CONTENTS
The cover was designed by Sahana Shrikaanth
Page
Contents..............................................................................................
Editorial...............................................................................................
Autumn..................................................................................................
Museum of Haiku Literature Award.....................................................
Tanka – 1…………….............................................................................
Haibun – 1………….…………………………..............................................
Haiku & Senryu- 1…………………………………….....................................
Tanka - 2……………...............................................................................
Saplings…………....................................................................................
World on a Plate……...............................................................................
For the Next Issue……............................................................................
Haibun – 2……………………………………………………………………...........
Tanka – 3………………...........................................................................
Haiku & Senryu – 2…………………………………………………………….......
Sequences……………………....................................................................
Haiku & Senryu – 3................................................................................
Moments or Mysteries by David Cobb……………………………………………
Renku….................................................................................................
Haiku & Senryu – 4………………………………………………………………….
Reviews………………………………………………………………………………….
Feedback………………………………………………………………………………..

The closing date for the February Blithe Spirit is 1January 2018
The season for Blithe Spirit 28.1, Feb 2018 is Winter.

234101113172426272829333541445051535970Autumn
bruised apples—a tethered horse
bites the bit
Martha Magenta

fallen branch
I stumble
into autumn
Andy McLellan

all hallow’s eve
the sudden rustle
of candy wrapper
Rachel Sutcliffe

wrenching seeds
from a sugar pumpkin
mom's fibromyalgia
Jan Benson

deep autumn taking a vow of lightness
Beverly Acuff Momoi

autumn leaf
how else to describe
one fallen
Jonathan Woods

Museum of Haiku Literature Award
Selections by Kohjin SakamotoSuppose I am a traveler who is straying in the wood where each of thetrees is a highly attractive one. Totally worn out from straying forseveral nights, this traveler has found the one whom he has fallen into
company with in his journey.
The runners up first:
mercury rising –the bees sink intoa dandelionnightfall
crows settle
into silence

Joanne Miller
mountain village
the endless solitudeof a lark’s song

Rachel Sutcliffe
crossings in the mind
the train’s
distant whistles

Iliyana Stoyanova

Robert Smithsmuggler’s coracle
I poach a smilefrom your lips

fading clouds—
a farewellfrozen in your mouth

Tim GardinerMaria Laura Valentechange of weather
shaping clouds
into thoughts
Mary Hind

And the winner ischildren’s voices
over the water
once my own
Tecla Schotanus

This fine piece seems to imply three elements of life: present, past, andeternity expressed in a picture composed within the limited frame ofhaiku. The first line of this haiku is the distant view, past, that ischildhood where we can never come back. The third line is theforeground, present, where the elderly become introspective, hearing
children’s voices and recollecting Wordsworth and/or Rilke etc. The
second line, between past and present, presents water. The water
seems stable but actually ever changing, fluid like time that is eternity.
Readers would be moved to find that present, past and eternity arecomposed not philosophically but poetically only in one breath.
With all the respect to every haiku poets of Blithe Spirit, and gratitude
to David J Kelly, former judge

Tankalook of waterreeling in a hookemptiness
all the times
I took the bait
Marilyn Flemingin the glum skyof bundled rainbacking up
endless memories
onto the cloud
Gunita Zaube

snowflakes
on the window screen
not melted, not frozen
the heart you won
and left behind
Linda Jeannette Ward

that look
so innocent and wildin the cat's eyes too
there islove and hunger
Alison Williams

half moonas bright as it can be
and rose scented pillows
to shape my dreams –if only you were as kind
Doreen King(encased)in an owl's pellet
what remainsof the smallest lives
that get left behind
Debbie Strange

Saplings(Work by poets aged under 18 years)
wingbeatsa piece of paper
fluttering on the breeze
Daisy Madelin (9)starlings
across borders
feathers tumble
Pruthvi Shrikaanth, 11

a cold dayeven the drizzle
without a peep
Amshuman Shrikaanth, 7

radiant colours
rainbow belts, blue icing—rainbow cakes
Abigail Dennis, 11

summer afternoon
my brother and I chaselost memories
Nivedan Vishwanath, 16smooth fairway
father and son swing clubs—
son always wins
Ethan Dennis, 10___________

