breakfast-

a hen gathers her chicks

under her wings

.

NaHaiWriMo prompt: egg

cold snap -
a stray dog bares his teeth
at the wind

.

NaHaiWriMo prompt: dog

waxing gibbous
this catfish stays
in the deepest pool

NaHaiWriMo prompt: catfish.

quay dawn
twelve cats waiting
for the fishing boat

.

NaHaiWriMo prompt: boat

bare tree
in its core dreams
of apples

.

NaHaiWriMo prompt: apple

Today is the beginning of the second year of NaHaiWriMo! I look forward to another year of writing one haiku (and more) a day! Gratitude to Michael Dylan Welch and all the people in the Fb Community for making it possible.

lime-scented
a gentle breeze blows through
syllables

.

NaHaiWriMo prompt: nahaiwrimo (!)

white sails
her billowing
skirt

.

NaHaiWriMo prompt: wind

chicks hatching
if only we knew
the time…

.

NaHaiWriMo prompt: birth/death

spring rain –

a smile I cannot

forget

.

silent evening
I lift the cover off
the water butt

.

NaHaiWriMo prompt: water

My own contribution will be in haiku; here’s why. When I first came across haiku, I was puzzled by its brevity, and, given the size, the disproportionate impact it had on me. There was something in this form that attracted me in mysterious ways, enough to start me reading it and, much later, trying my hand at writing it.

Then in January 2011, I joined the small stones project (A River of Stones, then), focusing, noting, and writing down an immediate experience from my day; in February 2011, the National Haiku Writing Month (NaHaiWriMo for short), and felt I had found something precious, an area of writing and thinking that with study, practice and discipline would be rewarding to me.

And so it proved to be. This coming together of daily attending to my sensory experience of the world, and putting it into words, shaping it to the short form of haiku, became both an invaluable experience and a developmental practice, a sort of daily meditation on a material, physical input. The essence of this experience was not in the mind (where I lived for many, many years), but in this lived moment where, for me, both the work and the rewards were found.

So I didn’t need to think twice when it came to choosing a theme for the blog carnival Language / Place, #14. My contribution will be in the form of haiku. Yours might be in the form of a short story, a flash, a non-fiction piece, a travelogue, a recipe, an image.

Listen, taste, feel the weight, and lightness of the world and share this experience with us. Does a place associate in your mind with a smell, an image, a sound? Does a taste, say of aniseed, of olives, of papaya define a place for you? Do bird song, drumming, waves move you? Where do you stand on body odor? And how do you react as a writer? Do you have a voice recorder, notepad, or the back of your hand on the ready for recording your experience? Is the result a ‘small stone,’ a flash, or haiku? Do you have a Proustian gene in you? Perhaps a non-fiction piece detailing a sensation-awakened memory? Tell me. Tell us. I can’t wait to hear from you!

If you have already written something on this theme, great. Please submit your link(s). If not, and you are looking for inspiration, then have a look at The Haiku Foundation website: lots of (haiku) moments to inspire you, including Per Diem: Daily Haiku.  In March, my selection of sense-based, mainly non-visual haiku will appear, illustrating not only how good these sense-based poems can be, but also how the senses interconnect, each one stimulating one or more of the others. There is a digital library on the site with free books to download and enjoy, discussion boards, calendars of events and contests and more.

There is the ‘official’ NaHaiWriMo coming up in February once again, too. Perhaps you might like to join and write a haiku a day. Michael Dylan Welch has set up this site with iinformation about haiku and the NaHaiWriMo facebook community. I joined last year doubting I could keep it up. Well, I haven’t. I have been writing not one but several haiku a day! (FB community site here)

If you didn’t join the January Small Stones project, no need to worry! You can keep your senses alert with a little help from Fiona Robyn and Kaspalita Thompson’s  Writing our Way Home

Fiona and Kaspalita’s blog is full of ideas on how to record polished moments of experience. You could start from here:

Other contributions, not restricted to this theme are, of course also welcome. Submissions will open on the 1st of February and close on the 10th of March.

For information on how to submit your links to you posts see here

The blog roll of those taking part in the blog carnival so far can be read on Dorothee Lang’s BluePrint blog site.

white rose –
a falling petal catches
the light

This poem is the result of two prompts:

1: NaHaiWriMo,  Annie Juhl’s  prompt: metaphor

2: Katherine Gallagher, writers’ workshop prompt: ‘one petal in a full-blown rose’

still swaying last year’s eucalyptus

.

NaHaiWriMo prompt: one-line haiku

spring clean -
in the dragon’s gullet
moon dust

.

NaHaiWriMo prompt: dragon

A Happy New Year of the Dragon!

Also, “Gray morning (haiku),” in the notebook of the Asahi Haikuist Network, edited by Prof David McMurray, here.

dark moon
balanced finish of a wine
long forgotten

.

NaHaiWriMo prompt: taste

shooting stars
all you need to know about
sciatica

.

NaHaiWriMo prompt: pain

eating alone -
I measure the distance
to the moon

.

NaHaiWriMo prompt: food/eating

song of the earth
a blackbird sings
the first notes

.

NaHaiWriMo prompt: music/song

moist earth
a simple gadfly knows what’s best
for its eggs

.

Posted on FB site Joys of Japan

According to the announcement, the winning poets will be granted a 7 day stay for two people in Capoliveri (on the Elba) and will attend an awards ceremony in May 2012. I feel honored to be amongst those chosen for the anthology. Now please cross your fingers for me to go to the next phase, I’d love to visit Elba.

The list of the anthology selections of international haiku poets can be seen here.

And if you are wondering what and where is Capoliveri, you could start from this site here.

