never forget

aching hearts

at hiroshima

cranes ease pain

This haiku is my response to Ronovan Writes #Weekly #Haiku #Poetry Prompt #Challenge 347 ACHE and Ease. Visit this site to see many other haiku responses from around the world.

Also I am adding another haiku and photo to remember Hiroshima. I first visited the Peace Park and Museum in 1990 with Jill and brought each of my school groups here. Our students would make 1000 peace cranes with their sister school hosts in Osaka and leave them at the Sadako memorial in the Peace Park. A vist to the Peace Museum is a chilling reminder of the horror of nuclear weapons and the stupidity of war.

nimble fingers
hiroshima cranes
signs of peace

neighbours

people hide
to sunbathe and swim
birds don’t care

An interesting comparison at the Middle Brighton Sea Baths in Brighton, (Melbourne) recently. Behind that screen and under the umbrellas were people who had paid to use the facilities . At the adjacent seawall some Cormorants and a Seagull rested up in the sun before taking to the water at their leisure. Same sun, same water. Isn’t the life of a bird so much less complicated?

open beach
calls birds and people
free for all

never forget

from the past
reminder of war
seeking peace

The Hiroshima Prefectural Building stands today as a memorial to the futility of war and the insane, incomprehensible, destructivness of nuclear weapons. This was one of few concrete buildings in Hiroshima on the morning of August 6th 1945 and one of a small number of buildings to remain in structure after the explosion and fires that ravaged the entire city, even though what we see today is a concrete shell only. The survivors of Hiroshima left the building to stand as a visual memorial of that morning. All tourists to Japan should visit either one or preferably both the the Peace Parks and memorial museums at Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Three times I led groups of students and teachers on trips to Japan visiting our sister school in Osaka but also spending time at the Hiroshima Peace Park and Museum. On each occasion when my group gathered in the park after experiencing the museum there were few dry eyes, no one spoke, the silence was all consuming.

wintery weather

dark water
winter evening shrouds
smoke like cloud

Some bad weather coming up from down in the Southern Ocean a few weeks back. Usually we get a lot of rain in Melbourne when clouds this dark arrive. The sun was setting across Port Phillip Bay as we looked out towards Geelong with apprehension. This is my contribution to Ronovan Writes #Weekly #Haiku #Poetry Prompt #Challenge #276 Smoke&Water by hitting this link you can see all the other creative haiku shared from around the world.

When I first saw this challenge I thought Ronovan was calling out to all those Baby Boomer Rockers from the 1960-70’s. My memory went back to Smoke on the Water, the classic Deep Purple anthem written one confusing night on Lake Geneva. So I came up with another themed haiku for all those old Rockers.

wild rockers
smoke on the water
hotel burns

I have a Japanese friend who thinks he may have been at the Osaka leg of the famous Made in Japan tour on the 15th August 1972. They don’t create music like this any more. Do they?

waiting by the window

faithful dog

window of expectation

any moment now

Every Tuesday morning I would go to Yoga class and at midday Charlie would wait by the front room window looking out for my car to arrive. Jill captured this moment to show me how the routine would unfold. It is over three and a half years since Charlie died and we are often reminded of what a perfect dog she was. One of her understandings was not to get on furniture. Maggie on the other hand has commandeered every couch and bed in the house as well as her three dog futons. When she wants to look out this window Maggie climbs up on the furniture, (now a couch is under it) and presses her face against the window. Or if she is lying on the couch she raises and stretches her head and places it on the back of the couch to see who is coming in the gate. Then she decides to jump up and bark or slip off the couch and wait by the door or go back to sleep.

This is my contribution to the Photographic Monthly Meet up with the theme “WINDOWS at https://daffodilwild.wordpress.com/2019/10/02/oops-windows/

trees speak out

ancient forest spirits

whisper from distant times

protect our future

These trees are in the Gariwerd National park in Western Victoria in Australia. This is an ancient mountain range formed millions of years ago through geological upheaval. The forests are also ancient and regenerate after regular fires usually caused by lightning but occasionally by humans. For thousands of years, we are not sure how many, but possibly 30-40,000 at least, Indigenous Australians lived within these ranges and respected the flora and fauna. There are many thousands of years old rock art galleries sharing the culture of the Indigenous people throughout Gariwerd. Rock art sites are still occasionally discovered by current scientists that indicates the wild nature of some sections of this area . The haiku in this Haibun is a response to
RonovanWrites #Weekly #Haiku #Poetry Prompt #Challenge #273 Forest&Whisper go to https://ronovanwrites.com/2019/09/30/ronovanwrites-weekly-haiku-poetry-prompt-challenge-273-forestwhisper/#comments and see lots of other haiku responses to this challenge from Ronovan.

