Carpe Diem Special #195 Hamish Managua Gunn’s first “full snow moon”

This month one of my favourite  haiku poets and writers is our February winner of winter Kukai.  He writes from the heart and from his travels and  experiences, so much in touch with nature and life.

He says: “I am a hermit here in Lappland, a tinker by origin from the Orkney Isles, with simple messages: a view from a peak must be earned by a climb, a night in the desert gives the best sleep, and stories are found deep in forests.

For me, hospitality is sacrosanct – high up on a mountainside when the winds gather, or in the desert when the mirage is no longer real, and especially just after dawn among pine needles, sheltered by mighty branches.

And those who shared their bread with me shared more. What I share in writing is always a tale from one of the four corners of the world, a street corner, souk, ship or café; somewhere I went to in purchase of pure copper for my small copper shoppe. Then the scenes come with me on walks in my forest far in Lappland; there the story forms among trees in storms and soft breeze.

But I travel because I write: if you want to climb a mountain, you must start at the top”.

I have learned much in his writing and his helpful and intuitive comments on my own poetry.  Here are two haiku written by Hamish, that have inspired me to write a haiku and a haibun.

one snowflake and I
share the end of autumn
in silence
© Hamish

snowflake on my nose
evokes a childhood Noël
silent teardrop
© Tournesol ‘16/02/03

full snow moon
stirs the ladybug
on cold bare branches
© Hamish

The heart of winter where days are slowly getting longer but still, darkness fills her heart. Shuffling home at twilight, she feels the weight on fragile bones.

hungry moon
walking alone on empty
silence

© Tournesol’16/2/03