Hættemåger, krige og ferskner

Black-headed gulls, War and Peaches (English further down)

For mange år siden stod der noget graffiti på et plankeværk, når man tog S-toget til København. Jeg husker det som om der stod:

Hættemågerne letter på hætterne.
Alle siger nej til hættemågerne.

Men måske husker jeg forkert, måske har kunstneren været skuffet eller måske skrev han bare sit eget vers ligesom mig. Ved en søgning på nettet fandt jeg et vers fra en protestsang kaldet "Raketskimarch", hvor der står:

Hættemågerne løfter på hætterne
Alle fugle siger nej lissom spætterne
Den er ikke go'
med Pershing to
Nej, må vi
så bli' fri! (Raketskimarsh Anker Schjerning 1981/82)

Måske var det bare en graffitimaler der tog sin kunstneriske frihed alvorligt, for på den anden side af banen stod der (stadig - hvis jeg ikke husker forkert):

Lots of peaches for you

Lots of peaches for me
Lots of peaches for free

Og det er jeg ret sikker på skulle have været et citat fra "Peaches" af The Presidents of the United States of America, og lydt: 

Millions of peaches, peaches for me
Millions of peaches, peaches for free
Millions of peaches, peaches for me
Millions of peaches, peaches for free

Det var forhistorien. Forleden kørte jeg forbi det stakit igen, og kom i tanke om det mere end halvglemte hættemåge-vers. Så faldt der mig et efterårs-haiku ind til det tema. Det er hverken for eller mod atomkraft, Perching 2 raketter, krigen i Gaza eller noget som helst andet. Der er bare.

Hættemågerne
Letter blot på hætterne.
Svaler flyver bort.

Det her er måske hættemåger -- This might black-headed gulls.

Black-headed gulls, War and Peaches

Many years ago I saw some graffiti written on a fence I passed when riding the S-train to Copenhagen. I remember it as if it said:

The black-headed gulls are taking off their hoods.
Everyone says no to the black-headed gulls.

But maybe I'm not remembering correctly, or maybe the artist was disappointed or wrote his own. Because I found a verse from a protest song called "Raketskimarch", which reads:

The black-headed gulls lift their hoods
All birds say no like the woodpeckers:
There's something wrong
With Pershing two
So please let's
just drop it! (Raketskimarch Anker Schjerning 1981/82)

Maybe it was just a graffiti artist taking his artistic freedom seriously, because on the other side of the train track was another wall with some graffiti that said (my memory may still fail me):

Lots of peaches for you
Lots of peaches for me
Lots of peaches for free

And I'm pretty sure that should have been a quote from Peaches by The Presidents of the United States of America:

Millions of peaches, peaches for me
Millions of peaches, peaches for free
Millions of peaches, peaches for me
Millions of peaches, peaches for free.

That was the backstory. The other day I rode an S-train past that fence again, and remembered the more than half-forgotten black-headed gull verse. Then I thought up an autumn haiku along the same lines.
It's neither for nor against nuclear power, Pershing two rockets, the war in Gaza or anything else. It just is.

Awaiting winter
The gulls take off their brown hoods.
Swallows fly away.

Poetry Monday :: Island

Over five years ago I wrote this poem for the topic Portal. It is also suitable for Island, which is today's topic. Also Island is the Danish spelling of Iceland, which  plays a prominent part in my Unicorn Farm writings.

I do not know why, but gulls have been flying around in the poetic compartment of my brain, jogged by a photo I snapped and the sight of an old fence on my way to Copenhagen ... strange things happen.

If something come off it, I'll post here later on.

 --  --  --  🔏  --  --  --

Every Monday is Poetry Monday. Mimi of Messymimi's Meanderings and I have taken over the hosting duties, mostly the supplying of the prompts - only temporarily we hope - while Diane at On the Border is taking a break for health reasons - and for travelling.

  I have something to ask of you: If you read this and the poetry of others via the links, would you please leave a comment.
  Half - if not more - the fun of these challenges is receiving the responses of others.

  --  --  --  --

The portal - my portal - led to Unicorn Isle
Oh I'd love to go through it and stay for a while.
To meet Heidi and Knud, even Percy again
To run through those fields in the bright morning sun.
To wield my old wand, and to do magical spells.
But I'm old now and grey, and so are they all,
The teachers are greyer, if they are not dead.
I just can't return now. So I hang my head.

The wands are all broken, the magic is lost.
In Midsummer's heat I feel touched by the frost.
My portal is shattered, and where once it lay
Stands a kindergarten where small children play.
The walnut is chopped down, the meadow is gone,
The people who live there have fenced in their lawn.
Though my mind tells me no, as long as I live
In my unruly heart shards of hope will thrive.

Sunday Selection & Colour of the Month ~ Pebble Grey

Oktober måneds farve er "Pebble grey". Jeg oversætter det som stengrå.

