For those of us who celebrate, Christmas and New Year are well and truly over, decorations are down and, in the UK, the January sales are not what they used to be.

Children have gone back to school and most people in employment are back at their places of work. I found a poem by John Updike that captures January well:

https://www.poemhunter.com/poem/january-30/

There is an overall feeling of emptiness, which is reflected in the January skies: they are grey, there are no birds and, at the moment of writing, hardly a breeze.

I may feel this way because the beginning of January is when my mother died two years ago. I found a poem by British poet Pete Crowther that expresses this perfectly:

https://www.poemhunter.com/poem/a-cold-day-in-january/

Of course, January will not seem like this to everyone, especially those of us who live in the southern hemisphere and are experiencing their summer; which is why today I would like you to write no more than three tight paragraphs about January, followed by a traditional haiku that includes reference to a season.

If you are new, here’s how to join in:

• Write a haibun in response to the challenge.
• Enter a link directly to your haibun and your name by clicking Mr Linky by clicking Mr Linky below and remember to check the little box to accept the use/privacy policy. You will find links to other poets and more will join, so check back later to read their haibun.
• Read and comment on other poets’ work – we all come here to have our poems read.
• Please link back to dVerse from your site/blog.
• Comment and participate in our discussion below, if you like.  We are a friendly bunch of poets.