EarthRise Rolling Haiku Collaboration

Earthrise Rolling Haiku Collaboration 2026

Welcome to the world’s largest annual collaborative poem.

As we often have in the past, this year we take our cue from The United Nations Year Designation. 2026 is designated the International Year of Volunteers for Sustainable Development (a shout-out here for our great team of volunteers that brings you this, and so many other wonderful features, every day!), the International Year of the Woman Farmer, and the International Year of Rangelands and Pastoralists. This last is our topic for this year’s Earthrise Rolling Haiku Collaborative.

In researching herding and roving poems for this purpose, we are once again indebted to Charles Trumbull and his incomparable Haiku Database. And thanks to Kala Ramesh for allowing us to use this wonderful piece as our departure point:
wind in the hills
a shepherd’s song
comes around
— Kala Ramesh. bottle rockets 23

Please add your poem(s) in the Reply Box below, ideally at dawn at your location, but any time that you are able. The timeline for this begins at 12:01 A.M. on April 17 at the International Date Line (which is why it seems to have started the day before, for many of us). Your poem(s) may respond to the “seed” poem, or to any of the posted poems and/or comments, and you can even start a new thread. You may participate as often as you like. All we ask is that you respond to the theme at hand.

Enjoy!

Comments (559)

    1. .
      before morning pasture’s guardians human and otherwise

      Alan Summers

      .
      NOTE:
      The oldest dish in the world: Nettle pudding!

      Nettle Pudding is a foraged dish using young nettle tops, often mixed with rice or barley, commonly eaten in early Spring.

      It’s considered one of Britain’s oldest recipes, dating back to roughly 6,000 BC as a staple of Stone Age, Neolithic diets.

      It is a savoury dish made by mixing young, chopped stinging nettles with barley flour, water, and salt, traditionally boiled in a cloth to create a nutritious, thick pudding:
      https://bark.today/en/the-oldest-dish-in-the-world/

  3. .
    “ride a black horse” Herne’s antlers scrape the Royal trees

    Alan Summers

    .
    NOTES:

    The British rural landscape contains many legends and folklore from sheep pastures, to vintage centuries old oak wood-pastures, and fields that cover many famous and infamous happenings.

    The Wild Hunt: Herne the Hunter, English folklore legend:
    Associated with Windsor Forest and Great Park in the English county of Berkshire UK. An early mention of Herne is from William Shakespeare’s 1597 play The Merry Wives of Windsor:
    https://www.rsc.org.uk/the-merry-wives-of-windsor/about-the-play/herne-the-hunter

  6. .
    Just Memories
    .

    late night alleyway
    echoes with a tenor sax
    a cat passes by
    ~ab
    .
    heels click
    on the gravel
    ~cc

    .

    coffee steam curls
    to the tune of smoky keys
    the slow river flows
    ~ab
    .

    pretending he’s happy
    just like me
    ~cc

    .

    old Coltrane
    crackles from a radio
    memories return
    ~ab
    .

    mama’s stew melts
    in the pot
    ~cc

    .

    a voice like dusk
    fills the crowded bar
    red dress in the dark
    ~ab
    .

    the bartender
    flirts
    ~cc

    .

    old man at the keys
    playing what he can’t forget
    jazz in the veins
    ~ab
    .

    taking a slow stroll
    home tonight
    ~cc

    .

    THF HaikuLife 2026
    Reprised: Andrew Brindle &
    Christina Chin
    April 26, 2026
    Direct link:
    Andrew Brindle_jazz
    https://youtu.be/2t7NATgmmkM?si=Pz-hBLdKNfilFVw4
    .

    1. .
      wild woodsmoke the wilderness beckoning from wider afield

      Alan Summers

      Note:

      Woodsmoke now makes me think of Spring in the Southern Hemisphere and damper bread and long horse journeys.
      In Queensland, “smoke season” typically refers to periods of heavy smoke caused by bushfires or planned hazard-reduction burns. It most heavily affects the state during Spring (September to November)—the peak bushfire season INTERNET SOURCES

    1. .
      gathering dusk
      outside a quayside café
      fishermen’s lines

      Alan Summers
      Nyuusen Prize, International Kusamakura Haiku Contest (Japan, 1998)
      Anthology credit: International Kusamakura Haiku Anthology (Japan, 1998)
      Publication: 3LIGHTS Nocturne issue curated by Liam Wilkinson (2008)
      .
      cueillant le crépuscuple
      à l’extérieur d’un café du quai
      lignes de pêcheurs
      trans. Serge Tomé (Temps Libre, Belgium 2018)

      .

      nautical twilight
 the light off the frost
 on fishermen

      Alan Summers
      Blithe Spirit, December 2011
      Sea Bandits ed Aubrie Cox (2012)

      .

      breaking my fast
      the mermaid’s kiss
      of samphire

      Alan Summers
      Sense of Place – The Shore – Taste ed. Kathy Munro (Haiku Foundation August 2018)

      .

      mermaid’s kiss

      turning thirteen
      
i become a fish

      Alan Summers

      Publication credits: Blithe Spirit (March 2012)
      Anthology: Sea Bandits ed. Aubrie Cox (2012)
      Collection: Does Fish-God Know (Yet To Be Named Free Press 2012)

      .
      Paddington station
      I order an extra mermaid
      with miso soup

      Alan Summers
      Blithe Spirit 26.1 (journal of the British Haiku Society, March 2016)

    1. .
      our hands as clocks gloaming amongst the evenfall

      Alan Summers

      Feature Article

      The Unseen Go-Between in Haiku by Alan Summers
      Haiku Society of America Newsletter Haiku Spotlight (January 2022)
      https://myemail.constantcontact.com/HSA-NEWS-January-05–2022.html?soid=1106162827962&aid=dTKiHj3xOIE

      .

      twilight on snow shadows deepen the grip of stars

      Alan Summers
      Publication Credit: Frogpond 37:2 (Haiku Society of America 2014)
      Anthology Credit: big data The Red Moon Anthology of English-Language Haiku 2014
      (Shortlisted for the Touchstone Award 2015);

      Article:
      The Unseen Go-Between in Haiku by Alan Summers
      Haiku Society of America newsletter, Haiku Spotlight (January 2022)

    1. .
      convolvulus
      a word on my tongue
      and the bumblebee

      Alan Summers
      Publication credits:
      Blithe Spirit vol.14 no. 4 (2004)
      see haiku here ed. Kuniharu Shimizu (Japan 2011)
      haijinx volume IV, issue 1 (2011)

      Collection: Does Fish-God Know (YTBN 2012)

      .

      a single stretch of cirrus testing quietly the consonance

      Alan Summers
      NOON: journal of the short poem ISSUE 28 (March 2026) ed. Philip Rowland

      .

      snowball vocabulary
      we first start by beginning
      and ending as snow

      Alan Summers
      “A Boy Called Snow” (zuihitsu)
      The Blo͞o Outlier Journal Summer Issue 2021 (Issue #2)

      .

    2. .
      gliding four sulphur-crested cockatoos a green tinged sundown

      Alan Summers

      Publication credits:
      paperwasp (winter 1996); micropress yates, Oz edition, (April 1997); micropress new zealand (vol 2 issue 5 (1997)
      Collection: sundog haiku journal: an australian year, sunfast press (1997 reprinted 1998)
      .
      NOTE:
      Huge sheep station outside of Toowoomba, Central Queensland, Australia

      .

      petrichor this green sunsets in yesterday

      Alan Summers
      Collection: Does Fish-God Know (YTBN Press 2012)
      https://area17.blogspot.com/2012/10/does-fish-god-know-haiku-collection-by.html

      .

    1. .
      dark witch the crocodiles I rescued in your dreams

      Alan Summers

      I did go out with a dark witch. The nightmares were horrendous for a while.

      _________________
      In the meantime:
      _________________
      Pendle Witches Brew is a popular 5.1% ABV amber ale produced by Moorhouse’s Brewery in the UK, often marketed with mystical, witch-themed branding.

      Historically, women (alewives/brewsters) dominated beer production, and some argue that stereotypical witch imagery—pointed hats, cauldrons, and cats—originated from these independent female brewers

    1. .

      Muscle Car Meditation

      Cars were like religion when I was a young teen.

      “Little GTO, you’re really lookin’ fine

      Three deuces and a four-speed and a 389”

      -Ronnie and the Daytonas

      Q: Which came first, the GTO song or the 409 song . . .

      A: If you don’t remember, it doesn’t matter.

      As a young buck, I took a dim view of both these idiot songs, feeling that they should be

      paired on the air with Deadman’s Curve and Tell Laura I Love Her.

      All I had was a bicycle, a used 3-speed I bought for $10 at the pawnshop. I bought that bike

      with the money I earned carrying golf bags for guys that drove Cadillacs.

      a straight putt

      on the tenth green

      in the bunker

      I learned how to drive and passed my driver’s test in my dad’s 1960 Chevy Brookwood

      station wagon, with a straight six-cylinder engine, three-speed manual transmission with the

      shift lever on the steering column, an AM radio, a stamped steel dashboard with no padding,

      bench seats, no seat belts or safety equipment of any kind, retread tires and power nothing.

