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

Farah Ali

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.