Other Lives

Unopened letters on the floor in the hallway all afternoon. . A cold wind is scattering the cherry blossom – young newlyweds. . Black knickers flat in the dirt in the middle of the road. . Fly running all over a pile of dogshit. . Originally: Fly feasting on a pile of dogshit. . Ladybird on our bedroom ceiling all summer. . Unable to remember the word for squid in Italian. . Cold night – the warmth of my wife’s sleeping body. . rain bare branch two crows . Lonely night – enjoying the sound of my own farts. . Glimpsed from a train, an old woman in a blue dressing gown. . Winter sunlight, long shadows in the graveyard. . Keeping me awake at night – haiku. . Low-tide, gulls gather on the shoreline. . Even on my sickbed I am full of gratitude for the way. . Forgetting about the haiku I can’t remember, two more occur. . Old-looking homeless guy having a smoke on a sunny bench. . A young woman looks down at her breasts while talking on the phone. . The puttanesca sauce burns to the bottom o...

Here is a selection of haiku written over the holiday period, including the ground-breaking 'dogging haiku' that was deemed too risque for publication by the British Haiku Society. Christmas Presents Cold dawn… a car engine starting sends gulls screeching. . fox with the same face as me seconds before we hit it . How lonely outside the furniture shop our old sofa. . late home the moon the evening star . Dawn stillness… a heron practicing yoga by the river . Finishing the address, my father tears a page out of his notebook. . December cremation: my grandmother’s ashes settle on the windscreen. . My daughter plucks a pink rose from the wreath. . My wife walks across our bedroom, unties her nightgown. . Up before everyone – catching the first haiku of the day . Winter dawn… the postman’s red fingers squeezing envelopes. . Christmas Eve: Mrs Claus on all fours in the Asda car park. . Christmas presents: stripy socks; a different outlook. . Boxing Day walk – a strip of light along t...

The Smell of Old Books Wind in the leaves – my daughter turns over in her sleep. * Rainy afternoon; inside a second-hand bookshop the smell of old books. * Siesta-time… my neighbour and his girlfriend at it again. * frost on windscreens walking home alone the night my mother died. * Dead. Starry night – no help there. * Swimming in the rain; a glimpse of a rat slipping off the riverbank. * my grandfather facing the setting sun eyes shut * time for a talk staring at the fireplace no fire * mountain forest morning mist drenches the tree-trunks * She holds back the duvet – the world is born again. * plums in a bowl – changing colour as the sun moves around the house * after arguing kept awake by her stillness * Snow on the window-sill; her toes sticking out from under the duvet. * A dog farts: they all suffer in the lift. * Broad river: boats travelling tied together. * At the optician’s: through each lens the world looks different. * throwing pebbles into the sea still unhappy * Snow by ...

Blue Doors Boring meeting… I doodle a spiral inwards and inwards. * The smell of toast reaches me upstairs: winter morning. * Whoa! What’s the hurry, speeding hearse? * Indian summer… listening to football scores in the back garden. * Midnight, 25 degrees – showering under the stars. * Friends round for dinner… the dog breaks wind silently under the table. * locking the door a quick look the stars out * Pissing in the dark – birds singing through an open window. * heron by the lake stillness looking at stillness * old pond blue plastic drum no frogs * Moth on a pink shirt: the whole department store to itself. * warm night my feet search for a cold spot * on the shore a pregnancy test – positive * The path to nirvana lost again – chocolate ice cream! * Two brown horses – red horses, my daughter observes. * Insomnia… long silence, then, a cough. * snowy morning two horses nose to nose in a white field * A beach ball floats across an empty swimming pool – end of summer. * grey afternoon ...

The Tomatoes of Worthing Even the peaches in Sainsbury’s have ripened – summer’s almost gone. * Autumn morning chill – the walk to the train station leaves me feeling sad. * Frost in the country; the first football coach is sacked – must be haiku time! * Do not forget the abandoned spider’s web on the kitchen window. * These small fruits exploding with sweetness – Worthing tomatoes! * Garrulous on Guinness, I seek out an old friend – poor moon! * Thwack! Howzat! Applause. * Sudden downpour – scent of pavement and tomato plants. * A swan honking overhead disturbs my morning rest. * A car door thuds shut, someone hammers, a child laughs – everyday jazz! * Deadheading roses is like pruning a poem of redundant lines. * Evening sunlight on the back of my neighbour’s house – open-air cinema! * Moonlit banana trees fringe a sandy bay – some window display! * The skin on your knees – notice its resemblance to the grain of the trees. ©2011 Dan Wyke