#1897 (#164)

it soothes and it calms

i don't need to be expert

musicaster's fine

#1896 (#163)

always unmorrised

but now i know there’s this word

should i be prepared?

#1895 (#162)

semi, whole, flavoured,

shake, hot, tea, coffee… we’re all

galactopotic

#1894

the bell sounded thin,

or morning hour exhausted,

like a mashed tin can

---

From words on page 182 of All the Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy (Picador/Pan Books, 1993).

#1893 (#161)

my brickish wonder

the foundation that keeps me

strong, level, stood up

#1892 (#160)

a day cleaning cells

the things i saw in tjoekie

made me change my ways

#1891 (#159)

truth universal - 

we are all zoolaters

to some degree, no?

#1890 (#158)

the perfect balance

the ambiversion of me

functioning just right

#1889 (#157)

a nook-shotten pub

in an old village with friends

but in my mind's eye

#1888 (#156)

too late for this shit

couldn't start a hype cycle

haven't got the balls

#1887 (#155)

a weed among wheat

hid between stalks, zizany

fools no one - like me

#1886 (#154)

not so much mud stuck

as feet-dragging cloggishness

when my brain attempts

#1885 (#153)

movement forward, back, 

left, right, wrong way to go righ

meandriform life

#1884

spring snow comes then goes

a thought that never took flight

a quickly blown light

---

Written for the April Tricycle Haiku Challenge using the Sping season word, spring snow.

#1883 (#152)

petitive journeys

to find what i most desire

then: repetition 

#1882 (#151)

table in the sun

eating fattoush in the square

all senses alive 

#1881 (#150)

my bridelry 

a certain uncertainty

our future hidden

#1880 (#149)

whene’er i see mars

i can feel the anger rise

“planet-struck,” they say

#1879 (#148)

can see them manners

broughtupsy pouring off her

sat bolt upright there

#1878 (#147)

mazily wanders 

my mind as it tries to fin

its way in and out

#1877 (#146)

lonely in my room

lownly in this house called home

insulated life 

#1876 (#145)

everyday gunzels -

the most truly committed 

to spotting those trains

#1875 (#144)

upon the gallows

he shot a prayer for the noose

to be rombowline

#1874 (#143)

elegant tittup

walking the floor regally

a spring in their step

#1873 (#142)

casting my nets and

making them ripple and bulge

that is my mahi

#1872 (#141)

look ahead in time

life in a future vision

all so Populuxe

#1871 (#140)

under folded arm

my duotang shines brightly

#1870 (#139)

excruciating

getting caught with my pants down

totally morto

#1869 (#138)

discloister resent - 

let those feeling go, fly free,

take the weight away.

#1868 (#137)

diapered bedroom wall

flower patterns radiate

from ceiling to floor

#1867 (#136)

the night sky above

bajillions of twinkles

fills me with wonder

#1866 (#135)

clenched mauley in flight

too late to stop, only hope

it does not land right

#1865 (#134)

the moment he pulled

off a perfect Susie Q

i knew; i just knew.

#1864 (#133)

fussy, nice-gabbit,

impossible to cook for

tension for dinner

#1863 (#132)

those bombilate sounds

incessant as a fly stuck

in a summerhouse

#1862 (#131)

paysages from hols

that live on in memory

retrieve when needed

#1861 (#130)

the cheer, laughter, ease

and relaxation of

likeful company 

#1860 (#129)

hoaching stadium

opposing songs filling all

the remaining gaps

#1859 (#128)

revealed bit by bit

a hipposandal appears

that walked watling street

#1858 (#127)

short hop trickery

a ball that has its own mind

to avoid capture

#1857

robin, white blossom:

it is always Christmas if 

you look hard enough.

---

Written for the March Tricycle Haiku Challenge using the Sping season word, robin.

#1856 (#126)

bing sutt aromas

(coffee, milk tea, cake, french toast,

noodles..) soothe my soul

See also: Bing sutt in Wikipedia.

