107 places

A DAILY BLOG FROM 2010 to 2014
people in 107 countries have come to this blog : albania / algeria / argentina / armenia / aruba / australia / austria / bahrain / bangladesh / barbados / belarus / belgium / belize / bosnia and herzegovina / brazil / brunei / bulgaria / cambodia / canada / chile / china / colombia / croatia / cyprus / czech republic / denmark / ecuador / egypt / el salvador / england / fiji / finland / france / georgia / germany / ghana / greece / guatemala / honduras / hong kong / hungary / iceland / india / indonesia / iran / iraq / ireland / isle of man / israel / italy / japan / jordan / kazakhstan / kenya / korea / kuwait / latvia / lebanon / liberia / lithuania / luxembourg / macao / macedonia / malaysia / mauritius / mexico / moldova / mongolia / morocco / myanmar / nepal / netherlands / new zealand / nicaragua / nigeria / norway / pakistan / panama / peru / philippines / poland / portugal / puerto rico / qatar / romania / russia / saudi arabia / senegal / serbia / singapore / slovakia / slovenia / south africa / spain / sri lanka / sweden / switzerland / taiwan / thailand / trinidad and tobago / tunisia / turkey / ukraine / united arab emirates / united states of america / venezuela / vietnam

31 August 2012

hand and body, waiting

I love the way one hand is held
within the other, along the body. 
And I also love that this woman loves
to play ping pong. Maybe one day 
we will play at the table in her living room.
Maybe she is waiting.
Photo: At a wedding, California

30 August 2012

29 August 2012

drummer girl

Come, they told me, 
ba rum ba bum bum
Photo: Drum installation, Pompidou Centre, Paris

28 August 2012

softness brings softness

If we want softness, we have to be softness.
Photo: Heart-squares, filled with lavender, New Zealand
Made by Agnes Coy: http://sotreadsoftly.wordpress.com/

27 August 2012

herb city

How many times have I walked along
drying patches of plants, and probably 
each time, I stopped for a moment. 
To see is a way to touch.
Photo: Medicinal plants drying on sidewalk, Hong Kong

26 August 2012

swamp ink

We sat at this swamp until 
the water turned to ink.
Photo: Nature reserve, Carterton, New Zealand

25 August 2012

a white meal

I once made a white meal
with eleven white ingredients, all
served in a large white bowl.
Photo: Table preparation at my 50th birthday,
Ballroom Cafe, Wellington, New Zealand

24 August 2012

silence

It wouldn't take much to silence her.
She loves the great word mute.
Photo: From a plane, location unknown
Text: 'Silence' by Dinah Hawken
Small Stories of Devotion, p 19

23 August 2012

crowns

I love how the crowns of trees give way to each other.
Photo: Kahitakea trees, Carterton, New Zealand

22 August 2012

moon cake

Soon it is mid-autumn in the Chinese lunar calendar, when we make large paper lanterns and send them skyward, moonward. 
Some of us eat cakes, as round and solid as The Moon, 
the 'most beautiful idea in the universe, the first
perfect thing she has ever seen'.
Text: Excerpt of 'The Moon' by Dinah Hawken, Page 58, 'Small Stories of Devotion', a book of G's
Photo: Sewer lid, New Zealand, and a happy kind of birthday wish, and moon cake, for P

21 August 2012

may we swing

The swing. That rush into air, forth, forth. 
That momentum, effort.
Legs seen, felt, loved.
Photo: Two swings, for K and me, Titirangi, New Zealand

19 August 2012

18 August 2012

air and road joy

A friend is going on a trip tomorrow, 
by air, then by land, and with a long 
road trip. I send wishes 
for beauty and joy.
Photo: Near the top of a mountain, Hong Kong

17 August 2012

here's looking at you

I remember when we saw this creature. 
A guide with a gun said, any moment now,
and there could be a snap. 
He would not let us get any closer than this.
Photo: Crocodile sleeping, Texas

16 August 2012

what a kiss means

Kiss the world.
Photo: On the tube, London 
For a and f, on their anniversary

15 August 2012

twinkle twinkle

Fez, with lit ripples
and one shiny star.
Photo: For i's birthday, 
at the Koromiko Road home, New Zealand

14 August 2012

one or the other

On, off, 
one switch, two. 
Some days, I mix
up all the directions.
Photo: Old outlet, New Zealand

13 August 2012

maybe making

Maybe the sky is making 
a Yin Yang arrangement.
Photo: Sky over my home, New Zealand

12 August 2012

a little horizon

Is that a little horizon within?
Like the blank page or canvas,
ready.
Photo: Display case, Paris

11 August 2012

10 August 2012

and the seasons, they go

Tomorrow I have lived for exactly fifty years,
round and round and round in 
the circle game.
Photo: Object in a friend's garden, London

09 August 2012

you, standing

In one language, tu means 'to stand'
and in another, 'you'.
Photo: Museum couryard, Paris

08 August 2012

eight table


As a child, I sat to the left of my mother at the dinner table, a table set for eight. It was a warm place to be.
Today is also a warm day, 8.8, her 75th birthday, and we will celebrate her at a table full of love. 
As I type, it is still August 7th where she lives, but the table is ready, and the homemade pineapple-lemon cake, and my fifty years of love and thanks.
Photo: Picnic table in Masterton, New Zealand


07 August 2012

vines decide

Green lives the need to express
wraps hills with respect
makes grassland honest
seduces moss
affirms trees
and vines decide its maze
Photo: Vines, New Zealand
Text: Excerpt from my poem 'whole'
on the colo(u)r green

06 August 2012

oil room

The gallery describes this room as an 'epic illusion' and the flooded recycled engine oil as 'thick, pitch black and absolutely indelible' but says nothing about the smell.
Photo: Three viewers at 20:50, an installation by Richard Wilson.
A room filled with used sump oil and steel, it is the only 
permanent installation at Saatchi Gallery, London

04 August 2012

mountains, ake ake

I once called a man I loved 'hua shan' which means 'fire mountain' or 'volcano' and here is Ruapehu, one of the most active fire mountains in the world.  
In Maori, 'Ruapehu' means 'exploding pit' and 'ake ake' means 'forever'.
Photo: Mount Ruapehu, New Zealand

03 August 2012

young and sudden

I have just heard of a friend's death, young, at 53, and sudden.
Kind, inspiring, committed, and with a clarity of thought.
I am thinking of you.
Photo: Stream in the yard, New Zealand
Text: For M (1958-2012)

02 August 2012

quietly down

Home is where your life
holds you in its hand and, when
it is ready, puts you quietly down.
Photo: Leaves on a table, New Zealand
Text: The end of 'Discovery' from Lauris Edmond (1924-2000)

01 August 2012

a big roundness

She is making a big roundness that runs and runs like a song she sings when she meets the wind on a swing set which pumps out of the ground like sex that scares so sweet and the little death of it turns everything into something seen and something softly caught and yes, she can live whenever she wants to.
Photo: arc, Wairarapa sky, New Zealand
Text: 'arc' is from my 2004 book, delicate access, page 68
and this is the month I turn exactly fifty.