Turning Japanese #15 – Ghosts
November 2024, Editor Tim Gardiner
Given the Halloween season just past and the struggles that so many people are going through, the theme of ‘ghosts’ seemed appropriate for this issue. Sometimes, a life is lived in limbo due to circumstances, the nostalgic ghosts and longing for the past are inevitable consequences of being unable to move on. We also have political poems on the theme, focusing on the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and the terrorist attacks of 9/11. With this in mind, I hope you find the following short poems a thought-provoking take on the theme, imagining supernatural and metaphorical ghosts.
morning after
in the mirror
a ghost
Jovana Dragojlovic
train whistle
late at night or early
in the morning
Jerome William Berglund
feeling
the buildings fall
an airplane hits
dancing
shadows on the wall
all that’s left
Eavonka Ettinger
forest path-
your shadow
crossing over
Lafcadio
moonless Halloween
dancing with ghosts
of girlfriends past
Ravi Kiran
if my memory serves me right to die with dignity
who leaves
who stays
October wind
Vandana Parashar
changing seasons-
each year becoming
a ghost of myself
Adele Evershed
whispering walls
his words
linger
Kimberly Kuchar
mist wraiths
one of them
is you
Debbie Strange
low sky
the spirits of ancestors
race with the wind
Marta Chocilowska
favourite haunt
murmuring into my ear
your ghost
unborn child
I still roll your name
on my tongue
Jenn Ryan-Jauregui
our shadows overlap
ghosts of Hiroshima
falling silent
about the afterlife
ouija board
petro c.k.
blossom cascade
we wake from the same dream
unborn child
summer breeze
memories of the dead
evaporating
John Hawkhead
ghosted
at the school reunion
what else is new
Tracy Davidson
to look more human
wearing make-up
in the shadows
Mark Gilbert
flickering lights
what we never
talk about
John Pappas
ghost
your mask
has slipped
THAT moment
the childhood home
comes of age
an old house
gives up
the ghost
Tim Gardiner
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Turning Japanese #14 – Conflict
May 2024, Editor Tim Gardiner
With the ongoing Ukraine conflict and the war in the Gaza Strip, it can be easy to forget the personal traumas that arise. Sometimes the battles in our own lives seem insurmountable. These poems reflect both international and personal wars. I hope you find them thought-provoking.
comment
on the post…
warrior fires his arrow
Jovana Dragojlovic
brillo pad
just another
manic Sunday
tone cluster
of low notes
levelling
Jerome William Berglund
three weeks
before they found her
no autopsy
Eavonka Ettinger
this living
all by myself
the choices you made
persistent rain
I stop defending
my innocence
Ravi Kiran
two-headed coin
ask me
nothing tonight
Vandana Parashar
total eclipse
sunflowers find
nowhere to turn
Adele
ghost plant
I stop letting it feed
off of me
Kimberly Kuchar
the slip face
of a sand dune…
bullied child
Debbie Strange
a sudden divorce earthquaking days
Susan Burch
waiting in line
unhurried papers rustle
in the outhouse
Marta Chocilowska
budgie-
squatting over old news
Gaza Strip
Kimberly A. Horning
other
“culture wars”
other
Jenn Ryan-Jauregui
war culture war
high noon
devil may care meat grinder
Tim Gardiner
(p)rattling (s)words of a culture warrior
petro c.k.
winter war
all the holes
in our story
C.X. Turner
another airstrike-
I admire the calligraphy
on a limb
Farah Ali
still no ceasefire the genocides of March
summer’s end deadheading civilians
John Hawkhead
the weeping cherry
still weeping
another drone strike
Tracy Davidson
divisiveness…
those who point radishes
those who point missiles
Mark Gilbert
trading blows
neither wants a war
and yet…
Matthew Defibaugh
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Turning Japanese #13 – Private traps
November 2023, Editor Tim Gardiner
In Alfred Hitchcock’s 1960 masterpiece, Psycho, Norman Bates philosophises: ‘You know what I think? I think that we’re all in our private traps, clamped in them, none of us can ever get out. We scratch and we claw, but only at the air, only at each other, and for all of it, we never budge an inch.’ Norman is certainly stuck in his private trap, the childhood home which has driven him to murder and isolation. With the gothic horror of Psycho in mind, haiku poets responded with their own take on the theme of private traps. I hope you enjoy this dark collection of poems.
mood swings
parents argue
in my head
Jovana Dragojlovic
bubonic plague
a ratter’s poison
tweet after tweet
Lorelyn Arevalo
spriggan
so long as it’s
our monster
Jerome William Berglund
the scream no one hears the disconnect
Eavonka Ettinger
a maze
within every mirror
dysmorphia
Jenn Ryan-Jauregui
leaves on a low step
I curl up inside
depression
in the hollow
of my self-destruction
trick or treat
C.X. Turner
in the moonlight
a song outside
this cage
Ravi Kiran
mental health!
