My Haiku Calendar (2020)
I enjoy watching birds - but mostly now I write and blog about, well about birds, from the comfort of my favourite chair in the conservatory at home (if you’ve read my ‘About’ page you will perhaps get the reference).
This year I tasked myself with writing a series of monthly posts featuring my bird haiku - a sort of calendar or almanac. It seems to have been well liked; so pull up a comfy chair by the fire, perhaps with your favourite tipple, and read slowly through the years collection ...
January
dawn breaks
woodcock probe
the shadows
February
sunny days tease the blackbird into song
March
red skies -Wales Haiku Journal Spring 2019
from wind-tossed trees
stormcock sing
April
sunshine filling every room the cuckoo’s call
Presence (issue: 68) Summer 2020
May
sedge warbler climbing among flags sing incessantly
June
lazy afternoon
in buttercup meadows
chasing dreams
July
buzzard soaring
above the mountains
thunder rumbles
August
a whitethroat bursting from the hedge the only sound
September
lights flicker
after the storm
a robin sings
Published in hedgerow #133
October
lights twinkle
in darkening sky
a curlew calls
November
low and silent
jack snipe flush from
flooded fields
December
drifting snow
shattering the silence
a wren sings
Wales Haiku Journal Summer 2019
If you enjoyed these haiku and have a Kindle (or similar) then you can download more here - ‘Feathered Skies’. Published by Proletaria, as an eChapbook (PDF); it’s free - so go on!
Artist Credit
The Featured Image of a Wren is a limited edition print from an original by Peter Hayman.
Peter Hayman (born 17 February 1930 in Uxbridge, Middlesex, England[1]) is a British ornithologist and illustrator.
He worked as an architect for several years in London but in 1969 he became an artist. His main interest was water-colour paintings of British birds.
In 1991 he published "The Complete Guide to the Birdlife of Britain & Europe". This richly illustrated book with 3,500 water colour paintings which was published in collaboration with Rob Hume was translated in several languages, and became a popular bird guide in Europe.
Thank yoy. Beautifully done.
Hi there Clive, I hope you are keeping well and safe. Wales is not in a happy place just now, nor any part of these islands, so looking forward to having my vaccine jab! When did we ever look forward to having an injection? Before I get carried away, this is a wonderful recap of the year, thank you for treating us to your verses! I particularly like the last one as it is just so ‘winter’! We did get some snow here, but it lasted all of one morning!
Thanks Ashley I hope you too are safe and well. I rather liked seeing them altogether. Here’s a one-line haiku about the wren …
my backyard a winter wren fills the space
Wonderful to read them all in one go. Yes, beautifully done!
Thanks! It did feel good to collect them all together.
Congratulations! That drawing of the wren is so precious.
It’s rather lovely isn’t it. One of a pair (the other is of a Nuthatch) of miniatures – from an original watercolour only 3×4 inches. I’ll try an attach a pic …
An excellent collection of soon-to-be hokku! I’ll try to convert them. Thanks, Clive!
Awesome! Thanks Ed.
Thank you for collecting these together, Clive. A beautiful read around the year. I’ve been doing a weekly blog around the year on https://genekeysdiary.wordpress.com with many new paintings of animals and birds
Thanks Jane! I’ve got some serious catching up to do …
They work wonderfully as a collection Clive. Read slowly like this, it’s like experiencing the year again – but the peaceful, good parts of the year!
That’s what I was hoping to achieve – so I’m glad it works for you Andrea. I’d change one or two – but hey there’s another year to look forward to …
You know, you must be having an effect on me as I keep having the urge to have a go at Haiku! And I’ve downloaded myself a copy of your publication to keep, beautifully done. I love the wren image…as you know, I particularly love wrens and feel they make for a wonderful art subject.
Your paintings are wonderful Helen – it’s difficult to choose which I like most – your bird paintings I guess. Your Wren is stunning and your Blackbird well just out of this world beautiful. Yes do have a go at haiku – it’s all about the beauty of the moment (hence my tag line). And can be very healing. Don’t get hung up on rigid structure or syllable counts; write what you feel but leave space for the reader to breathe life into the poem in their own way. Have fun 😊