May 30 postings...Memorial Day

Memorial Day
old granny says she just wishes
to forgive and forget

Rhonda A Bishop Rhodes I think it is so cool.....that once many nations where enemies and friendships were not attainable ...but for those that fought to bring "freedom" you and I now can via FB have a friendship....."aint that cool" ?? wink wink.....hugging my dear friend John Tiong Chunghoo .....Happy Day to you also


Lines inspired by Maya Angelou:

you may call me names..you may even say i cant write a single line.. but like dust i rise..like dust i rise.

the same note over and over
the bird can only be
praying

I live in an area in Kuala Lumpur where there are still plenty of trees. Every morning you can feel the pulsating sensation of another day being born...the dawn light that slowly grows in intensity, the bird songs that slowly grow in volume and diversity, the sounds of the temple bells, the muslim prayers, human activities, sounds of cars, motors which eventually are all overtaken by your our own itinerary for the day.

Lorraine Margueritte Gasrel Black: I wake up early to watch the first rays of the sun shine behind Mt Baker and the Cascade foothills.But just before that event the "early bird" wakes up the rest of the birds with its first morning solo. They seem to wait and then join in like a morning chorus when the "Early Bird's" song is done.I love the peace of early morning before anyone drives by or wakes up.We live in the hub of our community and it gets very noisy later on.A little note about the soloist:it's the last bird I hear singing after twilight.

Gawai Dayak Posting

Happy Gawai to all my Dayak friends. Gawai is the annual harvest festival of the dayak people of Sarawak. It falls on June 1. Rice wine or Tuak is freely consumed. People of other ethnic groups take the opportunity to visit their dayak friends who still stay in longhouses along river banks.

Gawai Dayak
the exquisite taste of rice
in the tuak

Frankie Lau @John, do Dayaks say "oh kea"? Btw, they now feel offended if anyone call them "kea" (YB Masing was reported as such).....it is true to say "in the past", "in ancient times".. now many are very rich and they have 2 versions of "tuak", the original and the "modern" ones, yea..even Russian Volka :o)

Wesak Day Posting

Happy Wesak Day (Buddha's birth, life and death celebration) to all buddhists.

Wesak Day temple visit
after all these years still
the peace in your face

The Great Wall a haiku

When I climbed the Great Wall, that was what I thought:

the Great Wall
long, tortuous, formidable
the history of China

May 25 postings

Perhaps it is a peculiarity of mine that despite the fact that I am a professional performer, it is true that I have always preferred playing without an audience."

—Bill Evans

haiku tree
my little bird has come back
to roost

My Malay friend jokes that he has special privileges so I must treat him Special. I say No Way unless he has big fat talent like Tun Mahathir who can write till the sun comes down to kiss him on the cheek, or Siti Nurhaliza who can sing till all the birds stop their song to listen to hers or Chef Wan who can get all the world to feast with him. Special privileges for him but Special treatment for those who work their butt out to shine. Get it.. I give him a slap on the back.

twilight
in the distance sky
the cross

empty nest (untended)
five torquoise blue eggs
warm my sight

rice harvesting season
the birds too excited
with songs...

May 23 postings

My Malay friend jokes that he has special privileges so I must treat him Special. I say No Way unless he has big fat talent like Tun Mahathir who can write till the sun comes down to kiss him on the cheek, or Siti Nurhaliza who can sing till all the birds stop their song to listen to hers or Chef Wan who can get all the world to feast with him. Special privileges for him but Special treatment for those who work their butt out to shine. Get it.. I give him a slap on the back.

Mr President, you are in for the second term. After all these years of white statesmanship, we need a change no matter how sweet the icing is. And you have done quite well...The first four years to build up the economy. The next four years...to really turn your attention to the voters who put you up there to salvage the final straw of their dignity.

Mr President, i sense a disturbing sign of subservience
floating over your glances and pauses; the remaining strain
of diffidence that still tortures the black psyche

there she goes into a sea of mediocrity
where her talents are foams
evaporating into the thin air of shine

Reigning
the sky again
Malaysia Airlines
...
KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia Airlines (MAS) won two awards -- World's Best Economy Class and Staff Service Excellence -- at the 2010 World Airline Awards in Hamburg, Germany, last Thursday, it was announced here today.

new hybrid cars
the race to
save earth
==========
...Obama to sign a memorandum outlining the next steps toward producing cleaner, more efficient vehicles.

