November Haikus

-1-
Construction workers
Fluorescent in the ribcage
Of dormant buildings

-2-
Unpitied vermin
Limping along the platform
Stork-legged pigeon

-3-
The barbed smell of smoke
Nostalgic in my nostrils
As memories burn

-4-
Autumnal landscape
Fluctuating colours fade
In distance’s haze

-5-
Fireworks scatter as
The night sky commemorates
Flowers now wilted

-6-
Forgetful or late,
Straggling rainbow explosions
Bring insomnia

-7-
Walking in the dark
The eerie crunching footsteps
Cold and ownerless

-8-
My room uncluttered
I search this bare, foreign floor
For unfinished lunch

-9-
Stubborn writer’s block
Ink viscous and unwilling
The page stays unfilled

-10-
Abrupt squalls batter
Drowsy homes and antique trees
As the clouds migrate

-11-
Fickle shuttlecock
Dainty but indecisive
We won a game each

-12-
Old terraced houses
Squat behind peeling billboards
Huddling beggars

-13-
Adrenaline rush
As I pretend that longing
Glance was aimed at me

-14-
In a single night
I cheerfully make up for
A year of bad deeds

-15-
Coffee à la mode
I gaze bewilderedly at
Imported water

-16-
The world gathers dust
Frost twinkles like broken glass
From ancient mirrors

-17-
The overcast skies
Smother the swarming city
Like a childhood dream

-18-
The vendor’s badge cries
‘Seasons greetings’; I shrug and
Say, “Merry autumn”

-19-
Branches paint the sky
Bright watercolours mingle
Leaving muted grey

-20-
Reluctant sun hides
Beneath the covers of fog
Dawn’s alarm unheard

-21-
The power station
Invading the horizon
Unconcealed by smog

-22-
Puddles shattering
Water and petrol brighten
The dreary city

-23-
Mutating microbe
Ensnares the air in my lungs
Dratted cold virus

-24-
Voluptuous moon
Swathed in lucent negligee
Feigning chastity

-25-
A green woodpecker
Iridescent and agile
Fidgets on the lawn

-26-
The last leaves droop like
Second-hand alcoholics
Hung-over and spent

-27-
The thing with chocolates
Is that, once you’ve eaten them,
You can’t re-eat them

-28-
A crumpled lotus
Lipstick seeps along folds in
Origami skin

-29-
Blinking Christmas lights
Garishly taunt murky night;
Stars hide, defeated

-30-
I can forgive cards
And carols with the promise
Of daily chocolate