I am looking forward to the anthology!

moon flower
I wrap my dreams
in furoshiki

.

What on earth is furoshiki? Please visit Gabi Greve’s Daruma Museum to find out! Wonderful patterns on the cotton cloth wrappers too. And don’t forget to scroll down the page to find my haiku.

(First shared on Fb group Joys of Japan wall)

guessing game -
from dusk to dawn
the sea darkens

.

In ‘a handful of stones‘ 12 January 2012

wintersweet -
shifting my weight
to the other foot

.

NaHaiWriMo prompt: narrowing focus.

harvesting lies
a paper moon splits
open

.

Haiku Bandit Society, Moon Viewing Party, January 2012

before the rain -
the air fills with the scent
of rain

.

before the rain the scent of rain

.

NaHaiWriMo prompt: scent/smell

salmon roe

he rubs his wife’s

pregnant belly

.

handiwork -
snowball by snowball
we receive winter

.

NaHaiWriMo prompt: hands

Delighted to find out today that my haiku received Honorable Mention in The 15th Mainichi Haiku Contest!

‘fish kites’ can be found on page 13 of the PDF announcement See here

.

.

NaHaiWriMo prompt: daydreaming

.

time piece
a kitten knows when it’s time
to eat

.

NaHaiWriMo prompt: here and now (time)

flowering only

in soft moonlight—

dragon fruit

.

In anticipation of the year of the dragon, a delightful collection of dragon haiku edited by Aubrie Cox, of Yay Words! The language of Dragons is heart-warming, playful, witty, and wonderful.  I am delighted that one of my own dragon haiku made it there. The entire collection can be downloaded as PDF from Aubrie’s site, here.

Sitting under a mulberry tree by the sea, in Alexandroupolis, Greece, near the border with Turkey, I stare across the sparkling water. A melancholy mood is sapping my energy. The ferry to Samothraki makes me wish to travel further on, but I know I’ve come far enough. This place, at the intersection of continents, symbolizes the crossroads in my own life, leaving behind my youth and entering middle age. I need a push, something to give me strength to take the next step.

I must have fallen asleep because when I come to dusk is falling like rain. I rub my eyes. The town lights flicker simultaneously with their reflections on the water. The notes of a flute pierce the air.

I muse about the times this town has passed between the Bulgarians, the Greeks, the Turks, the Russians; shudder at the thought of how much blood has been spilled. And yet humanity continues, the spirit survives whoever the ruler, whatever the belief. I realize the smallness of my own problem, the disease of vanity and self-preoccupation.

A crow lands next to me. We eye each other for a minute or two, then he flies away. Feeling a sense of acceptance wash over me, I walk to my Pension. The hostess noticing the lifting of my mood offers me a theory about what happened.

“It must have been the dervish, the Holy man of the fifteenth century,” she says. “He spent his days under a tree… he is buried there…”

“They buried him under his tree?”

“They say he still heals those who go to sit under it.”

“Is that the Mulberry tree…?” I start, trying to locate ‘my’ tree for her.

She shrugs, and then I know it does not matter.

.

in the salty air

a single leaf from his book -

dove with crow

In Contemporary Haibun Online, January 2012

.

NaHaiWriMo prompt: fur/feather

at my door
singing out of tune
three kings

.

NaHaiWriMo prompt: January first week

.

NaHaiWriMo prompt: family / friends

“The world offers itself to your imagination,

calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting-“

From Wild Geese, Mary Oliver’s poem in Wikipedia

Let‘s not be deaf to it this year. Let’s start small, noticing one thing at a time, writing a small stone.

If you’d like to join in, take a look at the founding fathers, ooops, founding couple: Fiona and Kaspa’s site here  They explain everything… And you can even get a lovely badge from their site for your blog. I will be getting one soon myself…

 .

Oh yes, I almost forgot, here is the distillation of today’s noticing in the form of a haiku:

. 

first day

the rootedness

of everything

.

See also NaHaiWriMo prompt: New Year’s day/beginnings

one year older
I learn to notice blades
of grass

.

.

NaHaiWriMo prompt: New Year resolution/review

packing tackle
the fishing line teasing
the cats
.
Inspired by Jane Reichhold’s ‘frayed rope’
.
2
a shape no other
than the humble horseshoe
four-leaf clover
.
Based on Cherie Hunter Day’s ‘a skull no bigger‘

.

NaHaiWriMo prompt: Influence (another poet/haiku) This is the prompt:

Write a haiku based on/influenced by another poet’s haiku. I know, I know, we are always under someone’s influence, but still! Anything goes, except ‘old pond’

If you are stuck for choice, have a look at the link below, the Haiku Foundation’s Montage Archive, where the work of haiku poets is juxtaposed in relation to a theme, for instance, The Little Truths  or any other comparative haiku piece. Or, pull on the ‘frayed rope’ here
See you there!

against loss
sewn into the mattress
gold coins

.

NaHaiWriMo prompt: gold/silver/coins

what might have been
but for frangipani blooms
December evening

.

NaHaiWriMo prompt: taking stock

oiling

the wheel of fortune

horseshoe

.

NaHaiWriMo prompt: oil

peace and joy -
on the Christmas tree
a red felt heart

.

NaHaiWriMo prompt: Good-wishes-ku

Happy Christmas and a Merry, Healthy and Joyous New Year!

.

This haiga, using my haiku, was created by renowned haiga artist  Kuniharu Shimizu. Kuni-san is also priest of Tenrikyo, advisor to the  World Haiku Association, and judge of their haiga contests. I feel most honored that one of my snowman haiku was included in his current series of Snowman haiga.

The haiga is accompanied by a lovely commentary on his own blog, seehaikuhere. Click and see.

