It is often said that as writers and poets- 'First we imitate, then we innovate.'  When I first wrote a haibun poem I followed the structure and form without question. Since that time I have written numerous poems in this classic Japanese poetry form.  Among my personal poetry collection I own a copy of Robert Wood Lynn's 'Mothman Apologia'  In this anthology the poet innovates with a variety of layouts for his poems. He writes a series of ten elegies where there is a complete absence of punctuation and adopts layouts with multiple blocks of justified text. He is challenging visual norms. These considered actions focused my reading.  All this brings me to this week's poem. I have presented it as a haibun, but have consciously removed punctuation a la Robert Wood Lynn to make it a hybrid presentation.  My poem tells the story of a coal delivery man in England in the 1920's. 'Alfred, The Coalman Cometh' could also be categorized as docupoetry, or an o...

 It was World Left Handers Day  on Wednesday. The day always causes me to reflect... Amazingly, I learnt to write using my left hand. An achievement against the prevailing beliefs of the day. My very first teacher saw it as her mission in life to ‘fix’ the poor, wretched little boy suffering from what she clearly diagnosed as left handed disease. She must have thought, 'This child must be re-formatted! If he remains left handed he will be forever condemned to writing in a scrawl that no one will be able to read.'  She actually told me this horrifying fact regarding my predicted fate. They took the pencil out of my left hand and placed it in my right hand. It felt unnatural. It felt weird. It was not right. More importantly, it was not left. Watch me I said. I may be a left handed oddball, but I am a determined oddball. I mean how boring would the world be if everyone wrote with their right hand? So I dug my toes in –and my hands too, and steadfastly resisted efforts to ch...

 This week I took a deep dive into the vast catalogue of  7000 images trapped on my Iphone. I then randomly selected four that caught my eye and rescued them from obscurity.  I called on their support to help me launch some Haiku poetry. A collaboration of image and inspiration. Thank you team... Brittle autumn leaves                                                                                                                              Skitter along the footpath                                                        ...

  This poetry presentation is all about keeping secrets with siblings, or  rather the inherent folly of such agreements.  My poem is loosely based on childhood experiences.  It is also about form and structure.   I have consciously off set the couplets to symbolize the unsettling sleep experiences that frequently arise around such matters.   Unsettled Sleep As I stumbled through the forest dark A green witch grabbed my hand   I raced upon an open plain Through soft and shifting sand   I stood upon a craggy bluff While the wind began to scream   Then I awoke in tangled sheets From this disturbing dream   I think I know the reason I got wrapped up in this twister   I’m concerned about a secret shared With my loose-lipped little sister. Alan j Wright. Poetry Friday has rolled around again and our host this time is Jane Whittingham . Jane delivers an ode to the chaos that frequently surround...