We are thirteen years old! Founded in January 2007, Shamrock Haiku Journal has since been published regularly. On this occasion, we have prepared SHAMROCK HAIKU JOURNAL: 2012 - 2018, a print edition of the twenty issues of Shamrock, Nos. 21 to 40, as they appeared on the Shamrock website. This paper-based collection covers the full range of English-language haiku, from classical to experimental, as well as haibun. Also included are English translations from one of the most prominent Japanese haiku poets of the 20th century, Ryuta Iida, and an essay on translating Matsuo Basho's haiku.

Shamrock Haiku Journal: 2012 - 2018
Edited by Anatoly Kudryavitsky.

Copyright © 2012 - 2018 by Shamrock Haiku Journal.

All rights reserved.

Published in Dublin, Ireland.

Printed in the United Kingdom.

Price Euro 16.92
ISBN 978-0-244-9767-9-8

Trade paperback. 302 pp.
5.8"x8.3", perfect binding.

Preview available here

Shamrock Haiku Journal Readers' Choice Awards 2019

BEST HAIKU

Ten haiku have been nominated as the best of the year by our readers and contributors. The following piece that appeared in our No. 41 was voted the best haiku published in Shamrock Haiku Journal in 2019: 

kelp forest
a foraging octopus
imitating shadows

-- Simon Hanson (Australia)

The following haiku were the runners-up (in alphabetical order): 

hidden forest
every call an echo
closer

-- William Fox (Ireland - USA)  # 41

late light
the rhythm
of a kayaker's silhouette

-- Hannah Manohey (USA) #42

BEST SENRYU

Six senryu have been nominated as the best of the year by our readers and contributors. The following piece that was initially published in our No. 42 became the winner in the best senryu category:

city snow
faces settle deep
into winter coats

-- Jay Friedenberg (USA)

And the runner-up was the following piece: 

city sirens
the wolves that used to
sing us home

-- Debbie Strange (Canada) #42

We congratulate the worthy winners, and express our sincere gratitude to each and every reader who cast a vote.

The prize-winning haiku from this competition are available for viewing here:

http://irishhaiku.com/haikucompetition.htm

There are excellent poems aplenty on that page; check them out!

darkness to light
a path through the bog
leads to birdsong


flight to nightfall
rooks join the silhouettes
of a hilltop's trees


a chaffinch's tail
brushes the bog pool
the day ripples on

-- Thomas Powell (Northern Ireland)



red maples
the warmth of a campfire
taking hold


beneath the pane
scattered pieces
of a wren's song


nesting
in winter hemlocks
orphaned leaves

-- Julie Warther (USA)




train tracks
the part of me
I left behind


one creek then another spring rains

-- Grenn Coats (USA)




abandoned orchard
a split pomegranate
bejewelled by sunrise


moon rainbow
the wan colours
of her pearls

-- Simon Hanson (Australia)




even here
between sunflower petals
a scent of shadow


broken light
winding through sea grass
the wind's long fingers

-- John Hawkhead (England)




long day –
a bumblebee sucks warmth
from the weary sun


outside the sauna,
magpies and blackbirds
taking a snow bath

-- Anatoly Kudryavitsky (Ireland)




the warmth
of the nurse's hands...
magnolia moon

-- John McManus (England)




soft breeze
from the willows
a whinny

-- Robert Davey (England)




pine needles falling in rain heaven scent

-- Robert Witmer (Japan - USA)




lake ripples
glinting in sunlight
dragonfly wingbeats

-- Cyndi Lloyd (USA)




waking from winter
before I do
primrose

-- Seren Fargo (USA)




sun-hued morning
wisps of mountain dew
fade away

-- Ayaz Daryl Nielsen (USA)




fall pond
in a blue boat
lost dreams

-- Joseph M. Kusmiss (USA)




break in the clouds
a confetti of finches
changes my mind

-- Alanna C. Burke (USA)




cemetery
mimicking the trees
with whispers

-- June Rose Dowis (USA)




low tide
an old glass jar
full of sand

-- Debbie Scheving (USA)




track's end
the campfire's low hubbub
of the steaming billy

-- Mark Miller (Australia)




within the song
of a winter wren
another begins

-- Joanna Ashwell (England)




wind on water –
the illusion of solidity
ripples through my mind

-- Carol Ermakova (England)




cemetery parking
a bouquet of flowers
on the passenger seat

-- Bouwe Brouwer (the Netherlands)




the staccato
of a bike ride
hazelnuts

-- Bisshie (Switzerland)




morning light
the wake-up call
of a bulbul

-- Hemapriya Chellappan (India)

gal amháin eile-
leamhan ag preabarnaigh
sa lanntaer páipéir


(last cigarette –
a moth flutters
in a paper lantern)



lá crua gaoithe
faigheann beithúoch foithin
faoi chrann lúbtha


(windy day
a cow takes shelter
under a stooping tree)

-- Buachalán Buí (Ireland; translated from the Irish by the poet)

Frozen

By Madhu Singh (India)


Seeing those naked saal trees in autumn was like watching stark ebony cabinets empty of books in a cold, fireless study. Barren trees bereft of susurration of leaves, and those shelves, without whispers of words.

      deep autumn
      even my words
      have dried