Peacocks and Dandelions

Here are two of the pages I made for my 2013 Calendar of Haiku & Photography that didn't make it into the final cut . . .

Click on image to enlarge.

I think this is the first image I put together when starting out planning for my 2013 calendar. I really like this combination, but in the end I couldn't find the right place for it. The haiku above was first published as a one-liner on DailyHaiku here. Our neighbours are horse breeders and have peacocks roaming amongst their fields. We don't see them as much as we'd like, but we hear them making their distinct call, more especially in summer. Hubby found this peacock feather on our property not long after we'd moved in. I first photographed it for a tanka that I wrote for Hortensia Anderson, in memoriam (you can read that post here).

Click on image to enlarge.

This would have been another summer page, but in the end, I created ones that I liked better. This photo was taken on our property after my husband alerted me to the butterfly. The fence is between us and a cow paddock, and the cows often push through the fence, shifting these posts, to get to our grass. The haiku first appeared on DailyHaiku here. I first paired this photo with another haiku that I'd written as part of a rengay with Cara Holman, "The Scent of Pine". You can view the post here.

I look forward to sharing the pages that comprise my 2013 Calendar of Haiku & Photography here beginning January 2013! :)

The Letter

wind gusts —

the letter was not

meant for me

Windböen —

der Brief war nicht

an mich gerichtet

Chrysanthemum 12 (October 2012)

Haiku & Photograph by Kirsten Cliff

Translation by Chrysanthemum Editorial Team

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.

The Scent of Pine

fallen fence post

counting out pills

for the day

From "The Scent of Pine" A Hundred Gourds 1:3 (June 2012)

A rengay by Kirsten Cliff and Cara Holman

Haiku & photograph © Kirsten Cliff

First Frost

I woke up early to a very chilly Wednesday morning. It's the last month of New Zealand's autumn and the first frost, looking out across the farm paddocks from the hill of our new home, was a truly beautiful sight.

Here is the May page of my calendar, which is looking much better than I thought up on the wall. The haiku was first published in Presence #40 (January 2010). The photo was taken at an open garden in Paengaroa, a small settlement in the Bay of Plenty. There is a great country cafe there called The Trading Post where hubby and I enjoyed going for their fresh pizza. I just loved the idea of 'The Kissing Gate' (click on image to enlarge).

May 2012 - Kirsten's Calendar of Haiku & Photography

As I did this calendar for my family, I wasn't thinking about literary merit: just what images my family might enjoy and what haiku I thought they might 'get'. That's also why I haven't called them haiga. You can see in this earlier post of when I was putting together the calendar, an alternate version of this May page. Which one do you like better?

New Neighbour

          new neighbour

          a peony blooms

          through the fence

paper wasp, volume seventeen, number 3, winter 2011

Haiku and photograph © Kirsten Cliff 2011 

One Day You're In, The Next Day You're Out

This is one of my haiku and photo combinations that hasn't made it into my calendar. I love the image (taken at the entrance to Tauranga's Mission Cemetery in June this year) and the haiku - but found the pairing to be over illustrated, with not enough for the mind and eye to ponder.

Haiku first published in Presence #40 (Jan, 2010)

This haiku is now matched with another of my images taken around a similar time (just at the end of autumn). It still features a gate but it doesn't dominate the shot leaving room for the haiku to breath and the senses to expand. (Please click on the photo to see a larger image.)