moonless night
the oil lamp’s
meagre glow
creaking wood
peasant bones settle
around the table
low ceiling
on tired shoulders
the weight of tomorrow
honest work
hollow eyes avoid
hollow eyes
hunger pains
another forkful
of harvest
tilling soil
each silent mouth
full of earth
muddy river
beyond the fields
bitter coffee
dreamless sleep
no twinkling stars
in our night sky
The Potato Eaters (oil on canvas, 1885) by Vincent van Gogh
(1853-1890) is held by the Van Gogh Museum
(link retrieved on 7 January 2024):
https://www.vangoghmuseum.nl/en/collection/s0005v1962
Based in the UK, Farah Ali writes fiction and poetry with a particular love for the short form. Nominated for the Touchstone Awards [The Haiku Foundation], she won First Place in the UHTS Fleeting Words Tanka Contest 2023 [United Haiku and Tanka Society], received a merit award in the 34th Ito En Oi Ocha Shinhaiku contest, and an honourable mention in the HPNC Haibun Contest 2023 [Haiku Poets of Northern California].
Her work has been published, and is forthcoming, in a variety of reputable online and print journals including Akitsu Quarterly, Autumn Moon Haiku Journal, cattails, Cicada’s Cry, contemporary haibun online, Drifting Sands Haibun, hedgerow, MacQueen’s Quinterly, Modern Haiku, Plum Tree Tavern, Presence, Right Hand Pointing, Wales Haiku Journal, and whiptail. Her supernatural Deerleap Hollow Series is available from Amazon.