Migrating Whales at Queensland Coast

first sight of migrating whales
the tourists too have
started to come

migrating whales
my spirits cresting
the waves...

Haiku

new hybrid cars
the race to
save earth

Obama to sign a memorandum outlining the next steps toward producing cleaner, more efficient vehicles.

Drowned by words

I walked into a government department
and as usual was attended to by the staff
all of whom are my friend's race.

I walked into the parliament -
i am a journalist - and had to find
my way to look for a Chinese or Indian face
because most of the ministers and
parliamentarians are my friend's race.

I looked at all the Sultans and Heads of State,
and confirmed with myself that they are all my friend's race.

Then as I hooked onto my computer, I accidentally
stumbled upon a site an elderly leader
said he feared the voice of my friend's race could be drowned out,
that nobody, even their own party, could help them.

I was swept by it like a ball, walking round and round
looking for what would drown that pertinent voice.
For the first time I found myself drowned by words.

I looked up and down his face and said "Ooi".

God thows us Challenge

God is always there...throwing us challenges.....making us fail...making us succeed....all with a purpose....if you really listen and think..you know he is there....you dont really have to see somebody to know he cares......he is so close that you just cant see him like encasing himself in our heart;that is how close he wants to be with us.

Songkran or Water Festival

Songkran, the water festival or Thai New Year, is celebrated in May. It is always celebrated with people splashing water on each other but this year....

Songkram
this year it is celebrated
splashing blood

The Allah Issue

the allah issue
a weapon for DAP served
clean on the platter

It is highly likely that Sarawak will become a swing state. When Sarawak falls, BN falls. Sarawak is the last bastion of the fight as to who will form the next Government.

God and the Dimensions that He hides from Us

God is always there...throwing us challenges.....making us fail...making us succeed....all with a purpose....if you really listen and think..you know he is there....you dont really have to see somebody to know he cares......he is so close that you just cant see him like encasing himself in our heart;that is how close he wants to be with us.

On another score, there are so many creations, so many dimenstions, we would be lost like an ant in the middle of a jungle if we were to see them all;

Scientifically, "people' in the other dimensions can see us because we live in a separate or lesser dimension. Like if we only have the length dimension, we cannot see the breadth and the height dimensions. But those who have all the other dimensions can see us easily as they enjoy the extra dimensions. they can be right staring into us but we still dont see them.

i suppose if they live in extra dimensions, they are of a different makeup too.
One day science can unfold why 1,000 million "people" can live in a room without knowing each other actually exist.

The Wonders of Haiku Writing

I have lots of haiku friends in the United States and in manyh parts of the world. I enjoy their work too. haiku is a very enjoyable genre to practise and explore. it is not really about the written words..it is the discovery of self, the divine and how the world can be interpreted in different ways to awe and surprise ourselves.
of course, you can only arrive at a really good haiku when inspired. you write tens of thousands of haiku to arrive at one little one. that's the fun of the genre.
It is a religion of the mind that requires the support of the other religions

South Korean Woman drummer Haiku

face trailing the sky
the woman unleashes
stirring beats of dreams

I was impressed by the traditional woman drummer who stands between two rows of drums negotiating her way between them, sometimes with her face towards the sky, below the drums.

Sibu By Election

Sibu by election
a storm of national issues
in a little timber town

Sibu by election
a little town awakened
to its importance

by election
or buy election
a confused electorate

let's have more
by elections
the hoteliers laugh

Nothing is more glamorous than becoming the owner of a string of newspapers. Sibu is glamorous because all the major papers in Malaysia are somehow run by people from this town. Timber tycoon Tan Sri Tiong Hew King from here, owns most if not all the Chinese newspapers in the country. The Star is led by Sibu born Datuk Clement Hii while the New Straits Times' CEO Datuk Anthony Bujang was born in Kapit, a riverine town three hours' express boat ride from Sibu. Be in Sibu always....to experience a slice of its glamour.I am proud to be a part of this glamourous town Sibu. It is my hometown.

Borneo Cultural Festival
Sibu played host to the Borneo Cultural Festival, a week-long celebration of food, music, and dances of the diverse ethnic groups in Borneo in 2005. It has become so popular, it is now an annual event used to promote Sibu as a tourist destination.

