Happy Holidays!

I created this book Christmas tree for Elliot Books and I'm so stoked with how it turned out. Oh, and before I forget - here is the December page of the haiku calendar I did with my husband for this year. (click to enlarge)

 

Haiku first published in The Heron's Nest Volume XV, Number 2 (June 2013)

Well, it's been a crazy year with lots of twists + turns. And for those that haven't caught up - I stepped down as editor of the haikai section of the NZPS magazine. Onwards to 2015.

I wish you all the best for a safe + happy holiday season, and a creative new year ahead. Blessings!

November Calendar Page

Here's the current page of the 2014 calendar my husband and I did for our family. (Click on image to see enlarged view.)

 

 

thoughts of home

the air sharp

with sea salt

 

I didn't think I'd get a calendar done this year, but even with all that's gone on these last several months the itch to create one was still strong. So glad I did it, and my family members that have already seen it are loving it. I hope you've been inspired to create some of your own Christmas presents this year, in whatever form that takes. Maybe even pop a haiku in a card, or two. Enjoy! :-)





August Calendar Page

August 2014 - Calendar of Haiku & Photography by Kirsten Cliff

Can't wait to get back to this! Looks like it will be September at this stage. Doing my best to hang in there. (Click on image to see an enlarged view.)

Here's a pic from my birthday: Hubby made me a 'Happy Birthday' sign in Spanish. :-)

The t-shirt was one I purchased with some birthday money, and I was so pleased it arrived in time for me to wear it on the 31st. As well as being a rockin' tee (I love Frida Kahlo!), it was my way of giving a little on my birthday. It's a Shave for Cure supporter t-shirt designed by WORLD, and $17.50 from the sale went to Leukaemia & Blood Cancer New Zealand. Yay!

Roofless: 3+ months on . . .

July 2014 - Photo & Haiku by Kirsten Cliff

Here I am finally writing a post for my birthday month of July. I was really hoping that hubby and I would be back home by the 31st, but it's not to be. Thankfully I have lots of good news to share . . .

Firstly, a remission milestone: I found out last week that I've been downgraded from three-monthly clinic visits to six-monthly. That is progress, folks! Still monthly blood counts, and a special blood test every three months for molecular studies. But all in all I'm moving further away from cancer. Phew!

As to the progress on my home: we now not only have a new roof, but all the internal walls and ceilings have been erected, as well as some parts of the flooring that needed repair. It's all looking much more like a house now, instead of a barren womb.

I'm told that plasterers are starting this week (that may be "Gibb-rockers or stoppers" to some of you not in NZ). After that it will be internal and external painters, kitchen and carpet installers, plumbers and electricians. Such a big job - I'm so glad I'm not the one organising it all!

The good news includes our contents claim being settled in full, too. All that the insurers said they would repair they have; all they said that they'd replace they have; the rest has been paid out to us to buy the things we need. So yes, you guessed it - I plan to shop it up on my birthday tomorrow! :-)

Many of my fellow poets have their birthdays in July, and here I'll just mention a few. Margaret Dornaus invited poets to write a moon haiku or tanka in celebration of her birthday. You can read the results on her blog here. And Chrissi Villa is asking poets to join in her birthday fun by writing a poem for her inspired by the music that you'll find at the top of her blog here. There will be prizes - find out more about it on the Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/events/704682542937953/

It was also my late Granddad's birthday on July 10th. I wrote this tanka during the summer, the last months of his life:

dreading
the call that says
he’s gone …
two petals left
on the last poppy

A Hundred Gourds 3:3 June 2014

Calendars, T-shirts, Chapbooks, Positivity: It's a Haiku Life for Me!

Welcome to March, dear readers! Below is this month's page from my 2014 calendar of haiku and photography, which I did with my husband this time round, for our family and friends. Hubby, Cameron Elliot, took this photo last year in Cambridge, and his haiku is previously unpublished. (click to enlarge)

Haiku & photo by Cameron Elliot

February was a great month for me on the haiku front. I put out my first poetry chapbook, thinking of you, as a gift of love for Valentine's Day. (Read my post about it here.) My eChapbook of twenty haiku and tanka on the theme of love is free to read and download here. Enjoy! And don't forget to pass it on.

I also began an online shop called Haiku On where I'm selling t-shirts, cards, and later this year, my 2015 calendar. Haiku poets around the world have responded favorably buying "Trust me, I'm a haiku poet" and "Every Haiku is an Act of Environmental Activism!" t-shirts. I am so grateful for the support I've received from the haiku community on my new venture. More t-shirt designs coming soon! If there is something that you'd like to see in the shop that isn't there then please ask, and I'll try to create it for you.

