Archive for the ‘My poems’ Category

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An Unwanted Guest

June 30, 2010

An Unwanted Guest

When you came to live with me
You brought an unwanted guest
He took over both our lives
To the point you had to leave

Now I visit you … and he’s
Still there ruling over you
No longer a tenant but
A landlord demanding rent

And we pay him with our lives
His name is Dementia

Ken Chawkin
June 19, 2010
Fairfield, Iowa

Related: a new tanka: Dementia Blues

The Curse of Dementia: On watching a loved one diminish before your eyes, poem by Ken Chawkin

Sitting with Sally: 5-haiku poem

Rage Against the Disease

— Written and compiled (citing sources) by Ken Chawkin for The Uncarved Blog.

Posted in My poems, Poetry, Sally Peden | 8 Comments »

Willow Tree – a tanka – from a tree’s perspective

May 27, 2010

I admired this large willow tree on a friend’s lawn. But a much smaller one by my front porch inspired this tanka, and the one that followed.

WILLOW TREE
An Overflowing Fountain of Green

Willow Tree Whispers
People say … Weeping Willow
But I’m not crying

Just bowing down … to the Earth
Kissing the ground … with my leaves

.

Ken Chawkin
Fairfield, Iowa
May 2010

Also see: Friendship – another tree tanka, Willow Tree Tanka II,
What Do Trees Do?, and trees—a poem about the nature of trees

The poem was later published with a tree photo and audio of me reciting it in the July 2017 issue of Conch.es: Willow Tree—by Ken Chawkin.

A year or two later I read a haiku, Be Spring, followed by Willow Tree, on Sheila Moschen’s Let Your Heart Sing, Variety Show #61.

Posted in My poems, Poetry | 14 Comments »

My Son’s Sensei: A Tanka about my son’s Aikido teacher

April 21, 2010

My Son’s Sensei
A tanka about my son’s Aikido teacher

Rooted to the ground
She repels her attackers
Flowing, not moving.

In storms, trees bear great burdens
Bending, not breaking.

—Ken Chawkin

(more…)

Posted in Education, Literature, My poems, Peace, Poetry, Writing | 5 Comments »

A Haiku on Haiku Poets

March 2, 2010

Haiku Poets

Poets in Pastures
Contemplate Infinity
While chewing their cud!

Posted in My poems, Poetry | 1 Comment »

The Poet by Ken Chawkin

February 26, 2010

The Poet

Man is made in the image of God

he composes as he moves walking within his own world

people, things, impressions, enter get transformed, reconstructed become part of his inner landscape

they make their way out again envoys, wearing masks, metaphors made of sounds, words, images

he hears them, sees them he is the observer and the observed the poet and the poem

he becomes the poem the poem contains him together they embody the world

.

And God said, “Let us make man in our own image, in our own likeness.” Genesis 1:26a, 27

I am one, may I be many. Having created the creation, the creator entered into it. Taittiriya Upanishad 2.6.1

.

—Ken Chawkin For Bill Graeser

Written November 6, 2004 Modified April 20, 2007

Also see The Poet by Rolf Erickson

Posted in My poems, Poetry | 4 Comments »

Coalescing Poetry: Creating a Uni-verse

December 31, 2009

COALESCING POETRY
(into seven haiku forms)
Creating a Universe

Poetry began
the process of creation
deep within itself

the first sound came from
a vowel in the bowel
of the universe

but it soon collapsed
choking on a consonant
with nowhere to go

looking to itself
it remembered what it was
and started dancing

tapping syllables
the sound fractured into forms
causing attraction

elements combined
into a cosmic language
sounding out all things

same thing with these words
as they break and make themselves
into poetry

© Ken Chawkin

For more details on this transformation, see this blog post with thoughts on language, translation, and creation.

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Posted in My poems, Poetry | 10 Comments »

Upcoming Anthology of Fairfield Poets

October 20, 2009

THIS ENDURING GIFT

A Flowering of Fairfield Poetry

76 Poets Who Found Common Ground in One Small Prairie Town

Original Poems Selected with Introductions by Freddy Niagara Fonseca.  Foreword by Donovan.  Endorsements from Mary Swander, Poet Laureate of Iowa, Walter Butts, Poet Laureate of New Hampshire, Kira Rosner, Author of When Souls Take Flight. 1st World Publishing. To order advance copies of THIS ENDURING GIFT go to: http://www.thisenduringgift.com/

Ken Chawkin copyrights all poems presented for consideration in this poetry anthology by Fairfield Poets, edited by Freddy Niagara Fonseca, to be published in 2010. Not all of them will make it into the final publication, but they are available online here for a limited time. That site has been removed, but you can see my published poems in This Enduring Gift: A Flowering of Fairfield Poetry.

Poetry — The Art of The Voice

Five Haiku from 13 Ways to Write Haiku: A Poet’s Dozen

Committed

Cold Wet Night

Thinking of You Today

Ode To The Artist: Sketching Lotus Pads at Round Prairie Park

© Ken Chawkin

— Written and compiled (citing sources) by Ken Chawkin for The Uncarved Blog.

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Posted in My poems, Poetry | Leave a Comment »

Egrets Painting and Poem

October 10, 2009

Egrets in Morning Light by Australian artist Gareth Jones–Roberts*

Translated

on the edge of space
two egrets in morning light
woken from a dream

—haiku by Ken Chawkin
Spring, 2001, Melbourne, Australia

*Photo of painting used by permission from the artist (1935–2013)
(Click painting to enlarge it.)

During a 3-month stay in Melbourne, Australia, I was fortunate to have met the artist through a mutual friend, his physician, and mine at the time, Dr. Graham Brown. Gareth’s painting was hanging on Graham’s office wall. I asked him who the artist was and he told me it was one of his patients. He gave it to him in exchange for learning Transcendental Meditation. Graham was also a TM Teacher. I was so taken by the painting that I wrote this haiku and shared it with him. One day, Graham asked me if I would like to come along to visit Gareth and share the haiku with him. I jumped at the chance and met Gareth, his wife and their son. Lovely people! He showed me around his studio and I shared the haiku with him. He liked it very much. I shared more poems with him. We hit it off and we stayed in touch over the years. He was a special soul!

This poem was published in two poetry books: The Dryland Fish, An Anthology of Contemporary Iowa Poets (2003), contained in 13 Ways to Write Haiku: A Poet’s Dozen; and in This Enduring Gift — A Flowering of Fairfield Poetry (2010), included in Five Haiku.

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Posted in My poems, Poetry | 4 Comments »

2nd version of 1st haiku

October 2, 2009

Transformation


Caterpillar spins

increments of commitment—

Butterfly flies free!

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Posted in My poems, Poetry | 1 Comment »

WRITING TANKA—Preparing to Write

September 25, 2009

PREPARING TO WRITE
a tanka on writing

.

Railroad Crossings Are

Places To Become Aware—

STOP! LOOK! And LISTEN!

.

If you hear a train of thought

You’ll know you’re on the write track!

.

© Ken Chawkin

.

Also see Haiku On The Nature of Haiku.

a writing tanka on writing tanka by ken chawkin

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Posted in My poems, Poetry | 5 Comments »

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