n g

                i 

             w

           s

         p

the u

promising so much

...disappointment

hedge shears swish camphor

Christmas Day

the stream of coloured envelopes

stops

that there —

was my grandfather’s house

...or was it that one?

Boxing Day

re-cycling bins

brimful

New Year’s Eve

deleting dead relatives

from my phone

I have to admit a strong - but unintended - similarity to:

new year's day
deleting the dead
from my address book

(c) Wendy C. Bialek
01/01/2000

new year's day
deleting the dead
from my cellphone

(c) Wendy C. Bialek
01/01/2011

new year's day
deleting the dead
from my Facebook page

(c) Wendy C. Bialek
01/01/2017

new year's day
deleting the dead
from my iphone


(c) Wendy C. Bialek
01/01/2014

bandit moon

holding my attention

to ransom

with its long nose

I would have called it

the smelliphant

the limp windsock

mentally adding viagra

to the shopping list

human misery

arriving

by the boatload

Nativity scene

the face of Jesus

cracked and broken

though her smoke

I see

the No Smoking sign

drinking beer

the Spanish family

with the guitar

the old couple

with no words

left between them

Published (2019) All the way home: aging in haiku page 295

Blithe Spirit arrives
preparing
for a haiku binge

I catch myself
staring at her cleavage
silicone valley

the queue moves forward
but the man in front of me
leaves behind a fart

on a winter field
long morning trees
stretch out

morning train
joyfully
racing its shadow

with my favourite pen
writing haiku

my childhood globe
less pink
than it used to be

dish towels and dressing gowns

missing

the Nativity play

mid-semester break

on the windowsill

one more toothbrush

a half moon

waxing

...or is it waning?

cat pawprints

in snow

ending in bloodstains

****

bloodstained snow

only the cat

survived

flashback

my father

coming home from work

always

where I don’t want him to be

the beggar in the steps

frosty morning

jogging

my nose runs too

Christmas morning

sepia tinted walk

winter landscape

buildings

I’d forgotten

Christmas cards

again
one more than I sent

Christmas tree

with blinking lights

once again...and again

oh Christmas tree

you died

for me

first offer of a seat
refused...
am I that old?

Arlington
even in death
some more famous than others

bag for life?

at my age

it probably will be

in a mass grave

young soldiers

final gathering

old soldiers
finding less
to talk about

Christmas morning
recalling the effort
my parents made

degrees of freedom
the things
unsaid

cozy in bed
hearing my wife
scrape the windscreen

Published (2019) in Failed Haiku Volume 4, Issue 38, page 10

Living Haiku Anthology

post office queue
the smell
of paper

Published (2019) in Failed Haiku Volume 4, Issue 38, page 10

Living Senryu Anthology

Living Haiku Anthology

the Christmas market
smells
of Germany

the beggar
ignores the priest
and asks me

subway rat
making better progress
than me

two old hunters
shooting nothing
but the breeze
****

shooting nothing
but the breeze
two old hunters

realising

‘old whatsisname?’

is me

The beggar

the sleeping beggar

hears my two yuan notes

fall into her bowl

****

waking

my two yuan notes in her bowl

the sleeping beggar

****

my two yuan notes

in her bowl

wakens the sleeping beggar

****

waking the sleeping beggar

in her bowl

my two yuan notes

****

waking the sleeping beggar

my two yuan notes

in her bowl

****

my two yuan notes

fall into the begging bowl

and waken her

(Suggested by Su Wai Hlaing)

derelict steelworks
with trees
rusting

Chinese couple

in the fast food queue

stealing a kiss

facebook

birthday notification

...but she’s dead!

