Silent Night

I was thrilled to have this haibun selected for inclusion in Jim Kacian’s old song: The Red Moon Anthology of English-Language Haiku 2017. It’s by peer selection, and a great honour to be included. This is the second time I have had work in Red Moon. The first was for ‘Undercurrent’, a rengay shared with David Terelinck and Carol Judkins.

Silent Night
Hazel Hall ✧ Australia
Our petitions and demonstrations are useless. The government knows it’s on a winner. Jobs and growth. That’s what politicians want. A well-known mining tycoon and his consortium have bought a million acres of prime coastal grazing land from its original owners.

Soon huge machines are sucking up all available peace.

In the factory, portions of pristine soil are placed in mason jars. Each allocation measures exactly one centimeter in depth. Freshly harvested peace blows into the containers, each sealed hermetically and labelled Peace on Earth.

You can’t buy it here, but countries around the world are clamouring for the product.

silent night
under patent
the evening star