Humana Obscura, Issue Number 13, Summer 2025

beach grasses 

sand settles in the dunes

of my body

hymnography

the wind and waves

know how

moonwake

the path I chose

to follow

The Singing Sands

Best of Geppo: 1978-2024, 2025

Grateful to have the following photograph included in this lovely anthology:

Bespangled

 

(note: this photograph was included among my featured artist selections in Geppo XLVII:2, 2022)

Humana Obscura, Issue Number 11, Winter 2024

winter solstice

your lantern disappears

over the hill

featherweight

#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)
 

Humana Obscura, Issue Number 9, Summer 2024

Thrilled to have two photographs and a haiku selected for this issue!

Impending

The Way of Windflowers

Honoured to know that the editor has nominated the following haiku from this issue for a Touchstone Award:

solar eclipse

the loon's call echoes

then fades

Cold Moon Journal, July 2024

Grateful to have "The Blur of Seasons" series featured on July 5, 2024. My special thanks to the editor, Roberta Beach Jacobson! The phrases in this series are culled from my book, "Warp and Weft: Tanka Threads".

 

Humana Obscura, Issue Number 8, Spring 2024

Thrilled to have the following photograph selected for this issue!

Taking Leave

Humana Obscura, Issue Number 7, September 2023

Grateful to the editor, Bri Bruce, for choosing me as the Featured Artist for this issue with selections from my blurred image series, "Indistinct/ion", which explores the disability challenges (tremors and impaired vision) facing this photographer :

A Touch of Snow

Following the Light

Mellowing

The Turning Season

Plum Tree Tavern, Winter Haiku, 2023

Frostwork

The Wombwell Rainbow, January 2023

National Hat Day Feature: January 15, 2023

(note: this tanka placed first in the 2016 Mandy's Pages Annual Tanka Contest)

Jalmurra, November 2022

Featured Artist: November 23, 2022

Eight Windows Into Autumn

 

The Wombwell Rainbow, September 2022

My thanks to the curator, Paul Brookes, for selecting the following tanka art for the "Synergy" Photography feature:

(note: this tanka placed third in the 2020 San Francisco International Tanka Competition)

Artist's statement:

This photo was taken under a bridge on the frozen Red River in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. Every winter, there are art installations along the river skating trail. This one caught my attention because it reminded me of a gravestone, and of the time a crow shattered my window, losing its life in the process. The raven is symbolic in many cultures, and the tanka represents the way chronically ill people (myself included) often try to hide their infirmities ("pretending to be sky") to avoid making others feel uncomfortable.

Geppo: The Haiku Work-Study Journal of the Yuki Teikei Haku Society, Volume XLVII: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

Hedgerow Poems, Number 133, Autumn 2020

 

Haigaonline, January 2021

Winter Gallery

Solst(ice)

Solstice arrives with a frosting of ice on our waterways. I am enchanted by the work of wind, sunlight, and human hands, as they polish and sculpt glassy surfaces into luminosity. When deep snow arrives, this icy beauty disappears from sight for a few months. Come the spring, it shines anew for a short while, before melting into ether and earth.

 

Cattails, October 2020

Thrilled to provide the cover and interior butterfly photos for this issue! My thanks to Mike Montreuil for the invitation.

Cover

Tanka Section

watermarks

paint the canyon walls . . .

my chanting

reverberates until

I am one with sound

by and by

I promise to tell you

everything

but for now, let us listen . . .

nature is speaking

Editor's Choice

It's strictly coincidence that two of my Editor's Choice selections are written by Canadians. This one, by Debbie Strange, drew me in with its musical 'by and by' followed by a hint that she might be ready to share a secret. Who can resist reading further?

Each line is a coherent thought or phrase and slips easily into the following line without confusion. The form is fairly traditional, with its s/l/s/l/l/ sound and appearance on the page ... and that works well for me. I also like the human element combined with nature.

The change of direction when we arrive at the mid-line comma works well. We discover we're not going to hear 'everything'; instead, we have to listen. I doubt that readers will expect what's to come in line 5, but what a delightful surprise with which to conclude this engaging tanka.

