blackmail press 20
Mike Collins
New Zealand

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Mike Collins lives in Albany Auckland where he is studying for a BA in English at Massey University.
Mike writes, This year I did a Creative Writing paper and that is where the Haiku originated. These Haiku poems are about images I can remember. The poem "Eh Bomb?" is about the nuclear bomb that hit Hiroshima during WWII. I mostly get the ideas from things I read or experience then re-contextualise them into poetry. The purpose is to create striking images for the reader.





Eh? Bomb

A shard of broken glass
lies waiting on the floor
for the return
of the
barefoot
geisha

In a doorway,
a young girl stoops
attempting once more
to straighten
a bent
nail

A roadside drunk
wakes to wind whistling
over the brim
of his last
sake
bottle

In a sudden burst,
a white light flashes through Honshu
and birds become
flying torches
against blue
skies

Leaving only shadows,
the black cloud rises
as if trying to
follow these
ascending






Haiku


Many boxes stacked
in a tan-glowing and soon
lonely spare room



A tired building
stood weeping orange stains
from one gaping crack




Among old grass lies
a half-full brown bottle
open and sideways


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