Winter Haibun

The savage wolves of winter

tear at browned summer skin

rich pickings mean survival.

pine cones close tightly

in suffocating silence

ice needles glisten

Dark bears of December

pace and wait cagily

to feed on an easier corpse.

chill winds play their tune

a sombre fugue, low and raw

collides with mountains

January jackals quarrel

and spread bleached bones

in ambivalent disarray

slim shadows lengthen

death and decay hold the stage

the sated wolves howl

© Graham Sherwood 11/2017

Nonsense Haiku

it is what it is

let me explain this further

we are where we are

© Graham Sherwood 11/2017

HAIKU on haiku

a story told in
just seventeen syllables
not one word wasted

© Graham Sherwood 11/2017

Ghostwriting

A new day, bright, promising
I’m not yet out of the bedclothes
but our battle has begun.

 conflagration

You spin my legs awkwardly
and push my head into my hands

elbows on knees, submissive.

domination

I dare to look toward the ceiling
pleading, begging, asking the question

that prefaces each day.

supplication

Today we’re not in love
it will be atrocious, unclean, brutal

as you recoil, unforgiving, blank.

confrontation

I have told you many times,
it doesn’t have to be this way,

just help me, feed me, stroke me.

felicitation

I want to tell your story,
show the world your beauty, so

at least meet me half-way.

mediation

It’s useless, I’m already damaged

my wounds are too great,

your canon too overwhelming.

capitulation

© Graham Sherwood 11/2017