January Moments

In my dark garden
wind chimes clang faintly, I breathe
the smell of the sea.

Steamy nights

on this tree-thick hill;
my grey cat 
sits silent 

on the top step, keeping guard

while we toss in heat.

Like my cats

the plants are very still
this hot morning.

The heat revs up
as the morning brightens.
What time today
will humid rains kick in?
Summer at full throttle.

Downpour.

At last a bud
on the rosebush.

Quiet –

the rain pauses
waiting.

Trying to come up with a poem for the new year, and uninspired, I looked through several years of micropoetry written in January, selected one from each year (with a bit of tweaking to some, on seeing them anew) and found that they could be read as a sequence. 

July Nights: Sequence

July nights

darkness brings a chill

I’m alone

I huddle

into my jacket

deny cold

turn on light 

and warmth to cancel
memories

already

five years ago, still

I shiver

(It's winter in Australia – and time for my 'anniversary reaction'.)

Fragment and Phrase

rainy night

my cat wakes up 

frisky

*

my friend cooks

in my kitchen

purring cat

*

cold night out

bent over the stove
she warms food

*

morning fog lifts
the warble of magpies
fading as they fly

At Carpe Diem we are asked to write 'fragment and phrase' haiku in honour of the late Jane Reichhold. (Hope I got these right!)

I'm also linking this to Poets United's Poetry Pantry #356 where you can find a feast of poetry in all its variety.

Mother's Day Haiku

hot tomato soup

brown bread broken into it –

mother’s comfort food

*

my pretty mother –

different from her 

I felt ugly

*

I was her first –
she told me, when I cried 

she cried too

*

did she know me

as her only daughter

that last day?

Written for the 'Mother's Day' prompt by Chevrefeuille at Carpe Diem. 

Also linking to Poets United's Poetry Pantry #353

Attempting a Haiku Puzzler

Puzzle set by Chevrefeuille at Carpe Diem

Rules of the game:

The goal is to re-create the scrambled haiku of three haiku poets, but to make it somewhat more difficult, I have used four scrambled haiku.

Below you find an image in which you can find all the lines of these three haiku. To find the three haiku you get three hints:

1. This haiku poet brought haiku into the 20th century by mentioning a modern invention.

2. This haiku is renown all over the globe.

3. At the end of the life of a haiku poet the custom was to write a Jisei (death-poem). This is the jisei of a famous female poet.

To make the "haiku puzzler" complete you have to submit the three found haiku including the name of the haiku poet.

Scrambled lines:

I can get 2 and 3

2.
old pond

frogs jump into

water sound

by Basho

This is indeed world-renowned.

3. I am guessing that this is the jisei, though only the middle line is certain (and I don't know who wrote it):

having gazed at the moon

I depart from this life
with a blessing

Google tells me I got this right and that the author is Chiyo-ni. 

Which leaves my guesses at the other two as:

young foliage

after the passage of a train

smoke whirls

morning dew

evaporates in the early sunlight

spirit climbs to the sky

I am further guessing that the first of them is number 1 in the puzzle, because of the mention of a train – but again I don't know the author.

Google  tells me I got that right too, and that the author is Shiki – which I half-guessed because I knew he lived into the twentieth century. (Only, his version had my first and third lines reversed!)

I did rather guess that the fourth haiku might be by Chevrefeuille himself, and Google tells me that is so. But as he wrote it, in the version I found, it reads: 

in the early sunlight

morning dew evaporates

spirits climb to the sky

It was great fun playing this game, and I think I did quite well despite my ignorance. (Smile.)

