When I’m among Music and Kindly Books


When I’m among music that holds me late
Dawdling through dance delights
I dream of a firelit inglenook
With candles burning straight
A yellow blaze of lights
Of glowing stars and kindly books

With living pictures in the gloom
A woman’s heart turns back from stone
Liberated in that small cozy room
Heartbeats start again as imagination is seen and sewn

As if I’m alone in garden nights
With elm trees nodding at my thoughts
In my mind’s eye I see these sights
Like inkblots over crowded nightspots

©RedCat


I really should be going to bed. Instead I could not keep myself from writing. For weeks now comparative literature has kept me mired in lyric poetry. From Sapfo to the postmodernist, without having any time to write all that they inspire in me. So this prompt just lit a spark that refused to be ignored.

Poetics at dVerse tonight is called, Dead Poets Society. Our gracious host mentions a BBC Maestro poetry course, written by Carol Ann Duffy. Who she quotes: 

“dead poets speak to us across time through their poems,
and they particularly speak to other poets”,
adding “who often choose to respond across time”.

The task is to read three poems, choose one, and respond to it. My writing itch was tickled by – When I’m among a Blaze of Lights by Siegfried Sassoon 1886 (Matfield, Kent) – 1967 (Heytesbury, Wiltshire)


Sassoon photographed in 1915 by George Charles Beresford found on Wikipedia

Image credits:
Photo by Taylor Wright on Unsplash
Photo by Emil Widlund on Unsplash


Icy Blue Sky – 7 December


The afternoon sky is icy blue
Quickly deepening to a darker hue
The new moon is a thin sickle
Midwinter energies begin to tickle
The turning of the year is soon
Following upon the cold wolf moon

The time to prepare is here
Assess, take stock, root out old fears
Let go of mental cobwebs and rust
Give space to shed tears if you must
Envision yourself in the place you dream off
Let the new year new life begin and take off

©REDCAT




Image credits:

First image: Photo by Jordan Steranka on Unsplash
Second image: Photo by Jônatas Tinoco on Unsplash
Third image: Photo by Prashant Gurung on Unsplash


Breathe Deep. Breath Slow. – A Mantra (2020 Re-post)

© RedCat

Breathe deep. Breath slow.

Breathe deep. Breath slow.
Take your time to inward go.

Breathe deep. Breath slow.
Cultivate space to grow.

Breathe deep. Breath slow.
Investigates what lies below.

Breathe deep. Breath slow.
Release all that keeps you low.

Breathe deep. Breath slow.
Accept all there is in the now.

Breathe deep. Breath slow.
Connect to life force flow.

Breathe deep. Breath slow.
Listen to your higher self say so.

Breathe deep. Breath slow.
Learn what wisdom want you to know.

Breathe deep. Breath slow.
Changed awareness new seeds sow.

Breathe deep. Breath slow.
Let the winds of change blow.

Breathe deep. Breath slow.
Trust your soul your path to show.

Breathe deep. Breath slow.
Bathe in inner divine glow.

Breathe deep. Breath slow.
Let the universe its love bestow.

Breathe deep. Breath slow.

© REDCAT

Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

Re-post comment:

For tonight’s Wandering the Archives Wednesday.
I’ll share this meditation mantra.
I think of it whenever I feel I need to calm and center myself.
I might not repeat all the lines, but enough repetitions of just
Breathe deep, breathe slow
works just as well.

Enjoy!


Photo by DTS VIDEOS on Pexels.com

I like repetitions and rhymes. I also like meditation and mantras. :-)
“Breath deep. Breath slow.” – was the first meditation poem I wrote. Which coincides with the first day I started to seriously meditate. Right now I’m thankful for the fact that I managed to make it into a habit before the pandemic started. Without that daily dose of peace and grounding. Without that self-care, I think my depression would have bloomed right now, fueled my the ongoing catastrophe.


Photo by Magicbowls on Pexels.com

Daily Haibin, August 22nd – A Student


Getting emails about the student discount card, and applying for student grants. It’s finally starting to sink in. For the coming year I’ll be a student of creative writing. The idea still blows my mind. Who? Me! That cant be true… Except it is.

I sent out my applications and text samples and in the end got accepted too so many of them I had to choose which ones I thought suited me best. It’s felt unreal and mind-boggling. And my inner critics and saboteurs have made everything they can to try to discount the significance of what that means. But my passion for writing shines brighter then them, and I’ll be damned if I ever again let then scare me into not attempting something I want very much.

It will mean less time for participating in writing prompts and blogging. Although I can’t see myself quit writing poetry as often as possible. I’ll keep you updated on what’s going on, and when time allows share what I learn and write.

Seeds sown long ago

At last gets sunlight to grow

Let’s see where they go

©RedCat


Stockholm city library built in 1928.

Read other Haibun’s written for the monthly dVerse prompt by me here.

Read other Daily Haibun’s here.



Image credits:

First image: Photo by MChe Lee on Unsplash
Second image: Photo by Gunnar Ridderström on Unsplash
Third image: Photo by Roel Dierckens on Unsplash

Daily Haibun, August 10th – Creative Writing


This week is start of term. Not for the kids, for me. During the spring I applied for a bunch of creative writing classes. Fearing I would be accepted to none. Turns out I got accepted to several. Enough that I had to choose.

After much thought and even more self-doubt. I decided on several and took the decision to take a year off work to focus fully on writing.

Feels like going on an adventure!

With fall comes endings

The seeds of new beginnings

A new journey starts

© RedCat



Read other Haibun’s written for the monthly dVerse prompt by me here.

Read other Daily Haibun’s here.


Daily Haibun, August 8th – Pen & Paper

Once I feared the blank paper. Now I revere it. Because I’ve found the courage to dare to try. Learnt how to release my creativity.

Started to realise it’s all about writing, editing and rewriting. Few first draft is as good as the text can be.

Today I bought a couple of new notebooks and pens. Love the feel of flicking through still empty pages. Wondering what kind of stories and poems they’ll be filled with.

Shed old fears and doubts

Prepare mind space for new growth

A new life season

© RedCat



Read other Haibun’s written for the monthly dVerse prompt by me here.

Read other Daily Haibun’s here.


Daily Haibun, August Song (August 5th)

Outside is a cacophony of play. The sound of late summer nights. Insects playing their song.

For some reason it makes me feel a bit melancholic. Like I’m mourning a season not yet gone.

Maybe it’s just fear of the unknown. Trepidation at throwing myself into a new life situation.

There’s also tender hope, the seasons will turn, and I’ll begin to learn. Taking the first steps on a new journey. Sowing the seeds of coming adventures. Part of me can’t wait.

As seasons turn, we

grow and learn, sowing mind seeds

that will sprout next spring.

© RedCat



Read other Haibun’s written for the monthly dVerse prompt by me here.

Read other Daily Haibun’s here.


Daily Haibun, August 1st – The End of Summer


It isn’t really the end of summer yet. Some weeks with warmth and light remains. But my mind is already moving on. Thinking about the coming fall, it’s return to routines and it’s changes. Of harvest and reaping the rewards of work and toil.

The light will leak out of the sky and we’ll be plunged into darkness again. I’m cautiously optimistic about suffering less from my depression this winter. But time will tell.

As fields turn golden

Crickets through the evenings play

Thoughts turn to autumn

© RedCat



Read other Haibun’s written for the monthly dVerse prompt by me here.

Read other Daily Haibun’s here.


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