Here’s a challenge: write something down as a gift for someone important to you.
Don’t do it on your phone.
A letter? A poem? A postcard? A description of a shared memory? A memoir?
It’s a dying art. Sure, it might feel weird and exposing… but it will be treasured.
***
I once wrote a set
of haiku for some close friends
and gave it to them.
They were, I think, touched,
Not only by the gesture
And the effort made,
But by my act of
Vulnerable, courageous
Opening of self.
This is not that work.
(This is just me showing off. ?)
Here is what I wrote:
A more ornate frame
A series of haiku in honour of female friendship
Overshare
Have I said too much?
If so, there is forbearance –
They love, and listen.
Early Christmas Shopping, Brisbane
It shouldn’t be this
Easy – must be the tasteful
Shopping companions.
Sharing
Shared paintings grow more
Ornate frames; borrowed books teem
With more fertile words.
Philip Bacon Galleries, Brisbane
(In memory of Margaret Olley, 1923 – 2011)
Colourburst of bloom,
Old tables, chairs, bowls, vases,
Cloths and clutterblue.
Colourdrunk we swayed,
Our hushed respect out of step
With such profusion.
Female Conversation
Fine web cast out wide
Comes to meet earlier strands
With glue that binds them.
We can’t remember
Which threads came first, or which next:
The whole is wondrous.
Its form intricate,
A robust delicacy,
Scaffold for jewels.
If interrupted,
Anchored to its creators
It will form anew.
P.S. Here is my favourite stolen haiku and subject of internet meme and haiku copyright scandal (see here):
Haikus are easy
But sometimes they don’t make sense
Refrigerator
– attributed to Rolf Nelson, Dallas, Texas