one on r-squared

Proximity trumps everything.
How else can a ball of grey basalt
outshine the stars?

the cocky

Cocky, cocky screaming loud
sulphur crest raised high and proud,
what immortal hand or eye
did make a thing with such a cry?

summer solstice

In response to Frank’s Haikai challenge, my first tanka (hope I got the form right):

As the sun rises
a million cicadas wake,
and start drumming their
fifteen-hour crescendo
to celebrate the solstice

and a haiku:

The longest day fits
neatly with the shortest night.
How well organised!

night walks

The trees have sliced the moonlight,
and dropped it
in white strips across the path.
My shadow trails behind me
through this monochrome brightness,
then leads me home
to stand in the doorway
and ask if I want to come in.

one “what if” away

In the universe next door,
just one “what if” away,
I waited.

How many
“what ifs” away
is one where you came back?

That’s Dr ___ to you, Mr ___

It’s been a while since I’ve had a rant here, and usually they’re about personal experiences as a woman in STEM, or the insanity of HR. This one was triggered by the sad and pathetic attack on Dr Jill Biden’s (PhD) use of the title Dr, by Mr Joseph Epstein (BA).

Sunday morning ha’sonnet – “live free or die”

“Live free or die”
sounds heroic,
but please for my
sake be stoic –
don’t make me ask,
put on your mask.
Don’t choose for me.

0900, 30C

The westerly that has flowed,
cooling and caressing,
lulling us through the small hours,
has warmed already,
heated by its passage
across the already baking land.

comet / photos on the fridge

He drifts in,
after years out of sight
and out of mind,
like a comet passing by
on his long trip
around some invisible focus.

“use your morning commute time for self-care”

Muttado’s ha’sonnet “an opening” reminded me of this poem I wrote one morning some months ago. Early on in the pandemic when we were told to work from home, and everyone was very stressed, we were given the advice to “use your morning commute time for self-care”…. yeah, that worked.

Dragged untimely
from my womb-warm tub,
by the phone’s persistence,
the phone’s insistence,