Tanka
2009
"tired, so tired,
so awfully tired..."
– if I had words
like down, I'd weave
you a nest among the reeds
nothing hints
at my stories,
their heroes –
against all reason
I study the X-ray
pain has come
to perch on my shoulder:
its beak
a threat to the eye,
its claws devastating
Gusts No. 10
Winter 2009
what to do
with a day as dark?
I season
dough with cardamom
and start kneading
sometimes, secretly,
I picture it at our table
the unborn child
looks around intently
and dangles with its legs
2007-2008
not used to
these soft pastels
yet slowly
laying shade over shade
I bring out life in your face
Taubenschlag
June 2007
the way
a dog would ignore
his fleas
I settle for another day
without writing tanka
neither one of us
has got a song then?
the blackbird,
asked like this,
watches me in silence
Gusts No. 10
Winter 2009
fifteen odd years
of living as a wife –
there's a dent
in the chopping board
where I hash my herbs
"Love"
I close the letter,
and "Love"
once again, just to be
with you a little longer
Gusts No. 10
Winter 2009
the end
of my writer's block
as always
marked by children
that keep annoying me
today
the wind with this flavor
of the sea
of the dunes
of 'he thinks of me'
World Haiku Review WHC-German
Winter 2009
kicking at
whatever clutters
my life
these legs, rebellious
even when asleep
2006
no matter
how fast I run:
the moment
father falls, he falls
too far from here
Simply Haiku
Volume 4 Number 4, 2006
in today's rain
they clearly show,
colours and veins
of the pebbled path
to the intensive care
Haiku heute
September 2006
from abroad
a parcel maybe
with a fan
the coolness I'd feel
unwrapping
Haiku heute
September 2006
beautiful
the teacher' arms,
full of verve
she draws the flag
straight on the board
Simply Haiku
Volume 4 Number 4, 2006
silently trickling
into our conversation:
fresh blood
from the cancer
in Daddy's face
Simply Haiku
Volume 4 Number 4, 2006
Just like her dad
how I loved to hear that –
just like him
I don't show them
openly, my wounds
Haiku heute
September 2006
at night
they rise in the seas
creatures from the deep
sliding sluggishly
I slip into a dream
Haiku heute
September 2006
the wind
seems to have changed
its tune –
in my native place
they must be cutting reeds
Simply Haiku
Volume 4 Number 4, 2006
2004-2005
now that the trees
keep their saps inside
and the light
seems to live in their tops
winds blow white around the house
Vuursteen
Volume 24 Issue 3, 2004
a single twine
of honeysuckle has reached
the eaves
treating me as it were
to one flower's perfume
Simply Haiku
Volume 4 Number 4, 2006
nights without
the scent of honeysuckle
make me wonder:
when did I stop longing
and start looking ahead?
Hermitage
Volume III, 2006
waiting for a word
I turn towards the sky –
how is it
that a drizzle makes me feel
being kissed and held?
Hermitage
Volume III, 2006
there must be
some parasite
in my spine
– such are my thoughts
facing the ceiling in pain
Simply Haiku
Volume 4 Number 4, 2006
whenever I look
into my daughter's room,
there's a tiger
leaping out of a poster
to watch over all her dreams
World Haiku Review
Volume 5 Issue 1, 2005
Recalling
they are water too
my limbs
have learned to float
like sluggish seaweed
sorting out
old scraps of paper
my thoughts
begin to resemble
a bunch of squirrels
Simply Haiku
Volume 4 Number 4, 2006
waiting in vain
I unfold & and fold my napkin
producing
a very red flower
a very crushed fox
Simply Haiku
Volume 4 Number 4, 2006
a young birchtree
has yielded to its burden;
bent down
its branches reach well beneath
the crusted over snow
words like cotton,
they stick to the palate
so at a loss
I finally spit them out:
dead birds well meant
Simply Haiku
Volume 4 Number 4, 2006
in a red berry
I picked along the road
enough sunlight
to get drunk on, now that
the days are shortening
Vuursteen
Volume 24 Issue 3, 2004
peeled an apple
and cut it in halves,
pickes some berries
and slowly ate them:
rid myself of pain
Simply Haiku
Volume 4 Number 4, 2006
a black kitten
that prowls about the rooms
and vanishes –
darkness surrounds us like that
meaning no harm tonight
Simply Haiku
Volume 4 Number 4, 2006
after the fever
I decide to behave like
a mother again,
breaking into a sweat
at the very thought
World Haiku Review
Volume 5 Issue 1, 2005
to have a look
did it appear today
the dead hare
that I saw as a child
in the twilight of my room
World Haiku Review
Volume 5 Issue 1, 2005
to a fox
waving his tail
way back
in the nordic woods
I am next of kin
unable
even to raise my head
I contemplate
every sound until
it's crystal
Simply Haiku
Volume 4 Number 4, 2006
to no end I keep
weaving and unraveling
this fabric of love,
adding wefts of deeper hue
for one who turns away
Hermitage
Volume III, 2006
From a clouded sky
cries of passing cranes are heard;
in this piercing cold
there is no place to be found
where they might rest for the night.
6th Hoshi-to-Mori
International Tanka Contest 2004
Supplementary Award
2003
something in the way
the sales-clerk wraps those poems
in plain brown paper
makes me think of Havel
and long to learn them by heart
day after day
I start by saying hello
to this numb arm
that pretends to be mine
until I am satisfied
migrating geese
their wings dividing the night
into brief dreams
where wind tugs at my body
as I keep calling your name
World Haiku Review
Volume 5 Issue 1, 2005
watching my hands
however limp and useless
they are
it's the ancient songs
they draw from
World Haiku Review
Volume 5 Issue 1, 2005
once more
the snowdrops blossom
as usual
in winter's last gusts
mother can be relied on
a sudden urge
to leave my songs
to the wind,
this morning's crisp air
and the wavering weeds
this very year
it is the children
who make me aware
of the voices of swans
the rustle of their wings
World Haiku Review
Volume 5 Issue 1, 2005
new bandages
instead of flesh-colored
I choose TITAN
signaling „beware of
the Bionic Woman”
Simply Haiku
Volume 4 Number 4, 2006
2001-2002
in my garden
I become a child again
lying in the grass
amidst voices of the past
and lilies of the valley
little butterflies
flying about lightly
whitout a goal –
why do I startle
when touched by their wings?
Vuursteen
Jahrgang 24 Heft 3, 2004
just like that
you glance at my neckline –
in for the game
I shamelessly present myself
in a most becoming light
World Haiku Review
Volume 5 Issue 1, 2005
a carp's back –
quietly the fish returns
to its cool world
and so do I turn about
wrapped in deeper silence
when it gets dark
deep deep inside my heart
I close my eyes
then the child within
plays the elder flute
Simply Haiku
Volume 4 Number 4, 2006
Last update 31.01.2010