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| Not to Scale! by Alan Summers 2018 |
Through the invisible holes in reality is where poetry makes its way for us.
“When power corrupts, poetry cleanses,”
John F. Kennedy said this when looking at the poet Robert Frost and his role in life.
I wonder if poetry is a curious and private combination of a refuge from the media dominated promotion of the ills in life; and a way for anyone and everyone to claim their own voice, either by adopting certain artists, or even creating your own art.
Adrienne Rich wrote:
“It is through [the] invisible holes in reality that poetry makes its way,”
and haiku, despite its smallness, has been adopted by more people than perhaps any other art-form. But all art matters, even if we don’t like it, it’s someone’s voice being heard despite the filtering out of the type of news that matters in an everyday kind of way.
Does it matter if we cannot understand everything in art all at once? Much of the art that was not understood, or even liked in its time, has often found its way into the hearts of more and more people over the decades.
When we look for a voice, and find it is not always represented well, both in the media, the business world (although they often ‘borrow’ from art to sell their message and products), and in politics.
political election
my application to be
a) human
Alan Summers
Anthology credit: naad anunaad: an anthology of contemporary international haiku
ed. Shloka Shankar, Sanjuktaa Asopa, Kala Ramesh (India, 2016)
Sometimes we don’t know if we are being slowly diminished or not, which is why I often appreciate the biographical approach to haiku.
Haiku (plural spelling too) can be triggered by just the smallest of things in a day, but set the record by which we might remember a few more “other moments” too.
As a writing challenge set by Kathy Munro about our sense of place I wrote this haiku:
Atlas Mountains
the snow-capped peaks
in every sunrise
Alan Summers
A Sense of Place: MOUNTAIN – sight ed. KJ Munro (August 2018, The Haiku Foundation)
Early in 2018 myself and Karen went on a simple budget/package holiday to Morocco. What we didn’t expect was a view, a whole vista it seemed, of the legendary Atlas Mountains from our tiny room balcony. Every day from sun up to sun down I would pop out onto the little balcony, or even just glance through the room windows. Although it was Winter in Marrakech (Morocco) it was still a surprise to see snow in the distance, as some of us automatically think of anywhere in Africa being hot.
The view was an incredible and humbling gift, as much as the package offers were great, and instantly brings back a multitude of memories. No institution, be it the media, politics, or big business can give that, just the mountains, and my haiku poem, and my voice.
The poem can be read both simply, and in other ways, and directly experiencing that week of a spectacular part of the hotel room into a single tiny three line verse.
In our complicated lives, whether we invite those complications or not, I find a few seconds refuge in observing local wildlife. It could be the sparrows that nest in our roof, or the visits by jackdaws, robins, or representatives of the titmice family. Sometimes going back to nature can enrich us, and perhaps reset us...
baby robins
the world is reset
for a moment
Alan Summers
Publication credit: Presence issue #61 (2018)
the big warm ...
as if clouds cuddled
baby sparrows
Publication credit: Mainichi Shimbun (July, 2018)
banditry of titmice
the long-tails fleeting
through the air
“banditry” is a collective noun for titmice
Anthology credit: EarthRise Rolling Haiku Collaboration 2018: Year of the Bird
pub. The Haiku Foundation
backroom banter...
house sparrows solving
our world’s problems
Alan Summers
Anthology credit: EarthRise Rolling Haiku Collaboration 2018: Year of the Bird
pub. The Haiku Foundation
the scent of rain
birdsong stretches
as far as Mars
Alan Summers
Anthology credits:
- Yamadera Basho Memorial Museum Selected Haiku Collection (Japan 2017)
- A-Z List of Children’s Poets 2018 ed. Liz Brownlee
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from Alan & Karen
