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!
A Genteel Black Hole 