insect bites

2010 – year in review

Gail Priest — Sat, 15 Jan 2011 06:47:29 +0000

I didn’t seem to get it together to post anything during the year, but I’ve gathered together the little fragments that came to me. They are either from staring into my garden or from travelling round Europe. You might notice a bit of a spider theme going on – for most of last year I was composing an album “Presentiments from the Spider Garden“, inspired by Rilke and the spiders in my backyard. You can listen to it here.

a coke sign sunrise
frames the old man in repose
big city Buddha
7/3/2010, Annandale

after the fight
we swap sides of the bed
to see things differently
23/3/2010, Rozelle

cool autumn morning
brings my words home
from their summer holiday
7/4/2010, Rozelle

you’re in tomorrow
while I’m in today
so far away
5/9/2010 Linz, Austria

my washing in the dryer
turning like the world
9/9/2010 Berlin, Germany

autumn leaves tumble
across the square
and through the goal posts
19/9/2010, Amsterdam, Netherlands

across a slate grey sea
the horizon comes closer
riding the rain
20/9/2010, Baltic Sea, Germany-Denmark

a spider’s silk thread
visible – invisible
binding us all
22/9/2010, Copenhagen, Denmark

through morning mist
the pale sun surprises
even the lake
1/10/2010, Kuopio, Finland

travelling backwards
golden leaves fly past
twice as fast
4/10/2010, train Kuopio-Helsinki, Finland

the twisted jade plant
feigns wisdom beyond its years
30/10/2010, Rozelle

wild backyard
domesticated
by the washing
5/12/2010, Rozelle

a leaf on spider’s silk
spinning like a circus girl
14/12/2010, Rozelle

sharing the morning
the lizard hunts for bugs
I for words
16/12/2010, Rozelle

drinking tea
in the garden
word-watching
18/12/2010, Rozelle

you and me
the simplicity of being
happy
25/12/2010, Rozelle

February 2010

Gail Priest — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 12:30:27 +0000

after the hot night’s tantrum storm
the morning grey repentant
13/2/2010, Rozelle

falling
a feather
laden with rain drops
14/2/2010, Ballast Park, Birchgrove

awake still
gutters gush, dogs bark
your sleeping sighs
15/2/2010, Rozelle

Summer/New Year

Gail Priest — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 21:54:33 +0000

asleep before midnight
our fingers entwine
at the sound of fireworks
Dec 31, 2009, Rozelle

***********************

Summer in Sydney is a pretty stultifying and uncreative time I find. Too hot… too lazy… so perhaps more in Autumn.

But I did recently hear that one of my poems from my time in Japan has been excepted into the 2nd Basho Haiku Challenge to be published in a chapbook in mid-2010. Pretty exciting for my first time entering them anywhere. http://lilliputreview.blogspot.com/2009/12/2nd-annual-basho-haiku-challenge-winner.html

Late Spring 09

Gail Priest — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 04:51:17 +0000

tiny red spider
crawls over the phrase
“That is the universe”
Rozelle, 7/11/09

vapour trail arcs
over hot morning sky
near miss with the moon
Rozelle, Nov 09

Spring 09

Gail Priest — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 06:55:47 +0000

waking to bees
in my bedroom
the morning heat hums
Rozelle, 3/10/09

traffic jam
counting jacarandahs
in the distance
Gladesville, 2/10/09

my urban backyard
after country fields
listening to the compost
Rozelle, 3/10/09

————————-

tough man
two dogs
all three in jackets
Coledale, Wollongong 26/10/09

the wind arrives
in the treetops
travelling tales
Bundanon, 27/10/09

do ants hear birds’ song as music to work by?
Bundanon, 27/10/09

a morning sneeze
a cup of tea
a borrowed view
Bundanon, 28/10/09

————————————

the birds know when I am recording
and stop singing
Rozelle, 20/9/09

when the world ends
we’ll all be taking the photo
After the Sydney Dust Storm – Rozelle, 23/9/09

too young
to feel too old
to write a love song
Rozelle, 3/10/09

wet dirt
smells clean
in spring rain
Rozelle, 6/10/09

Winter 09

Gail Priest — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 00:46:15 +0000