let’s change the subject,
if you please
Vandana Parashar
blood-vein moth
the candle gutters
under a spoon
John Hawkhead
to hell with poverty
I finger each bead
of sweat
petro c.k.
hiding
from myself
canopic jars
John Pappas
invisible bars
the walls bleed
when I weep
Tracy Davidson
Do Not Pass Go
swapping one personality
for another
Mark Gilbert
mirror image
rather the moon
than me
Tim Gardiner
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Turning Japanese #12 – AIku
July 2023, Editor Tim Gardiner
Computers and machines can have Artificial Intelligence (AI), a subject explored in popular culture as well as in real life. Classic sci-fi films such as Alien (1979), Blade Runner (1982), The Terminator (1984) and 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) all examine the role of AI interaction with humanity often resulting in death and destruction. In 2001, the ship’s computer Hal malfunctions and kills several crew members before being shut down. In Alien, the synthetic Ash mimics human emotions and mannerisms to trick the crew into thinking he’s one of them. Not all portrayals of AI are negative, Batty in Blade Runner and Bishop in Aliens (1986) ultimately aid their human counterparts. The role that AI will play in modern society is the subject of much debate and concern. The haiku and senryu poems (AIku) that follow address these concerns and may well be some of the first on the subject in the English language. Come with me if you want to live…
h a.i. ku
Eavonka Ettinger
generating my next haiku AI
Paul M.
just like dad
correcting my mistakes
chatbot
Arvinder Kaur
people don’t die
their souls move
to the chip
Jovana Dragojlovic
baby shower for next generation AI
John Hawkhead
dorothy yelling
to the wizard-
open the pod bay doors
Curt Linderman
android girlfriend
gains sentience…
leaves his ass
Kimberly Kuchar
we finish
each other’s sentences
lovebot
petro c.k.
redundancy
make yourself
scarce
Jerome William Berglund
retired android
taken out to pasture
electric sheep
Jenn Ryan-Jauregui
the actors by their presence AI exeunt
Kimberly A. Horning
customer service
this desire to speak
to a human
summer solitude
I set a new accent
for Alexa
Ravi Kiran
old friends
ad-free chatting
over wine
Al Peat
a thousand pages
of too perfect prose
click lit
Tracy Davidson
ghost writer
words that massage
expectations
Mark Gilbert
new moon
she adds a filter
to our selfie
Daipayan Nair
AI thesis
a paper moth
sheds its wings
Lakshmi Iyer
what little remains of the mystery algorithm
Vandana Parashar
language processing the inandoutput of subwords
Debbie Strange
camellia blossoms…
homeschoolers watch Lincoln
concede to Davis
Joshua Gage
the perfect man
doesn’t exi-
VR headset
Farah Ali
loneliness
I call the avatar
by his name
Marta Chocilowska
seeing through
the imitation game
mountain clouds
C.X. Turner
budding moon-
planning a makeover
for my avatar
Adele
short circuits
the programmers discuss
manufacturing trust
John Pappas
you can call me AI
Tim Gardiner
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Turning Japanese #11 – The Great Depression
April 2023, Editor Tim Gardiner
The current world economic crisis following the Covid pandemic and Putin’s invasion of Ukraine has led to spiralling inflation and high energy and food costs. Historically, other periods of hardship have included the worldwide great depression of the 1930s and the infamous ‘dust bowl’ in the US. Think John Steinbeck (The Grapes of Wrath, 1939) and the lesser-known Sanora Babb who authored ‘Whose Names Are Unknown’ written in the 1930s but not published until 2004. The imagery of dust and sand occurs in several of the poems included in this issue, reflecting the arid emptiness of the dust bowl. The 25 haiku and senryu poems which follow by 20 authors showcase the wide variety of responses to the issue theme ‘hardship’. The theme track is The Great Depression by The Jam which dealt with the unfavourable economic and social conditions of the 1980s in the UK.
hairlessness
I never would have thought
it hurts
Marta Chocilowska
the shower
I just can’t take
depression
Eavonka Ettinger
catcall
the sound of a whip
as it hits the horse
Vandana Parashar
perfection ticking clock pressure to fit in my pieces
Marcie Wessels
lottery millions going hungry
John Hawkhead
not sure which one
of his kids to feed
to the wolves
Curt Linderman
poverty–
a blot of ink on my
parched tongue
Debarati Sen
down to the essentials
weed filling up
the gaps
Mark Gilbert
I offer
my piggy bank
Mom hugs me
Kimberly Kuchar
money in
familiar hands
never any change
Richard Whiting
a week
lasting a month
water to the pot
petro c.k.
