Bubble Photography , During Lockdown. Gathering words for haiku and tanka Hamurana, Rotorua, New Zealand.

Every day my husband and I go for at least an hour long walk or bike ride in Rotorua. 
We take a home-made picnic and freshly brewed coffee in a thermos.
 We have sucrose-free banana and fejoia muffins or slices of loaf. 
Usually I'll take my camera with a wide angle lens and a polaroid filter so I can take effective photos of trees when the sun is high up in the sky. 


plain air  picnics
fejoias taste fresher  
among trees near water



An exercise for you would be to take a small notebook and a pencil on your next walk. 
Don't talk too much. 
 Make this a mindful and meditative experience. 
After half an hour
Sit down near or under a tree. 
 Jot down ideas and sensory words that come into your mind.
Nothing is off limits. 
Whatever you put down will be right at that time.
Trust your intuition 



leaving the japanese walnuts
i hear the sigh of
sayonara

What can You see?

What can You  taste?
       What can You hear?
                 What can You touch?
                                What can You smell

The most poignant sense of all...
                        What does your intuition tell you?


When you arrive home. 
 Look over your words. 
Write the experience up in the form of short sentences.
Leave it alone giving your subconscious time to percolate

Then
Create a haiku or tanka out of it. 

NB: First try and you can't do it?
      Don't give up.
      Try again.
       But just a word of warning.
       Do not show people your work too early.
         It is your baby and you don't want to have your                   "darlings" killed off.

 I've been writing  and reading poetry for over 50 years now, off and on.
I studied it at university.
I have masses of whimsical children's books with stunning illustrations and poetic prose.

 I wrote my first rainbow book of poetry at the age of five and gave it to a nun at the convent school I was going to. 
She was very encouraging and told my mother that I was a talented poet. 
 I have published chapbooks of haiku and photography

It's  been a long journey.
It's never too late to start. 
 If you are reading this blog maybe the right time for you to start is now. 

perfumed
invitations sent
out by blossoms
inviting bees
to breakfast

whispering secrets
in the breeze
acers, willows, poplars
mixed accents 
varigated responses.

trees of a feather 
 capable
of friendship 
feeding each other
from a distance 

no more leaves
 to fall 
swaying willows 
signal desires
beckoning branches

  communities of trees 
 help each other out
transporting sugar 
to leaves
providing shelter

 walking among 
trees  is a constant 
reminder to slow down 
and tune into 
the language of nature

 Illustrated Tanka and Haiku  workshops available for primary school aged pupils in the Rotorua area. 
Email janet@jkeen.net or Phone 0273513887 or  3463435
for details. 

Creative Quote of the day
"I would define in brief the poetry of words as the rhythmical creation of beauty"
Edgar Allen Poe.