She sways – Shadorma Pair – November 7, 2015

old lady
sways seductively
once lovely
still graceful
now the men just ignore her
she’s still beautiful

standing there
outside the cafe
cold and sad
mini skirted
the lady of the night waits
on the cobbled street

© G.s.k. ‘15

B&P’s Shadorma & Beyond – Shadorma Pair – November 7, 2015

She wept … Wordle – August 27, 2015

Mourning Woman Seated on a Basket – Vincent van Gogh – 1883

Orpheus, faithless,
looked back.
Did he think
that Eurydice would not follow?

Then, bleary eyed and stumbling
in the deafening silence
that accompanied him
through the simulacrum
of his life
(always proximate to death)
he preserved the memory of his faithlessness …
and
… as his life continued
he wrote the tale of his woe
in songs he never sung.

In the meantime,
of his each passing day
he lived with her –
a lowly woman,
considerate –
she warmed his bed,
kept his charcoal fire burning
and served him his rice …

Of her – he wrote no song
nor even knew her name –
hers was not a faculty
for invisibility –
outside of his own tragedy
she just went unseen
in her normality –
she wept her silent tears
for the twice faithless lover.

© G.s.k. ‘15

1. Orpheus (Greek Legend. a poet and musician, a son of Calliope, who followed his dead wife, Eurydice, to the underworld. By charming Hades, he obtained permission to lead her away, provided he did not look back at her until they returned to earth. But at the last moment he looked, and she was lost to him forever.) 2. Follow 3. Meantime 4. Bleary 5. Considerate 6. Deafening 7. Proximate 8. Faculty 9. Simulacrum (a slight, unreal, or superficial likeness or semblance) 10. Preserve 11. Rice 12. Charcoal

Written for:

Mindlovesmisery’s Menagerie : Wordle #75 “August 24, 2015″

Morning Haiku and Waka – February 28, 2015

Credits: House au Auvers – Vincent Van Gogh

the village
nestles in its yesterdays
summer and winter

tight arteries
quiet sleeping village
heart beats slowly

the silence
summer siesta time
cicada’s concerts

the smell of spring
rain on freshly plowed fields
newly fertilized

old men gossiping
watching the youth passing by
envious comments

now only old people
the village loses its youth
growing cities

© G.s.k. ‘15

Written for Carpe Diem Haiku Kai – House au Auvers by Van Gogh.

Morning Haiku and Waka – Time Machine Yellow – February 21, 2015

Vincent Van Gogh. The Yellow House, 1888.

summer morning
the sky hangs heavy today
vibrant yellow house

vibrant yellow house
people mull in the streets
small town rhythm

© G.s.k. ‘15

The Great Bridge. Hiroshige (L) & Van Gogh (R)

in driving rain
crossing a great bridge
between cultures

© G.s.k. ‘15

Vincent Van Gogh. Langlois Bridge at Arles with Women Washing, 1888. Wikimedia.

near the draw bridge
old boat and washing women
water reflections
the old art teacher should blush
that’s how you paint reflections!

§§

along the canal
a sunken boat languishes
no fishing today

no fishing today
down by the canal women
wash shirts and sheets

© G.s.k. ‘15

About the tanka … many,  many years ago in a land far to the north (Alaska) lived a young girl who wanted to learn to paint.  She hadn’t encountered the great impressionist movement yet and in fact she wanted to learn how to paint illustrations …. water colours with pen and ink.

Among the chosen subjects for High School that year was ART …  but soon she discovered that had no talent for painting, this is how it happened that she discovered this;   the teacher put up a bottle, a silver mug and fruit telling the students to paint the picture in water-colour … alas … as a first project this was tragic for her.  She knew how to draw, but not how to use a paint brush … and reflections … how do you paint reflections!  Her reflections looked something like Van Gogh’s reflections.  Her teacher ridiculed her work in front of the class … Years and years later she became aware of impressionism and fell in love with the movement, but rarely ever touched a brush again.  However she did wonder if Van Gogh perhaps had a teacher like her old art teacher.