punching a rat
in the darkness, pointless
yet satisfying
Jerome William Berglund
chronic pain
no understanding
in the assessor’s eyes
Tracy Davidson
air raid sirens
he reads me chapters
from War and Peace
Jenn Ryan-Jauregui
air-raid siren
the bunker huddle
gets tighter
Ravi Kiran
hope engulfed
by indifference
migrant boat
hunger moon
a mother swaddles
her silent infant
Farah Ali
Kansas homestead
an hourglass fills
from the outside in
Lorraine Padden
tumbleweeds
my breath becomes part
of the gale
Debbie Strange
cloud grits drowning in the sand flood
layering up ice on my lashes
C.X. Turner
dust bowl…
swirling shadows
in the soup line
Adele
dust bowl half empty
fistful of sand
where is the top soil
jalopy
axel deep
to a grasshopper
Tim Gardiner
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Turning Japanese #10 – You suffer, but why?
October 2022, Editor Tim Gardiner
Mental health is increasingly talked about in modern societies and the stigma attached to mental illness is slowly diminishing. I chose the theme of this issue while watching Oliver Stone’s classic Vietnam war movie Platoon (1986). A harrowing account of the horrors of war, it opens with the biblical quote ‘Rejoice, O young man, in thy youth’ (Ecclesiastes 11:9). This made me think of my traumatic childhood in which serious illness and emotional abuse were all too common. The loss of childhood, which was not without its happy moments, cannot be replaced or repaired in the present. Traumatic recent events had triggered flashbacks, avoidance behaviour and no small amount of anger which were made worse by my bipolar. I rarely talk about this openly but most of my poetry has some form of mental health connection. It’s with this openness that I asked the poetry community to talk about their experiences. The short haiku and senryu poems which follow are on the theme of mental health. I hope you appreciate the irony and hard-edged truth of these poems by some of the best short poetry writers. As Napalm Death sang very briefly ‘You suffer, but why?’
clifftop path
the person I used to be
lost in the fog
imposter syndrome
the visitor claims
to be my son
rorschach test
a butterfly
on a wheel
John Hawkhead
raining down
the racket of silence
melancholy
depression
the scarcity of light
on a summer’s day
C.X. Turner
hillwalking
the ups and downs
of my mood
social anxiety
at the garden party
I envy the snails
star gazing
the bright side
of insomnia
Claire Thom
sharing a tent
with my anxiety
mosquito
shame and blame
bitch sisters
of depression
Eavonka Ettinger
dimming light
curled inward
shrivelled moon
heavy gray
between each drop
morning shower
the mirror
laughs at me
falling and breaking
petro c.k.
meditation app
push notifications
for some reason
doctoral exams
a pencil blunted
into wood
Lex Joy
carved turkey…
have you taken measure
of your sacrifice
his indifference
another log topples over
in the stove
therapist’s prod
sky suddenly heavy with rain
Vandana Parashar
under pressure
the weight of pretending
all is well
sobering up
on a roof top
how close was that edge
“cheer up love”
another day
I think about dying
Tracy Davidson
deer
in high beams
delirium portraiture
each gust
metal door shrieks on hinges
bedridden
Jerome William Berglund
cycling
a flat tyre
my depression
avoiding questions
at the beach
long sleeves
Marc Brimble
rootless
it would be so easy
to let go
bat colony
the night my life
was upended
Debbie Strange
new moon-
she makes friends
with her dark side
ptsd…
a blitz of fireflies
not so beautiful
Adele
morning dew –
trying not to sneeze
trying not to cry
i’m happy i’m fine…
a mountain of manure
for a rainy day
Mark Gilbert
following a rabbit…
stuck down another hole
needing space
inside my head
blue sky
small fish pond
my thoughts
circle
Kimberly Kuchar
even when the sun shines I live in a windowless room
Monday morning my grey shirt too colourful
Marcie Wessels
ptsd
o young man
in thy youth
death spiral
I lose sight
of the horizon
memories tag ‘em and bag ‘em
why call them demons
Tim Gardiner
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Turning Japanese #9 – Siege
June 2022, Editor Tim Gardiner
As the tragic invasion of Ukraine by Vladimir Putin’s military forces continues with entrenchment on both sides, the war has become siege-like with conditions ‘just like hell’ inside cities such as the largely levelled Mariupol. It’s hard to see a resolution to the conflict in the short-term meaning more death and misery for those still within Ukraine either fighting or trying to live on a day-to-day basis. The legendary UK punk band The Vibrators released their second album V2 in 1978 which had the song Troops of Tomorrow. It’s the seed track for the theme of Siege in this poetry column. The lyrics ‘we ain’t got a bright future/we bought it on the never never/don’t wanna be city prisoners/we ain’t gonna live forever’ seem applicable to the apocalyptic scenario in Ukraine. On a local scale, places like Salford Lads’ Club in Manchester, UK, provide essential respite from everyday struggles for young people.
