Joshua St. Claire




cloud peaks
higher than it ever thought possible
acorn jelly

cirrus spissatus
the angle
of tern’s wings

mother-of-pearl
cumulus congestus silhouetted
against sunset

abalone clouds
seabirds scatter
for home

altocumulus sky
three laughing gulls
have their way 

cirrus intortus
sanderlings
and the sea

altostratus radiatus
gullwings arching
from horizon to horizon 

cirrostratus sky
a moon snail emerges
from seafoam 

brown pelicans
returning with the sun
stratocumulus clouds

the shifting shades
of oyster flesh
cirrocumulus sky





Joshua St. Claire is an accountant from a small town in Pennsylvania works as a financial director for a large non-profit. His haiku and related poetry have been published broadly including in Frogpond, Modern Haiku, The Heron’s Nest, and Mayfly. He has received recognition in the following international contests and awards: the Gerald Brady Memorial Senryu Award, the Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival Haiku Invitational, the San Francisco International Award for Senryu, the Robert Speiss Memorial Award, the Touchstone Award for Individual Haiku, the British Haiku Society Award for Haiku, and the Trailblazer Award.