for all the world
like an eagle -
mountain crow

Snapshots Haiku Calendar competition

I have just found out that I am both a winner and a runner-up in the Snapshots Haiku Calendar competition.

I have been writing haiku seriously for about ten years now and this is the first proper contest that I have entered. So, as you can imagine, I am thrilled with the result.

The Snapshots 2012 Haiku Calendar can be ordered from the Snapshots website from August 2011.

A list of the results and the adjudicator's report are also available on the Snaphots site.

Presence #42 poems

the following poems of mine appeared in Presence #42 (September 2010)


bringing only
silence
the storm cloud's weight

sub-zero dawn
distant gulls
still the sky

his dates end
where hers begin
briefly
she rests to read
the park bench epitaph

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Blithe Spirit 20:4

Here is a selection of my work that appeared in Blithe Spirit 20:4

Visit the British Haiku Society website for more information on how to subscribe to Blithe Spirit.


first flowers
she re-arranges
her re-arrangement

this year the meadow
ablaze with life
- the empty stable

my doctor's reaction -
he taps my knee again
just to make sure

bonfire breeze
with the last of the light
the final whistle

anniversary
of your death
raindrops
stream upwards
on the windscreen

stargazing -
the dwindling glow
of your solar lights

roadside memorial -
the faded plastic windmills
still racing

every angle skewed
on the allotment shed -
the veteran's beret

named
yet nameless
each star in the sky

the three of us
watching the morning star
dwindle and fade
*
now only me

quietly
the Northern Line train
cursing the suicide

over snowy fields
the vixen's cries -
solstice moon

Tinywords

I'm on the editorial panel again for the next edition of Tinywords.

We are currently considering submissions until December 15th, primarily on the theme of light.

For further details visit the submissions page.

midnight snowfall
the union leader's statue
wears a white shawl

midnight snowfall
my neighbour
coughing away



[published: Presence 37]

commuter platform
in amongst the suits
a Charlie Brown lunchbox



(Brondesbury, London - late 90's)

Fifty-Seven Damn Good Haiku by a Bunch of Our Friends, edited by Michael Dylan Welch and Alan Summers and published by Press Here books. Each editor selected six poets for inclusion in the book, and each of the twelve poets is represented by either four or five haiku. Not a single one is about parsnips. The poets, who live in Europe, Africa, North America, and Asia, are Susan Antolin, Timothy Collinson, Susan Constable, Karen Hoy, Keiko Izawa, Deborah P Kolodji, Dejah Léger, Tanya McDonald, Caleb Mutua, Helen Russell, David Serjeant, and Alison Williams. To order in the United States, please send $8.00 plus $2.00 postage. Make payments payable to “Michael D. Welch” and send to him at 22230 NE 28th Place, Sammamish, WA 98074-6408 USA. For orders outside the United States, please inquire for details by emailing WelchM@aol.com

two minutes silence
the shifting light
of a windy day

after
her dance class
cartwheels

first flowers
she re-arranges
her re-arrangement

rush hour...
two women embrace
then sign their goodbyes


[first published in Presence]