even alone

locking

the toilet door

flooded paddy fields

my mother’s

rice pudding

high speed train

never enough time

to admire the view

today’s class

none of my students

have siblings

oolong

not really

my idea of tea

dreaming of paddy fields

I wake up

and see them

looking so much better

after three beers

my reflection

my mother’s funeral

how much better than me

they all know her

Published Failed Haiku Volume 4, Issue 37, page 10

Living Senryu Anthology

Living Haiku Anthology

Guangzhou tree blossom

hanging

just out of reach

passport control

trying not to look

suspicious

I wake up snoring

and everyone laughs

...on the train

three urinals

a pubic hair

in each one

whistle and delight
looking for the latter
in my lifejacket

food distribution

around my plate

chopsticks

the kite flier

at first

no connection

****

the kite flier

but...

which one?
****

the kite flier
only he knows
which one

from the window

of my Chinese hotel

McDonalds

sparrowhawk

there one minute gone the next

the mouse

the wind farm

with its crop

of windmills

trainspotters
going nowhere
****

always on time
trainspotters

the crow's nest
surely
a sign of winter
****

the crow's nest
reminds me
winter is coming
****

the crow's nest
appearing
liminality
****

the crow’s nest
appears
like winter
****

the crow’s nest
appearing
like winter

the gravedigger's grave
not so indispensable
after all

a young couple

in the peace garden

arguing

cigarette butt trail

leading the way

to the medical school

school’s out

approaching the platform

my heart sinks

slow train...

...more stops...

than places

outside the pub

a girl shows her boobs

to the drunk old man

Remembrance Sunday
unable to forget
the memories

bagging the dog shit

once again

the smell of wet leaves

biker's funeral
a young girl
not biking

the young actress
her nipples
staring at me

going

with the flow

urinal spider

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

Living Senryu Anthology

Living Haiku Anthology

washroom queue
taking too long
...everyone

pharmacy shelves
a pack of Viagra
stands out

jogging past

the rough sleeper...

he snores

no change to spare

my heart empty

but pockets full

Found haiku:

Three ‘haiku moments’:

Unconscious transition from the balcony to the rock outside. (p16)

Suddenly the man crosses the orchard to the seawall. (p28)

...from the darkness of the cliff-edge above us a fir-cone falls. (p35)*

From Lawrence Durrell (1945) Prospero’s Cell Faber and Faber , London

Published (2021) The Poetry Pea Journal of haiku and senryu Winter page 6

power walkers

that attitude

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

Living Haiku Anthology

the spray can
behind her back
'trick or treat'?

                                 break up

the boy sits on a rock      the girl calls a friend

and throws stones                          and tells all

new razor

on my old face

the nick of time

yellow days
the sky growing
through the trees

Accepted by Poetry Pea

desert night

Bedouin picnic

with two circles

coffee break

adding Canderel®

to full fat latte

the niqab

unable to hide

her beauty

Sailing By*

the time I didn’t spend

with my father

* Sailing By is the signature tune that precedes The Shipping Forecast on BBC Radio 4

Harunobu prints
impossible not to look
...again

incensed
the lady leaves
the perfume shop

Riyadh hotel lobby
with no faces
women drifting past

Published (2019) in Failed Haiku Volume 4, Issue 38, page 10

Living Haiku Anthology

waking
hungover in Riyadh
midnight flight

autumn morning
the river
with only one bank

packing
long-haul flight
house keys

alone
deserted lunchtime restaurant
the waiter watches

memorandum to self
no more
memoranda to self

Gotham

Batman prequel

so many cliffhangers

licking its beak

the magpie

eyes the fledglings

unwrapped flowers

from the petrol station

Valentine’s Day

the wasp
in a beer bottle
happy daze

Published (2018) in Jalmurra 6 July

weekend visitors gone
still
that different smell

what happens?
oh...
essentially nothing

(ekphrastic on The Dharma Bums by Jack Kerouac)

Published (2019) Poetry Pea 16 December

tea for two

one teabag

true love

free newspaper
fake news
comes cheap

Published (2018) Under the Basho - Modern Haiku

Living Haiku Anthology

last beer

leaving the pub

my cares return

PRET A MANGER

So much better than

"Ready to eat"

