flute song
a hermit thrush
reveals itself
Wednesday, May 15, 2024
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
Tsuri-doro: A Small Journal of Haiku and Senryu, Issue #31, 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)
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