In case you didn’t know, today is World Poetry Day and so it seemed like a good idea to post a blog of the daily haikus I’ve been writing since I arrived in Granada in early January.

For those who may not be familiar with haikus, there are a number of different types but the one I have focused on is essentially a poem of 17 syllables, divided into 3 lines of 5, 7 and 5 syllables. I first learnt about haikus at school and have always liked their simplicity and have also found the ‘restrictions’ of the syllables strangely liberating when writing.

I’m not a natural photographer and so moving to a new country seemed like a good opportunity to get into writing haikus again to ‘take a picture’ of the moments we would have. My wife and I arrived on 3 January and the haikus cover the period of arriving, the uncertainties, frustrations, excitement, joy and general observations of our first 3 months here. Hope you like them…

50 Granada Haikus

Chocolate and churros

Church bells January sunshine

The Three Kings parade

 

Granada winter

So well-dressed in Sunday best

Church bells chime the calm

 

New flat and new life

Opening the door to you

A beautiful day

 

Pouring not raining

Colder than a London cold

Beautiful palm trees

 

Night out on your own

An empty bar is easy

Full one so exposed

 

Saturday night 

Mirador the Alhambra

Cold, wet and calming 

 

Primary school sun

Mountains through classroom windows

Tracksuits everywhere

 

The hordes strolling round

Somewhere to sit to just be

Easy to find in Grana’a

 

A month already

So much to look forward to

Only just begun

 

London a lifetime away

Where we going tomorrow?

The joy of today

 

The music will flow

The energy abundant

Excited by now

 

Handball octopus

Tapas and copas await

Everything is new

 

Six weeks in still rains

Overspent to an extent

Testing my patience

 

Cortado headphones 

Far from the deafening loud

Surrounded by you

 

Grumpy Granadans

Happy to make your life hard

What can I get you?

Beautiful morning

Like nothing you’ve ever seen

Just passes you by

 

Paper at the bar

Just morning cacophony

Sun comes out to shine

 

Palm trees and coffee

This is the reason we’re here

The warmth of the sun

 

Arms outstretched open

Bluer than a childlike sky 

Close your eyes in now

 

Bus through the mountains

Didn’t know got vertigo

Bit of a bugger

 

Pueblos and suburbs

Leftover lemons en route

Snowy mountain sun 

 

Glorious valley

Filled with such ugly houses

Beautifully terraced

 

Slowly climbing hills

Always wanted to be here

Sun-filled lakes of tranquil green

 

Early evening spring

All urbanisationing

Everyday living

 

Palm tree anaesthetic

Gives me traction in the grey

On the avenue

 

Reading in the park 

Boards Of Canada background

People strolling by

 

Cloth-capped old man sits

Weekend son takes his mum’s arm

Art deco streetlights

 

Sunshine bursting through

Joggers dogwalkers pigeons

Breathing in the calm 

 

Rioja waiting

Oasis in loneliness

Feijoada in Poë

 

Another top-up

To cover up the nightness

Must be time to leave

 

Morning sun coffee

Pub Elvis busking badly 

Under the palm trees

 

Starry crescent moon

Trilbied Godfather strolls by

New people evening

 

7am blue

Sky makes me wonder why I 

Haven’t been before

 

Coffee in the square

On the way home after work

Morning palm tree sun

 

The older we get

Writing more than ever here

Gave me permission

 

Mountain sunshine place

Cinema Paradiso

Montejaque Square

 

Staring at the stars

My countryside cortijo

Has finally found me here

 

Middle of nowhere

Gentle breeze rustles the trees

Turned to eleven

 

Sunshine talks to me 

Through the morning window here

And I’m feeling good

 

As you expected

No getting past the normal

Just another day

 

The masses for mass

Get through to the other side

Are they in the know? 

 

Cello boy and girl

Embracing each other’s chords

Carry their future

 

Staring into space

Old man with his plastic bags

The treasure therein

 

Morning Trinidad

So much to look forward to

A beautiful day

 

Winter’s been and gone

District Line commuting home

Million miles away

 

En route to the bus

Plaza Alonso Cano

Ave Maria

 

Not enough hours in day

To do what needs to be done

Living in the now

 

Almond blossom trees

An orchestra of binmen

Baby sleeping through

 

Spanish botellón 

Getting wasted in the streets

Student paradise

 

Morning sunshine hills

More beautiful than you know

Takes your breath away