Here are some great haiku from today’s Carp Diem Haiku Kai’s Time Machine Prompt hosted by Paloma:

the yellow house
a sturdy rock in a man’s life –
the cry of a child

the cry of a child
seeing the rainbow for the first time
‘I want to cross that’

© Chèvrefeuille

morning washing –
the scent of yellow grass
clinging to my hem 

long into morning –
the scent of mud and green things
baked on yellow stones

© Paloma

Morning Haiku and Waka – Choka and Haiku – February 20, 2015

For Vincent

my mind whirls
with the wind and the clouds
as I sit and think
in my room lost in sadness
the world I see
in vibrant swirls of colour
talk and sing to me
and yet, melancholy
fills my soul
I am alone – no one cares
scorned, abandoned
I tumble into grave thoughts
the mulberry tree
calls to me and I reply
putting paint to canvas

© G.s.k. ‘15

A choka written for Mindlovemisery’s Menagerie – Photo Challenge

Wabi-Sabi

the morning’s snow
i can chew dried salmon
alone

© Basho

on an old branch
young sprouts of cherry blossoms
bloom again

© Chèvrefeuille

under a street light
trees blossom in late winter
new snow falls

© G.s.k. ‘15

I love the concepts (and there are many) of wabi-sabi … the harmony, simplicity of the here and now, the flow of nature, the uncertainties, the “Is what it is” vision of impermanence all this and more of the concept fascinates me … I’m unfortunately in a hurry as I’m very late posting for Carpe Diem Haiku Kai’s post on Wabi-Sabi (been partying too much 😉 ) so please read this haiku with what I’ve written above in mind ..  I’ll be working on this concept in the future.  Bastet

Morning haiku and Waka – February 7, 2015

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Archduke’s old pond
turtle’s pink and blue paths
water lilies

reflecting night skies
fields atwinkle with fireflies
young lovers embrace

© G.s.k. ‘15

This post is written for two prompts at Carpe Diem Haiku Kai (I’m still trying to catch up!!!) Water Lilies:

Claude Monet

and Starry Night:

Vincent Van Gogh

The prompts written to accompany these two wonderful paintings can be found HERE (Water Lilies) and HERE (Starry Night) apart from the explanation of what one must do, and some lovely haiku examples,  there is also a very interesting piece about the life of Van Gogh ..well worth stopping to read it!

Morning Haiku and Waka – January 28, 2015

Western Haiku:

sitting at this keyboard
words flow forwards and backwards
then suddenly, lost!

connection lost
wondering why I even bother
a crow caws at dawn

grumbling in the air
this early morning concert
farts, coughs and starts

Japanese Haiku:

dawn breaking
over the eastern sky
the cats meow

old pond
frozen pink lily-pads
no frogs jump

snow flakes
crystal white gems falling
skidding cars

 © G.s.k. ‘15

I’ve written these two series of haiku, the western inspired by Jack Kerouac written by HA at Mindlovesmisery’s Menagerie and the second inspired by Chèvrefeuille’s Carpe Diem Haiku Kai writing techniques post dedicated to “surprise”  that lovely little cutting phrase or a-ha that should wake your reader up. I enjoyed Chèvrefeuille’s comparison of the haiku with impressionistic art … in fact, more than a snapshot, a haiku should be an impression of what’s been seen.  A lovely idea!

Free Verse: Flowers of My Mind

Free Verse

Flowers of My Mind

I’m no doctor

to give out prescriptions

just a poor poet

with impressionistic

instincts

like Van Gogh

I want no drawing outline

put in

to see the world.

I like its messy blur

of colors that fade into colors

for this is how I see the world

a symphony

of light!

Alas,

I’ve yet to see

an atom

of happiness to draw

or justice for that matter…

emotions are a poets palette

but in the end

I know

that even here

emotions are

illusions

products of men’s souls

well…no not exactly

they’re real enough to me

but

in the indifferent

Universe

my lust and laws

are just

the flowers in my mind.