1
tree of life
a stray gene from
Andromeda
2
olive tree
as blessed as it is
humble

.

NaHaiWriMo prompt: Tree

December 23 prompt: All about trees. From frankincense trees, to olive and fig trees, Eucalyptus, Jacaranda, cinnamon, Christmans trees, take your pick!
I saw this piece of news re frankincense tree

cosmic cushion –
pulling the darkness out
pin by pin
.
moment of stillness
just before the light changes
direction

.

NaHaiWriMo prompt: solstice. The actual prompt ran like this:

Solstice (what else?), cosmic time, longest/shortest day, cosmic light… .
.
A haiku I love by Svetlana Marisova:
.
incoming tide …
the writing fills
both sides
..
More of her poems in the recently created page here (The link takes you to the Haiku Foundation page with several of Svetlana’s poems. Go and see!)

1
funicular inner monologue bursting out in laughter (ku-ku)
2
snow storm
all the pigeons become
doves
(cuckoo-ku)
.
My haiku plays with the misperception that pigeons are grey and doves white. I came across a site with pictures that corrected me (at least) for good: here

.

NaHaiWriMo prompt runs as follows:

December 21 Prompt: Let’s have some serious fun. Pick a genre from Michael’s essay „ku-ku: Because You Can’t Have Enough Haiku“ and write a haiku in that genre. Please indicate which one you’ve picked, eg chai-ku.
See here

count-down to solstice
two cormorants dry their wings
in the sun

.

NaHaiWriMo prompt: numbers

sheltering
under your wings
fly

.

NaHaiWriMo prompt: refuge

melting
the snowman on the patio
now kneels

.

NaHaiWriMo prompt: knee

avalanche
the sound comes before
the fury

.

NaHaiWriMo prompt: snow

winter forest work
a hairdresser clips
his bonsai

.

In Gabi Greve’s World Kigo Database, under Ikebana/Bonsai (scroll down)

(first appearance in FB page: Joys of Japan)

layer after layer
the same old stink -
onion

.

NaHaiWriMo prompt (by Yours, truly): onion (s)

.

In Gabi Greve’s Haiku and Happiness. The photo is beautiful, have a look!

wild winter roses
the impersonal color
in your cheeks

.

NaHaiWriMo prompt:  Haiku involving color

I’d like to share a haiku I read today on the Haiku Foundation site Archive (HaikuNow! winning poem, First Prize for 2011):

.
Indian summer
mother dyes her graying hair
the color of straw

.
—Tom Painting (USA)

For more winning Haiku and an excellent analysis see the Haiku Foundation Archive

pines along the shore
and the sea unfolding -
so cold this winter

.

I hope this poem conveys something of the difficult situation that Greece is facing…

.

Today’s NaHaiWriMo prompt (by Yours truly) as follows:

You are/were on holiday in Greece and this is how your haiku senses sing about /remember it…

By the way, you may know Shamrock, #17 had a Greek focus, with several haiku translated by its editor, Anatoly Kudryavitsky. You can find it here:

From the same issue, I copy a haiku by Giorgos Seferis, transl. Anatoly Kudryavitsky.

empty chairs
the statues returned
to another museum

.

winter gusts
again the broken window
rattles

.

I copy below today’s prompt for NaHaWriMo that I posted earlier on their FB site. It occurs to me that I should have collected the prompts as I posted them over there in this site too – it is so exciting and an honor to be doing this! Anyway, at least today’s:

December 13 prompt: Write a haiku that tells a story…

Issa:
.
mopping sweat–
at his tomb I tell my story
then go
.
Trans. David Lanoue. See more here

Also, if you have the time, you might like to have look here

Curious? Interested? Wondering about tomorrow’s prompt? See  here.

reading room
the soft tapping
of laptop keys

.

NaHaiWriMo prompt: Book(s)/reading

for a clear head
malt, hops, yeast, and water -
old brewer’s trick

.

NaHaiWriMo prompt: recipe-ku

moonlight -
below the Acropolis
a man sells drachmas

.

NaHaiWriMo prompt: place names

dissecting her heart
they find the sea and the crater
of an old volcano

.

NaHaiWriMo prompt: heart

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

..

.

driving rain

through the porthole

sight of land

.

painting by Maria Pierides (www.mariapierides.co.uk)

haiku by Stella Pierides

.

NaHaiWriMo prompt: weather/painting by Maria Pierides: Driving rain

one-breath poem
cut short
by a cough

.

NaHaiWriMo prompt: breath/air

a branch of pine
broken in the storms
Christmas tree

.

NaHaiWriMo prompt: gift

winter wind –
feathers and fishbones shift
inside the eyrie

.

NaHaiWriMo prompt: nest

lighthouse -
on the way we observe
the inner light

.

false log beams
I wonder who is holding up
the ceiling

.

NaHaiWriMo prompts (by Stella Pierides, by the way!) lighthouse/beam

suckling
at the mouth of the river
ocean

.

NaHaiWriMo prompt: tongue, mouth

advent wreath –
wax spreading on the table
counts down the days

.

NaHaiWriMo prompt: garland or wreath

slow stream

a heron stretches his beak

towards the sky

.

soft rain

how benevolence

works

.

I am very pleased that these two haiku were included in the inaugural issue of A Hundred Gourds, alongside contributions by many fine poets. A Hundred Gourds is a new international journal for haiku, haibun, haiga and more, edited by Lorin Ford and a team of distinguished poets. Congratulations to everyone on the team, and many happy returns!

weaver’s hut –
by the loom a goat chews off
threads

.

NaHaiWriMo prompt: carpet

homesick -
a tree bends
towards the light

.

