Spoken Here - Mark Abley

This is a book for anyone fascinated by languages. The author visits speakers of some of the most threatened languages in the world, visiting Australia, USA, Canada, Wales, France and The Isle of Man. He explores why the languages are threatened, looks at the structure of the languages and what is unique to each of them, what the world would lose if each of these languages were to disappear. He also looks at how people are trying to keep their language alive and tries to assess whether each language has any chance of surviving. Anyone who thinks it isn't worthwhile for local authorities in Wales to publish everything in Welsh as well as English should change their minds after reading this book.

Haiku

I never wear makeup, even when I'm out clubbing. But for a subtle hint of glamour, you can't beat glitter.

On the dancefloor -
glittery skin shimmers
under the lights.


Subtle changes for One Deep Breath.

First Kiss

Lips and the absurdity of tongues.

For some this moment
is a fumbling end to potential intimacy
in clashing braces
the taste of nicotine breath

For us though, twelve years ago
the lips that had smiled and spoken
finally met
sweet tongues explored mouths
gently

a beginning of forever.


Kissing for Sunday Scribblings. I also thought it was about time to post a happy love poem, which is truer to my personal reality than my endless poems of unrequited love, though those too are true in their own way.

Detail

White margin


Focus in


Frame


Time kaleidoscopes

the moment asserts itself
like a red dress
against snow.

Dirty Havana Trilogy by Pedro Juan Gutierrez

This is a stunning book, narrated by a character who has very insightful things to say about life in Havana, in between the rather mind boggling number of sexual encounters he has. Havana comes across as a place of poverty where, when they're not indulging in sex marathons, everyone is struggling to find enough to eat, prepared to take any job to make a few pesos to be able to buy some food, cigarettes and rum. Beautiful old buildings are falling apart and overflowing with desperate people living in cramped spaces in rooms and on roofs. Very well translated by Natasha Wimmer.

Finally a haiku review of the book:

sex, rum and more sex
in seedy Havana streets -
social commentary.

Not Having Seen You For So Long

I had become happy for you:
seeing you starting again in her country
(warmer as it is than here).

I imagined the vineyard you would buy,
the beauty of your future children,
your journey to a shared contentment.

Not this, please, her dark sad eyes,
your longing for me electrifying the air
always to remain unspoken.

previously published in Envoi magazine.

Change

She comes home, takes off her sober
suit and blouse, undoes her plait so her
auburn hair falls down her back.

She makes a cup of tea and looks
through the clothes in her wardrobe
ignoring the business like outfits

Black velvet and lace, satin and frills
floor sweeping skirts and flowing sleeves
embroidered Chinese cheongsams

She drinks her tea and chooses a dress
puts on stockings and make up
glitter and perfume, a flower in her hair

Off with her partner to go out clubbing
all her old colleagues would say
how she's changed.


Change for Sunday Scribblings

L'Erotique - a collection of French erotic haiku

This collection gathers together haiku in French and offers haiku moments from the whole range of erotic experience, from first attraction to breaking up. All translations here are mine and attempt to stay true to the original whilst also attempting to become successful haiku in English.

There are a number of haiku about seemingly unacknowledged attraction, my favourite of these being the following by Olivier Walter:

nuit de juillet
elle pèle un pêche
coleur de sa peau.

July night -
she peels a peach
the colour of her skin.


There are also haiku about the first stages in the relationship, including this observation of an explosive first kiss (Angela Leuck):

dans son labo
â côté du réacteur haute pression
premier baiser.

in his lab
next to the high pressure reactor -
first kiss


Some of the haiku present everyday sensual experiences, in such a way to magnify their significance (Anne Marie Labelle):

voile brumeaux
de la douche
nos corps confondus

the misty
shower curtain -
our confused bodies.


Several of the haiku offer pictures of human sexual relationships set in the context of the natural world, with sometimes humourous effect (Jessica Tremblay):

dans la forêt
un bruyant orgasme
chevreuil effrayé

in the forest
a noisy orgasm -
frightened stag


and sometimes painting a picture of sex as abstract art (Gilles Ruel):

sur le mur
mon pènis géant
pleine lune

on the wall
my giant penis -
full moon.


For me, the haiku that most truly live up to the title of Erotic are those that really capture the sensuality of the sexual experience (Louise Vachon):

kama-sutra
nos essences mêlée
un goût de fruit

Kama Sutra
our essences blend -
taste of fruit


There is a certain admirable honesty about this collection of erotic haiku in its inclusion of haiku about breaking up (Angela Leuck)

tu en as trouvé un autre
les fleurs de l'arbre
tombent si vite.

you have found another -
the flowers of the tree
fall so quickly.


This is a refreshingly varied collection of haiku about sex and sensuality, covering a broad range of human experience in this area. Just as with relationships themselves, there are some haiku that won't work for some readers, and some I suspect don't translate well. So pick and choose the ones that appeal the most and read them - alone or with your lover.

haiku - storms

Thunder crashes -
downstairs the sound of neighbours
fighting


Storms for One Deep Breath

Haiku - containers

a black and gold box
lined with dark plush velvet –
a silver necklace


black velvet purse
on a string round my neck –
cash safe when dancing.

More haiku on containers on Crafty Green Poet.

containers for One Deep Breath.