The Poet's Craft

(haiku theme at Carpe Diem)

listen hard

as the silence

takes shape

NaHaiWriMo Week 4

More one-liners purporting to be haiku or senryu 

Feb 22 Leaf

fallen leaf the end of the long summer

gold leaf edging the pages – books my grandpa gave me

plump leaf of my lucky jade bush – broken off

Feb 23 Nature (human)

city visit the too-quick speech of strangers

Summer fades I mourn the heat I deplored

I extend my walk to see my old home from outside

I make and hang the dream catcher, start to dream again

Feb 24 In short (brief, minimal haiku)

summer ends – last flowers

late – one crow call

magpie sings unseen

autumn – empty beach

Feb 25 To 

to the hill! fog falls away

flowers brought to the patient in time for a wreath

mother of sons I learn to kick a football

raising glass to lips – eye contact

fingers to lips – the train departs

Feb 26 Our 

your long absence from our home – I rearrange the space

our ball flies high – crack! the window shatters

dusk along our street mothers calling children in

slowly our nights grow cooler summer begins to end

Feb 27 Buddha

pelting rain serene-faced statue of Buddha

Buddha's gesture invites discourse magpies warble

wooden Buddha on highest shelf – in kitchen

lotus lips deep eyes to drown in Buddha's painted face 

February 28, 2017 Nature (a pure-nature poem).

tiny black-and-white feather on the lawn ibis in flight

small feather on the grass rain-soaked Autumn starts early

mountain swathed in cloud today summer's over

loud rain-drops falling from leaves after the rain stops

small cat sleeps with both ears pricked but closer to me each night


Michael Dylan Welch, who runs NaHaiWriMo, told us: 
For those of you who might have wondered, the prompts for this month all came from two sentences (slightly adapted) from R. H. Blyth: “Haiku is a hand beckoning, a door half-opened, a mirror wiped clean. It is a way of returning to nature, to our moon nature, our cherry blossom nature, our falling leaf nature, in short, to our Buddha nature.” So that’s why a few of the prompts have been repeated. This is one of my favourite quotations from Blyth about haiku.

NaHaiWriMo week 3

 More attempts at one-line haiku and senryu written to NaHaiWriMo prompts 


Feb 15 Returning to

the further from it I get the more I return to my past

returning to the old house it appears smaller

returning to the place after long absence home is gone

I return in memory yesterday becomes today

I return to poetry always my first love


Feb. 16 Nature (something you can see right now)

among tall eucalypts dream-catcher workshop

frangipani in her hair / timber walking-stick

hilltop – leaves against the circle of sky

magpie picking at the grass red roses

miniature roses taller than planned

staghorn on bare trunk one chopped branch


Feb. 17 Moon

moonlight and ocean a girl walking in a blue dress

full moon above only one streetlight

full moon behind cloud leaks light around edges

who needs dreams? full moon in my window

keeping pace with our car harvest moon rolls long horizon


Feb. 18 Nature (experienced in another season)

winter street swirling leaves in dusty gutters

birds crowd my veranda rail spring rains

rain sets in – bedraggled birds shriek at my cat

my spring lawn – clover dandelion ibis feathers

garden after rain flourishing green weeds

autumn dusk dogs and children play in the street

early autumn more weeks between lawn-mowings


Feb. 19 Cherry blossom

old love letters falling cherry blossom

heat wave I remember cherry blossom

blossom-fall a change in the weather

white cherry blossoms I recall the tang of red juice

pale cherry blossom far away

throngs of blossoming cherries crowding cameras

cherry blossom hide the photo


Feb. 20 Nature (unique and seasonal to where I live)

late summer frangipani blooms thinning

later and later the cool breeze of evening

sunny early morning crisp mountain edges

midday the hot town empties


Feb. 21 Falling

walking with you frangipani flowers falling on grass

a falling feather lands in my path I remember you

falling together in laughter soft mattress

rising and falling we breathe in rhythm

your last heavy breath silence falling






Link: NaHaiWriMo on facebook


Also linking to Poets United's Poetry Pantry #344

Feb 21 #2 was published in JUMBLE BOX, a selection of haiku written for the 2017 NaHaiWriMo.

Valentine's Day Haiku

(well anyway, one-liners trying to be haiku)


rain falls on your long absence I don't forget

heat-wave my ardour increases

that café we used to like closes – cloudy day

the sun in the photo shines on your face – forever

you offer your heart – the taste of chocolate

remembering our first time you brought roses






Written for NaHaiWriMo 2017

Linking to Tuesday Platform 21 Feb 2017 at 'imaginary garden with real toads'

NaHaiWriMo week 2

A prompt a day. I'm doing one-liners.