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.

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

.

NaHaiWriMo prompt: a 5-7-5 haiku

dance studio -
learning to ignore
wrong moves

.

NaHaiWriMo prompt: dance

crisp
autumn
leaves
musical
chairs

.

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

in synchrony -
only now her silver thimble
fits my finger

.

NaHaiWriMo prompt: heirloom/antique tool

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

.

NaHaiWriMo prompt: relationships

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

.

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

17

super moon 2034
robotic arm
brushes my teeth

.

breaking bread
the sound of glass clinking
against glass

.

NaHaiWriMo prompt: thanksgiving

grilled sardines
beyond the pines
whispering sea

.

NaHaiWriMo prompt: holiday food

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

.

NaHaiWriMo prompt: ball games

off the isle of Skye -
two whales break
the surface

.

NaHaiWriMo prompt: joyous event

kindness -
collecting the acer
from the grass

.

NaHaiWriMo prompt: weekend activity

once again
she inverts the hourglass –
Cinderella

.

NaHaiWriMo prompt: deadlines

late grapes –
birds making a meal
of the vine

.

NaHaiWriMo prompt: feeding birds

moving house –
my mother’s tea plates clink
inside the box
.

(I am finally moving house tomorrow! I did wrap those plates in extra paper!)

siesta
my sister and I peep through
half-closed shutters

.

NaHaiWriMo prompt: childhood memory.

lunch
a fishbone swims down
my throat

.

NaHaiWriMo prompt: bad luck

running along
the rim of the crater –
old soldier

.

NaHaiWriMo prompt: veterans

weeping meadow -
every time love loses
its dream
.

NaHaiWriMo prompt: scene from a movie

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

volcanic ash -
the taste of the market
fallout

.

NaHaiWriMo prompt: natural disasters

Mars swallows –
we beam them down
for winter

.

NaHaiWriMo prompt: scifi ku

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

.

NaHaiWriMo prompt: gambling

flowering–

on your face the ghost

of a smile

.

@CuentoMag #165, 5 November 2011

changing gear –
instead of inscribing
I tweet

.

NaHaiWriMo prompt: social media

Rosetta Stone -
a life
in three languages

.

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

NaHaiWriMo prompt: ancient Egypt

cactus needle –
loneliness turned
inside out

.

NaHaiWriMo prompt: tactile

under the red maple
red maple –
autumn’s harvest

.

NaHaiWriMo prompt: autumn foliage

full moon tea

my book of beasts

lies open

.

tea leaves —

a fate worse than

cuticles

.

kallikantzaroi—

drinking tea they forget

the World tree

.

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!

ant lines -
weaving a pine needle
necklace

.

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

no-go area –
her recipe-book
on the top shelf

.

NaHaiWriMo extension 2011; prompt: secret

on her tombstone dove
two snails
mating

.

NaHaiWriMo extension 2011; prompt: cemetery

telegraph wires –
swallows too are waiting
for your news

.

Nahaiwrimo extension 2011; prompt: migrating birds

charred blankets -
the doll
still smouldering

.

NaHaiWriMo extension 2011; prompt: consequences of war

chill wind -
remembering
the things I forget

.

NaHaiWriMo extension 2011; prompt: frightening

winter’s beginning –
last year’s coat
two sizes larger

.

Or,

winter’s beginning –
last year’s coat
two sizes too big

.

NaHaiWriMo extension 2011; prompt: beginning

when you blush -
the faintest shade of pink
above the horizon

.

NaHaiWriMo extension 2011; prompt: dawn

squall –
learning to blow
against the wind

.

NaHaiWriMo extension 2011; prompt: windstorm

as if the word for peace were war cloudy skies

.

cloudy lens –
looking without
seeing

.

NaHaiWriMo extension 2011; prompt: peace

curling
against your warmth
ebb tide

.

NaHaiWriMo extension 2011; prompt: place of peace

perfume wars -
her statement still lingers
in my study

.

NaHaiWriMo extension 2011; prompt: scent

bee hive 

where the workers never

strike

.

Sketchbook 6-4, Editor’s Choice Haiku, John Daleiden: Life in the Mostly Unexamined World (scroll down)

.

eternal life
only the roaches
come close

.

in my salad
a green caterpillar—
life lesson

.

Sketchbook 6-4, Guest Editor’s Choice Haiku, Bernard Gieske : A Glimpse into the Past (scroll down)

and Editor’s Choice Haiku, John Daleiden: Life in the Mostly Unexamined World (scroll down)

gut feeling –
blinking
the third eye

.

NaHaiWriMo extension 2011; prompt: belly

nightfall -
losing the certainty
of youth

.

NaHaiWriMo extension 2011; prompt: dusk

.

the unrelenting waves under your pillow

.

portentous below the belt oracles

.

NaHaiWriMo extension 2011; prompt: one-line haiku

hairline -
wading on the riverbank
terns

.

NaHaiWriMo extension 2011; prompt: baldness

never too late -
listening to the silence
of the moon

.

NaHaiWriMo extension 2011; prompt: late/too late

such innocence
the soft curve
of your lip

.

NaHaiWriMo extension 2011; prompt: innocence

Here it is:

starry night—
growing old
together

Delighted also that several of my fellow haijin from NaHaiWriMo did so well, esp Terri Hale French (1st), Michelle Harvey, Cara Holman, and others…

Two other haiku I submitted received no votes! Food for thought, of course.

The entire thread can be read by clicking here

last kiss
i unplug
the telephone

.

NaHaiWriMo extension 2011; prompt: kiss

rose-tinted clouds
in Broadstairs -
marshmallows

.

NaHaiWriMo extension 2011.

missing you -
on the ocean floor
conch shells

.

