It's a sign we're told
a promise, romance aside
it's basic optics

Ian Row

Today's Haiku

Source: The Age - the age.com.au
Submitted by KPM

Some birthday wishes
From unexpected quarters
Very surprising.

James Sutekh

I'm all for metric
but inching along sure beats
centimetering

Alison Lester

me: you get up first
you: nah-ah, you get up first
me: fine, be like that

Charlie & Ian Row

Fleeing bank robbers
Unlikely get-away car
Big yellow school bus

CRK

Of all the stresses,
deadlines and standards; the worst:
Pressure on ourselves

KPM

The protest marchers
gather; lost in the frenzy
buskers and beggars.

Ian Row

My letter reviewed
"Irrelevant narrative"
How very dare you?

Ian Row

Calendar haiku: May 2015

How wonderful
each things that I look at - and
springtime goes away

Kito (1740 - 1788)

Evening scene, Tone River by
Takahashi Kiroaki (1871 - 1945)

Elevator man
Cyrano de Bergerac
But I'm not Roxanne

CRK

Haiku for Nepal

your fading bellows
from the deep and dark rubble
your peace is our calm

Ramon Loyola

The traffic roars by.
A little red pineapple
ripens in the shade.

Alison Lester

Overheard: "it's the
unavoidable consequence
of the horror."

Ian Row

Out of cigarettes
The night is old and tiresome
Curl up with the boil :-)

James Sutekh

A praline inspired haiku

Praline (4x)
Please don't eat it just because
you can.

Cesca Alice & Ian Row

Do not speak to him
about his life... how dare you?
You do not know him.

CRK

sunset behind me
day well spent in fellowship
with humanity

Ian Row

New TV - Bluetoothed
within an inch of my life -
I'll never leave home

Ian Row

Holidays end soon
All those visits and time spent...
Can I start again?

KPM

Time starts now I'm told
Don't wait until your ready
They years pass like days

Ian Row

so sentimental
his very first backstabbing
#thingswemiss

Ian Row

Cosy apartment
North facing, close to PT
Suit small family

Ian Row

Wrapped in Mother's scarf
Holding tight with both his hands
Swinging on the swings

CRK

Bargain ignored: shirt
Fragrance unbought, despite squirt
Men's fashion sale time

Chris Gill

Prison death chamber
five straps on a long gurney
at one end... pillow

CRK

Author's note: It's terrible that capital punishment still takes place in Texas

Calendar haiku: April 2015

Cherry blossoms are falling -
and now between the trees,
a temple appears

Buson (1716 - 1784)

In a temple yard (1935) by
Yoshida Hiroshi (1876 - 1950)

Chocolate matzo
Next to Easter bunny cake
Whole Foods* Holy Week

CRK

*A natural foods upmarket grocery store in the US

Spotty, sleepy, pale
Young Chinese man whose t-shirt
tells me to DRIVE FAST

Alison Lester

You may or may not
believe me but there was a
time when I was mad

Ian Row

Holidays ahead,
Ripe with possibility
Time that's mine to waste.

KPM

blast from the past: you
dying star still shines so bright
million miles away

Ian Row

Clutching a bedspread
He leaps across a trash-crammed
street... March in Chicago

CRK

Meeting: itchy foot
is not on the agenda
Oh the agony

Ian Row

Running on empty
My energy has run out.
Same tomorrow then?

KPM

founding father dies
we don't speak ill of the dead
silence speaks volumes

Ian Row

Time will come when they
Realize I'm a precious
Historical resource

CRK

Durkheim and Paglia
Paper lacks references
A recurring dream

Ian Row

the random talent 
in the North makes up for
its isolation

Ian Row

Unsubscribe me
The Dalai Lama
People change

Ian Row

Hey. You. I'm dying.
Ok. But I've sprained something.
Carry me.

Charlie

Gargantuan spider
lives in the glove compartment
loves D'Angelo

Ian Row

Some events can change
everything you thought you knew...
rewriting the past.

CRK

"Ciao Bella," the man
Said to my uncle, who was
both flattered, and not

CRK

Runny hot chilli
fills the bowl - and then the splash!
Damn lunchtime shirt stain

KPM

Russell Tovey Redux

Don't for a moment
confuse you self with courage
Hegemonic fag

Ian Row

@russelltovey

Was it pride, relief?
Either way you're a lucky man
and not one of us.

Ian Row

Calendar haiku: March 2015

As on the plum comes
blossom after blossom, so
comes the warmth of Spring.

Ratsentsu (1653 - 1708)

Peacock by Tsuchiya Rakusen (Rakuzen)
(1896 - 1976)

Won't give his number
Last line of defence before
his iron dome

Ian Row

Leftovers salvaged
Tiger prawns, red curry paste
Almost red curry

Ian Row

Disinherited
"I am not your Dad,"he said
"You are not my son."

CRK

If I Cantaloupe
Olive fruitfully at home
Where can a Mango?

Chris Gill

300 dollars?
To fix the water heater?
Who needs to shower?

