Kokako, Number 43, September 2025

Grateful to have a lovely review of "Random Blue Sparks" by the editor, Graham Bates, included in this issue. It can be accessed under the book's title tab of this blog.

homelessness

the driftwood's hole

filled with a stone

rime ice

the spikes of burrs

grow longer

childhood days

spent digging for treasure

on the beach

you still wear the pendant

I made from pirate glass

the wind

strumming ocean waves

what music

do you have in store

for me tomorrow

#FemkuMag, Issue 39, Summer 2025

fogged in

a friend jumps off the bridge

to nowhere

bully culture

six coyotes surround

a mule deer

if we had one

to call our own . . .

star nursery

Note: this issue also includes a lovely review of Random Blue Sparks. It can be accessed under the Random Blue Sparks tab of this blog. My deepest thanks to Rowan Beckett Minor for the sensitive reading and commentary.

 

Seashores - An International Journal to Share the Spirit of Haiku, Vol. 14, April 2025

My thanks to guest editors K.J. Munro and Sherry Grant for selecting the following work:

coming rain

the frogs croak

louder

black sand beach

a chunk of ice

holds the sky

flagstone path

empty spaces softened

by moss

I'm beyond grateful to Tim Dwyer for his lovely review of Random Blue Sparks in this issue. The review can be accessed under the Random Blue Sparks tab of this blog.

Haiku Canada Shohyoran Book Review Column 4:23, A New Resonance 12: Emerging Voices in English-Language Haiku, 2021

Honoured that Pearl Pirie mentioned my work in her September 6, 2021 review of A New Resonance 12 (Red Moon Press 2021) - Jim Kacian and Julie Warther, Editors:

Debbie Strange has a painterly picture (p. 164) that is fresh-seeing.

alpenglow

a pika gathers stems

of light

We know that moment where the highlights are blown into pure light even without eyes, in a backlit autumn field. I appreciate the specificity of pika, as if a rebuttal to the argument that only common nouns that are the theoretical construct of "universal" serve haiku.

 

Haiku Canada Shohyoran Book Review Column 4:4, Dance into the World, Tanka Society of America Members' Anthology, 2020

Honoured that Dave Read mentioned my work in his February 26, 2021 review of Dance into the World, the 2020 Tanka Society of America Members' Anthology - Michael Dylan Welch, Editor:

Similarly, many of the tanka about the pandemic in "Garden of Dwindling Petals" shine:

sprites flash

across purpling skies

for a moment

I forget the grim state

of this locked-down life

Strange's tanka, on the other hand, is about a moment of distraction. However, that moment is brief. Even in watching the "sprites flash / across purpling skies", the narrator is not far from her awareness of the pandemic. The poem's force hinges on the word "grim" which jettisons the reader back to the reality of "this locked-down life". 

Haiku Canada Shohyoran Book Review Column 3:1, Wales Haiku Journal, Winter 2019-2020

Honoured that Sandra Stephenson mentioned my work in her February 17, 2021 review of the Wales Haiku Journal, Winter 2019-2020 - Paul Chambers, Editor:

Of the poems, open and totally accessible with a good-sized serif typeface, many are note-worthy, Canadian Debbie Strange's egg that didn't open caught my eye...

the egg

that didn't open . . .

waning moon

Ribbons, Volume 17, Number 3, Fall 2021

My thanks to Jenny Ward Angyal for her lovely review of The Language of Loss: Haiku & Tanka Conversations. It may be accessed via the book title's tab of this blog.

a whisper

of moths circling

the beacon

it is much too late

for sirens

My thanks to Ryland Shengzhi Li for including my work in his essay, Gifts of Tanka: An Essay on Structure:

"The event-and-response structure comprises an event, state, or thing paired with a response...

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)

Here, the event comprises the first two lines of the ocean in a rage last night, while the response, today's peace offerings, comes in the last three lines. What follows rage is not destruction, as one might expect, but offerings of peace.

Although the words of the poem focus on the ocean, they also invite the reader to infer meanings about human life. The poem suggests a mood of hopeful expectation in a dire situation, perhaps reconciliation after a fight. If even the ocean, the vastest thing on earth, can resolve rage with peace offerings, how much more so we human beings. In this sense, the poem's description of the ocean gives us perspective and grounding in our own life, while relating the ocean to human affairs helps us see the ocean with greater familiarity. The poem also suggests the impermanence of all things: even a strong emotion like rage will eventually wane and be pacified. The "peace offerings" here are also food items, often used to cultivate peace between humans.

