black mood

slipping into

an old shoe

south-facing bay window

I memorise the light

learning to leave

toward midnight

a moment of reckoning

lilac scent intensifies

river’s down

white gulls stitch

the water to the shore

beyond my containing

through pine the cow parsley

white lace

punching the sky

pollard fists

clutch at straws

a walk through rain shadows

under my umbrella

sudden silences

summer night

too close

to breathe

May morning greenfly

in my pink lipstick, you chose

a beautiful death

blue sky grey sky

blue again grey again blue —

the promised winds

barring my entry

the gatepost spider

its gossamer strength

from hole to hole

sand-coloured crab

dares the sky

sharp greens of spring

just right with

April’s grey

among the firs

a birch tree

sunrise tinted

last rags of autumn

yellow flutters on

a black bough

four o’clock

cows stand on their shadows

far below

awaiting the light

closed red lips

of tulips

white cloud cover

each and every lamppost

gains a gull

old bridge

its railing held together

with spiderwebs

in the garden I see

right through her head — sunlit green

of the cat’s eyes

    swords appear

green slash of spring so sharp

it hurts my heart

so still, so still

despite the helter skelter

pelt of flakes

Haiku  by Susan Lee Kerr, some first published in Blithe Spirit, the journal of the British Haiku Society. swords – June 2010; in the garden – May 2015; old bridge – Dec 2011; white cloud cover – Aug 2013; awaiting the light – June 2010; four o’clock – Aug 2016; last rags – Nov 2015; among the fir c2017; sharp greens – Presence #27 2005; from hole – BS Sept 2011; barring – Time Haiku Aug 2017; blue sky – Time Haiku Aug 2017; May morning – The Haiku Quarterly #18 1996; summer night – BS Aug 2015; a walk through – Time Haiku Oct 2016; punching the sky – BS Feb 2016; beyond my – Time Haiku Feb 2019; river’s down – BS June 2014; toward midnight – Time Haiku Feb 2021; south-facing – Time Haiku Feb 2022 voted Time Haiku Award issue 55; black mood – BS May 2022