Rice Planting Songs #29 -35

Maybe you thought I'd given up on rice planting songs. Have no fear - one case gave me the opportunity to string five together, and then last week was quiet, meaning I only had to write two.

Rice Planting Songs #29-33
Dragon Shipping 13.09.10-17.09.10

More urgent matters:
undercuts, countless welding
defects and spatters,

defects in casting,
paint applied over dust and
grit after blasting,

grit in the engine,
stiffeners missing, large pits
ground into the skin,

ground, warped inserts, bent
plates, deep wounds and whole sections
out of alignment,

outsized panelling,
glaring gaps - and that's just his
written opening.


Rice Planting Song #34
Fusion 20.09.10

Twins in matching suits -
whether or not they're fraudsters
they're sure in cahoots.


Rice Planting Song #35
Exception Var 24.09.10

Short, savage cloudburst
followed by judgment dry as
a book's skin of dust.

Return of the Rice Planting Songs

August was far too short. Back to work means back to trying to write a haiku/senryu-type thing every day. Here are the first two of the new term:

Rice Planting Song #24
Templeton Strategic Emerging Markets Fund 06.09.10

London's autumn moan
through the walls, like a gagged man.
"Well, shall we begin?"



Rice Planting Song #25
Templeton Strategic Emerging Markets Fund 07.09.10

Enough time to drink
cold water like it's whisky.
Glass and bottle clink.

Regarding the new Fuselit site, it's structurally all in place. Kirsty wants it to be more colourful though (it is rather bare), which means I'm been racking my brains for visual ideas for a huge new logo. Hmm.

Rice Planting Songs #22 and 23

Last two for now:

Rice Planting Song #22
Hull360 30.07.10

In a quiet voice
he lays the blame for lateness
squarely on Rolls Royce

Rice Planting Song #23
JSC BTA Bank 02.08.10

Mr. Gatling-Round,
please. Words already travel
at the speed of sound.

Rice Planting Songs #19, 20 and 21

Rejoice, readers, for with August comes a temporarily lull in my profitable self-employment, and so there will be precious few rice planting songs over the coming month. I have these three, and then two more, and then hopefully that's it until September.

Rice Planting Song #19
Hull360 27.07.10

The debate on what's
the best way to not waste time
lasts thirty minutes.


Rice Planting Song #20
Hull360 28.07.10

Tribunals: purblind,
triple-headed beasts who are
of 1.5 minds.


Rice Planting Song #21
Hull360 29.07.10

Leathered desks? Even
the furniture in a court
room needs a thick skin.

Rice Planting Songs #16, 17 and 18

Spent all weekend doing work for our upcoming books and for Fuselit: Jack. Here's three recent rice planting songs:

Rice Planting Song #16
Diners Club 22.07.10

Interrogation:
(n) when Qs suppose not As
but a confession.


Rice Planting Song #17
Diners Club 23.07.10

One windblown witness
withdraws, his grateful grin rough-
edged as a cutlass.


Rice Planting Song #18
Hull306 26.07.10

Dear Captain Ranjan,
assure you ship does not require
'starboard love engine'.

Rice Planting Songs #13, 14 and 15

I've got to start posting more than rice planting songs and Microfiction Club! Thing is, the landscape of the internet is changing - Facebook is sucking up most of my comment time, to the extent that I even have much constructive to say about the latest developments.

Let's see. The Forward Prize shortlists were announced today! Unfortunately, out of all of them, I've read one book and one poem, so not really in a position to say much except that at first glance, there's nothing to get excited about - the usual names in the 'best collection' category, and some new stuff in the 'best first collection' category.

Here are the rice planting songs for the last three days. I'm afraid they're, at best, pretty rough.

Rice Planting Song #13
Diners Club 19.07.10

Three arbitrators
pick at a dinner spilt by
colliding waiters.


Rice Planting Song #14
Diners Club 20.07.10

The translator steers
between two styles of music,
storms crowding her ears.


Rice Planting Song #15
Diners Club 21.07.10

It's indigestion
of a sort - this reluctance
to answer questions.

Rice Planting Songs #10, 11 and 12

Just back from a week in Anglesey. Arguably not an adventurous holiday but you couldn't pay for the events of the last night, when high winds and high tide brought the raging estuary, replete with madly dancing boats, right up to our front door. I had to rescue one of our recycling boxes in my dressing gown and was nearly picked up and dunked by a sudden gust!

Great area for birdwatching too. Anyway, here are the three rice planting songs I did before leaving. So far I've managed to keep to the aim of one for every working day:

Rice Planting Song #10
Republic of Sudan 5.6.10

I'll say this of oil:
the bright, the dull, the damned dull,
it gathers them all

Rice Planting Song #11
Republic of Sudan 6.6.10 

The spat off-stage is
not entirely discreet. This
is quite outrageous.

Rice Planting Song #12
Republic of Sudan 7.6.10 

It's art, not science:
dressing well but not so's to
outshine one's clients.