Friday, August 30, 2024

#DebbieMStrangeBookmarkGratitudeProject, 2023-2024

To mark my tenth year of publishing (2013-2023), I made over 200 bookmarks and sent them to editors around the world who have been supportive of my work. I used a variety of techniques for this labour of love, such as collage, painting, mono-printing, or photography from my abstract series, "The Poetry of Light" (all the images from this exhibition can be accessed under the exhibition tab of this blog).

I am forever grateful for all the encouragement I have received over the years. Though I've been writing songs, stories, and poetry since childhood, I didn't start taking it "seriously" until my first haiku acceptance from the esteemed poet, an'ya, which changed the course of my writing life.

I have dedicated five hours a day to writing and making art over the course of this last decade. This daily meditative practice has helped mitigate the debilitating effects of chronic illness, allowing me focus on joy rather than pain!

Thousands of my poems and artworks have now been published in hundreds of journals internationally and translated into many languages, and several books of my work have been released. This journey has enriched my life beyond measure, and has exceeded my wildest dreams!

I couldn't have done any of this without the staunch support of my husband, family, friends, and the global community of short-form poets who welcomed me into the fold. There are not enough words to convey my gratitude and love. I am indeed blessed!


(note: please click on the image to enlarge it for better clarity)
 

Thursday, August 29, 2024

Geppo: The Work-Study Journal of the Yuki Teikei Haiku Society, Volume XLIX:2, May 2024

 February - April 2024


equinox snow(drops) drifting across your grave


the pace
of my breath slows . . .
rushing stream


gender bias
a boy sticks petals
to his fingernails


earth day
ivy rootlets tickling
small fingers


Spring Challenge Kigo: Rookery, Heronry


garden rookery
the sycamore fills
with shadows


Honoured to know that "gender bias" was included among Dojin Emiko Miyashita's favourites!

The Zen Space, Summer Showcase 2024

Honoured to have work selected for the showcase!

These haiga previously appeared in my 2021 Haiku Foundation HaikuLife Film, "Black Velvet":






Credits:

1) Cha No Keburi Italian Blog 2018
2) Honourable Mention, World Haiku Review 2017
3) Selected Haiku, Yamadera Basho Haiku Contest 2017
4) Judges' Favourites, Golden Triangle Contest 2018
5) Winner, Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival 2017

Wednesday, August 28, 2024

Tanka Society of America - Sanford Goldstein International Tanka Contst, 2024

My thanks to the judges, Vandana Parashar and Reid Hepworth, for selecting the following tanka for this year's contest:


an arbutus
sheds its outer bark . . .
my skin
is the only thing
holding me together


Honourable Mention
2024 Sanford Goldstein International Tanka Contest


Judges' Comments:

This tanka poignantly captures the fragility and resilience of human existence. The shedding of the arbutus tree's bark mirrors the poet's own vulnerability and a sense of raw survival, hence suggesting a deep connection with nature.


Red Lights, Vol. 20, Number 2, June 2024 (addendum)

Honoured to have work included in the final issue of Red Lights!


a cardinal
appears out of nowhere
whistling
a song that only you
could have composed


Surrendering

a sachet
of the seven herbs
clasped
between brittle palms . . .
prayers for this new year

stuffing
two fistfuls of snow
into my mouth,
throat chakra blocked
by grief that is unvoiced

on grassy banks
beside this burbling rill,
we sit in silence
for a moment before
the casting ceremony

(note: a casting ceremony involves the scattering of ashes)






The Pan Haiku Review, Issue 3, Summer 2024

Thrilled to have one sijo and one free verse poem (respectively) selected for this "challenge" issue!


Joy and Sorrow

The things I recall from childhood—horses and hay, sisters and snow.
We danced under curtains of northern lights and sang until morning.
Brushfires in their greediness eat the remnants of our past.


The Way I Remember It

Christmas Eve, lit by mothwings of snowflakes fluttering against tradition's candles, incinerated until nothing remained but an ashy wafer of poverty dissolving upon the tongue of childhood.