I've also been flooding my Facebook page with positivity this month, and doing a daily post on what I'm grateful for each day. It's been amazing to see people's positive response, and even joining in with the gratitude posts. I couldn't have wished for better. :-) Come join me!

March is already full of haiku and tanka promise. I have a haiku in the March issue of The Heron's Nest here.See a collaborative haiga here that I did with Seánan Forbes, which appears in the March issue of A Hundred Gourds. We hope to do some more collaborating this month. I've been asked to write a commentary for Haibun Online about my tanka prose piece, The Taste on My Tongue, which first appeared in Skylark 1:1. And I'll be adding more to my online shop Haiku On - Taking you on a haiku journey. Stay tuned . . .

Haiku On - My New Online Shop is Open for Business!

Since seeing me in my "Trust me, I'm a haiku poet" t-shirt, fellow haiku poets from around the world have asked to buy one for themselves. Now everybody can through my online shop, Haiku On - Taking you on a haiku journey.

Haiku On is the place to find unique merchandise with haiku poetry and art on it, created by Kirsten Cliff (that's me!). I've started with my iconic t-shirts, as well as my photo-haiga on greeting cards, postcards, and note cards.

http://www.cafepress.com/haikuon

I'll be uploading new designs each week, and Haiku On will also be the place I'll sell my annual calendar of haiku and photography. If you're a Facebooker then you can like my page at https://www.facebook.com/haikuon where I'll be keeping fans up to date with new designs and other news of interest.

If there's something you don't see at Haiku On and would like to see then please let me know, and I'll try to create it for you! Haiku On - Taking you on a haiku journey.

Skylark Gallery

I have a collaborative haiga in the winter online Skylark Gallery. The image was taken by me in Fiji last year, and the tanka is by Seánan Forbes. Just click here to see it (once there there is no need to click on the image, each one will roll over in a slide show for you). Enjoy! (Sneak peak below!)

Welcome to 2014!

What better way to start the new year than with the first page of my calendar of haiku and photography, which I did jointly with my husband this time round. Below is actually the view from our lounge at this time of year, often complete with a herd of dairy cows chewing their cud. Just click on the image to see an enlarged view and to read Cameron's previously unpublished haiku. Didn't he do well?

January 2014 haiku & photo by Cameron Elliot

If you're a regular reader of Swimming in Lines of Haiku you'll probably notice that I've changed the look of the blog for 2014: a fresh, clean slate to start as I mean to go on. And before I do I'd like to take this opportunity to say a big THANK YOU to all my readers and supporters, to the editors that have accepted and published my work, to those I've written and celebrated with, to those who bought my desk calendars and New Res anthologies: Thank you so much! Let's do it all over again.

Wishing you all the best for a year ahead of reading and writing, and I hope you enjoy the rest of the festive season. If you're looking for a way to kick-start your writing year then join in the January 2014 Mindful Writing Challenge. Maybe I'll see you there! :-)

A Hundred Gourds Haiga

A Hundred Gourds 2:2 March 2013 (click on image to enlarge)

The June 2013 edition of A Hundred Gourds is now online. I'm in there with two haiku and a tanka prose piece, along with work from many other wonderful poets. Get stuck in! :-)

Road Trip: A Haiga With Cara Holman

(click on image to enlarge)

DailyHaiga, 19 May 2013

Haiku by Cara Holman / Image by Kirsten Cliff

She Reaches Up: A Haiga With Christine L. Villa

(click on image to enlarge)

DailyHaiga, 17 April 2013

Haiku by Kirsten Cliff / Image by Christine L. Villa

spring equinox (haiga)

Chrsyanthemum 13, April 2013 (click to enlarge)

cool spring morning (haiga)

Chrysanthemum 13, April 2013 (click to enlarge)

Slipping Into Evening: A Haiga With Cara Holman

(click on image to enlarge)

Lyrical Passion Poetry E-Zine

Alone Again: A Haiga With Cara Holman

(click on image to enlarge)

Lyrical Passion Poetry E-Zine

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)

December Haiku Share - Day 22

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

NaHaiWriMo August 2012

December Haiku Share - Day 23

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

Moonbathing 6, January 2012

December Haiku Share - Day 24

first spring day this breeze her hair
– Kirsten Cliff

DailyHaiku Cycle 12, Dec. 12, 2011

December Haiku Share - Day 25 

he creates
a new centrepiece
for the dining table
a size nine shoebox
full of medications
– Kirsten Cliff