      No AC . . . but the heater worked.

      two girls

      squeezed into the bench seat

      the radio blasts

      Heartaches

      by the Number

      The expression “roll down the window” came from the hand cranks we used. The expression

      “stood on the brakes” came from the drum brakes these cars were equipped with . . . and the

      lack of hydraulic assist. I’ve always thought it was a wonder any of us survived, including the

      muscle car crowd.

      half a dozen kids

      packed in grandad’s Holden

      movie night

      .

      Michael Hough, prose / Christina Chin, haiku

      .
      Find the book in Amazon:

      Christina Chin and Michael Hough: First Day of the Rest: Haibun
      Amazon. 2024. 85 pages. $3.83. ISBN: 979-834580010-2
      https://a.co/d/9d6GsRN

      .
      Published by Heterodox, Castaway, Editor Jerome Berglund

      1. What fun, muscle cars, Fords mustangs, pintos, and broncos, Subaru Brumby, Mitsubishi/Dodge Colt etc…
        and of course the original The Italian Job film with Mk1 Austin Mini Cooper S models that outdid all of them!

        Alan

      1. .
        ramsons paid out in full and sweet violet too

        Alan Summers

        .
        NOTE:
        Chef’s delight: Wild Garlic/Ramsons (Allium ursinum) both light and intense garlicky scent in late April/early May, they frequent meadows, with a fresh aroma that makes you want to go full Italian in flavour!

        Yes, a pun on ransom paid out in full, and ransoms as one of many natural gifts that pay out in full, to our nose and our palette if we enjoy cooking!

    1. .
      on tiptoe the whispers in white pine trees so quietly understood

      Alan Summers

      .

      Note:
      ______________________________________
      which type of tree whispers the most: 
      ______________________________________
      Pine trees (particularly the white pine) are widely considered to whisper the most, known for producing a high-pitched, romantic whispering sound as wind moves through their needles. This phenomenon is often referred to as psithurism.

      Allegedly the “whispering” or “rustling” (psithurism) is due to the wind interacting with different types of leaves and branches, but don’t be fooled! (smiles)

      The actual chief ‘Whispering Tree’ is a Willow tree, at a meeting point along the River went between Ackworth and Wentbridge in West Yorkshire, England, UK It sits on a river bank among hawthorn bushes, wild oak trees and saplings and a host of vibrantly wildflowers and various other plants.

      ‘Willows, also called sallows and osiers, form the genus Salix, are around 400 species of deciduous trees and shrubs, found primarily on moist soils in cold and temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere.’

      Internet found information sometimes adjusted by my good self!

  20. .
    becoming one with the auger each tree has my handprint

    Alan Summers

    .
    Note:
    My own pastoral care was both looking after a tree nursery on a 2000 acre plot once a sheep farm. The ground was hammered in like concrete. I had to be care as the auger drill bit could bounce out and rip my leg to shreds, as it nearly did one time.

    .

    micro-rainforest building a family lay hands

    Alan Summers

    .
    Note:
    We brought in a French family who could lay hands [dowsing] on survey maps at times and never need to visit, could locate water (or oil) and found water, a vital bore hole. I helped create this ‘mini’ rainforest in another corner of the land. It took years, we had a dam, and the land become World Heritage, with some careful holiday planning, as even volunteer work wasn’t enough to sustain financially to be this ambitious.

    .

    water witching the air a little more taut a satellite radar twitches

    Alan Summers

    .
    Note
    The water witching aka dowsing or divining for water is a combination of art, craft, patience, and magic, as I’ve done a little myself.
    This French family, parents and children, were definitely both scientific and mages, and very much in demand by both Western and Arab countries.

    Satellite radar is a fascinating way to view Australian clouds. Coastal-Intense highly organized convective systems have strong radiative effects that produce significant rainfall [I’ve often hydroplaned with my car when caught out!) and are often triggered by the Asian-Australian monsoon season (Summer wet season November-April).
    .

      1. .
        dragonfly dawn patrol the stars start to leave one by one

        Alan Summers

        .
        Note:
        At the billabong, part of the landcare plot, one large dragonfly who absolutely bossed it. I never argued!

        500th Posting, yay!

  21. .
    Fireflies’ Light
    Touchstone Award Nominee
    2025
    Christina Chin / Marjorie Pezzoli

    Darwin Award

    An intense fragrance comes from
    the flowers of an exotic
    ornamental giant cannonball tree
    in the city. As we approach
    groups of curious onlookers
    and photographers gather nearby,
    There’s a caution sign beneath:
    Should one fruit fall on the head,
    it will surely be fatal,
    ~cc

    flash bullb
    a negative develops
    vacation memories
    ~mp

    The Haiku Foundation Film Festival
    HaikuLife 2026 YouTube
    https://youtu.be/8XKp8cW_rDc?si=dC4qQsHjaLvKIEGE

  23. .
    treescape the new leaves with older memories

    Alan Summers

    .

    free range the split gill fungus 28,000 different genders

    Alan Summers

    .
    NOTE:
    “Northwest Indiana, USA Schizophyllum commune The fungus Schizophyllum commune, also known as the split gill fungus, is estimated to have over 28,000 different “sexes” due to its complex genetic system…” Michigan State University USA

    .

    underground pastures mycorrhizal network we talk trees

    Alan Summers

    .
    NOTES
    Trees and fungi share a deeply interconnected, mostly mutualistic relationship known as a mycorrhizal network, often called the “wood wide web”

    Mycorrhizal Fungi: Form symbiotic partnerships with over 95% of plant species, enhancing health and growth.
    Nutrient Exchange:
    Fungi expand the root system’s reach, allowing trees to absorb more water and nutrients while receiving up to 30% of the tree’s sugar production.
    “Wood Wide Web” Communication:
    These networks connect trees to other trees, allowing them to share resources (carbon) and send chemical warning signals about insect attacks or diseases
    https://totallywilduk.co.uk/2023/01/05/the-relationship-between-trees-and-fungi/#
    https://treepeople.org/2023/04/14/fungi-and-trees-plants/

  27. .
    childhood hills blue remembered the starling murmuration silvers

    Alan Summers

    .
    daylight black with starlings a little boy now too tall

    Alan Summers

    .
    Note:
    Lines/extracts from A Shropshire Lad, XL (A. E. Housman 1886):

    What are those blue remembered hills,

    
That is the land of lost content,
    
I see it shining plain,

    
And cannot come again.

    1. .
      the river through the town each bank loan lends ducks

      Alan Summers

      .
      night empty streets
      a siren alarm pierces
      the souvenir shop

      Alan Summers
      Awardee, Ritsumeikan University Peace Museum Award (Japan 1998)

      1. I love your monoku, Alan! Haven’t heard the term ducks used in that way before either. 😀 Also, the haiku gives us reason to think. Is it a passing fire engine, ambulance, or police car? Or, perhaps a toy car that is driving though the shop (driven by the shop owner’s child perhaps?) 🤔♥️🐸

        1. re:
          “I love your monoku, Alan!”

          Thank you, much appreciated! A second collection is being developed mostly from the ones here!

          re ducks:
          Monkton Park entrance just off the High Street. Check out my photo! (smiles)
          https://www.callofthepage.org/summer-school-2026/where-i-m-writing-from/

          Yes, various double meanings, a duck can mean zero, or be the amphibian kind.

          re:
          night empty streets

          When streets were less crowded at night. It was a shop alarm. When I used to roam the night after a decent few hours nightclubbing!

  32. .
    the fox ranging the downs tagging twilight

    Alan

    I used to witness a lot of foxes on and around Bristol Downs, coming and going through grasslands and streets alike.

    1. Another fine monostich, Alan! 👏😀 I haven’t seen the noun ‘range’ used as a verb like this before. I like that; also, the use of tagging in the behaviour of the fox is interesting and creative. 😁 As a long time intermittent visitor of the dunes or the Veluwe (a large central nature reserve), both in The Netherlands, I have also come across a fox or two at times, but they must be much more common than that here. Nowadays, there is more talk about wild boar and the growing number of (wild) wolves, attacking both livestock and humans or their dogs. Also about the overgrowing deer population in those areas (among others). Sadly, the only solution applied for the deer is to shoot them.. 🤔😢

      1. .
        re:
        the fox ranging the downs tagging twilight
        Alan Summers

        Thank you Michael! 😀
        Thankfully a lot of nouns can become verbs whether they are ones yet or not. The ideas and writing sometimes arrive, almost without me on board, at least consciously: Pulling from my memories both factually or an in-betweenness.

        Paraphrasing from my author’s statement at Rattle:
        [Haiku]…enables me to write what I’d call ‘para-biography’ using straight up facts, utilising fictional elements to tell my life slant, and faction when, as in ‘reality’ and ‘memory,’ we fuse imagined events, and details, with our historic experiences.”
        https://rattle.com/the-moon-is-in-my-torch-by-alan-summers/

        It’s forgotten, perhaps, that we, as humans, are only one of many inhabitants or denizens of the water planet we call “Earth.”

        We have rarely acknowledged or followed the advanced methods of the original peoples, aborigines, of various continents. We don’t seem to know balance, and our trash food mania of course will bring or turn our fellow animals in scavengers, and often potentially violent. I wish there were answers if we continue to urbanise everything erroneously.

