Sunday, April 25, 2021

Cattails, April 2021


a fireball
illuminates the dark
life streaks by
before we know
what to make of it


I have learned
how to keep silent . . .
these pebbles
under my tongue
seasoned with rue


candle ice the way you blow hot and cold


frigid weather
a red rose shatters
on impact

Editor's Choice

This haiku took me back to an educational video that I had seen long ago, where a rose shattered after being dipped in liquid nitrogen. A startling observation by Debbie Strange from Canada, where frigid weather is the norm for a good part of the year and the cold freezes the red rose enough to shatter it on impact. The poet uses a powerful and unique image here. On another level, the use of 'red rose' and its various allusions cannot be escaped by the reader. Thank you Debbie Strange, for the many possible readings.
—Geethanjali Rajan

 

Stardust Haiku, Issue 52, April 2021

the best
saved for last . . .
comet tails
 

Seashores - An International Journal to Share the Spirit of Haiku, Vol. 6, April 2021

birch grove
the sudden arrow
of a goshawk


craggy bluff
a waterfall ribbons
into sunset
 

Poetry Pea, April 2021

The Haiku Pea Podcast


Series 4, Episode 8 - "no ego", April 19, 2021


storm hour
the cliff's face carved
a little deeper

3rd Prize, 2020 Irish Haiku Society Int'l Haiku Competition


leaf litter
turkey tail fungus
skirts the pine

The Poetry Pea Journal of Haiku and Senryu, Spring 2021

Editor: Patricia McGuire


"Spring and Autumn Kigo"

the ruts we slip into falling leaves


"Humour"

refuse dump
two black bears slouch
on a stained sofa


"Exaggerated Perspective"

vacant factory
broken rafters patched
with pigeons

Nick Virgilio Haiku Association, April 2021

Haiku in Action: April 14th - April 20th, 2021, Week 16


flightless
the clipped wings
of refugees


(Note: The way we confine our fellow beings.)
 

Kokako, Number 34, April 2021

eddies of dust
the rooster's comb blends
into sunrise


feather stars
undulating across
the ocean floor . . .
beauty exists even when
we cannot see it


abandoned puppies
tumble from a torn box
there is more
than one way to learn
the art of mothering
 

Sunday, April 18, 2021

The Haiku Foundation: HaikuLife Film Festival 2021

This haiga video, comprised of previously published poems, was created to celebrate The Haiku Foundation's International Haiku Poetry Day HaikuLife Film Festival on April 17, 2021:


Black Velvet

(with recitation)




















The Haiku Foundation: EarthRise Rolling Haiku Collaboration, April 2021

snowmelt
the wild crocuses
you loved

2nd Place, 2019 Morioka 1st Int'l Haiku Contest


fallow fields a light dusting of snow geese

Mariposa 39, 2018
Shortlisted 2018 Touchstone Awards


longer days
I knight my sister
with an icicle

5th HM, 2018 Robert Spiess Memorial Competition

Mariposa, Number 44, Spring/Summer 2021

leaves of grass
and hollow reeds sing
between our lips
we join the insects
orchestrating summer


the intricate lace
of decaying leaves
are we
any less beautiful now
that our youth is gone


This issue includes the results of the 2020 San Francisco International Competition for Haiku, Senryu and Tanka:


a raven
believed it could fly
through me
unaware that I am glass,
pretending to be sky

3rd Place Tanka



 

World Haiku, Number 17, 2021

Translated into Japanese


wild bergamot
a hummingbird's tail
fans the flames


muskeg
crowberries absorb
the night


marsh reeds
we learn the secret
language of wind


Note: these haiku previously appeared in Akitsu Quarterly



Note: the haiga was printed in black and white


 

The Cicada's Cry: A Micro-Zine of Haiku Poetry, Spring 2021

forsythia
a spray of sunlight
across our table

NeverEnding Story, April 2021

Translated into Chinese by Chen-ou Liu:


rosy dawn
our paddles stippled
with petals

Highly Commended
2019 New Zealand Poetry Society International Competition

GUSTS, Number 33, Spring/Summer 2021

Honoured to have a lovely review of my collection, winner of the 2019 Sable Books International Women's Haiku Contest, in this issue. It may be accessed under The Language of Loss: Haiku & Tanka Conversations tab. My gratitude to Joanne Morcom!


my eyesight
not what it once was
but, oh
the way a rainbow blurs
into iridescence


stepping into
this snow-starred night
I take
a breath of something
that might be optimism


prairie drought . . .
the belt-buckle sun
offers no mercy,
every blade of grass
sharp as your tongue