climate change

demanding action

young and old australians

our future calling

September 20th was one of the most significant days of this century and perhaps of all times. This was the day when young people across the world responded to Greta Thunberg’s call to turn out and let world leaders attending the UN Climate Action Summit in New York to start acting, (fast) as time has almost run out to keep carbon emissions at a safe level. Here in Australia hundreds of thousands heeded Greta’s call. Jill and I attended the response in Melbourne along with over 150,000 others. Our conservative government is ignoring the science and reality, making a lot of noise about acting, however emissions in Australia have kept rising and we are exporting huge quantities of coal to Asia to be burnt. Our Prime Minister was in New York but did not attend the summit, he was not allowed to speak because of his government’s poor record. Instead he met with President Trump, attended a gala function with lots of right wing political and business people and also opened a factory with Trump. The mood has strengthened for Climate Change Action in Australia since September 20 and will continue to strengthen despite our government. They will grow increasingly irrelevant and could not possibly win the next election. I have included a short video I took on the 20th to share the mood.

https://vimeo.com/manage/362738055/general

Whale time

whale watching

patience is needed

thar she blows

Jill and I have been away for a few days down the West Coast of Victoria to Warrnambool my old home town of teenage years. The main reason was to catch up with some dear family friends going back to those teenage years and photograph birds. We also hoped to see the first of this season’s Southern Right Whales as they return down the Australian east coast for birthing in what is their traditional nursery in this particular section of the South West Victorian coast. Whales lived in virtual paradise here until the English invasion of 1788. Whale oil was in high demand and within  10 years whalers and sealers hunted along the Victorian coastline slaughtering both species in their thousands. Whaling officially ended in Australia in 1978 with the closure of the last station hunting Sperm and Humpback whales off the South West corner of Western Australia at Albany. To see these beautiful mammals and the care shown by mothers to babies brings thousands of people to Warrnambool from June to November. Whale watching is also popular right down the entire Eastern seaboard.  We were staying just near the Whale watching platform and visited there on our third day. After looking keenly out to sea for 10 minutes along with many other people a voice suddenly called out “there she blows” someone else called there might be a baby. The whale or whales were  some hundreds of metres off the beach and the telephoto lens shots just give  an idea of their presence. We were so lucky.

The Prom

wombats play

kookaburra laughs

people search

wombats play

kookaburra laughs

people search

We have just returned from a holiday away at Wilson’s Promontory National Park, known affectionally as THE PROM. http://parkweb.vic.gov.au/explore/parks/wilsons-promontory-national-park This is the most Southerly point on the Australian mainland and one of the most visited national parks in the country. It had been nearly 20 years since we last visited here, in those days  carrying everything in packs and hiking on tracks for hours to  camp sites kilometres from cars etc was our forte. This time at that pampered stage of life we stayed in a fully serviced cabin with all luxuries except TV, wifi and that kind of stuff hence no posts, visits comments from me for over a week. Every day we walked, rested, watched wildlife, took photos, remembered, read, knitted and then rested some more. The peace and quiet was a therapy. We both wrote some haiku. The Wombat lived with its baby under our cabin so we were able to watch them closely, as in walk around them if they were on the paths. The Kookaburra was quietly sitting outside our window revving up for a laugh at the Wombats. There were few people around and many of them like us were out using our senses.

 During our stay the weather was often cold, windy and sometimes wet, the sky was usually overcast and sunshine a rare visitor. If you have time to visit this link https://www.google.com.au/search?q=wilsons+promontory&client=firefox-b&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjmrfvf09_TAhUIfLwKHbh7CLgQsAQIfw&biw=1827&bih=1110&dpr=2 there are images of the Prom from across the year . I will post some more haiku/image stories  from our experience.

weeping

silently

sap tears trickling

seeking help

This wattle and others along the boardwalk in Long Hollow Reserve Beaumaris are in trouble. They are under attack from insects and judging from the amount of sap we saw, it is a sustained attack.  This reserve is a treasure , where many rare flora once prolific in our bayside environment still exist in small numbers. To see larger more common species struggling as in these photos indicates the dire condition  remnant pockets of native vegetation endure. Right next to Long Hollow our state Education Department has begun developing a new school site which in itself is a great thing however most of the school land will be taken up with 2 huge cricket ovals, a full size soccer pitch and a large sports pavilion all financed in a deal with the private Melbourne Cricket Club. We locals who fought hard to stop all trees and shrubs on the school site being ripped out, ( a few were kept) still do not know the long term effects  this sporting facility will have on the reserve because the agreement between the Education Department and the Melbourne is a secret deal. This is a Socialist state government in a secret ,”commercial in confidence” deal with a private organisation using public land. Economic rationalism has gone mad when left wing governments do secret deals and will not inform the local community. This is not DEMOCRATIC government at work.