Daily Haiku: Dec. 2, 2020

cradled

on my paper boat

the moon

 

 

by Nisha Raviprasad (India)

Christmas Poem by Alan Harris

Santa’s Interior Monologue

Boy, it’s dark.

Sure is cold.

Housetop–whoa, boys!

Got the bag.

Suck it in.

Down the chimney.

There’s the tree.

Gifts out of bag.

Stockings are here.

Stuff ’em.

Eat the cookies.

Drink the milk.

Wink.

Suck it in.

Up the chimney.

Ready, boys–away!

Sure is cold.

Boy, it’s dark.

 

(Repeat a billion times.)

 

by Alan Harris (USA)

Daily Haiku: Dec. 1, 2020

lunar eclipse 

something about me

you don’t know

 

 

by Carmela Marino (Italy)

 

FemkuMag, Jan. 6, 2020

Daily Haiku: Nov. 30, 2020

flash of light

rips open a dream–

night storm

 

 

 

by Jeffrey Winke (USA)

Walking the Same Path

Haiku Society of America 2004 Members’ Anthology

Daily Haiku: Nov. 29, 2020

at the edge

of the rising flood–

lone winter heron

 

 

by Sharon Hammer Baker (USA)

Walking the Same Path

Haiku Society of America 2004 Members’ Anthology

 

Daily Haiku: Nov. 28, 2020

mist

rolling up the mountain

yellow snapdragons

 

by Donna Fleischer (USA)

Modern Haiku, 35:1, 2004

Daily Haiku: Nov. 27, 2020

with each feeding
the homeless cat
comes closer

 

 

 

by Howard Lee Kilby (USA)

 

Daily Haiku: Nov. 26, 2020

sweeping away
the sand from the steps
sweeping away summer



by Claudia Coutu Radmore (Canada)
Basho Festival Anthology, 2004

For Pet Lovers

It’s Just Shep and Me

 

Shep and I took a long walk this morning,

something was bothering her.

 

She seemed uneasy. She stopped

to pee more often than usual.

 

We talked as we walked,

about trees, about bones, about life.

 

Our discussions usually get pretty deep.

Most of what Shep says makes a lot of sense.

 

Recently she’s become aware

that I’ve been having chest pains.

 

I hadn’t mentioned it to her,

I didn’t want her to worry.

 

It seems she’s as concerned for me as I am for her.

Her big brown eyes seldom let me out of their sight.    

 

I told her I’d be okay,

everything would be fine.

 

She heard that from me last year when my wife

was so sick, now she doesn’t believe me anymore.

 

I just don’t want her to think

it’s serious.

 

After we got home I sat down and practiced the talk

I always thought we would have if I ever had to tell Shep goodbye.

 

 

by Curt Vevang (USA)

 

 

Daily Haiku: Nov. 25, 2020

migrating geese . . .

all the smiling faces

in the obituaries

 

 

 

by Marilyn Appl Walker (USA)

Modern Haiku, Vol. 44.3, Fall 2013

Poem by Robert Mucci

Jumping Jeremy Jericho

by Robert Mucci

 

Jumping Jeremy Jericho

Rode his horse a gray calico

Down through the glen

To the very end

For that’s as far as his horse would go.

 

 

No finer horse was he so fond

They stopped to drink at meadow’s pond

Down through the glen

To the very end

Horse and rider forged friendship’s bond.

 

 

Soon the sun began to set

The night would e’er be in its debt

Down through the glen 

To the very end

Homeward bound they soon would get.

 

 

Galloping by the glen’s lagoon

One silhouette ‘neath the crescent moon

Down through the glen 

To the very end

A summer’s night in the month of June.

 

 

Gliding together through night’s air

Above grassy knoll and flowers fair.

Down through the glen

To the very end

They rode the wind without a care.

 

 

The story has grown to be quite old

The myth often spoken is retold

Down through the glen

To the very end

Forged friendships greater than pure gold.

 

 

So tragic all the townsfolk say

The pair did not come home that day

So they searched down through the glen

To the very end

For Jeremy and his beloved grey.

 

 

Even today there’ll be some who cry

Such hallowed friendships ne’er die,

Saying look down through the glen

To the very end

For clues they gallop in the sky.

