Sultry Summer

Leaf 229 – Reflections

 

Namiki Hajime - Tree Scene 96 (1999)

The large hedge in the lane behind our home here in Tokyo – which is essentially a leafy mansion block for sparrows – is often abuzz with chirping conversation (see Leaf 8). The following haiku was penned at the height of a very sultry summer:

 

 

Sparrows –

chattering about

this incessant heat.

 

 

 

 

Cri de Coeur

Leaf 228 – Reflections

 

Kilmar Tor (Geograph)

Another poem, reflecting upon sights commonly seen and closely felt in the far southwest of Cornwall.

 

 

CRI DE COEUR

 

A buzzard’s cry –

circling far across fields,

piercing a granite tor.

 

 

 

 

This poem was originally written and posted on Bluesky in response to a #haikufeels writing prompt: 'cry.'

Summer Solstice

Leaf 227 – Reflections

 

Max Alexander STFC SPL - Sunrise Solstice at Stonehenge (2008)

A haiku which I wrote to mark the Summer Solstice on 21 June 2025:

 

 

Broken stones –

centuries meld into

a single sunlit morn. 

Jon Britton - Stonehenge (1801)

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Plus – two, slightly less-reverential, senryu:

 

SOLSTICE

 

Summer not yet begun,

already the nights

are drawing in.

 

***

 

Falling a foot shy,

street bollards almost

aligned on the solstice.

 

 

 

 

Lukáš Lehotský - B&W Bollards

The first and last of these three poems were originally written and posted on Bluesky in response to different writing prompts, see: #vssdaily & #whistpr.

Cormorant

Leaf 226 – Senryu (or witty, tom-foolery)

 

Tim Chamberlain - Cormorant on Shinobazu Pond (2004)

I’ve always thought that ‘Bela Lugosi’ might be a good nickname for these birds …

 

 

Dracula silhouette –

a cormorant airing

water-soaked wings.

 

 

 

Bela Lugosi as Dracula (1931)

This poem was originally written and posted on Bluesky in response to a #dailyhaikuprompt: 'soaked.'

Murmuration

Leaf 225 – Looking Back

 

C.F. Tunnicliffe - Starlings and Magpies (What to Look for in Winter, 1959)

This poem captures a late, autumnal memory of home. Sometimes it feels so far away, but birds – such as starlings – make similar journeys too, and always with the promise of a return at some point in the cycles of life and all its ever-changing seasons.

 

 

Shoals of starlings swim

– last lights

of a lost day.

 

The ISS

Leaf 224 – Reflections

The International Space Station, or "ISS" (2010) NASA/Crew of STS-132

 

This is a poem about the International Space Station, or “the ISS” as it is often called (note the acronym is hidden in the poem’s second line). It’s always fascinating to track the space station and to see it zipping by overhead, orbiting through the night sky. It moves remarkably fast. I used to have a radio scanner which was capable of tuning into its broadcasts. Often all you would hear were the ‘packet signals’ of digital data which it sends and receives from various ground stations, which sound a lot like old dial-up internet modems used to; but every now and then – especially when the ISS was communicating with schools via ham radio – you might hear the voices of the astronauts on board, which was quite a thrill.

 

I always find it astounding to see and think about this tiny, technological island of humanity which has been up there, continuously inhabited since 2nd November 2000, circling the Earth once every 93 minutes. It’s inspiring as well to think about such a remote scientific research outpost sailing along the outer edge of our planet’s atmosphere, and the global-international cooperative effort which keeps it afloat.

 

 

Passing overhead

in swift silence – a tiny life raft

crossing the river of heaven.

 

 

 

 

This poem was originally written and posted on Bluesky in response to a #haikufeels writing prompt: 'raft.'

Our Boomerang

Leaf 223 – Looking Back

 

S.R. Badmin - Sallow and Blackthorn (Ladybird Book of Trees, 1963)

This is a memory of summers spent in the countryside when I was a kid.

 

 

A week later,

finding our boomerang

– lost in the tall grass.

 

  

 

This poem was originally written and posted on Bluesky in response to a #dailyhaikuprompt: 'tall grass.'