Wednesday, May 15, 2024

Autumn Moon Haiku Journal, 7:2, Spring/Summer 2024

flute song
a hermit thrush
reveals itself

Romanian Haiku Group, Sharpening the Green Pencil Haiku Contest, 2024

Thrilled to receive 1st Place (joint) in this year's contest!


cattle roundup
a charred bean can
full of rain

1st Place
Sharpening the Green Pencil, 2024


Judge's comments:

A full plate of sensory imagery invites the reader to dwell on and in the scene that the poet offers. The cattle roundup, an iconic event in the American West, has left debris in its wake as a reminder of the sound and action that disappeared in the dust. This poem casts a spell with its rich content, recreating in the reader's imagination a way of life that in its hardship and dangers lives vividly in the collective imagination. The r's present in each line read well as a connecting thread, or perhaps a rope, given the rough and tumble context.

Line 2 gives the reader an opportunity to move beyond the romance of the prairie. Fire has already charred the can, and next, the rain fills it. Perhaps it will rust as it lies forgotten, a modern-day ruin. Nature and its elements take over as it always does, just as summer grasses eventually overtook the warriors' battleground in Basho's haiku. The emotional power of this poem is grounded in but exceeds the sum of its parts.

—Barrie Levine

The British Haiku Society Awards, 2023

Thrilled to receive the following awards:


sunbeams sift
between the bones
of our barn
mucking out stalls
has never felt so holy

Runner-up, The Linda Jeannette Ward Tanka Award


Judges' comments:


Opening with a gentle shasei, this tanka assumes a deeper meaning in the closing metaphor. Cleaning straw and manure from animal stalls takes on a new meaning in the glow of light between the boards; honest labour becomes devotion. A 'Hand of God' moment we liken to when fall-streaks appear through clouds. The tanka has subtle alliteration with a solid structure. It has a satisfying elliptical ending as the sense of a holy task links back to the sunbeams often seen in classical religious paintings. The author is unobtrusive, and there is sufficient dreaming room for the reader to insert themselves into the scene.

—David Terelinck


The same tanka also received an Honourable Mention in this contest...


Through this beautiful tanka, the poet demonstrates that wonderful moments of enlightenment and grace are not limited to structured times of church and prayer. If we stay connected to the moment, we can find a poetic truth that transcends time and place.

—Bryan Rickert

(note: there were 203 tanka submissions for this contest)
 

The Solitary Daisy, Issue 24, March 2024

Thrilled to have receive an Honourable Mention in the 1st Annual Solitary Daisy Haiku Contest!


the arabesque
of cherry branches . . .
frayed toe shoes

Honourable Mention

(note: the top 6 haiku were chosen from 600 entries)


Also grateful to have the following work reposted here from Charlotte Digregorio's blog:


marsh marigolds
dark waters patched
with light

Highly Commended, NZPS Int'l Poetry Competition, 2023


drifting sands
sometimes the poem
writes itself

Winner, Drifting Sands Wearable Art and Haiku Contest, 2023


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

1st Place, San Francisco Int'l Competition for Haiku, Senryu and Tanka, 2023



 

The Solitary Daisy, Issue 18, January 2024

Thrilled to be the featured poet for this issue, and grateful to Sally Quon for the interview. Please see the full interview under the "articles/about" tag of this blog or click on the following link:


Tuesday, May 14, 2024

World Haiku Association, Number 20, 2024

Translated into Japanese


blistering sun
we wade through a river
of barley


root cellar
the darkness lit
by jelly jars


persimmons
golden crowns
fill with snow


Note: these haiku previously appeared in Brass Bell
 

Wales Haiku Journal, Spring 2024

queen of the night tulips singing arias to dawn

Tsuri-doro: A Small Journal of Haiku and Senryu, Issue #21, May/June 2024

owl pellets the punctuation within


canyon bridge
the bob and sway
of water ouzels

Tinywords, Issue 24.1, May 2024

 


Note: this haiga received an Honourable Mention in the 2023 Jane Reichhold Memorial Haiga Competition)


The Tide Rises, The Tide Falls: An Oceanic Literary Magazine, April 2024

I dreamt
the oracle of oceans
left your voice
inside an empty shell
for me to find at dawn

Atlas Poetica 37, 2019


ocean waves
advance then retreat
shy lovers
teaching the shore how
to make the stones sing