 

 

On clear summer nights you may strain to see

Constellations most heavenly!

Down through the glen

To the very end

A calico horse and Jeremy.

 

                                           

 

                                                 

 

Daily Haiku: Nov. 24, 2020

dandelion tufts . . .

the wind leaves them

on my curls

 

 

 

by Nisha Raviprasad (India)

 

Daily Haiku: Nov. 23, 2020

the sun glints on his revolver a falling leaf

 

 

 

 

by Chen-ou Liu (Canada/Taiwan)

Modern Haiku, Vol. 44.3, Fall 2013

 

Daily Haiku: Nov. 22, 2020

senryu

 

 

 

thrift store puzzle

the holes

you can never fill

 

 

by Annette Makino (USA)

Modern Haiku, Vol. 44.3, Fall 2013

 

A Lifeline: Reading and Writing

Whether we are religious or not, our spirituality is often rooted in the writing we do. We observe things around us and in nature, and we write about them. We write from the heart, and in doing so, we enter the space of others.

Through our writing, we face our challenges and losses. Initially, in writing about them, it’s as if they slap us across the face. But later, we find that this has been a healing exercise.

During the pandemic, we have learned that there is much to be grateful for. We look for a happy moment or two each day, and we can usually find one.

As creative writers, we value telling our stories through poetry or other genres. Each one of us is unique in telling our story. Our writing is often empathetic. We provide hope for the future and share with readers to face the uncertainties that preoccupy them. We allow them a diversion, or even to experience fun through our writing on a serious theme.

While we shelter at home, we are making more use of writing and reading books, returning to a simpler way of entertaining and enriching ourselves. We need the arts now, to feel the beauty of the human spirit through creative expression.

I miss traveling, and although it’s a cliche, I can often travel anywhere through a book.

Of course, writing and reading is escapism, as we get lost in the activity that requires our full mental attention. We need distractions from pandemic news of the growing number of people infected. Although we don’t visit friends, thankfully, through technology, we can visit them and other friends made on social media, so that we don’t lose total human contact.

Today, through a Zoom program with writers, I am reading a poem that I recently won an award for. It is about one of my favorite artists. And like the poem’s title, we should all capture the moment.

 

Capturing the Moment   (In Memory of Vivian Maier)

 

by Charlotte Digregorio

 

Tall, plain with cropped hair,

in and out of eyeshot, she cradles

a box camera, savoring

Chicago’s street theatre.

 

On a gritty sidewalk, sitting alone,

worn laborer with dusty hands

eats a sandwich from its torn wrapper.

 

 

A carefree boy rolls a car tire

without a wobble.

 

Plump woman, hair in curlers, walks

with poise among passing strangers.

 

Smug and nifty, another woman,

azure eyes, color of her necklace,

flaunts her orange hat, matching coat.

 

A man buries his face in his knees

with his arm over his cap,

cocooned from hunger

and perhaps, shame.

 

Ready for a fun outing,

six kids laugh, crammed into

a station wagon with Grandma.

 

On the bus, old husband and wife

in their orbit, doze to the wheels’ hum,

her head on his shoulder,

face hidden under his wide brim hat.

 

 

With a cast of the 1950s and 60s,

the artist tells strangers’ stories,

dawn until dusk, through her keen lens,

when not sustaining herself as a hurried nanny.

 

She captures ordinary ironies

idling by, lost to others in their daily blur.

 

Copyright 2020 by Charlotte Digregorio.

 

Free Verse by Maureen Weldon

RING

Having sold it

for more than it was worth –

 

I bought a ticket –

Return Day Dublin.

 

On the way home,

laughing into my drink.

 

Third finger left hand

for a moment so grand.

 

 

by Maureen Weldon (Wales)

Atrium, Feb. 14, 2020

 

 

Daily Haiku: Nov. 21, 2020

freshly raked sand . . .

the morning open

to reinvention

 

by Angela Terry (USA)

Mariposa, 34, Spring/Summer 2016

 

Free Verse about Art

Madame Matisse’s Hat

by Sally Hewitt

 

 

He didn’t like Madame Matisse’s Hat

pointed his Picasso nose in the air,

harrumphing,

and made the hand gesture for time-out,

thus I had to break my concentration,

my absorption in form and vibrant colors,

and trudge out of the museum with him.