 

#FemkuMag: An E-zine of Womxn's Haiku - Issue 29, April 2021



Daily Haiku: Charlotte Digregorio's Writer's Blog, April 2021

My thanks to Charlotte for posting the following work in a special feature on April 11, 2021!


rippling waves
you teach me how
to film the wind

Grand Prix
10th Setouchi-Matsuyama Int'l Photo-Haiku Contest, 2020 


ripening pear the bruises that never heal

#FemkuMag 27
Longlisted for the Touchstone Awards for Individual Poems, 2020

Daily Haiga: An Edited Journal of Traditional and Contemporary Haiga, April 2021

Featured Artist: April 13, 2021


Note: this tanka was first published in Bright Stars Tanka Anthology 7, Nov. 2014

 

Chrysanthemum, Number 29, April 2021

Translated into German



 

Saturday, April 03, 2021

The Haiku Foundation: The Touchstone Award for Distinguished Books, 2020

I'm honoured that my eBook, Prairie Interludes, has been shortlisted for the 2020 Touchstone Distinguished Books Award. The shortlist is comprised of 17 books selected from 72 nominations. My thanks to the esteemed panelists, and to John Barlow of Snapshot Press!




 

The British Haiku Society Awards, 2020

Thrilled to receive the following award:


sea pebbles
glistening in the sun
we, too
lose more of ourselves
with every passing wave

Honourable Mention


Judge's comments:

The pattern of surges and calms exhibited worldwide by the Covid-19 pandemic is here witnessed in this modest but productive observation from nature. How like the pebbles we are, in this together, losing millions over time, with each passing wave. The lament is clear but restrained, anchored in the natural world.

—Michael McClintock

(Note: there were 164 entries for this competition) 

Geppo: The Haiku Work-Study Journal of the Yuki Teikei Haiku Society, Volume XLVI: 1, February 2021

November 2020 - January 2021


salt lick
the blue concave
of sky


first flute
woodpecker holes stuffed
with acorns


the eye-shine
of a great horned owl . . .
long night moon


candy floss
hair ice transforms
a rotten branch


Honoured to know that Dojin Patricia J. Machmiller included "salt lick" and "first flute" among her favourites of the issue!

The Heron's Nest, Volume 22, 2020

spawning capelin the silver curl of a wave


the sister
I didn't know I had . . .
rhizomes


stepping stones
a damselfly invites us
to change course


afterlight
acorns surf the roof
of our tent
 

Tanka Society of America Twitter Pandemic Special, April 2021

Curated by Susan Burch


Day 1 - April 1, 2021


rain doves build
a nest on our balcony
we, too
are learning the art
of sheltering in place

Tanka 2020: Poems from Today's World
Red Moon Press (editor Alexis Rotella)


 

Stardust Haiku, Issue 51, March 2021

last train
the blur of seaside
vacations
 

Sonic Boom, Issue 20, April 2021

inklings #1




 

Presence, Number 69, March 2021

darkling beetles
the carp's skeleton
no longer white


frost alert . . .
headlamps bobbing
in the vineyard


frozen berries
we enter the silence
of hibernation


the creek
a crucible overflowing
with molten sun
my eyelids close until
I can see again


I was delighted to discover that the following haiku was shortlisted for the Best-of-Issue Award in Presence 68:

hawk strike
I let go
of my breath

Our Best Haiga: Black & White Haiga/Haisha, March 2021

Curated by Lavana Kray


March 5, 2021


(Note: this haiku was first published in Stardust Haiku 38, February 2020)

March 15, 2021


(Note: this haiku was first published in Frogpond 43.2, Spring/Summer 2020)

March 25, 2021


(Note: this haiku first appeared in the Wales Haiku Journal, Winter 2019)




 

Failed Haiku - A Journal of English Senryu, Vol. 6, Issue 64, April 2021

Honoured to have the following haiga selected for the cover of this issue by editor, Bryan Rickert:



 

Contemporary Haibun Online, Issue 17.1, April 2021

Haiga Gallery: selected by Ron Moss




 

Brass Bell, April 2021

Theme: haiku happiness


prairie winter
a rainbow of tulips
at the market


country school
tumbleweeds race
us to the bus
 

Asahi Haikuist Network, March 2021

My thanks to David McMurray for featuring the 10th Setouchi-Matsuyama International Photo-Haiku Contest results!


rippling waves
you teach me how
to film the wind

Grand Prix