Originally published online as part of the 2015 Post it Note Poetry festival, it was later published in the Stars Like Sand Poetry Anthology and in my first poetry collection Magpie Tales.

limestone ruins

seasoning the hillside

pepper trees

 Composition notes:

I have been revisiting some Haiku writing techniques both to reinvigorate my Haiku writing but also to help focus on singular elements/imagery for larger poems.  In today’s poem I particularly like the way in which the poem can be read forward or in reverse.  I leave it open to the reader as to what is peppering the hillside.

Thanks for reading.

First published in 50 Haikus Issue 5, Volume 1 – (circa July 2014)

midday heat
the water song
of magpies

Composition notes: 

The impetus for this poem comes from the flocks of magpies that come and sit under our veranda in the summer heat and drink the water we leave for them. They have a beautiful bird call which I decided was their water song.

Thanks to Ashley Capes for comments and suggestions.