 

 

By then I was adept at multitasking

and asked him what was the bother

about the painting while trying to draw

its outline in my mind. He simply shrugged

his Modigliani shoulders, shuddering

at the thought of what he called the

green painting with lopsided hat.

 

 

Finally, he said, “People don’t have green

faces.” Dumbfounded, until I remembered

this is a man who sees chemical equations

as art, lines his toothpicks in a tidy row,

and whose face appears green right this

very minute: blue-green with tints of pink,

orange, yellow, maroon, teal, and lavender.

 

 

How can he be blind to the rainbow of colors

in our everyday lives? He’d ask me why I am

blind to chemical and atomic reactions

in our daily lives, and he’d have a point. So, I

leave him on the bench, a Rodin subject

contemplating physics,

and return to my absolute absorption of beauty:

the juxtaposition of glorious colors and the

uncomplicated forms of Matisse’s

Femme au chapeau.

 

 

Published in The Rockford Review, Winter-Spring 2017

Daily Haiku: Nov. 20, 2020

her skin not a petal yet in bloom

 

 

 

by Tom Sacramona (USA)

on down the road

 

Haiku Society of America

2017 Members’ Anthology

Daily Haiku: Nov. 19, 2020

 

 

albatross drifting across my daydream

 

 

 

by Roberta Beary (Ireland/USA)

seashores, Vol. 5, November 2020

 

Daily Haiku: Nov. 18, 2020

summer clouds

wild chrysanthemums

untouched

 

 

 

by Dorna Hainds (USA)

Frameless Sky

 

Daily Haiku: Nov. 17, 2020

a butterfly rests 

on a tender blossom

how intense the refracted light

 

by Guy Stephenson (Ireland)

(In homage to Bashō)

Daily Haiku: Nov. 16, 2020

her rant an express train speeds through

 

 

 

by Jay Friedenberg (USA)

One Rock Out of Place

The Haiku Foundation, 2014

Daily Haiku: Nov. 15, 2020

robin’s egg blue

how my father would have loved

my son

 

 

 

by Robyn Hood Black (USA)

Acorn, #29, Fall 2012

Improve Your Writing & Get More Published!

 

 Below are reviews of Haiku and Senryu: A Simple Guide for All.

Just in time for the holidays, I’m making a special offer to my readers and followers living in the U.S. If you buy one copy of this classic book directly from me, you will receive free shipping with your signed copy. If you order one copy of this book and also a copy of my book, Ripples of Air: Poems of Healing, you’ll not only get free shipping, but also a $5 discount off your total purchase. Each reference book retails for $19.95.

Don’t delay, as this special offer will expire Dec. 5, 2020. You may contact me directly at c-books@hotmail.com with questions.

An option for both domestic and international customers is to buy these books through Amazon.

An altogether brilliant work that must be read by anyone with so much as a passing interest in haiku. Charlotte Digregorio has penned a masterpiece! She has written the definitive guide to one of poetry’s most fascinating genres. This work belongs on the bookshelf of any poet who is serious about writing the kind of haiku that editors want to publish.

-–John J. Dunphy, Author and Poet, Touching Each Tree 

This book is overall the best one out there on the subject. The amount of information is extraordinary and exceeds that found in any other book. In particular, the commentaries on selected poems are very good, intelligent, and sensitive, and really place keys into the hands of readers for unlocking the mysteries and joys of haiku literature–from its roots in Japan to its present robust evolution in English and other languages.

-–Michael McClintock, Award-Winning Author/Editor of Haiku & Tanka Books

Former President of The Tanka Society of America

If a book about haiku inspires the reader to create haiku, then Charlotte Digregorio’s Haiku and Senryu guide has done its job bountifully. Digregorio calls this “A Simple Guide for All” and she isn’t kidding. Her basic instruction simplifies the process of writing haiku without sacrificing the beauty and the pleasure that are essential. The examples of well-known haikuists shimmer with perfection! If you are interested in pursuing this lovely, subtle art form, THIS is the guide you need. Fantastic guide! I can’t believe how much I learned.

