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Extract from March haiku \/ tanka<\/strong> <\/p>\n <\/p>\n 02 March 2015<\/em> . . . also gardening 03 March 2015<\/em> he flies\u00a0 fans\u00a0 alights 04 March 2015<\/em> the word I write most \u2014 Thursday, 05 March 2015<\/em> her favourite tune from the age of five my hair style\u2019s not mine CHECK SPELLING \u2014 again Rose is three months old clear night sky \u2014 full moon . . . I\u2019ve passed moon-lit night 07 March 2015<\/em> <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Helen May Williams<\/strong> is completing an edition of memoirs by her late mother.\u00a0 Her poetry has been published in a number of small press publications including Hearing Voices, Horizon, Raw Edge, I Am Not a Silent Poet, Three Drops from a Cauldron<\/em> and Bluebeard\u2019s Wives<\/em>, Heaventree Press 2007.\u00a0 Blog: helenmaywilliams.wordpress.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Extract from March haiku \/ tanka Jorie Graham wrote \u2018the past is senseless.\u2019 Yet I strive to make sense of the present by understanding the past.\u00a0 During Lent this year, we stayed in an old Proven\u00e7al house in Provence Verte.\u00a0 There was no internet connection.\u00a0 My writing task during these five weeks […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9553","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-prose-poetry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9553","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9553"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9553\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9556,"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9553\/revisions\/9556"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9553"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9553"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9553"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nJorie Graham wrote \u2018the past is senseless.\u2019 Yet I strive to make sense of the present by understanding the past.\u00a0 During Lent this year, we stayed in an old Proven\u00e7al house in Provence Verte.\u00a0 There was no internet connection.\u00a0 My writing task during these five weeks was to transcribe notes of conversations I had had with my mother, Valerie June Dennis (05 March 1922 – 09 February 2014) not long before her death.\u00a0 On every page, I would hesitate and stumble over a name or historical event that needed to be checked for accuracy.\u00a0 Without access to online records and archives, not to mention Wikipedia, this proved an impossibility.\u00a0 There were, however, compensations, as we watched with undivided attention the advent of signs of spring.\u00a0 These haiku break the rules of classical haiku:\u00a0 they are often personal; they don\u2019t always contain an obvious \u2018Aha!\u2019 moment; but they are usually acutely aware of the seasons and of time passing.<\/p>\n
\nfor Lent we eschew
\ninternet\u00a0\u00a0 hot baths\u00a0\u00a0 Today
\nserious news\u00a0 :\u00a0 why?<\/p>\n
\nwatching daffodils push through:
\nrestless like Denny<\/p>\n
\ncommon black redstart\u2019s
\ntranslucent ochre plumage
\nfans open again<\/p>\n
\non pollarded branch\u00a0 then flits \u2013
\nsolitary show-off \u2013
\nto pelouse anglaise\u00a0 to catch
\nhuge Proven\u00e7al bug<\/p>\n
\nlent:\u00a0 no internet
\nno data\u00a0\u00a0 no news\u00a0\u00a0 no info
\nno real improvement<\/p>\n
\nCHECK:\u00a0 CHECK DATES\u00a0\u00a0 CHECK FACTS\u00a0\u00a0 CHECK NAMES \u2014
\nthe past slips my grasp<\/p>\n
\nninety-three today
\nhappy birthday to you, June!
\nash heap in sand dune<\/p>\n
\nnon, je ne regrette rien \u2014
\nof course it\u2019s not true<\/p>\n
\nshe always slipped the first stitch
\nat start of each row:
\nI chose not to copy her \u2014
\nI use her needles today<\/p>\n
\nthe shape of my face has morphed:
\nI am my mother!<\/p>\n
\nJune\u2019s spelling was always fine
\nmuch better than mine!<\/p>\n
\nI knit her next year\u2019s sweater
\n& watch black redstart \u2014
\nhis rosy-tailed prolepsis
\nof evening\u2019s salmon skies<\/p>\n
\nun ciel clair \u2014une pleine lune
\ncinq heures \u2014 la boulangerie
\nallume le rond-point<\/p>\n
\nFrench monologue in my head
\nilluming nothing
\n06 March 2015
\nPhildar aiguillles circulaires
\nlongeur 100cm\u00a0 diameter 3 \u00bc\u00a0 \u2212
\nI knit onto these \u2014
\nbought these in forties Paris?
\nto reknit what wool?
\nECITO\u00a0 apr\u00e8s la guerre
\nstitched an unravelled Europe<\/p>\n
\nchic insouciance
\nof proven\u00e7al printemps, &
\nof the ginger cat,
\nlolling atop red-tiled wall
\nwaiting for lone, black redstart . . .<\/p>\n
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n