Smithfield market

the smell

of slaughter

bookstore

browsing

looking for hope

war correspondent
anticipating battle
killing time

Published (2018) Under the Basho - Modern Haiku

Thermodynamics

flames

shedding light

The First Law

****

beach night

castle sand

The Second Law

****

absolutely

still

The Third Law

mobile phone

shouting...my

passive aggression

polygenic risk scores

something else

I don’t understand

town fair
waltzers spinning
and candy floss

Added to: Australian Haiku Society Autumn Equinox Haiku String 2019 (theme: City Life)

a the crack
of broken twigs
the smell of sap

Published (2018) Under the Basho - Modern Haiku

Living Haiku Anthology

in the ploughed field

a house

with no roof

Starbucks coffee

my name

on a cup

two magpies

in the rowan tree

gulping* berries

* a ‘gulp’is a collective name for magpies

another
haiku book!
my wife...

black cab driver
the prejudice comes
free of charge

Uber driver
another
life story

Published (2018) Failed Haiku Volume 3, Issue 35, page 22

Living Haiku Anthology

family house

for sale sign

when to tell the kids?

in the spirit

of Basho

I drown my sorrows

arms out

expecting a hug

we fist pump

trying to recall

which one

was the cherry tree?

a stone’s throw

he says

but I don’t see one

my neighbour

cutting his grass

- again!

killing the wasp

easily

the end of summer

Published: The Mainichi 2 November 2018

Comment by Dhugal Lindsay in Haiku in English: Best of 2018:

With the colder temperatures the movements of cold-blooded organisms gets sluggish. The moment is also the moment that summer ends for the poet.

flight delayed

more time

to fret

fortune teller
my money
for his thoughts

****
fortune teller
my money
for his fortune
(suggested by Su Wai Hlaing)

conker season

children

with bags full of hope

after the argument

making up

on the train

bench with three seats

the middle one

always empty

Published (2018) Failed Haiku Volume 3, Issue 35, page 22

Living Haiku Anthology

corrugated church
dilapidated
still letting in the light


Reworked:

dilapidated
corrugated church
still letting in the light

hearing the translator’s voice

without seeing her

...I imagine

keynote speaker
with no end
in sight

Published (2018) Failed Haiku Volume 3, Issue 35, page 22

Living Haiku Anthology

Izmir waterfront

the sweet smell of shisha

and horse shit

final resting place
squashed between pages
a dead fly
****
a dead fly
squashed between pages...
but who closed to book?
****
scraping a dead fly*
from the old book
I read on

Published (2018)  ephemerae Volume1, C, page 50

LHA Ref:
ephemerae 1.C, December 2018

* at the suggestion of Shrikaanth Krishnamurthy the original first line was changed from:
'scraping the dead fly'*

Living Haiku Anthology

chestnut trees
in the damp grass
the smell of conkers

accepting the editor’s decision

my haiku

rejected

between Arabic

listing

designer stores

coffee breath
the girl to my right
speaks to the one on my left

Published (2018) Failed Haiku Volume 3, Issue 35, page 22

Living Haiku Anthology

family gathering

for one

who will not arrive

oil seed rape

defiling

the countryside

optician's bill
unable to read
the small print

Published cattails April 2019 page 39

Editor's choice:

What if the first line had been: grocer’s bill? The result would have been a very mundane poem not worth committing to memory. But put ‘optician’s bill’ instead and the irony hits you in the eye. Yet another senryu where juxtaposing two apparently unrelated images results in a whole which is funnier than the sum total of the parts.

