just doing a bit of trawling through some old files, and tidying up the archives, and came across this little bundle of haiku poems, so I thought that I’d give them a public airing. They are on the haiku page
enjoy
Alan
Author: Alan McKean
Sundry haiku, February 2024
Thin branch
Bird holds on
Tightly
Crescent moon
Harbour reflects
Tranquil sky
Tea shop
I stop for a cup
Of contentment
Birdsong
Banishes the silence
Of night
©Alan McKean
War poem
I occasionally write war poetry, and I have just posted a new piece in the War poems section. The poem was inspired by a recent visit to a local church graveyard, where I saw a Commonwealth War Graves Commission gravestone dedicated to a young Flight Engineer, who was killed in action in 1942. He was just twenty (20) years of age – five years younger than our grandson. it takes a lot for that to sink in.
This poem, “Sergeant N. E. One”, is for him.
Alan
Sergeant N. E. One
(killed in action 1942, aged 20)
Memories
Lost on the battlefield
Of somebody else’s war.
Unwritten futures
Frozen in time
By political whim.
Twenty years behind him
Eternity in front of him,
All that remains
Are tears
And old photographs
Of a brother
A son
A husband
A father
A sacrifice
On the altar of politics,
And a politician’s war
©Alan McKean
Coronation Street
I have just posted a couple of new poems about two iconic places used on the set of the TV soap “Coronation Street”. I wrote the poems for the titular paintings by my friend Simon Footitt – artist and rock star extraordinaire (or so he says).
I have put the poems on the Art page, as well as the Lancashire page, as the buildings have become synonymous with Lancashire.
I hope you like them – paintings and the poems.
Alan
Roy’s Rolls
A painting by Simon Footitt. Roy’s Rolls is a fictitious cafe used in the TV Soap “Coronation Street”
Wonky lamp highlights
Café and/or butty shop.
A welcoming brew,
Or is’t just a fantasy
On a cod, damp TV set?
©Alan McKean, 23 January 2026
Rover’s Return
(Painting by Simon Footitt)
(The Rover’s Return is a fictitious pub used in the TV Soap “Coronation Street”
A cooling pint, a warming smile
Best pint around within five mile
A wonky lamp, welcoming green door
An ‘ot ‘otpot (you’ll ask for more)
Kaleidoscopic clientele
A warts and all pub (or hotel)
So pull up a brew, and sit thisen
Enjoy the show, just like misen
A clutch of haiku
Transitory moon
Travelling through shades of cloud
Carrying stories
New year
The gods roll the dice
Playfully
Impatience
A meeting of hearts
He is late
Dark nights
Cold stars
May bring snow tomorrow
A clutch of haiku
I love writing haiku – so therapeutic, so this is just a quick scribble. I have just posted on the haiku page of a small clutch of haiku that I wrote in response to a few images I had seen on social media – I wish I’d taken copies of the pictures now, as it would help with the haiku, but there may be copyright issues.
Ah well……..
Alan
Ageing
I’ve just posted a new poem “Th’owd lass” on the general poetry page.
I wrote this piece after thinking about how the current crop of young people (our own grandchildren included) might see my generation.
For example, they will see an old lady shuffling around the street and shops and think ‘”aw look, an old lady”, but if they did the maths, and took her age back by 60 years, they arrive at the mid-to-late 1960s, the time of hippies, Carnaby Street, the “summer of love”, of “tune in, turn on, drop out” counter culture of Timothy Leary.
When Joni Mitchell, Joan Baez, Bob Dylan, John Lennon and Paul McCartney were young singer/songwriters.
Just a thought to consider about how your Granny was 60 years ago
Alan