        .

        I really liked potential single line haiku from your notes.

        For example:

        intermittent visitor the Veluwe a fox or two

        Mikō – Michael Smeer

        .

        Again, thank you! I deeply appreciate your support.

        Alan

  34. .

    alisma
    on the grazed shore
    how short-lived each blossom

    an innocent child
    robbed of aspirations

    Christina Chin
    Paul Callus

    .

    transparent tenacity
    the daunting challenge
    of cliff hanging walkways
    .
    adrenaline junkie
    bungee jumping

    Paul Callus
    Christina Chin

    .

    HaikuLife 2026: Paul Callus & Christina Chin
    April 2026 film: Christina Chin & Paul Callus_10 Short Films
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WldyGlUnzHQ

  36. garden territory —
    fox markings
    off he goes

    tiny trumpets tilt towards tulips

  37. This haibun appeared in multiple journals with different titles, and a few different haiku, which editors enjoyed publishing with that knowledge! (smiles)

    .
    The Crow Star
     
    fading last note
    a torresian crow calls out
    a star-scarred sky
     
     now…
                  so, so, so black    this black sky of stars more bright than I’ve ever seen
       some seem to shift and move    vibrate    to suggest something more
            last sighting on this travel of Jupiter above Venus
     
    the southern cross
    my woodsmoke embers
    spiral upwards
     
    quiet and dark    then a rustle reminds me of the Dreamtime Dingo
    white and feral    imagination lends fear to a night that leers at me
     
    woodfire
              flickering with light
    the shadows of horses
     
    it’s cold now 3a.m. brittle cutting cold
    the moon’s no longer full
    this brutal simplicity of a night
    deep as a raven’s compassion
     
    a susurrus of moths
    around fire that flickers on
     
    a thinning trail
    to the stars
    woodsmoke & embers
     
    an early hours crow
    I invoke another prayer
    to its god and mine
     
    I see a lightening from dark to metal grey       a quickening between trees
    that becomes a hurt violet   into brush strokes   into morning
     
    red-rimmed sunrise
         the trees rekindle fire
     through a blur of blue

 

    This version by Alan Summers, March 2014
    VARIOUS PUBLICATIONS:
    Paper Wasp, Queensland, 1997; Azami haiku journal, Osaka, Japan 1998; Blithe Spirit, June 2004; Haiku Hike project, June 2006 (Haiku Hike (World Walks) part of Crossover UK’s 2006 ‘Renewability’ project (2006); Shamrock Haiku Journal, Irish Haiku Society, Spring 2006; Sketchbook, eJournal for Eastern & Western Short Forms Nov. 2007; RWP online version September 2009; Rooster Moans 2014

    ANTHOLOGIES:
    Journeys 2015 The International Haibun Anthology ed. Angelee Deodhar (as The Crow Star haibun)
    Shamrock Haiku Journal: 2007 – 2011 ed. Anatoly Kudryavitsky (December 2011)

    .

  38. .

    Dutch farmers
    a mile away across the hills
    the excitement of donkeys

    Alan Summers

    Note:
    Visiting a Dutch farm in Queenslands, these two donkeys “ran” across a hill and pasture to greet me. Life’s/God’s most wonderfully uplifting creatures.

    ,

    horses in the dusk. . .
    half-remembered dreams
    of a rail journey

    Alan Summers
    hedgerow: a journal of small poems issue #53 (October 2015)

    .

    adoption meeting
    the pull of the moon
    in each rain drop

    Alan Summers
    Blithe Spirit 2014

    .

    a blue heeler cattle dog
    coursing the wind…
    its bark

    Alan Summers
    Brussels Sprout (1995) ed. Francine Porad

    .

    distant pink and gray of sunrise
    galahs
    on powerlines

    Alan Summers
    Mirrors (USA) ed. Jane Reichhold

  39. .
    clouds clouds clouds the sky in triplicate torn-paper clouds

    Alan Summers

    Note:
    Cirrocumulus: Thin, white patches like rippled patches of paper. They hold their own kind of bureaucratic decisions and endless meetings.

    .

    Kuranda cat
    curling
    into its own embrace

    Alan Summers
    Considerable Merit, Fellowship of Australian Writers Queensland Haiku Competition (1994)
    Collection: sundog haiku journal: an australian year (sunfast press 1997 reprinted 1998)

    .

    the cockroaches large as cricket balls
    game on, Far North Queensland

    Alan Summers

    .
    notes:
    I got used to all kinds of cockroaches of course, though in Cairns, when it went full troppo, it was like Quidditch multiplied and on steriods!

    Kuranda is part of the world’s oldest tropical rainforest. The village of Kuranda is situated within the Wet Tropics World Heritage Area of North Queensland, Australia, a region renowned as the world’s oldest continuously surviving tropical rainforest, estimated at over 130–180 million years

  46. sometimes 
    I’m not sure—
    spider or dirt  
    ~cc

    olly olly
    oxenfree. 
    ~jb

    .

    fermenting ginger
    the caps
    pop  
    ~cc

    .

    hovers in 
    the fixer 
    ~jb

    .

    the hen 
    crossing the road 
    ducklings follow. 
    ~cc

    .

    alternative 
    facts 
    ~jb
    .

    HaikuLife Film Festival 2026

  47. .
    saddle to saddle:
    courtesy change
    of mount
    ~jb

    a quick turn
    for a tail shot

    :::

    birdsong
    undrinkably bad but with
    a chaser
    ~jb

    multivits stuck
    in the throat

    :::

    stain
    on the tin barn
    grayish blue
    ~jb

    a red amaryllis
    fades

    HaikuLife 2026 Reprised: Jerome Berglund and Christina Chin
    April 20, 2026
    Today’s film: Jerome Berglund & Christina Chin_15 Short Films
    https://youtu.be/OkKzAXiiiWI?si=zYRUVCTIY9vN0vSs

    1. .
      back from the range a harmonica guy’s goal to be the “dry” player

      Alan Summers
      prev. unpublished

      .

      endless snowfall
      entwined with a bluesy night
      harmonica player

      Alan Summers
      Asahi Shimbun (Japan, December 2021)

    1. .
      in between the white and the black keys blue over pastures

      Alan Summers

      .

      Khamsin winds
      the piano tunes itself
      in a war conflict

      Alan Summers
      Ekphrastic response to Installation by Fairley Barnes; Brass Bell Showcase: Alan Summers (July 2015)
      .

      the piano tuner’s assistant whistles up a brew

      Alan Summers

      .
      type-stained fingers the news in a corner of its piano

      Room in New York, 1932 by Edward Hopper

      Alan Summers
      Publication credit: “So1oku Triptych” (December 2019)

      .
      who plays
      the blood red piano
      [at] tequila sunrise

      after Aoyagi & Parekowhai

      Alan Summers
      Publication Credit: Weird Laburnum (September 2019)
      From The After Party haiku sequence

      .

      mojo verde–
      I tune out the piano
      for the birdsong

      Alan Summers
      Installation by Fairley Barnes and Call for Haiku Response

  50. dizzard filches the Medal of Horror

    yesterday’s avant-garde lambent stars

    what shall we watch
    hoarding chickpeas and dried oats
    in used containers

    my boyhood dream
    to catch a slimy bream
    from a slimy canal

    memory caves a childlike painting

    coruscating stars
    my old English teacher
    would be so proud

  51. each month
    a different mountain…
    this year’s calendar

    scree the twelve-tone glissando of worn metatarsals

    life in the mountains
    the village clubs together
    to get broadband

    Eiger-faced shrink
    asks how I feel
    about writer’s block

  54. .
    dimmed light
    a bright star near the half moon

    三日月の近くに星の仄めきぬ
    tr. Takatoshi Goto

    .

    with friends—
    the starry night seems brighter

    友と見る星空いつそう輝けり
    tr. Takatoshi Goto

    .

    a chat over latte—
    the milky way

    天の川ラテ飲みながら会話せり
    tr. Takatoshi Goto

    .

    1. .

      nearly invisible the moon hooks a star

      Alan Summers

      .
      a friend rides a star into the Eastern Borders

      Alan Summers

      .
      we talk stars over semi-skimmed galaxies

      Alan Summers

    1. .

      a mother’s perfume she had kingfishers

      Alan Summers

      .

      Aussie YHA the hammock snoring under the stars

      Alan Summers

      .

      a sailing boat blowing the wind homewards

      Alan Summers

  59. concluding an agreement
    father’s day

    取り決めを結ぶ父の日となりぬ
    tr. Takatoshi Goto

    crowded shopping malls
    May Day

    メーデーや商店街の混雑す
    tr. Takatoshi Goto

    summer vacation—
    doing his final internship

    夏休み最後のインターンシップ中
    tr. Takatoshi Goto

    taking time to familiarise with new faces—
    homecoming

    帰省して新顔に慣れるまで少し
    tr. Takatoshi Goto

    sharp turns
    skiers cut the waves

    鋭カーブスキーヤーが波を切り裂く
    tr. Takatoshi Goto

    1. .
      new faces returning home do we look alike cumulus clouds

      Alan Summers

      https://www.daysoftheyear.com/days/national-look-alike-day/
      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Ecdn5SGT1E

      .

      shopping crowds and crows Earth Day picks a bargain

      Alan Summers

      .

      summer holidays the double-decker bus answers the birdsong

      Alan Summers

      .

      sharp turns in a new haircut the blues becoming chromatic 

      Alan Summers

      .

      making arrangements first stop Giro giro tondo

      Alan Summers

      .
      NOTE:
      “Giro giro tondo” is linked to Spring or May Day celebrations rather than plagues.