Gautam Nadkarni

Living Senryu Anthology

Living Haiku Anthology

licking
the envelope
I seal my fate

(surely this one can't be original!)

knowing only
where she's been
a snail

fish & chips

pizza burger fried chicken

a sign of the times

antique shop
the smell
of opportunity

Published (2018) ephemerae Volume1, C, page 50

LHA Ref:
ephemerae 1.C, December 2018

Published (2019) All the way home: aging in haiku page 295

Living Senryu Anthology

Living Haiku Anthology

the crisp packet
opening
on a silent train
my thoughts turn
to murder

what if

the wildlife park

really was?

my new pen

writing

the same old rubbish

schoolboy football
everyone
chasing the ball

Published by Poetry Pea 18 February 2019

Living Haiku Anthology

my late mother
her bank account
still viable

****
my late mother
her debit card
still working

at the ATM
I withdraw...

life propped up
by memories
and denials

This is not one of my haiku but it appeared in Blithe Spirit  (2018) Volume 28 Number 2 under the column 'Tricky Haiku' where Colin Blundell invites comment on these. I suggested:

life
propped up by memories
and denials

Blithe Spirit (2018) Volume 28 Number 3 page 14

my mother’s life
reduced
to two folders
****

reduced
to two folders
my mother's life

in the nursing home

Coronation Street

as my mother passes

charity muggers
somehow I feel
less charitable

blue sky
with a hint
of winter
if that was it
...if only

only one fly

as I close

the summerhouse door

rowan berries

waiting for blackbirds

- the pecking order

hosepipe ban
watering his garden
at midnight

young ladies whistling

at my naked torso

...sarcasm?

Chernobyl disaster 

decades after 

still counting Geigers 

surrounded by flowers

the Buddha

holds back a sneeze

reading obituaries 

with birth dates

after mine

First Nation people
selling culture
by the hour

equine erection
my wife glances at me
disappointed

Published by Poetry Pea 17 June 2019

waterfront busker 

coins chinking out of synch

with his rhythm

sectarian graveyard

digging up the past

to bury the future

hurrying to Mass

I have no time

for the old flute player

second hand book

who’s dead fingers

turned these pages?

cattle
disembodied
appear from the fog

(ekphrastic on ‘Fog, Hawkes Bay’ by Rita Angus)

beneath the headstone
conversations
unfinished

Published (2019) Pulse scheduled 20 December

us watching

whales

watching us

whale watching

the humpback

watches us

beach house

full of memories

but not mine

a hanging
followed by a shooting...
new story unfolds

(ekphrastic on the film The Ballad of Lefty Brown)

girl on a phone

watched

by the station pigeon

letting go
the good toxopholite
knows when

***

knowing when
the good toxopholite
lets go

the keynote speaker
transforming bullshit
into airmiles

returning happy
from the summerhouse
gin glasses empty

sports day
children cheering
the teachers’ race

Published Poetry Pea 23 January 2019

Living Haiku Anthology

from the hospice window

the tide 

receding

summoning Eros

the bee and the flower

exchange gifts

A deep smell

of late Autumn rain

worked its way in from the steet

This was a line of prose in a short story ‘Birthday girl’ in Desire by Haruki Mirakami which I thought worked well as a haiku.

in the heatwave

running

between shadows

crouching in the grass

too late

a dog turd

fields of borage

reflected

in the summer sky

the garbage truck
passing too close
on a hot day

avoiding cherry stones

I recall

the blossom

the gipsy’s horse

tied to the sign

"No horses"

the bat flits

soundless

between insects

**

between insects

soundless

the bat flits

**

soundless

between insects

the bat flits

**

between insects

the bat flits

soundless

early morning beer can
philosophers discussing
Kant or won’t

Brighton balcony

cocktail drinkers look down

on thirsty dropouts

public piano
a blessing
...or a curse?

