Unless stated otherwise, all poetry on Swimming in Lines of Haiku is Copyright Kirsten Cliff and may not be reprinted in any form without written permission from the author. kirsten(DOT)cliff(AT)gmail(DOT)com
Showing posts with label NaHaiWriMo. Show all posts
Showing posts with label NaHaiWriMo. Show all posts

Thursday, February 13, 2014

Celebrate Valentine's Day with my FREE Chapbook!

I haven't been participating in NaHaiWriMo this February. But I have been getting creative with haiku, and have come up with this: my first chapbook!



Click here to download my eChapbook

"If you miss love, you miss life." ~Leo Buscaglia

A mix of twenty haiku and tanka with the theme of love. It's my gift of love this Valentine's Day. Please feel free to print it out and pass it on to those you love.

I'm also researching creating print copies for purchase, so please let me know if this idea interests you. Watch this space for future projects coming soon!


how can I repay
all the people who've created
my recovery?
I will write poetry
& learn the layers of love

Wednesday, September 25, 2013

Hubby and Haiku

I use Grammarly for online proofreading because although my husband, Cameron Elliot, is a self professed geek in these matters, he isn't always right! So it's great to have a more reliable back-up at my finger tips.

We met at the local writer's group, and aren't the first to have found more than friendship there. But apparently we are the only couple writing and publishing haiku in New Zealand. 

Here I share some of my hubby's 'ku on the month of our fifth year since falling in love . . .


busy road 
the rest
of this seagull 

Kokako 15 (September 2011)


city centre
the footpath swerves
around two silver birches 

Commended, NZPS International Haiku Competition 2009; moments in the whirlwind (NZPS Anthology 2009)



treatment ends
the sky yields
a burst of rain


 
Oh, and he doesn't like me using the word 'hubby' (or geek for that matter -- he prefers nerd) but this is my blog so I win! :-)

Thursday, February 7, 2013

National Haiku Writing Month 2013

It's on now! Write a haiku-a-day this month -- the shortest month for the shortest genre of poetry. Do it at home by yourself, or join hundreds of folk doing it on-line through the Facebook NaHaiWriMo page here. Michael Dylan Welch is doing daily prompts to spark our senses -- this week was all about food. Here's my highlights:



fantail song . . .
this bird's nest of
angel hair pasta

'pasta' prompt



duck egg blue that look in his eyes

'eggs' prompt



the spice
in his argument--
lightning moon

'spice or spices' prompt



All you need to know about NaHaiWriMo can be found on the main site here: https://sites.google.com/site/nahaiwrimo/ Enjoy!


Sunday, December 30, 2012

Decemeber Haiku Share: The Week That Was #4

The last full week of Cara Holman's December Haiku Share is complete, and we're now on the home stretch. Below are the links to the last seven days of posts, and the haiku, tanka and haiga I've shared along the way. Now that the Christmas rush is over, come and join in for the last few days! You'll find a supportive community of folks sharing their love of haiku and related forms. (Here's the link to the latest prompt - afternoon fog)


storm clouds . . .
can hope be caught
in a spider’s web?
– Kirsten Cliff
NaHaiWriMo August 2012



she advises
I’m at high risk
of a relapse
I breathe in air heavy
with crushed dreams
– Kirsten Cliff
Moonbathing 6, January 2012



first spring day this breeze her hair
– Kirsten Cliff
DailyHaiku Cycle 12, Dec. 12, 2011



he creates
a new centrepiece
for the dining table
a size nine shoebox
full of medications
– Kirsten Cliff
Presence #44, June 2011



on the morning
of her death, I sit
searching
for the small differences
between these wild finches
– Kirsten Cliff
~for Svetlana Marisova
Simply Haiku, January 2012



(click on image to enlarge)

– Kirsten Cliff  
Notes From the Gean, 3:2, September 2011


dragon fire . . .
the way he moves me
this night
– Kirsten Cliff
The Language of Dragons, January 2012
(Yay Words! project edited by Aubrie Cox)

Sunday, November 18, 2012

With Cherries on Top

Super stoked to find that the pdf book of haiku and senryu from the 31 Different NaHaiWriMo Prompters in August 2012 is available now for FREE download! With Cherries on Top: 31 Flavors of NaHaiWriMo, edited by Michael Dylan Welch can be found here

I'm grateful to have the following four haiku included (hubby has one in there too!) along with so many other writers from the online haiku community. Thanks to Michael for the ideas and for putting them into action; thanks to the 31 daily prompters, and thanks to all those who took part in the Facebook haikufest that is NaHaiWriMo.


laundry day . . .
when did my feet
last touch the sand

     (Sand prompt from Vincent Hoarau


                              growing dusk . . .
                              the stillborn calf
                              is taken away

                              (Birth prompt from Christina Nguyen)





the lion in her  full moon

     (Lion prompt from Alegria Imperial)


                              psychiarist's office
                              the painting of a boat
                              hung off-centre

                              (Boats prompt from Alison Williams



P.S. Also available for FREE download is the pdf book of small stones from Mindful Writing Day, edited by Fiona Robyn and Kaspa. You'll find that here. Enjoy all the weekend reading! :)


Tuesday, September 4, 2012

Welcome to Spring!