#1855

the last cottage day

robin dying in my hands

(knowledge kept inside)

---

Written for the March Tricycle Haiku Challenge using the Sping season word, robin.

#1854 (#125)

all life can feel like

it is just legerdemain

so much feels hidden

#1853 (#124)

sky island monkeys

look out at the forest seas

and wonder, “what's there?”

#1852 (#123)

an amelled street scene:

bright coloured clothes in sunshine

along ealing road

#1851 (#122)

his rose ear in the

evening tv light as the

furball cuddles close

#1850 (#121)

Guyana banna

i remember you fondly

with your deep brown eyes

#1849 (#120)

oenomel lion

our heads and minds joining up

before the battle

#1848 (#119)

backward not forwards

left not right and right not left

all mingle-mangled

#1847

knowledge, precision

afternoon sunlight shining

onto the strangers

---

From words on page 86 of The Coin by Yasmin Zaher (Footnote, 2024).

#1846 (#118)

gamahe held close

a pebble etched with a tree

earth-drawn talisman

#1845 (#117)

i don’t understand 

his highfalutination

but i get the gist

#1844 (#116)

jupiter up close

a swirling mass of colour

astrogation goals

#1843 (#115)

once they've sussed it out

the bird feeder becomes a 

buffet for squirrels 

#1841 and #1842 (#114)

alive inside me

whenever i start again

butterfly tummy

*

alive inside me

it seems to reach up to my

butterfly tummy

#1840 (#113)

all the questmongers 

queueing up to make a buck

at the magistrates

#1837, #1838 and #1839 (#112)

does everything turn

acescent given the time

we have to hope not

*

when i’m acescent

when i am just spouting filth

regret starts to bloom

*

acescent milk fear -

the prayers that are uttered for

the final tea bag.

#1836 (#111)

the metallic din

created by tin-kettlers

i greet with a grin

#1835 (#110)

at the beginning

before we asweddumize

the potential shines

#1834 (#109)

kass-kass then kass-kass

name-calling normally first

but comes with conflict

#1833 (#108)

pertinacious kids

dig in firm to hold their ground

but cannot remain

#1832 (#107)

when i allatrate

whether through force or failure

i will feel queasy

#1831

flesh sterile alone

labor foggily obeyed

lift-off drive bluish

---

From words on page 369 of Worlds of Exile and Illusion: Three Hainish Novels by Ursula K. Le Guin (Gollancz, 1966/2015) - from the third novel in the book, City of Illusions.

#1830 (#106)

Goldwasser drinking

wondering if my poo will

increase in value

#1829 (#105)

verbify myself?

what would “to James” mean to do?

answers below please

#1828 (#104)

house snake protect us

stop would-be thieves in their tracks

and keep our food safe

#1827 (#103)

neeb every evening

as soon as i am sat down

i begin to drift

#1826 (#102)

no ablude haiku

i cannot make sense of it

a failure today

#1825 (#101)

a good gingerette

soothes colds refreshes in heat

a year round catch all

#1824 (#100)

a pile of miskoeks

dried and ready for burning.

the food waiting, poised.

#1823 (#099)

all the wood-sour ground

where the trees used to grow tall

sag with memory

#1822 (#098)

Gaeilgeoir Gaeilgeoir shine

spread what was once denied you

speak what’s on your mind

#1821

the curious fox names the winter stars as do inquiring rabbits

---

Written for the February Tricycle Haiku Challenge using the Winter season word, Winter star.

#1820 (#097)

niffy-naffy lost

trawling the smallest details

never letting go

#1819

the tent stood talking

wind stretched a flaw carried word

memory outward

---

From words on page 145 of Worlds of Exile and Illusion: Three Hainish Novels by Ursula K. Le Guin (Gollancz, 1966/2015) - from the second novel in the book, Planet of Exile.

