Stella Pierides

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homesick -
a tree bends
towards the light

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NaHaiWriMo November 2011 prompt: a photo prompt by Carlos Colon, also known as Haiku Elvis. You can find him on Facebook here and on twitter here.

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soft afternoon light -
from behind open curtains
purr of a kitten

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NaHaiWriMo prompt: a 5-7-5 haiku

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dance studio -
learning to ignore
wrong moves

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NaHaiWriMo prompt: dance

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crisp
autumn
leaves
musical
chairs

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NaHaiWriMo prompt: write a five-word haiku in five lines

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in synchrony -
only now her silver thimble
fits my finger

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NaHaiWriMo prompt: heirloom/antique tool

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ten-week-old kitten
how the world calls out
to you!

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NaHaiWriMo prompt: relationships

Living in Germany and England, while having Greek roots, I thought I could lay claim to an international outlook!

Then came the call from the hostess of Language\Place #12, Linda Hofke, to produce work on the theme of food. Armed with my ‘search’ button, I looked for my food haiku and found too many to mention in one post! I mean hundreds … My choice here is limited to (gulp) 17. Some of them either published, or posted on my or other poets’ blogs. But there was a surprise in this for me. The ingredients in the haiku are not that diverse, not that varied! Perhaps I am less international than I’d like to claim. What do you think?

1

celery crunch -
I always knew you threw
the dice

2

beets -
and he wonders how he got
kidney stones

3

pumpkin -
the car park attendant scoffs
at my car

4

in this rain
even the eggplant weeps -
billowing clouds

(These haiku appeared in Sketchbook 6-3, May/June 2011, in the Haiku thread/Editor’s Choice).

5

tomato -
sometimes even stars are not
enough

Featured in Melissa Allen’s Red Dragonfly: Across the Haikuverse no 20

6

through the fog -
mountains of orange
pumpkins

7

mushroom garden -
in the damp, dark corner
full moon

8

magic mushrooms -
under the duvet I find
stars

Nos 7 and 8 featured by Melissa Allen, of Red Dragonfly, together with other haiku,  in her blog post ‘Mushroom Harvest.’

9

pale moon -
sugar crystals travelling
south

Featured in Melissa Allen’s Red Dragonfly: Across the Haikuverse, no 23

10

ruby wine -
the song of a canary
on my tongue

11

wild goose chase -
even the duvet tries
to fly south

12

summer cool -
the blossom lingers
in the cherry

13

vesper bell
on the tree so many
pomegranates

14

chamomile –
drinking the fields
from my teacup

15

so here is the tree
of the liquid gold Homer spilt
so liberally—
between epic verses and
bare rocks it grows its olives

Greece

Olea europea

in Atlas Poetica Special Feature From Lime Trees to Eucalypts: A Botany of Tanka, poem #20, (26 August 2011)  [tanka]

16

full moon tea
my book of beasts
lies open

Featured in Aubrie Cox’s Yay Words‚ Tea with Trolls

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I guess after all this food the next haiku is a must:

17

super moon 2034
robotic arm
brushes my teeth

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breaking bread
the sound of glass clinking
against glass

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NaHaiWriMo prompt: thanksgiving

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grilled sardines
beyond the pines
whispering sea

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NaHaiWriMo prompt: holiday food

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knowing how we fail
I keep my eye on the ball
pilgrims

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NaHaiWriMo prompt: ball games

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off the isle of Skye -
two whales break
the surface

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NaHaiWriMo prompt: joyous event

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kindness -
collecting the acer
from the grass

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NaHaiWriMo prompt: weekend activity

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once again
she inverts the hourglass –
Cinderella

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NaHaiWriMo prompt: deadlines

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late grapes –
birds making a meal
of the vine

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NaHaiWriMo prompt: feeding birds

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moving house –
my mother’s tea plates clink
inside the box
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(I am finally moving house tomorrow! I did wrap those plates in extra paper!)

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siesta
my sister and I peep through
half-closed shutters

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NaHaiWriMo prompt: childhood memory.

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lunch
a fishbone swims down
my throat

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NaHaiWriMo prompt: bad luck

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running along
the rim of the crater –
old soldier

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NaHaiWriMo prompt: veterans

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weeping meadow -
every time love loses
its dream
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NaHaiWriMo prompt: scene from a movie

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Inspired by Theo Angelopoulos’ film The Weeping Meadow (watch the trailer)

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volcanic ash -
the taste of the market
fallout

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NaHaiWriMo prompt: natural disasters

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Mars swallows –
we beam them down
for winter

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NaHaiWriMo prompt: scifi ku

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dark moon–
at the foot of the Parthenon
last throw of the dice

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NaHaiWriMo prompt: gambling

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flowering–

on your face the ghost

of a smile

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@CuentoMag #165, 5 November 2011

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changing gear –
instead of inscribing
I tweet

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NaHaiWriMo prompt: social media

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Rosetta Stone -
a life
in three languages

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(Why is this not a senryu? It is, too!)

NaHaiWriMo prompt: ancient Egypt

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cactus needle –
loneliness turned
inside out

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NaHaiWriMo prompt: tactile

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under the red maple
red maple –
autumn’s harvest

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NaHaiWriMo prompt: autumn foliage

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full moon tea

my book of beasts

lies open

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tea leaves —

a fate worse than

cuticles

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kallikantzaroi—

drinking tea they forget

the World tree

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Three haiku included in Aubrie Cox’s collection Tree with Trolls, in her blog Yay Words. Twenty seven poets saying, in their own unique way, Happy Halloween! And thank you Aubrie!

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ant lines -
weaving a pine needle
necklace

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NaHaiWriMo extension; prompts this month by Carlos Colon: sweet indulgence