Theme: nature's ability to deal with intolerance
Honoured to have the following haiku selected as a "Favourite" (ten haiku chosen from 325 entries) by the judge, William McConnell:
a refugee shelter . . .
clownfish nestle among
sea anemones
Saturday, July 23, 2022
Geppo: The Haiku Work-Study Journal of the Yuki Teikei Haku Society, Volume XLV11:2, May 2022
February - April 2022
Honoured to be the featured artist for this issue! Please visit the "Articles/About" tab in this blog to read the feature.
bespangled
fallen
pirouette
swans
transience
Other work included in this issue:
twilight how purple the dormant butterfly bush
slow thaw
the curling stones
of mallard ducks
paper sunflowers
in the maternity ward . . .
still too soon to say
seasons turn
the way we measure
life expectancy
Spring Challenge Kigo: Spring Breeze (or Spring Wind), harukaze
spring breeze
a porcupette's quills
begin to stiffen
White Enso, Issue 5, July 2022
My thanks to the editor, Linda Gould, for her acceptance of the following haiga sequence based on traditional Japanese seasonal kigo:
spring: willow catkins
summer: sea of clouds
autumn: bird of passage
winter: frost-nipped grass
The Seasons of Sorrow
Friday, July 22, 2022
Tsuri-doro: A Small Journal of Haiku and Senryu, Issue #10, July/August 2022
we add a layer
to the compost heap . . .
downy woodpecker
Trash Panda: Life in the Anthropocene in 17 Syllables or Less, Volume 1.2, Winter 2021-22
plastic soup
our children inherit
the recipe
Failed Haiku 3:28, 2018
Haiku Society of America Newsletter, Volume 37, Number 7, July 2022
My thanks to the HSA President, Jay Friedenberg, for choosing the following monoku for commentary:
assigned gender the 25,000 sexes of split-grill mushrooms
Kontinuum, Volume 1.1, 2021
Poets are often afraid of using their art to explore sensitive issues in politics and culture. This monoku does just that. There is a lot of current debate over how gender is determined, for example whether it is primarily biological in nature or more shaped by environment. Debbie Strange sets the stage with the first two words but what follows takes us on an interesting detour. It is the case that some fungi have many thousands of sexes. What then does this mean for people? Nature astounds us with its variety and suggests all sorts of possibilities. There is a hidden lesson in this lesson about the natural world.
Triya Mag: Monsoon Edition, Issue 3.0, July 2022
Thrilled to have the following works translated into Hindi by Team Triya: Teji Sethi, Vaibhav Joshi, and Priti Chahar:
transience . . .
petal by petal
we let go
Winning Haiku (Canada)
2017 Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival Haiku Invitational
the ocean
was in a rage last night
but today,
these peace offerings
of blue mussels and kelp
1st Place
2018 Sanford Goldstein International Tanka Contest
between the spokes
of your spinning wheel
a dusty web . . .
I never thought our lives
would so quickly unwind
1st Place
2019 British Haiku Society Awards
Triveni Haikai India: haikuKATHA - unfolding the story within, Issue 8, June 2022
My thanks to the editors for including the following haiga:
Triveni Haikai India, June 2022
My thanks to Geethanjali Rajan for selecting the following haiku for the Triveni Spotlight Feature on June 1, 2022:
the yink and yank
of white-breasted nuthatches
we no longer speak
Modern Haiku, Volume 46, Issue 1, Winter-Spring 2015
Ribbons, Volume 18, Number 2, Spring/Summer 2022
smooth bark
My thanks to Ryland Shengzhi Li for including my work in the "Contemplative Reading" section of his essay, Deepening Your Reading of Tanka:
etched with script lichen
we understand
this secret language
better than our own
a raven
believed it could fly
through me
unaware that I am glass,
pretending to be sky
(Third Place, 2020 San Francisco International Competition for Haiku, Senryu and Tanka)
Again, I suggest you try the contemplative reading yourself and reflect on your experience before moving on.
The word that most touches me is "pretending." I feel discomfort. I identify with the glass and feel that I am deceiving the raven, which I take as other people in my life. I also feel guilt and shame blocking me from being my true self. And I feel called to tell the truth and to be true, so as not to hurt others.
