Decemeber Haiku Share: The Week That Was #2

The second week of Cara Holman's December Haiku Share has finished and it's still going strong. Below are the links to the last seven days of posts, and the haiku and tanka I've shared along the way. Yes, that's right--tanka too! Come on over and share your previously published works, or write something new if inspiration hits you. You'll find a group of poets who care about haiku and tanka, enjoy reading it and commenting on it when they do. (Here's the link to the latest prompt - blue eucalyptus)

December Haiku Share - Day 8

cold moon
still the weight of her baby
in my arms
–Kirsten Cliff

DailyHaiku, Cycle 12, January 27, 2012

December Haiku Share - Day 9

shirtless
he weeds
between the gravestones
– Kirsten Cliff

Moonset 6:1 2010

December Haiku Share - Day 10

lost
in that deepest green . . .
the mountain alone
has left its imprint
on my psyche
– Kirsten Cliff

‘Forever Home’ tanka sequence with Margaret Dornaus, LYNX 27:3, October 2012
see this link for the image that inspired the tanka

December Haiku Share - Day 11 

*waka taua –
paua eyes reflect
the afternoon midges
– Kirsten Cliff

the taste of nashi: New Zealand Haiku (Windrift, 2008)
Bay News, Wednesday, May 21, 2008
Waiariki Institute of Technology 2010 Calendar

*Waka Taua is a Maori war canoe.

December Haiku Share - Day 12

winter afternoon
one empty space
in the library carpark
– Kirsten Cliff

Honorable Mention, Haiku International Association 2009 Haiku Contest

December Haiku Share - Day 13

thinking of you –
the light
on a paua shell
– Kirsten Cliff

Kokako 10 (April 2009)
Waiariki Institute of Technology 2010 Calendar

December Haiku Share - Day 14

for today
I have this one wish
not to feel
like I’ll always carry
that scared little girl
– Kirsten Cliff

Presence #44 (June 2011)

Decemeber Haiku Share: The Week That Was #1

The first week of Cara Holman's December Haiku Share has finished. Below are the links to the seven days of posts, and the haiku I have shared each day. I hope you enjoy reading all the haiku as much as I have been, and maybe you'll come and join us this week! (Here's the link to the latest prompt - night sky)

December Haiku Share - Day 1

coming home
to an empty house
so many stars
– Kirsten Cliff

Kokako 12, April 2010
evolution: The Red Moon Anthology of English-Language Haiku (Red Moon Press, 2011)

December Haiku Share - Day 2

suspended
from an evening cloud
the mountain
–Kirsten Cliff

the taste of nashi: New Zealand Haiku (Windrift, 2008)
Bay News, Wednesday, May 21, 2008
Waiariki Institute of Technology 2010 Calendar

December Haiku Share - Day 3

drifting fog
where does the dream end
and I begin
–Kirsten Cliff

“Dream Catcher” rengay with Cara Holman, Fox Dreams, April 2012 (edited by Aubrie Cox of Yay Words)

December Haiku Share - Day 4 

extinguished
after love-making
a single candle
– Kirsten Cliff

paper wasp 17:3 (October 2011)

December Haiku Share - Day 5

summer again
the dress I wore
to hospital
– Kirsten Cliff

‘All the Words that Mean Cancer’ rengay sequence with Cara Holman, LYNX 27:3 (October 2012)

December Haiku Share - Day 6

as I begin to sing
in my head
the sparrows scatter
– Kirsten Cliff

Kokako 9, September 2008
Waiariki Institute of Technology 2010 Calendar

December Haiku Share - Day 7

fallen blossoms –
loading empty beehives
on the truck
– Kirsten Cliff

Kokako 8, April 2008

First Published Haiku

I recently took Sandra Simpson's advice from her January 2012 Haiku NewZ article, Turning Over a New Leaf, and created a 'published' file on my computer for all my haiku and tanka. I thought I'd better get on to it before too many more years went by and the task became unmanageable and undesirable! Now it's all done, I'm enjoying the fast and easy access to my haiku, and where they've all been published. While undertaking this task, I was reacquainted with my first published haiku and thought, "Why not share!"

Papamoa Dwellings

motor camp

grass struggles

against sandy soil

                    cleansing the mind

                    glasses misty…

                    sea spray

following sandy footprints

too big to fill

                    frisky waves –

                    white foam

                    chasing my toes

in summer skies

green kites flutter –

corporate giveaway

                    laughing

                    with the rushing wind…

                    dune flowers

enveloped by sand –

my feet…

warmed

                    discarded nylon –

                    a fisherman was here

empty beach –

but for the waves…

hushed

                    suspended from

                    an evening cloud –

                    our mountain 

 

This Side of the World: Tauranga Writers Celebrating 40 Years (Tauranga Writers, 2007) Edited by Sue Emms and Jenny Argante

The last haiku is this sequence went on to be published (with a slight change, see below) in the taste of nashi: New Zealand Haiku (Windrift, 2008) Edited by Nola Borrell and Karen Peterson Butterworth

suspended 

from an evening cloud –

the mountain 

 

It has also appeared in:

Bay News, Wednesday, May 21, 2008 
Waiariki Institute of Technology 2010 Calendar

and on my THF Haiku Registry page here

 

It is through the cracks in our brains that ecstasy creeps in.

the cracked path

sprouts of green
from shades of grey

how deep below
and far along
did these weeds

travel to find
the light

in the cracks between

Copyright © Kirsten Cliff
Winner, ME Awareness Day Writing Competition 2008
First published in Meeting Place: The Quarterly Journal of ANZMES Inc., Issue 93, Sept. 2008
Also appeared in the Waiariki Institute of Technology 2010 Calendar
(Title quote by American writer Logan P. Smith.)

Photo by Kirsten Cliff

For My Northern Hemisphere Friends Heading Into Summer

summer preening

toenails, colour chipped, pearly pink
cotton balls, acetone smell
leather kit, instruments in place
sun on the stainless steel clippers
crescent moons jump across the grass
nail file, one side rough, one side fine
checking the edges with a finger
tissues, folded, rolled, threaded between
toes, outstretched, separate
new bottle of polish, shaken
hunched over, two hands busy
painting each canvas, twice
minutes, waiting, walking on heels
stepping out in jandals

Copyright © Kirsten Cliff
First published in Waiariki Today, Issue 6, October 2008

Papamoa Beach, Bay of Plenty, New Zealand by Kirsten Cliff

Sharing a Haiku for NaHaiWriMo - day twenty-eight

I'm writing a haiku a day for NaHaiWriMo offline. Here at Swimming in Lines of Haiku I'm sharing one of my published haiku each day:


thinking of you -
the light
on a paua shell


Published in Kokako 10 (April, 2009)
Also appeared in the Waiariki Institute of Technology 2010 Calendar