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