In the final contemplation, I realize that the one who suffers most from my deception is not others, but myself. When the raven hits glass, it is the glass that shatters. Like the glass, I am fragile and vulnerable, but also beautiful and worthy of existing in my own right. The earlier call to tell the truth for the sake of not hurting others reflects my empathy for them. But I need to balance that with care for myself and my own needs, which I find all too easy to neglect.
Oddly, when I first read this poem, it did not speak to me. But my contemplative reading helped me to experience the poem in its many layers, and through the poem, to experience layers of myself. Native American poet Joy Harjo describes it like this: when you begin to listen to poetry, you begin to listen to the stones, to clouds, to others—and most importantly, you "begin to learn to listen to the soul, the soul of yourself in here, which is also the soul of everyone else".
Red Lights, Vol. 18, Number 2, June 2022
small hollows
in our cottonwood tree
fill with rain
ruby-crowned kinglets bathe
in secrets only they know
Conjuring
we share
a fairytale moment . . .
this antique book
bound with feathers
and bluebell sap
a citrine
glints on my windowsill
conjuring
the smallest of suns
on this darkest of days
winter departs
only to return, and yet
we are consoled
by the unchanging
certainty of seasons
powder snow
takes wing behind
downhill skis
our spirits lifting, too
on this bluebird day
(note: "citrine" - a yellow variety of quartz)
Our Best Haiga: Black & White Haiga/Haisha, July 2022
Curated by Lavana Kray
July 2, 2022
(Note: this tanka received an Honourable Mention in the 2020 British Haiku Society Awards)
July 20, 2022
(Note: this haiga was first published in colour in Cafe Haiku, June 2022)
Kontinuum: kortárs haiku/contemporary haiku, Volume 2, Number 1, July 2022
williwaw this sudden change in our circumstances
steady sleet the ! ! ! ! of gannets
Ink Sweat and Tears - The Poetry and Prose Webzine - July 2022
Word and Image Feature - July 15, 2022
My thanks to The Repeat Beat Poet for selecting my vispo (visual poetry) "Goodbye"! This piece was created using an original photograph, overpainted and embellished with natural and digital elements, with text culled from my book, The Language of Loss: Haiku & Tanka Conversations (Sable Books 2020).
Fresh Out: An Arts and Poetry Collective, July 2022
Curated by Eric A. Lohman
Featured Artist: July 13, 2022
(Note: this haiku first appeared in Bottle Rockets 23.1, August 2021)
The Cicada's Cry: A Micro-Zine of Haiku Poetry, Summer 2022
birch bark basket
the blue scent
of last year's berries
Frameless Sky, Issue 16, June 2022
This issue is dedicated to the people of Ukraine. Eighty percent of the proceeds will be donated to "Donate to Help Children in Ukraine/Save the Children".
Honoured to be the featured poet for the "Take the Challenge" contest for this issue. I chose Julie Schwerin's lovely artwork to accompany the following haiku:
refugees forced
to leave their homes . . .
unused aerie
The following haiga are also included in this issue:
Drifting-Sands-Haibun: A Journal of 21st Century English-language Haibun and Tanka Prose, July 2022
Honoured to have the following haiga included in the Drifting Sands banner slideshow!
(Note: this haiga received the Grand Prix in the 10th Setouchi-Matsuyama Contest)
(Note: this haiku received a Haiku Laureate Award in the 2021 Hexapod Contest)
(Note: this haiku was the Winner (Canada) in the 2017 VCBF Contest)
Daily Haiku: Charlotte Digregorio's Writer's Blog, July 2022
July 22, 2022
broken eggs
in the chicken coop
I read your note
2nd Place
Penumbra Haiku Competition, 2017
Chalk on the Walk Monoku Project (New Zealand) 2022
Curated by Sherry Grant
Haiga Feature: July 14, 2022
(Note: this haiga was first published in colour in Under the Basho, 2018)
Brass Bell, July 2022
Theme: sound/no sound
watersongs the differing frequencies of stones
(note: this monoku first appeared in Otata 25, January 2018)
Australian Haiku Society, 2022
Winter Solstice Haiku String, June 2022 - theme: climate change
the mass bleaching
of coral reefs . . .
mother's bony hands
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