A Genteel Black Hole

At the start of 2025 I set myself a challenge to write a haiku every Friday for the whole year. The rule: They don’t have to be good, they just have to be done.

And today is the last Friday of 2025. I completed the challenge, with only one skipped week (extreme fatigue) and a few belated haiku (forgetfulness) along the way. Overall I’m proud of how the project went. I achieved what I set out to do, and probably improved my haiku-writing skills along the way.

But I don’t intend to carry the project over into 2026. Towards the end of the year it just stopped being fun. It was mandatory creativity to a deadline — too much like homework.

To mark the end of the Friday Haiku project, here are all fifty haiku:

~

January

1 — January 3rd:

Lingering malaise.
Bartók on headphones, eyes closed —
Time to recover.

2 — January 10th:

An old favourite show:
Never used to watch alone —
Blindsided by grief.

3 — January 17th:

Hollow red chamber
Invaded by silver blade —
Slicing a pepper.

4 – January 24th:

Victory is mine
Until the blue shell descends:
Mario Karted!

5 – January 31st:

When writing haiku,
Please don't use ChatGPT:
Suck on your own terms.

~

February

6 – February 7th:

Glistening tarmac
Glimpsed through a clouded window —
Staying in today.

7 – February 14th:

I love you too much 
For seventeen syllables 
Ever to encompass.

8 – February 21st:

Cool air fills my lungs,
I feel myself expanding —
New CPAP machine.

9 – February 28th:

Daylight stretching out,
Feeding my animal self:
Winter retreating.

~

March

10 – March 7th:

Vibrating, a string 
Agitates air molecules:
To the ear, music. 

11 – March 14th:

Squinting at pixels —
"Is this better, d'you think?" 
Editing thumbnails.

12 – March 21st:

Curious kitty
Sniffing at my open door
Beats a quick retreat!

13 – March 28th:

A Sondheim earworm
Rolling merrily through my head:
Who's like him? Damn few.

~

April

14 — 4th April:

Mottled evening sky —
Red kite pitches and rolls past,
Sailing secret waves.

15 — 11th April:

Spate of sleepless nights
Depleting my battery: 
Can't even write a

16 — 18th April:

Inscrutable words
Decorate the evening air —
Language of the birds.

17 — 25th April:

The birdies have sung,
Our modern dance is ended:
Farewell, Pere Ubu.

[In memory of David Thomas.]

~

May

18 — 2nd May:

Opportunities
Like speeding taxis recede
Into might-have-been.

19 — 11th May (ahem):

Totally on time,
It's my regular haiku:
Please ignore the date.

20 — 16th May:

Watching Taskmaster:
Mathew Baynton's tiny shorts,
Judiciously blurred. 

21 — 23rd May:

Pearly gates open:
Angelic chorus cheers, "Norm!"
So that's where George went.

[In memory of George Wendt.]

22 — 30th May:

Razor blade in hand,
You Fantastic! musicians
Thwart the precedent.

[Inspired by the experimental band, You Fantastic!]

~

June

23 — 6th June:

Reading Titus Groan:
Gormenghast's grim labyrinth
Haunting my mind's eye. 

24 — 13th June:

In my room, surf's up:
There's a riot goin' on —
Dance to the music!

[In memory of Brian Wilson and Sly Stone.]

24 — 20th June:

Window yawning wide,
Curtains dancing in the breeze…
Still too bloody hot.

25 — 27th June:

Hope is mere kindling:
If you want there to be fire,
You must strike the match.

~

July

26 — 4th July:

White cassette, red sleeve,
Blaring in my preteen ears:
You really got me.

[Inspired by The Kinks.]

27 — 11th July:

Mortification:
The reeking fertiliser
Through which our souls grow. 

28 — 18th July:

My waterbody:
Where veins are tributaries
Flowing with life force.

[Inspired by Robert Macfarlane’s book, Is A River Alive?]

29 — 25th July:

The Prince of Darkness
Unfurls his leathery wings,
Soars into the void.

[In memory of Ozzy Osbourne.]

~

August

30 — 1st August:

Round the corner, leaves
Beckon in a gentle breeze:
Befriending a tree.

31 — 8th August:

Iambic music
Waking up my sleeping ear,
Measure by measure.

32 — 15th August:

.hindsight in Revealed
contexts and meanings Hidden
:reverse in Story

[Inspired by series 9 of John Finnemore’s Souvenir Programme.]

33 — 22nd August:

A witness wonders,
Why do they send five coppers
To arrest one man?

34 — 29th August:

Watching Enterprise —
The only Star Trek series
With a shit theme tune.

~

September

35 — 5th September:

Glowing in darkness,
Twenty four flickering frames
Help me find myself.

[Inspired by my project to get back into watching films.]

36 — 12th September:

Most radiant smile,
Transcending time and language:
Setsuko Hara.

37 — 19th September:

Made my lovely eyes
Sad, leaky, wet and wincey: 
Petals float to earth.

[Inspired by the long-awaited new Cardiacs album.]

26th September:

(No haiku. Too fatigued to write.)

~

October

38 — 3rd October:

Golden leaves dancing —
Watched through rain-streaked windowpane
And a foggy brain.

39 — 10th October:

Pearly grey expanse
Dotted with darting black birds,
Flitting between trees.

40 — 17th October:

Malfunctioning brain:
Called the mental mechanic —
Time for a tune-up.

41 — 24th October:

Silver kintsugi:
Break my heart and glue the shards,
Tokyo Story.

42 — 31st October:

Hearing old music
Made by a forgotten self:
Time to remember.

~

November

43 — 7th November:

Red and golden leaves
Strewn upon the grey below:
Autumn's casualties.

44 — 14th November:

Insatiable night
Feasts upon the daylight hours,
Tipping the balance.

45 — 21st November:

Late afternoon rays
From a low, cold winter sun
Catch the bare branches.

46 — 28th November:

Waxing crescent moon
Floating in pale blue evening:
A cut fingernail.

~

December

47 — 5th December:

My Telecaster
Beckons from its dusty case:
Soon I'll play again.

48 — 12th December:

Christmas approaches
But merriness can't be found:
I'll try to make some.

49 — 19th December:

Saying “Oh, hiya!”
Lubricates the social wheels, 
Or so says Ozu. 

[Inspired by the film Good Morning, the original Japanese title of which is Ohayo.]

50 — 26th December:

Slump across the line
With a huge, exhausted sigh:
Fiftieth haiku!