Dodder River Haiku

by Amanda Bell

narrow hill road

a short-horned cow 

glowers from the ditch

reservoir spillway

the scent of elderflower

on a warm breeze

stopping for a snack

beneath the draping larch

a cloud of midges

urban river path 

gulls and two plump foxes

eating sandwiches

Dodder Valley walk

two sheep and a lamb

tending the lawn

a baby rat disappears 

down the heron’s throat –

camera shutters snap

beneath the ring road

a ‘Men at Work’ sign floating

past the heron

warm summer evening

sharing a picnic on the weir

two grey crows

lone fox on the bank 

onlookers whisper

about poisoned cubs

 

Publications by Amanda Bell include the loneliness of the sasquatch (Alba Publishing, 2018), First the Feathers (Doire Press, 2017), The Lost Library Book (The Onslaught Press, 2017), and Undercurrents (Alba Publishing, 2016). She is assistant editor of The Haibun Journal. Bell’s ‘Dodder River Haiku’ were first published in Channel Issue 1.