Feb 8 Open

door opened after the heat – fine invisible rain

not open-minded so much as blank no haiku

stinking hot neighbour swears through open window


Feb 9 A mirror

I hold the mirror to the light - all flash no image

when that car in the next lane vanishes from your mirrors


Feb 10 Wiped

saw him off with a kiss closed the door wiped her mouth

wiped the mirror – her mother still stared back


Feb 11 Clean

clean desk – sign of an empty mind?

cleans the wall – fingerprints scrabbling to get into Mexico

dead spider – no insects in this clean house

rain-cleaned air – humidity restores sticky skin


Feb 12 It (use the word but don't say what ‘it’ is)

it rises we gasp perspire seek cold water

momentary breeze it falls white to the grass

is it a bird is it a plane, no it's ... too high to tell


Feb 13 Is (use this specific word in your poem, but try to be wary of introducing too much judgment into the poem)

weeks of over 40C global warming is

Goddess Isis is (not terrorISt)


February 14 A way (of)

small bright feather blows towards me away

finding a way into my closed yard – water dragon

cat under table a way of controlling thunder


Link: NaHaiWriMo on facebook


Also linking to Poets United's Poetry Pantry #343

NaHaiWriMo week 1

Haiku and senryu. Each day a new prompt. I'm going for one-liners. I think these are only trying (and failing) to be one-line haiku / senryu but maybe they are poetry. Or possibly aphorisms.

Feb 1 Haiku

heatwave I compose haiku indoors

lapsed haiku-habit doldrums then NaHaiWriMo


Feb 2. Is (but don’t use the word)

living alone existence in the click of a keyboard

my dead husband waves at me memories

widowhood he walks ahead of me down the passage


Feb 3. A

ugly Aunty Amy favourite great-aunt to tribe

spinster Aunty Katy all her siblings’ children hers 

gentle Aunty Ella mother of my roughest cousins

afterwards we smoked in bed forbidden pleasures

‘after all’ we excuse ourselves after the damage done

after all anguish again arriving at acceptance

‘Eh’ – awkward aggressive accusatory or apathetic?


Feb 4 Hand

morning heat builds slowly her hand reaches for the fan

lethargic heat her wrinkled hand clutching the fan

fading light her hand at the door waving


Feb 5 Beckoning

summer evening she beckons from the shadows

he turns his face her beckoning hand

hot day the curl of the waves beckoning


Feb 6 A door

a door shuts – opens days later on dead spider

‘I adore you,’ he says – eyes wandering

Feb 7. Half

worse than a worm in the stew half a worm
(not original, old joke, couldn’t resist)

chocolate hard from the fridge can't cut you half what a pity

summer night half-heard music through an unknown window

waking in early half light already the heat

Link: NaHaiWriMo on facebook

Also linking to Poets United's Poetry Pantry #342

Feb. 4 #3 and Feb. 7 #2 were published in JUMBLE BOX, a  selection of haiku written for NaHaiWriMo 2017

One-line haiku/senryu Jan 2017

I've started exploring one-line haiku and senryu, under the influence of the wonderful HAIKU NOTEBOOK by W. F. Owen. Here is the whole month's output for January, as I started this exploration only late in the month.

old fifth birthday photo fancy dress and all his hair

scared cat bites my thumb not too hard the hand that feeds

summer storm my cat hisses at the vet

hot afternoon unseen kookaburra's harsh laugh

summer night loud crickets neighbour's heavy metal

long hot night my cat comes to bed briefly

hot cocoa to help me sleep I sit up later drinking 

heatwave survival the right setting on the electric fan

heatwave chocolate biscuits hard from the fridge

Festival Haiku

music speeds
her red shoes stamp

flamenco

mist rises like smoke 

we order wood-fired pizza

parade at sunset 

siblings make a lantern

for the dead boy

Linking to the Tuesday Platform for Dec 6 2016 at 'imaginary garden with real toads'

