Ocean Song including The Message

After a rather long gap Muse again requested that I start to write again. She dropped some interesting ideas into my thoughts including one for a photographic version of "The Message", I hope to present that before too long. "The Message" is constructed as a Gogyohka - five lines - set in the middle of a group of four-line stanzas and was originally birthed as a stand-alone Gogyohka but Muse and I knew that there was more to come...





Ocean Song - 04 Aug 11
Including The Message

To the water’s edge
Down across the sand
My footsteps
Wove the rhythm

Watched the waves
Wash the stones
Half-buried
Weed entangled

Heard the words
Whispered by the water
Carried
From your lips

Afternoon sky
Rainbow reflected
On the shards
Of crystal

I wrote the words
Upon the sand
And waited
For the tide
To take my message to you

Ripples lick
The fragment words
Absorb them into
Her heart

I heard my words
Reflected back from her
To me…
I love you





It turned out that this was to form another part of the Ocean Love Songs series of poems, Haiga and Gogyohka that have been growing over the last few months.

Awake Nightmares

This is a recounting of an actual event which took place a couple of nights ago, triggered by some fairly strong medication to try to ease some severe pains in my shoulder. The medication was also causing some nearly continuous hiccups and so...





Awake Nightmares - 15 Jul 11

Hic
A ghastly
Hic
Metronome
Hic
Counting off
Hic
Three-second
Hic
Intervals
Hic
Into the rest of the night
The visions in my mind
Stilled
Silenced
By the constant hiccups
The constant
Conspiracy
Between lung and gut
To annoy

Shh
Listen…the voices whispered
In the sudden silence
They could be heard
Again
And Muse
Stepped forward
She had suggestions
For another poem

A cow in the distance
A bird calls
A car softly rumbles past
A church bell strikes two
…what?

No shush
Hic
The metronome
Hic
Again drowns out
The voices





I did manage to get to sleep but only after Muse got me to write this poem out [yes, I can write by hand as well as using a keyboard].

Close Your Eyes

I was sitting, listening to music - as so often happens, when I felt Muse gently nudging me and, within thirty minutes this poem was birthed. I offer it to you here for your consideration.





Close Your Eyes - 01 Jul 11

Close your eyes
Let me touch you
In places
In ways
That have never been done
Before

Close your eyes
Let my kisses
Lift you
Show you
Places that my Love
Can take you

Close your eyes
Let my breath
Brush your skin
Kiss your Goosebumps
Feel them chase
Across you

Open your eyes
Look deep within mine
See me looking at you
Feel my Love
Wash over you
Drown in my Love





It is a long time since I scribed a Love Song, I must admit that I feel that this one works rather well.
Thank you Muse, for the prompt.

Fool Moon

The inspiration for this poem came from a TwitPic that I had accidentally mis-named "Fool Moon" instead of "Full Moon", I was initially irritated but the name grew on me and - after a conversation with a lovely friend - decided that I would create a poem using that accidental name.





Fool Moon - 25 Jun 11

In the evening sky
She woke
Looked down
To find her lover

She hopes that he sees
Her dance...
Clinging to her hope

Through the trees
Bushes
Fool Moon
Dances
With tears in her eyes

He wanders
Looking for her
In valleys
Cross rivers
Down to the Ocean

He danced
To attract her attention
Hopefully...
Though he didn't see her

Never looking
In the right places

The Fool
Dances
Under the
Fool Moon





I would like to thank Muse for gently re-positioning my fingers to create the phrase "Fool Moon" in the first place and my friend dani for suggesting that there is a poem in there somewhere.

Come Speak To Me

Image - Moonset by Ainsley Allmark

Come speak to me
Tell me of your loves for me
Parted from me
On your voyages to distant worlds
Your Earth-bound Lover
Waits for your return
To hear the tales
Of alien worlds and moonsets
Under different suns





Muse drew the words from me a line at a time, then requested it be illustrated using a different form to anything I had previously used - here then, is my offering.

Spark 12 by dani harris and Ainsley Allmark

This post is to mark the entry of dani harris and I to Spark 12

....................
....................

Ainsley Allmark
Inspiration piece

dani harris
response

a tree i once met

i don't recall

ever seeing

...no... ever meeting

such a tree

before or since

.

she had no branches on one side

she leaned the other way

where all her limbs

seemed to be reaching out

protectively

.

if you moved

within a few feet of her

there was a palpable feeling

of motherly love

and watchfulness

.

without a doubt

she has stood guard for years on end

enveloping all who grow near

with love

and safe refuge from the storms

..

