What is love?

That's right, this week's theme was love, which is a big topic to tackle as it comes in all shapes and sizes, but maybe that's a good thing for a writer? We started our session by simply describing love in poetry or prose. We then worked with the line 'Love is...' which we had to repeat in a poem in some way - such as the start of each line or stanza. Lastly we wrote a love poem to a person or animal - pets being quite a popular subject!



LOVE

Love is feeling warm and safe
Like a bird in its nest
Or a human family
Gathered in a house around the fire
While winds and rain rattle the dwelling
It feels as if it will last forever
Beyond death

- Robert



LOVE IS

love is tolerant of small wrongs
love speaks out at big wrongs
love is not always passionate
love is enduring
love is candlelight and roses
love is warming old slippers by the fire
love is helping a small child learn to read
love is clipping grandfather's toenails
love is cooking your partner's favourite dinner
love is helping with the dishes
love is forgoing a beer with your mates to buy your wife flowers
love is fixing the dropping tap without nagging
love is a dreamer into the future
love is pragmatic in the present

- Helen Ledger

Birds

This week we wrote about birds and in particular writing from the bird's perspective.


I, MOA

running
heavy foot and claw grasp the ground
thick sinews stretch and contract
             running
head thrust forward, eye bright
beak open to taste the air
                        running
why could I not have wings to lift
this heavy body to the sky?
Fire
from heaven it came
Earth bright, crackle, spark
            running

- Karen


SOME OWLS DO CRY

I am an owl
They call me a morepork
You can always eat morepork
But who, who, who said we
are wise?
Us owls with big eyes
The guru
Who asks who?
Only then do we find
the spirits who are kind
And shut out the evils
of the devils
The owl
Who asks who
Is wise like the guru


- Phillip Poerteous



MOLLYMAWK TALK

Ah, there they are again
Fishing rod, tasty bait, two good men
They fidget and talk, sometimes I squawk
Lines a-dangling, one smoking and one sitting
They come here every week
Whatever the weather
Their thoughts of a catch increasingly bleak
After an hour or so they pack up their stuff
Climb in their car
And drive away fast enough
And what of the bait?
Well, I eat it mate!

- James MacAndrew



ARRK! MINE!

Waste not want not
Aarrk! Mine!
Get away
I've got this morsel
Hmm, not too bad
Not as good as the chips
I found at St Clair beach yesterday
But better than a bloody worm

And so much choice!
Piles and piles of delicious detritous
Aarrk! Mine!
Clear off buzzards

Men at work
Good chaps
Very kind really
Aarrk!
Life at the dump
Is beautiful

- Paul Smith

Haiku for the new year

Our first writing group for the year started with sharing stories about what we had been reading which was a treasure trove of stories, from The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Origin by Dan Brown, a Scottish magazine called The People's Friend, and the Tuesday McGillycuddy children's series, to name a few! Today we share a few haiku written by an artist who, while not attending our writing group, is also a keen writer and reader - thanks Mike! 


THE UNIVERSE

Mystery in black
Continuous expansion
Distances extreme


LIFE

Vital force in us
A miracle to exist
Shared experience


- Michael Duthie