Haiku for the end of June

High Sun burns the blooms

Midsomer passes in heat

Giving. And taking.

Haiku for a Spring Evening

Sunset behind me.
Golden sunlight lightly shines
On green northern fields

Inspired by my drive home along the Military Road, which runs alongside (and sometimes on top of) the route of Hardrian’s Wall in Northumberland. The remains of this wall, once the boundary between Roman-occupied Southern half of Britannia and the untamed Northern half (mostly made up of modern-day Scotland), provides an additional element to an already dramatic landscape.

This evening, as I drove eastward at sunset, I noticed the beautifully strange golden glow alighting on the grazing land on both sides of the road (and the ruins of the ancient wall). Beautiful, strange, but rare. About as rare as my Haiku efforts, at least…

Image copyright David Head (from the Visit Northumberland Facebook page)

Haiku for the New Year (2022)

Poetry & Writing

Here’s two haiku to start the year off. The first distills my hope that I’ll get out more and meet my friends more often this coming year. But of course, it all depends on this ongoing pandemic:

Twenty Twenty-two
Might I see more friends this year?
Coming months will tell

And one on the unseasonably warm weather we had on New Year’s Day here in Northumberland:

No wind, mild and bright
Warmest New Year on record
It didn’t last long

Wherever you are, make the best you can of 2022 and go easy on yourself. It’s been hard at times, we all know, but there is light at the end of the tunnel. Just take care of yourself in the mean time.

Until we meet again…

Haiku for the Summer Solstace

Poetry & Writing

We hoped for sunshine
But rain soaked Welsh Poppies brought
Sun-yellow petals

You don’t always get the weather you want, especially in the UK.

Yet the gorgeous buttercup yellow of a flower, thought of by many as a weed, certainly adds brightness on a day with less sunshine than we might have hoped for. But then, a weed is simply a plant you don’t want, which means the definition certainly doesn’t apply in our garden.

Ironically, or perhaps fittingly, I’ve spent most of today – the longest day in the northern hemisphere – at work. I therefore didn’t get to enjoy my garden at all today.

Still, there is always tomorrow…

Haiku for a green summer

Poetry & Writing

Cow Parsley grown tall
Scent of roadside wild garlic
Drowned Spring yields lush greens

…at least, this has certainly been the case here in Northumberland. Here, an incredibly wet April and May have finally given way to a gloriously hot and sunny June.

Both the cultivated and wild plant life have all responded well. I have even heard one keen gardener tell me that his Himalayan Blue Poppy has flowered for the first time in thirty years! Clearly this is the combination of months of rain to sunshine it requires!

What are your garden stories? Leave a comment or drop me a message. Until next time…

A Haiku for the weather in April

Poetry & Writing

(…well, here in the north of England, at least)

False Spring to late snows
Wrap up warm and wait for warmth
The Sun will come soon

Snow (double haiku)

Poetry & Writing

Snow on the Dyke-backs
Prophesying its return
And see, it comes now

For those who might not know, the dyke-backs are the sides of the short hills or ditches which, in winter, never get direct sunlight. As a result, snow takes longer to melt on these small sections of Northumbrian landscape. Around here, is taken almost as a given that seeing the snow remain on the dyke-backs, when it has melted everywhere else, means that it will likely snow again before the weather improves and the world gets warmer on it’s path towards the spring.

And while it stays cold, the frost can do strangely wonderful feats to your car…