Apparently I have now written over 100 blog posts, which would be great if all the poetry writing wasn’t distracting me from The Haunted Tide. I’ve been writing poetry and short stories far longer than I have been trying to write novels; Joe and Nelly was in the pipeline for more than five years, but that […]
Month: September 2015
It’s time to try a tanka
After reading Somali Chakrabarti’s tanka this morning, I thought I would have a go. I haven’t written one for a long while. Thank you, Somali, for reminding me of the tanka. The tanka poem is similar to the haiku, but with more syllables and lines: 31 syllables in 5 lines, with 5 syllables in the first […]
Another poem inspired by a quote
The Stuff of Smiles “A smile is the same as sunshine; it banishes winter from the human countenance.’ Victor Hugo from Les Miserables Your face is worn with winter woes, Its contours bleak and bitter. Your eyes are grey, with flecks of ice, A vaguely perceptible glitter. But when you smile the sun breaks out […]
Luna in the garden first thing this morning
Mouse Hunt Haiku Cat in the garden Strolls paw-deep in morning dew Springs into action Mouse hunting is serious business
The Haunted Tide is progressing
Chapter 9 of The Haunted Tide is coming along nicely. Since yesterday I have written over a thousand words. I have also produced the following ‘found’ poem about a great storm on the North Norfolk Coast. A Village Vanishes Agitated by the violence of the wind, The sea burst, Occupying farms and fields At first, Then towns […]
We saw this in Italy
I am reminded daily that ordinary things make up the largest part of the day; creative activities are only a small part that make life more special. I wonder what makes life special for the woman in the photograph. Daily Life Haiku Everyone has to Hang their washing on a line Wherever they live
What is found poetry?
There is a variety of techniques you can use to create found poetry: You can take an existing fiction or non-fiction text and erase bits of it, leaving selected words and phrases that form a new text – a poem; You might select words and phrases from a text and rearrange them any way you […]
Elephant Love
I follow Cheryl Merrill’s post on elephants, about which she is very passionate. I love the language she uses and have previously written a poem borrowing some of her words and illustrated with one of her amazing photographs (see my page Elephant Skin under Poetry). You can find Cheryl on cherylmerrill.com. I later developed it into something […]
Hurricane
I have just read an interesting post by mashed radish about the etymology of the word hurricane and it reminded of the Grace Nichols poem Hurricane Hits England, a poem I love to read and enjoyed teaching to high school students, The link below is one I found on YouTube, in which Grace Nichols reads the poem […]
White Rabbits!
It’s 1st September and, I suppose, the first day of autumn. There are apples in the grass below our apple trees and the bay tree isn’t bowing under the weight of raindrops. This week I must continue with The Haunted Tide. I will write a haiku or other poem as a warm-up exercise each morning […]
writing in north norfolk 