World on a Plate
58 ans fifty-eight years old –l'âge de raison
the age of reason
c'est toujours l'an prochain
always next year(French)
Alain Henryat your leaving
the pomegranate is ripe . . .
but what about us
Lucia Fontana

al tuo partire
matura il melograno
ma di noi cosa
(Italian)Haibunthe hunt
the bobcat could have done without us spotting it would have preferred
the rabbit that hightailed from the brush in that moment ourdistracting gasps said as much with its great grey eyes as it stalked
across our path tail twitching
our hunger
for a wild glimpse satedstill it growls
the empty bellyof the beast
Autumn N. Hall___________Bashō-an
He didn’t want to see them. Donshu and I, under Shikō, not he, changehis shit-stained clothes and dress his body like a bare tree in thicker
blankets. He is not our master. Flies tap on the paper screens.
The disciples, Shikō my master, Izen, Jōsō, Kyōrai, Masahide,Bakusetsu the medicine-maker, Otokuni, keep vigil, write verses, stirthe porridge. Shikō is called, and when he returns with dots of ink on
his fingers, I see his writing is smudged. The branches outside gleam
with morning.
Their master wakes at noon to see them catching flies with lime sticks.
The flies seem delighted, he says. Kyōrai, who has caught none, turns
red. It is a hot day. At four they cover him, and sail away from the city,
leaving me behind.
Indian summer
flies still fighting
to get out
Jack Richardson____________

Haikulambs’ breath a small fog
around the truck
Alan Peatcracking a walnut…
the sound ofa single life
Kohjin Sakamoto
fog entering one way conversation
Brendon Kentcrowning—
the full moon pushes
through fog
Mary Kendall
old photos
young faces
dust to dust
Ruth E. Parkerflash
between plane trees
paparazzi sunMichael Fessler
trolley queuesqueezing intomy thinner self
Marietta McGregor
Santa Fe
where I learned
to wear pink
Kath Abela Wilson

bus stop roadkill follows me home
Helen Buckingham
on the movelife fitting into
cardboard boxes
Gary Hotham
rustling the dark
within reachsome small thing’s heart
Clare McCotter
leaf drifts…
a pregnancy testin the bus shelterPaul Chambers
wind-chimes
whispering
sweet somethings
Leo Lavery
sea fog
the ship’s horn
launches seagulls
Ron Woollard
beach sunset
a woman kisses the lighton her baby's face
Lynne Reeslukewarm rain
our wall height marks
before you left
Paul Hickey

butterflies the first time
I felt you move
Naomi Madelinstrong breeze
a blackbird flurries
over windfalls
Patricia Primepigeons rising togethera child
returns to its motherJohn Gonzalez

on the move again
the dead spider
in the ant column
Phillip Murrell
bend in the track
the scent of a woman
I will never know
Lynne Rees

beneath her ribs
the pain we can't quite
love away
Joanne E. Miller
feathered imprint of pain the window
bears mine too
Chris Luck
lost in translationwhat the cat knowsof sunlight
Wyntirson

Beneath the Pine of the Law (a Haiku Sequence)fog- shrouded temple

pond-carp ghosting beneath the reeds

down a line ofsacred calligraphy
dangling spider

thread-ivy stem
over a shoulder
down the belly
laughing Buddha
temple tree branchingacross the sky
a zigzagof winter lightning
Keith J. Coleman___________

Reviews
Title: On the Edge
Author: Tim GardinerFormat: paperback, 19.5x13cm, 62pp
Publisher: Brambleby Books, May 2017
ISBN: 978-1908241-535
Price: £6.99/ Ordering: www.bramblebybooks.co.uk
Tim has brought out his second poetry collection. This is his first haiku
collection which he calls “short poems”, perhaps tactfully to attract awider audience. This slim but strong volume is inspired by the PeakDistrict. Divided into four sections based on geography, many poems
come with notes on landmarks and geography of this national park.
The book opens with a brief but useful introduction to haiku.
The poems are mostly three-liners and one-liners, in equal numbers,
with a couple of concrete haiku/poems, and one with 4 lines. Some ofthe haiku that work really well for me
lighting strikein a faraway field
we wait five seconds
boys climb
the risk assessment
suspended
What a fine capture of the innocence of childhood and the recklessnessof youth!

reaching the edge no escape from this loneliness
Lovers’ Leap
hawthorn bushes
break the fallstarling murmuration love comes and goes
These are strong haiku that show love and despondence. Ominous
perhaps, but stronger from it. There are others that may well havearisen from these feelings, but rise above and beyond it to take thereader further.
June breeze
a dark sky spits out
the same old lies
A different take on the clouds in the sky, open enough to allow us tosee more than one thing. And I found Issa’s snail lurking within thesepages
Rushup Edge
the black beetle
ascends slowly
There are some poems here which are either too bland as haiku or
simply do not work as haiku.
redundant viaduct
the river beneathworking hard
blossom explosion
futile confettibear no fruit
Perhaps these work as short poems and justify the collection’s remit.
Quite a few of the poem have been published in edited journals. These
are indicated by superscript numbers at the end of the poems. I foundthis as distraction. Others may not. Full of black and white picturesfrom the Peak District, some of the poems are paired with these. Whilesome work as shahai (photo haiga), others are descriptive
poems/haiku. The cover features a colour photograph of the Eagle
Stone near the village of Baslow.
Overall a very good collection with a creative sadness, strong sense ofplace, and lots of love for and information about the Peak District.
wakingthe robin’s spirit
within me