Roofless

9:30 am yesterday the roof was ripped clean off the home I share with my husband in Matamata. It landed in the neighbour's paddock. Both my hubby and I were unharmed, and were evacuated off the property by the Fire Service. After more hours of stormy rain we returned and found the ceiling collapsed in. We're now safely settled at my parent's home in Te Awamutu.



Our kitchen-diner open to the elements and me trying to save what I could.

sun shower outside inside 

 

 

My study where the magic used to happen.

 

My thanks to all who have sent messages of support through Facebook, and offers of books (haiku and more) to replace my sopping wet ones. Special gratitude to my parents who've helped with everything over the past two days. I'll keep in touch . . .

 

Calendars, T-shirts, Chapbooks, Positivity: It's a Haiku Life for Me!

Welcome to March, dear readers! Below is this month's page from my 2014 calendar of haiku and photography, which I did with my husband this time round, for our family and friends. Hubby, Cameron Elliot, took this photo last year in Cambridge, and his haiku is previously unpublished. (click to enlarge)

Haiku & photo by Cameron Elliot

February was a great month for me on the haiku front. I put out my first poetry chapbook, thinking of you, as a gift of love for Valentine's Day. (Read my post about it here.) My eChapbook of twenty haiku and tanka on the theme of love is free to read and download here. Enjoy! And don't forget to pass it on.

I also began an online shop called Haiku On where I'm selling t-shirts, cards, and later this year, my 2015 calendar. Haiku poets around the world have responded favorably buying "Trust me, I'm a haiku poet" and "Every Haiku is an Act of Environmental Activism!" t-shirts. I am so grateful for the support I've received from the haiku community on my new venture. More t-shirt designs coming soon! If there is something that you'd like to see in the shop that isn't there then please ask, and I'll try to create it for you.

I've also been flooding my Facebook page with positivity this month, and doing a daily post on what I'm grateful for each day. It's been amazing to see people's positive response, and even joining in with the gratitude posts. I couldn't have wished for better. :-) Come join me!

March is already full of haiku and tanka promise. I have a haiku in the March issue of The Heron's Nest here.See a collaborative haiga here that I did with Seánan Forbes, which appears in the March issue of A Hundred Gourds. We hope to do some more collaborating this month. I've been asked to write a commentary for Haibun Online about my tanka prose piece, The Taste on My Tongue, which first appeared in Skylark 1:1. And I'll be adding more to my online shop Haiku On - Taking you on a haiku journey. Stay tuned . . .

July Round-Up - A Month Of Gratitude

July: the second River of Stones month for 2011, where people all over the world took time out each day to pay attention to something fully and write it down. My practise of this observational exercise was enhanced by adding gratitude to the process: it made me more grateful of the things in my life as I looked around, listened, touched, tasted, photographed, read and rested. Why small stones of gratitude? See here.

As part of my practise of gratitude and abundance, and as July was my birthday month and the 2nd anniversary of my engagement, I decided to have a draw to give away two haiku books. The post about that here and the winners here. It's cool to have so many new people join me on Swimming in Lines of Haiku and great to be sending out two New Zealand haiku books to readers and writers in America. I think I'll run a haiku competition for my 2012 birthday so stay tuned!

Here's how I'm doing on my 2011 goal of submitting poetry to a publication or competition every week:

• week twenty-seven - submitted one haiku to Wednesday Haiku @ Issa's Untidy Hut - accepted!
• week twenty-eight - submitted seven tanka and seven haiku to paper wasp, awaiting outcome
• AND submitted a tanka to Red Dragonfly (Melissa Allen's blog) mushroom feature post - accepted!
• week twenty-nine - submitted ten senryu to Prune Juice, three accepted!
• week thirty - submitted one previously published haiku to Pin-ku, awaiting outcome
• AND resubmitted three haiga to Notes from the Gean (due to change in editor)

Me with my haiku on the Papamoa Poetry Walk
for New Zealand's National Poetry Day 22/7/2011

July was a fruitful month as I reaped the rewards of my past poetry and prose labours -

• Four of my haiku appeared in 'poetry walks' around parts of Tauranga as part of National Poetry Day on Friday 22nd July
• Prune Juice (Issue 6, Summer 2011) came out with two of my senryu
• a fine line, The Magazine of the New Zealand Poetry Society, came out with my feature article A Haiku Journey
• Melissa Allen's Mushroom Harvest post came out with my tanka
• Excellent Writing (July Issue) came out with two of my senryu and the final of three Quick Tips For Freelance Writers
• Three of my haiku appeared in the May/June Sketchbook “vegetable(s)” haiku thread (#07, #40, #48). “sunday brunch” was named "Editor's Choice" by John Daleiden, and “sunday brunch” and “pulling up” were named "Guest Editor's Choice" by Bernard Gieske, and "returning home" and "sunday brunch" were named "Editor's Choice" by Karina Klesko. This means all three of my entries were highlighted in the judging process; not bad for my first time participating.