NaHaiWriMo extension 2011; prompt: telephone.

on this spot
the sun has been –
moonshine

.

NaHaiWriMo extension 2011; prompt: loss

balance -
perched on a wire a dove
and a crow

.

NaHaiWriMo extension 2011; prompt Pris Campbell: beauty

out of Ithaca –
a poem about
life

.

NaHaiWriMo extension 2011; prompt: journey

The National Poetry Day Patchwork Poem 2011, Pelmanism, collated by Andy Jackson from lines taken from contributions by a number of poets/writers appeared today. To my delight, it includes a line from my own poetry: ‘war games, the unbearable logic’. The Patchwork Poem, published in the North Carr Light, can be read here. It is a multi-layered, thoughtful poem… I cannot imagine how Andy Jackson put it together from all those separate poems and poets! What a feat!

This afternoon, I went to the Royal Festival Hall for the National Poetry Live event. A fantastic afternoon of poetry, poetry, poetry; all sorts of poetry. Simon Armitage, Lemn Sissey, Jackie Kay, Jo Shapcott, Jo Bell and others… Wonderful work. My absolute fav though, was Joelle Taylor, who read her poetry from the heart. Wrote it from the heart… Hard-hitting as well as thought-provoking work set in the  wastelands of high rise buildings in London’s poorest areas, it spoke of dispossessed children, women, people, and lives, finding hope in poetry and its transformational  powers.

moving house –
a snail and the same old
me

.

NaHaiWriMo extension 2011; prompt: home

bamboo screen -
not a single
butterfly

.

NaHaiWriMo extension 2011; prompt: butterflies

gnarled olive
the tenderness of human
love

.

NaHaiWriMo extension 2011; prompt: courtship etc

coming home -
the garden has forgotten
my hand

.

NaHaiWriMo extension 2011; prompt: sabi

sunrise -
the singular beauty
of a rose petal

.

NaHaiWriMo extension 2011. New prompter, Pris Campbell, prompt: awe

crocus-
cutting your first
tooth

.

NaHaiWriMo extension 2011; prompt: beginnings

making ends meet –
I sew an extra button
on my waistband

.

NaHaiWriMo extension 2011; prompt: ends

So pleased that my haibun ‘Drawings’ was accepted by Contemporary Haibun Online!

‘Drawings’  is now online on Contemporary Haibun Online,  ’The Quarterly Journal of Contemporary English language Haibun.’  My piece can be read here

harvest festival
the last apples before
the Fall

.

NaHaiWriMo extension 2011; prompt: celebration.

.

.

.

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NaHaiWriMo extension 2011; prompt: harvest.
September challenge 19 Planets.

autumn circus -
keeping all her juggling-balls
in the air

.

NaHaiWriMo extension 2011; prompt: circus

so many bees
on the Autumn Joy…
Octoberfest
.
Autumn Joy = one of the sedum family (flower)

Oktoberfest: oh well…

NaHaiWriMo extension 2011, prompt: autumn flowers.

city life -

inside the belly

of the whale

.

Matchless Magazine 18 September 2011

….

.

.

.
setting sun -
I too let go of
attachments
.
.
.#.

Thinking about this haiku, hm, it seems better without the ‘my’. I’ve made the change in the haiku, but not in the haiga.

photo: Hermann Mueller; haiku: Stella Pierides.

NaHaiWriMo extension 2011 prompt: sunset

Taking part in Rick Daddario’s 19 Planets September challenge (almost there!)

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.
.
.
.
growing up -
I learn to live
with the tides
.
.
.
.
.

NaHaiWriMo extension 2011, prompt: beach.
Taking part in Rick Daddario’s 19 Planets September challenge.

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…

..

….

.

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NaHaiWriMo extension 2011: animals

Taking part in Rick Daddario’s 19 Planets September haiga challenge.
.
.

your patience -
the way a river
cuts through rock

.

NahaiWriMo extension 2011. Prompter: Johnny Baranski, prompt: river(s).

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.

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Taking part in Rick Daddario’s 19 Planets September challenge: A haiga a day … or so…

what I know
each lake has its own
full moon

.

This haiku was written in response to a prompt for  a haiga using Margaret Rosenberg’s artwork. You can see the whole artworld + haiku (haiga) in here

through the fog -
mountains of orange
pumpkins

.

NaHaiWriMo extension 2011: mountains

summer -
this bee
gets lost again

.

NaHaiWriMo extension 2011: Haynaku

in this asphalt jungle
money grows on trees -
blood moon

.

NaHaiWriMo extension 2011: prompt ‘asphalt jungle’

lucky charm -
on the crest of the wave
sound bubbles

.

NaHaiWriMo extension 2011: luck

.

blood moon

how the light changes

direction

.

NaHaiWriMo extension 2011, prompt: moon viewing.

,

.

.

.

.

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laying nets they beat
olives from the trees
merciful moon

.

setting out
to dispel darkness?
moon

.

NaHaiWriMo extension 2011: light and dark

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this old city

a river runs through

its heart

 .

Taking part in Rick Dadario’s 19 Planets September Challenge: A Haiga a day, or every few days … .

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..
..

..

.
angel
meeting the endless
light
.

.

Taking part in Rick Daddario’s 19 Planets September Challenge: A Haiga a day, or every few days …

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….

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..

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blue moon
which came first the fall
or the apple?
.
(Leaving Ammersee)

Taking part in Rick Daddario’s 19 Planets September Challenge: A Haiga a day, or every few days …

waiting for the tide -
fishing boats line
the harbour

…

I was thinking of Wells-next-the-Sea, but please feel free to supply your own harbour …

NaHaiWriMo: vacation memories

waiting
for the fish to be caught
frying pan
.

