NaHaiWriMo #18

prompt: rattle

toy cupboard clearout
I save the plastic bottles
part filled with pasta

NaHaiWriMo #17

prompt: queue

post office queue
we learn all about
his family overseas

NaHaiWriMo #16

prompt: pool

away day
the thoughts I don't pool
lie outside the window

NaHaiWriMo #15

prompt: opera

Caruso recording -
the gramophone crackle
lights the fires in his eyes

NaHaiWriMo #14

prompt: nachos (!)

two friends
deep in conversation
the cheese that binds their nachos

NaHaiWriMo #13

prompt: mountain

cowbells and crickets -
the thunderclap rolls
from mountain to mountain

inspired by a trip to the Swiss Alps a few years back

NaHaiWriMo #12

prompt: laundry

spin cycle
morning sundrops twanged
from the clothes line

I found this prompt really difficult and I have to say I'm not a fan of the result.

I think part of the reason is that I have successfully written haiku in this area before, from dead dragonflies caught in dry sheets to school dress pockets full of daisies. I think inspiration has eluded me here this time.

NaHaiWriMo #11

Prompt: kitchen

smoke alarm
our dance around the kitchen
ends

NaHaiWriMo #10

prompt: jam

morning rush hour
at the side of the road
wild damsons

NaHaiWriMo #9

prompt: ice

frozen dawn
the runner recovering
in his own steam

NaHaiWriMo #8

prompt: hat

I was going to submit

school fair
on the fireman's helmet
a faint smell of smoke

but then I realised this was too similar to an old one of mine, so here's another one:

toy museum -
in the photo she took
her bobble hat shadow

and for an explanation of that one - see this picture of me on Flickr

NaHaiWriMo #7

prompt: grief

back home
"there's nothing we can do"
hits home

NaHaiWriMo #6

prompt: frame

the broken panes
of the old greenhouse -
still the new shoots


Well, it's day 6 of NaHaiWriMo and I'm starting to get into it. This one was a bit tricky (though not as tricky as catfish) and my thoughts turned to my allotment.

It has been a useful exercise as I have hit a writer's block recently and this has (so far) sorted me out. I'm not disappointed with any of the haiku yet, though there are another 23 prompts on the way, of which there are bound to be a few duff ones. I look forward to the daily prompts and it helps to get me off to sleep at night, pondering them.

I have a notebook next to the bed.

For further details - if you have a Facebook account, simply search for "NaHaiWriMo" and you will find one of the multilingual pages.

NaHaiWriMo #5

prompt: egg

home birth -
the fried egg breakfast
I cook for the midwife

NaHaiWriMo #4

prompt: dog

two dog walkers
meet -
two conversations

NaHaiWriMo #3

prompt: catfish

closing time
the aquarium catfish
rests on its barbels


desk haiku. My one experience of catfish that I remember was in an aquarium. It seemed to like mooching about on the bottom of the tank all day with its barbels lightly touching the gravel beneath, so I bet it was there at the end of the day, still facing the current.

NaHaiWriMo #2

prompt: boat

every day
playing at the boating lake
the same old men

NaHaiWriMo #1

I wasn't going to do NaHaiWriMo, but today I thought I'd give it a go. I'll probably dip in and out.

Today's prompt: apples

finding their niche
with the supermarket regulars -
Russets in season

Re-worked oldies (urban)

Originals of the following are available online / in print elsewhere. These are the reworked versions - all on an urban theme:

lights on red
weaving through the traffic
a white butterfly

the police car slows -
suburban foxes
looting from bins

under its breath
the Northern Line train
cursing the suicide

restless -
across the summer night
siren upon siren

"clean me"
the white van's
phallus



Happy new year everyone!