Through a cold July I wrote a poem a day to send to my partner who was in Berlin…. here’s a smattering…

the sun attempts to warm the yard
I drink from your cup
the dog looks for you
Rozelle, 29/6/09

junkfood bag dances
across three lanes of traffic
fighting anxious thoughts
Anzac Bridge 1/7/09

we share the same bus blank stares
but are we seeing different things?
Melbourne, 2/7/09

on the tram they kiss
negotiating big noses
well matched couple
Melbourne 4/7/09

a walk with him
a walk with her
I buy apples and pears
Melbourne 5/7/09

beneath the streets
a train screams
the city’s discontent
Central 6/7/09

evening comes in fast
chased by storm clouds
Rozelle 7/7/09

abstaining
containing
seeking spaces
Rozelle 8/7/09

wrong turns and traffic jams
the city welcomes me home
Liverpool 13/7/09

thoughts like insect bites
Rozelle 14/7/09

writing poems
in the ad breaks
while the neighbours fight
Rozelle, 18/7/09

while I wield my weights
a stray cat sleeps in the sun
Rozelle 19/7/09

counting days
measuring moments
mounting desires
Rozelle 25/7/09

my sequinned scarf bedazzling
in the morning sun
putting out the bins
Rozelle 27/7/09

Summer 2008 – Japan

Gail Priest — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 00:10:35 +0000

surface rippled by fish fins
dragonflies hover
helicopter hum
Meiji Jingu 15/8/08

skimming insects dance
turtle head rises
trains in the distance on time
Meiji Jingu 15/8/08

breeze on my back dries sweat
gravel crunch behind
no longer alone
Meiji Jingu 15/8/08

sculptures on a perfect lawn
leaves fall without permission
Hara Museum 20/8/08
(this poem has been accepted into the 2nd Haiku Challenge Chapbook)

atop a small hill
glass and metal peaks dwarf me
as I watch the ants
Hibiya 21/8/08

the sound of my pen
faint over insects
record the slipping moments
Hibiya 21/8/08

people collecting
in station entrance
instant rain, ancient city
Morishita 29/8/08

a creak and a cry
building sways gently
holds firm in the face of doubts
Aoyama 6/9/08

grumbling thunder
I think of poems
and of leaving
Ikebukuro 7/9/08

morning sadness
sleep brings no answers
a dull finish
Ikebukuro 7/9/08

spider lands on wood veneer
we are together
here in the wrong place
Ikebukuro 7/9/08

morning breeze hints at autumn
amongst steel and glass
a straw broom sweeps
Aoyama 10/9/08

city builds upwards
the guard on the ground
turns escalators on
Aoyama 10/9/08

in the neatly groomed hedge
mother and daughter
build up secret stones
Shibuya 10/9/08

black crow feasts on food
left for ginger cats
by the green phone box
Shibuya 10/9/08

Yokohama dusk
two suns and one moon
reflections of reflections
Yokohama 12/9/08

blue ballon floating
over Hachiko Crossing
lost in video
Hachiko 15/9/08

Summer 2008 – Paris

Gail Priest — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 22:51:34 +0000

another black serpent thwumps
through tunnels streaming
yellow trails of light
train to Paris 10/6/08

nine o’clock, the light like five
perhaps I brave
another bar
Paris 11/6/08

Winter 2008 – Vancouver

Gail Priest — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 22:27:18 +0000

winter sun glances
across the tops of buildings
we are still in shade
21/1/08

mysterious clouds of steam
street aligned due east
what mecca waits there?
22/1/08

a hockey haiku

scrape of skates on ice
commentator barks
fake logs burn eternally
29/1/08

shivering outside
hands in gloves hold cigarettes
breathing fresh air
29/1/08

disco ball turning
in a bar with no dancing
29/1/08

thoughts like insect bites

Gail Priest — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 05:58:01 +0000

I have finally succumbed to the compulsion for thinking outloud in public and thus have started a wee blog.

I say wee as it is intended to be a small outcome for some of the short format poems that I seem compelled to write. These pieces are inspired by Haiku but to call them such would be presumptuous.

I write sporadically but more when I travel, so I include the date and location for each poem. Often I try to follow some of the rules of Haiku, particularly those regarding season, nature and syllable count, as I find it challenging to work within the structure; while other times I am simply aiming for compression of word and expansion of soul within the poem. More recently I have learnt of senryu (haiku style but more personally focused), and perhaps that is what many of them tend towards.
I hope you enjoy some of my humble attempts.