ancient warriors ghosts mists over the foreign highlands – waiting for the full moon © Chèvrefeuille graveyards become battlefields watered by the tears of stars in the fields with ripe rice plants for the Gods the sickle is used . . . © Takezaki Shisen slowly waxing sickle moon forecasts satisfied bellies white poppy it […]
Category: Tanka
A White Christmas Dawns
the white silence breaks shooting stars tear winter skies icicles shatter kiss of fresh snowflakes on ice distant echo of sleigh bells Kim M. Russell, 2017 My response to Carpe Diem Seven Days Before Christmas 2017 #3 White Christmas Today is the third episode of the CDHK special feature in which we are counting down […]
Last Leaves, Last Light
deep silence the shrill of cicadas seeps into rocks Matsuo Bashō (1644-1694) even the last leaves to fall touch the earth without a sound Kim M. Russell oppressive greyness the glow of […]
Helvetia’s Ribs
Celtic sand-scumbled Helvetia’s ribs, half-emerged, reach for the sunlight; nibbled by Atlantic waves, disappearing day by day. Kim M. Russell, 2017 My twenty-eighth response to Carpe Diem Winter Retreat 2017: Life is Beautiful A sight I would like to see before the waves eat her away: the remains of the Helvetia, shipwrecked near Rhosili on […]
All-Seeing
Hourglass of stars, minted in a nebula not too far from Mars, bloodied rust of cosmic dust fills the sky – all-seeing eye. Kim M. Russell, 2017 My response to dVerse Poets Pub Poetics: Lookin’ Up! Lillian is our host for this Tuesday’s Poetics and she says she would like us all to look up […]
Dissonance
heart-stopping moment bird of prey circles the sky dissonant envoy majestic, untamed and free we watch from snarls of traffic Kim M. Russell, 2017 My twenty-first response to Carpe Diem Winter Retreat 2017: Life is Beautiful
Wavering
horizontal line scrawls, descending from the sky to the lake below flash of white as tails upend moon-shimmered sails wavering Kim M. Russell, 2017 My response to Thotpurge’s Micropoetry Month Rajani has kicked off the November 2017 Micropoetry Month with a couple of modern haiku/senryu. She says, If the poems or the theme or just […]
Twilight
an in-between time when daylight melts into grey a purring feline descends from the willow tree to wander in the shadows Kim M. Russell, 2017 My response to Carpe Diem #1294 Twilight In the final episode of CDHK’s celebration month, in which we have wandered down memory lane, we return to a more recent prompt […]
Newgrange Solstice
a bend in the Boyne cradles a monument ancient mystery waiting in the gloomy tomb for a ray of solstice sun Kim M. Russell, 2017 My response to Carpe Diem #1287 Ireland Chèvrefeuille reminds us that Basho was a travelling haiku poet and, back in the summer of 2016, CDHK had its first Ginko (haiku-walk), […]
Winter Reeds
golden reed beds rise along banks of winter lakes glimmers of sunshine shafts in turbulent water break silence with their soughing Kim M. Russell, 2017 My ninth response to Carpe Diem Winter Retreat 2017: Life is Beautiful
writing in north norfolk 