Blithe Spirit 26.3, 2016


this is the song
of our humpback hearts
when we listen
to the ocean breathing
blood returns to water

Skylark 4.1, 2016

The Take 5ive Journal, March 2024

Theme: Inclusivity


wildfires
rage across the tundra . . .
my conscience
chooses to rescue both
predator and prey


three sisters
in hand-me-downs
cling together
at their new school . . .
together, yet apart


we adopt
the deaf Dalmatian pup
no one wanted,
so perfectly imperfect
and worthy of love

The Cherita, Book 82, January 2024

Issue: "nomad"


whiskers

on the faces
of pansies

suddenly
I am thinking
of you


on my knees

photographing
the minutiae of nature

I peel a badge
of lichen
from my skin


they told me

to keep my wishes
inside

but I am swayed
by the constancy
of dandelions

Tanka Society of America Twitter Bird Special Feature, April 2024

 Curated by Susan Burch


Day 17 - April 17, 2024


linden trees
splashed with sunlight
here and there
a few leaves turning
into yellow warblers

Suspect Device Punkzine, Number 14, May 2024

Turning Japanese: Conflict


the slip face
of a sand dune . . .
bullied child

Sonic Boom, World Collage Day 2024

My thanks to Shloka Shankar and Robin Smith for selecting the following collage for inclusion in Sonic Boom's gorgeous World Collage Day eBook (30 collages were selected from 135 submissions):




Seashores - An International Journal to Share the Spirit of Haiku, Vol. 12, April 2024

the shortest day turning into evening grosbeaks


glaze event
the caged wolf gnaws
a chip of sunlight

Sanford Goldstein Memorial Museum, May 2024

Honoured to have had the following tanka read at the opening ceremony on May 5, 2024. My thanks to Kazuaki Wakui!


this morning
i thought of you
and of how
your words flowed
into waterfalls


Ribbons, Volume 20, Number 1, Spring/Summer 2024

blue waves
of lupine ripple across
the meadow . . .
a swarm of bees
rising, falling



 

Our Best Haiga: Black & White Haiga/Haisha, May 2024

 Curated by Lavana Kray


May 3, 2024


(Note: this tanka first appeared in Red Lights 17.2, June 2021)

May 27, 2024


(Note: this tanka received an Honourable Mention in the 2023 San Francisco Haiku, Senryu and Tanka Awards)






Noon: Journal of the Short Poem, Issue 25, April 2024

banner clouds streaming my hair long gone

 

Haiga in Focus, Issue 71, May 2024

 Curated by Claudia Brefeld


Translated into German




GUSTS, Number 39, Spring/Summer 2024

tundra winds
are playful today . . .
a grey ball
of reindeer lichen
bounces over my feet


blue carpets
of speedwell soften
the ditches . . .
we pull over and take
a moment to breathe
 

Fresh Out: An Arts and Poetry Collective, May 2024

 Curated by Eric A. Lohman


Featured Artist: May 5, 2024


(note: this tanka first appeared in They Gave Us Life, 2017, in a different format)


Failed Haiku - A Journal of English Senryu, Vol. 9, Number 99, April 2024

My thanks to editor Bryan Rickert for selecting the following haiga:





Sakura Haiku Challenge Anthology - Consulate General of Japan in Toronto, 2024

The following haiga was presented online for the Sakura Haiku Challenge:




Cattails, April 2024

the veins
inside a darter's wings . . .
red quartzite


carrion crows
the group becomes
a mob


ice shards jostle
against each other
on the shore,
a symphony played
for no one but me


coins of light
freckling the footpath
to your grave . . .
our granddaughter tries
to put one in her pocket



 

Blithe Spirit, Volume 34, Number 2, May 2024

apple blossoms
the way they cup
the light


strawberry season
our turtle smacks
its red lips


an array of stars
splayed out across
the desert sky . . .
we decide to sleep
without a tent tonight


Note: This issue also contains the results and commentaries for the 2023 British Haiku Society Awards which can be accessed under the British Haiku Society tag on this blog. I was thrilled to receive Runner-up and Honourable Mention for the same tanka. My thanks to the judges, David Terelinck and Bryan Rickert.

A Fine Line: The Magazine of the New Zealand Poetry Society, Autumn 2024

busker's hat
a child offers coins
of dried lunaria

1st Place
2022 Bloodroot Haiku Award


foreclosure
a barn spider ties up
loose ends of light

Shortlisted for Presence #75 Best-of-Issue Award