Our Best Haiga: Black and White Haiga/Haisha, July 2026

 Curated by Lavana Kray

July 6, 2026: "cobweb" feature

(note: this haiku first appeared in Akitsu Quarterly, Winter 2018)

July 13, 2026: Honoured that this haiga was selected as one of the best haiga/haisha submitted in July!

(note: this tanka first appeared in Presence 72, March 2020)

Triya Mag: Monsoon Edition, July/August 2026

Translated into Hindi

Honoured to have the following haiku selected as Editor's Choice:

cloudfall

mother's face softens

into sleep

Acorn, Number 56, Spring 2026

Commentary by Teji Sethi:

This haiku achieves its subtle power through contrast. The fragment, cloudfall suggests heaviness, thunder, and the forceful descent of rain. Yet in the very next phrase, the image shifts to the mother's face, softening into sleep—a gesture of quiet tenderness.

This haiku by Debbie distills a moment into three lines, embodying the essence of haikai aesthetics. It carries karumi, the lightness that allows the verse to breathe and zoka, the vital energy of nature that makes the image striking. The interplay of a storm's intensity with the gentleness of rest, creates a layered resonance. It reminds us that even within life's turbulence, there is repose.

With this evocative haiku, we open the Monsoon Edition to our readers...

Also included in this edition:

distant slopes

turning blue at twilight

the soft folds

of this tweed blanket draped

around father's shoulders

Runner-up, The Linda Jeannette Ward Tanka Award

British Haiku Society Awards, 2025

Daily Haiga: An Edited Journal of Traditional and Contemporary Haiga, August 2026

Featured Artist: August 2, 2026

Note: this tanka was first published in Eucalypt 39, 2025

Featured Artist: August 12, 2026

Note: this tanka was first published in Presence 83, 2025

Circle of Salt, August 2026

The Prophecy of Ravens

Ribbons, Volume 22, Number 1, Spring/Summer 2026

the old oak

leans against our fence

all those times

you held me up when

I was about to fall

Our Best Haiga: Black and White Haiga/Haisha, May 2026

 Curated by Lavana Kray

May 16, 2026

(note: this tanka art first appeared in Ribbons 17.2, Spring/Summer 2021)

May 31, 2026: "fly" feature (included among Selected Best/Fly for May)

(note: this haiga first appeared in Haiga in Focus #67 in colour)

Fresh Out: An Arts and Poetry Collective, May 2026

 Curated by Eric A. Lohman

Featured Artist: May 11, 2026

(note: this tanka first appeared in The Art of Tanka #1, Fall/Winter 2023)

Fireflies' Light: A Magazine of Short Poems, Issue 33, April 2026

 

Note: this tanka was first published in Red Lights 20.1, January 2024 (I inadvertently omitted the last word of the first line in this tanka art version - the sacred fire)

Note: this tanka was first published in GUSTS 25, Spring/Summer 2017

Note: this tanka was first published in Kokako 42, April 2025

Note: this tanka was first published in GUSTS 28, Fall/Winter 2018

Our Best Haiga: Black and White Haiga/Haisha, January 2026

 Curated by Lavana Kray

January 9, 2026

(note: this tanka received a Commendation in the 2020 Climate Change, the Burning Issue Contest)

January 15, 2026: "stone" feature

(note: this haiga first appeared in colour in Fireflies' Light 25, 2022)

Daily Haiga: An Edited Journal of Traditional and Contemporary Haiga, March 2026

Featured Artist: March 4, 2026

Note: this tanka was first published in Time Haiku 61, 2025

Daily Haiga: An Edited Journal of Traditional and Contemporary Haiga, February 2026

Featured Artist: February 12, 2026

Note: this tanka was first published in Cattails, October, 2024

Daily Haiga: An Edited Journal of Traditional and Contemporary Haiga, January 2026

Featured Artist: January 31, 2026

Note: this tanka was first published in Ribbons 21.1, 2025

Our Best Haiga: Black & White Haiga/Haisha, December 2025

 Curated by Lavana Kray

Honoured that this tanka art was selected as one of the best haiga/haisha submitted in December, 2025!

December 7, 2025

(Note: this tanka art first appeared in Ribbons 20.1, 2024)

Ribbons, Volume 21, Number 2, Fall/Winter 2025

Honoured to have the following tanka selected by Jim Chessing for his article, "How Tanka Mean—Some Thoughts on Content and Form: Part 2":

a raven

believed it could fly

through me

unaware that I am glass,

pretending to be sky

3rd Place, 2020 San Francisco International Tanka Competition

Our Best Haiga: Black & White Haiga/Haisha, October 2025

 Curated by Lavana Kray

October 19, 2025

(Note: this tanka first appeared in Ribbons 21.1, Spring/Summer 2025)

Daily Haiga: An Edited Journal of Traditional and Contemporary Haiga, November 2025

Featured Artist: November 6, 2025

Note: this tanka was first published in Blithe Spirit 35.2, 2025

Circle of Salt, November 2025

Diaphanous Dimension

A found gogyoshi culled from "Cullen in the Afterlife" by P.K. Page:

Ribbons, Volume 21, Number 1, Spring/Summer 2025

the way it makes me feel

sometimes

it all seems too much

to bear,

but then comes the rain

and a wood thrush singing

the scent

of petrichor through

open shutters . . .

a curtain billows

and I, too, am flying

Honoured to have the following tanka selected by Jim Chessing for his article, "How Tanka Mean—Some Thoughts on Content and Form: Part I":

I have learned

how to keep silent . . .

these pebbles

under my tongue

seasoned with rue

Cattails, April 2021

(note: "ikigai" means having a sense of purpose)

Fevers of the Mind Poetry, Art & Music: A Haiga and Tanka Art Showcase, May 2025

My thanks to the editor, David L. O'Nan for the showcase feature!

(note: this tanka received 3rd place in the 2020 San Francisco International Competition for Haiku, Senryu and Tanka)

(note: this tanka received Commended honours in the 2020 The Burning Issue Tanka Contest)

(note: this monoku received 2nd Place in the 2021 Marlene Mountain Memorial Haiku Contest)

(note: this haiga was part of my woven paper series in Whiptail, Issue 7, 2023)

(ntoe: this tanka received Commended honours in the 2020 The Burning Issue Tanka Contest)

Our Best Haiga: Black & White Haiga/Haisha, March 2025

 Curated by Lavana Kray

March 10, 2025

(note: this tanka received The Excellence Award, Second Place, in the 2024 Mt. Fuji Taisho Tanka Contest)