Saturday morning

even the horses

are sleeping

transit passengers

taking wheeled suitcases

for a walk

***

transit passengers

exercising

wheeled suitcases

leaving Tianjin

early morning fishermen

with bated breath

expectant mother
between periods
a pregnant pause

monsoon rain
another cheap umbrella
I didn’t need

my funeral plan

even here

I economise

Wan Chai district

leaving Church

I enter Gomorrah

mid-pee

illuminated

the seat belt sign

on iPhone

seeking enlightenment

a Buddhist monk

****

Buddhist monk

flicking through

WhatsApp messages

****

buying cuddly toys

the Buddhist monk

- for whom?

money

with increased interest

becomes boring

leaving Taipei

Buddha

waves me goodbye

leaving Taichung 

this year’s rice

how it has grown

frail old couple

shuffling towards the train

will they make it?

funeral plans
even here
economies of scale

Published Four Hundred and two Snails (25th Haiku Society of America Anthology) 2018, page 54

LHA Ref:
25th HSA Anthology 2018

Mentioned by David Jacobs (2109) in his review of Four Hundred and two Snails in Blithe Spirit Volume 23:1 page 79

Living Senryu Anthology

Living Haiku Anthology

at the station

seeing me off

only cicadas

incensed

I return

from the temple

round the temple

running

for my life

sub-tropical running

even the cicadas

mock me

Taichung morning

tai chi

in the park

the soup arrives:
Buddha
jumps over the wall

Published (2019) weird laburnum 1 December

Hell...
just,
Hell

(ekphrastic on the film Journey’s End)

progressing
towards the departure lounge
terminal illness

a man

sitting on a roof

painting it

a plastic bag

nailed to the wooden pole

poorly dressed scarecrow

i-phones

not connecting

bluetoothless

light summer rain
on a dry road
the smell of dust

burning a hole

on the horizon

laburnum

after the meeting

only Venn diagrams

on the table

on the gym TV

the newscaster

mimes to me

birthday cake candles
always one
longer than the rest

Japanese characters

the small child

equally baffled

the balloon bursts

a child’s dreams

evaporate

***

a balloon

stuck in the rafters

was that a good party?

ice hockey

the appearance of men

chasing nothing

Finnish summer

no end

in sight

***

Finland

a summer evening

with no end in sight

baby frog

the tadpole’s dream

became true

the frogpond

checks me out

with a dozen eyes

metamorphosis

the stone

turns into a frog

frog surprise

as the stone

jumps

the stone

turns into a frog

surprise

three ducklings
in a puddle
thinking it is home

horse chestnut blossom
preparing
onesers and twosers

Published (2018) ephemerae Volume1, B, page 17

LHA Ref:
ephemerae 1.B, Dcember 2018

Living Haiku Anthology

morning glory

conducting

the dawn chorus

whiteboard duster 

filling up

with words

on the whiteboard
fuzzy ideas
still visible

Published (2018) Blithe Spirit (Journal of the British Haiku Society) Volume 28, Number 4, page 33

LHA Ref:
Blithe Spirit 28.4, November 2018

Living Haiku Anthology

through the open window

warm sunshine

and cat pee

neurology ward
strokes
of bad fortune

in the morning

the cherry blossom

all gone

confetti haiga

village chapel
transformed into a house
the only conversion

Reworked:

village chapel repurposed
finally
a conversion

apple blossom

or cherry blossom

I can’t decide

cherry blossom shower
the pigeon
changing trees

Published: The Mainichi 6 June 2018

Comment by Dhugal Lindsay in Haiku in English: Best of 2018:

Alighting on a branch has its consequences.

Living Haiku Anthology

The Haiku Registry

This haiku received the following comment in Luca's Lily Pad Issue 8, 7 January 2019 on My Haiku Pond:

Comment: a haiku where the falling cherry blossoms (sakura no shawā 桜のシャワー) look really like a rainfall (hitoame 一雨), so much that even the pigeon in line 2 is confused, trying to find shelter. The harmonizing juxtaposition between the two ku 句 is even more delicate thanks to the lack of a physical cut (kireji 切れ字) at the end of the first line, developing an overall sense of lightness (karumi 軽み), frailty (shiori しをり) and impermanence (hikarakuyō 飛花落葉, i.e. ‘blossoms fall, leaves scatter’).