-–Robin Stratton, Editor, Boston Literary Magazine

 

Haiku and Senryu: A Simple Guide for All is exactly what it says it is: a way into the reading, writing and publishing of the world’s favorite genre. Premised on the idea that one doesn’t need to be a professional poet to enjoy it, Haiku and Senryu will inform you on why poets and non-poets alike love the genre; how to read them for maximum enjoyment; where they came from; how to organize them; and how to get them into print and other people’s heads. Whether a newbie or a seasoned veteran, you’re sure to come away with a deeper appreciation of the genre. And it’s also a considerable anthology of some of the best English-language haiku to be found.

–The Haiku Foundation

 

A strong overview of haiku. A wealth of material on how to introduce and teach haiku to children, college students, and interested adults. For busy teachers the material will make it easier to provide guidance to their students. Any teacher would be thrilled for the helpful guidance, examples, and tools for presenting the form to the next generation. The pain and work involved in creating one’s own lesson plans is gone with the author’s well-honed presentations. The bibliography also contains a wealth of material. Buy a copy for teachers, students, or interested poets and just tell them to read it. This volume will not steer them wrong, and gives any reader something with meat to hang their hat on while they discover or further explore haiku. It will remain on my shelf.

–Mike Rehling, Book Reviewer, United Haiku and Tanka Society

Marvelous book! Marvelous insight. I truly enjoyed this book, being wonderfully surprised by the new information I didn’t know. The chapter on teaching haiku was especially great, since I’ve taught it, but by a different method. And, Charlotte Digregorio’s haiku often evoke a chuckle of wry recognition or stop you dead in your tracks from awe. She seems well acquainted with the quotidian’s variety of her days, from homeless folk, to nature’s evocation and to loss and sorrow.

-–Donna Bauerly, Professor Emeritus, Loras College

An energetic and comprehensive guide by a prolific writer and educator with insightful perspectives and a generous sampling of published haiku and senryu. This practical guide is delivered in a relaxed, conversational tone so that the lessons and examples are informative and easily accessible. Extensive appendices and bibliography.

–Frogpond, Journal of the Haiku Society of America

This book will hook the beginning reader and leave them wanting more. The book demystifies the genre. It offers haiku that are accessible and doable. The “Getting Published” section offers some good tips on submitting to and building a relationship with editors. The large reference section with bibliography of educational books, anthologies, collections, journals, and websites will be of great value to beginning readers.

–Paul Miller, Editor of Modern Haiku journal

I honor the work Charlotte Digregorio has done on behalf of English-language haiku in Haiku and Senryu: A Simple Guide for All. She has a gift for writing clearly, concentrating on what matters beyond passing controversy.

–Dr. Robert Epstein, Psychologist

Author, Checkout Time is Noon: Death Awareness Haiku 

 

I highly recommend Haiku and Senryu: A Simple Guide for All. Comprehensive!

-–Denis Garrison, Author, Fire Blossoms: The Birth of Haiku Noir

 Editor, Modern English Tanka Press

 

A great beginner’s guide that presents/explains the spirit and essence of haiku.

-–Mike Montreuil, Haiku and Tanka Publisher, Editions des petits nuages

First Vice President, Haiku Society of America

Anyone can benefit from this book’s simple, clear advice. Digregorio offers time-tested, yet fresh and flexible pedagogy–actual lesson plans for those who wish to teach haiku. Intermediate and advanced practitioners will benefit from reminders of simple concepts long forgotten or never learned. We are given new ways to think about the poetry we read.

—Speed Bump Journal

 

Offers excellent advice on haiku writing. It is a great book and has helped many of us in our haiku journey, and doubtless will for many years to come.

–Andy McLellan, Poet and Author, birth/stones: Selected Haiku and Haibun

Don’t Miss This Holiday Special!

Just in time for the holidays, I’m making a special offer to my readers and followers living in the U.S. If you buy one copy of Ripples of Air: Poems of Healing directly from me, you will receive free shipping with your signed copy. If you order one copy of this book and a copy of my book, Haiku and Senryu: A Simple Guide for All, you’ll not only get free shipping but also a $5 discount off your total purchase. Each reference book retails for $19.95.

