For the tinywords issue 14.2 writing prompt we?ve chosen a bench along Asilomar Beach, Pacific Grove, California. (Image courtesy of Craig.) We hope you?ll have a seat and spend a little time here inspired by the power and beauty of the surf. Let your thoughts soar with that seagull flying along the coast. Write a tiny poem or two. We invite you to add your best efforts to the comment box below.
We?ll include the stand-out poems in our forthcoming issue, tinywords 14.2, due out in early September.
Regular submissions will also continue to be accepted for the fall issue at our submission page through Friday, August 22nd.
Thanks for stopping by.
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the hunched heron
all these blue shadows
out of slow sunshine
.
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"Hunched heron" is so evocative, Alan! I also like the idea of "slow sunshine".
Thanks Bill! I love that concentrated 'hunch' that herons have, and the lazy part of the day when the sunshine hasn't speed up quite yet during a hot Summer day. :-)
the hunched heron
all these blue shadows
out of slow sunshine
I love the expression slow sunshine, speaks to me on a very deep level Alan. Like always you bring something new to the table.
Thank you Paresh, that means a lot coming from you.
warm regards,
Alan
Dear Alan, A beautiful haiku. Blessings, Ellen
Dear Ellen,
Thank you so much for your kind and thoughtful words.
warmest regards,
Alan
early morning light
the rusty bench
welcomes the sea spray
Margaret,
I always take pleasure in reading your haiku. This one, for me, subtly invokes a sense of yearning, and I can feel that sea spray and the morning light. I admire the contrasts between the light, rust, and sea spray. Beautifully rendered!
Cyndi
Dear Margaret, How beautiful – your poem speaks of acceptance, from my view. Blessings, Ellen
no one listens
still
the gull cries
without a word
of goodbye
you leave us
crash of wave
on wave
rusty bench
where my old thoughts
take flight
his folded note
broken shells vanish
with the tide
somewhere between
loneliness and solitude
a seagull's cry
morning mist
a mood passing
through me
All 3 are very nice, Maureen! I particularly like the story in poem 1 and the feeling you captured in poem 2.
Thank you so much for your kind words, Bill. And thank you for sharing your particular thoughts on those haiku. I enjoy your haiku, as well. 'Roars' is a fantastic verb choice, and your ocean reminds me of that tree falling in the forest when no one is around. :-)
Maureen, the three of these are powerfully poignant. Perhaps a haiku sequence forming here. Well done!
Thank you very much for your kind words, Cyndi. And thank you for sharing your insight regarding a sequence. What a wonderful idea! :-)
With gratitude,
Maureen
Dear Maureen, What beautiful haiku. Blessings, Ellen
Thank you so much for your kind words, Ellen. I enjoy your haiku, as well. And what a gorgeous bouquet of flowers on your website! :-) Take care. ~Maureen
a lone bench watches
the distant lone cypress tree
kissed by the same mist
I waited—
surf crashing against the shore
a lone seagull
south wind
my sunglasses
full of ocean
Polona, yours is unusual image that works nicely…
here is my take on your haiku
ocean breeze
bits of sand
in her hair
my song
is snatched
by the sea wind
thank you, Roberta. i like the sensuality of your haiku :)
In my opinion, this pairs nicely with Asni Amin's poem:
the answer
to my question …
north wind
thanks, Bill. you may have a point there :)
Love the gentle rhythm of this haiku. This one is like a summer vacation, timeless and universal!
thank you, Paresh. appreciate your opinion :-)
polona, I love the sense-switching going on here. Just beautiful!
thank you, Cyndi, i'm glad it works for you.
a still place
where the waves
boil and boom
calm thoughts
float
on the surf
new waves
kissed by the same sun
Sasebo
surf pounding in time
with aching heart
where are you now?
water-washed rocks
hard as your heart
blue sea
becomes blue sky
a gull dives
erasing the line
to infinity
sea side verses keep churning
Yes, I can feel it. Simple and beautiful!
Thanks Cyndi, glad you could share it.
