First prize in the Funku Christmas competition goes to Billy Varley, of Enniscrone, Co Sligo, for this neatly worked winning try:
Trump towers over
the scrum. Vladimir's put in.
Won against the head.
(For those who don’t speak fluent rugby, the ball is “won against the head” if the other team steals it from the “put-in”).
The Funku is the classical Haiku form seasoned with an ounce of wit. The winner will receive a signed copy of Little John Nee’s book of haikus, The Apocalypse Came on a Friday.
Our winner was pushed all the way by this aromatic and enigmatic entry from Lusk, Co Dublin by Pauline Bosch, with a syllable count so far over the limit it should be breathalysed:
Ten little pet dogs peeing
keeps the Christmas tree moist and pretty
no more buckets of water
Trump did indeed tower over many of the entries, with much seasonal trumpeting word play. I liked the directness of Jean O’Sullivan’s
Can we have dinner
Without anyone talking
About Donald Trump?
In the end, haiku is a moment of truth, and easily transcends any attempt to make it just “fun”. Who could resist the high coo of Susan Flynn’s
pigeons on a ledge
outside the conference room
taking turns to coo
Or these two dreamy flights from Hannah Rose Tristram?
Who you are today
is tomorrow's shadow thought,
that touches time twice.
Riding night winds, a
heron hears stories looking
for form in the mist.
Little John Nee's book is published by Killaloonty Press, and available to buy from kennys.ie
Kevin McAleer's Saying Yes to Yes tour of the universe began last week. Join spiritual guru Kevin McAleer for a life-changing hour of living fully in the moment, with meditation, mindfulness, deep breathing, tai chi, yoga, bee venom therapy, psychic flower arranging, singing with dolphins and digital photography. Universally acknowledged as Tyrone's leading Zen Buddhist saint, he trained for 33 years under the legendary Deepjoy Chakra in Peru, before founding the Institute of Light™ in Strabane in 1972. McAleer will be signing copies of his bestselling How to Turn your Negative Voices into Imaginary Friends, which has been translated into more than 37,000 languages worldwide. Wear loose clothing.
Full details at kevinmcaleer.com
