f/k/a archives . . . real opinions & real haiku

– Enjoy the end of one year and the start of a new year with haiku and senryu from Kobayashi Issa (translated by David G. Lanoue) and from some of f/k/a‘s favorite Honored Guest Poets:

paying no mind
to the year’s last day…
a floating bird, asleep

backstreet–
on the year’s last day
a lover cat

sunset’s bell
finishes it off…
year’s last day

…………………………………….. Issa, translated by David G. Lanoue

new year’s eve
the lifers on the engine line
pass a bottle

…………………… ed markowski

a red flush

on the amarylis bud

New Year’s Eve

……… Pamela Miller Ness – The Heron’s Nest

New Year’s eve
a balloon
tied to an empty chair

…………………………. Yu Chang– Upstate Dim Sum (2003/II)

New Year’s Eve –

the lentil soup

again

………………………………. Tom Clausen

from Homework (Snapshot Press 2000)

year’s end
the bartender
blocks my reflection

…………………… Tom Painting – The Heron’s Nest

New Year’s Eve
sleet storm –
we take baby steps

last day of the year
ice floes rush
toward the waterfall

Issa and I
home alone again–
New Year’s eve

…………………………………………………. dagosan / David Giacalone

around noon
New Year’s Day begins…
little hut

clamoring for New Year’s
gifts, children
and grandchildren

making the rounds
as a New Year’s gift…
paper fan

a present, a present
a New Year’s present!
her pink cheeks

New Year’s gift of tea–
where did you go
on your jouney back to me?

oh New Year’s god
this year too
send help!

which lucky direction
for drinking sake?
New Year’s almanac

my shadow too
fit and trim…
“Happy New Year!”

for drinking buddies
the usual New Year’s pilgrimage…
sake shop

hey little snow
it’s New Year’s Day!
New Year’s Day!

my tumble-down house
just as it it…
“Happy New Year!”

the cat steals
a New Year’s nap…
sitting room

a full round
of New Year’s greetings
at the inn

………………… Issa, translated by David G. Lanoue

click here for more than 200 New Year’s poems from Issa –

New Year’s Dawn
light first gathers
in the icicles

……………………………… Jim Kacian – Presents of Mind (1996)

New Year’s Day 
ice flies
from the roof of a car

………………………………… John Stevenson – Quiet Enough (2004)

my New Year’s resolution
buy
toilet paper

……………………………. David G. Lanoue – Haiku Guy, a novel

New Year’s Day–
bleaching work shirts
back to white

……………………………Matt Morden – The Heron’s Nest (2003) .

I rinse the rice
a second time
New Year’s Day

………………………… Peggy Lyles – To Hear the Rain (2002);Snapshot Haiku Calendar (2003)

new year’s rain
the circles in the puddle
widen

new year’s fog
she washes
all the windows

…………………………… Pamela Miller Ness

“fog” – Haiku Troubadours 2000
“rain” – Millennium Haiku Calendar (2000)

new year’s morning
like every other
we punch the clock

new year’s snow
not a single stain
on my patch of earth

……………………………………………………… ed markowski

January 3rd
the Weight Watchers meeting
doubles in size

………………………… Carolyn Hall, – Edge of Light: RMA 2003

the ball starts to fall 
dad’s oxygen machine
loud as ever

……………………………… dagosan