An update on the state of affairs re my various artistic projects -

• I finished my haiga calendar and had one printed so I could see how it looked in the flesh. I'm really happy and excited about it so will now get several more printed out for family Christmas gifts. Sorted!
• I haven't made any new collage haiga this month and I still have an unfinished one on my art table from May! Hopefully I can get that completed in August and then I will have two full albums of collage haiga that have haiku and tanka from my collection exploring my leukaemia journey.
• I did manage to finish my vision board around finding a new home, and what a mammoth task that was! Now it's time to make the magic happen :)

My completed vision board!

small stones of gratitude - day 31

Today I'm most thankful for words: the words that allow me to express my true self through poetry; the words that mix with my crafts and photography becoming a whole other art form; the words that find me during my greatest struggles; the printed words, the spoken words, the words that float in cyberspace; the words that comfort and encourage, the words that support and inspire, the words that let me know I'm loved.

Thank you for reading my words and sharing your words with me. Here's to many more words, however they may manifest!

Me in our home library having just got back
from my birthday dinner with family last night,
& here's the haiku I wrote on the drive home:

birthday dinner -
every star a dream
that might come true

I'm sharing my birthday with you, and my practise of gratitude and abundance, by having a book give-away. I'm definitely giving away two books and will make the draw on August 2nd. So if it's still July 31st where you are then you still have time to get in the draw. Find all the details here and come join me!

small stones of gratitude - day 30

Grateful that I can swap, share and talk books with my family: Mum said last week that she takes her library books back soon after finishing them (as opposed to waiting for their due date) because other people might be waiting to read them :)

(Last couple of days to get into the draw for my book give-away! Find all the details here.)

small stones of gratitude - day 29

I give thanks today for the unexpected sight of a monarch butterfly flitting around the garden as I lay resting in my favourite lounge spot; the winter sun inching closer hour upon hour and the trees with their leaves and shadows swaying to the sound of the wind chimes.

(There's still time to get in the draw for the taste of nashi NZ Haiku. See here.)

small stones of gratitude - day 28

Today I give thanks to the shadows in my world: the ones that dance behind these curtains pretending to be trees; the many that radiate stillness like the inanimate objects they haunt; and to my own shadow, which holds all I try to push away but doesn't ever let me forget its importance in the balance of my spirit.

Photo by Cameron Elliot.

Last few days to get into my book draw! Details here.

small stones of gratitude - day 27

winter sun -

I show my gratitude

with this smile

(Come join me this month and go in the draw for my book give-away!)

small stones of gratitude - day 26

Grateful for today's change in plans that meant laughter and coffee and hugs.

(Get in the draw for the taste of nashi New Zealand Haiku here.)

small stones of gratitude - day 25

Grateful for the hope I find in his pine tree seedlings.

My partner's pine tree seedlings.
It's a joy for us both to watch them grow.

Last week to get in my book draw. Read all about it here.

small stones of gratitude - day 24

Grateful to the thrush who caught my eye this morning and pulled me away from the computer screen, and all the sadness I was finding there.

(Want to win a book? Get in the draw here.)

small stones of gratitude - day 23

Grateful for the slow start to Saturday: the traffic takes its time to wind up to its full roar, the childcare centre next door lays dormant, and my diary is free of any medical appointments.

(I'm giving away a book next week. Get in the draw here.)

small stones of gratitude - day 22

My thanks today goes to the joy I find in food: the sweetness of seasonal pumpkin in a roast vegetable salad; the inky blue inside a warm blueberry muffin; that first sip of coffee on a cold winter morning, and the bitter melt of dark chocolate on my tongue.

(Get in on the draw for the taste of nashi The NZ Haiku Anthology here.)

small stones of gratitude - day 21

grateful today
for this winter wind
the only force
that can take away
my deepest sorrow

(Become a follower in July and go in the draw for my book give-away here.)

small stones of gratitude - day 20

I give thanks for the light that is poetry, which penetrates my darkness of ill health.

(It's my birthday & I'm sharing it with readers by giving away a book. Go here.)

small stones of gratitude - day 19

Grateful for the energy I was given to create today, which will nourish my body and soul: baking a wheat-free, dairy-free banana loaf with some walnuts and pumpkin seeds thrown in, and sticking the last few words and pictures to my vision board, making it my largest work of art and a powerful tool for change.

Banana loaf Kirsten style!

Check out this post to find out how to get in the draw for my book give-away this month.

small stones of gratitude - day 17

Grateful today that I was only given as much pain as I could handle.

(I'm definitely giving away a book of haiku poetry this month; maybe even two! Get in the draw here.)

small stones of gratitude - day 16

My thanks today to the thrush who put on a show while bathing: the rippling water reflected on his proud spotted breast by the high noon sun.

(I'm giving away a book this month and it could be to YOU! How to get in the draw here.)

small stones of gratitude - day 15

Grateful for the love note he left me on the bench top last night, which I found on waking this morning: just on a small Post-it this time but the 'so' in - "I love you my darling Kirsten so much!!" - underlined twice :)

(Sign up as a follower this month and go into the draw for a book of haiku. All you need to know here.)

small stones of gratitude - day 14

Looking out on this dark July day, I'm delighted to see through the many shades of grey the bright white, pink and red of fallen camellia flowers, and I give thanks.

(Are you in the draw for my book give-away yet? Check it out here.)