  60. hikes up the mountain—
    sundown 

    登りゆく山より望む落暉かな
    tr. Takatoshi Goto

    cooling off the summer heat
    cicadas night 

    夜の暑さ蝉の鳴き声和らげる
    tr. Takatoshi Goto

    popping a bottle cap
    frothy beer 

    瓶の栓開けて泡立つビールかな
    tr. Takatoshi Goto

    cold sake—
    ready for the first song

    冷や酒やはじめの歌はスタンバイ
    tr. Takatoshi Goto

    📖 About the translator:
    Dr. Takatoshi Goto — Japanese haiku poet, critic, former chief director of the Japan Haiku Association.

  61. colonising a chunk of meat
    flies

    ししむらの欠片に蝿の群がりぬ
    tr. Takatoshi Goto

    marching up an anthill
    ants

    蟻塚を蟻が登つて行きにけり
    tr. Takatoshi Goto

    sparks of firewood
    scouts camp

    火花散る薪や少年らのキャンプ
    tr. Takatoshi Goto

    looking for a friend
    in aloha shirt
    アロハシャツ着た友人を探しけり
    tr. Takatoshi Goto

    pink itch—
    the red spots of prickly heat

    桃色のかゆみや赤い汗疹の斑
    tr. Takatoshi Goto

    1. .
      atlas mountains answer back the crows and their sundown

      Alan Summers

      .
      soft heat of night cicadas making plans

      Alan Summers

      .

      choice of beers I opt for one I cannot pronounce

      Alan Summers

      .
      an opening song for the set I find a nihonshu I can warm

      Alan Summers

  62. kudzu mochi
    bamboo baskets in billowing steam

    葛餅や湯気立ち上がる竹の籠
    tr. Takatoshi Goto

    pocket money—
    saving it for frozen yoghurt

    小遣ひやフローズンヨーグルトのため
    tr. Takatoshi Goto

    after light rain
    a rainbow of sweet delicate scent

    小雨あとかすかに甘き虹立てり
    tr. Takatoshi Goto

    Part of a series of 29 videos.
    The Haiku Foundation HaikuLife Film Festival 2026.

    1. .
      steaming videos I remember vinyl summer days

      Alan Summers

      .

      pocket money I buy a book on wildlife and become

      Alan Summers

      .
      I faint in the rain of forgetfulness enon the 8th colour

      Alan Summers

      .
      NOTE:
      ENON is the 8th Color of the rainbow which is only detected by a small percentage of the population. Those who can detect it claims it’s a silvery-grey colour.

  64. bucolics anonymous

    the Stockbroker’s Tale
    regaled at the Crown–
    Pilgrim’s Way

    once there were greenfinches hedge fund

    April shower
    the probatichor
    of steaming sheep

  67. .
    timing the shadows
    
we sidestep into the forest
    
to mingle with gods

    Alan Summers
    Circle of Salt ed. Kelly Sauvage Moyer (October 2025)

    .

    forest each Shakespeare a windflower we evade gods

    Alan Summers
    Publication credit: The Moon is in my Torch
    Rattle Spring 2025 issue Tribute to the Haibun issue #87 March 1, 2025
    plus audio recording: https://rattle.com/the-moon-is-in-my-torch-by-alan-summers/

    .

    blue stutter rain
    how the God Lens 
    switches foliage

    Alan Summers
    Password, journal of very short poetry issue 1.2, May 2024 ed. Melissa Allen

  68. Under the same sun
    He walks the sky and in the sunlight
    on the sea

    His Providence
    like the son
    returning Home

    And I find her
    expecting me There too
    in our Father’s nursery

    1. .
      down side streets–
      gulls turning the sky
      in and out

      Alan Summers

      Award Credit: Presence Editor’s Choice 5
      Publication credits:
      Presence 10 (1999)
      seagull haiku blog collection ed. laryalee fraser (2006)

      Anthology credits:
      The New Haiku (Snapshot Press, 2002); The Disjunctive Dragonfly, a New Approach to English-Language Haiku ed. Richard Gilbert (Red Moon Press 2012); Haiku in English: The First Hundred Years ed. Jim Kacian, Allan Burns & Philip Rowland introduction by Billy Collins (W. W. Norton & Company 2013); Journeys 2015, An Anthology of International Haibun ed. Dr. Angelee Deodhar

      Street Sign/Visual Art Commission: Chippenham Fringe Festival (February 2020)

  70. beating –
    and breathing –
    then the joyful bleating

    Cherry blossoms –
    Spring is getting the color
    back into its cheeks

    Sakura face-lift –
    the color is returning
    to the face of Summer

    Easter me back to life

  73. open collar shirt—
    a little boy performs the dabka dance

    開襟の少年躍るダブカかな
    tr. Takatoshi Goto

    grass cutting with a reel mower
    sore muscles

    手押し式草刈り機にて筋肉痛
    tr. Takatoshi Goto

    out of breath—
    wind through the flute

    息切らしフルートに風吹き抜ける
    tr. Takatoshi Goto

    country children
    grass arrows fly in the air

    鄙の子ら空を草矢の舞ひにけり
    tr. Takatoshi Goto

    water sprinkler—
    behind the rose bushes
    my neighbour’s smile

    散水機バラの向こうに笑顔かな
    tr. Takatoshi Goto

    Part of a series of 29 videos.
    The Haiku Foundation HaikuLife Film Festival 2026.

    1. It’s a sad fact that we do not recognise we share the same sky and the same ‘beyond sky’ though I guess no E.T. will invade as they see we glory in killing our own planet kin folk.

      This was a sequence accepted for publication though sadly the new journal never materialised:

      .

      Rocket Dreams: The Race to the Moon

      4 day trip
      to the moon-
      “the cats take it easy”

      deep space silence
      the moon in between
      the beeps n’bleeps

      Houston,
      Tranquility Base here,
      the Eagle has landed

      Jules Verne novel–
      the columbiad cannon
      becomes reality

      Buzz’s footprint…
      standing the test of time
      and regolith

      visor reflection—
      first man on the moon
      on record

      slippery surfaces
      Buzz plans seven steps ahead
      in kangeroo hops

      private communion
      an earth-based lawsuit
      becomes lunacy

      felt tip pen
      it becomes the engine switch
      Aldrin broke

      space week—
      another boyscout
      watches moonrise

      Alan Summers
      Rocket Dreams: The Race to the Moon haikai sequence
      Dark Pens, a journal of moon haiku (1.1 2013)
      1st Issue March 2013

      1. Love your kite being softly spoken to, can they help here…

        the bare tree
        blue and yellow remnant
        a forgotten kite

        Alan Summers
        Publication credits:
        Haiku Spirit #6 (& article) Ireland, April 1996
        Birmingham Words Issue 3 (Autumn 2004)

        And of course the avian masters of the ranges are red kites, and the ones I observed in Buckinghamshire UK shared a melody that I’ve not heard done elsewhere. I kept expecting a shepherd to appear from the trees though it was the birds themselves.

        NEW VERSION:

        the melody of red kites haymaking tractors

        Original publication Credit: Muttering Thunder, volume 2 (November 2015) ed. Allan Burns

        1. Alas, even words of comfort from a child would not help your poor kite!

          I’ve seen a pair of buzzards who live nearby, but sadly I’ve never seen red kites. Perhaps I’m too close to the sea.

          1. red kites are easily observed on the M40 in the Chilterns, next time you’re over. They are on roadkill highway patrol. A great sight with their forked tail. Best if someone else is at the wheel…!

          2. Hi Marion,
            I used to see a lot of kites (toys) caught in branches, perhaps as my parents lived just off the Bristol downs area (UK).

            Lots of red kites (birds) in Buckinghamshire, and just that one season, a bunch of them produced a haunting melody that even Paul McCartney would have been proud about! In Chippenham, Wiltshire, we see red kites, as well as buzzards, but then we have lots of trees, and the River Avon, and fields, as Bloody Mary signed a Charter to protect many of our woodlands etc…

      2. Buying him a kite,
        The child is fretful,
        In the unending rain.

        — Shoha

        (Translated by R. H. Blyth in Haiku, III.49.)

    2. Christina (the name also of my niece the nurse)

      This made a splash in my mind this Sunday AM of an International Haiku Poem weekend; and I share this variation:

      Another Sunday sermon –
      his mind reeling in
      another mackerel

      Haiku –
      Big fish
      from small pond

      Michael

    3. Christina (the name also of my niece the nurse)

      This made a splash in my mind this Sunday AM of an International Haiku Poem weekend; and I share this variation:

      Another Sunday sermon –
      his mind reeling in
      another mackerel

      Haiku –
      Big fish
      from small pond

      Michael

      1. My apology for the awkwardness of a double post –

        Perhaps adm will minimize to just one –

        Maybe next year, an edit capacity so posters can readily make corrections themselves.

