Haiku and Photography


It’s simple. Take a photo. It doesn’t matter how good it is. Look at it later, on a large screen and begin to study the things you failed to notice when the camera was out. Let some ideas flow. It’s up to you whether you stick to the Haiku format or just have a post-photoContinue reading “Haiku and Photography”

Our Personal Eco-Oasis


Cars queue to wreck our world. We have all heard the song, A Nightingale Sang in Berkley Square. I had heard that nightingales have now colonised Berlin, although in our square behind the splendid turn of the century front, I have rarely heard a nightingale. However, woodpeckers, flocks of sparrows and starlings, various tits andContinue reading “Our Personal Eco-Oasis”

Berlin in Haikus


An author likes to have a project on the go, which isn’t always easy due to the vagaries of inspiration. In such circumstances I look back through some photos and choose one to write about. After all, the act of making a photograph is, in itself a mindful act. I spotted this amazing woman, inContinue reading “Berlin in Haikus”

Writing Mindfully


Writing expressionist novels leads me inevitably to write mindful literature. The technique of exaggerating the observed in order to explore its forces, forces me to create situations in which every human emotion is examined. This includes the fears and loves of the reader. The chapter in The Last Stop where Jack and Maria dispose ofContinue reading “Writing Mindfully”

Berlin Life 3. Gay times reveal our fears. Part 1


Berlin Life Series. The Viktoria-Luise-Platz. Excerpt from my forthcoming Berlin Diary OK – weather is fine. Time for an old man to find out what is going on in the world. Round the corner is, according to the city guide books, the centre of the European gay scene. As a man who has only knowinglyContinue reading “Berlin Life 3. Gay times reveal our fears. Part 1”

I couldn’t afford a therapist so I watched Frasier.


(Cristela Alonzo) I couldn’t afford a therapist so I started writing about my man hang-ups – by imagining I am woman. It works. Put Clive La Pensée – into Amazon. Look for Goddesses for some free pages. There was a trip I had been promising myself – to the Südgelände. I knew that once theContinue reading “I couldn’t afford a therapist so I watched Frasier.”

Taking a Haiku chance.


It’s about breaking boundaries. The sculpture is in the Bose Park in Berlin, so I thought, do your Haiku in German! Inner me asks, ‘What is the problem?’ Outer me replies, ‘If I make a mistake, it will be out there – for all to see, or read.’ Inner me insists, ‘People make mistakes allContinue reading “Taking a Haiku chance.”

Topography of Terror


Hildegard Kneff starred with Ernst Wilhelm Borchert, in ‘The Murderers Are Among Us’. A film about the Nazi war criminals, rejoining everyday life (1946) Topography – a detailed description or representation on a map of the physical features of an area. Terror – the use of extreme fear to intimidate people, especially for political reasons.Continue reading “Topography of Terror”