St. Brigid's Day Cross

I managed to make my first St. Brigid's Day Cross! :)

Shot Glass Journal

Okay I have a big smile on my face because I got an email from MJ of Shot Glass Journal.  She is going to include my poem The Healing Land in issue 6. This is wonderful and I am following in the footsteps of the technically brilliant Peter Goulding who has three poems in issue 5 of this journal.  His poem The Storm is innovative in its use of language.  And Kevin Graham has two poems in issue 5.  I am becoming a great fan of his since I read his poem Afloat in The Stony Thursday Book (it actually made me cry). 

I've started working on a short story I wrote ten years ago which on editing has left me with only a couple of hundred of words.  Still it's a start and I hope I can make it into something good. It was a good idea to begin with.  I may just have a shot.

Crannog 29

Ouroborous - The All is One

Crannog 29 will be launched in the Crane Bar, Sea Road, Galway on Friday, 24th February at 6.30 pm.  I am delighted that I will have a haiku poem included in this lovely publication.  I've been practising writing haiku since Novemeber.  I do NOT claim to be any sort of expert on haiku writing.  I've read some articles on how to write the form so I have been trying to put theory into practice.  There is a lot more to this art than meets the eye.  Generally use 17 syllables or less in some alignment, traditionally of 5-7-5.  Use a seasonal word (kigo).  Divide your haiku into two distinct parts in which images are juxtaposed.  Haiku is a way of life, a way of thinking, but then poetry is a way of life, it is, just as you are.  Wrting haiku takes lots of practice, even years of practice.  And of course I have read some of the masters.

A handle

On the moon -

And what a splendid fan.

Sokan

Scooping up the moon

In the wash basin,

And spilling it.

Ryuho

In the shallow river,

On hands washing the saucepans,

The spring moon.

Issa

What pains I took,

Hanging the lamp

On the flowering branch.

Shiki

War Horse

The Horses

For all of the horses butchered on the battlefield,
Shell-shocked, tripping over their own intestines,
Drowning in the mud, the best war memorial
Is in Homer: two horses that refuse to budge
Despite threats and sweet-talk and the whistling whip,
Immovable as a tombstone, their heads drooping
In front of the streamlined motionless chariot,
Hot tears spilling from their eyelids onto the ground
Because they are still in mourning for Patroclus
Their charioteer, their shiny manes bedraggled
Under the yoke pads on either side of the yoke.

Michael Longley

New website for The Lonely Voice

Good morning blog. The Lonely Voice Short Story Introductions Series at The Irish Writers' Centre has a new web page which you can find below. This series seems to be going from strength to strength. Well done to all involved, and of course to the writers.

http://lonelyvoiceiwc.wordpress.com/

In other news the ezine Wordlegs is 2 years old and will publish issue 9 soon. To celebrate past contributors were asked to pick their favourite piece from the two years and comment on it. Theses pieces can be read on the Facebook page

facebook.com/wordlegs

The Rich are Different

A friend brought me to Dun Laoghaire and Killiney today. I'd never been but what a beautiful spot and what views! I saw Enya's house (a castle) and Bono lives there too. Is it any wonder, if I were rich I'd probably live there too; great romantic views of the sea would be very inspirational.

I thought I should check in on my blog as I have not posted in a couple of weeks. My mother is a great fan of the author Susan Howatch, hence the title; The Rich are Different is a novel of hers. I have been writing poetry though and I'm quite happy with how it has been going.

New Year Haiku

New Year's Day:
What luck! What luck!
A pale blue sky!

Issa

Planting my stick
In the quagmire,
The first sun of the year.

Issa

New Year's Day;
I do not hate
Those who trample on the snow.

Yayu