        Thanks,
        and Thanks HF for making possible another joyful celebration:

        a global haiku noise

        Michael

  85. cloud peaks the comfort of the woolly-minded

    ‘ba’ wherever it takes you

    missing old sweater my wife’s look of innocence

  86. .
    the mountain
    inside each mountain
    goose feather snow

    Alan Summers
    Commendation: The 15th Polish International Haiku Competition 2025
    Alan Summers: Working the Verbs Part One (Pan Haiku Review issue 6 Autumn/Winter 2025)

    .
    _______

    NOTES:
    _______
    Several interpretations can be made of that last line:
    “goose feather snow” (鹅毛大雪, émáo dà xuě) is a well-known Chinese idiom (成语, chéngyǔ) describing a heavy, large-flake snowfall, where the flakes are big and dense like goose feathers. While not a common English idiom, it’s a direct translation of a classic Chinese expression for intense snow. 

    It can also be three separate words of:
    goose, a feather, and the start of heavy snowfall

    Or Karen Hoy’s extra meaning, someone could be snuggled up in a goose feather duvet with a great view of a mountain range, or out near or on one of the mountains with an adequately warm goose down/feather jacket experiencing it first hand.

    __________________________________________________
    GOOSE FEATHER SNOW:
    https://www.instagram.com/reels/DHOqOlpg2Sh/
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6RbWXvZBKIQ
    __________________________________________________

  89. cow herder’s song . . .
    the cow bells
    sink into slumber

    —Suresh Babu

    summer dusk
    a stray cow follows
    the farmer’s whistle

    —Hifsa Ashraf

    full moon
    the shifting shape
    of herded cattle

    —Dorna Hainds

    my reflection
    in the bull’s eyes
    winter sun

    —Agus Maulana Sunjaya

    moon viewing
    and the cattle all turned
    the same way

    —Jim Kacian
    First published in Brussels Sprout (September, 1993)

    summer dusk
    grandma’s cow smells
    of sunshine

    —Nikolai Grankin

    Bull-Headed
    Editor, Corine Timmer
    Published by Bicadeideias in 2021

  90. returning home
    the goat’s bleat
    before the goat

    Billy Antonio
    Laoac, Philippines

  92. stopping short
    withholding breath
    cherry blossom in flower

    waking to
    violet fragrance—
    hemp hammock

    kaleidoscope—
    butterflies
    on wild pansies

    ~ Christina Chin

  94. mule hoof prints
    reach the tower ruins
    spring poplars

    in between cracks
    green sprouts hide
    the bare patches

    dandelions
    cling to the rock cliff—
    shadows of passing gulls

    buluh pagar
    rabbits nibble
    water morning glory

    cow bells—
    thistles poke
    the wire fence

    ~ Christina Chin

    1. .
      moving around the regret a milk carton label

      Alan Summers

      .
      a flink of cows
      the blue before a night
      of falling snow

      Alan Summers
      Blithe Spirit 2014

      Cow: A kine of cows (twelve cows are a flink)

  97. .
    clipped green grass––
    jasmine scrambles
    over the kopje

    Karen Hoy
    This Lion Country haiku sequence (Serengeti, Tanzania) Presence issue 57 (2017)

    .
    yellow flowers
    to the horizon
    this lion country

    Karen Hoy
    This Lion Country haiku sequence (Serengeti, Tanzania) Presence issue 57 (2017)

    .
    clipped grass plains
    the intricacy
    of the dung beetle’s chamber

    Karen Hoy
    British Haiku Society “Wild” Anthology ed. Andrew Shimield 2018

    .

    crowded carriage

    the breeze around
    a lone ragwort

    Karen Hoy
    The Haiku Calendar 2003, Snapshot Press, ISBN 1-903543-05-3
    Anthology credit:
    A Vast Sky, An Anthology of Contemporary World Haiku 
    (Tancho Press 2015) ed. Bruce Ross, Koko Kato, Dietmar Tauchner, Patricia Prime

    .

    the green
    . . . .of the woodland
    bluebell seedheads

    Karen Hoy
    Article and Exercise:
    Ginko: All Fingers and Thumbs with Alan Summers
    Blithe Spirit 33.3 (August 2023) ed. Iliyana Stoyanova

    .

    the detail
    from a broad brush
    sunflowers

    Karen Hoy
    Peonies/Божури (May 2019) ed. Iliyana Stoyanova

    .

    this path of stars
    my universe was once
    a lawn of daisies

    Karen Hoy
    Wales/England
    The Haiku Foundation Haiku Windows: spaceship window ed. KJMunro (June 2018)

    .

    long dry season
    the last flower
    a baboon snack

    Karen Hoy
    This Lion Country haiku sequence (Serengeti, Tanzania) Presence issue 57 (2017)
    Award Credit: Runner-up, The Haiku Calendar Competition 2004 (August)
    Publication Credit: The Haiku Calendar 2005, (Snapshot Press, 2005)
    n.b. the long dry season runs through June to September into October (Tanzania, East Africa)

    Karen Hoy: https://thehaikufoundation.org/poet-details/?IDclient=961

    1. I enjoyed reading your selection.

      Two of mine:

      stampede—
      the cheetah
      barely touches the ground

      First published in The Mamba, Journal of African Haiku, issue 5, March 2018

      cows in the field—
      the bull-headed dung beetle
      boasts its horns

      First published in Bull-Headed, 2021

      1. Cheetahs! I remember being involved in the Cheetah Story:
        https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1734099/

        From the small:

        .
        a wisp of day moon
        the stand-out blue
        of Viper’s Bugloss

        Karen Hoy
        THF Per Diem ed. Madhuri Pillai (September 2019)

        .
        To the vast ranges of the Serengeti:
        .

        looking down on Manyara–
        the thousands of Cape buffalo
        and ghost elephants

        Karen Hoy
        Blo͞o Outlier Journal issue 3 (2022)
        natural history haiku
        dedicated to Gene Murtha

        1. Interesting question at four in the morning. Are chatbot ‘hallucinations’ the counterpart of our dreams, I wonder?

      1. .
        the rain forgotten…
        sheep cross in a reverie
        along riverbeds

        Alan Summers
        British Haiku Society Members’ Anthology 2022 Water
        ed. Frank Williams

        empirical owls
        the doors made 
        into sand

        Alan Summers
        Gwdihŵ sequence
        Wales Haiku Journal issue one Spring 2018

  108. Kilbroney forest
    scraps of dusk drop
    into ancient oaks

    Kilbroney forest park is in the foothills of the Mourne Mountains, County Down, N. Ireland

    Blo͞o Oupost feature, Blo͞o Outlier Journal, issue #3, natural history haiku edition, ed. Alan Summers, dedicated to Gene Murtha, summer 2022

    1. Many thanks for including a poem from Blo͞o Outlier Journal and spelling it correctly!

      oak and alder
      the firecrest weaves
      a restless song

      Alan Summers
      Commended, Anam Cara 2019 Haiku Competition (Ireland)

      1. deep forest
        
the dance of a pine branch
        
after the crow

        Honourable Mention, IHS International Haiku Competition 2021

        I checked it, Alan—to be sure!

        1. Thanks Marion! :-)

          the forest under stars taking blankets

          Alan Summers
          Fraser Island, Queensland c.1993

          Publication Credit:
          Poetry & Place anthology issue 1 2016
          Ashley Capes and Brooke Linford

    1. .
      all fingers and thumbs
      the river bends & turns us
      into other songs

      Alan Summers
      Experience Japan Festival 10th Anniversary Competition
      Dublin, Ireland (April 2019)

      1. .
        a dog all smiles
        can’t wait to say hello
        we talk secretly

        Alan Summers
        .
        Publication details: Weird Laburnum ed. Michael O’Brien (September 2019)
        From The Letter D is Missing (muri-bun) and “Surrealism as Truth series” in association with “the dogs of name.”

        1. .
          pawmarks
          on drying paving slabs
          leaves begin to yellow

          Alan Summers
          Azami #29 ed. Ikkoku Santo (Osaka, Japan, 1995)

          .

