Poet Profile

Howard Colyer

Howard Colyer was born near Brixton Hill in London in 1961, he lived in Greenwich for many years and moved to Hastings in 2017. He has translated Kafka's Letter to my Father, Zürau Aphorisms and Contemplation, his plays include Homework, Conference Call and Kafka v Kafka, and while he lived in London he was the resident playwright at the Jack Studio Theatre. He contributes to several haiku magazines and self-published Millwall Haiku as well as a number of Haiku Diaries. He has an MA in creative writing from Goldsmiths, and he earned a creative writing PhD from Stirling for his novel on Franz Kafka in the First World War.

Books Published:

(NB all self-published): Haiku Diary 2016 (Lulu.com 2017); Haiku Diary 2017 (Lulu.com 2018); Haiku Diary 2018 (Lulu.com 2019); Haiku Diary 2019 (Lulu.com 2020); Haiku Diary 2020 (Lulu.com 2021); Haiku Diary 2021 (Lulu.com 2022); Haiku Diary 2022 (Lulu.com 2023); Haiku Diary 2023 (Lulu.com 2024); Millwall Haiku (Lulu.com 2017); Millwall Haiku 2019 - 2023 (Lulu.com 2024).

clouds floating 
over the sea 
thinking of nothing

after a home defeat
moonlight
on the muddy pitch

changing the palace guard
same pigeons
still pecking

father's gravestone
nobody else to remember
him bowling

bulldog
chasing a butterfly
biting air

nightly cigar
a red speck
by a dark sea

Credits:

“clouds floating “ – Frogpond Vol. 47:1 Winter2024; “after a home defeat” – Modern Haiku vol. 53.2 Summer 2022; “changing the palace guard” – Modern Haiku vol. 55.1 Winter-Spring 2024; “father's gravestone” – Hedgerow #144, 2023; “bulldog” – Blithe Spirit Vol. 34 No. 2, 2024; “nightly cigar” – Presence Issue 71, November 2021.