The short haiku and senryu poems which follow are on the theme of siege, whether it be related to Ukraine or more personal in nature. I hope you appreciate the irony and hard-edged truth of these poems by some of the best short poetry writers in the English language.
tank tracks
the denazification
of daisies
Siege Perilous
unable to fill
my dad’s chair
siege mentality
the burnt out shell
of diplomacy
John Hawkhead
refugee
planting sunflower seeds
the way he showed her
Richard Whiting
hazy moonlight
a child gathers
the pieces of his toys
detention center –
the flute’s low notes
deepen the silence
gray clouds
the lingering shadow
of migratory birds
Hifsa Ashraf
wave recedes
children reinforce
their sandcastle
vegetable patch
the rows thinned
in snatches
morning sun
a vine’s slow curl
round the turret
Lex Joy
enlistment
a long story
cut short
meNOpause
psyche ward
only two square feet
of sunlight in his cell
Vandana Parashar
ice-logged river
all the burning headlights
are the city now
playground
in the cratered city
ring around the moon
city in tumult
against a backdrop of snow
martinis and oysters
Ash Evan Lippert
no surrender
I wait
for her walls to crack
Tracy Davidson
this intimacy –
breathing the same air
sweating the same sweat
Mark Gilbert
don’t feel bad
America the country
is a myth also
white boy enjoys his
Whopper – licks the gunpowder
residue off fingers
Jerome William Berglund
Salford Lads’ Club, Manchester
Tardis
young man glad
to escape rain
shadows
slow dance
on ring canvas
snooker room
after the clack
chalk dust
Tim Gardiner
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Turning Japanese #8 – Resistance
March 2022, Editor Tim Gardiner
The barbaric invasion of Ukraine on 24 February 2022 by Vladimir Putin’s military forces shocked the world. Putin’s aim of taking back an ex-Soviet state harked back to a Cold War many hoped was in the distant past. Led by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Ukrainian civilians and troops have fought against Putin’s forces with only limited support from NATO and the West due to fears of unleashing World War III. The Ukrainian fight-back has drawn admiration from around the world, reminding some of the valiant rear-guard by King Leonidas’s Spartan 300 who were vastly outnumbered by the Persians. We must hope the outcome for Ukraine’s defiance is different.
A significant refugee crisis, the largest since World War II, is ongoing. So far over two million people have left Ukraine either to the west or east. It should be remembered that this is solely Putin’s invasion. Large-scale protests have occurred in Russia with most protestors arrested. The Russian punk band Pussy Riot (formed in 2011) has opposed Putin for many years which led to two members being arrested and imprisoned. Pussy Riot’s song ‘Putin will teach you how to love’ is an angry reaction to his desire to control almost everything in Russia including people’s sexuality. It is the seed track for this issue.
Putin has ensured that state-controlled media contains only a favourable portrayal of the invasion which is not to be referred to as a war in Russia. I’m drawn to the closing words of my favourite Russian poet, Sergei Yesenin (1895-1925), from his death poem ‘Goodbye, My Love, Goodbye’ allegedly written in his own blood shortly before he hanged himself:
Goodbye: no handshake to endure. Let's have no sadness — furrowed brow. There's nothing new in dying now Though living is no newer.