The artwork in this haiga was originally a photograph taken by Hermann Mueller in Diessen am Ammersee, a small town on the shores of the lake. Diessen is famous for its Baroque gem of a Church, its community of artists and craftsmen, its yearly world-famous ceramic market, and its fish. Fish nurseries have been flourishing for a number of years here. The couple in the picture is a wood-carved sculpture on the lane leading to the lake promenade (I hope to find out the name of the artist or at least the owner of the sculpture and will be posting it here).

.

Taking part in Rick Daddario’s 19 Planets September Challenge: A Haiga a day, or every few days …
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.
.
.

.

.
plain sailing?
once again we run into
trouble

NaHaiWriMo: games. Leaving Ammersee.

Taking part in Rick Daddario’s 19 Planets September Challenge: A Haiga a day, or every few days …

.

between us

.

between us -

this sunset is also

a sunrise

.

NaHaiWriMo prompt: sunrise

Taking part in Rick Daddario’s 19 Planets September Challenge: A Haiga a day, or every few days …

.

.

.

….

NaHaiWriMo prompt: weekend. Lake Ammersee.

Taking part in Rick Daddario’s 19 Planets September Challenge: A Haiga a day, or every few days …

. 

Having lived by the lake Ammersee for ten years, we are now moving further inland. These photos with haiku/haiku within a photo (haiga) are our way of capturing our last autumn walks by the lake.

(I will be posting them on Flickr too, set: ‘leaving Ammersee.’)

Inspiration also through NaHaiWriMo extension prompt: weekend.

Taking part in Rick Daddario’s 19 Planets September Challenge: A Haiga a day, or every few days …

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.

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September drizzle -
on my wall calendar
the page for August

.

NaHaiWriMo extension 2011/prompt: calendar

leaving a trail
of crumbs for the way back
history lesson

.

Prompt: photo of wine cellar, NaHaiWriMo extension 2011.

shower of sparks
last year‘s pine cones
giving up the ghost

.

Prompt: campfire. NaHaiWriMo extension 2011.

rice fields after the harvest caesium

.

refusing to draw
the plow, water buffalo –
caesium fields

.

Prompt: environmental concerns haiku. NaHaiWriMo extension 2011.

just because
the sky is navigable –
thistledown

.

Prompt: just because. NaHaiWriMo extension 2011.

baring his teeth
the hobbling dog –
harpsichord

.

This month’s prompter, Terri Hale  French, suggested we use a randomly generated haiku by the haiku generator (a JavaScript Haiku application) to work on our own haiku. I did. The result is the haiku above. You can see the original, software generated haiku below:
.
harpsichord sickens
dense snowstorms hobbling dogs
wailing, formless

car boot sale -
on schoolyard tables
grown-up divorce

.

Prompt: second hand. NaHaiWriMo extension 2011.

Aegean heat -

in the animal shelter

an eery silence

.

Prompt: natural disasters. NaHaiWriMo extension 2011.

a goldfinch
lines her nest
thistledown

.

Prompt: Photo of thistle with cicadas. NaHaiWriMo extension 2011.

glacial

the silence of space

against glass

.

In escarp, the ‘ selective, twitter-based review of brief poetry and prose’, posted on 20 August 2011. (#8)

wireless
the quiet certainty of
old love

.

NaHaiWriMo extension 2011: radio

flying saucer
the wind carries away
my hat

.

NaHaiWriMo extension 2011: flying

It is a dream of a post with amazing poems, images/artwork. (Don’t miss the video of the dying dragonfly.) The links to the poets and their sites/work is an extra bonus, and I know it is much appreciated.

So, go over there and read! (Delighted that two of my own haiku are included! Thank you, Melissa!)

mushroom garden

mushroom garden–

in the damp, dark corner

full moon

.

magic mushrooms

magic mushrooms—

under the duvet I find

stars

.

from the primordium

dark cloud–-

from the primordium

a billowing mushroom

.

In Red Dragonfly, Mushroom Harvest, July 2011

star gazing
I leave my shadow
behind

.

NaHaiWriMo extension 2011. Prompt: bad haiku (so, how can I write a good haiku without my shadow?)

teeth skin
hanging loose
a meta-ku

.

s
..  ku
i
n

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Prompt: Experimental haiku, NaHaiWriMo extension 2011.

For an introduction to experimental haiku, Terri Hale French, this month’s prompter for NaHaiWriMo, suggested  George Swede‘s article in Simply Haiku.

this moussaka
I taste the tomatoes
still ripening

.

NaHaiWriMo:humour.

flea market
in this light her pearls look
false

.

Prompt: garage sale, NaHaiWriMo extension 2011

wallflower—
slowly getting to know
your sense of humor

.

Prompt: walls, NaHaiWriMo extension 2011.

full moon—
a meteor flies past
incognito

.

Prompt: space. NaHaiWriMo extension 2011.

fireflies–
reflected in her eyes
my childhood

.

Prompt: daughters. NaHaiWriMo extension 2011.

this heart urchin shell half-buried in the sandbed

.

Prompt: Write a one line haiku.

Terri Hale French, this month’s prompter for NaHaiWriMo extension 2011, suggested an article from Simply Haiku, to help us orient ourselves. Really helpful article, by William Higginson, can be read here.

For images of heart urchins click here. Pages and pages of them…

on my doorstep–
this old city in flames
licking its wounds

.

Well, even though I am not in London at present, as I live there for part of the year… a ku from my watching the news.

Prompt: front porch. NaHaiWriMo extension 2011

frayed at the edges
this sunflower had too much
sun

.