#1818 (#096)

mauka quiet

when breeze fluttering the leaves

is the only sound

#1817 (#095)

hist’ry of something

that represents yet dosen’t 

that's scripophily

#1816 (#094)

negaholism

runs throughout my veins, my brain

infected like this

#1815 (#093)

a day spent in futz

is never a day wasted

there is no last line

#1814 (#092)

a crisp cold morning

campfire, sizzling ruff-peck,

aroma awakens

#1813 (#091)

what? a merlion 

leaping, twisting and shining

oh my! alamak!

#1812 (#090)

ever more mallung

on the side of everything 

culinary dream

#1811 (#089)

the kimchi jjigae

of my imagination

steams invitingly 

#1810 (#088)

all patterns whirling

as the women dance and spin

their seshweshwes live

#1809 (#087)

layers are the key

thus thought the sando goes on

and i am ready

#1808 (#086)

quite fooled the first time

but now i just roll eyes at

419 emails

#1807 (#085)

weather that’s sweet as.

moments in the sun that pause.

the stretching of time.

#1806 (#084)

tangy aromas

filling the air and my nose 

say, “fish head curry!”

#1805 (#083)

all that i have left

a single furoshiki

i hold every night

#1804 (#082)

Brooklyn bulla cake

far from home but still at home

with avocado

#1803 (#081)

all of my CanCon

i could live in my tv

how happy i'd be

#1802 (#080)

titivate myself

become some “mr tidy”

still interview shit

#1801 (#079)

stretching far away

trying to stay close it

this yellow brick road

#1800 (#078)

angel water smell 

in the air and she is there

at her mother’s knee

#1799 (#077)

a simple love-blink

and he was caught forever

a moment it took

#1798 (#076)

the plastic smeech smell

from the old factory fire

lives still in my nose

#1797 (#075)

on the mamelon

an eagle flying over

a rabbit running

#1796 (#074)

a nimfadoro

a singular position

man and yet not man

#1795 (#073)

they buy our products

and sell us inferior -

rum-swizzle indeed 

#1794

on peripheries

we shall stand so that you can 

sit and talk and see

#1793 (#072)

the sound of gamping

is much afeart in these parts

rankles my whole brain

#1792 (#071)

calling out to me

reds and yellows shining bright

sunstone gathering

#1791 (#070)

at work, cap flipe down  

to keep the office lights out

and migraines at bay

#1790 (#069)

my antoecian twins

only one thing in common

just coincidence

#1789 (#068)

been up all the night

still restless in the blue hour

kiss to start again

#1788

remember the smoke?

say i hadn’t forgotten

everything in sight!

---

From words on page 263 of Lord of the Flies by William Golding (Faber and Faber Education Edition 1969/1954).

#1787 (#067)

finger wave and set -

part of the morning routine,

donning my armour

#1786 (#066)

the high and mighty

with displays of priggism 

upon horse's backs

#1785 (#065)

frost-flower window

for a time no garden view -

an artwork instead

#1784

the old year sleeping dreaming remembering all for eternity

---

Written for the January Tricycle Haiku Challenge using the Winter season word, the old year.

#1783 (#064)

rise up and girlcott

everything that is wrong here

all male oppression

#1782

the old year’s dead trees remain in winter stasis little is yet new

---

Written for the January Tricycle Haiku Challenge using the Winter season word, the old year.

#1781 (#063)

care and attention

turn moments into minutes

when molokering 

#1780

angelic old years wait for waves of nostalgia to travel back home

---

Written for the January Tricycle Haiku Challenge using the Winter season word, the old year.

#1779 (#062)

the evidence clear:

squashed rufflesome long lawn grass

post-football tea break

#1778 (#061)

garbology of me

everything i’ve discarded

piled high for study

#1777 (#060)

a runagado

he lived peacefully after 

but not without guilt 

#1776 (#059)

with the bumleaf found

she pauses briefly to raise

anticipation

#1775 (#058)

a brickly ego

always ready to break a

the slightest prickle

#1774 (#057)

tittupy in speech

move back much more than forwards

the extrovert gone

#1773 (#056)

plackless wandering

only looking and dreaming

and exercising

#1772

does “glam-ma” dismiss

a lot of her life? because

she’s always been glam.