Don’t delay as this special offer will expire Dec. 5, 2020. You may contact me directly at c-books@hotmail.com with questions.

An option for both domestic and international customers is to buy these books through Amazon.

Here are some of the latest reviews of my new poetry/reference book, Ripples of Air: Poems of Healing. (236 pages). Thanks to all of you who’ve taken the time to read my book and  to comment! Much appreciated! Keep writing . . .

Best Wishes,

Charlotte Digregorio

P.S.  Publisher’s Book Summary follows the reviews.

Ripples of Air: Poems of Healing comes in a year when healing is in even greater demand than usual. In this book, we not only get a well-written poetry collection that promotes healing, but a how-to guide for writing poetry that aids healing. As I read it, I often paused to implement Digregorio’s suggestions, jotting down poems of my own, and filled several pages. The author is particularly well known as an authority on the Japanese forms of haiku and senryu, and many of the poems in this book follow them. Others are in free verse and a dozen other forms. The collection is structured into sections containing poems about various subjects you can consider writing about. Each section is introduced by a page of prose that includes the author’s sage comments on why the subject is relevant and how the poems influence healing. The poems and writing advice are clear, accessible, and beautifully lyrical. Her point seems to be: look, you can do this. I highly recommend this book.

–Richard Allen Taylor, Author of Armed and Luminous

Book Reviewer, The Main Street Rag

WE NEED THIS BOOK!! Who among us has not needed healing? Who among us has not spent time in the cave of despair? Who among us has not needed an outlet for anger or loss? This is great poetry, mature craftsmanship, written in an accessible style for all to savor. It’s easy to apply these poems to daily life. A professional observer, Digregorio sees and feels everything more deeply. She reveals her sensitivity to the human condition. The volume contains something for everyone: from compact oriental forms, to superbly-crafted sonnets, to the little known etheree, to fun forms such as acrostics and limericks, free verse and more. Exhaustive Appendices: More than a collection of poetry, the author offers practical, hands-on support for beginning and experienced writers.  As poets, we also need to promote and sell our poetry, our books, and the author helps get us off the sidelines and “into the promotional game.” Treasures to be unearthed include multiple lists of publications that publish poetry; ideas for general print/broadcast media that feature poets; and ideas on types of associations, organizations, and businesses that promote poets through awards, interviews, readings, speaking venues, workshops engagements, and exhibitions of their work. This book has given me a real education.

–Michael Escoubas, Editor, Quill and Parchment

I highly, highly recommend this book! I read a lot of how-to-write poetry books, but this is unique because it shows would-be poets like me the “why” of writing poems. For those who want to write the best poetry we are capable of, this collection encourages us to look for and create beauty, strength, and healing. Many times during the reading of this book, I put it down and wrote a few lines of my own. I read several of Digregorio’s poems out loud, luxuriating in the evocative language and the emotional effect it had on me. Her haiku is particularly inspiring and she is a master at it. I love this book, It’s not just a collection of poems, but thoughtful essays about how poetry can heal. There are a lot of lines I would like to quote (or pretend I came up with). I love the imagery.

–Robin Stratton, Editor, Boston Literary Magazine

Fascinating tome–the perfect fit for this time in history. Soothing and peaceful. The author balances different poetic forms that contribute to a melodic, musical timbre. I marked many pages as my favorite poems–far too many to list here. Gorgeous words describing the natural world and her insightful memories in the “Nostalgia” section. Her poems wend their way through the maze of life events and experiences, healing in their warm, lyrical beauty.

–The Rockford Review, Sally Hewitt, Editor

This is a self-help book that is the pathway to finding peace. The author’s healing poems speak to us and are especially timely during the Covid crisis.

–Winnetka-Kenilworth Living magazine (Illinois)

We are blessed with this work! Your book responds to so many of the themes and issues that are central to my life experience. It has been a much appreciated companion. It explains and sustains, and I am thankful.  I hope this book makes its way to many people in these sad and complex times. It provides shade from the glare of events. You are appreciated.

