haibun, Haikuesque, poetry, Senryū

The romance of the getaway

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last year’s winter dream

waits in off-white purity

purrs before we start

Zsor-zsor update

Finally, Zsor-zsor has recovered from last year’s ghastly reaction to medication.
Her morale has taken a knock, her right leg remains very weak, her left arm paralysed and words trapped by aphasia, but I hope she will agree that I book a MAXITAXI to take us and the StedyStand to RACV Healesville Resort for a Winter break.

This Jaguar XK 140 was made around the time Zsor-zsor was born and was originally fitted with suspension and brakes that might just have rivaled her wheelchair. 

poetry

The other side of Anzac day (Australian and New Zealand Army Corps day)

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the fallen redeemed

resurrected humanity

resected by war

Due to heavy casualties on both sides, a cessation of hostilities occurred at Gallipoli on May 24, 1915.  The ‘Anzac truce’  lasted around nine hours and allowed each side to recover the dead and wounded left in no-man’s land after a Turkish attack five days earlier. Soldiers from […]

The other side of Anzac day (Australian and New Zealand Army Corps day)
haibun, Haikuesque, poetry, Senryū

Gumnuts

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green leather bodice

stamen beard a tutu fringe

tickling bees fancy

BACKSTORY

The male and female parts of many gumnuts/ flowers mature at different rates.  This allows such trees to lead bees on a ‘merry dance’ in pursuit of nectar and in doing so improves the effectiveness of pollination.

GEMINI does a reasonable job of explaining bee behaviour in response to the different timing of maturity of male and female parts of gumtree flowers/ gumnuts.  Follow this link to get the details.
https://share.google/aimode/LwKU9WxkNpIOXlqy4″ rel=”nofollow ugc”>https://share.google/aimode/LwKU9WxkNpIOXlqy4

haibun, Haikuesque, poetry, Senryū

May Day in Melbourne

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no brown-leaf bonfires*

no bolshie limit on work**

spring a world away***

BACKSTORY

* Burning Autumn leaves was a common practice that was banned in Melbourne forty plus years ago with concerns for air pollution.
Pagan Beltane (bright fire) ceremonies included bonfires to honour the sun and encourage growth in the new season.


** Refers to the nineteenth century Eight Hour Day Movement (which was first successfully negotiated in Victoria in 1856)
Refer: Monument Australia https://share.google/uuGbrk25SQ7WK3eQG


*** Spring in the Northern Hemisphere is being led in by the Tech Bros with AI rather than Labour in ascendancy.  The movement to improve labour pay and conditions seems to be a world away.

haibun, Haikuesque, poetry, Senryū

The lamppost blessing

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morning mist a cloak

light in park shines, a halo

grace arrives through gray

Was that halo an hallucination?  It was there when I stepped outside to check the weather (will I need to organise a MaxiTaxi for our return from the Phlebotomist or can I push the wheelchair home?) but it had gone after I returned with my phone to take this photo.  Thus the separate Featured photo is from stock.
Haikuesque, poetry, Senryū

NOTIFICATION OF CHANGE TO TERMS AND CONDITIONS

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Readers are hereby notified that verse may contain any or all of the elements summarised below.
By continuing to read, you agree to the following. 

NEW T & Cs
Verse may contain traces of:-
implied irony

subtle ambiguity

novel symbolism

ORIGINAL T & Cs
Verse may contain:-
blatant irony

flagrant ambiguity

standard symbolism

The full 118 page microprint pdf of terms and conditions might be made available upon successful application to the author.

haibun, poetry, Senryū, writing

What I learned from the stats on a Sunday morning

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be true to the word
be true to the error too
be true to yourself
~~~
be myself
be honest not a censor
be innovative

Looking at recent ‘like’ statistics, I discovered that when I change wording at the last minute, the senryū is likely to attract (in a statistical sense) significantly fewer likes than average. 
The key lesson? STOP TAMPERING!

There are other lesser lessons and maybe I’ll publish a statistical report.  Then again, it’s more likely to smoulder in a draft file in Gmail.

PS I’m pretty sure that the urge to play with statistics emerged from the decision to retire from work very soon.  It honours over thirty years of work life.

haibun, Haikuesque, Senryū

Ploughing on

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deep furrows in brow

some result from wisdom’s search

some treasured fool’s gold

My current interest in kintsugi and the philosophy of wabi-sabi is likely related to ageing and to the prospect of retiring next month.
I see it as a signal from my subconscious to uphold self-regard, once all ties to work are cut.  Ironically, some gentle self-mockery helps me do that. But to maintain love in a relationship where one party has been disabled by a massive stroke? That requires kintsugi (joining with gold) of another kind.

haibun, Haikuesque, Senryū

Popularity

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there is patina

and there’s unpainted paris

past perfection

.

‘Unpainted’ is the readers’ and writer’s choice of word for yesterday’s senryū

Note on the tag: ‘Wabi-sabi’
Wabi-sabi is a Japanese philosophy that seeks beauty, elegance and serenity in imperfection, impermanence and simplicity.  It encourages appreciation for aged, weathered and rustic objects and embraces the natural cycle of growth and decay.
Google Gemini goes on …
https://share.google/aimode/r799y1bVCSgLK9CB1

I discuss the link between haikuesque verse and wabi-sabi here:-

The relationship between haikuesque verse and kintsugi

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