September 2012 - Kirsten's Calendar of Haiku & Photography

September 1st marks the beginning of Spring in New Zealand and above is the page I did for my family's calendar. The haiku first appeared with another photo last year in Notes from the Gean here (Sept, 2011), and appeared again this year in Kathy Nguyen's August Blog Bash! with her commentary here. However, the photo in this version was taken at the start of the Papamoa Hills walking track, near my old home, and was later printed in the local paper in the weather shots section. (Click on image to enlarge.)

August was a super busy month with writing, posting and reading haiku daily for NaHaiWriMo. It also was a month of medical appointments for me with several visits to the dentist (a 2nd tooth extraction tomorrow and then hopefully I'm done for a good long while!), a check over of all my moles before summer (no cancer lurking:), and most importantly, seeing my Haematologist at Waikato Hospital. I have now officially finished all my drug treatments for leukaemia. Unfortunately, I will continue my three monthly bone marrow biopsies for a further year because of the risk of relapse. But all signs point to it being done and dusted by next spring. Yay! :)

This month I've already had super news: I've been nominated by the community of New Resonance Poets to enter my work into consideration to join them in A New Resonance 8. Apparently, my haiku have been deemed outstanding and worthy of a wider readership, and I've been invited to submit 50-100 poems. 17 finalists (out of more than 40) will then be chosen to appear in the book. I am so excited and honoured and wowed! And already working on putting my large submission together! :)

Unfortunately, I wasn't able to get my haiku-a-day challenge ready to go for this month, but watch out for it coming soon! Enjoy your spring (or autumn!). This is my first spring in my new home and I'm loving seeing the countryside come to life again after winter with birds, green growth, and baby animals. Happy haiku writing!


Friday, August 31, 2012

Moon-viewing

August 31st NaHaiWriMo prompt is "moon-viewing", provided by Alex Benedict. 


moon-viewing . . .
all that comes to life
within me


Find out more about the 31 Different NaHaiWriMo Prompters for August 2012 here.

Thursday, August 30, 2012

Fence

August 30th NaHaiWriMo prompt is "fence", provided by Terri L. French. 


spring moon
a tuft of lamb's wool
caught in the fence


Find out more about the 31 Different NaHaiWriMo Prompters for August 2012 here.

Wednesday, August 29, 2012

Healthcare

August 29th NaHaiWriMo prompt is "healthcare", provided by Dave Serjeant. 


treatment's end
the smell of pink
magnolia petals


Find out more about the 31 Different NaHaiWriMo Prompters for August 2012 here.

Tuesday, August 28, 2012

Wishes

August 28th NaHaiWriMo prompt is "wishes or dreams", provided by Pamela Cooper. 


spring shoots
so many wishes
I've misused


Find out more about the 31 Different NaHaiWriMo Prompters for August 2012 here.

Monday, August 27, 2012

Beatles song

August 27th NaHaiWriMo prompt is "Beatles song", provided by Johannes S. H. Bjerg. 


watching rainbows
a herd of calves frolic
beneath the willow



Some information about the song "Watching Rainbows" here.

Find out more about the 31 Different NaHaiWriMo Prompters for August 2012 here.

Sunday, August 26, 2012

Time

August 26th NaHaiWriMo prompt is "time", provided by Jessica Tremblay


walking behind
this old lady
I stand up straighter


Find out more about the 31 Different NaHaiWriMo Prompters for August 2012 here.

Saturday, August 25, 2012

Summertime childhood memory

August 25th NaHaiWriMo prompt is "summertime childhood memory", provided by Cara Holman


midnight frog song from the swimming pool


Find out more about the 31 Different NaHaiWriMo Prompters for August 2012 here.

Friday, August 24, 2012

Seam

August 24th NaHaiWriMo prompt is "seam", provided by Susan Murata


she tugs at the seam spring storm


Find out more about the 31 Different NaHaiWriMo Prompters for August 2012 here.

Thursday, August 23, 2012

Heat

August 23rd NaHaiWriMo prompt is "heat", provided by Pris Campbell


telling him
it'll be okay
summer heat


Find out more about the 31 Different NaHaiWriMo Prompters for August 2012 here.

Wednesday, August 22, 2012

Forgotten things

August 22nd NaHaiWriMo prompt is "forgotten things", provided by Alan Summers


in that place
of forgotten things
our differing opinions


Find out more about the 31 Different NaHaiWriMo Prompters for August 2012 here.

Tuesday, August 21, 2012

Driftwood

August 21st NaHaiWriMo prompt is "driftwood", provided by Kathabela Wilson. 


journey's end . . .
taking only the driftwood
that is smooth



...And one from hubby again today, Cameron Elliot:


thoughts of home
the air sharp
with sea salt


Find out more about the 31 Different NaHaiWriMo Prompters for August 2012 here.

Monday, August 20, 2012

Surrender

August 20th NaHaiWriMo prompt is "surrender", provided by Chrissi Villa


no wind today
the chimes hang limp
and I watching


...And one from my hubby today, too, Cameron Elliot:


treatment ends
the sky yields
a burst of rain


Find out more about the 31 Different NaHaiWriMo Prompters for August 2012 here.

Sunday, August 19, 2012

Humidity

August 18th NaHaiWriMo prompt is "humidity", provided by Susan Delphine Delaney. 


humid air the dream that won't let me go


Find out more about the 31 Different NaHaiWriMo Prompters for August 2012 here.

Saturday, August 18, 2012

Boats

August 18th NaHaiWriMo prompt is "boats", provided by Alison Williams


psychiatrist's office
the painting of a boat
hung off-centre


Find out more about the 31 Different NaHaiWriMo Prompters for August 2012 here.