Rubbing faded kanji
From mossy tilted Edo graves
Shinkansen shooshes past
Haiku: Graves & Trains
Category Archives: Writing Collections
a library in process holding collection of my writing projects including expository essays, articles for counter-culture magazine, sudden fiction and freeverse poetry – organized by form or collection
I picked you flowers (painting & poem)
Picked you some flowers while I was out
Placed in a vase, slightly chipped
Perhaps you and the blooms will enjoy the view
I’ll be outside chopping wood
Waiting, not Riding
Waiting for a train
Alone amongst a billion
Just to pass by, not to ride
No where to go
But to my healing room.
Not the Darjeeling Limited
but moreorless the same
sweet lime or milk chai
your choice, 6 Rp
Moreorless.
Train rolls by
I jump a tuktuk
He drops me off
Somewhere wrong.
Watercolours & oil pastels, Trippunithura, Kerala, India, 2016 (thank you Dr. Veena)
Haiku – *unconfidential* kokoro postcard (variations)
Often, a poem comes out fully-formed, fiddling and remixing only dulls the knife, sometimes however, variations are eager to come out to shine light in another corner: Lonely, Joyful, Melancholy, Mysterious.
In this case, (my) familiar themes of un-confidential love letters on postcards mailed from foreign places and glanced by – or maybe sadly not glanced – by personnel along the way who (may) add their pathos to the journey.
One version of this (do you care to guess which?) will go on the reverse of the post box at Farmer Mac’s goat farm – Perhaps another painting will follow… and then a postcard a photograph of the painting mailed to the post box and so on. Always be remixing.
No pardons for redundancies, variations on a theme require riffs on the same blues.
Do you care to posit which your prefer?
Annotations: Regarding Japanese-inspired Poetry
Consider the words
Write them once, only –
In a single inky sweep
On tactile paper
Then add a flower
Close the book
For now
&/or do none of the above
(from summer 2018 Moleskine accordion notebook “when everything changed”)
Poem: How Shall We Fill This Vessel? (excerpt for Sheila + Kemp, 10 year)
“How Shall We Fill This Vessel?”
(excerpt of poem – written by me – read at Kemp and Sheila’s wedding vow ceremony)
Now, all is deliciously possible
A present to savour
A history to grow
A future to whittle
To any possible shape
So,
How shall we fill this vessel?
Devoid of cynicism and ego,
Jealousy or restraint
With rambunctious affection
In all possible forms
To manifest and articulate
Unabashed tactile Love.
Shall we fill with endless notes
Of spontaneous jazz and
Distant gazes from close range?
Slow dances to quick songs
Languid mornings following
Smouldering nights?
Celebration of the commonplace?
Anticipation of usual happenstance?
Easy banter about nuanced topics?
On verandahs and gazebos a like
Replete with warm drinks
And cool touch?
With fond hellos and
Infrequent goodbyes
As we seek nowhere to go
Desire no escape
In darkness and rain
All yearnings were sent away
Marrow and soul
Now have a purpose, a place
A place to dwell
With you, always
As together we fill
This vessel
Full.
– daveo, Pokhara, Nepal 2017
(photo: Sri Lanka, 2018)
Poem: post office closed (again)
Post office closed
(again)
You’ll need another
day to know
you are loved
by a lost poet
without a watch
Pub: “Varley’s Vancouver” – Megaphone (Vancouver), Jan. 2012
“Varley’s Vancouver – Discovering the City’s Artistic Heart in Frederick Varley’s Past” Freed Weed feature column by Dave Olson in Megaphone Magazine, January 27, 2012
Pub: “Flying High” (collage art and interview) – RainZine (Vancouver), Summer 2010
“Flying High”(collage art) and “Who is this DaveO Guy Anyhow?” (interview) in Rain Zine (Radical Art in Nature) Summer, 2010
See also: Let it Rain ~ “Flying High” boardgame-inspired art & interview in DIY Zine
Pub: “Let’s Get Lost” – Megaphone (Vancouver), June 2010
“Let’s Get Lost – Exploring Vancouver’s Counter-Culture Landmarks,” Freed Weed feature column by Dave Olson in Megaphone Magazine, June 11, 2010
Pub: “Letters from Russia” (excerpt and art) – RainZine (Vancouver), 2010
“Letters from Russia” (excerpt and art) in Rain Zine (Radical Art in Nature) Spring, 2010
Cover art by Jer Crowle, also includes Kris Krug, Dan Mangan, Bex Apostoli , Dorian Taylor, Carla Bergman and Indigo
Pub: “Hemp for Victory” (contrib’d re: Japan), 2006
Somewhere around 2006 author Kenyon Gibson reached out about a project was co-writing called “Hemp for Victory” asking about the history of hemp cannabis in Japan and related artifacts.
I had recently published my original research about hemp culture in Japan in Cannabis Culture magazine, Journal of International Hemp Association, Hemp Horizons and other outlets and was happy to share my resources and knowledge.
A couple years later, in Brighton England and stopped into a hemp store and saw the book there for the first time on the shelf, opened it up and saw an image from my collection in the flyleaf alongside at foreword by Woody Harrelson.
I got in touch with Mr. Gibson who lives in London and stopped by his flat with Max Freakout and a fella from a hemp shop in Camden. Over tea, we recorded an extensive podcast interview with this gent who can riff on so many topics. I received a copy or two of the book, signed etc. which i suggest is among as well-done a book as there is on the topic.
I’ve shared snippets from the Japan section for personal archival purposes and to encourage you to track down a copy of this book for your library.
Continue reading Pub: “Hemp for Victory” (contrib’d re: Japan), 2006