Matthew Paul: Poetry & Stuff

I’ve had a grand total of nine haiku and senryu published this year, which is pitifully few compared to my heyday, but nonetheless represents an increase on last year. I write them so seldom that it’s a wonder that any are publishable, so I’m very grateful to Ian Storr and Tanya McDonald, the editors of Presence and Kingfisher respectively, for finding merit in them. The four poems below aren’t necessarily the best of the nine, but represent each of the batches I submitted.


exit interview:
the nice fella from HR
chats about himself

*

the echoing mews
of clear-sky buzzards . . .
greenness of moss

*

on a notepad
in the stonemason’s yard:
names to be carved

*

a tight peloton
easing up Reservoir Road
back-gliding kestrel

*

1 Presence 78
2 Presence 79
3 Kingfisher 10
4 Presence 80