.
heatwave
I see more
of my neighbors
.
in The Heron’s Nest, Volume XV, Number4: December 2013
.
apricot skies
taste of summer
in the fruit bowl
.
Blithe Spirit Vol 23 No. 4, p. 41
Happy Thanksgiving, and Happy Chanukah to friends who celebrate it. And to the rest of my friends, wherever they happen to be in the world, who would be happy for the opportunity to give thanks for blessings received any time of the year, Happy Thanksgiving too!
I am giving thanks for my family and friends, the creative, nourishing and supportive haiku communities and writers’ groups I am involved with around the world, and the gift of every day on this Earth I continue to receive.
A special note of thanks to the The Haiku Foundation for its breathtaking work on the many and varied haiku projects it sustains and furthers. It too is giving thanks and fundraising for its work during the period from Thanksgiving through St. Nicholas Day. Please take a look to see what they’ve been up to this year, as well as the exciting program they have planned for the coming days here.
While you are visiting their site, I encourage you to sign up for their email notifications, follow them on Twitter and like them on Facebook: this way you will be kept up to date with all their offerings.
Wishing you a happy and healthy holiday season.
autumn loneliness
the farmer makes a wife
for his scarecrow
.
This haiku appeared in Haiku News: No: 2 Vol. 33
(First publication in Asahi Shimbun, From the notebook section)
See more of my haiku in Haiku News here
cold dew
why must I write
autumn poems?
.
#NaHaiWriMo prompt: sprinkle
Over at the The Haiku foundation site, there is talk of naked haiku! Haiku, that is, taken away from a haibun, standing out on its own without the prose it was meant to accompany.
‘
I shared one of my own as a comment on the THF November Per Diem blog post. Here it is:
.
another country
the snowflakes taste
of salt
.
(This haiku was originally part of the haibun “Parcels”, published this year in Frogpond, 2013, 36:2)
pending your answer the moon’s glare
(p. 8)
.
Plato’s cave each day a new shadow
(p. 49)
.
in Bones, journal for contemporary haiku, No. 2, 15 June 2013
‘Leonid shower’, my haiga, is now Haiga of the Month (November 2013)! Honored, Ramona Linke, thank you!
The haiga can be seen by cliking here
I also reproduce it below:

Please visit Ramona Linke’s blog haiku-art rl, and explore the wondeful work in words and images. Ramona Linke is a writer, poet and haiga master; her work can be seen here
.
secret lives
by the Thames
Klee’s “Fish Magic”
.

I visited Paul Klee’s show at the Tate, and this painting caught my heart! The magic of ‘Fish Magic’. Source of image: here
NaHaiWriMo prompt (for the 29th of October 2013) : secret lives
environment day –
green leaves turn
to gold
.
Written in response to the following news:
Gold in trees leads to hidden deposits
By Rebecca Morelle
“Money might not grow on trees, but scientists have confirmed that gold is found in the leaves of some plants.
Researchers from Australia say that the presence of the particles in a eucalyptus tree’s foliage indicates that deposits are buried many meters below.
They believe that the discovery offers a new way to locate the sought-after metal in difficult-to-reach locations.”
I shared this poem on FB Joys of Japan 24 October 2013
Gabi Greve added it to her World Kigo Database (WKD), an educational reference site for haiku, cultural keywords and kigo, under “worldwide saijiki”,
Environment Day
***** Location: Worldwide
***** Season: Autumn
***** Category: Observance
A new, exciting Project in the Haiku world!
The Living Haiku Anthology aims to bring “a multicultural voice of haiku to the general public,” its mission being “to provide numerous and varied haiku, free of charge, to readers from all over the world including schools of education at all levels.” The Anthology team is collecting and documenting many of the finest haiku (and living poets) today. So what an honour and pleasure to be included in it. Please visit and browse the poets and poetry in it. You will find an index of poets here
And while you are visiting, don’t forget to take a look at my haiku too. They can be found by clicking here
.
New haiga in the Autumn Showcase of the “The Zen Space” here
.
red stains erasable signs of grief
.
Take a look! The Zen Space
.
traveling light /
a soul enters the river /
of heaven //
.
Svetlana Marisova Memorial kukai 2013
3 pts
.
patio lantern
my finger’s shadow points
the wrong way
.
NaHaiWriMo prompt: finger
.
milky way…
the baby licks
her lips
.
Kigo entry, Shiki Kukai, September 2013
9 pts
…
bird pecks at pumpkin
the scarecrow’s
third eye
.
Free Format, Shiki Kukai, September 2013
6 pts
.
wind in the reeds /
the creases /
on your lips //
.
NaHaiWriMo prompt: wrinkles
harvest moon
so many shoppers
looking for bargains…
.
Dottie Dot award (one of three), Haiku Bandit Society, September 2013
http://haikubanditsociety.blogspot.de/2013/09/september-2013-dottie-dot-awards.html
.
floodplains –
how speaking about things
helps
.
NaHaiWriMo prompt: flooding
.
after harvest moon nach dem Erntemond
how quickly the apples turn wie rasch die Äpfel
into juice zu Saft werden
.
I spent this morning making apple juice. Well, not exactly! Driving the apples to the
Gardeners’ Association in Fischach, to be made into juice, I mean!
Here is the process:

Loading the apples
Extracting the juice from the pulp
Heating and then filling the juice into special containers

.
after harvest moon
taste of autumn lingers
in the juice
.
nach dem Erntemond
Herbstgeschmack
im Saft
.
Photos S. Pierides by kind permission of the friendly members of the Obst- und Gartenbauverein Fischach e.V.
.
for no reason at all
fall apples
.
NaHaiWriMo prompt: reason
.
1
stuffed vine leaves
unwrapping granny’s
secrets
2
stuffed vine leaves
stories from granny’s
kitchen cupboard
.
NaHaiWriMo prompt: rice
Gabi Greve’s Joys of Japan, and WKD note the 15th of September to be Senior Citizen’s Day, kigo for India
.
milky way
a herd of cows
heading home
.
NaHaiWriMo prompt: collage
.
endless rain
a scarecrow points
to heaven
.
http://www.nahaiwrimo.com prompt: scarecrow