Monday, March 04, 2024

Cantos: A Literary and Arts Journal, March 2024

Thrilled to have the following four haiga included in this issue:






 

Gloucestershire Poetry Society Haiku Competition, 2023

My thanks to the esteemed judge, Alan Summers, for selecting the following two poems, and for his insightful commentary:


geriatric ward
burning matchheads
begin to droop

Highly Commended


Commentary:

The almost visceral 'burning matchheads begin to droop' at a geriatric ward could be anything from someone with dementia, to someone having secret vices, or it can be possibly figurative imagery. It feels like an opening scene, or even closing scene, to a film or serial drama.

...haiku contain sabishii which can mean "I'm lonely." Japanese people might culturally mean it as "I'm lonely as I'm not with you" instead of the phrase "I miss you."


summer head battling another swarm of explosive drones

Merit


San Francisco International Competition for Haiku, Senryu and Tanka, 2023

there was
so much I wanted
to teach you . . .
a blue jay's feathers
are not really blue

First Place


Judge's comments:

For me, this was the clear winner. The tanka is deliberately concise and open-ended. This brevity lends weight to every word. A sense of loss and longing permeate the poem, giving it great emotional depth. There is enough 'space' to allow for reflection - it's a poem that the reader can truly inhabit. It also prompts us to look closely, to observe the details. The combination of all these elements made this tanka leap from the page. A deserving winner.
—Alan Peat


let's drive
down this prairie road,
singing until
we collide head-on
with the Milky Way

Honourable Mention


Judge's comments:

Although our ultimate fate is unavoidable, there is such a sense of untrammeled joy in this tanka. And what a final image!
—Alan Peat

 

The Cherita, Book 81, December 2023

Issue: "lighthouse keeper"


no one promised

this life
would be easy

but without hardship
I would not have found
this pen, this brush


sky spirits

are dancing
tonight

my feet
begin
to tingle


long-awaited

this rain
that slakes the thirst

of a wizened earth,
grown old
before its time


deepening snow

footsteps
make no sound

but I can hear
my breath
singing

A Cherita Lighthouse Award


aspens are turning

into yellow wraiths
in the wind

soon,
they will be nothing
more than bones

A Cherita Lighthouse Award


marsh cattails

exploding
in the sun

I catch a bit of light
and put it
in my pocket

A Cherita Lighthouse Award


silver sage

graced
by moonlight

its scent
somehow
immortal

A Cherita Lighthouse Award
 

Tsuri-doro: A Small Journal of Haiku and Senryu, Issue #20, March/April 2024

snow fleas
no blood will be shed
today

Trash Panda, Volume 6, Winter 2023-2024

dead orchard
the random blue sparks
of woolly aphids

3rd Place, Irish Haiku Society International Contest, 2018

Modern Haiku, Vol. 55.1, Winter-Spring 2024

alpine camp
meteors falling
into our mouths

Laurels: Tanka Society of America Online Journal, Number 1, February 2024

My thanks to guest editor Richard L. Matta for including the following tanka for the theme: "a makeover: finding beauty in the broken"!


lying on this bed
of sun-warmed moss
and lichen,
I imagine myself
a fruiting body
 

Ink Sweat and Tears - The Poetry and Prose Webzine - February 2024

Word and Image: Pride Feature, February 26, 2024

Pride/Prejudice


Note: this paper weaving represents a broken flag and incorporates words culled from Jane Austen's "Pride and Prejudice" to reflect the ongoing erosion of LGBTQ2S+ rights
 

Humana Obscura, Issue Number 8, Spring 2024

Thrilled to have the following photograph selected for this issue!

Taking Leave




Heliosparrow Poetry Journal, February 2024

Thrilled to have the following two paper collages and four small poems featured on February 29, 2024:



Note: these paper collages incorporate phrases culled from my book, "Warp and Weft: Tanka Threads"

bones thinning the only part of me


flow state of the mind's ink


mackerel bones disintegrating into rain


echolalia
echolali
echolal
echola
echol
echo
ech
ec
e



Haiku Canada Review, Volume 18, Number 1, February 2024

I collect
the broken ones . . .
ditch bottles

Haiga in Focus, Issue 69, March 2024

 Curated by Claudia Brefeld


Translated into German





Frogpond, Vol. 47, Number 1, Winter 2024

twilit snow
I follow the blueprint
of your journey


wind squall
the willow reclaims
its voice
 

Fresh Out: An Arts and Poetry Collective, March 2024

 Curated by Eric. A. Lohman


Featured Artist: March 1, 2024


Note: "riven" was created by incorporating words culled from my book, "Warp and Weft: Tanka Threads"


Failed Haiku - A Journal of English Senryu, Volume 9, Number 98, February 2024

ice fishing
the catch and release
of breath


zombie fire
the pain that comes back
to life
 

Daily Haiga: An Edited Journal of Traditional and Contemporary Haiga, March 2024

Featured Artist: March 3, 2024


Note: this haiku was first published in Blithe Spirit 33.1, 2023


Creatrix: Poetry and Haiku Journal, Number 64, March 2024

out-breath
a child catches it
in her mittens


frosted tent
our socks stand up
by themselves


ice storm
the rose hips preserved
for another day
 

Contemporary Haiku, Volume 19, Red Moon Press, 2024

Honoured to have this haiga chosen by Ron Moss for Contemporary Haibun!



Bottle Rockets. Vol. 25, Number 2 (or #50), February 2024

matsutake
we follow the trail
of a slug