The short haiku, senryu and tanka poems which follow are on the theme of resistance. I hope you appreciate the irony and hard-edged truth of these poems by some of the best short poetry writers in the English language. We open with the words of Ukrainian poet (who recently moved to the USA) Nicholas Klacsanzky:
snow powder the graves we can’t smell
Otata, July, 2017
following sirens
through empty canyons
of broken air
John Hawkhead
thundering jets
the tears ripple
in many eyes
rubble ashes
swirling around
the unkindness of ravens
Hifsa Ashraf
open grave
the stench
of humanity
onset of spring…
the war and then
nothing
Vandana Parashar
heaped with bird waste
the tank’s flags
fly white
autocrats learn
“fuck you”
in every language
Lex Joy
evac route her daughter skips ahead
Greg Schwartz
TV supper
a crackle of gunfire
and biscuits
Al Peat
the railway station
appears deserted
a fox
walks through
the winter solstice
the sun
dips at four…
in broken homes
its faint light
shining
Al Peat and Christina Chin
the squeak
of an unoiled hinge
black & white
warblersong
struggling through
each revolution
Christina Chin and M.R. Defibaugh
my silence
not wanting
to take sides
peace talks
somewhere someone
listens
Mark Gilbert
why open old wounds chernobyl
close the sky nightingale waits for spring
molotov cocktail
a drink to go
with rhetoric
petals
will come again
sunflower
when is a war
not a war
lego gun
Tim Gardiner
Turning Japanese #7 – Climate change
December 2021, Editor Tim Gardiner
The United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26) in Glasgow, early November 2021, represented a chance for world nations to come together and make significant commitments to reducing greenhouse gases to prevent dangerous increases in global temperature. Climate change will lead to drastic changes in many parts of the world from lethal temperatures, increased fires, coastal erosion to catastrophic flooding from heavy rainfall. Without action the world in the late 21st and early 22nd centuries will be a markedly different place with temperatures well above the 1.5 degrees increase deemed to be an acceptable level. On the positive side, the conference was the first where a pledge to reduce coal use was made, a climate fund was agreed to help developing nations adapt to change and Brazil promised to reverse deforestation by 2030, forming the Glasgow Climate Pact. Sadly, many agreements were watered down so that the use of coal is not explicitly phased out in the near future. There was a sense that COP26 failed because of these compromises and that action will not be taken quickly enough to prevent irreversible climate change. As the Stranglers sang in the theme song for this column, Something Better Change.
The short haiku-like poems which follow are on the theme of climate change. I hope you appreciate the irony and hard-edged truth of these poems by some of the best short poetry writers in the English language.
petroleum flare
the child wants to know
what a river was
flash flood
a small pebble orbits
the storm drain
John Hawkhead
dense smoke
the blueness of sky
fading more
murmuration—
plumes of a raven
scattered in the air
Hifsa Ashraf
fishing trip
the unruffled silence
of a dried up river
peak summer
my son looks for clouds
on Amazon
melting glacier
not nearly enough
tears
Vandana Parashar
seaside town
less wharf
than last year
wet season
moss on both sides
of the tree
Lex Joy
crackle of fire
an elk's ears
fidget
winter rain
chronological
disorder
festival cancelled
tulips bloom
more casually
shrouding
the orange tree
winter rain
Tom Bierovic
floating Coke cans…
now I know why weeping willows
weep
Gautam Nadkarni
procrastination
another leaf
falls
sliding doors
a sunken fountain
or the end of the world
Mark Gilbert
all talk
yaffle bird
in a wet wood
sand dune
the cricket loves
a launch pad
if we wanted to change climate
for fuck’s sake climate – change!
Tim Gardiner
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Turning Japanese #6 – Exodus
September 2021, Editor Tim Gardiner
The United States withdrawal from Afghanistan which was completed on August 30 2021, led to turmoil in the country as the president fled and the Taliban seized control. The unfolding tragedy led many Afghans to leave the country in fear of their lives. The United Kingdom’s response to withdraw troops was similarly chaotic and mismanaged by the government. Ongoing racism in the US and UK leads people to see asylum seekers fleeing persecution merely as a burden rather than a result of disastrous foreign interventions by their leaders. On a recent trip to Scotland with my son, I was reminded of the exodus of people during the Highland Clearances (1750-1860) when farmers were forced off their land, sometimes leaving Scotland altogether and beginning a new life in America. The song ‘Restless Natives’ by Big Country and ex-punk Stuart Adamson reflects this emotive period in Scottish history and it’s the theme track for this column.
The short haiku-like poems which follow are on the theme of migration. I hope you appreciate the irony and hard-edged truth of these poems by some of the best short poetry writers in the English language.
refugee camp
pork and beef cooking
in one pan
Bakhtiyar Amini, first published in December Issue, Heron’s Nest, 2019
crossing the border
he carries the family
bullet with him
refugee road
poppy petals drift
into dust
from one flag’s flutters
to a flickering other
wind blown butterflies
John Hawkhead
remnants of war
bending more
Kabul River
Kabul Airport
between arrival and departure
blood moon
Khyber Pass
a mourning dove
along the serpentine road
Hifsa Ashraf
foreign soil
the first time
I’ve felt safe
sliding down
the aeroplane’s wings
hope
Vandana Parashar
war ends, war begins
all i want
is a quiet summer dawn
Tiffany Shaw-Diaz
my future
my past
my baggage
new country
learning how to queue
Mark Gilbert
Brendon Kent
when you came
when you left
ruins
displaced
wave crest
to trough
nowhere left to run cancel culture
Tim Gardiner
Turning Japanese #1 - Babylon’s Burning
June 2020, editor Tim Gardiner
In 1979, The Ruts kept punk in the spotlight with their Top 10 single ‘Babylon’s Burning’ reflecting the social unrest in Britain. Riots swept the nation, lead singer Malcolm Owen directly experiencing the race riots of 1979 in his hometown of Southall in London. Taken to its logical conclusion, the song predicts the decline of western civilisation. The Ruts were involved in the Rock Against Racism movement which commenced in 1976, performing alongside Gang of Four, punk poet John Cooper Clarke and Stiff Little Fingers in 1979. The racial division in London in the late 1970s and the current unrest due to the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis on May 25 2020. Killed by white police officer Derek Chauvin who pressed his knee on Floyd’s neck for almost nine minutes until he died from asphyxia. A video showed Floyd saying ‘I can’t breathe’ and ‘Don’t kill me’ before dying.
