Morden Haiku

2009-07-05T11:15:00.001Z

leaving the campsite
a blackbird reminds me
who lives here all year

And Japan's Hailstone Haiku Circle Icebox can be found here

2009-07-03T17:51:00.001Z

old oak
enough shade shed
for the whole flock

2009-06-17T20:58:00.001Z

village pitch
deer grazing all
the defensive positions

2009-06-09T20:05:00.000Z

2009-06-06T15:39:00.002Z

Aust 25.05.09 (for Richey James Edwards)

If this is where
you chose to end it all,
you are here still,
deep within the old red
sand and siltstone,
passed by elvers,
sewin,
salmon
that would never
think to question
if you were
4 REAL.

2009-06-05T19:34:00.000Z

2009-06-04T19:46:00.005Z

Thanks to all of you who supported my recent charity bike ride. The picture below was taken at Land's End last Thursday morning after a journey of around 970 cycled miles from John O'Groats.

Normal MH service will be resumed over the coming days, but by way of a change, a scene from my travels that attempts to articulate the wonders of Western Scotland...

Ballachulish 19.05.09

Beyond the bridge
great glens hold
the mist between them
like a milk white shawl
wrapping the hurt
clung thistle-clawed
to slate waste
thin moraine
pyrite washing down
to fields of bluebells
a sheen-scented melancholia
softened by the touch
of saltwater lapping
the broken bracts of kelp
that black-backed gulls
lift and turn
lift and turn

2009-05-11T19:54:00.002Z

I have set up a blog to record my cycle trip that can be found here. And thanks to those of you who have already sponsored me.

Also of note is Jim Kacian's new haiku blog, Troutswirls, the Haiku Foundation which is required reading for all those interested in haiku.

i put up
a borrowed tent
the first cuckoo

2009-05-04T13:19:00.002Z

Preparation for my forthcoming cycling trip (see below) means that I will be giving blogging a miss for the remainder of May. I hope to post full details of my adventures on my return in June.

In the meantime, there will be occasional updates on my Twitter page.

And anyone wishing to sponsor me for Marie Curie Cancer Care can do so here or via the link to the right.

Thanks for your support.

2009-05-04T08:13:00.001Z

it swings the crow
hung on a gibbet
spring breeze

And Dalloway's Australian Haiku is worth checking out.

2009-05-02T07:09:00.000Z

Solomon's Seal
a few drops of rain
hung with the flowers

2009-05-01T13:07:00.000Z

May Day
the hula hoop frames
a small girl's world

2009-04-28T20:51:00.001Z

headmaster's office
a box of tissues balanced
at the desk's edge

2009-04-26T11:08:00.000Z

the soft lump
in the toe of my wellington
a dead shrew

May Charity Cycle Ride

2009-04-26T05:21:00.004Z

I have added a widget (see to your right) that links Morden Haiku to a page on the Just Giving charity site for a fundraising venture that I will be undertaking next month. On Saturday 16th May, I will begin a solo, unsupported cycle ride from John O'Groats (far north of Scotland) to Land's End in Cornwall (far south west of England), a journey of approximately 900 miles/1400km. I expect the ride to take approximately 2 weeks, depending on fitness, mishaps, weather and other variables.

I am doing the ride as both a personal challenge and as a way to raise money for Marie Curie Cancer Care. This charity provides free nursing services and hospice care for people suffering with cancer, a disease which has affected a number of close family members and friends in recent years. Should any visitors wish to contribute to my fundraising, it will be much appreciated. All funds donated will go to the charity and I will be covering all trip expenses from my own funds, not donations.

While I have yet to decide the extent to which I'll be blogging while I am away on the ride (a couple of weeks break from technology would not go amiss), full details and photos of my trip will appear here in June.

Thanks for your interest in this non-haiku topic and your normal poetry service will be resumed over the next few days.

Not haiku...

2009-04-25T14:54:00.000Z

but not without a certain poetic quality nonetheless...

2009-04-24T18:13:00.001Z

spring dusk
an old man's spoon against a saucepan
gathers the chickens

2009-04-23T21:03:00.000Z

St George's Day
a passing car scatters
the dandelion seeds

2009-04-21T20:36:00.000Z

spring cycle training
a sack of coal
shed on the road

2009-04-20T19:06:00.003Z

nesting season
shredded doctors papers
pulled from recycling

And I neglected to mention Kris Lindbeck's Haiku etc and Dave Serjeant's Distant Lightning on my haiku blogs roundup yesterday.

2009-04-19T19:36:00.003Z

The following blogs are well worth checking out and will soon be added to the best haiku blogroll...

Beachcombing for the Landlocked
Paiku
haiku notebook
haiku bandit society
Full Moon of November
Wild Geese in a Cow Field
Blue Willow Haiku World

And while it's not a blog, Roberta Beary's website is also recommended.

2009-04-18T06:50:00.000Z

april rain
four skaters shelter
under the ramp

Twitter, Twitterku, Twaiku, Twiterature, #haiku, #micropoetry and Twitteryu?

2009-04-17T20:05:00.004Z

Further to earlier posts on the subject of Twitter and haiku, there are now numerous sites exploring the literary potential of 140 character posts. More Twitter sites exploring haiku and micropoetry that are worth following include:

Paiku
haikutec
splintersound
haikunotebook
forgottenworks
Micropoetry
jdbrush
minglewoodhaiku

And in the absence of any reference to twitteryu ( twitter senryu) on Google, I'll claim that as a Morden Haiku first, unless of course, you know otherwise.

30,000 visits later...

2009-04-16T19:22:00.001Z

And thanks to the person at the University of Paisley who was Morden Haiku's 30,000th visitor earlier today.

2009-04-16T19:20:00.001Z

before the rain
the scent of bluebells
sharpened by a breeze