the scattered smashed glass
of the old nurseries lies
where plants used to grow
... and occasional Tanka... and Haibun. Started after a competition on the unbound.co.uk blog (see #1 and #2). Mostly actually senryu , I think. This year attempting to publish a Haiku every day - 365 Haiku a Day. For good or for ill, I always aim to stick rigidly to a 5-7-5 structure - forgive me if I have counted the syllables wrong, often they are how I have said, or thought, them in my head rather than their official number.
a face silhouette
smile, prettiness, crookedness
each now paid no mind
From words on page 198 of Lapvona by Otessa Moshfegh (Vintage, 2022).
more control to breathe
beneath her flesh she had
grown pride and space
From words on page 198 of Lapvona by Otessa Moshfegh (Vintage, 2022).
when the night moves fast
and you know that you've slept well
yet cannot grow light
*
The feeling of heaviness after what should have been a decent night’s sleep but it felt like it went by too quickly, completely dreamless, and somehow without relaxation, and now you can’t shake that weighty feeling that comes from a lack of sleep.
deep breath and new strength,
mountains, river, waterfall,
green hills, forests, sky
From words on page 170 of The Magician's Nephew by C.S.Lewis (HarperCollins, 1955/2009).
youth falls asleep and
lilac petals are scattered
across battlefields
Written for the Tricycle February 2024 May Challenge using the Spring season word, lilac, but was not entered.
fooled, fuddled, angry
turned to lies, air, fire, visions -
mirror-dots, dazzle
From words on page 372 of The Books of Earthsea by Ursula K. Le Guin (Gollancz, 2018, Kindle Edition) - from the novel, The Farthest Shore.
ants round a cherry
the boy says it's a party
(for those attending)
*
Outside my son's school there was a crushed cherry on the pavement that was attracting mass of ants running to and from it. He said it was a party and wondered why a second crowd of ants not far away weren't going to it. He said, “It's a party, but not all the ants are going.”
spring rain’s creation
starts the introduction of
colour to our lives
Written for the Tricycle February 2024 April Challenge using the Spring season word, spring rain, but was not entered.
another dry day
how can i write on spring rain
if there's none at all?
Written for the Tricycle February 2024 April Challenge using the Spring season word, spring rain, but was not entered.
at a loss i sit
in a spring devoid of rain
not sure what to say
Written for the Tricycle February 2024 April Challenge using the Spring season word, spring rain, but was not entered.
easter holiday
sheltering from the spring rain
under leaky trees
Written for the Tricycle February 2024 April Challenge using the Spring season word, spring rain, but was not entered.
away from spring rain
in a store stacked high with books
knowledge waits to pour
Written for the Tricycle February 2024 April Challenge using the Spring season word, spring rain.
spring rain cleans the mud
built up since the last year’s load
i need this weekly
Written for the Tricycle February 2024 April Challenge using the Spring season word, spring rain.
all little cat's eyes
tugging her head from sinking
the lamp flickering
From words on page 14 of X and Other Stories by Yevgeny Zamyatin (Alma Books, 2024) - from the short story, Provincial Life.
beautiful colours -
though there's only really two,
there are many shades
working on my own
waiting for the right moment
(and delaying it)
in the swimming hall
back to reading the kindle
until the stage change*
*I thought, once my son had moved up a stage in swimming, that he would be back in a class with my dad friend's son, who had already gone up, but there was no space in the class and I am back to being alone.
bad smell bath tonight
the greatest way for a maid
puzzled? practical!
From words on page 16 of The Skeleton's Holiday by Leonora Carrington (Penguin 1989/2018 [Kindle Edition]) - from the short story, The Debutante.
as strong as always
she gestured at her weapon
eyes damp, angry.. “Now!”
From words on page 330 of The Lotus Empire by Tasha Suri (Orbit 2024).
spring cleaning reprieve
for us this year as we move
into our new home
Written for the Tricycle February 2024 March Challenge using the Spring season word, spring cleaning.
archaeology
layers of my life sifted
during spring cleaning
Written for the Tricycle February 2024 March Challenge using the Spring season word, spring cleaning.
I noticed it as soon as I sat down. A light at the back of the screen was reflecting off the inside of my glasses right into my eye. As I turned to look up at the light to see where it was coming from I saw someone sat across the aisle. When I looked again no one was there.
I shook the thought from my head, but the light kept shining and I kept getting the feeling that there was someone there. I could have sworn, just out of the corner of my eye, I could see them. Facing forwards, waiting. Yet every time I turned to check, there was no one there.
I turned to my wife and asked if we could move up a few seats.
the light behind me
the person that wasn't there
before the horror
the sound of the stream
amplified by its steep banks -
it hardly seems real.
or is this the modern way -
disbelieve reality.
show the world what you
see, expose what should be seen
by those who would pay
and to those who can change it
and keep it changed forever
a rope between trees
a blanket slung over it
an adventure day
Written for the Tricycle February 2024 Haiku Challenge using the Winter season word, blanket.
frost across the roof
like an open weave blanket
made out of diamonds
Written for the Tricycle February 2024 Haiku Challenge using the Winter season word, blanket.
the ferocity
lurches, twists, ripping, dripping
the anger bolts free
i just went there once
Kennedy’s for fish and chips
shall I tonight then?
and rid me of that mem’ry
too for it was a shit day
potatoes roasting
the fat bubbling, crisping,
making them crunchy
(and the smell as they get close
and the taste as they go in)
crescent moon and star
hang high above the houses
extra bright tonight
(actually it was Venus)
(should have used an app to check)
desolate wasteland
around smoke columns from the
human furnaces
Written for the Tricycle January 2024 Haiku Challenge using the Winter season word, furnace / heater.
in the common room
his internal furnace burns
we employ the heat
Written for the Tricycle January 2024 Haiku Challenge using the Winter season word, furnace / heater.
short term memory
creates the surprise in us
when night comes early
Written for the Tricycle December 2024 Haiku Challenge using the Winter season word, night comes early.
cold will my soul be
the day the night comes early
and you welcome me
Written for the Tricycle December 2024 Haiku Challenge using the Winter season word, night comes early.
the fox in the coop
brings the chilly autumn wind
that cuts to the bone
Written for the Tricycle November 2024 Haiku Challenge using the Autumn season word, autumn wind but not finished until now and so not entered.
the dreams of the year
start to blow away as leaves
on the autumn wind
Written for the Tricycle November 2024 Haiku Challenge using the Autumn season word, autumn wind.
four coffee elves, their
clothes aromatic, they sang
affectionately