          First frost
          the fur on my coat
          pawing the air

          Alan Summers
          Asahi Shimbun (Japan April 1, 2016)

          .

          trampling each other
          over pawpaw and mango
          chooks & pigs

          Alan Summers
          Blithe Spirit (1995)

          .

          the pause in the paws the leap of feline

          Alan Summers
          HAIKU DIALOGUE – the way of the cat ed. Craig Kittner (July 2020)

          .

          christmas morning heat–
          two fledgling mudpie larks
          pecking cobwebs

          Alan Summers
          Publication credits:
          Blithe Spirit Vol. 7 No. 1 Feb 1997; de facto 2 issue 2. (2008)

          Collection:
          sundog haiku journal: an australian year
          sunfast press 1997 reprinted 1998

    1. .
      baby robins
      the world is reset
      for a moment

      Alan Summers
      Publication credit: Presence issue #61 2018 ed. Ian Storr
      Anthology: a hole in the light: The Red Moon Anthology of English-Language Haiku 2018

      Feature/Interview:
      Meet… Alan Summers (Gilles Fabre interview)
      Seashores Issue 9 (November 2022)

      Season: Summer
      Composed: July / Summer

      1. flash memory
        last year
        a kingfisher right here

        (World Haiku Review 13 August 2021: Shintai Haiku, Zatsuei, Haiku of Merit)

        1. tiredness
          in the night train microcosm
          yawns

          Alan Summers
          Point Judith Light (Summer-Fall 1995) ed. Patrick Frank

          .

          late night television spills its whisky tumbler

          Alan Summers
          Collection: Forbidden Syllables (Bones Library May 2020)

      1. .
        Ganesha’s moon
        the cabbie’s last customer
        smells of mint tea

        Alan Summers
        http://lifeinmovingvehicle.blogspot.co.uk/2008/06/ganesha.html

        Publication Credits:
        brass bell: a haiku journal Tea Haiku / Haiku Tea issue November 2014 curated by Zee Zahava
        Miriam’s Well: Poetry, Land Art, and Beyond (Miriam Sagan 2015)

        .

        Saturn loses a ring Saturn gubi prsten
        crisp Bonfire Night jackets za Bonfire Night pole krumpira
        and toffee apple treats i ušećerene jabuke

        Alan Summers
        November 5th: Guy Fawkes Day also known as Bonfire Night.
        Bonfire Night jackets: potatoes baked with the skin.
        Peti studeni: Dan Guyja Fawkessa, poznat i kao Bonfire Night u UK.
        Bonfire Nigjht jackets: krumpiri pečeni s korom.

        Samobor Croatian anthology 2023
        30th jubilee Samobor meeting of haiku poets from all over Croatia was held on April 22, 2023. In the anthology “Darko Plažanin” 30th Samobor Haiku Meeting is included 51 haikuists from abroad and 87 from Croatia.
        Translation by Tomislav Maretic

        1. Saturn loses a ring
          crisp Bonfire Night jackets
          and toffee apple treats

          Alan Summers

          Saturn gubi prsten
          za Bonfire Night pole krumpira
          i ušećerene jabuke

          Translation by Tomislav Maretic

          2. .
            the old dunny’s roof
            no longer holding out the sky–
            moonlit cobwebs

            Alan Summers
            Contest Award credit: 3rd Prize, Canadian Writer’s Journal poetry competition (1995)

        1. tidal beach –
          I decide to inhale
          a contrail

          Alan Summers
          Troutswirl A Sense of Place: THE SHORE – smell ed. kjmunro
          July 2018

          .

          V to U
          a parliament of rooks
          shift their flight

          Alan Summers
          Icebox, Hailstone Haiku Group, Japan (2010)

      1. coolness of spring rain
        waiting with the bus queue
        on newly cut hair

        Alan Summers
        Commended, Mainichi Shimbun 125th Anniversary Haiku Contest, Japan, (1997)
        Anthology credits:
        Mainichi Shimbun 125th Anniversary Anthology (Japan 1997); Haiku Friends Vol. 3 ed. Masaharu Hirata (Osaka, Japan 2009)
        Collection: sundog haiku journal: an australian year (sunfast press 1997 reprinted 1998)

          1. .
            ratcatcher’s moon
            the dog’s whiskers
            closely behind

            i.m. “Max” still hunting at a Toowoomba sheep station in the sky!
            Australian Haiku Society Spring Equinox Haiku String 2019 (September 24th 2019)

      1. .
        cabbage butterfly
        in and out of nettlebeds
        a girl’s laughter

        Alan Summers
        Award credits:
        Highly Commended, Hobo Haiku International Competition (Hobo Poetry Magazine 1997)
        Runner-up, Snapshot Press Millennium Haiku Calendar Competition (Snapshot Press)
        Publication credit: The Haiku Calendar 2000 (Snapshot Press)
        Anthology credit: The Redmoon Anthology (Red Moon Press 1997)

        .

        over the nettles
        where I know I just can’t go
        orange-tip butterfly

        Alan Summers
        First publication credit: Presence 42 (2010) ed. Martin Lucas

        Features:
        What is natural history haiku?
        Blo͞o Outlier Journal issue 3  
        the natural history haiku edition  (Summer 2022)
        dedicated to Gene Murtha

        Article/exercise: Ginko: All Fingers and Thumbs with Alan Summers
        Blithe Spirit 33.3 (August 2023) ed. Iliyana Stoyanova

      1. .
        heavy impasto
        the idea of canvas
        in fields of wheat

        Alan Summers
        Presence #81 (March 2025) ed. Ian Storr
        collection: by ink of crow (November 2025)

        1. .
          spindle trees
          the fairytale flickers
          across a skyline

          Alan Summers
          Presence #76 July 2023 ed. Ian Storr

          .
          Note:
          The spindle tree (Euonymus europaeus) is steeped in folklore as a paradoxical “watcher” tree, associated with both protective magic and dangerous, otherworldly power. Known for its extremely hard wood, it was used to create spindles and knitting needles, linking it to themes of fate, craftsmanship, and the mythological Fates who spin the thread of human life.
          The Guardian newspaper: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/dec/06/country-diary-wenlock-edge-shropshire-sleeping-beauty-spindle-lipstick-berries

        1. .
          day moon
          the kettle’s click
          all by itself

          Alan Summers
          from The Brief case Encounter
          Pan Haiku Review issue four – haibun & tanka-bun edition (Winter 2024)

    1. .
      dandelions
      gingerly pushing out…
      micro civilisations

      Alan Summers
      hedgerow: a journal of small poems (Issue 1, September 2014) ed. Caroline Skanne

  134. bells and bleats 
    across the meadow 
    hanging laundry 

    Presence #78, spring 2024

  139. under the peepul . . .
    gossip lovers, lottery man
    cows, cocks and crows

    fresh pastures
    the cows adamant
    to stay

    global warming
    our tap water runs
    warm throughout

  146. night hunt
    a dingo’s howl
    calling in Orion

    Orion – the Hunter star constellation
    published 2025 Echidna Tracks Issue 16

    1. each pencil lead
      the same shade of gray
      winter deepens

      Acorn Supplement #5, 2008

  160. lad is twelve, thirteen
    back with the flock sounds grown up
    his piece of heaven

  161. Spring trailing
    shepherd’s bells and sheep bleating
    go off the lowlands

    sheep in the corral
    the moon peeks through a hole
    in the herdsman’s hut

    a high-speed train
    the vast plain of timothy-grass
    behind my eyelids

  166. meadow frost —
    two kits leap
    into morning
    .
    [Martin Lucas Haiku Award “commended” Haiku Presence Award 2016]
    .
    .
    winter night—
    the curl of wood smoke
    takes flight
    .
    [Heron’s Nest, Volume XVIII, Number 1: March 2016]
    .
    our country’s story
    ever evolving
    . . . fallen blossoms
    .
    [North Carolina Haiku Society Broadside Project]

    (all I have to offer today are ‘oldies’)

  169. squinting
    at the light . . .
    dry stone wall

    Dry stone walls, found all over Ireland, are handmade without mortar. Each stone is carefully measured and cut to ensure stability.

  174. spring lambing…
    Bo-peep watches
    over her sheep
    ~Nancy Brady, 2026

    #offthecuffhaiku

  176. tinkling bells
    cows bring home
    the twilight hour

    bound
    she hops to a slaughterhouse . . .
    the sacred cow

    a
    river
    dives
    into
    the
    midnight
    mountain
    raga

    wind, the pied piper!
    any which way it goes
    leaves follow

          1. .
            union rights the squid and the octopus play stabscotch

            Alan Summers

            .
            Notes:

            SENTIENCE
            The UK officially recognizes octopuses, squid, and cuttlefish (cephalopods) as sentient beings. Following a 2021 London School of Economics report, they were included under the Animal Welfare (Sentience) Act 2022, which acknowledges their ability to feel pain, pleasure, hunger, thirst, warmth, joy, comfort, and excitement.
            https://www.lse.ac.uk/news/latest-news-from-lse/k-november-21/octopuses-crabs-and-lobsters-welfare-protection

            ALL FINGERS AND KNIVES
            The knife game, pinfinger, stabscotch, nerve, bishop, hand roulette, five finger fillet (FFF), or chicken is a game wherein, placing the palm of one’s hand down on a table with fingers apart, using a knife or other sharp object, one attempts to stab back and forth between one’s fingers, trying not to hit the fingers.

  182. .
    flash flood not seeing all the way to my getaway car

    Alan Summers

    .
    Sometimes flash floods (Queensland) literally happen out of the blue! The sky can be cloudless or even a few light fluffy clouds and then wham, the rain like an ocean gives a visitation. Now if those pesky sentient bacteria that live up in the clouds could even out the rainfall for my lovely newly planted trees instead!!!

  183. crack of dawn
    incessant dove coos follow
    me into kitchen

    I added this to the next post and wondered where all the previous haiku had gone. Happy International Haiku Day! These doves wake up too early.

    1. weary housewife blends
      her morning coffee with
      dove’s cu-koo call

      I composed this as a response to Basho’s squid caller for today’s napowrimo.net prompt. Since it also mirrors the first piece I thought I’d reply to my comment.

