in akhet season
I cross the minds horizon
with my thoughts as boats
---
an imagined world
coffee, cars and carefree faces
all beyond the sea
---
water reflects thoughts
hellish self contemplation
minutes turn to years
---
full sublimation
sun-laced, warm, salty breezes
king and serf at once
---
sensing but a void
the man's mind can see paris
drowning on dry land
25 comments:
Hullo boys and girls,
This is a still from Papillon and yes it's from the church. To find it I went through the whole movie and whilst I was repeatedly impressed by the cinematography this one stood out. It's quite neutral but somehow fraught, if that's the right word.
And I thought last week's went pretty well considering. It was perhaps the least universal pic I've posted but everyone got it and we had five nice haiku.
Otherwise, I've said this before but it's well worth scrolling down the front page to see the earlier postings. Here in the comments, what with being interspersed with chit chat, the haiku often seem insubstantial, or something. But when you see them cleanly laid out with the picture right there it's an entirely different vibe and really adds up to something.
My buddy Ledge accidentally hit this page the other day (I'm pretty sure he'd never been here. He's a true internet Luddite) and he had to ring and tell me how impressed he was. I had to agree with him, ha ha. It is great.
PS If you click on it you can see it at full rez.
an imagined world
coffee, cars and careworn faces
all beyond the sea
FB
Set in stone, he waits
His mind rejecting freedom
For a life in hell
Way out there somewhere,
roars a mighty hurricane,
great ships in peril
der schutte
images play of her
smiling eyes, laughing with friends
and nary a thought
---
struck, she remembers
a sad man, what was his name?
so very long ago
sensing but a void
the man's mind can see paris
drowning on dry land
the brilliance of this
this perfect empty ocean
under empty skies
in akhet season
I cross the minds horizon
with my thoughts as boats
Gee whiz, John. Very good. And I do love it when I have to look a word up. And what a great word! And such a beautiful heiroglyph, possessed of a really fundamental elegance.
Also as a fan of Chinese / Japanese characters, I'm amazed at how spookily similar it is to their character for sun. As you know, Japan = Nippon / Nihon = sun origin = land of the rising sun. Compare akhet with the ni / sun character in ni hon koku. Interesting don't you think? I doubt that there's any overland connection, just the usual convergent evolution. Not so surprising for such a fundamental character.
The other thing that's fascinating is the idea that the place that the sun comes from, and where it goes to, are not different polarised ends of a continuum but rather the same thing. It's a very simple and obvious idea but I've never seen it before. What's fascinating is that within that simplicity are profound implications.
Well... to a thickhead like me anyway...
Hmm... I feel a church piece coming up.
Cheers nobody. I don't know much about the beautiful Chinese/Japanese characters but yes they do appear similar, probably because of, as you say, their fundamental character.
As for being a thickhead, I am not that well travelled and it wasn't that long ago that I realised that as seen from the southern hemisphere the sun would move across the northern sky, a realisation that hurt my head at the time but is quite obvious really. It still doesn't seem right somehow.
Oh and I popped a haiku into the Eyes Wide Shut post, a bit late really. Anyway I better get off let people enjoy haiku. cheers
John! I have the answer to whatever discomfort you may feel as to the sun shifting to the North during Winter (should you find yourself in the Southern Hemisphere, that is).
Merely turn yourself 180 degrees and declare that the North is the South. E voilà! The world will appear normal again. Except of course that the sun will now be rising in the West and setting in the East, but in the grand scheme of things this a trifling matter.
And no need to thank me, I'm just glad to be of help.
water reflects thoughts
hellish self contemplation
minutes turn to years
Very nice John, I do like a chap who can find his own take on a thing.
And would I be right in thinking that you're neither from Florida nor Devon?
The thing is you see, we have a two Johns in here already. There's English John, whose name is in blue, and there's American John whose name is in grey. Would you mind awfully adding another word to your name? Anything will do. Otherwise we'll find ourselves in that variety of hell 'the conversation that makes no sense'.
