Haiku is a form of Japanese poetry comprised of three phrases.
Traditional haiku uses 17 syllables (5:7:5) but contemporary haiku in English often ignores this rule. A haiku is typically about nature, the earth and the natural world and are designed to be thought-provoking. These original haiku poems are by Anthony Rutledge and are mostly written in the contemporary free style format.
There are over 2,000 Haiku on this site in ten different themes: Australian, Beach, Garden Sundial, In the Mirror,Kimono,Motherhood,Ships and Oceans,Spring,Windjammers and Miscellaneous.
Fluttering - -
how gently the monarch
leaves the rose.
Waterlilies
the wind finds a way
to raise their skirts.
Kitchen table
the moon falling off
to brown lino.
How ancient
are the forests shaped
to give me breath.
Early bird
becoming day
the worm pulls back.
Sunshine
bedazzled the wildflowers
and brought the bees' buzz in.
Clouds rush
a moon leaps from
the frog pond.
Transitory rainbow
a sliver of sun
pours on the hills.
Clouds rush
a sudden moon
betrays our tryst.
Rain forest
between the Pines
highways of silk.
in the closed fog
new- born lambs calling,
calling from the whiteness.
garden shadows
tossing the sparrow hops
hand to hand.
streaks of dawn
catching the lilac bush
then colouring it.
garden table
the book of history
leafed by a wind.
mushroom search
the fog thickening
tree after tree.
frangipani
a honey tongue suckling
on butterfly wings.
first of spring
sharpening the shadows
in the sunlight.
grandma's lunch
children around old lace
in the light of the sun.
the cat's whiskers
the purrs of a dance
in the school girl's arms.
laundry door
children leaving years
scratched in the paint.
the fog lifts
watching a drop's measure
until it must fall.
a glide-by swan
circles of the sun
approach our canoe.
edge of sight
the thermals reshaping
an eagle's wings.
faint breezes
to the apple blossom scents
buzz of the bees.
Sunday evening
after the garage sale
missing the book on Zen.
Pub closed
the old windjammer sailor
finds his legs unsteady.
Windjammer storm
entangled
all hands in the sails.
Full white sails
the moon will not let
the windjammer free.
Up the windjammer wharf
one leathered salty sailor
then another.
Arms folded
to the crescent moon
the windjammer captain.
Tied to the wharf
history rocks
the windjammer.
Open seas
the windjammer hurls
her spinnaker out.
Captain's daughter
the windjammer in white
for her wedding.
An albatross lands
at once the windjammer
fills her sails.
Windjammer open
after a bit of pushing
school children line the wharf.
Windjammer
all the stars out
all the sails out.
Dawn watch asleep
fogs move aboard
the windjammer.
Windjammer storm
the stone in my pocket
a dry comfort.
Before the windjammer
a path laid
by the moon's rise.
Windjammer
with mutiny below
the rise of cries and scuffles.
Windjammer helm
enough rain in the breeze
to bring the smells of canvas.
Windjammer anchor
I find its start to rust
in the rose's bed.
Gentle breeze
grazing on the sea
a moonlit windjammer.
Windjammer
leaning back to guess
the height of her crow's-nest.
Windjammer sails
I pull up frozen
to the rope ladder.
Windjammer snow
the cabin boy stands with his captain
turning white.
Harbour fog
ghosts of a windjammer
following the lamp.
Her sails stowed ...
silence
aboard the windjammer.
Misty rain ...
quietly out of the dusk
the windjammer beside us.
A swoop of gulls ...
the windjammer's sails
lifting all of us.
Limp, rain, soaked
windjammer, moored
to the old wood wharf.
Windjammer
tending your tall sails
sailors drown.
Migrating geese ...
the windjammer ruffled
with sails.
Horizon
the windjammer's slide
to the other side.
The fog rolling in
with the fleet
fisherman's harbour.
Old windjammer
I find the smells of spices
she holds.
Pregnant with sails
the windjammer rolls in
on the harbour's swell.
Dawn wakes ...
the windjammer sails
flapping her creases out.
Winter light
the windjammer stripped bare
tied to her wharf.
Strolling onto work
past all the pleasure yachts
to our old windjammer.
Windjammer
flapping sails, she turns
to the light out of dawn.
Windjammer sails
her dripping fog
from hand to mouth.
Brushing the horizon
the full bleached sails
of the windjammer.
Windjammer deck
before the pelican
scatters the gulls.
Windjammer in the sun
sailing only
on the mantelpiece.
Windjammer
brushing the stars
to the moon.
Windjammer deck
the cat curls tighter
in the winter sun.
Windjammer
spinnaker
straining to pull her.
Spinnaker
filling sun
with wind.
Grey harbour
a windjammer rolls in
on the storm.
Windjammer passing
a sudden whisper
from its breeze.
Windjammer
how the dawn breeze
fills her orange sails.
Windjammer
wearing her sails out
in the moonlight.
The city swelters
across the windjammer deck
a sea breeze that cools.
Windjammer fog
back to my childhood
seeing a ghost.
At dawn
windjammer following
the wild geese home.
Windjammer
half weighed down
from winter light.
Left to shudder
with the thunder
windjammer sails.
Old windjammer
connecting the tourist spots
around the harbour.
A breathless dawn
the windjammer wheel
no one stands to.
Windjammer passing--
a whale calf looks back
to its mother.
Light-house beam
returns to the windjammer
caressing her.
Windjammer sails
pregnant
with the storm.
Full of sails
the windjammer home
near day's end.
Suddenly filled
the windjammer sails
suddenly limp.
Windjammer sails
flecks of salt
flicked to the sun.
Windjammer
from a refit
all her stories to retell.
Under glass
the windjammer's log book
inked with history.
A windjammer tour
kids below deck
in their 'Arrhh' pirate talk.
I stop our motor
to let it past ...
the windjammer sails.
Sunlit windjammer...
her captain
if I loved all the wild seas.
Of summers past
the windjammer barnacles
tied to the wharf.
The windjammer turns
her summer breeze spilling
from sail to sail.
An albatross glides
across the sky blue sea
a windjammer.
In winter waves
a sudden storm bemoans
the windjammer.
Windjammer
the sounds of an island
alone with the sea.
Windjammer limp
only an albatross
circles and circles.
Windjammer sails
the sounds of a shanty
sung by the crew.
edge of sight the thermals reshaping an eagle‘s wings
Captain‘s daughter the windjammer in white for her wedding.
Before the windjammer a path laid by the moon‘s rise.
Windjammer anchor I find its start to rust in the rose‘s bed.
Windjammer leaning back to guess the height of her crow‘s-nest.
A swoop of gulls ... the windjammer‘s sails lifting all of us.
Horizon the windjammer‘s slide to the other side.
The fog rolling in with the fleet fisherman‘s harbour.
Pregnant with sails the windjammer rolls in on the harbour‘s swell.
Strolling onto work past all the pleasure yachts to our old windjammer.
Windjammer bones yet the sea‘s first cooled rock still its deepest treasure
Full of sails the windjammer home near day‘s end
Under glass the windjammer‘s log book inked with history.
A windjammer tour kids below deck in their ―Arrhh‘ pirate talk.
After the storm hoisting the windjammer sails far out to sea
windjammer sails
red ballons
in the sunset harbour
creaking as she moves
the windjammer
stretches into the first light
windjammer
away on her own
a tryst with the sea
Windjammer bones
yet the sea's first cooled rock
still its deepest treasure.
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