Wednesday 28 June 2017

Monday 26 June 2017

snow tipped Dolomites

vapour trails hang below me

I am not the first

Ligurian coast

thick jasmine hangs in the air

with cigarette smoke

Thursday 22 June 2017

light on my face
there is no food
empty fridge

Tried and failed to get above published so reworked to:

empty fridge
hungry
but my face lights up

Sunday 18 June 2017

Saturday 17 June 2017

late spring
opening summerhouse
hoovering up dead flies
tea ceremony
facing water
Chiba
by the pond
looking in and staring out
Buddha and the frog

Hong Kong sequence

typhoon season
rain washed streets
wet feet

wind chasing trees
ghosts gathering ground
then silence

Star ferry
stirs up shit smelling water
fragrant harbour

with life leaving them
insects after the typhoon
wave from the pavement

listen to this as a podcast

Riyadh sequence 

Allahu Akbar
eyes stinging dusty nostrils
the camel just blinks

searing Riyadh heat
the slow pace of Ramadan
as the pigeon flies

licking gritty teeth
the call to prayer goes out
how low the sun sinks

light fading fast
words dying in darkness
still the page is turned

Arabic incense
sickly sweet in the hot air
hitting my cold face

listen to this as a podcast


business cards

my recent visit

recorded in rectangles

no mobile signal

I cannot communicate

teenage angst

summer day
stroboscopic sun through trees
train journey home
charity shop window
old clothes
my father

Tried and failed to get above published so reworked to:

charity shop window
father's old clothes
and my reflection
homeless man smiles
uriniferous dribble
walk by

Thursday 15 June 2017

with life leaving them

insects after the typhoon

wave from the pavement

Tuesday 13 June 2017

Monday 12 June 2017

watch hands
no fingers
pointing to time

Published (2017) Blithe Spirit (Journal of the British Haiku Society) Volume 27, Number 3, page 55

LHA Ref:
Blithe Spirit 27.3, August 2017

Living Haiku Anthology

Published (2019) All the way home: aging in haiku page 294

typhoon chasing trees

ghosts gathering ground

then silence


Star ferry

stirs up shit smelling water

fragrant harbour

encountered briefs
not mine
infidelity

Tried and failed to get above published so reworked to:

at the office party
illicit fumbling
briefs encountered

Saturday 10 June 2017

Friday 9 June 2017

searing Riyadh heat

the slow pace of Ramadan

as the pigeon flies

Tuesday 6 June 2017

Arabic incense
sickly sweet in the hot air
hitting my cold face

licking gritty teeth

the call to prayer goes out

how low the sun sinks

Monday 5 June 2017

Allahu akbar
eyes stinging dusty nostrils
the camel just blinks

Sunday 4 June 2017

my name is yellow
standing next to an old friend
peeing in the snow

Tried and failed to get above published so reworked to:

peeing in the snow
not quite
my full name

Published (2018) Failed Haiku Volume 3, Issue 36, p.18

Living Senryu Anthology

Living Haiku Anthology
fading light
words dying in darkness
the page is turned
dust falling around
the silence after the bomb
speaks volumes

magnolia blossom against a grey sky mixed feelings