Unless you are from Florida? It's hard to tell. Statcounter is enlightening and confusing in equal measure.
Oh wait, are we in that variety of hell already? Gee, that didn't take long..
Anyway, if you would be so kind mate.
best
n
FB
Chit chat this time folks. It's about the way the sun appears in the northern and southern hemispheres. About a month or two ago I looked up how to use an analogue watch as a compass to see if I had remembered it correctly and to my great surprise, what should have been bleeden obvious hit me between the eyes. The technique is different in each hemisphere. Here is what WikiHow has to say on the subject.
First decide which hemisphere you are in ;-)
In the northern hemisphere:
1. Hold the watch horizontal.
2. Point the hour hand in the
direction of the sun.
3. Bisect the angle between the hour hand and the twelve o'clock mark to get the north-south line (substitute 1 o'clock mark during Daylight Saving Time). North will be the direction further from the sun.
In the southern hemisphere:
1. Hold the watch horizontal.
2. Point twelve o'clock in the direction of the sun.
3. Bisect the angle between the hour hand and the twelve o'clock mark to get the north-south line.
4. North will be the direction closer to the sun, south the other way.
This is always assuming the sun is shining. Now isn't that interesting.
water reflects thoughts
hellish self contemplation
minutes turn to years
yes, the john from florida.
I'll attempt to create an account, and see if that works.
lonely paradise
eating coco-going-nuts
mental touristry
full sublimation
sun laced warm salty breezes
king and serf at once
if it were some third john, wouldn't the haiku center around the lack of planes in the picture?
Thanks JD!
(Sorry I'm going to put you in caps, I know I like the lower case for myself but I just can't do it for other people. It's a weird logic).
As for statcounter, I'll candidly admit that it's not necessarily always straightforward. As the numbers climb there's often too many hits which kind of represent a blizzard. This can make it difficult to figure who's who. But that doesn't mean that I then jump to a conclusion and keep my fingers crossed.
But weirdly enough, it's still a simple either/or choice. Either I can tell or I can't. If I can't, I can't and I say so. But sometimes it's crystal clear. And then I go with it. Actually I'll put a note to this effect over at the church.
And no, at no time did I think you were John Friend. The confusing hits were from Oz. John Friend on the other hand was cystal clear. He made a sum total of three hits here, each one lasting a couple of seconds. He merely used the haiku blog as a stepping stone to get to the church from my blogger page.
If you look at my blogger account page each of my blogs is (confusingly) called 'nobody'. Rather than hold the cursor over each of them to see the address displayed, John merely clicked the first one, which is this blog here, and used it as a stepping stone to go straight to the church - do not pass go. And do not stop and smell the haiku.
Otherwise that second's long gap is merely an internet lag expression of how long it takes him to arrive at the haiku, scroll down to the page, find the church, click it and go.
But never mind all that, I think your first and third haiku there are really good. Uh oh, does that make a gladhanding spook? Oh man, the trashing of civil discourse! But then again, is that my fault? Or the people who take advantage of it?
decade of life gone
suburban prison shuffle
I envy his view
fossilized body
blue ocean mesmerizes
my mind to freedom
undulating blue
life giving inscrutable
murmur prison bars
Yay! Kikz and AP!
I knew you both had a poetic soul. Don't you reckon it's worth taking a break to come here (say) and shift those synapses away from the mundane? You know what I mean? That's why I love this blog. It forces me to reshuffle my brain. I like it better than the church to be honest.
Oh and sorry FB, thanks for that, and boo hiss. Why didn't you write them as haiku? Thus:
hold watch horizontal.
point the hour hand towards sun.
bisect the angle
Yeah. Not that great. Maybe your way was better.
yes you're right of course nobs. i will be back. that was rather refreshing i must say.
Onya AP, the more the merrier.
as a young child
sat on the rock and dreamt
youth and life passed
at this place
that never changes
time is fast
memories fade
like ocean to sky
return to freshness
Cheers A13
A13! Lovely to have you in mate. You get the gag obviously. Time for new pic tomorrow and we get to bend our brains in another direction.
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