Prompt: sunflower. NaHaiWriMo extension 2011.

pale moon—
sugar crystals travelling
south

.

Prompt: tired/sleep. NaHaiWriMo extension 2011.

Hot dog
when hunger gets the better
of me

.

Prompt: dog. NaHaiWriMo extension 2011.

ruby wine—
the song of a canary
on my tongue

.

Prompt: beverage. NaHaiWriMo extension 2011.

ebb and tide—
our holiday against
the horizon

.

Prompt: driftwood haiga. NaHaiWriMo extension 2011. Written for photo by Terry Hale French.

sun-kissed Aegean
gulls swoop where the boat
has been

.

Prompt: journey. NaHaiWriMo extension 2011.

I have been reading an article published in Notes from the Gean, The Intentional Ellipses: Haiku and its Relationship to Space, by Tracy Koretsky, and so experimenting with space in this haiku. While not a new article – it was first published in Triplopia, the excellent  internet journal no longer available online – it had escaped me first time round.  I am so glad Notes from the Gean published it now. I am going back to reading and trying out more space haiku…

life’s journey
I count the years
in my neck

.

Prompt: journey. NaHaiWriMo extension 2011.

beach combing–
amongst pebbles a muddy
Drachma

.

Prompt: coins. NaHaiWriMo extension 2011.

corn silk—
still searching for the face
under all this hair

.

Prompt: child/childhood. NaHaiWriMo extension 2011.

letters
learning the abc
of thanking you

.

Prompt: gratitude. NaHaiWriMo extension 2011.

mockingbird
still I kept the Athenian
accent

.

Mockingbird: Mimus polyglottos!

You can hear this amazing bird mimic other birds, squeaky gates, machines etc here

olive press—
how else do you write your
haiku?

.

Prompt: trees. NaHaiWriMo extension 2011.

spring morning–
bluebird, is that my hair
in your nest?

.

Prompt: birds. NaHaiWriMo extension 2011.

cat nap–
on my desk the mouse still
on the mouse mat

.

Prompt: cat NaHaiWriMo extension 2011.

spring ephemerals—
now my roots need colour
often

.

Prompt: spring ephemerals. NaHaiWriMo extension 2011.

Haystacks, Kochelsee

two haystacks--
in the fields the same
old story

.

Prompt: New Year. NaHaiWriMo extension 2011.

Haiku by Stella Pierides, Photo by Hermann Mueller.

waiting for the peach
I miss the blue of the sky—
summer harvest

.

Prompt: soft fruit. NaHaiWriMo extension 2011.

vernal pool—
they trend on Twitter all
morning

.

Prompt: pool, puddle. NahaiWriMo extension 2011.

Aegean moon—
still hot the pebble shifts with
the tide

.

Prompt: moon. NaHaiWriMo extension 2011.

wild goose chase—
even the duvet tries
to fly south

.

Prompt: quilt. NaHaiWriMo extension 2011.

gale force winds—
I steer my desk through a dark
ink swell

.

Prompt: wind/stillness. NaHaiWriMo extension 2011.

pins and needles—
sparkling stars
in my finger tips

.

Prompt: stars. NaHaiWriMo extension 2011.

crisp snow—
I dream of a hunted
deer

.

Prompt: Snow. NaHaiWriMo extension 2011.

shadow line
reaching across I catch
a crab

.

Prompt: shadow. NaHaiWriMo extension 2011.

Murnau moor

..

.

sea of green–

even my trike

warms to it

.

Prompt: sea/seaside. NaHaiWriMo extension 2011.

word-smith—
on the anvil a haiku
slowly takes shape

.

Prompt: haiku, writing, word. NaHaiWriMo extension 2011.

Cretan knife—
picking wild mushrooms she pricks
her finger

.

Prompt: indigenous/groups. NaHaiWriMo extension 2011.

Lainbach—

the river sculpts a garden

in stone

.

Prompt: Garden. NaHaiWriMo extension 2011.

For photographs of the haiku walk, and of course, the river, see my Scrapbook here

Lainbach cairns

flow tide
hoarse through the fog
terns‘ cries

.

Prompt: Fog. NaHaiWriMo extension 2011.

From the Sketchbook Kukai, May/June 2011 Vol. 6, No.3 (peer review poetry contest)

. 

rainbow—

all that remains of

your smile

. 

          Sketchbook May/June 2011 Kukai 6th place, tie.

.

rainbow weaving—

this spider runs out of

silk

. 

          Sketchbook May/June 2011 Kukai 7th place, tie.

+

Haiku in the Sketchbook May/June Editor’s Choices

.

beets—

and he wonders how he got

kidney stones

.

          Sketchbook May/June 2011, one of Editor’s Choices

.

celery crunch—

I always knew you threw

the dice

 .

          Sketchbook May/June 2011, one of Editor’s Choices

growing old–
that pink sky twice removed
now returning

.

Prompt: First light. NaHaiWriMo extension 2011.

neon lights
a lonely glow worm’s
mate

.

Prompt: Fireflies/Glow worms. NaHaiWriMo extension 2011.

two doves fighting–
who‘ll perch higher
on the olive tree

.

Prompt: Doves. NaHaiWriMo extension 2011.

fireworks—
forgetting the taste
of cherries

.

Prompt: Fireworks. NaHaiWriMo extension 2011.

larva and silkworm-
once upon a time
there was a girl

.

Prompt: Butterflies, bugs. NaHaiWriMo extension 2011.

cuckoo affair–
thrown out of its nest
a baby robin

.

Prompt: Birds. NaHaiWriMo extension 2011.

reggae—
in the book of life my name
in beats

.