Sibu has the largest town square in Malaysia while the Sanyan Tower here is the
tallest building in Sarawak. Sibu also has a beautiful newly refurbished waterfront, and a large number of public parks. The Yu Lun San Tien En Si (Jade Dragon Temple) at KM26 of Sibu-Bintulu Road is said to be the largest temple complex in South-East Asia. It houses the places of worship for Buddhism, Taoism and Confucianism.

Award winning Haiku - Rare Kimono

HaikuNow! 2010 International Contest Organised by the Haiku Foundation
based in the United States. The following are the winners in the Traditional Haiku Category

First Prize

war memorial
the shine on a bronze soldier
from so many hands

—Cherie Hunter Day

Runners Up

the rare kimono
our eyes roll over its hills
flowers and mountains

—John Tiong Chung Hoo

vernal equinox:
sharing a branch an orange
and orange blossom

—Victor Ortiz

the leaf blower man—
when he turns and walks away
the leaves follow him

—Madeleine Findlay

The morning is here—
Orange Juice in a Flintstones glass.
What should I do next?

—Cory Ryant

Judge’s Comments

I found so many of the haiku entries not only nicely poised but arresting. I chose the one about the war memorial because it allowed a small observation (the shiny bronze) to ripple out to a very heavy subject indeed, the kind of ponderous subject that haiku is usually too small to contain. The one featuring the surprising appearance of a Flintstones glass showed the American side of haiku; plus the clueless speaker appears to be in a perfectly empty-headed haiku state of mind. The kimono poem made me slightly dizzy in the way it rolled over the landscape which was both real and fabricated, in this case, made of fabric. The leaf blower man made me laugh out loud, which is the preferred reaction to a haiku that is really not trying to be “funny;” I love its odd mix of absurdity and empathy. It was the sheer “obviousness” of the orange haiku that got me: imagine an orange and an orange blossom on the same tree, a true haiku eye-opener!

—Billy Collins

Billy Collins (born March 22, 1941) is an American poet. Collins served two terms as the Poet Laureate of the United States from 2001 to 2003. In his home state, Collins has been recognized as a Literary Lion of the New York Public Library (1992) and selected as the New York State Poet for 2004-2006. He is the Senior Distinguished Fellow of the Winter Park Institute in Winter Park, Florida. He remains a Distinguished Professor at Lehman College of the City University of New York.

the dog eaters say
respect our culture
and i respect yours

South Koreans love eating dogs. Our tourist guide told us chicken are reared for eggs and dogs for their meat especially during the war years. Sensing the repulsement that some of us might have towards Koreans, she said: 'respect o...ur culture and I respect yours.. What say you cow, pig and chick eaters?

too familiar
too new to be casual
i fear to strip

It is in a Koeran spa that I found myself such a shy person. The only other instances I bathed naked in front of others was in some Japanese bathhouses. Then everyone was just about anybody as I did not know them. But this time, officials from the Korea Tourism Organisation took us around and then the spa. One of them sensed the embarrassment of mine and one other friend and immediately stripped himself encouraging us to join in. I just felt strange to bare myself in front of people I already knew. Perhaps, it is not in our culture.

Seoul
it looks like it is made
for love

Everywhere you turn in this city, you see flowers, the most common being azalea of white, purple and pink. Many streets are lined with gingko trees. Cafes are all over. I saw one shopping mall where every storey is fronted with the glass sign of a cafe...either coffee bean or starsbucks or some branded cafe. Lovers walk around hand in hand especially at Hongdae, an enclave around Korea's most famous fine art and design university Hongik. The place has lots of art stalls, quaint cafes, restaurants, and performance places where undergraduates try out their songs and music. The famous singer Rain used to live around here.

Travel Korea Haiku - The Han River , Seoul

the only thing undivided
between North and South Korea
a river of tears

The Han River has its source in North Korea, flowing through Seoul into the Yellow Sea. It is the only place that links the North and South so inimately together though it has been decades both have gone separate ways in their government and political beliefs.

in the Hangang River
ripples of joys, tears
and excitements

The Han or Hangang River divides Seoul into residential and commercial areas. The South of the river makes up the commercial area while the North, the residential.
One could imagine the joys, the excitements as Koreans drive to work each day crossing the 27 bridges linking the North and South of Seoul. The Han River fllows from east of the country to the West into the Yellow Sea.

Korea demilitarised zone
the roar of men looking for
tiger

The good news about the demilitarised zone is that animals, some of which that would have gone extinct have thrived. Now there are people going all out to look for tigers believed to be living in the zone. None has been sighted but it is believed tigers exist here.