chronic cold
on the way back
the neighbor’s garden
will be to the left
of my left nostril

Written on March 3, 2026

Notes

This was supposed to be a haiku but I just couldn’t quite get my idea to be short enough for one. I’ve tried a few variations around the fixed images I needed to be in the poem, which were chronic cold and the idea of only one working nostril.

#1

chronic cold
making sure the row of roses
is to my left

#2

chronic cold
my left nostril making decisions
is the nursery

I could have also chosen the haibun route, given there is more information to be included in the poem than a haiku could fit. Perhaps the shorter gembun is a good format for this idea.

I ended up splitting the idea into 5 lines and hence a tanka. But the poem was too light-hearted and I knew tanka seldom have humor. I did a small web search and came to know that this 5 lines poem is likely a kyōka. Alan Summers, a master of English language haiku & related forms and a dear friend from the haiku community, was kind enough to chip in and confirm that my poem is a kyōka, which, in his words, is the wonderful senryū version of tanka.