Haiku for a south wind

poplars sway
tall ships tossed on wind waves
far from the sea

wave of heat
the swell rocks the roses
becalmed

clatter of acorns
autumn hail bounces in oak
shade—dry pattering

Yellow haiku

The flower I had in mind was fleabane, (see image). Tansy sounds more poetic, but the colour is a slightly more acid yellow.

Photo ©Phil Sellens

the slow light is long
low spreading the rich yellow
of tansy flowers

Haiku sequence: Birds in a hot sky

A haiku (hopefully) sequence for the dverse prompt

 

blue

bold as brass echoes

with summer

 

swallows at sunset

flicker in elegant flight

winged evening dress

 

heat throbs

woodpecker-laughs while we bake

with tree envy

 

still hushed air

grasped in an iron fist

hot as a cat’s breath

 

too hot to sing

sparrowhawk ever ready

to pick a fight

Haiku sequence for the thunder moon

For Frank Tassone’s Thunder Moon challenge.

 

serene—riding

in unclouded silence—

thunder moon

 

summer speaks

silver and gold with thunder

in the moon’s voice

 

thunderstorms

nights rocked with rain lit day-bright

behind clouds—the moon

 

night storm

among the billows

the moon glows

 

look—not fireflies

about the moon not stars

lightning flickers

From dusk to morning

 

Deer are barking

across the setting sun

a world apart

 

through the long grass

snake glides

climbs the fig tree biblically

taking the slender boughway

over the hedge top

 

in the path

yellow feathers strewn

midnight feast

 

oriole flutes an elegy

for lost kindred

in the gold of morning

 

small corpses

cat-kill

laid by the path

an offering to the night fox

are gone by morning

 

Haiku for wild irises

For Frank Tassone’s challenge.

 

around the well

the shooting spears

of untamed irises

 

ephemeral

born in spring rains

beetle bright

 

in spring damp

cool green water blue a world

in a flower

Haiku for midsummer

The white bird is an egret. We usually see them in flocks, but this solitary individual (weirdo maybe) was flying with a great flock of red kites. The kites were after the hot-blooded creatures disturbed by the mowing, the egret was after grasshoppers.

 

 

beneath drying stalks

once gold

green ribs shine

 

waves of heat-shimmer

on the meadow break

with poplar-hiss

 

shade pools

dim as ocean depths where

bramble flowers wink

 

all these months

the thrush has sung dawn to dusk

through the dark days

 

light glitters now

damselfly-bright on the last

wave tip of spring

 

Haiku for the longest day

For Frank Tassone’s summer solstice prompt.

the longest day

a day for mowing cutting

the year in half

 

all the golden stalks

the meadow

a battlefield

 

the gyre narrows

hawk objective probes beneath

the fallen grass

 

how did they know

before the engine’s rattle

that death was coming?

 

feather swarm glides

in untouching pattern

through the blue

Tidings

storm again the grey

so familiar a cover

to the rain-lashed world

 

and the dimming

of the light

before the night

 

no dusk

of soft golden

fading

 

drumroll and lights

yet we pull the shutters closed

on the spectacle

 

no moon rides

no stars glow beneath the waves

of such heavy seas

#Tanka Tuesday: Nest-building

A haiku for Colleen’s weekly challenge.

Photo ©David P. Howard

no time for singing

eaves aflutter with bright wings

nest-building twitter