your laptop it is open to interpretation by anyone who reads it. Consequently, myriad worlds and characters are born from your imagination. How many is down to who you choose to submit to and how you go about it… Continue reading “Good Editors and Good Practice: Submitting”
Matthew Richardson 