Strider
empty beach thunder throws up another memory
your goodbye
crashing our memories
against the rocks
between the sand and the shriek
of the gulls you are beside me still
I'll sit now
ready to tell my story
to the ocean
salt's sting
and its alchemy
the seagull's cry
ocean songs
the ancient music
in our hearts
the answer
to my question …
north wind
In my opinion, this pairs nicely with Polona's poem:
south wind
my sunglasses
full of ocean
Thank you for your kind comments, Bill!
the answer
to my question …
north wind
There is a roar of so much unsaid in this verse, very interesting take on the photo prompt. Somehow I can picture emptiness and presence both at once here!! Nicely done Asni..
Thank you, Paresh, for taking the time to comment on my take to the photo prompt. I like your interpretation, giving it a fresh and interesting definition.
cooling off I bite my lip
carried away . . .
her rendition
of 'Ebb Tide'
after the next wave
not even tracks . . .
chasing Sandpipers
Calling you today…
So hard to believe that
You are not here anymore
Mourning grief visits.
Stay awhile with me old friend.
Sea spray kisses me.
what remains
red crabs scurry into their holes long before my footsteps reach them
we had once walked this beach separated by the width of a sea breeze watching a gull soar towards the parting clouds
sunlit surf…
a rusted bench
by the rocks
Great emotion captured in this haibun. Love the phrase "separated by the width of a sea breeze!"
Thank you Cyndi, I am glad the words reach you and strike a chord.
warm and squishy: pink toes at home in the sand
rock sculpture
lulled to sleep by ocean spray
humanity in repose
still life oil seascape
G'ma Roxie's hiding place
Landscape alone is the un-coder of all the days
you and I can't remember, the music,
the places we walked in the sand.
waves crashing on rocks
time is indifferent to
what moves, what doesn't
Crashing waves
Infinity rediscovered
crashing waves rockcradled into silence
kalaramesh, love the verb "rockcradled!" Wonderful creation of sound into silence.
Thanks a ton, Cindy. Yes, I created that word "rockcradled" because I could see the waves being rocked by the rocks. It is a memory ku :)
i'm really happy you like it
_kala
ocean spray
on the empty two-legged bench –
a gull flies off
beyond the whitecaps
a deep blue place
…this wait
daydreams interspersed
in spray, enclose me
in a bubble.
– Max Babi
infinite sky above
eternity streching in front
– brain struggles, mind expands.
Timeless roar of the ocean
rumbles deep in my belly
– I shut the world out.
deserted beach . . .
ocean roars
anyway
water pounds rock
rock breaks wave
still the distant deep
ocean waves
who can stop this feeling
rushing toward me
unseen but present
hopes broken in the waves
turned into stone
thoughts of you
written in the foam
I break with the waves
Nice click :)
North Wind :)
long shadow
bent children cupping
surf
looking toward
my homeland
a rock in the waves
Simple and powerful. Perfection.
sea spray
the rusted bench
of a thousand absences
perhaps this version is better:
sea spray
the rusted bench seats
a thousand absences
Chad, oh the miracles a verb can work! This version is much better. That verb brings it alive, and I feel those absences.
where we met
beach grasses bend
to their shadows
Landlocked memories
of ocean spray
sustain my winter days.
sand and surf
the morning
notable
sand and surf
devotion
to the curve
sand and surf
their endless
commingling
white crest…crew tip over!
salt spray…kermit plays the harmonica!
boulders behind…sun penetrates angelo's angel
seagull – cloud mimics a blackbird
at the front…turtle kimuras a monkey!