 

Haiku Canada Review, Volume 15, Number 2, October 2021

(ir)rational thinking you might even be right

clear conscience

a loon's call drifts

into morning

This issue includes a lovely review by Pearl Pirie of Prairie Interludes. It may be accessed via the book title's tab of this blog.

My thanks to Maxianne Berger for mentioning my work in her review of Window Seats: A Contemporary Anthology of Cat Haiku & Senryu, edited by Stanford M. Forrester:

There are cats who have no homes, and cats who do.

pussy willows

the swollen bellies

of feral cats

(note: this haiku was originally published in Acorn 32, Spring 2014)

 

Frogpond, Vol. 44, Number 3, Autumn 2021

wolf pack

our social glue

u n s t i c k s

This issue includes Kristen Lindquist's lovely review of The Language of Loss: Haiku & Tanka Conversations:

https://www.hsa-haiku.org/frogpond/2021-issue44-3/Strange-Review-Frogpond44-3.pdf

My thanks to Kristen for taking the time to write such a thoughtful and appreciative review! A transcript of her review may be accessed under this blog's tab for The Language of Loss.

This issue also includes Randy Brooks' wonderful review of A New Resonance 12:

https://www.hsa-haiku.org/frogpond/2021-issue44-3/Kacian-Review-NewResonance12-Frogpond44-3.pdf 

My thanks to Randy for the following excerpt regarding my work:

Debbie Strange is a master at setting a scene, then inviting the reader to settle in for a story. She doesn't provide the end of the story, but just enough to get us anticipating or imagining possibilities. We get the gist and feel the feeling of the tale:

porch swing

songs where we least

expect them

This issue also includes the results of the 2021 Haiku Society of America Merit Book Awards for books published in 2020. My thanks to the judges, Ce Rosenow and Bryan Rickert for awarding The Language of Loss: Haiku & Tanka Conversations an honourable mention in this contest! Their comments follow:

True to its name, Debbie Strange's The Language of Loss explores the many facets of loss and survival using both haiku and tanka. One haiku and one tanka are paired beautifully on every page. Never predictable and always revealing, this book delivers consistent quality from start to finish.

Blithe Spirit, Vol. 31, Number 2, May 2021

My thanks to Colin Blundell for the wonderful review of The Language of Loss: Haiku & Tanka Conversations, which may be accessed under the book's tab!

pleats of light

fold into the valley . . .

mountain goats

moving away

the liquid whistle

of a bobwhite

waterfalls

everywhere we look

even the smallest

leaves its signature

on this mountain

Note: This issue also contains the results and commentaries for the 2020 British Haiku Society Awards, which may be accessed under the British Haiku Society tag on this blog. I was thrilled to receive an Honourable Mention in the annual tanka contest. My thanks to the judge, Michael McClintock.

 

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

 

Haiku Canada Review, Vol. 15, Number 1, February 2021

mittensmitten

idle tractor

puddles of sunset

in every furrow

Note: This issue includes a lovely review by Sandra Stephenson of The Language of Loss: Haiku & Tanka Conversations. It may be accessed via the book title's tab of this blog.

Atlas Poetica, Number 37, 2019

Patricia Prime of New Zealand has written a lovely review of Three-Part Harmony: Tanka Verses for this issue. It may be accessed via the "Books and Reviews" page of this blog.

It was my honour to be invited to write a tanka sequence with the esteemed poet, an'ya, for this issue. My work appears in italics...


of kindred spirits

far apart
but soulful singing
keeps us close
sisters of the salt
on pendulum tides

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

a sailor's sky
making the briny blue
palette purple
you are my second self
an ama freediver

kindred spirits
we take flight below
the waterline
bodies like quicksilver
among shoals of herring

november gale
mother mary's petrels
seeking shelter
we travel side by side
reflections in the surf

burnished
by pelagic winds
our bones
come to rest at day's end
upon each other's shores

GUSTS, Number 29, Spring/Summer 2019

Honoured to have a lovely review of Three-Part Harmony: Tanka Verses included in this issue. It may be accessed via its tab on this blog. My gratitude to Maxianne Berger!