Perspectives

closing the doors 

from house to garden –

smell of new paint

nervous cat

under my chair –

saws whining

radio next door

cheerful loud voices –

advertisement

my prick-eared cat sits alert –

I fall asleep in the sun


Linking this to Poets United's Poetry Pantry #323

Homecomings

my old cat

sits on the top step –

no longer

his sister 

crosses the lawn –

memory

my new cat

waits inside the door –

greets me gladly

I wipe the tears and go in –

smile as she comes to meet me


Another haiku sonnet. I'm linking it to Poets United's Poetry Pantry $324

Walking Around Town

burly boys
jitter and fidget  –

testosterone 

old man totters

hurrying to the bench 

almost falls

she stops to rest

drinks from her thermos 

lightens the load

strong smell

outside the library –

smoker

rain starts in big splashy drops 

small mosquitos come inside

Another haiku sonnet – or senryu sonnet – for Poetic Asides.

Also linking to Poets United's Poetry Pantry #320, and to the 2019 dVerse Sonnet Challenge.

This one was placed in the Top 10 for the Poetic Asides challenge, which not only delighted but surprised me, as it is more senryu than haiku. 

I loved the opportunity to combine two classic forms into something new, yet still recognisably true to both.

Uncertain Weather

on next door's roof

tarp and sandbags for leaks –

Housing Department

used for rain

silver tarpaulin shines

in the sun

Spring colours –

pink and white sandbags

suddenly

wrinkles

in the tarpaulin –

new clouds

still air –

a slight breeze rustles

tips of leaves

on an early Spring morning –
will it rain will it not rain?

Another haiku sonnet for Poetic Asides.  (Expect more.)

The Garden Microcosm

pink blooms

fully open turn white

then brown

my cat twists

on her blanket –

mosquito

agile cat

captures baby lizard 
loses it

old rose-bush

well-pruned doesn’t bloom
not a bud

Spring – new lives may be short lives
and some lives never begin

A haiku sonnet for Poetic Asides form challenge. I prefer short/long/short haiku lines to 5/7/5 syllables – but we were asked to make the final couplet lines of 7 syllables, so I did.

Also linking to Poets United's Midweek Motif: Blooms (noun)

Erotic haiku / senryu and tanka: February 2016

your strong body
in my arms again –
you fill me

***

the smell
of your warm flesh
and the taste ...

***

a long time
between drinks – here now
I drink deep

***

you uncurl
and stretch your long limbs
exposing
the magnificence
I love to stroke

***

no need for touch
the mere thought of you
and I flower

***

I lick your skin
your nipples harden
I feel you swell

***

your hand stroking
my breasts and belly
heating my blood

Bits and Pieces

Some micropoems from my files, which it seems I haven't posted here before (arranged in alphabetical order by name of form, not by date of writing) –

Erotic haiku:

our soapy hands

as we shower together

slip and slide

1/8/15

he bends his head

I stand on tiptoe

our first kiss

3/8/15

(No need for curiosity, dear readers; there's no-one new. I write my erotica these days from memory and imagination.)

Gogyoshi:

so many clouds

plump and round

and apparently rollicking

over their big blue meadow —

kids in a playground

2/8/15

Senryu:

cold morning 

waking to back pain

and cat on bed

21/8/15


aqua-aerobics

I float in warm water

emerge wiped out

23/10/15

Tanka:

the rain stops

the stars are still dark

blanked out

the night’s loud silence

pierces like a scream

7/5/14

Even with 

the toy teddy bear 

beside me,

I fail to sleep –

until I clasp it.

18/8/15

on holiday

I begin to lose me

in the new

until this morning

I make a poem – ah!

25/8/15

I reach up

pull off and crush

a thin leaf

inhale the tang

of eucalyptus 

we do this 

starting in childhood

we Aussies

instinctively

breathing in home

26/8/15

like water

the light slants down

pouring

like silver rain

on your shining face

7/10/15

Tilus:

long grief, then all at once

I reclaim

me

9/6/14

the small cold days come down

I winter

lone

12/6/14

Linking to the Tuesday Platform for 1 Dec 2015 at 'imaginary garden with real toads'