  184. furious farmers . . .
    caught in a chakka jam
    signs of spring

    Early spring season word; kigo 季語: signs of spring; haru meku 春めく*In early spring, when it looks like spring, there are still some cold days and chilly winds here. Still there are many signs of spring arriving and we feel great joy about it.

    Seasonless topic; muki 無季: farmer; farm family; nōka 農家 (のうか) [World Kigo Database]

    *Chakka jam is a protest in which people block a road or cause a traffic jam. Etymology: From Hindi cakkā jām, from cakkā ‘wheel’ or ‘tyre’ + jām. [Oxford Learner’s Dictionaries]

    Correct pronunciation of chakka jam: https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/pronunciation/english/chakka-jam

    Learn more:
    1) https://youtu.be/oiAEry-mi1o?si=WDJ2ZCYL7F5S2oEP
    2) https://youtu.be/xYmA27hCj10?si=XhJkd7YC3RjtXf9A

    **********
    Monica Kakkar
    India and United States of America
    https://www.linkedin.com/in/monicakakkar/
    **********

  186. humming home . . .
    hundreds of herders
    humid and hot
    OR
    hundreds of herders
    humming home . . .
    humid and hot

    Late summer season word; kigo 季語: humid and hot; jokusho 溽暑 (じょくしょ)

    Seasonless topic; muki 無季: my home; home; house; residence; dwelling; family, household; lineage; family name; ie 家 (いえ) or yado 宿 (やど) [World Kigo Database]

    **********
    Monica Kakkar
    India and United States of America
    https://www.linkedin.com/in/monicakakkar/
    **********

  187. .
    rollin’ rollin’ brush-tailed rock-wallaby twilight zone

    Alan Summers

    .
    Notes
    From the Rollin’ (Limp Bizkit song) rollin’ the ranges of big city streets to “Rollin’, rollin’, rollin’ / Though the streams are swollen / Keep them doggies rollin’ / Rawhide! sung by Frankie Laine. Released in 1958, it became the iconic opening theme for the Rawhide TV series (1959–1965)

    I’ve had the honour of being in their terrain in Queensland planting and watering trees along the way!

  188. caravans of camels
    descend on the dunes . . .
    Purṇimā at Pushkar

    Yemen saijiki all winter (wet season) and India saijiki early winter season word; kigo 季語: Arabian camel; dromedary; hitokobu rakuda ひとこぶらくだ [World Kigo Database] *Pushkar Camel Fair or Pushkar Fair in late October and early November at Pushkar, Rajasthan, India.

    *It is one of the largest camel fairs in the world. Thousands of camels are brought by pastoral communities from across Rajasthan and neighbouring states. Beyond the festive fairgrounds lies the sacred town of Pushkar, one of India’s holiest places. People take a holy dip in the sacred pool, especially during Kārtika Purṇimā (Kārtika is pronounced as Kārtik), which coincides with the fair. Devotees believe that a bath here brings blessings. Kārtika Purṇimā is an auspicious day, a festival in Hinduism, Jainism, and Sikhism, celebrated in India and the diaspora on Purṇimā (full moon) day, the fifteenth lunar day of the Kārtika month (November–December). [https://organiser.org/]

    Learn more:
    1) https://organiser.org/2025/10/31/323556/bharat/pushkar-mela-2025-from-worlds-largest-camel-fair-to-mandir-bells-experience-the-spirit-of-rajasthan-in-full-bloom/
    2) https://www.instagram.com/p/DCgtXctspjK/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link\
    3) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UOQrhg4OXDM

    **********
    Monica Kakkar
    India and United States of America
    https://www.linkedin.com/in/monicakakkar/
    **********

    1. I visited the Pushkar Camel Fair long ago and love it.

      camels dressed up
      wares traded, teeth pulled
      dust fills the air

  192. golden gourds . . .
    grandma gathers
    grunting goats

    Late summer season word; kigo 季語: gourd; calabash (Lagenaria siceraria var. gourda); hyōtan or hyootan 瓢箪 (ひょうたん)

    Seasonless topic; muki 無季: grandmother; grandma; obāsan お祖母さん (おばあさん)

    Seasonless topic; muki 無季: goat; yagi 山羊 (やぎ) [World Kigo Database]

    In memory of my paternal grandparents, Mrs. Lajja Vati Kakkar and Mr. Ganga Ram Kakkar, and their home in Punjab, India

    **********
    Monica Kakkar
    India and United States of America
    https://www.linkedin.com/in/monicakakkar/
    **********

          1. .
            beer forgotten
            the drunk looks deep
            within his shoe

            Alan Summers
            The Haiku Calendar, Snapshot Press (2004)
            Tinywords (2004)
            Beer Haiku Daily (2007)
            Award credit:
            Runner up, Haiku Calendar Competition, Snapshot Press (2003)

  194. cradle of clouds . . .
    carefully combing
    Changthangi’s coat

    Late spring season word; kigo 季語: shearing sheep; hitsuji no ke karu 羊の毛刈る (ひつじのけかる) *Changthangi are not sheared like regular Cashmere goats. Instead, the fine undercoat fibers are gently combed out by hand during the molting season when the goats naturally shed their winter coats. [therealpashmina.com]

    Seasonless topic; muki 無季: cloud; kumo 雲 (くも) [World Kigo Database]

    Learn more:
    1)https://therealpashmina.com/what-animal-does-real-pashmina-come-from/
    2)https://www.gyawun.com/making-of-kashmiri-pashmina-shawls/?srsltid=AfmBOooHJmaxGzCINh9uRyc7XGblsup9CM3yDWaSdZoqjDy6Xz90jkB-

    **********
    Monica Kakkar
    India and United States of America
    https://www.linkedin.com/in/monicakakkar/
    **********

    1. .
      snow flurry
      a child thrusts his anorak
      into it

      Alan Summers
      Simply Haiku vol. 1 no. 3 (2003)

      .

      field of snow
      the horses
      back to back

      Alan Summers
      Publication credit: Blithe Spirit vol. 19 no. 1 (2009)
      Anthology: Haiku Friends Vol. 3 (Umeda Print 2009)

  196. challenge and change . . .
    Changpa in the Changthang
    combing a Changthangi

    Late spring season word; kigo 季語: shearing sheep; hitsuji no ke karu 羊の毛刈る (ひつじのけかる) [Kigo World Kigo Database]

    *Changthangi are not sheared like regular Cashmere goats. Instead, the fine undercoat fibers are gently combed out by hand during the molting season when the goats naturally shed their winter coats. [therealpashmina.com]

    *The Changpas are nomadic pastoralists. Academic accounts indicate that they migrated from Tibet in the 8th century AD and came to the Changthang region in India – a western extension of the Tibetan Plateau, across the Himalayas. This area is located near the India-China border. Learn more about the Changpas and their life in the Changthang: https://ruralindiaonline.org/article/the-changpas-who-make-cashmere

    **********
    Monica Kakkar
    India and United States of America
    https://www.linkedin.com/in/monicakakkar/
    **********

  198. yokes a yak
    yawning in the yard . . .
    winter is over

    Late winter season word; kigo 季語: winter is over; fuyu tsuku 冬尽く (ふゆつく) [Kigo World Kigo Database]

    *Yak (Bos grunniens synonym Poephagus grunniens) is a type of cattle, a large long-haired wild or domesticated ox with long horns found in Tibet and adjacent elevated parts of central Asia, including India. Yak is derived from Tibetan gyag. [Merriam-Webster and Oxford Learner’s Dictionaries]

    Learn more: https://youtu.be/2paVsgrpUS4?si=YOcr8DL0qZpdtp9I

    **********
    Monica Kakkar
    India and United States of America
    https://www.linkedin.com/in/monicakakkar/
    **********

  200. ending afternoon
    in alluvial ooze . . .
    cool cows

    All summer season word; kigo 季語: cool cow; hiyashi ushi 冷やし牛

    Seasonless topic; muki 無季: afternoon; p.m.; gogo 午後 (ごご) [World Kigo Database]

    *Alluvial is related to, composed of, or found in alluvium. Alluvium is clay, silt, sand, gravel, or similar detrital material deposited by running water. [Merriam-Webster]

    **********
    Monica Kakkar
    India and United States of America
    https://www.linkedin.com/in/monicakakkar/
    **********

  203. hour of the horse . . .
    heading for hillocks
    hungry horses

    All summer season word; kigo 季語: hour of the horse; noon; high noon; uma no koku (馬の刻) *It is time to rest.

    Seasonless topic; muki 無季: mound; hillock; tsuka 塚 (つか) [World Kigo Database]

    **********
    Monica Kakkar
    India and United States of America
    https://www.linkedin.com/in/monicakakkar/
    **********

  205. cut of the skin
    by a cold sucking wind …
    cows come home

    All winter season word; kigo 季語: sickle weasel (cut of the skin by a cold sucking wind); kamaitachi 鎌鼬 (かまいたち) *Itachi is a weasel, this wind is like the bite of a weasel.