Charlie

The places I've been
Places I'll never ever
Someone else's life

Ian Row

Note to self - 
You cannot vacuum the cat
But you can try

Ian Row

Crazy cab driver
Pencil short of a pencil case
Somebody's father

Ian Row

strong death wish
some days so hard so easy
to slip away


Anonymous

Authentic Tony
I am sure what is worse
The devil you know

Ian Row

Calendar haiku: February 2015

No sky and no ground - 
Only the snowflakes that
fall without ceasing

Hashin (1864 - ?)

February, Winter Sky, 1924 by
Yamamura Toyonari (1885 - 1942)

A Facebook friend dies
Someone I have never met
Superficial guilt

Ian Row

How about this
Bigger than the one at home
Red brings out my eyes

Charlie

golden days like these
glow with possibility
catch my reflection

Ian Row

Peta's been busy
Tony's script passes muster
The head, not the heart

Ian Row

Short-term Moon

'Wednesdays free waxing'
Saturdays for shining bright
Waning on Sundays

Carol Ruth Kimmel

Icing on the cake
Space enough but not for you
A country flip flops

Ian Row

'Do not feed the birds'
Train station's a halfway house
for wayward seagulls

Ian Row

My black eyeliner
Highlights my eyelid wrinkles
That's the end of that

Alison Lester

'recurring dreams' nightmare
lingers long after the credits
the plot rethickens

Ian Row

What are you doing?
No, I don't want to cuddle.
Put some clothes on, please.

Charlie

Fleece blanket or cat
Static electricity
Stay away from me

Ian Row

Stall hands shout prices
Bustling, bargaining shoppers
Humanity thrives.

KPM

dual view desktop
the size of Manhattan
two fields of vision

Jenny Morris & Ian Row

The bitumen road
Pieces of broken mirror
The big sky, shattered

Ian Row

From my passing train
I see two random friends hug.
A glimpse of their joy.

KPM

She talks to herself
Tries to shake some sense of it
So close then she slips

Ian Row

could you park your
mid-life crisis somewhere else?
this spot's taken

Dawn Mok

sweaty train ride home
already behind schedule
feels even longer

Ian Row

A wind-bell tinkling,

hushed in the noon sun is now

a shelter for bees

Gonsui

From Haiku Harvest (1967) p27

The constant buzz of
Highway noise and ceiling fans
Singapore lament

Alison Lester

Calendar haiku: January 2015

The old year goes away - 
and the things it takes along,
what and what are they?

Soin (1605 - 1682)

Playing Battledore and Shuttlecock (1953) by
Shimura Tatsumi (1907 - 1980)

i.
In the choir loft
Sandwiches and coffee grabbed
Heav’n and nature sing

ii.
Anglican church so
High it was stratospheric
Christmas Eve incense

iii.
In spite of the worst
Christmas homily ever
Jesus Christ is born

Carol Ruth Kimmel

Fresh out of propane,
Bubba taps landfill methane.
Steaks taste recycled.

Mary K Witte
From Redneck Haiku

Your wired sex face
is very unattractive.
No, let me call you.

Rocky

You. Bore. Me.

Might feel different tomorrow.

Might not.

Ian Row

My dead mother
Frequents my mind
Wardrobe-changing season.

Natsume Soseki*

*Translated from the Japanese. From The Little Book of Zen

Wedding night fireworks
as Flo's ex-husband threatens
to bring back the kids

Mary K Witte

From Redneck Haiku

Huge cockroach scuttled

Across my naked foot once

It felt really nice

Alison Lester

Old love letters
Read quickly
and thrown out

From The Haiku Year (1998) p69

Environmental my ass
full of false claims
I'll compost your ads

From The Haiku Year (1998) p100

4WD drivers

don't thank you for giving way

Blind spot in their heads

Ian Row

Tuileries Garden-Jardin Des Tuileries

A lonely chair sits

In the Paris winter chill

Ouch my cold butt cheeks

Sharon Lee

A glimpse of beauty,

As I pass him standing there.

Snapshot of the mind.

KPM

Public, happy smile.

Meet and greet and then it's done.

Adrenalin crash.

KPM

Post-event haiku twinset

1.
By all accounts
it was a success yet I feel
un.ex.cep.tio.nal

2.
"You said that last year"
Every year I feel the same
A familiar friend

Ian Row

Many Mormons with

Luggage; their smiles were like soft

Moth wings on my face

Alison Lester

low-hanging dark thoughts

rotting before they ripen

fruitless suffering

Dawn Mok

Whirling lights panic

The preemptive siren wails

Midnight ambulance

Ian Row

2 of 2: Haiku by Uejima Onitsura (1660-1738)

It is nice to read
news that our spring rain also
visited your town

Onitsura

From Haiku Harvest (1962) p27

1 of 2: Haiku by Uejima Onitsura (1660-1738)

Come come! I call.
But the fireflies flash away
into the darkness

Onitsura

From Haiku Harvest (1962) p57

*Australia's Hottest Ginger Pet competition

"Validate me," said

the cat. "Let me be your king."

‪#‎shamelessplug*

Ian Row