In an unusual development, “Feather in the Wind” is complete! A little history: I was approached by a record label in December 2017 about creating a release for their catalogue. I was, in theory, a good fit given the nature of my work, a blend of music and poetry, something the label itself explored through experimental music inspired by English haikus.

The proposal was interesting to me because I had never attempted a haiku¹ before, and so I enthusiastically composed a sketch which I would then set to music. “Feather in the Wind” was the result, an English haiku describing the descent of a swallow feather through the air.

For whatever reason, I heard nothing further from the label, and thus decided to add the sketch to my poetry collection with a second verse composed in the same style². As I revised the draft yesterday, I found it in a highly finished state with nothing to add or alter. This was surprising; so used am I to agonising over a poem, I needed a day to take it in!

I continue then (with a sense of disbelief) to “A Rhebok!”³, inspired by a brief but memorable encounter with Pelea capreolus, a rarely seen antelope indigenous to this region. Amusingly, the sighting occurred in December 2017⁴, the very month the label approached me.

1. A poem with three lines: five syllables in line one, seven in line two and five in line three.
2. Thereby corrupting the concept of the haiku proper, which traditionally has one verse. I have since split the poem into two haikus: “Feather”, consisting of verse one, and “Wind”, consisting of verse two. I have also updated the “Poetry Publication Progress” list (which constitutes a draft of the collection’s table of contents—or “litany”, as I like to think of it) to reflect this change.
3. Previously, “The Rhebok”.
4. I made this Facebook post at the time.