tomorrow with me?

Tomorrow, a film I love.
Come and see it with me.
Photo: Film by Angie Chen,
Poster artwork by Wong Yankwai

sweet Spring

Daphne. A new flower 
in my life. A walk out the door
begins with this scent of Spring.
Daphne is also the name of a sister
of a friend. She has received
a photograph of the bloom, 
just as you do now. 
Photo: Cut Daphne for the table,
New Zealand

open when soft

A book made from bread,
made by a girl
I love. 
The pages open when soft. Just 
like us.
Photo: On our table

hometown

I have not returned to the town of my birth since my infancy. Maybe I never will. Yet, every living and dead thing is near. 
N-E-A-R. I keep these four letters, cut from white card, in my writing room. 
Photo: Roots of a tree, location forgotten

growth, under, over

We walked in the bush 
with so much growth.
Photo: Waohine Gorge, New Zealand

what I see

What I see in the middle 
of the night without 
the eyeglasses.
Photo: Unknown

I am

an optimist.
Photo: Blossoms 
in the Wairarapa, New Zealand

Hooray.

Friends are visiting!
Yippee!
Photo: Painted pig, Wairarapa

warmth

Our black cat has taken 
to sleeping on the lap, and I
have come to need this. Such 
a happy purr and warmth. 
Photo: A poem exhibited on a mirror,
from 'Delicate Access'. Fringe Club, Hong Kong

white on white

Ah, I am in love with this life.
Photo: Our plum in blossom, Wairarapa

soon

Friends from far away
will soon be here.
Photo: Door to enter nature reserve,
Mount Bruce, New Zealand

friendships

I am blessed with many 
friends. Thank you.
Photo: Coffee with S and P, Masterton

tying the sky

A bow was just tying the sky
all the way to the eye.
Photo: Rainbow over Wairarapa

I think of winter

and I think of snow.
Photo: At Mount Bruce

seen

Today I saw my first kiwi
bird, birds: one white, one grey.
This is not the shadow.
Photo: Display window,
Pukaha Mount Bruce
National Wildlife Reserve

16

Today is a day for poetry in the land
of new zeal. There are over fifty events
across the country, and here
in the Wairarapa, we held '16'
with sixteen writers in glee.
Photo: A box made for the 'Rough Gecko
Pukaha Mount Bruce

joy and growth

It is a dear person's birthday today 
and I wish him joy and growth.
Photo: A quote by A J Muste,
from our daily book

dusk sky

The view from our deck today. 
One friend says 'beautiful', another 
says 'wow', and a sister says 'majestic'.
I was very 
Silent.
Photo: Evening, Wairarapa

daphne

Daphne at the table,
cut from our garden,
to scent togetherness
with friends.
Photo: in our home,
for T and K and S and O

door

It's the first day of my new year.
Photo: At a potter's studio
near my home, New Zealand.
We visited here the day after
my birthday.

birth

It's my birthday today.
All is living and dying, again.
Photo: Ta Chiu, Hong Kong
A festival of renewal

twoness, oneness, 2011, 2012, 2013

In 2011, I wrote a poem about horses. In 2012, on National Poetry Day, I read it aloud at a performance. This year, for the same Day, it appears in a chapbook.
You can read the single poem here:
http://timjonesbooks.blogspot.co.nz/2011/02/tuesday-poem-twoness-before-oneness-by.html
And the whole chapbook / e-book here:
http://issuu.com/m_slavick/docs/16_booklet_a6_web
Photo: Twoness before Oneness illustration by Anne Taylor
at Almo's Books, 42 High Street, Carterton, New Zealand

writing on windows

Today we wrote poems on windows,
sometimes writing the letters backwards, 
to be read by passersby
on the other side of glass.
Photo: Window and reflection
Mandarin Oriental Hotel, Hong Kong
Text: For "16" - an event of National Poetry Day 2013

delicate names

I love naming things. It seems poets do. I recently named a new friend's exhibition 'pocket' and perhaps my favo(u)rite name for an exhibition, and book, is this: 
delicate access.
Photo: From my book exhibition, Fringe Club, Hong Kong, 2004
The table pictured is probably my favourite table too. It sits in my living room now.

consider this pig tail

I read the other day
that the word 'consider'
originally meant 
to observe the stars.
Photo: Painted on a barn, Wairarapa

I am thinking of Hiroshima...

...and I am thinking of
'After Hiroshima'
the book by my sister.
Photo: Stream bed, New Zealand

and palm trees

Diptych and grids 
diamonds and trash.
Photo: Behind Central Library, Hong Kong

more than one

Czeslaw Milosz: The purpose of poetry is to remind us / how difficult it is to remain one person.
Photo: Our garden in winter, New Zealand

listening

I used to live near a soccer pitch and would listen to the ball moving from foot to foot, maybe swishing through the net.
Photo: Goal net, Hong Kong

resident

I am a resident in principle,
an official letter said today.
And in another place, 
I am called: 'permanent resident'.
Photo: My exhibition, 'delicate access'

take a shower

About eight people share
this shower unit.
Photo: In Shamshuipo, Hong Kong