I suspect some people would say punctuation is not needed. Technically, maybe it isn't. However, I find the comma and ellipsis slow me down, give me time to be still, become calm, and to open my ears and really listen.

—Susan Constable

Haiku Section

freezing fog

the intermittent embers

of rose hips

Senryu Section

global warming

the extinction event

of snowmen

Haibun Section

Youth Section

The following haiga was also included in this issue:

 

Mouth Full of Stones - eBook, Title IX Press (now Moth Orchid Press), 2020

Thrilled to have my free eBook, Mouth Full of Stones, published by Title IX Press! 

This book of haikai is comprised of dark subject matter and black-and-white photographs.

https://e7b207b8-f70d-4a2b-9a92-95e280e7fb92.filesusr.com/ugd/8a417d_0a9850e7f6794b51a04bbc244287cb2d.pdf

"In Mouth Full of Stones, Debbie Strange, a multi-award winning short-form poet, explores the hard truths about life in our current world. She tackles a wide range of topics from poverty to addiction, aging to grief, gender issues to abuse, and climate change to natural catastrophes. Debbie masterfully probes these subjects, spinning gut-wrenching poems with multiple layers of meaning. From one page to the next, readers will find themselves confronting their own vulnerabilities, scars, and dark secrets."

—Christine L. Villa, author of The Bluebird's Cry, and editor of Velvet Dusk Publishing, Frameless Sky, and Ribbons

The Wombwell Rainbow, June-July 2020

Thank you to curator, Paul Brookes!


June 23, 2020 - on the theme of wasps and bees

the argument
escalates all night
inside me
these paper-thin walls
only meant for wasps

Wild Voices, April 2017


I inhale
and my lungs fill up
with bees
though all hope is lost
there is still this hum

Hedgerow Poems 100, December 2016

June 24, 2020 - on the theme of ants

an ant
pushing the universe
up this hill
in a water droplet
I find my inner strength

Atlas Poetica 25, July 2016


a black river
of ants surges across
the pavement
they know their destination
long before I know mine

Honourable Mention, 2019 British Haiku Society Tanka Awards


June 25, 2020 - on the theme of beetles

the graffiti
of firefly stars at dusk
we follow
until our eyes adjust
to the narrative of night

Earth: Our Common Ground, April 2017

June 26, 2020 - on the theme of butterflies

in my garden
a gatekeeper butterfly
basks in the sun
I cover my pale body
only coming out at night

Cattails, September 2016


it was
as if she were
a butterfly
the way words flew
from her open hands

Cattails, April 2018


we once played
in this tangled garden,
enchanted
by the quiet fireworks
of bergamot and butterflies

Atlas Poetica 36, February 2019

Otata 36, December 2018

Incense Dreams 3.1, October 2019

June 27, 2020 - on the theme of moths

she is suspended

between here and gone

a cobweb

catching the light

of this moth-winged life

A Hundred Gourds 4.1, December 2014

a hammock

of tent caterpillars

sags with dew . . .

our differing opinions

on the nature of beauty

Atlas Poetica Special Feature, January 2018

bind my body

with spanworm silk

lay me down

in a shaded garden

until I turn to earth

Atlas Poetica Special Feature, August 2019

Failed Haiku Journal of Senryu Vol. 3, Issue 33, September 2019

June 28, 2020 - on the theme of flies and other sundry insects

dead houseflies

litter my windowsill

blindsided

not even compound eyes

see the way out of here

Undertow Tanka Review 7, September 2015

June 29, 2020 - on the theme of spiders

a spider web

strummed by soft breezes . . .

we can

almost hear the song

of morning dew

Ephemerae 1C, November 2018

July 4, 2020 - on the theme of meadows

the meadow

astir with blue skimmers

their wings

darning these placid days

into our histories

Ripples in the Sand, Tanka Society of America Membersߴ Anthology 2016

Frameless Sky 12, June 2020