 

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

 Curated by Lavana Kray


August 16, 2024


(Note: this haiku received joint 1st Place in the 2024 Sharpening the Green Pencil Haiku Contest)



Kokako, Number 41, September 2024

Thrilled to have had work selected for this first digital issue!


wild turkey
a dandelion wish
in its beak


star anise
the night bazaar teeming
with fragrance


penguin rookery . . .
the precious things
we keep
within the circle
of our family


(note: honoured to have collaborated with Graham Bates, Editor-in-Chief, for the above haiga)



 

Hauling the Tide, Haiku Society of America Members' Anthology 2024

asperitas
my shape changing
with the wind

Enchanted Garden Haiku Journal, Issue 9: Amber, August 2024

Honoured to be interviewed by the editor, Steliana Voicu, in this issue! Please access this interview via the "article/about" tab on this blog, or read it here:


Also grateful to have the following work included in this issue:

Translated into Romanian

one-room school
grain dust sparking
in the sunlight




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

Featured Artist: August 11, 2024 


Note: this tanka was first published in Ribbons 19.2, 2023

Featured Artist: August 31, 2024


Note: this haiku was first published in Cattails, October 2023




Creatrix: Poetry and Haiku Journal, Number 66, September 2024

tide pool
an oystercatcher
pinches the sun


geyser steam
the vanishing act
of wild buffalo

Akitsu Quarterly, Fall/Winter 2024

labyrinth
the stones we dug
out of our fields


gorilla hail
another crop pounded
into dust
 

The Abstractaphy Initiative, August 2024

My thanks to the curator, Richard Grahn, for including my work in this initiative, "raising awareness of global concerns through a marriage of the arts":


(note: this tanka received Editor's Choice, Cattails, October 2020)


(note: this inverted monoku first appeared in Half Day Moon Journal 1, August 2023)


(note: this senryu received an HM in the 2024 H Gene Murtha Memorial Senryu Contest)


 

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

pressed flowers
the meadow I will give you
this winter

Akitsu Quarterly, Summer 2021


farm chores
this frost-fringed hole
in my mitten

Geppo XLVIII:1, February 2023

Saturday, August 03, 2024

Dwarf Stars 2024 - The Very Best Short Speculative Poems Published in 2023

Honoured to have the following work chosen for this anthology of shortlisted poems. My thanks to the editor, Brittany Hause!


peat fire
the scent markings
of other worlds

Frogpond, Issue 46.3, Autumn 2023


galactic wind the cosmos collides in our garden

Yuki Teikei Haiku Society Members' Haiga Slideshow Celebration, July 2023

Time Haiku, Number 60, August 2024

a snail finds
its second home . . .
garden cloche


savannah sparrow
I am so far away
from home


shrinking ice
polar bears swim out
of the picture


Honoured to know that the following tanka from this issue was selected as Best-of-Issue:

paper-thin roses
from your memorial . . .
I crush them
between palms that have
lost the will to pray

Triveni Haikai India, July 2024

My thanks to Daipayan Nair for selecting the following haiku for the Triveni Spotlight Feature on July 27, 2024:


earth day
the shimmering wave
of a bee colony

2nd Place, 2020 World Haiku Competition
 

The Haiku Foundation, Haiku of the Day (formerly Per Diem), July 2024

Selected by Helen Ogden for the theme of "Heat and Global Warming": July 20, 2024


beaver dam
salmon seek refuge
from the drought

Akitsu Quarterly, Spring/Summer 2024
 

Presence, Number 79, July 2024

spirit bear
a salmon leaps
beyond


northern lights
a man on skates twirls
his baby's pram


inner dialogues
become amorphous
in this frosty air
the ghosts of words
escape from my mouth


I was delighted to discover that the following haiku was shortlisted for the Best-of-Issue Award in Presence 78:


rural bus stop
a border collie waits
for his boy

Haiga in Focus, Issue 74, August 2024

 Curated by Claudia Brefeld


Translated into German





Fresh Out: An Arts and Poetry Collective, July 2024

 Curated by Eric A. Lohman


Featured Artist: July 24, 2024


(note: this tanka first appeared in Kokako 33, September 2020)



Edmonton Japanese Community Association: Spring Haiku Competition Anthology, 2024

prairie hill
the buzz inside
every crocus


lilac jelly
the last jar until
the first jar

Daily Haiku: Charlotte Digregorio's Writer's Blog, August 2024

Daily Haiku Special: August 2, 2024 on the theme of "pets"


summer fair
our dog retrieves
a lost boy

Mariposa, Number 40, Spring/Summer 2019

Contemporary Haibun Online, Issue 20.2, August 2024

Haiga Gallery: selected by Ron Moss




Bottle Rockets, Vol. 26, Number 1 (or #51), August 2024

food bank/ing on the kindness of strangers



 

Blithe Spirit, Volume 34, Number 3, August 2024

eclipse
the ravens have swallowed
their shadows


rain quenches
earth's parched throat
at last
dust turns into mud,
turns into water lilies