Included in the Annual Selection 2018: Haiku that combine multiple senses

Accepted (2020) Under the Basho - Poet's Personal Best 9 September

blue mosaic

looking up

through the cherry trees

the ladybird

on a pilgrimage

across the slabs

cherry blossom balls
bobbing
but one day only

raindrops
defying gravity
on the train window

the summerhouse
sorry spiders
it’s that time of year

rough landscape
only the puddles
are smooth

through raindrops

distorted

landscape

new haiku journal

flicking

immediately to mine

hardiscorrupt

home

seems a long way

Sunday morning run
fresh scented flowers
on the graves

April running
the cherry blossom
runs ahead of me

between raindrops
gathering his thoughts
a bumble bee

Published: The Mainichi 27 July 2018

Comment by Dhugal Lindsay in Haiku in English: Best of 2018:

A zoomed-in look at the microworld.

Living Haiku Anthology

Included in the Annual Selection 2018: Haiku that combine multiple senses

April showers

sprouting

rows of umbrellas

cherry blossom
seeing it
through runny eyes

with work to do
I prefer the view
cherry blossom

April storm
too early
for cherry blossom

the hearse
drives past
cherry blossom

first a cloud
then a blanket
cherry blossom

the cloud
becomes a carpet
cherry blossom

the cherry blossom
I am reminded
by Instagram

airport arrivals

still wearing

holiday shorts

Bamboo haiga

Old Ginger

wisest

of all the spices

the algae

thriving, even

in Holy Water

Published (2018) in Blithe Spirit (Journal of the British Haiku Society) Volume 28, Number 4, page 33

LHA Ref:
Blithe Spirit 28.4, November 2018

Living Haiku Anthology

caged pigs

on a lorry

one way ticket

lazy susan

my food arrives

again

perforated moon

deflating

into the rice field

airport fly
arriving
or departing?

Published Poetry Pea 19 June 2018

Living Senryu Anthology

moving on
the water remains
under the bridge

early morning
tasting tree pollen
on my lips

early spring
magnolia blossom
just thinking about it

church spider
behind the radiator
preying?

Published (2018) British Haiku Society Anthology 2018 p.21

LHA Ref:
British Haiku Society Anthology 2018

Living Haiku Anthology

net casting haiga

taxi radio

saying it all for me

Johnny Cash

high spirits
in the sanatorium
infectious laughter

Published cattails April 2019 page 49

Living Senryu Anthology

Living Haiku Anthology

gender neutral...

undecided

the bamboo tree

frozen harbour

boats

stuck in a moment

winter forest
snow streaked
only by shadows

running

from the snake in the grass

no cliche

through the smoothness
of Oulu
crunching

is life

but

a haiku?

gym bunnies

glancing

at the muscle men

bar conversation

not drowned out

by beer

haiga Toripolliisi ekphrastic

Toripolliisi (The Bobby at the Market Place in English) by Kaarlo Mikkonen in Market Square, Oulu, Finland

haiga for a friend

creosote and sawdust

my father

his workshop

May dew
mud
on my mother’s hands

Published (2018) Wales Haiku Journal Spring

Living Haiku Anthology

The Haiku Registry

Irish translation by Irish Writers Centre:

drúcht mhí na Bealtaine

láib ar lámha

mo mháthar

Published - Epstein R (2020) The signature haiku anthology Middle Island Press page 238

darkness

enveloped

by the silence of frogs

the Moomins

a new take

on life

I step

without care

on the padauk

old soldier
with dull eyes
and glinting medals

Published (2019) All the way home: aging in haiku page 295

no emoji

to express

my feelings

Lifecake®

flicking through
my grandson's life

varnish fumes and wet feet
sheltering beneath
the paper umbrella

rags
turning to riches
in the charity bag


Reworked:

in the charity bag
rags
turning to riches

family gathering

all eyes

on i-Pads

Published: Presence Number 61, page 76.

