Elaine Riddell lives in Hamilton and has retired from teaching, but continues to take on a small amount of contract work. She enjoys writing haiku, tanka and other poetry and her work has been published in journals and anthologies in New Zealand and overseas.

Awards include first place in the Mu First International Contest, second in the moonset haiku competition (spring/summer 2008) and second in the Katikati Haiku Pathway Contest, 2008. Contact Elaine.
 

 

gusty wind
barley heads sweep
in a mexican wave 

 

 
first white butterfly
my cabbages
not yet planted 

 

 
moonlight
the stream flows from shadow
to shadow 

 

 
road to the beach
wave after wave of blue
hydrangeas 
  
  
  
silver frost
a pigeon wing tilts
to the rising sun
  
  

jagged mountains
a harrier hawk
hangs in the air
 

 

off-street parking
cabbage tree fragrance
fills the spaces
  

  
  
frost shimmers
the distant mountains
so close
  
  

last sun
the footprints over the dunes
filled with shadow
  
  

morning shallows
the wading birds
all conjoint
 
 

Publication notes:

gusty wind: moonset (US) spring/summer 2008.

first white butterfly: a taste of nashi anthology (Windrift) 2008.

moonlight: Katikati Haiku Pathway Contest; pub. Bravado 14, 2008.

road to the beach: Shiki Special Kukai in memory of William J Higginson (Shiki Haikusphere) 2009.

silver frost: moonset (US) spring/summer, 2009.

jagged mountains: moments in the whirlwind (NZ Poetry Society anthology) 2009.

off-street parking: seed packets:an anthology of flower haiku (Bottle Rockets US) 2010.

frost shimmers: Matsuo Basho Haiku Contest (Japan) 2010.

last sun: across the fingerboards (NZPS anthology) 2010.

morning shallows: Mu First International Contest (US) 2010.