Prompt: reggae. NaHaiWriMo extension 2011.

on a haze-wrapped stone

June heat–
by the pond
the shed skin of a snake

.

Prompt: music. NaHaiWriMo extension 2011. I took the prompt to its limit; my haiku is full of silence and absence.

roller coaster ride—
I learn to hold my heart
still

.

Prompt: Fairs. NaHaiWriMo extension 2011.

Adam and Eve—
we keep mowing
their lawn

.

Prompt: Indigenous people – my haiku is a long shot!

NaHaiWriMo extension 2011.

home for strays—
her vacant eyes
stare through me

.

Prompt: dogs/pets. NaHaiWriMo extension 2011.

marathon—
beyond the wall
dandelion

.

Prompt: Sport. NaHaiWriMo extension 2011.

summer heat–
on school benches
bleeding hearts

.

Prompt: School. NaHaiWriMo extension 2011.

shortest night—
all day she misses her beauty
sleep

.

Prompt: Solstice. NaHaiWriMo extension 2011.

poppy fields–
the roar of the sea
a murmur now

.

Prompt: Noise, NaHaiWriMo extension 2011.

dark spring—
he dreams of sunflower seeds
on the moon

.

Prompt: Freedom. NaHaiWriMo extension 2011.

on the road—

train drives over

poppies

.

Unprompted, while travelling.

Magnolia Exmouth

empty flagpole–
a dove loses its
way

.

Prompt: Flags. NaHaiWriMo extension 2011.

magpie—
down the road my purse grows
wings

.

Prompted: Crime, NHaiWriMo extension 2011.

old people’s home—
she insists on making her own
bed

.

Prompt: independence, NaHaiWriMo extension 2011.

tzitzikas—
the millennia-old rustling
of the pines

.

tzitzikas is Greek for cicada http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cicada

Prompted, NaHaiWriMo extension 2011.

Cinderella–
turning into a pumpkin
was the easy part

.

Prompted, NaHaiWriMo extension2011.

tomato—
sometimes even stars are not
enough

.

Prompted, NaHaiWriMo extension 2011.

in my ear

.

Prompted, NaHaiWriMo extension 2011.

June winds—

on sober sands

frothing waves

.

(Kingsgate Bay. (Klick for the wiki photo.This wiki photo shows the bay in its calm mood!!!)

chill wind—
the boy now beyond
the daffodils

.

Prompted, NaHaiWriMo extension 2011.

stars—
red carpet to
the milky way

.

Prompted, NaHaiWriMo extension 2011.

dream space—
yoking the bear we plough
galaxies

.

Prompted, NaHaiWriMo extension 2011.

sunrise—
or is the earth rotating
on its axis?

.

Prompted, NaHaiWriMo extension 2011.

midsummer-

losing the tug of war

once again

.

Prompted, NaHaiWriMo extension 2011.

For their fantasy wedding present, they are asking people across the world to write them a ‘small stone’ and post it on their blogs or on Facebook or Twitter.

A small stone is a short piece of observational writing – simply pay attention to something properly and then write it down. Find out more about small stones here.

Whether or not you have a blog,  write them a small stone on their wedding day whilst they are saying their vows and eating cake, post it on your blog, and send it to them.

You can find out more about their project at their website, Wedding Small Stones, and you can also read their blog at A River of Stones.

They also have a July challenge coming soon, when they’ll be challenging you to notice one thing every day during July and write it down.

They thank you for listening, and hope they’ll be returning from their honeymoon to an inbox crammed with small stones, including yours.

So do it! Please…

medicine bag—
pine needles, sage and crystal
against missing you

.

full moon–
in the pine forest
shadows

.

Prompted, NaHaiWriMo 2011.

between glances
a question mark—
butterfly noon

.

Prompted, NaHaiWriMo extension 2011.

word by word
we burned
our bridges

.

Prompted, NaHaiWriMo extension 2011.

reed beds—
all that remains of
a lost village
.
Prompted, NaHaiWriMo extension 2011.

(Playing with Basho’s haiku here, using it as a ‘template’.)

spring’s end—
a grass snake in the ashes
of the bonfire

Prompted, NaHaiWriMo extension 2011.

.

And here is the snake in my garden, though not the one in the haiku!

Simon, the snake in my garden

falling petals—
she throws the ball without
looking

.

Prompted, NaHaiWriMo extension 2011.

against the sky
the heavenly scent of
wisteria

.

Prompted, NaHaiWriMo extension 2011.

first butterfly –
a piece of the sky in
my cat’s mouth

.

mountain mist-
all through the rain
the cuckoo calls

.

Prompted NaHaiWriMo extension 2011.

azalea spring
with raised arms they greet
the dawn

.

Prompted, NaHaiWriMo extension 2011.

vesper bell
on the tree so many
pomegranates

.

Prompted, NaHaiWriMo extension 2011.

shooting star -
between dreams
reality

.

Prompted, NaHaiWriMo extension 2011.

Olympus -
reaching for the sky again,
Gaia?

.

Prompted, NaHaiWriMo extension 2011.

flower moon
the poppies harsher
than the sax

.

Prompted, NaHaiWriMo extension 2011.

when the colors sing –
an onion dome between
my teeth

.

Prompted, NaHaiWriMo extension 2011
This haiku refers to Kandinsky’s ideas about color and its use in painting; and my own novel in progress of the same title.

See also about synaesthesia here

spring wind on the lake–
in the sound of the waves
the might of the ocean

.

Prompted, NaHaiWriMo extension 2011.

spring tides –
more regular than
some birds

.

Prompted, NaHaiWriMo extension 2011.

spring tides –
searching the sands for a
lucky stone

.

Prompted, NaHaiWriMo extension 2011