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

More

 

sunlight

a little more

each day

as Spring begins

waking slowly

Written for the 'Tanka Poets On Site' facebook group (prompt: More).

Deer

in America

my first time seeing deer –

shy, delicate

they appeared to me

though locals called them pests

Written for facebook group Tanka Poets On Site, 

for 25 Aug. 2025, prompt: Deer.

On a boat ...

 

on a boat

on a river

sunny day —

my friend sends photos

and I imagine

Actually one of my own photos from a different boating occasion.

Wing

gliding wing

swiftly across my sight

followed by 

a fragment of song –

Spring coming early

Written for facebook group Tanka Poets on Site, 

for 21 August 2025, prompt: Wing.

April sun ...

 

April sun –

leaves above the fence

thicken

Himalayas (NaHaiWriMo 2025, Day 28)

 

our small plane

slowly past the peak –

such vast white

*

so many peaks

smaller but not small –

stretching as far …

*

mountaintops

in all directions –

bright sharp white

*

I rode the air

to the Peak of Heaven –

and knew myself small

*

once upon a time

Mother of the World 

I gazed on your face

My response to the final prompt for NaHaiWriMo  2025.

~ Our souvenir from Buddha Air. ~