The killing prompted civil unrest and riots across the US with all four officers involved being fired the next day and court proceedings initiated. President Trump, already a widely ridiculed and reviled figure in US politics responded with typical irrationally and inconsistency, being censored on Twitter for his use of a 1960s quote from Miami police chief Walter Headley ‘when the looting starts, the shooting starts.’ The haiku-inspired poems that follow are some caustic responses to the extraordinary and tragic events of 2020. The minimalist nature of the poems places them in the post punk genre.
discrimination earth on the butterfly’s wing
crescent moon
she asks me if they took
the other half
summer noon
the cloud moves
across the border
Praniti Gulyani
full moon
her bright palm opens
to a food packet
Himanshu Vyas
city skyline
an ivory tower on the debris
of small dreams
Rashmi Vesa
400 years
heat shimmering
off a stone wall
Brendon Kent
acid (ra)in (c)hang(i)ng the (s)oil co(m)position
asymptomatic his words that I can’t breath
Hifsa Ashraf
police cars burn
on the morning news
stovetop bacon’s hiss
Lex Joy
collective action
a means to an end
pogoing mass
Mark Gilbert
in all this shit butterflies
Caroline Skanne
black and white house
empty speech is there room in Lincoln’s grave to turn
if all lives matter, motherfucker
Tim Gardiner
*Hifsa Ashraf’s acid rain poem was first published in The Haiku Foundation – haiku dialogue, social issues, November 2019*
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Post-punk poetry
Tim Gardiner
When choosing a poetic form to document my own thoughts and feelings in 2011, I was struck by the minimalist style of haiku poetry; it’s conciseness and brevity giving the words room to resonant with the reader. The spare use of language and its tight rhythm drew me in just as post-punk music did in my teenage years. I soon realised that the wabi-sabi (transience of time) of Basho’s poetry was also present in the music and lyrics of early 1980s bands such as Sad Lovers and Giants and The Chameleons, whose stark, jangling guitar riffs and nihilistic lyrics evoked the inner turmoil I was experiencing. The following haiku from Judy Kendall was composed after she heard The Chameleons track ‘In Shreds’ (1981) in my car:
on the car radio
I’m in shreds
on the bonnet
rolls a buttercup head
Judy’s haiku captures the despair of the song; hinting at the end result of such intense melancholy and the impermanence of wabi-sabi. Her poem has an economy of expression, simple language, and a clear rhythm to deliver its bleak evocation of modern life in much the same way that their source material does. Post-punk was often closely associated with goth rock in the early 1980s, both genres having dystopian music and lyrics; for example, early recordings from The Cure embrace spartan musical arrangements to create a gloomy, foreboding atmosphere in songs such as The Forest. Modern poets such as Maria Laura Valente channel the bleak, but beautiful energy of Joy Division into haiku:
final judgement
the shadow play
in mother’s eyes
Maria Laura’s poem clearly references a Joy Division song (Shadowplay, 1979) in the second line while evoking the imagery of Alfred Hitchcock’s 1960 film ‘Psycho.’ The interplay between post-punk and gothic elements in her haiku combines with a simple rhythm and syllabic sparsity. Even within subculture poetry there is a clash between traditional and experimental approaches. The following haiku is from Jeff Cashdollar’s book ‘Media Boy’s Short History of Punk Culture in Haikuish Form’ (2016):
X-Ray Spex bondage
a lot going on for a
seventeen year old
Poly Styrene, the late singer of X-Ray Spex captured the spirit of punk more than most singers. Subversion and teenage angst are delivered with humour within the confines of Jeff’s 17 syllable poem. The well-known punk haiku by John Cooper Clarke reinforces the public perception that 17 syllables is the accepted format, with his trademark, mocking wit:
to convey one’s mood
in seventeen syllables
is very diffic
The anger of punk acquiesced to post-punk; groups such as Killing Joke developed an industrial sound through heavily distorted guitar riffs and tribal drum beats in the late 1970s. To see them perform at the Rebellion punk festival in Blackpool was unforgettable. This spirit of post-punk defiance was also found in haiku of the time, particularly those of experimental writers such as Marlene Mountain, who published rebellious one-line poems in Pissed Off Poems and Cross Words (1986):
well, who do you think fucked it up, caterpillars
Haiku has long embodied the impermanence of existence, the central theme of so many post-punk songs such as The Eternal by Joy Division (1980). Although relatively few haiku have been directly inspired by the post-punk movement, a good haiku and song have similar characteristics: spare use of language, space between words/notes, tight rhythm, emptiness, emotional sensitivity, experimentation and avoidance of cliché. The existential element of post-punk can also be seen in haiku typifying the essence of wabi-sabi. The less is more approach in post-punk musical arrangements, is essential to haiku where every syllable used must be justified. The postmodernism of post-punk is embedded in excellent haiku which have many different interpretations (layers of meaning).