1. Måger der flyver med sol på vingerne - de gennemlyste vingekanter er stengrå.

Not "Wild geese that fly / with the moon on their wings" but gulls that fly with the sun on their wings, making the edges of the wings light up in pebble grey.

- -- 🩶 -- -

En hemmelig have i en bog. Det var en del af en vinduesudstilling, da jeg var på indkøb i onsdags.

A secret garden in a book. I saw this in a window, as I went shopping last Wednesday.

- -- 🩶 -- -

Jeg fandt også dette pindsvin. Den slags bogfoldning kan jeg godt lide. Og der er helt sikkert noget stengråt over pindsvinet her.

I also saw this hedgie. As I have a soft spot for book folding, I had to snap him. And I'm sure there's some pebble grey hidden in his folds.

- -- 🩶 -- -

Endelig havde jeg heldet med mig. Kameraet lå i lommen, og min skarv stod på frøen i gadekæret. Stenen, frøen sidder på, er naturligvis stengrå.

At long last I was lucky. The camera was not at home and the cormorant had returned to the pond in town. The stone, which is the base for the water-spouting frog, is naturally pebble grey.

--- --- ---

And I realize that I never showed my lousy phone picture of the cormorant. Well here you are.

 -- -- --

Og jeg viste aldrig billedet af skarven fra min mobil. Det er altså også elendigt, men værsågod.

Lousy quality, but still recognizable as a cormorant -- Elendig kvalitet men genkendelig som skarv.

- -- 🩶 -- -

En lille sjat overset gelé var mugnet og råbte ad os - naturligvis i stengrå.

We forgot this jelly for a few days. It is screaming at us in mouldy pebble grey.

- -- 🩶 -- -

Et par valnødder fra vores have. De er helt friske og lækre nu.

We have a walnut tree in our garden. The walnuts are at their best right now.

- -- 🩶 -- -

Jeg købte nogle druer, og har aldrig set så lang en klase før. Døren kan nok siges at være stengrå, selv om det korrekte navn er modehvid.

I bought a very long bunch of grapes - our door is almost  pebble grey.

Words for Wednesday ~ the Words and a Game

The Word for Wednesday challenge started a long time ago. Now it has turned into a movable feast with Elephant's Child as our coordinator; and the Words are provided by a number of people.
The prompts for September are provided by Sean Jeating and can be found @ Elephant's Child.

The general idea of this challenge is to make us write. Poems, stories, subtitles, tales, jokes, haiku, crosswords, puns, ... you're the boss.
Use all Words, some Words, one Word, or even none of them if that makes your creative juices flow. Anything goes, only please nothing rude or vulgar.

 It is also a challenge, where the old saying "The more the merrier" holds true.

So Please, remember to follow the links, go back and read other peoples' stories. And please leave a comment after reading. Challenges like this one thrives on interaction, feedback and encouragement. And we ALL need encouragement.

- - A - - B - - C - - 

This week's prompts are:
Desert,
Dream,
Machos,
Planet,
Treatment,
      and/or
Bags,
Behind,
Four,
Infinity,
Walk

- - A - - B - - C - - 

These last few days I've been noticing far more machos than is my wont. I have been looking at cars. Explanation will follow.

Long time ago, back in 2006, Myyratohtori @ Suomalainen Päivakirja (These Finnish word means Mousedoctor @ Finnish Diary) began a game. The Finnish licence plates all have 2 letters and then 1-3 numbers. The game is to look at the plates, and first find one with the number 1, then 2, then 3 and so on to 999.  She is now at 513, so this is a game for the patient.
The Danish License plates are a bit different: two letters - two numbers - three numbers. So If  I wanted to play, I'd have to look for a 001 to begin. Like this one:

AB 24 001

For a long time I did not want to play, but then 3 months ago I began looking ... and did I ever see a 001? No! I saw lots of  002's and 003's even a 000 - that one really has to be the starting point.

Then the last Sunday in September I told The Writer and the Owlets about this game as we walked to church, and agonized a bit. On the way back to the train station, while we were waiting for the green lights a 001 went past us. Yay.

I had seen a 002 parked at our local supermarket almost every day till then, so when I went shopping the following Monday I looked closely at all the cars in the parking lot, but of course it was there no longer. Only heaps of 003's. And Tuesday I saw no less than four 001's. Then as I sat dreaming in the bus, bags of shopping at my feet, we passed a parked 002. To be sure, I looked at the behind of the car as well, and yes, there it was.

Now I'm on the lookout for a 003, which has eluded me for almost 2 weeks. It sure is a game of patience. I can furthermore tell that the chance of seeing two cars following one another with the same last three numbers is way greater than I thought, as this has happened at least four times already.

I used the words: Machos, Dream, Bag, Walk, Behind, and four.

Poetry Monday Prompts for October

In October Mimi @ messymimis' meanderings is giving us the prompts And we've been given:
October 7, Shower
October 14, Island
October 21, Apple
October 28, Small


I hope to do some of them, and hope you'll have fun!