Haibun

(Haibun is a style of poetry where, interspersed between the main stanzas, haikus are inserted, that should have some relevance to the message of the main poem).

Decay

Move along,

there is nothing to see

we need balance, an even keel

our day in the sun beckons

‘decay’s polished coat,

the ultimate inside job

full length, covers all’

where an apple ripens on the skin,

a pear ages slowly from within

proving that the honest apple

cannot tell a lie

‘a clever pattern

worn familiarity

buttoned to the neck’

Beauteous curves, complexion pure

paper thin, fate unsure

let me peel that crumbling mask

to see you as you are

‘the seams cuffs and hems

disintegrate and leave me

threadbare to the world’

Camino

Not the best of weather to begin my Camino,

clipped slate clouds so low I stoop beneath them

their ominous jags hanging stalactite fashion,

there’s a stiff riffle of a breeze squaring-up

determined to push me back indoors.

my best intentions

fractured porcelain mosaics

my fortitude pierced

Threading gently in this dull malaise

wind-song charms my ears with distant pipes,

seduced I check my retreat, turn to meet the road

and stride south toward a promised sun,

seeking enlightenment, settled thoughts, clarity.

modern life strangles

my spirituality

creativity

The path becomes my blood brother

spilt red on red dust, as one, symbiosis

drawing me further on to find the pallid sun,

oak staff my compass needle, magnetized

by the much-trodden holy way.

thus, I am beguiled

my determination flies

campaniles ring out

Winter

The savage wolves of winter

tear at browned summer skin

rich pickings mean survival.

pine cones close tightly

in suffocating silence

ice needles glisten

Dark bears of December

pace and wait cagily

to feed on an easier corpse.

chill winds play their tune

a sombre fugue, low and raw

collides with mountains

January jackals quarrel

and spread bleached bones

in ambivalent disarray

slim shadows lengthen

death and decay holds the stage

the sated wolves howl

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