....................
....................

dani harris
Inspiration piece

i wonder what they say?

.

in the quiet of the night

when the Moon is full

not a star can be seen

because the Moon outshines them all

..

with the first blush of pink

in the morning sky

i wonder what the Sun says

to the Moon as he passes by?

..

in the quiet of the night

when the Moon is partially hidden

you may see a little twinkle

of a lonely star here or there

..

when the Moon is on

one side of the world

and the Sun is on the other

i wonder who they talk to?

..

in the quiet of the night

when the Moon is but a sliver

the sky becomes full of stars

dancing with delight

..

when the Sun is setting

and the Moon is nigh

i wonder what he says to her

as they pass each other by?

..

Ainsley Allmark
response piece

....................
....................

We hope you enjoyed reading this as much as we enjoyed writing and working with the photographs.

You can take a look at the originals of these two offerings on the Spark site
dani's is here
and mine is here

Look at the whole
SPARK
web site

You can see more of dani's works on her blog page

http://haikulovesongs.wordpress.com/
Well worth taking a look.

Oceans Of The Moon

The title for this poem was actually placed in my mind on 21 May 11 but it was only this afternoon that the poem itself was birthed. Interestingly it is also part of the "Ocean Love Songs" group.





Oceans Of The Moon - 02 Jun 11

In a dark land
Tide dancing
Combing the sand
Washing the stones
Taking memories back
To the depths from which
They were born

I feel the pull of the tide
Wrapping round my feet
Embracing my legs
Talking to my mind
Showing me
...Things
...Places
...Her face

Watching and listening
I hear the whispers
Of the hidden Souls
In the Oceans of the Moon

I too,
Am there
Listen for my voice
When you stand and watch
The waves
I will call to you
When you lose your thoughts
And loose your thoughts
To the whispers
In the depths
Of the
Oceans of the Moon





I find it interesting that the title came to me weeks before the poem did. I don't know why this should be the case but I love watching the flow from Muse.

Evenglow

I have been inspired to produce a series of poems based on photographs of the sea or with a water theme and it has been suggested that they are collectively called "Ocean Love Songs". This is the first of a longer work without a visual link though looking at some of the photograhs I have posted on Visions can give a clue as to the inspiration I have been working through.





Evenglow - 31 May 11

Sunset
Temple of Evening
Starfire glows across the sky
Moonrise
Evenglow paints the cloud
Pale pink above the sun

She watched
From Her Rainbow Spire
She saw me stand beside the Ocean
I looked
To catch a glimpsse
Of Her reflection on the waves





Once again I thank Muse for the inspiration.
I shall be compiling the "Ocean Love Songs" in some form before too long - perhaps when I feel that it is complete.

Carnival

This poem was presented to me in two parts with an instruction from Muse to put them together as one; I only have a faint awareness of what it is about so will not be trying to explore the meanings, I just present it to you here.





Carnival - 25 May 11

Evening shatters daylight glimmers
Carries the fragments
To the stars
Shadows remain
Come out to play
Where once did day
Upon the waves
Skip lightly
Carnival of stones
Watchers dreaming
On the shore
While fiddlers annoy
The hermit
In the dark





I can see some of the references but really cannot say what it all means. Muse sometimes plays games with my mind - I don't mind if something interesting comes out of it.

Mirrors

After what seems to be a very long gap, Muse tapped me on my shoulder and suggested that I started to write. Mirrors is the poem which grew without any effort.





Mirrors - 15 May 11

Mirrored hallways
Leading to secret rooms
I look in
I look out
Dreamt memories

Images of things
That could never have happened
Watched
In the hallways
Mirrored dreams
Face to face
With me
Remembering

Images of things
That might have happened
Watching them run again
In the mirrors
To different conclusions
All the
Might have beens
Gathering
From my past

Images of things
That did happen
Now haunt me
In the mirrors
Down darkened hallways
In curtained rooms
Shut away from daylight
Veiled mirrors

Images of things
That might happen
A glimpse of sunlight
In the mirrors secret eyes
A subtle smile
Watching me
Watching you
Watching the future





Another slightly strange poem - partially autobiographical, partly imagination and all inspired by Muse, thank you Muse.