#1771 (#055)

“glam-ma” dismisses

so much of her life because

she’s always been glam

#1770 (#054)

go incognito

do what they don't want you to

with drag king freedom

#1769 (#053)

rising from the bed

all cocklety in my legs

which are still waking

#1768

sleep failed silence breath

“i don’t want you to see this”

a glimpse empty trapped

---

From words on page 263 of The Cracked Mirror by Chris Brookmyre (Abacus Books, 2025).

#1767

a glass brain useless

eyes down a glimpse devils here

the oubliette voice

---

From words on page 263 of The Cracked Mirror by Chris Brookmyre (Abacus Books, 2025).

#1766 (#052)

girlfs out on the town

drink, play, and keep a look out -

protect each other

#1765

the New Town badger

in a Mazda (passenger)

sleep eyes in half-light

---

From words on page 263 of The Cracked Mirror by Chris Brookmyre (Abacus Books, 2025).

#1764 (#051)

great-willy woman

stands and speaks up for herself

shows us how it’s done

#1763 (#050)

docht is power, strength,

wandocht is the opposite -

i am very wan

#1762 (#049)

mornings after nights

contorted by little-ease

type positioning

#1761 (#048)

lixiviated:

when a + b = c

and a new life starts

#1760 (#047)

walking all wonky

gaining police attention

feeling so bumpsy

#1759 (#046)

the panic then calm

that comes with rearview blue-lights

and the hopeful prayer

#1758 (#045)

the click of our love

the keys that we each keep safe

the love lock witness

#1757 (#044)

cocklebells dripping

playing the song that signal

the world warming up

#1756 (#043)

becoming someone

through antonomasia

my name left behind

#1755 (#042)

let's lampoon that man

send him to the sillograph

take him down some pegs

#1754 (#041)

fucking mellyvous man

with a voicebox full of hate

he spews over all

#1753

the cabbage dragon

swooped above the moon and lost

his way home for months

---

From words on page 91 of Roverandom by JRR Tolkien (HarperCollinsPublishers, 2013).

#1752 (#040)

the old trusty mug

the sound of biscuit in tea

a dunker’s delight

#1751 (#039)

i can't understand

having one dog let alone

polydoggery 

#1750 (#038)

vox pop avoidance

round the creepy-peepy crew

with a quick shuffle

#1749 (#037)

a stall stocked so full,

this mirabiliary

was one to admire!

#1748

take you everywhere

know roughly where i'm going

have time to stretch/stop

---

From words on page 19 of Lessons for Young Artists by David Gentleman (Penguin, 2025 [Kindle Edition]).

#1747 (#036)

hobby-horsical

a mind only on one thing

things that steam and smoke

#1746

gentle, still and cold the fields fast asleep in the winter solstice sun

---

Written for the December Tricycle Haiku Challenge using the Winter season word, Winter solstice, but was entered late.

#1745 (#035)

a curious fox

in a nail-sick shack wonders

at this new rainfall

#1744

only the evergreens will greet the winter solstice outdoors it's lonely

---

Written for the December Tricycle Haiku Challenge using the Winter season word, Winter solstice, but was entered late.

#1743 (#034)

thought he had you but

was just ignoratio 

elenchi instead

#1742 (#033)

botryoidal love

at the start so bountiful

so slim by the end

#1741 (#032) and #46

all my hidden thoughts,

intentions, dressed up fancy

arrière-pensée

*

if I make it french

will it be fancy instead?

