Write-Place

Flicking through the telly channels this morning and came across this snippet of information - on the Matthew Wright  show. Someone on the show tried to buy an autograph of their hero John McEnroe from a friend who refused to sell it on the grounds that there's no point in shelling out for a moment you've never had. This then leads to the question - what are autograph hunters and memorabilia collectors doing with their lives ? Well. that got me thinking. I know I'm a hoarder desperately trying to distinguish between things that could be classed as memorabilia and general junk (or if you like, making excuses for not throwing things away) Many of us experience this situation at some time in their lives and others experience it for all or most of their life.  But I must say that when I look at my 'saved' items - photos, books, old tickets for shows, programmes, letters - I do have memories of being part of these events and occasions. Sometimes I have forgotten ...

The headline did make me do a double take : "Couple arrested at airport after trying to smuggle baby in hand luggage " There are strange, sometimes unbelievable stories in the news. Depending on which paper or website I am reading I usually skim over the ones that are not to my interest, but this one caught my eye.  Apparently, a couple were attempting to smuggle their 5 month old baby through an airport, when the security scanner spotted the baby in their hand luggage.  It was at this point that Lady Bracknell  's voice entered my head and I'm having trouble getting it out again.  Clearly, it was a very dangerous thing to do and not having a visa for the child seems a bit of a lame excuse for doing it. I hope the baby has not suffered any detrimental effects of any radiation from the x ray machine - and also that this is not the catalyst for a lifetime of claustrophobia. I understand from the report that that this happened in United Arab Emirates, but ...

Haiku  Haiku in English is a development of the Japanese   haiku  poetry form. Most commonly haiku uses three lines of up to 17 syllables use of a season word use of a cut, sometimes with a punctuation mark, to compare two images. The idea is basically to paint a picture using few words and without "showing all". Here is my (winning !) entry for Writers Online One Word Challenge on the word SHIMMER Glistening pollen leaves shimmering afterglow on butterfly wings

Haiku  Haiku in English is a development of the poetic form of  Japanese   haiku  in the English language. Usually in English the criteria is  Using three lines of up to 17 syllables Using a season word ( kigo ) Use of a cut or  kire  to compare 2 images Haiku uses an  economical amount of words to paint a multi- tiered painting without telling all.  As  Matsuo Bashō  puts it "The haiku that reveals seventy to eighty percent of it's subject is good. Those that reveal fifty to sixty percent, we never tire of " Here my (winning!) entry on the word "Shimmer" for the

Writers Online One Word Challenge My entry to the Writers Online One Word Challenge Prose - June 2012 Word - Shimmer Painting by  Stewart Platt       First Born A hot June day. Sleek fronds of sea weed lie sweltering in the sun’s rays at the water’s edge. Pebbles smoothed by endless tides piled in mounds where they’ve been deposited and tiny pieces of shell and glass glint in the strong light. I stare out to sea.    The boat was your pride and joy. When other’s named theirs Lady Mary or Sea Breeze, yours was “First Born” and you cherished it as such. My feelings could hardly compete with the empathy you shared with this wood and canvas. Sailing with only seabirds for company was the best time spent and I understood because you were my child, now grown.   If life had not impeded on your chosen simple one, maybe things would have turned out differently. Solitude is not for us all, but for you it was everything...

I am Neveen. I am Palestinian.This is my sto­­ry. This is the Palestinian Story. I'd like to take you back to 64 years ago, to the fertile rolling hills of Palestine. To the land of orange, lemon and olive trees, to around mid May1948. My Grandmother, heavily pregnant quickly picks 2 or 3 oranges. She hastily feeds the chooks, cuts homemade cheese taken from brine and spoons out salted olives from a large clay pot .She packs red, ripe tomatoes and bread. Her father rushes to hurry her & help with the children and Grandmother locks the wooden door placing the key in her clothing for her return. They leave scared, but certain they will return soon. She walked and walked travelling a long journey to safety. She gave birth along the way, to my Uncle, her third child. Fear, cold, hunger, thirst and the ghost of death, were their companions, in fact they would be for many years to come She did not return within weeks as she had thought. Nor would 900,000 ...

Today I am proud to introduce Neveen, an aspiring writer and poet and a very good one at that. Neveen is a Palestinian girl and lives in Syria. She is going to introduce herself and share some of her thoughts and writing on this blog. I asked her this morning if she is well and if she is doing any writing. School has finished in Syria for the summer months and the situation is becoming worse by the minute. This is what she said : It is painful to write when you know that nothing will ever change. Writing about it just makes it more clear and raises the pain level. But Neveen will continue to write and share her thoughts. And we will be fortunate enough to share. Write- Place  gives Neveen a very big welcome !