love

NaPoWriMo Day 17 – Paddy’s Poem

/ Ushiku / Leave a comment

Yooooooou’rrrrrrrrre maaaaaaaade offffffff cuddle!
Cuddle cuddle cuddle cuddle!
His ears flipping and flopping
as I chase him around the flat.

Yooooooou’rrrrrrrrre gonnnnnnnnna starrrrrrrrrrt running!
I noticed he’d respond to the intonation.
A playful game began
with my favourite pupper.

Prior to Covid I cared for him for many years,
and I’ve definitely felt his absence since.
I’ve looked after other dogs
but none are quite like him.

He’s maaaaaaaade offffffff cuddle!
And he was my greatest canine friend.

NaPoWriMo Day 16 – Forfar Feathered Friend

/ Ushiku / Leave a comment

A penguin greets in Forfar
By the service station entrance.
Childish glee emanates from my face.
Another feathered friend anar.
Beauty that can’t help but entrance.
Caledonian coos at penguin pace.

Deftly setting sun upon its chest
Encapsulating the wonders of the Highlands.
Could you imagine a greater greeting in this place?
Dearly held, with a landscape on its crest.
Cute face.

NaPoWriMo Day 15 – The Pique’s Peak

/ Ushiku / Leave a comment

I have no interest in being defeatist,
not when my own mind tortured me,
flogged and flayed for over a decade
by depression, doubt and trauma.

Instead, I don’t follow my dreams…
I live life lucid and create them.

I have no interest in being disinterested,
not when too many days were spent staring out in near-perpetual apathy.

I’d much rather follow my passions,
use that heart on my sleeve as the jumper that sets the goalposts.
Forever moving,
hitting targets from afar like Ronaldinho.

I have no more interest in stating what I’m not interested in,
for my focus is on the gentle embrace of the pique’s peak.

NaPoWriMo Day 13 – The Gift of Gratitude

/ Ushiku / Leave a comment

Stop,
close your eyes,
and breathe.

State 3 things you’re grateful for.
Not one, not two,
but just one more.

Focus on your goals and dreams,
let go of the wheel
yet do not scream.

Embrace the gifts
the universe bestows
and each day your gratitude will grow.

I started once, in darker times,
and now I smile at all that’s mine.

NaPoWriMo Day 12 – A Forest Legacy

/ Ushiku / Leave a comment

A seed is small but the potential is mighty
and when nourished
with wilful waters
and serendipitous sunlight
an oak appears where once stood an idea.

The greatest of men described friendship as planting seeds
and I now follow his example.
I shall leave a forest as my legacy,
each root a fragment of my soul.

NaPoWriMo Day 11 – An Answered Prayer

/ Ushiku / Leave a comment

Smol in stature but immeasurable in heart,
her kindness an imprint
from her soul’s beacon.

Though she struggles with her own mind,
as I have too.
I am a tree planted from the seeds of her empathy.

Her humour is sharper than the tastiest cheddar
and just as cheesy at times.
Yet I cherish every bite.

She sings smoothly, an angel’s song
transmuted through finite human ears.
A melody I know by heart.

Her name means prayer,
and the universe has answered.

NaPoWriMo Day 10 – Love is difficult

/ Ushiku / Leave a comment

Love is difficult
in a world where lust
and indifference reign.

Yet I’ve begun to love myself
and place past pains in eternal slumber.

In all else, the universe has provided.
So how can I doubt it?
Perhaps doubt lies within
after so long without.

Trauma has melted away
and scars have faded beyond Heimdall’s gaze.
Self-love’s kind kaleidoscope is the seed
from which my World Tree is rooted.

NaPoWriMo Day 7 – Not all penguins like the cold

/ Ushiku / Leave a comment

Not all penguins like the cold,
many live in warmer climes.
From Africa to Oceania
they squawk and wobble
in sea and sun.

Not all penguins like the cold,
many habitats shine like souls.
Their cheery demeanour
is a brighter feature
than ice covered skies could find.

Not all penguins like the cold,
leave your assumptions at the door.

Not all penguins like the cold,
as many live for more.

NaPoWriMo Day 6 – I am doing much better

/ Ushiku / Leave a comment

Italics of imagination…

Ah, the freedom of creativity.
My tale is not one of the tortured artist.

Doubtless I have carved statues from my pain,
Obliquely however, as it doesn’t fuel me.
Instead, it was merely a dark cloud that followed me.
Now, I reside on a plateau that the clouds cannot reach.
Gratitude is a seed that’s nourished roots of abundance.

My creativity freed me from the shackles of the black dog,
Undeterred, I use its collar as a crown.
Could that my younger self could feel the reverberating ripples of hope.
How he would smile for me now.

Boldly, I encourage others to follow their passions….
Eternally grateful for the gifts mine bestowed upon me.
Torrid times are no more.
Today I smile where once I shuddered.
Eventually, hard work met opportunity.
Right… on… time.

Less than a week till Unmasked’s first showing!

/ Ushiku / Leave a comment

Ushiku Crisafulli and The Peer Hat presents: Unmasked – a journey through the autistic mind via hip hop, comedy and theatre.

On Tuesday 21st September I’ll be doing a scratch performance of my piece Unmasked which exams concepts around autistic authenticity through comedy, theatrical monologues and hip hop at The Peer Hat.

As it is an early scratch performance ahead of the full preview at Old Bank Studios in April 2022 I’ll be supported by a group of fantastic performers.

In hour 1 we’ll be joined by Loll a passionate poet and excellent barber whose spoken word is just a cut above; and Tonkabell Manchester’s favourite non-binary fairy whose words capture a range of emotions from the importance of sharing to the weirdest of love.

In hour 2 we’ll have comedy from a comic that might just be too cool in Kieran “Keesh” Grey and a fantastic comic storyteller and Camden Town Brewery New Act Comedy finalist in Justina Sesel; followed by a trip through childhood via the musical musings of Jonny Holland who first came to my attention when I saw him doing sick metal riffs to Sonic the Hedgehog

Hour 3 will be a scratch performance of Ushiku Crisafulli’s Unmasked.

Doors open: 7pm

First act: 8pm

https://thepeerhat.co.uk/event/unmasked/