Morden Haiku

2009-12-04T19:19:00.002Z

2009-12-01T20:44:00.000Z

St Eligius' Day
a blood red dawn
over the forge

2009-11-30T20:08:00.001Z

red tinsel rests
on cherry leaves
waxing moon

2009-11-29T16:20:00.002Z

no leaves left
on the tallest ash
the blackness of crow

2009-11-26T20:38:00.003Z

november dawn
putting on so many
shades of faded blue

2009-11-25T20:08:00.002Z

in-between day
not sure if the moon
is half full or half empty

2009-11-24T17:27:00.002Z

talk of cuts
the smell of a hedge
after the flail trimmer

2009-11-23T18:31:00.003Z

the only brightness
in the graveyard
chrysanthemum yellow

2009-11-22T09:03:00.002Z

what the cat brought
back from the night
autumn rain

2009-11-19T20:23:00.007Z

Belgian Premier and haiku poet Herman Van Rompuy was elected as the first ever President of Europe earlier today. You can find a translated version of his haiku website here and it suggests he knows his stuff.

2009-11-17T19:55:00.001Z

six more weeks
stuck behind it
a christmas tree truck

2009-11-16T20:08:00.000Z

outpatients clinic
a linoleum floor
pock-marked by heels

2009-11-15T17:21:00.002Z

morning after
a farm cat drinks
the fresh rain

2009-11-15T08:15:00.000Z

across the sand
the storms left behind
a layer of cars

2009-11-06T20:30:00.001Z

left by the flood
an oak leaf strand-line
high and dry

2009-11-05T22:02:00.001Z

Bonfire Night
a low flying jet
simulates wartime

2009-11-04T21:43:00.001Z

2009-10-31T21:41:00.007Z

The Welsh Duw cariad yw translates as God is love. The photo was taken in Soar Y Mynydd Chapel, near Llyn Briane in Mid Wales. This Country Diary piece by Jim Perrin in The Guardian articulates the sense of place better than I could.

2009-10-30T19:36:00.001Z

Haiku Presence Award 2009

2009-10-26T20:36:00.001Z

The Haiku Presence Award 2009 deadline has been extended by one month to 30 November 2009, due to the recent postal strikes. Full award details below. If you have some haiku available, please enter the Award and support Britain’s leading independent haiku journal. The 30 Nov deadline will be a firm deadline, so it’s advisable not to leave your entry until too late in the month.

Yours, Martin

Martin Lucas

editor, Presence

HAIKU PRESENCE AWARD 2009

£100 1st prize

£25 each for up to 4 runners-up

Publication of winning and commended poems in Presence #40

Judge: Fred Schofield

Entry fee: £5 or $8 or €5 for up to 5 haiku.

Additional haiku at £1 / $2 / €1 per haiku.

Overseas subscribers to Presence are entitled to up to 3 free entries

– see details below.

Paid by: £ cheque to Haiku Presence. $ or Euro fees to be paid in cash.

Cash entry fees are sent at the entrant’s own risk. If payment by cash is not convenient, please contact Martin Lucas to discuss alternative payment options. The prize will be paid by £ cheque: bank negotiation or currency exchange charges to be paid by the prize winner not Presence magazine.

If you are resident outside the UK and subscribed up to or beyond #40, you are entitled to up to three free Award entries in 2009. You do not need to submit any paid-for entries in addition, but any more than these three entries must be paid for at the £, € or $ rate. Submissions of free entries only can be sent to m.lucas27@btinternet.com with the subject line: Haiku Presence Award. Please also use this address for any enquiries about the terms of the offer, e.g. whether your current sub covers up to #40.

Format: any format you like, two copies of each haiku, with your name and address included on one copy. It is OK to print several haiku on one sheet of paper.

All entries to be original, unpublished and not under consideration elsewhere.

Revised deadline (in hand): 30 November 2009

Send to:

Martin Lucas, 90 D Fishergate Hill, Preston PR1 8JD, England, UK

Non-subscribers may order a copy of the results issue of Presence for £5 (cheques to “Haiku Presence”) or $12 in cash. Alternatively, for results, enclose an s.a.e. (+IRC from outside the UK) with your contest entry.

Twitter Renku Experiment aka #twenkuxp

2009-10-24T16:52:00.018Z

Final 36 verse Twitter Renku (aka #twenkuxp) - 24.10.09 - 01.10.09

1.
drover's road
the beech leaves
turn it gold again

Matt

2.
driving wind and rain
change the windscreen patchwork

Paul

3.
clocks go back
an old man struggles
to thread a needle

Matt

4.
by morning her new wings
are finished and ready to go

Paul

5.
planting snowdrops
a seagull wheels overhead
sends out a long cry

Maeve

6.
even the starlings above
are donning shades of gray

Ted

7.
the two of us
smiling at the shape
we left in grass

Paul

8.
tiny drops beginning to fall
resting lightly in our hair

Alastair

9.
half term
the teeth of a comb
clogged with lice

Matt

10.
still slightly unnerved
by the pumpkin's stare

Paul

11.
in the high chair
she makes faces
at her marmalade

Ted

12.
an orange hibiscus
trumpets its presence

Maeve

13.
remembrance day
the scout troop march
out of step

Matt

14.
Caps aloft in damp grey air
a long walk home on broken ground

Alastair

15. over the fence
with baskets full
of stolen plums

Paul

16.
this city cyclist is
singing in the rain

Maeve

17.
holding onto
the handlebars and rims
raindrops of sweat

alotuspoetry

18.
a Saint Bernard
in the convertible ahead

Ted

19.
no a/c
I too drool
during dog-day siestas

alotuspoetry

20.
a slumber gently nudges
we drift off, hands held tightly

Alastair

21.
nightmare--
a raven taps
my cold feet

alotuspoetry

22.
a panic attack strikes
as I fly into the future

maeve

23.
flash of orange
the hunter cries
don't shoot!

Ted

24.
shivering in the dark
I speak to the candle

alotuspoetry

25.
by morning
the world takes back
its familiar shape

Paul

26.
filling the barrel
one drop at a time

Ted

27.
another fail
there's no piss-up
in the brewery

Matt

28.
calling last orders
for christmas delivery

Paul

29.
autumn dusk
the postman stops
to let us pass

Matt

30.
on a love letter
the kiss of cala lilies

alotuspoetry

31.
poison pen
your blistered fingers
crumple paper

Alastair

32.
the thinness of rain
schoolchildren in West Bengal

haikutec

33.
a tiger
chases its tail
round the pot

Paul

34.
nail-biter
self-medicating

Ted

35.
new moon
another chance
to start again

Matt

36.
tabula rasa
white shades dark

Alastair

2009-10-21T19:17:00.001Z

2009-10-20T18:52:00.002Z

Katy Carr at the Do Lectures, Cilgerran, Pembrokeshire, Wales.
September 2009

2009-10-19T20:55:00.000Z

2009-10-18T18:27:00.000Z