LHA Ref:

Presence 61, May 2018

Living Haiku Anthology

The Haiku Registry

eventually
onanistic pleasure stops
but his wife dies

(ekphrastic on Orhan Pamuk’s A strangeness in my mind)

on the easel
an unfinished painting
his last stroke

Easter garden

battling squirrels

for chocolate eggs

the artist

still with us

your son

for Eddie Orme, died Easter Saturday 2019

gin + tonic
is it time yet?
retirement

boxing clever
giving and receiving
punches

(ekphrastic on Anthony Joshua vs Deontay Wilder 31 March 2018)

spring bloom
hay fever
the final straw

Maundy money

from one rich pensioner

to another

ball tampering

square leg and silly mid off

cricket

old screwdriver

shaking hands

with my father

my late uncle

his number

still in my phone

wave haiga

spring fever
my mind unbalanced
by the equinox

at the junction
only my mood changes
broken lights

Published (2018) Blithe Spirit (Journal of the British Haiku Society) Volume 28, Number 2, page 43.

LHA Ref:
Blithe Spirit 28.2, May 2018

Living Haiku Anthology

The Haiku Registry

Daily Haiku 9 February 2022

old quarry

my heart

turns to stone

old frog
leap...
no splash

old frog
leaps
but no splash

old frog
leaps...
no pond

spring morning

my memory jogged

by running

has winter ended?

the garden

goes to bed

under a blanket of snow

Suggested revision by Su Wai Hlaing;

the garden

goes to bed 

snow-blanket

argument over

the snow on the roof

thawing

Published (2020) The Asahi Shimbun 21 February

winter cobweb
the spider
catching only snowflakes

barefoot

before the Emerald Buddha

I kneel

my thoughts

flickering

between two candles

today’s diet

a mouthful of insects

flying ant day

blue tit haiga

impatient blue tit
on a rowan tree
pecking the buds

Another version suggested by Su Wai Hlaing:

hungry blue tit

on a Rowan tree

pecking the buds

bare Rowan tree

Mr blackbird calls for

his partner

(after suggestions by Su Wai Hlaing)

blackbird

on a bare rowan tree

waiting for spring

blackbird haiga

Listen on SoundCloud

blackbird
on a bare rowan tree
waits for spring

Listen on SoundCloud

the flycatcher

feeds the goshawk

with caterpillars

snow
leopard and bear-trap
but who dies?

(ekphrastic on The Mountain Between Us starring Idris Elba and Kate Winslet)

choral baton

dove to owl to woodpecker

rhythm of the night

the cat on the wall
next execution
being planned

exasperated

we try another throw

boomerang child

running magazine
my eyes sprint
over the pages

running magazines
my eyes sprint
over the titles

through morning frost

Buddha

glistening 

a change of shift

the owl falls silent

the woodpecker takes over

(with thanks to Su Wai Hlaing for the idea of the change of shift)

at dawn

the woodpecker takes over

as the owl retires

the baby lizard

refuses my biscuit

and disappears

the old potter

at his wheel

spins a yarn

the snowplough passes

as the beagle

searches in the snow

my new grandson

complete

except for memories

toilet flush

air lock

middle ‘C’

the snowman melts my heart

snowbound train

only the wifi

gets through

field of snow

a flock of geese

with no feet

Published (2020) Failed Haiku Issue 73 page 120

Public Inquiry

the middle classes

squabbling

(Public Inquiry into Restricted Byways, Hull February 2018)

snowfall

on crematorium roof

melts

sheep haiga

buddha haiga

snow Buddha haiga

Autumn cat waving

a movement unseen

by Basho

Korean facemask

removed, but

I still look the same

The Beast arrives

is the owl outside

aware?