the gleam
of copper birches
in sunlight . . .
she wears her wounds
with gravitas


rainbows
spin from the crest
of a wave . . .
I wish we'd had more
time to say goodbye


the borrowed
identities of frogs
and butterflies . . .
sometimes she cannot
recognize my face

Skylark, Vol. 6, Number 2, Winter 2018

the folded wings
of blue butterflies
appear drab
sometimes we overlook
our own brilliance


I meet
the yellow gaze
of a she-wolf
how primal this need
for connection


the egg sacs
of pirate spiders
d a n g l e
like golden lockets
full of promises

Note: This issue also contains a lovely review of Three-Part Harmony: Tanka Threads by Jenny Ward Angyal which may be accessed via the "Books and Reviews" page of this blog.

Kokako, Number 28, April 2018

thunderheads above the prairie red-tailed hawks


polar night
a snowy owl fades
to black


how tender
the kiss of snowflakes
upon my lips
these fragile wishes
that you were still mine


he bows
his cello like a prayer
for lost souls
music calls to us
across the abyss


Note: This issue also includes a lovely review of A Year Unfolding by Patricia Prime which may be accessed on the "Books and Reviews" page of this blog.

Ribbons, Volume 13, Number 3, Fall 2017

I can hear
clouds rustling against
taffeta skies . . .
my senses sharper
since you went away

Note:

This issue also contains a lovely review of my book, Warp and Weft: Tanka Threads (Michelle Brock, Australia). It may be accessed in  the "Books & Reviews" section of this blog.

Cattails, January 2016

dusty sky

refugees make kites

from plastic bags

bagpipes skirl

across the prairie

Dad goes home

midnight sun

will you miss me

when I'm gone

in the hills

cattle lowing between

silences

aftermath

a skunk forages

in fireweed

the dry ache

of a long goodbye

how do we

reach the other side

with the bridge washed out

Tanka Editor's Choice:

This Editor's Choice is by Debbie Strange from Canada, and it demonstrates a songlike rhythm which is pleasing to the ear and desirable in the tanka form. However I chose it not only for the melody but for its contents and its juxtaposition as well. Representative of an aching heart after a long goodbye, we are left to wonder how to reach the other side with the bridge washed out. Metaphoric in its content, leaves a reader to believe in that old saying that "love always finds a way".

—UHTS cattails tanka editor an'ya, USA

Note: This issue also contains a lovely review of Warp and Weft, Tanka Threads by an'ya which may be accessed via the book's title page of this blog.

Skylark, Vol. 4, Number 1, Summer 2016

ease me down
into cool waters
plait my hair
with green willow roots
make of me your anchor


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

Note: This issue also contains a lovely review of Warp and Weft, Tanka Threads by Jenny Ward Angyal which may be accessed via the "Books and Reviews" page of this blog.

Atlas Poetica, Number 24, March 2016

newly planted
evening-scented stock
at the end
of this careworn day
the sweetness of night


late harvest
the roar of combines
all night long
looming through grain dust
there be dragons


how we longed
for the circus to come
one last chance
to hang by our heels
from the high-wire moon


white-tailed deer
between tamaracks
our past
e l o n g a t i n g
with each golden hour


a black dog
slavers at the edges
of my mind
is there no escaping
this inevitable defeat


drum circle
my heart pounding
in my mouth
these words that taste of blood
and sound like thunder


she is small-boned
with beautiful plumage
this tanka bird
whose every short song
lifts us into glory

(for Kathabela Wilson)


Midnight Shift


Winter nights are never quiet when I spend them alone, brooding in bed like an egg in a nest of down.

A plane drones overhead. In rising winds, evergreen branches scratch messages against the windowpane.

Our clock chimes on the hour. The dog's nails tap dance across hardwood before she settles down with a sigh. The furnace grumbles through its cycles, struggling to keep bone-rattling temperatures at bay. My body tenses as a sharp crack splits the air. This old house speaks its own language, and the strings of my guitar respond with sympathetic vibrations.

the sound of tires
squeaking on new snow
a winter bird
rises from her rest
fluffing up her feathers


Note: This issue also contains a lovely review of Warp and Weft, Tanka Threads by Maxianne Berger which may be accessed via the "Books and Reviews" page of this blog.