alisonhankinson

New Year rises

It was a turbulent week just like the weather. We saw the wolf moon shining bright in the New Year sky and it brought tidal wrath to the coastline. There were forecast to be High tides and they arrived at the same time as storm Eleanor. Around Cumbria and the Furness peninsula storm surge brought debris and made some of the roads impassable.

As we return to work and tried to re-establish the pre-Christmas normalcy in patterns of life and leisure we know with certainty that we are walking forwards into a turbulent future likely to match the week and mayhem of the wonderful wolf moon. Two supermoons this month, I wonder what the next one will bring.

High tide storm rising

Whispers of windswept dreams fly

New Year, wolf moon chides.

©Alison Jean Hankinson

This is for d’Verse haibun monday.

Whilst I am here this is the wonderful d’Verse anthology that has recently been published and is available to purchase on Amazon.

Chiaroscuro – Darkness and Light, dVerse Anthology, 2017.

This is a collaborative project between the dVerse poets and dVerse team. Over 100 poets from around the world contributed to this anthology. We selected not only the best poems but also those poems that take the reader through a journey from the darkest places to the brightest. From the deepest sorrow into happiness and love. From the darkest streets to woods in spring. Come enjoy our journey.

Now available at Amazon North America and Amazon Europe.

Simple things

It was a simple gesture

…………………. As the sun rose the seedling grew

Nosed its way nonchalantly through the weeds.

……………. Caressed by early summer sun,

Nourished by November rains.

With all its might it pushed through the merriment

Of opportunistic pumpkins and weary watermelons

And reached high for the sky,

………. One leaf at a time,

stretching sighing saluting the sun.

It was a simple gesture

…………. It spoke of unfaltering love.

………………………… The sunflower smiled

………… And reminded me that life is enriched

By the simple things.

©Alison Jean Hankinson.

This is for d’Verse meeting at the bar, where we were asked to consider silence. This sunflower was in my garden in NZ, planted as a seed by my husband to cheer me up in Spring/summer 2014 when I was unable to tend the garden following major surgery. I could see it from the bedroom window.

Duck dis-grace.

Nothing says grace like a swan

But I don’t have a picture of a swan

So here is a poem about a duck.

Waddling through the grass

Wiggling my feathery ass

Who says I am an ugly duck

Quack-Quacking noisily as I go

Waddling my ass to and fro

Falling over like a dis-graceful duck

I take to the air in flight

I flap flap with all my might

Gliding over skylights I cluck

The breeze sets me disgracefully free

Soon other disgraceful ducks join with me

As we fly in formation how beautiful we look…….

©Alison Jean Hankinson

Quack Quack. Honk Honk. Happy New Year…..

For d’Verse….

In the arms of an angel.

Her graceful gesture

Now complete

He held her hand close-by.

She gave with love

Her life complete

His lifeless slumber nigh.

The slightest smile

That settled faintly on his face

The truth of love descried.

She caressed his hand

And kissed his lips

Before his final sigh.

©Alison Jean Hankinson

This is for d’Verse poetics where we are contemplating grace.

Leap of faith

From stability and steadfast surety,

We left for uncharted waters

Certain that resilience, faith and hope

Would enable us to endure

And weather uncertainties, brave challenges and more

It turned out to be a leap of faith

And fearsome obstacles lurked behind every door.

©Alison Jean Hankinson

This is for the first quadrille of the year at d’Verse. The leap was last year and I am hoping that this year we will be able to get a stronger foothold on this side…regroup consolidate…build…grow….heal….With love to you this New Year. Namaste.

Winter boogie-woogie

Starlings on the rooves

Hip-hop hopping, tip-tap tapping

Snow stomping flappy happy

Getting in the winter mood.

Fiery looking foxes putting on their groove

Foxtrotting through the frosty frozen fauna

Racing hastily through the forest

Working on their festive foxy moves

Red squirrels with dancing shoes

Snowy soft shoe shimmy shuffle

Acorn tapping troubadours

working the winter wonderland blues.

©Alison Jean Hankinson

Getting the groove on for d’Verse...

December 8th- Happy birthday mum.

Snow-capped mountains
Memories frozen in time
Sun melts through the pain.

I wrote the Haiku on Friday- mum’s birthday and what surprised me most is that this is the first year that I haven’t spent the day in tears, in fact I didn’t cry at all. I am not sure if this is some miraculous part of healing or because we are now at least home. All the other years I had to cope with both the feelings of loss and the separation by distance.

The snowy theme continued throughout the weekend and we set off on Saturday to visit Hays Garden Centre and in search of snow for Emily. We killed a few ghosts in Hays, it was a place I visited with mum one summer. We then drove up through Ambleside and snaked off to go up Kirkstone Pass to the third highest Pub in England, the highest inhabited building in Cumbria. As we drove past the chocolate box houses, with the gentle snowflakes falling, Mull of Kintyre was playing on the radio, and I was transported instantly back to Christmas past, as a youngster at Christmas celebrations with mum and dad and their friends and drunken antics and singing and I could hear mum’s laughter echoing through my head. The memory was so strong and this was when the tears were shed. The sense of both happiness and loss was overwhelming.

©Alison Jean Hankinson

Mum passed away 9 years ago in 2008, today was her birthday. XXX

This is my offering for d’Verse haibun.

The Invisible Worm…

Endo warrior.

Bravely fighting for breath somewhere between bloodbath

And deep painful chasm of menstrual despair

Adenomyosis crippling.

She took the apple from the tree

To set her free

Unaware of the invisible worm it carried deep inside.

It burrowed its way inside her,

It perforated her uterus

It wormed its way deep inside her pelvis.

And came to rest 3mm from her spine.

Mirena

Bayer’s little game-changer.

It changed her game forever.

Her hair fell out, her eyes bled,

Fevers ravaged her body

Her insides turned to poison.

And Arthritis set in.

The invisible worm

No crimson joy

It nearly did her life destroy.

This for d’verse where we were asked to use symbolism and I wanted to use “the invisible worm”.

Endometriosis and Adenomyosis blight the lives of many women. Unfortunately, the Mirena is another one of those medical catastrophes that were intended to give hope but for some caused irreparable and devastating damage and consequences.

The image was created by sammydavisdog on Flickr.