empty bench, seaside
the sight of my proposal
rusting by the tide
beach rock…
your memories in each
receding wave
receding wave
shape held
by boulder
Another take:
a boulder keeps
the shape
receding wave
from dawn to dusk
the dice game of waves
on the rock
sometimes a rainbow
sometimes nothing
landscape…blue with the blues
o! seagull
the whitecaps and boulders
your feathers
mr. seagull
the wave nearest
relative
alone
becoming
an
earth
tone
Dear Peter, This is beautiful and a different interpretation of the photo. Blessings, Ellen
coastal highway
stopped for a curve of beach
and the cries of gulls
Dear Kathe, A lovely haiku. Reminds me of drives along Lake Michigan too. Blessings, Ellen
the glitter
of waves crashing to rocky shore
I sit on the weathered bench
in mist, eyes closed
to listen to what
I once refused to hear
rusted bench
tethered so tenuously
next to
the eternal maw
of the sea
the last one took
her glasses–sand dissolves
beneath our toes
whitecaps
soften the wading
of boogie boarders
bench rust—
seagull escapes
with the salty air!
spotting a bench
exposed to salty air
a seagull nears shore
bench exposed guides a seagull close to shore
exposure reveals bright beach & bench…seagull!
seagulls…
he shakes the conch to
get the ocean out
seagulls…
he shakes the conch to get
the ocean out
love this. i might try breaking it after conch.
Thank you Jeanie. Yes, breaking after conch might be better. I just worried about 6 syllables in l3.
:)
away! you in the distance gulled into believing
Waves come shattering,
Ears drown in weathered madness,
Seagull squawks silent
kiss me through the foam,
leave behind your sullen breath,
you look good in blue
for a homeless man
this rusty bench is a bed
kept clean by the sea
for a homeless man
a rusty bench a bed
kept clean by the sea
Asilomar
the sun a wink of jade
at sunset
crashing waves
my thoughts
colliding
Beside the remade sea
I shiver.
We had come to find the sun.
gulls:
crows in sheep's clothing
sheared by the sea
handful of agates
nootka roses on the wind
this far without you
rusted bench
witness to infinite
seagulls soaring blue sky
wind shift my thoughts skim over rough waters
her sigh-
half sea
and half memory
summer's end
a vacant bench in place
of a selfie
Margaret, I appreciate the truth captured here. Line 3 was unexpected and a nice surprise.
benched –
waiting for
my love to return
a summers ocean
an empty bench stands witness
waves of loneliness
weathered wooden bench
varnished with layers of
frivolous and intense contemplations
empty bench
dusted with salt
embedded with salty stories
the sanding still to be done
sings to me from the rocks
rock shadows fall
into the waves
lost memories
last night’s party
this morning’s sea spray
against the rocks
seagull’s cry
floats on the wind
nostalgia
were you surprised
at the empty bench
for no reason
the seagull circled
and cried
seagull spreads wings on a crown and septre
wings of a seagull
cover a septre
and crown
tail for a septre and on a king a crown
tasting
the salt seasoned air …
my briny tears
rocky shore
the surfer's panache
erodes
breaking waves . . .
leave me nothing else
to grieve about
breaking waves . . .
leave me nothing else
to grieve about
*sorry had to repost because I didn't type the right website
Above swallowing waves
and rusting benches
Jonathan Livingstone.
lichen-roughened angles
of a Moore-like stone
an allied work in rust
her monumental hip
and shoulder in repose
another bench
her monumental hip
and shoulder in repose
scorn an ugly bench
Dense condensed milk foam
on the pebbly beach.
How the lines lean
on themselves
until they are rock.
The gurgling sound
of tickled ocean palate
in your ear.
How it moans
while the tide breaks
and then
rests in the arms
of sand.
The wind
scatters
the eye
And I dissolve
into you
summer's end
sea spray slips between
absent hands
Wonderful work, Theresa.
The ghost on the bench
Wants you to see what he sees
But the void's in the way
his voice before the breakup thundering waves
benchmark
approaching
the edge
sea to waves to rocks
to spray to flight of seagull
stress
I think of the bench
across the bay
blue sea
becomes blue sky
a gull dives
erasing the line
to infinity
family storm–
dangerous rip tides
begin to form
getting ready
for what's not here–
hurricane season
drinking in
beautiful sunsets–
the horizon and I
all that lives
in memory
as I read at home
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