Dateline: 13th September two days before the full moon.
Location: The RSPB reserve on Elmley Marshes on the Isle of Sheppey.
Purpose: To read the results of a workshop on Haiku poems to a gathered audience consisting of the mayor of Swale, the artist, Stephen Taylor, whose vigil for 28 days taking pictures of the moon and observing the activities of birds and animals in the reserve was the focus of the evening entertainment.
We saw children's paintings, shapes of animals and birds constructed of wire and white cloth, moonscapes and images of the birds and animals (mostly birds) that inhabited the Elmley marsh.
My part in it was to read Haiku that I had written for the occasion.
The surprise was that not only were the local press in evidence but so too was the local telly. I rose to the occassion and fortified by some bubbly and a familiarity with reading and performing poems in public I and Stephen Taylor read Haiku and Beat Poet's versions of Haiku's to a receptive crowd.
The night was clear and as I drove to the venue across the marshes on the winding farm road I was overwhelmed by the rising moon and the wonderful sunset. Tonight, I thought, was a moon howling night and I would finish my performance with a poem that would do just that.
Yes people, in front of the telly, the press and the mayor we had the people howling at the moon!
And don't you just want to do that?
First, just in case you are not familiar with Haiku I will elucidate.
Haiku is a Japanese poetic form that traditionally was spontaneous and highly competitive and still is in some places that in our language takes the form of three lines. The three lines contain no more than seventeen syllables with line one of five, line two of seven and line three of five . The form usually relates to the season or time of year and has a climax in line three. It is simple and written about yuor observations - what you see - with no poetic devices or contrivances.
The Haiku looks easy but it is not.
It gets easier whan you have a Haiku to reply to - hence the competition. Zen helps.
I have a couple here - all the poems you read are written by me - and these are based on traditional form. The first inspired by the project when I heard about it and the second on the day.
She cat slits her eyes,
Hunting unwary creatures;
In bright August moon.
Sunlight breaks the gloom
September sun paints golden -
The wind blows Autumn songs.
The Friday night - the 5th of September was cloudy with rain squalls - there was no moon showing. The clear night on Saturday was a boon. The Beat Poets of the late fifties and sixties changed Haiku to suit themselves and so we followed their lead and below I give you the final poem, Haiku style which should be read at full moon, outside with everybody joining in with the last verse.
This was written on the death of Allen Ginsberg who wrote the poem Howl.
Lunantic!
Lunantic 1 Do you not Howl the Moon When Wolf bitten Madmen Scream
Unwritten Ancient Tongues.
Lunantic 2
When
Wolf bitten
Madmen
Howl
The
Moon
Scream
Unwritten
Tongues!
Lunantic 3
Scream
when wolf bitten
madmen
howl the moon
in ancient unwritten tongues.
Lunantic 4
In ancient tongues
you howl the moon.
Lunantic 5
Wolf bitten
Howl
Lunantic 6
Howl!
The last line you do together and as we reached the end of the performance this is just what we did. I think it's a bloke thing.