The beautiful emptiness of human existence and nature’s persistence fuse to form powerful poetry, where the poet is not afraid to experiment. Perhaps, post-punk poetry is a sub-genre where the hybrids between haiku and senryu reside? To illustrate this, a strong post-punk haiku by Lori Minor (Failed Haiku, December 2017), displays the innovation and simple isolation of post-punk:
desk flowers
this longing
for escape
This essay was first published in Blithe Spirit, journal of the British Haiku Society in 2020.
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At Home He's A Parkrun Tourist - Gang Of For By Tim Gardiner
As a parkrun 'tourist' I've started working towards various badges such as Stayin' Alive (Bee Gees) which involves running three parkruns beginning with B and three with G. Moving away from the disco, Gang of Four's post-punk classic 'At Home He's A Tourist' provides a chance for an alternative parkrun challenge. There are four parkruns in the UK conveniently beginning with For:
Gang of For
Ford, Ulverston
Forest of Dean, Berry Hill
Forest Rec, Nottingham
Fort William, Scotland
Fittingly, to complete the challenge you must tour the north of the land, possibly passing within spitting distance of Leeds, the home of Gang Of Four! Us southern softies will also spend a lot on travel, but to hell with poverty! Forest Rec and Fort William also require a little hill running (over 200 ft of up over the 5 k) which is not what we all want.....good luck!
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The Top 10 Punkiest Parkruns By Tim Gardiner
The free, weekly 5 k (3.1 miles in old punk money) parkruns are an excellent example of the DIY ethos of punk rock. Started in 2004 in Bushy Park, London, by Paul Sinton-Hewitt with just 13 runners, there are now over 5 million registered parkrunners and over 1400 events globally. The following is a rundown of my Top 10 punkiest parkruns (I’ve run all but Blackpool), mainly in the East of England.
1. Blackpool, Lancashire. The home of punk because of the annual Rebellion Festival in August. Why not sober up with a Saturday morning parkrun followed by a fry up and pint? Mosh on!
2. Colchester Castle, Essex. The place where Boudica led the Iceni rebellion against the Romans in AD 60 or 61. It’s also a devilishly hard parkrun with a long stretch of uphill path. What could be more punk than this?
3. Sizewell, Suffolk. Run past two nuclear power stations: Sizewell A and the giant golf ball that is Sizewell B. A windswept run through the dunes that is exceptionally hard. One for the nuclear family or environmental protestors.
4. Maldon Prom, Essex. You run around the statue of Brithnoth, the warrior who took on the Vikings in the Battle of Maldon; perhaps the first punk. Nuff said.
5. Catton, Norfolk. A lovely run in Catton Park that is home to the annual Bloodstock Metal Festival which has featured Ipswich’s Cradle of Filth and several punk bands. This is a hardcore parkrun that is very enjoyable.
6. Kesgrave, Suffolk. Run though woodland towards John Dobbs Lane, a tragic shepherd who Ipswich punk legend, Rikki Flag, wrote about with East Town Pirates. It will be your bones rattling from their grave if you push too hard on this one.
7. Great Notley, Essex. The punkiest thing about this parkrun is the punishing Hill of Doom halfway through. My first ever parkrun was here, where I was soundly beaten in a sprint finish by a work colleague. I knew then that I needed to improve.
8. Fritton Lake, Norfolk. The closest you’ll get to running on the forest moon of Endor, minus the Ewoks. It’s also a toughie, with two laps under the pines by the Lake.
9. Moors Valley, Dorset. They ring a bell to signal the start of the sprint to the finish in this picturesque tour of the woods and heaths of the New Forest. That’s punk enough for me.
10. Lowestoft, Suffolk. The most easterly parkrun in the UK. You get to run up the short but steep CEFAS Hill twice. It’s like a
punch in the gut the second time. This town is coming like a ghost town….
