The Australian Haiku Society Winter Solstice Haiku String 2024 has now closed for entries. Thanks to all the poets for their contributions. Please enjoy the haiku!
The Australian Haiku Society welcomes contributions from haiku poets worldwide to the Winter Solstice Haiku String 2024.
We will be holding this Haiku String on the day of the Southern Hemisphere Winter Solstice, which occurs in Australia this year on Friday, June 21st, 2024. The string will remain open for contributions until Saturday, June 29th, 2024, to accommodate international poets who may wish to participate.
Haiku String – Instructions
The AHS invites you to share three of your original, previously unpublished haiku or senryu on the theme of ‘winter warmth’. Typical associations with winter are cold, darkness, frost, rain, bitter winds, storms, etc. Snow is a relatively rare occurrence for Australian poets. In many parts of our country, days during the winter months can be mild, and in the tropical north, the dry season is often a lot more comfortable than the wet season.
We invite you to explore a multiplicity of ideas in the String. The haiku will be linked by subject and theme. We also welcome response haiku written in reply to others already published in the string.
1. Please contribute up to three of your best previously unpublished haiku or senryu.
2. Haiku should be posted in the comment box at the end of the post.
3. Each poem posted must be original work by the poet making the post. Please include your name below as you wish it to appear.
Posting your work in the AHS Autumn Equinox String 2023 assumes the following:
Copyright of each haiku/senryu remains with the author. We request nonexclusive permission to publish your work on the AHS website and republish it online at any time.
Theme: Winter Warmth
skinks and I
warming our backs
shortest day
Leanne Mumford
(first published Modern Haiku 51.3 2020)
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Australian Haiku Society 
the winter evening
we dance barefoot on
a sheep’s wool rug
the first date
how to keep a few snowflakes
in your hair?
the winter walk
and he’s in a thin T-shirt
next to her
LikeLiked by 2 people
winter solstice
first wine tasting
of last year’s vintage
heart-warming
the spicy aroma
of mulled wine
LikeLiked by 3 people
covered in snow
a big package
and the postman
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three dog night
we take in
the stray pup
the shortest day
sunset glow
lingers
low sun
along a brick wall shadows
follow me
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over cups of chai
cherished bites of a charpoy—
days getting shorter
forgotten attar
fills hand-me-down wraparound
winter solstice fête
without their old haunts
meander into moonlight . . .
wild monkeys in heat
Monica Kakkar (she/her/hers)
LikeLiked by 2 people
longest night
languid cat
under my blanket
too tired
to croak any more
longest night
hibernal solstice
frozen southern cross
stopped twinkling
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Three fledgling birds
Linger in their mother’s lap –
Snow caresses them
Wine’s frosty burn
Scorched the depths of my belly –
We sit by the hearth
Jackal’s concern
On a Mediterranean night –
Stars light up the sky
LikeLiked by 1 person