Mindful Writing Challenge: Day 31

before I draw the curtains

the gumtree's sunset glow

Mindful Writing Challenge: Day 30

O, the moon!

Mindful Writing Challenge: Day 29

this pile of cranes that I just can't seem to throw away
they've moved house with me, seen in a New Year or two
been blown by the wind and faded by the sun
been photographed and fondled and forgotten
but in their haphazard pile they are still beautiful
still created by my hand, and a small part of me

Mindful Writing Challenge: Day 28

this morning I wrote my dream down in a new notebook
with a fresh sharp pencil straight from the box
I noticed that I wrote neater and easier
that writing down my dream wasn't such a struggle
I love the way the notebook feels in my hand
the way the pencil slides perfectly into the ring-binding
how the cover is so full of life and colour 
and goes outside the boarders of the page
just like a dream . . .

Mindful Writing Challenge: Day 27

the joy found in never knowing quite what a day will bring . . .

a stiffness to the mynah's feather he found me

that fishy smell of an unhappy mushroom

the strangely square centre of this carrot

lazy Sunday kisses on the couch

Mindful Writing Challenge: Day 26

horse tails flapping away the flies

peacocks trying to harmonise their cries

Mindful Writing Challenge: Day 25

As I type up my dream in the light of day I feel my reluctance to fall back into its cloying images. I find my curiosities and insecurities have followed me into my dream life, as have my desires. I reassure myself that the meaning will be revealed.

Mindful Writing Challenge: Day 24

summer steps another day forward

the grass turns another shade toward brown

in the distance, the cows moo in another warm evening

Mindful Writing Challenge: Day 23

I feel tears coming as Lady in Red plays on the car stereo

I've heard this song played many times while I'm driving

but today it has touched me more deeply than ever before

I've become the words, the music, the singer, the lady in red

Mindful Writing Challenge: Day 22

so much in a day

so much I have seen

heard, smelled, touched, tasted

and what has stayed with me most?

the anxiety, always the anxiety . . .

Mindful Writing Challenge: Day 21

the hottest it's been in a while

this breeze just a whisper in my ear 

still the horses & birds go about their business

and I go about mine . . .

Mindful Writing Challenge: Day 20

my husband's birthday: 

so much worrying to get it right 

to make it a treat, a surprise . . .

but I delighted in watching the fantails 

flutter around the old oak's trunk 

in search of bugs to eat 

while we ate our lunch in the shade

and I loved seeing the scenes 

of New Zealand in The Hobbit 

watching my hubby watch the movie 

smiling and laughing, wowed by the 3D

Mindful Writing Challenge: Day 19

another sunflower ready to burst open and greet the world

so much life contained within that bloom . . . so much in me

Mindful Writing Challenge: Day 18

I feel myself sinking into the bed

my breathing is deep, quiet, rhythmic

although thoughts keep coming in

I let them wash past me, wash over me

all I have to do is keep breathing

Mindful Writing Challenge: Day 17

his beaming smile 

when I say this morning 

that I noticed he cleaned 

and refilled the birdbath 

with fresh water last night

Mindful Writing Challenge: Day 16

the second person

in the last few days

to congratulate me

on surviving cancer

but I don't see it

as an achievement

it's just the journey

that I had to go on

Mindful Writing Challenge: Day 15

 today

over the phone

she tells me about

the funeral I didn't go to

because I was seeing a doctor

about trying to save my own life

Mindful Writing Challenge: Day 14

after wrapping his birthday present

i sit for a while and watch the mountain

let the breeze flow through me

let the words come to me

let the . . .

Mindful Writing Challenge: Day 13

"dipped in morning"

it keeps coming back to me

the way he described the sunlight

on the mountains yesterday

Mindful Writing Challenge: Day 12

finding a small stone

in a previously unpacked box

I remember the woman who gave it to me

as I hold it in my hand and wonder if she still believes

Mindful Writing Challenge: Day 11

i settle into semi-darkness

suddenly this beating rain

these thunder strikes

everything is shaking

but then a green light

and I slowly move out

from the car wash

Mindful Writing Challenge: Day 10

I saw a ten cent piece on the ground

and kept walking right on by 

not breaking my stride as I thought

"A child, much closer to the ground than I, 

will enjoy finding this" and I smiled to myself :)

Mindful Writing Challenge: Day 9

that bird's call is annoying me today

my fatigue has made me sensitive to its constancy

I look out at the trees to catch a glimpse of its yellow head

 but all I see is branch after branch full of leaves

Mindful Writing Challenge: Day 8

the triangle tree (my favourite tree)

how it mimics the mountain behind it

Mindful Writing Challenge: Day 7

the aching in my back

it speaks of a day enjoyed with friends

and now calls for a chair to rest in

Mindful Writing Challenge: Day 6

the tomatoes he grew from seed

how the flower turns into the fruit

turns into our food . . . 

I wonder who was the first 

to pluck and eat from the vine

The Twelve Days of Christmas

Here are the haiku I've been writing and sharing over the past 12 days at Gillena Cox's blog for her Twelve Days of Christmas celebration.

Christmas morning

 amongst the pine needles

a spider's gift

family gathering ...
the many sounds
of laughter

cemetery visit --
I place a Christmas angel
at his headstone

full moon ...
picking at leftovers
from the fridge

Christmas lilies ...
the way her eyes
light up

packing away

the Christmas decorations ...

another year without her 

New Year's Day ...

the bunch of balloons

hangs shriveled

first dream of the year --
i wake not knowing
which way is up


late Christmas card
call of a peacock
in the distance


somehow
in every room
threads of tinsel


wrapped up
in this Christmas gift, too
his love for me


holiday's end --
the spirit of Christmas
still in the air

Mindful Writing Challenge: Day 5

I break free of the dream

and take my first breath at the surface

I search for remnants in my mind's eye

but the images are lost to the morning light

Mindful Writing Challenge: Day 4

today is Friday

today is a slow day

I take my smoothie outside

and sit on the sun 

in front of me I see

the shine of a half-buried marble

a backyard tickled with dandelions

a marshmallow city in the clouds

Mindful Writing Challenge: Day 3

stained glass windows

give this church a lavender glow

i am moved to stay silent

while he sings out "hallelujah"

Mindful Writing Challenge: Day 2

as i hang out the washing

this sun pulls at my back

i stop to watch the world for a while

Mindful Writing Challenge: Day 1

the gentle sway of the willow leaves 

brushes away my rushing thoughts