Aalix Roake arrived in New Zealand in 2002, became a citizen shortly thereafter, living in Hamilton for several years before moving to near Christchurch in 2016. She died in December 2018.

She published haiku in the mid-1990s and had a hiatus that lasted many years. During that time, she was a freelance writer, a university lecturer and an artist (ongoing), as well as writing mainstream and genre poetry and fiction. After taking workshops with Owen Bullock and Sandra Simpson, Aalix returned her focus to haiku and expanded to tanka and haibun.

Her work was published around the world and she  won several awards for her haiku and tanka.

 

cutting back the rose bush –
I will need a walking stick
until spring

 

garden
through reading glasses
a Monet painting

 

through frosted glass
shadow of the tree we planted
when Mother died

 

under closed curtains end-of-day light

 

morning chill –
the dog curls
into a perfect circle

 

age and love
make him towel her dry
after
her difficult shower
and the effort of it all

 

light on the windowsill
he moves slowly
to catch it

 

in the surgeon’s voice
the tapping
of his mallet

 

tiny shoots in the herb garden remind me

 

constant rain –
I can smell
the grey of my horse

 

Publication notes:

cutting back the rose bush-: Given an Ordinary Stone (New Zealand Poetry Society Anthology) 2013

garden: Commended, Kokako Haiku and Senryu contest, 2015 (published Kokako 24, 2016)

through frosted glass: Frogpond 38.2, 2015

under closed curtains: The Heron’s Nest Volume 17.2, 2015

morning chill: First Place, HaikuWorld Shiki Kukai, November 2013

age and love: Highly Commended, Kokako Tanka Contest, 2014 (published Kokako 22, 2015)

light on the windowsill: Honourable Mention, Klostar Ivanic Haiku Contest 2013

In the surgeon’s voice: A Hundred Gourds 2.2, 2013

tiny shoots: Kokako 22

constant rain -: The Heron’s Nest, 17.4, 2015.