I’m chuffed that a Haiku I entered in an international Covid-19 Lockdown competition run by Fish Publishing in Ireland made the shortlist (although it didn’t win):

There were 1436 entries for the Haiku, Poetry and Pocket Prose categories and the competition raised the equivalent of around AU$7000 for OXFAM’s Coronavirus Emergency Appeal.

Haiku is a Japanese form of short poetry comprising exactly 17 syllables. It’s normally written in three unrhymed lines of five, seven, and five, but the competition sponsors indicated that on this occasion they would be flexible about the structure.

Technically, in Japanese literature, Haiku tend to be about nature, while a similar short form, Senryū, is more about human foibles.

Morning mist, Tamar River, Tasmania

Here’s another Haiku I wrote, on a similar theme:

Before,

only druggies and astronauts

were spaced out

Now we

all        are

Until next time

Darryl Dymock

What writers say:

The shadow deepens at the edges of the scene. I hope we come out of it all the wiser.

Irish writer Kevin Barry on the pandemic