(expecting the arrival of the ‘Beast from the East’ spell of bad weather February 2018)

so many haiku

but

so little time

New Year

a leaf falls to the ground 

and turns over

a field

full of llamas

in England?

scrolling down
to my age group...
...the last

Published (2018) ephemerae Volume1, A, page 43

LHA Ref:
ephemerae 1.A, April 2018

Living Haiku Anthology

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

discarded newspaper

still on my hands

the words

a no haiku day

well

maybe not

bowel cancer test

in the loo

playing poo sticks

men look at her

I steal a glance

my wife looks at me

Basque morning

behind me

Franco’s ghost

Friday night

that time

without emails 

the blackbird

in the breeze

stalks a leaf

Ash Wednesday 

abstinence 

I forget

through the window 

Flamenco girl 

old teacher watches

that moment
when
the streetlights go off

keeping their distance

early morning smokers

guard the hospital

rosary beads
smooth and polished
decades of my life

Published Poetry Pea 29 August 2018

Living Senryu Anthology

Living Haiku Anthology

defiant robin

red-breasted and curious...

...ignores me!

Pamplona

running the Estafeta

pinchos and bull’s breath

from a passing field
the solitary heron
watches my train

blue

Iberian Sky

reflecting

the heron

cranes its neck

for a landing place

Catalonian mountains

snow-tipped

defiant

remains

of a dead fly

behind the curtain 

graffiti

only complete

when the door closes

Barcelona Sants

alone

with my paella

in my e-book

a squashed bug.

how?

dark morning

the hooting owl

sounds sad

they make clouds

the cooling towers.

I tell my daughter

winter sunshine

glinting off the name plate

on the coffin

early morning owl

awakens me

but too early 

winter owl

hoots

like spring is here

two candles

three bells

Body of Christ 

boys...
do...
...cry

(ekphrastic on Boys don’t cry The Cure)

at last
Friday
I’m in love

(ekphrastic on Friday I’m in love The Cure)

wind-farm blades

rotating, majestic

but why?

cloud-bouncing turbulence

an experience

Basho never had

over the mountains

early morning airport sun

lands on the runway

“Jesus to a child”

on a loop

exit?

river sunrise
headless swans grow heads
and preen

Tried and failed to get above published so reworked to:

morning river

the sun rises

and swans grow heads

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

Living Haiku Anthology

Bled lake

mountains with twin peaks

one in the water

Japanese painter

Slovenian translator

still none the wiser

swan feeding serenely

the gulls

less dignified 

ember sky

over a cold landscape 

the final days?

across the Danube 

snow-streaked Austrian landscape 

Viennese whirls

Monopoly
the family fight
over fake money

Published (2018) ephemerae Volume1, A, page 86

LHA Ref:
ephemerae 1.A, April 2018

Living Haiku Anthology

in bed

I dream haiku

my wife snores

early morning kiss

packed in my suitcase

I close the door 

I curse my neighbour

but the woodpecker drills

and I laugh

cleaning my pond

I net two sleeping frogs

and put them back

morning owl

invisible 

but so close

signing in
ashamed of how quick
I want to sign out

the cat scarpers

I sit down

on a warm cushion

an owl hoots

audible

yet not visible 

the owl swoops

visible

yet not audible 

winter owl

or was that the moon

calling to me?

recoiling

relaxed and tumescent 

the afterglow worm 

a flock of sheep

look up!

cotton wool clouds

winter evening run
snowflakes on my tongue
footsteps behind me

iconic bronze
with no thoughts
still

(ekphrastic on Rodin’s sculpture The Thinker)

Published (2019) Poetry Pea 16 December

raft boy drowning
beneath the tarpaulin
crouching tiger

(ekphrastic on the book Life of Pi by Yan Martel, film directed by Ang Lee)

the plane lands

as new memories fade

old ones arise

Korean winter

on both sides of the road

snowfall

through the morning haze

in the face of the Buddha

I see her smile

in the twilight

a chorus of animals 

the frog conducts

dog-eared and well read

the old book smells of words

as I turn the page

Iowa State

my ten year old son

catches fireflies

winter pond

with still koi

but a frog croaks

dawn beach

my bicycle

stares out to sea

(inspired by an Instagram photo by Philip Darbyshire; pdarbyshire)

frogs fish and fireflies

Buddha sitting by a pond

no haiku cliches

funeral parlour

a hand protrudes

from the trolley