    Seasonless topic; muki 無季: cattle; cow; calf; ox; oxen; bull; ushi 牛 (うし) or 丑 (うし)

    Seasonless topic; muki 無季: my home; home; house; residence; dwelling; family, household; lineage; family name; ie 家 (いえ) or yado 宿 (やど) [World Kigo Database]

    **********
    Monica Kakkar
    India and United States of America
    **********

  206. greener pastures . . .
    retreating with the river
    smeared in smog

    India saijiki late autumn or early winter season word; kigo 季語: smog; sumoggu スモッグ

    Seasonless topic; muki 無季: river; the …. river (suffix used with the names of rivers); kawa 川 (かわ) [World Kigo Database]

    **********
    Monica Kakkar
    India and United States of America
    **********

  212. sustainability
    all the scarecrows
    within me

    Cauvery —
    a plastic bottle
    I just can’t reach

    threshing harvest
    egrets in queue
    for the final supper

  217. green pastures
    the sheepdog herds
    a stray

    Valentina Ranaldi-Adams
    Fairlawn, Ohio USA

  223. walking home drunk
    across darkened fields
    avoiding the scarecrow

    littering
    the entire meadow
    daisies

    fields of rape
    her village
    filled with soldiers

    autumn fields
    the old track takes me
    towards the clouds

  231. autumn pasture
    the mare’s nostrils flaring
    in green apple air

    Bloo Outlier, issue 3, 2021

    cowbells. . .
    the slow wait
    for his homecoming

    Women’s Haiku Anthology, 2017

    badlands
    an old burro asleep
    in purple sage

    unpublished

    1. .
      hard-blue sky
      the ghost touch of rain
      on sloe-eyed horses

      Alan Summers
      Publication credit: Blithe Spirit (Vol 22 No. 3 2012)
      nod to Helen Dunmore (fellow Bristolian)

      .

      breaking up–
      the winter landscape
      of sunlit horses

      Alan Summers
      Best of Mainichi 2013 (Japan, 2014)
      Selected and commented on by Isamu Hashimoto
      “There are no useless words or phrases. A perfect haiku.”

    3. .
      demolition site
      the blossoms hug
      an old school

      Alan Summers
      Honourable Mention, Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival 2020

      .
      dad’s photograph—
      were there cherry petals
      in your war?

      Alan Summers
      From the haibun: Living in a second
      Human/Kind Issue 1.4 (March 2019) ed. Robin Smith

  239. school kids stuff paper
    napkins into chicken wire
    lamb derby floats

    side roads full of sheep
    gamboling to high country
    summer grass awaits

    the Perseids fade
    a herd flocks
    down to market

          1. Oh, Marion, such a powerful poem, I can see why it has such an effect. That last line really is a sinker. It is a poem that I had not read before. My only experience of Seamus was on a bbc ? documentary some years back, and then again on the radio; each time promising myself that I would do some more reading. Squat pen stuck in my mind as it reminds me of my own father working his allotment.

            home garden
            mum and dad toil at sewing
            a poly tunnel

    3. AN: I remember hiking in Normandy, France —on the trail of the immaculate TV show ‘Band of Brothers’ and classic movie ‘The Longest Day’—, where I found out that many of the seemingly endless hedgerows were filled with blackberries. Of course, it didn’t take long for our hands to manoeuvre into the prickly bushes and turn all purple as did our tongues… 😁🐸

  251. high sun she scapes with lemon-scented gum trees

    Alan Summers

    .
    Note:
    A great day working with a landscaper learning more and more. At the time I was in charge of a tree nursery for a 2000 acre plot bringing it up to a world heritage level site. Lemon-scented gum are also a natural mosquito repellent!

  256. itchyku park . . . i got hai!

    (after: ‘Itchycoo Park’
    Small Faces, ’68)

    1. April
      ribbons of light slice through
      dawn mist

      graveyard
      lichen-crusted granite
      standpipe frozen

      weed sways
      in the wash of motor boats
      hunting pike

  258. pink rice field
    the dawn
    of harvest day

    dawn chorus
    the rising song
    of farm women

    watercolor field
    a lone white dog runs
    the fence line

  260. sunrise-
    cat carrying mouse across
    dandelion field

    hillside-
    a morning star salutes
    newborn lamb

  263. first harvest
    she talks on mindfulness
    with her cows

    parched earth —
    his cracked voice
    deep and sharp

    oil slick
    a school of whales
    caught unawares

  269. sheepswool snagged on last year’s bramble

    bramble = wild, prickly shrubs of the Rubus genus, particularly the blackberry.

  289. A bridge to what’s next.
    Near and far shores drawn together,
    one path, many bonds.

        2. .
          Van Gogh’s wheatfield
          the width of a hand fills
          with crows


          Alan Summers
          The Bath Burp: Poetry, Music & Arts Monthly Issue No. 10 (City of Bath media magazine 2012)

  299. waters allure
    the islands come to me
    alternately

    a daisy opens
    and closes its petals
    she uncurls curls

    Earthrise and Earthset
    the swell and ebb of aquarelle
    on the child’s painting

        1. .
          deep space
          
it seeps into
          
my vertical bed



          Alan Summers
          World Space Week Rocket Dreams commission 2007

          Published:
          Eye to the Telescope Issue 1 • May 2011
          “The Long and Short of Speculative Poetry” ed. Samantha Henderson & Deborah P Kolodji

        1. .
          Major Tom
          there’s a lack
          of birdsong

          Alan Summers
          Prune Juice: Journal of Senryu, Kyoka, Haibun & Haiga
          Issue 26, November 2018 ed. Steve Hodge

          2. .
            he said that
 they said drones
 but blue moon

            she said this
 they said that safe passage
 Neptune’s ocean

            day phenomenon 
someone pointing another finger
 to the moon and back

            Alan Summers

          10. .
            Italian Alps how the light with the dark joins up the tourists    

            Alan Summers

            .

            chiaroscuro
            the white cat
            curls deeper

            Alan Summers
            Award credit: Commended, Paper Wasp Jack Stamm Haiku Award 1999
            Publication credit: in a heron’s eye, Paper Wasp (Queensland, Australia, 2000)

          12. .
            dawn to dusk sand in my soul Fraser Island

            Alan Summers

            The island has been famous as between it and the east coast of Queensland is one of the world’s largest gatherings of humpback whales. The vast oceans are like ranges of not mountains or pastures as imagine but of water with its own version of them.

          18. .
            Avon Gorge the purse web spider stays quiet

            Alan Summers
            .
            The purse web spider (an elusive relative of tarantulas) lives in the Avon Gorge.
            The Avon Gorge is a 1.5-mile (2.4 km) limestone ravine on the River Avon in Bristol, England, famous for steep cliffs, rare wildlife, and the iconic Clifton Suspension Bridge. Designated a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), it features unique flora, including endemic whitebeam trees, and serves as a vital ecological and geological site near the city centre.

          19. Bristol, England was my childhood and young adulthood home city. My parents lived close to the Downs that led to the Gorge. My mother went into a care home next to the Avon Gorge, I’d spend time before and after visits, catch the breeze, the wheeling birds such Peregrine falcons: https://avongorge.org.uk/wildlife-and-geology/wildlife-of-the-avon-gorge-the-downs-and-leigh-woods/the-wildlife-of-the-bristol-side-of-the-avon-gorge-and-the-downs/#birds

            Travel the bird trail with me!
            https://www.avongorge.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/The-Downs-bird-trail-leaflet.pdf

            .
            updrafts and sunshine the wingspan of thoughts and regrets

            Alan Summers
            .

          25. .
            do rockfish sleep in electric kelp forests

            Alan Summers

            .
            Note:
            While some fish sleep in a traditional sense, many rockfish species, such as the kelp rockfish, often snooze upside down, among the kelp blades. The Piezoelectric Kelp Forest is an improved method of harnessing wave energy.

            Hence electric dreams: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oypCJZrNfqA

            Electric pastures of the ocean!

          26. .
            pastoral enclaves the wounded knees the quick of it the flowering too

            Alan Summers

            .
            __________________________________

            Notes, amended from the internet:

            __________________________________

            My phrase “pastoral enclaves the wounded knees” suggests a juxtaposition of idyllic “pastoral enclaves” (rural, peaceful, or countryside areas) with the sombre, violent history of land grabs, land theft.

            Pastoral enclaves are often secluded, rural, or semi-rural areas featuring agricultural landscapes, sometimes picturesque retreats. Pockets of farm/woodland amidst diverse landscapes. These spaces provide aesthetic charm and quietude, danger, nature’s tooth and claw, as well as humanity’s own version. 

          38. .
            Bashō misses out on cowslips and Sweet Vernal-grass another horse urinates

            Alan Summers

            .
            NOTES:

            蚤虱 馬の尿する 枕もと
            nomi shirami uma no shito suru makura moto
            Matsuo Bashō
            Station 24 – Dewagoe
            Written on the 17th day of the 5th lunar month at Shitomae 1689

            fleas plus lice and yes the horse urine by my pillow
            version by Alan Summers

            Cowslips (April–May): These nodding, yellow, cup-shaped flowers are common in chalk meadows and pastures, offering an apricot-like fragrance.

            Sweet Vernal-grass (Anthoxanthum odoratum): This is a primary source of the “sweet hay” scent in Spring meadows, especially on warm days. It contains coumarin, which gives it a vanilla-like perfume.

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