Presence #44, June 2011

December Haiku Share - Day 26

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

December Haiku Share - Day 27

(click on image to enlarge)

– Kirsten Cliff  

Notes From the Gean, 3:2, September 2011

December Haiku Share - Day 28

dragon fire . . .
the way he moves me
this night
– Kirsten Cliff

The Language of Dragons, January 2012
(Yay Words! project edited by Aubrie Cox)

Decemeber Haiku Share: The Week That Was #3

Another week of Cara Holman's December Haiku Share has past and more participants have joined us in this unique challenge. Below are the links to the last seven days of posts, and the haiku, tanka and haiga I've shared along the way. Come over and take a look! (Here's the link to the latest prompt - garden spider)

December Haiku Share - Day 15

spring tide . . .
a layer of dust
on the condom packet
– Kirsten Cliff

DailyHaiku, Cycle 12, December 16, 2011
Sea Bandits, September 2012 (Ed. Aubrie Cox)

December Haiku Share - Day 16

the night he left . . . 

the many sounds
of summer rain
– Kirsten Cliff

DailyHaiku Cycle 12, November 2, 2011

December Haiku Share - Day 17

leaf-fall
i finally have
my head shaved
– Kirsten Cliff

‘All the Words that Mean Cancer’ rengay sequence 

with Cara Holman, LYNX 27:3 (October 2012)

December Haiku Share - Day 18 

one side of the rose
has no petals:
hoping he’ll return,
I keep to my half
of the bed
– Kirsten Cliff

Kokako 13, September 2010

December Haiku Share - Day 19

hailstorm . . .
three red petals left
to scent this rose
– Kirsten Cliff

Caribbean Kigo Kukai, September 2012

December Haiku Share - Day 20

no mail today
a taste of woodsmoke
on the wind
– Kirsten Cliff

From ‘Between the Birdsong’ (with Cara Holman)
LYNX 27:3, October 2012

December Haiku Share - Day 21

(click on image to enlarge)

Appeared on Angie Werren’s blog as part of her 

National Poetry Month ‘Couplets’ posts, April 2012.

 

 

Launching into November . . .

Three launches that include my haiku are happening this month, and unfortunately I won't make it to any of them! Never mind because the books will arrive soon. :)

First is the launch of Building a time machine - the 2012 New Zealand Poetry Society Anthology, edited by Owen Bullock. I have two haiku appearing in this anthology: one that received a Highly Commended in the NZPS International Haiku Competition, and a further ku that was chosen by the editor. Order your copy here.

Second is the opening of the exhibition When North meets South, organised by Ruth Arnison. This is where artists of all kinds from the South Island chose haiku from poets from the North Island and made works of art inspired by them. I can't wait to receive my copy of the exhibition booklet that will include my four chosen haiku turned into works of art by four different painters. Hopefully I'll be able to link some photos soon!

Last but not least is the launch of the Haiku News Anthology, edited by Dick Whyte (NZ) and Laurence Stacey (US). I have one haiku appearing in this anthology and look forward to seeing this unique collection. Presales are now being taken here to support the printing of the book.

November 2012 - Kirsten's Calendar of Haiku & Photography

Above is the November page of my calendar. The photo was taken last year at Papamoa Beach especially for this project. The haiku is one of my most published ku, originally taking out Third prize in the Katikati Haiku Contest (2008). I've been busy making a 2013 calendar to give to family and friends this Christmas. Lot's of new photos and haiku to enjoy throughout the year. Remember you can see all the pages from my 2012 calendar at the link on the side-bar: Kirsten's 2012 Calendar of Haiku & Photography.

Last month I did several new photo-haiga in collabortaion with Cara Holman. This was the first time for both of us working together in this way, and we've deemed it a great success! Three have already appeared in Margaret Dornaus' Day of the Dead post. Five more have been sent to Aubrie Cox, the new A Hundred Gourds haiga editor, for consideration in the next issue. All have used my images with Cara's haiku; plus I also sent in three that are all my own work. I've only submitted haiga twice to a journal and look forward to seeing how these collaborations fare, and to doing more of the same in the future. Happy haiku-ing, friends! :)

Day of the Dead #3: A photo-haiga with Cara Holman

Haiku by Cara Holman / Image by Kirsten Cliff (click on image to enlarge)

See Margaret Dornaus' full Day of the Dead post on her blog Haiku-doodle.

Day of the Dead #2: A photo-haiga with Cara Holman

Haiku by Cara Holman / Image by Kirsten Cliff (click on image to enlarge)

See Margaret Dornaus' full Day of the Dead post on her blog Haiku-doodle.