Kindred Spirits, A Linked Tanka Sequence Video, November 2020

It was my honour to be invited to write a tanka sequence with the esteemed poet, an'ya. She has created a video of our sequence, with accompanying music by Richard St. Clair, at:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YCEKDNfvXaM&feature=youtu.be

My work appears in italics below...

of kindred spirits

far apart
but soulful singing
keeps us close
sisters of the salt
on pendulum tides

I dreamt
the oracle of oceans
left your voice
inside an empty shell
for me to find at dawn

a sailor's sky
making the briny blue
palette purple
you are my second self
an ama freediver

kindred spirits
we take flight below
the waterline
bodies like quicksilver
among shoals of herring

november gale
mother mary's petrels
seeking shelter
we travel side by side
reflections in the surf

burnished
by pelagic winds
our bones
come to rest at day's end
upon each other's shores

Atlas Poetica, Number 37, 2019

Creatrix Poetry and Haiku Journal, Number 51, December 2020

candy cane snail

it takes time to earn

your stripes

unkempt graves

the poppies that once

stood at attention

the portal

of a wren's nest

lockdown

 

Under the Basho, 2020

Personal Best

frozen trough

I cup the warm breath

of my horse

1st Place, 2018 Sharpening the Green Pencil Haiku Contest

Hokku

cloud shadows . . .

a drove of jackrabbits

in mid-flight

Modern Haiku

tear gas

the missing eyespot

on a moth's wing

trilliums

we learn to thrive

in your shadow

fourteen eyes

on the possum's back . . .

night train

false apology

the stiff tail feathers

of a ruddy duck

the spine

I used to have . . .

sea urchin

 

Autumn Moon Haiku Journal, 4:1, Autumn/Winter 2020-2021

the emptiness

of a mermaid's purse . . .

rusted hull

ashfall

the missing river

of heaven

Weird Laburnum, December 2020

 

The Cherita, Book 42, September 2020

Issue: "leave me here"

they fashioned

beaks for their masks,

nostrils stuffed

with lavender

to thwart the stench

of plague

no matter

how often I mend

the fabric of my life

loose threads

of regret still dangle

here and there

my senses

more alive

than they were

a butterfly's wing

holds all the colours

I cannot name

 

The Heron's Nest, Vol. 22, Number 4, December 2020

afterlight

acorns surf the roof

of our tent

stepping stones

a damselfly invites us

to change course

International Picture Postcard Project, 2020

I'm honoured to be included in this project with the following haiku:

transience . . .

petal by petal

we let go

Winning Haiku, 2017 Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival

Haiku Connects Us

About the project "Haiku Connects Us":

The idea of a project of sending postcards from your local place with a word haiku - handwritten on the reverse side - has been on my mind for some time. However, I did not have the courage to make it real. When I finally made a decision, I was only thinking about my close friends I was in touch with.

Yet, fate was different. Human kindness and the pandemic overlapped with one another.

My friends popularized the project worldwide without my knowledge. The first postcard came on February the 1st, later on came many more. Since March there has been a breakdown due to the pandemic. I get postcards that were on their way for 100 days, they are tattered and worn out but victorious.

I wonder how many of them are there left in post bags?

Sending a postcard seems to be a simple act but in fact it isn't. Apart from financial aspect there is also time devoted to it and finally finding a postbox. Sometimes buying a postcard may be a challenge! For me the most interesting was a human factor. Who would be eager to give a little heart, thought or empathy? I wasn't let down. The postcards I received speak to me with their image and handwritten haiku. Handwriting, stamp, postmark, sometimes earmarks are all precious to me. They make me become mentally closer to their sender. I can tell a lot about each and every postcard and I am very moved. Man is victorious, haiku is victorious, in the end we are all victorious and for that I thank you cordially.

—Krzysztof Kokot

Ribbons, Volume 16, Number 3, Fall 2020

somewhere

in the curling spiral

of this apple

for a few moments,

I am wholly present

Our Best Haiga: Black & White Haiga/Haisha, November 2020

 Curated by Lavana Kray

November 4, 2020

(Note: this haiku originally appeared in The Heron's Nest 19.1, March 2017)

November 13, 2020

(Note: this senryu originally appeared in Failed Haiku 3:28, April 2018)

November 23, 2020

(Note: this haiku originally appeared in Creatrix 39, November 2017)

November 29, 2020

(Note: this tanka originally appeared in Moonbathing 16, Spring/Summer 2017)

Horror Senryu Journal, December 2020

pond dipping

the face I see

at the bottom

 

Presence, Number 68, November 2020

frostquakes

these recurring dreams

of war

hawk strike

I let go

of my breath

the apostrophe

on a quail's head . . .

uncut hay

an elegancy

of avocets reflected

in the pond

we drop our troubles

into the stillness

(note: in the first haiku, "frostquakes" was published as two words)

 

Stardust Haiku, Issue 47, November 2020

bullied child

a painted lady's

broken wings

 

New Zealand Poetry Society International Poetry Competition 2020

Haumi ē! Hui ē! Tāiki ē! Stay Well Here - NZPS Poetry Anthology 2020

rolled-up jeans

the sudden fountains

of bivalves

winter camping

we make a bonfire

of the aurora

Hedgerow Poems, Number 132, Summer 2020

a torn flip-flop

sanderlings tease

the surf

sargussum

heaped in rotting mats

on the beach

I find a seagull's wing,

and weep for this world

 

Human/Kind Journal, November 2020

Humanities Category

Honoured to know that the editors nominated this senryu for a Touchstone Award:

(note: This haiga was created in memory of my cousin, whose murder has never been solved. A ghost gun has had its identifying markings removed.)

 

Failed Haiku - A Journal of English Senryu, Vol. 5, Issue 60, December 2020

 Selected by Co-Editor, Bryan Rickert

(note: this senryu first appeared in Creatrix 39, November 2017)

(note: this senryu first appeared in #FemkuMag 9, February 2019)

(note: this senryu first appeared in The Heron's Nest 20.3, September 2018)

(note: this senryu first appeared in the Asahi Haikuist Network, January 2019)

Contemporary Haibun Online, Issue 16.3, December 2020

Haiga Gallery: selected by Ron Moss

 

City, British Haiku Society 30th Anniversary Members' Haiku Anthology, 1990-2020

empty diner

petals of light beneath

the streetlamp

 

Blithe Spirit, Vol. 30, Number 4, November 2020

skipperlings here and there a dog's tail

blue elf cup

one droplet of light

at the centre

dad tells us

that everything is fine

and dandy . . .

this year, we notice

the weeds in his garden

I breathe

a sigh of relief . . .

the pulse

of bread dough rises

under my hands