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The tribute, called Ever Fallen, is below. Make of it what you will. By Tim Gardiner
Ever Fallen - a tribute to Pete Shelley
The Arts Centre slowly fills up, the gig is a sell-out. After a can of Jamaican lager is consumed, I thread my way towards the stage, passing through legions of skinheads and punks. The usual throng of misfits inhabits the moshing area near the front. An old man sits on a foldable seat, head bowed over a pint of bitter, seemingly passed out. The warm up band are pretty good for once, a high energy local band. It’s not long before a mobile phone blocks my view, a young punk films the entire first song. Irritatingly, a goth spills half of their pint on my shoes; naturally, I apologise. The band is on stage just after nine, launching into What Do I Get? Two lads immediately invade my pogoing spot, pushing me further back into the crowd. A 140 kilo man, sweating profusely, takes his t-shirt off and bulldozes the mosh pit. The vibrations are enough to wake the old man from his stupor, a smile creeping across his chiseld face.
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morning after
tinnitus makes
an encore
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Well Worn
The game of t-shirt bingo commences. It doesn’t take long to tick off the Ramones or Pistols. There’s a strong goth contingent so the card features Bauhaus and The Sisters of Mercy. As the light dulls and The Cure take to the stage, I’m pleasantly surprised by a Dead Kennedy’s shirt, closely followed by Killing Joke. In the enclosure, several Joy Division fans pogo around, arms flailing. Nevertheless, I need The Chameleons to complete the card.
setting sun
a faded t-shirt
changes colour
Tim Gardiner our resident prose and haiku poetry man was inspired to write this while at a Cure gig in Hyde Park this year which also happened to be his 40th! Some of us can remember that birthday - just! Anyway its a light hearted look according to Tim and the diversity of band T-shirts on show that evening..
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We like to try something a little different at SD so have a look below at another contribution from Tim Gardiner of his work.
This is a Prose and Haiku piece with a Dr Feelgood (Canvey Island) and environmental theme.
(Editor’s note - I had to look up this style of writing which is Japanese in origin from Haibun prosimetric literary and can combine autobiography, diary, essay, prose poem, short story and travel journal)
Down by the Jetty on the seawall near the Lobster Smack I find my first wall butterfly, flushed up from the gravel path.
It quickly vanishes across the water but its not long before I spot the pair spiralling higher in a delicate courtship dance.
The main quarry for the day is the Shrill Carder-Bee, a Bumblebee which has one of its last remaining UK strongholds along the Thames Estuary.
On the jetty immortalised by Dr Feelgood the steps up to the top deck have been removed and a temporary ladder is in place for the fishermen willing to risk a fatal plunge into the mud.
Sea breeze a rope swings from the disused jetty.
After resting in the shade of the jetty on this hot September day I recommence my search for the Shrill Carder-Bee on sea wall vetches and clovers.
Worker Bee the distant buzz.
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The following piece of prose and poetry is in memory of John Lever, drummer in seminal Manchester post-punk band, The Chameleons. One of their masterpieces is View from a Hill from the Script of the Bridge album. The melancholic song is about Tandle Hill in Middleton, a site I visited on the way home from the Rebellion Festival in 2016. Tim Gardiner
Tandle Hill
Drawn by the lyrical lure of the chameleon, I begin my walk under the suppressing shade of beech trees planted to discourage radicals from marching after the Peterloo Massacre of 1819. Colour is rationed carefully on these slopes; darkness making the dappled light clearer. Nearer the summit, a small patch of grassland is a haze of fescues jostled by the wind.
withered roses
tied to the railings...
from a tussock
the rat-a-tat-tat
of a grasshopper
Reaching the war memorial my view expands in all directions. Manchester’s dark chimneys and office blocks stretch southwards, Saddleworth Moor rises to the east, and the Welsh Hills line the horizon to the west. Wind turbines turn slowly on an exposed hilltop.
dad sits
on the hilltop seat
without his kids...
boys climb
a stunted oak
The downhill steps lead through pines, a gold crest’s mohican rebelling against the monotony of the plantation. Fireweed attracts the attention of a bumblebee drone, buzzing from flower to flower. Parched grasses are interspersed with flashes of trefoil and knapweed.
a dense cluster
of rowan berries hang
ready for the fall...
some already
fallen
Returning through an avenue of cypress, I visit the Field of Hope. A morass of bulbs wait for rebirth next spring, yellow trumpets just a memory.
faded ringlet...
arms outstretched
a coat over her head
the girl pretends
to be a ghost
*hilltop seat poem published in Ribbons 12.3 (2016)
White rocket in orbit
ReplyDeleteBlackrocked streets
Divide America
yep, US and UK are bitterly torn apart, love the haiku
DeleteWow, powerful thought provoking read over lunch
ReplyDelete