NaHaiWriMo 2026 Week 3 Geological / Terrain

 

15. ABYSS

always

alongside the climb

the drop

*

the edge –

is this dizziness

terror, or lure?

16. CANYON

Kings Canyon –

deep narrow walls 

frame the sky

*

among stones

on the canyon floor

tiny plants

*

exploring ‘canyon’ –

I decide not to go deep

into metaphor

17. CRATER

abyss, canyon 

deep holes in the earth –

and now crater

*

quiet crater –

this ancient caldera

overgrown

*

18. FJORD

fjord photos –

deep blue cold to long for 

in this heat wave

*

19. DUNE

new and strange 

those books at first –

too soon too much

*

little kids 

rolling down the sandhills

over and over

*

back from the edge

a hollow in the dunes –

you and me

20. BASALT

Google explains:

fine-grained igneous rock

dense, dark-coloured

*

I live (in or on)

this ancient caldera –

its basalt floor 

*

I walk around

on the same dark rock

that lines the ocean

21. MARSH

don't play there

said parents: danger –

we sneaked out

NaHaiWriMo 2026 Week 2 Atmosphere / Elements

 

8. ZEPHYR

trembling leaves –

gentle breeze or, yes

a lorikeet!

9. LAVA

I love to see

(on screen) fiery boulders

erupting

*

a spill of red

down the mountain-side

settling to black

10. FOG

the morning fog

rolls back along the ground –

old memories

11.LIGHTNING

his new book –

illuminating

and fiery

*

filling the sky 

sudden burst of light –

shocking

*

watching the storm

breathless on the front step

the cats and I

12. ICICLE

a cold childhood –

that splinter of ice

in my heart

13. EMBERS

that night we sang

the fire burnt down to embers

then you were gone

*

family nights

roasting chestnuts

in the coals 

*

nights with Grandpa

letting the fire burn low —

all his stories

14. DRIZZLE

in thunder

and pelting rain, I pray

for a drizzle

NaHaiWriMo 2026 Week 1 Botanical / Growth

1. BLOSSOM

heat wave –

frogs yell in chorus

blossoms dry

2. EVERGREEN

comforting

sea of evergreen –

Australian bush

*

from the lookout

grey-green vista blends

hills and gullies

3. WILLOW

from a willow branch

enclosed in green curtains

the swing Dad made me

4. PETAL

remembering

my husband – a petal 

drops from the rose

5. ROOT

prompt: root –

my naughty Aussie mind

tries to think ‘plants’

*

that tree –

a weed not pulled up

by the roots

*

here in the tropics 

how I miss

the taste of parsnips

6. THORN

beneath

the fullest bloom

the thorn

*

a sideways push –

the rose thorn snaps off

instantly

*

my father’s roses –

thorns and aphids but

that scent!

*

My wish for you: while you smell the roses, may you navigate the thorns. (American sentence.)

7. SAPLING

thin sapling

clinging precarious

spider-web