“arrière-pensée!”

hmm, it sounds more like ballet

than scheming and treachery

#1740 (#031)

sad eyes greet the sound

of the monkey's dinner-bell

that only throws seeds

#1739 (#030)

it just keeps coming

incessant argutation

after each sentence

#1738 (#029)

at the tomb’s entrance

the lady errant paused briefly

savouring her win

#1737 (#028)

they don't tip, ever.

because they’re dine-and-dashers.

battlelines are drawn.

#1736 (#027)

eating over time

bit by bit, parcelmeal, to

fight acid reflux

#1735 (#026)

does every class have

a sabo king in its midst -

a chaos merchant?

#1734 (#025)

to loosen your mind

i grease your hands with palm oil

for pounds change morals 

#1733

bookshop inspired i

write, research, fight, introduce…

my evil monkey

---

From words on page 56 of More Days at the Morisaki Bookshop in With Love from The Morisaki Bookshop by Satoshi Yagisawa, translated by Eric Ozawa (Manilla Press, 2024).

#1732 (#024)

far apart always

we only heard the carcade

it was not for us

#1731 (#023)

new-broom through my life

changing unhealthy habits 

to stave off the crows

#1730 (#022)

moving in circles

our murmurations give me 

rinkomania

#1729 (#021)

the nefandous things 

hiding close by all around 

waiting for a slip

#1728 (#020)

the word-pecker bird

in the dictionary tree

savours every leaf

#1727 (#019)

pandemic lover

interested in bodies

but not heads or hearts

#1726 (#018)

we've done it in bed -

feet reaching out to rub, bite

like we're anguipedes

#1725 (#017)

when my tortoise mind

finally gets to the scene

you'll see latter wit

#1724 (#016)

a colourful van

full of young mysteriarchs 

often at fairgrounds

#1723 (#015)

that would be a dream:

to write anything for cash/

make potboil stew

#1722

a scarecrow poet

standing in view of The Strand

hopes not to repel

---

Written for the November Tricycle Haiku Challenge using the Autumn season word, Scarecrow.

#1721 (#014)

steam and not a mist

only rising where there's sun

i feel so bumbazed

#1720

scarecrow cremations

fill the air so they can fly

as they dreamed they would

---

Written for the November Tricycle Haiku Challenge using the Autumn season word, Scarecrow.

#1719 (#013)

all the word-music

all the flowery language

was just paper lies

#1718

android neighborhood,

10:22: a sudden

alarm, the shutter.

---

From words on page 16 of Days at the Morisaki Bookshop in With Love from The Morisaki Bookshop by Satoshi Yagisawa, translated by Eric Ozawa (Manilla Press, 2024).

#1717 (#012)

big pillowy bowl

easing me into the day

Dutch baby breakfast

#1716 (#011)

ew, that goopiness

from your nose with a bad cold

how it fills tissues 

#1715 (#010)

the riverain towns 

of sprites, imps, fairies and gnomes

are so hard to find

#1714 (#009)

books bought to impress

to hoard and not to be read

you bibliotaph

#1713 (#008)

secluded by heat

the Pompeii worm sits safely

in it's own bubble 

#1712 (#007)

watching carefully

to understand every word

labiomancy

#1711 (#006)

they’re hiding somewhere

but that is all that i know

of unknown unknowns

#1710

scarecrows stand stoic,

still. no noisy jump scares, they

silently menace

---

Written for the November Tricycle Haiku Challenge using the Autumn season word, Scarecrow, and edited slightly for publication.

#1709 (#005)

the bus stop people

embroiled deep in mauvais langue -

ears must be burning

#1707 and #1708 (#004)

space to breathe / make notes

anopisthographical

in betweens all blank

*

a book with thick leaves

anopisthographical

what's hidden by glue?

#1706 (#003)

your sumpsimus ways!

let me live in the past please -

there is comfort here.

#1704 and #1705 (#002)

late education

they call it opsimathy

i am ready now

*

older lib'ry folk

engaged in opsimathy

silent excitement 

#1703 (#001)

they called out, “prosit,”

again and a watching fox 

asked why they did so