Friday, August 13, 2021

Frogpond, 2021



adding ellipses
to the darkest night
winter stars


Frogpond, issue 44:3 Autumn 2021


Longlisted for The Haiku Foundation’s Touchstone Award where there were 27 haiku out of 1,506 poems selected.

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family farm . . .
eyeing the scarecrow
eyeing us


Frogpond, issue 44:2 Spring/Summer 2021




Saturday, August 7, 2021

South Wales Evening Post, 2021

stone moss
the dream that's left
alone

South Wales Evening Post, October 13, 2021







August heat 
in my pocket 
sea pebbles 

South Wales Evening Post, September 18, 2021






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River Thames
talking to the mallards
in my mother tongue

South Wales Evening Post, 7th August, 2021







Monday, August 2, 2021

Paper Mountains: 2020 Seabeck Haiku Getaway Anthology, 2021


mockingbird—
I hold back
my narrative

Paper Mountains: 2020 Seabeck Haiku Getaway Anthology Paperback – July 29, 2021



Tuesday, July 27, 2021

Ribbons, 2021


seeking refuge
under a misty bridge
of nothingness
when the wind exposes
my primordial bones

Ribbons Spring/Summer 2021: Volume 17, Number 2



Modern Haiku, 2021

winter sky—
the remains of roses
in her diary

Modern Haiku, volume 52.2 Summer 2021




Sunday, July 18, 2021

Presence, Britain's leading independent haiku journal, 2021


Bone Dance

onyx floor
all the demons
under my feet

tapping out the steps
of a danse macabre


epiphysis
reshifting
my axis

coiled into
the skull chamber
a blood oath

passing on
the endless vendetta

at the cliff edge
grasping the chalice
on an altar of salt

Hifsa Ashraf and John Hawkhead
Presence, issue #71


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morning mist 
the low flight 
of a white raven 

alpine moon 
brewing more coffee 
for the night


Presence, Issue #71, November 2021





















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fireside story
a raven breaks the silence
at the end

Presence, Issue#70, July 2021

Tuesday, June 29, 2021

the QuillS, June 2021

Time’s Mirage 


white skies

a pebble in my palm

grows cool


fading footprints

through spins of winter fog


time’s spirals

the hands of the clock

become a blur


reflection 

of my random beliefs 

water mirage


cast stone

ripples through the statue


zero gravity 

I disown 

my shadows


John Hawkhead, England 

Hifsa Ashraf, Pakistan 



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The Wandering Moon 


floating

a pale hand opens

in the darkness


evening prayer 

dust settles in the bowl 


twilight birdsong

constellations expand

in the miso


visibility 

of my anonymity

flickering light


candle moments

moving about the eaves


midnight dream

the farside 

of the moon  


John Hawkhead, England 

Hifsa Ashraf, Pakistan 



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Memory Echoes


another day 

moving through the city 

wind song

 

through orange clouds

echoing migratory birds


shifting light

a change in resonance

from tilting stones


back home late

his sweaty palms

on the door handle


creaked floorboard

the grain of a secret


door ajar

I let go

of his memory


John Hawkhead, England 

Hifsa Ashraf, Pakistan



the QuillS, issue 8