.

what might have been
but for frangipani blooms
December evening

.

NaHaiWriMo prompt: taking stock

.

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

.

layer after layer
the same old stink –
onion

.

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

.

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

.

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

.

NaHaiWriMo prompt: heart

.

a branch of pine
broken in the storms
Christmas tree

.

NaHaiWriMo prompt: gift

.

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

.

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

.

NaHaiWriMo prompt: carpet