FAVOURITE HAIKU
I have a special fascination for learning, reading, and writing contemporary English language haiku. Here are some personal favourites. They are poems which stunned, stopped, and moved me when I first came across them. They are memorable poems which return to my mind every now and again and make me want to go and read them over again and again and again.
Many of these poems can be found found at -
https://thehaikufoundation.org/haiku-registry/
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pregnant again
the fluttering of moths
against the window
JANICE M. BOSTOK
The Haiku Anthology, Simon & Schuster, New York, 1986
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underneath
the same moon
the ant and I
LORI A MINOR
Frogpond 41:2 Spring-Summer 2018
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morning stillness
the empty bird table
buried under snow
RACHEL SUTCLIFFE
The Heron’s Nest Vol. XX Number 4, Dec, 2018
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house clearance
room by room by room
my mother disappears
ALAN SUMMERS
Winner, Touchstone Individual Poem Award for 2016
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together as we dry there is the listening to rain
MARLENE MOUNTAIN
Global Haiku, Mosaic Press, Canada, 2000
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graveside vigil
standing alone
in his rainMARIETTA McGREGOR
Presence #62, September 2018
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bombed breadfruit tree —
somewhere about
an infant islander cries
hidan no pan no ki tōmin no akago naku atari
KANEKO TOHTA
Selected Haiku, Part 1 (1937-1960) by the Kon Nichi Translation Group, Red Moon Press, 2011; Trans., Gilbert et al
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washed jeans―
his love note
still dirty
SUSAN BURCH
Honourable mention 4th Annual Senryu Contest, Sonic Boom July 2018
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peace negotiations―
a refugee child collects
the bullet shells
HIFSA ASHRAF
hedgerow #127, Spring 2019
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ahh rainbow!
the light passing
through me
SVETLANA MARISOVA
Simply Haiku (Summer 2012
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spring breeze—
the pull of her hand
as we near the pet store
MICHAEL DYLAN WELCH
Woodnotes 19, 1993
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blossom wind
my sick wife holds my hand
tighter
CHEN-OU LIU
Winner, Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival's 2021 Haiku Invitational
Contest
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tern's shadow
darts across the beach
herring clouds
MAYA LYUBENOVA
Frogpond 31:2, 2008
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shining cobwebs
the weather report forecasts
continuing fallout
EMIKO MIYASHITA
12 Haiku, Stockholm Sweden June 26, 2018
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spring melt
all my regrets
pulled out to sea
MICHAEL REHLING
A Hundred Gourds 2:4 September 2013
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after a word
at war
afterwards
HANSHI TEKI
Bones 8, November 2015
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my grandfather’s face
we try to read
between the lines
DEBBI ANTEBI
The Heron’s Nest XVIII:1, 2016
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the neighbour's
unkempt lawn...
all these butterflies
POLONA OBLAK
First Place, Shiki Kukai (July 2010)
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fading light
her child’s name
fills the street
DAVE READ
Presence 57, 2017
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high noon the black dahlia leans toward the scissors
REKA NYITRAI
Under The Basho July, 2018
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frisbee…
the puppy returns
with a human femur
MARINA BELLINI
Otoroshi 1, Spring 2021
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Colours Haibun
I was an orphan growing up in several foster homes. They labeled me as 'troubled', I guess they're right.
I remember one foster mom, a very nice woman, my troubles began with her plastic flowers...
3 big yellow sunflowers with 5 red roses. She placed them all mixed in a crystal vase. It isn't right! The colours fight. So I put red roses aside. The first time I did that she was laughing but told me not to do that again. After a few times she was not amused and gave me a stern warning.
I really didn't want to upset her but at night while everybody's sleeping, I heard those red roses' screaming. I had no choice, I hid those red roses in my drawer, they're safe... and the next day I was sent to another foster home.
ugly duckling
one less curveball
to deal with
ELISA THERIANA
Under the Basho 2018
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midnight blue
a grandma-shaped crater
on the moon
HEMAPRIYA CHELLAPPAN
Bloo Outlier Journal Winter 2021
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milky way she cried a different star
GREG LONGENECKER
Heliosparrow Poetry Journal 17 Sept 2020
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dead end street
I walk away
from my mind
GABRIEL BATES
Otata 27, March, 2018
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last embers
falling from the incense...
end of autumn
CHASE GAGNON
Editor's Choice, Cattails, Winter 2013
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Hole in the ozone
my bald spot. . .
sunburned
GARRY GAY
San Francisco Haiku Anthology (1992)
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hospice window
a halo for every
street lamp
ELIZABETH ALFORD
Failed Haiku vol. 4, issue 44 (2019)
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cold night
a beggar and his dog
share shadows
BILLY ANTONIO
First Place, Shiki Kukai [Free Format] (December 2014)
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cherry blossoms
I tell my lover
a pink lie
ROB SCOTT
roadrunner haiku journal VIII:2 (May 2008)
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So far, this is my current Top 30 list of favourite contemporary haiku/senryu,
mostly, ELH. I will add some of my all time favourite
Japanese haiku as well.
.夕月や大肌ぬいでかたつぶり
yûzuki ya ôhada nuide katatsuburi
in evening moonlight
going bare-chested...
snail
Issa
Translated by David G. Lanoue
