Poetry & Writing

A poor attempt at a Saturday morning Haiku

Poetry & Writing

I once took part in some writing seminars with a local author, who suggested writing a Haiku a day. In their opinion, the short form of this style of poetry (three lines of 5-7-5 syllables) was a great way to practice the distillation of a thought or mood into a very short set of phrases.

Here is one that developed in my mind as I finally roused in the shower:

I’m up for the day

Six A.M. on a weekend

Both children are up

But then I realised that there was no reference to nature, so this is not a Haiku in the classic sense.

The general ‘rules’ for a traditional Haiku are loosely as follows:

  • A focus on nature or the seasons
  • The juxtaposition of two subjects (something natural and something human-made, for example) a
  • A contemplative or wistful tone
  • Impressionistic brevity (no superfluous words)
  • Emphasis on imagery over exposition
  • Avoidance of metaphor and similes
  • Non-rhyming lines

I might attempt more Haiku poems in future. I remember finding the exercise useful, even if I am a little out of practice nowadays.

In the meantime, you can learn more about the Haiku form here…

A walk in the woods

Poetry & Writing

It is said that a walk in the woods is a great way to recharge your mind and revive a weary soul. I think we’ve all needed a little more of that during the last few months.

These two pictures were taken at the weekend, just outside of the market town Hexham, in the county of Northumberland, England. And when I say just outside, I mean less than a ten minute walk from the historic Abbey in the town’s market square – there really isn’t much by way of suburbs here.

Sunlight peeking through the tops of this wonderful pine forest in Northumberland

The forest is managed; parts of it are felled for paper at the right time, while other sections regrow. This means that the trees are planted roughly in rows, with paths of varying difficulty throughout it’s floor. However, on the day we wandered around, our only companions were the birds flying overhead in the July sun, and the ants busying themselves in and out of the enormous ant hills in the forest.

Access to experiences such as this on my own doorstep are a reminder of how lucky we are in this part of the world, especially during the last four months of lockdown here in the UK. It has certainly helped ease my anxiety and frustration at not being able to move forward with the music projects I had planned for this summer – but more on those soon…