Best Haikai Poems
haikai
******
the buddleia
a diurnal kingdom...
butterfly courts
a coronation
the orb brightest of orange...
painted lady crowned
bees flowerflies wasps
most grateful to their host...
the gardener
nocturnal bats moths
hedgehogs if lucky a fox...
a hidden frog croaks
dusk a blackbird claims
no doubt a choral master...
may bugs abundant
the Scots pine maypole
cockchafer fly... encircle...
black headed gulls dine
sun rays horizons
belies wonder starlit night...
late rooks kark their way
slight cooling breeze
female mosquitos' biting...
still the blackbird sings
daylight fading
nineseventeen pm
hedgehogs feeding
light holds
nineseventeen pm
horizon glows
a blackbird sings
nineseventeen pm
good night
houses lighting up
nineseventeen pm
days still lengthening
croaking frogs a splash
nineseventeen pm
Basho comes to mind
evening beckons bats
nineseventeen pm
the gardeners' friends
sat by the pond
nineseventeen pm
mosquitoes feasting
hot and humid
nineseventeen pm
sleeping naked
the garden buzzing
nineseventeen pm
june bugs make a show
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nineseventeenPM Poetry Contest - Sponsored by John Lawless
19th June 2018
haikai - May refer in both Japanese and English to haikai no renga (renku), a popular genre of Japanese linked verse, which developed in the sixteenth century out of the earlier aristocratic renga.
haikai
**********
Summertime Theme
summertime sunshine
finds a gap in the curtain
lights up my true love
the summer sun
burns respite clouds shadows
much needed rain
we all enjoy fun
summer holidays no rain
we all pay the price
hosepipe ban will come
flora fauna begging drinks
worms now out of reach
black headed gulls
tap dancing mimicking rain
nothing there to fool
summertime its joy
can become cries for help
don't forget cream up
ducks waddle bare beds
dried up rivers lakes and ponds
keep your bird baths filled
*******************
A TANKA WARNING
mums remember
do not lose your children
make them prisoners
for indeed the sun takes none
take sun in doses... not one
*****************************
haikia
~~~~~~~~
another night
torrential rain fills my butt
summer drought respite
-
a blackbird bathing
another overcast day
like Trump dense widespread
-
midges mosquitoes
larvae live food for the carp
land fauna struggles
-
dogwood tree in bloom
not gone unnoticed plus bees
late summer berries
-
no butterflies
two days since then only one
summertime failures
-
most life can adapt
overtime wet nights remiss
wet dry balance gone
-
a happy note
a blackbird sings joyful dusk
still no swallows
calm days oceans fit
dress coastlines in white lace
treacherous... the storm
on the wind it glides
oceans of the south surveyed
albatrosses feed
penguins flighty birds
cross ice bellies down... feet push
water... flight masters
aquatic parrots
puffins come to land to breed
Icelanders eat them
oceans deep smokers
new life evolves... dies when stubbed
potential islands
iguanas
some vegetarians
dive oceans to feed
sea mammals... furry
all once murdered for their coats
babies clubbed to death
great auks... now extinct
flightless... netted then eaten
man still hasn't learnt
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
look... early snowdrops
buried twice this springtime
winter stealing time
proud dandelions
confounds the seasons... blooming
twelve o'clock midday
winters snow in spring
protection from jack the frost
confused... yes i am...
puffed up birds feathers
trapping in their body heat
ducks... swans... ice skating
blizzard... white out
pollution... total wipe out
nature... we'll not know
sunshine... till it dies
nature... human... wild... ignorant
will all life suffer...
the oceans ripple
the calm before the storming
truth... it will happen
our universe...
are we alone... do they know...
they will be...
the question...
do we humans want to live...
nature is asking...
unrequited love
the sun... rising each morning
seeking survivors
senryu
based on mans foibles
really... ignored
~~~~~~~~~~~
dawn a flash of light
summer sun escaped the clouds
a blink in time
sparrows twittering
fledgelings begging to be fed
a watchful cat
warm westerly breeze
consolation for no sun
the warmth factor
summertime blinked
one-day last year a Monday
July the tenth
suntanned my body
fake news in a bottle
binned sunglasses
its summer time
no nature is lying
hush pretty baby
my apple tree
has yet to bloom and produce
summertime blues
late spring arthropods
not as things should be
many absentees
-
swallows still absent
butterflies the odd one
today a wood brown
-
azure springtime sky
should be full of life... empty
no i'm going blind
-
house sparrows chirping
heard but cannot be seen
pond water warming
-
the common garden
spider A diadematus absent
could be it is late
the cinnabar moth
a summer diurnal one
check out the ragwort
peppermint stands
mint moths' abundant tiny
summer potatoes
a rambling rose
buds showing waiting to burst
a flowerfly drones
bees not many
some burrowers one or two
campion self-seeds
tis the morrow morn
west is the forecasted wind
southwest for the swifts
~~~~~~~~
climate change... killing
spring bees... spiders many flies
early nesters starve
once joy the seasons...
the charm of springs overture...
winter defies it...
today... house sparrows
seen nesting... nature wishes...
hopeful they succeed...
grass... verdant... growing...
hedgerows holding back... afraid...
full spring biding time
jet stream...rioting
lost its way... meandering
disturbing nature
the hill piste lingered
children smiled... sledging... what fun
comes the rain... flooding
hot then cold weather
flu viruses all favor...
hope you had your jab...
don't stop feeding birds...
wild mammals too... squirrels nuts...
rats... mice... wildfowl grain
wintertime walking...
shush... have your camera ready
seen... a snowy owl
lincolnshire
just in case one thinks i've jumped
the north atlantic
~~~~~~~~~
wild Australia
hark... sounds of didgeridoos
mobs of kangaroo
Australian folk...
Aboriginals suffer
arpartied still reigns...
Australian folk...
at one with nature... what's left
arpartied still reigns...
vistas of nature
o that monolith could talk
Australian woes
deforestation
all life suffers pollution
koala's left dead
crocodiles... wildlife
Australia's indigenous
extinctions for real
Come
what do you
see
take
one breath
then
tell
me
or
write
it
down
use
mainly
nouns
intersperse
a
thought-pause
easy
for me
I
only
speak
English
you
see!
cows... milked by first light
pasture... some moments respite
fresh mushrooms... breakfast
calf's... lambs... foals... goats kids
all milk dependent... from mom's
grateful the kittens
nature providing
sustenance nurturing life
no nurture... no milk
haikai
****************
touched by a zephyr
evoked memories your breath
warm summer days
-
finding the balance
on a hot sunshiny day
dappled shadows
-
my garden bench
i share with untidy guests
bird droppings sun baked
-
summer storm threatens
yet not a cloud in the sky
wise are the insects
-
a distant rumble
the summer storm passed us by
wildlife exploded
-
ere the season
a garden... a way of life
a summer reward
-
i found the balance
albeit it with rocks patience
a warm zephyr kiss