–David Eyre, Educator and Poet

Charlotte Digregorio’s indefatigable writing packs a strong poetic punch. This award-winning poet has the courage to face the truth about love, loss, aging, birth, death, and the upside down nature of life–the full catastrophe. Expect to be challenged and invigorated. Without question, Digregorio is a beneficial presence in this world, and I have a high regard for her fresh and poignant poems.

–Robert Epstein, Psychotherapist & Author, Healing into Haiku: On Illness and Pain

Digregorio’s poetry is healing, gets you through tough times, and saves lives. This book is one answer to the Coronavirus. Nuanced by childhood memories of oceans and jagged monoliths, of black bear and elk, she shares through reflection and meditation, poems with a spaciousness that speak of acceptance and gratitude for what is. She is like the sculptor in one of her poems, “creating equilibrium and harmony.” She reaches out and invites the reader to join her in solitude, share thoughts, and observations. Ultimately, there is a sense of community, of knowing we aren’t alone. There’s an exuberance of life here that cannot help but touch you. It is a book you can go back to time and time again.

–Mary Jo Balistreri, Poet and Author, Still

The bumper sticker on my car reads: “Nature: Cheaper than Therapy.” As an adjunct to nature’s treatment plan, I would prescribe Charlotte Digregorio’s Ripples of Air: Poems of Healing. Her imagistic poems wind through diverse relational and emotional terrain, and never lose touch with the natural healing qualities of acceptance, wonder, gratitude, and harmony.

–Mike Stinson, Psychotherapist, Poet & Author, extra innings

An affecting collection. Charlotte Digregorio finds lyricism in solitude, finds reason to celebrate and transform into art the trifles in our gritty lives. These are poems of great skill, poems with a generous heart by a writer who cherishes the luminous particulars of every moment.

–Marsh Muirhead, Poet and Author of last night of the carnival

Award-winning poet Charlotte Digregorio offers readers an array of poems that delve deeply into the external, her Midwest surroundings, and the internal, the nature of her creativity. Digregorio’s delectable collection is one to be savored again and again.

–Roberta Beary, Poet and Author of The Unworn Necklace

The poems of Charlotte Digregorio possess a clarity of vision one seldom finds in contemporary verse. The images she creates are vibrant and alive. We Baby Boomers identify with her all too well.

–John J. Dunphy, Poet and Author of Touching Each Tree

Charlotte Digregorio has the all-too-uncommon ability to put the reader in the poet’s place. One does not read, so much as experience her poems. Closing my eyes, many of these poems could have been memories from my own past. These very personal poems become personal to the reader. The poet uses words as her brush, and all senses are stimulated.

–Ignatius Fay, Poet and Co-Author of Breccia

A ponderous book. I am giving it the daily reading that the inspiring poems call out for, a page or two a day with meditative thought for the author’s many layered gifts of creativity. I love the titles of the multi-themed chapters. I am delving into this clear pond of healing, the book’s healing messages.

–Donna Bauerly, Professor Emeritus

Loras College

This elegantly designed book offers readers an eclectic mix of poetry styles to suit any and every mood. Here, you may find your senses soothed, or stimulated by the natural world. There, you might find yourself immersed in memories, or daydreams about the future. This writer has walked in our shoes, and her words entice us to take the first steps along the poetic path to healing.

–Debbie Strange, Poet and Author of The Language of Loss

 

Note:

Ripples of Air: Poems of Healing is artistically designed, perfect-bound, and has 236 pages that include 200 haiku and 130 poems of thirteen other forms, such as sonnets, free verse, and acrostic. The book is useful, as it isn’t just a collection of Digregorio’s award-winning poems, but an inspirational guide with her essays and prose passages that encourages poetry as a healing exercise. It’s divided into 12-themed sections including: Nostalgia, Peace, Solitude, Creatures, People, and Aging/Illness/Death.

It has front and back matter: Contents, Index, and exhaustive Appendices, encouraging poets to publicize their work/events; a comprehensive bibliography of healing poetry collections; multiple lists of publications that publish poetry; ideas for general print/broadcast media that feature poets; and ideas on types of associations/organizations/businesses that promote poets through awards, interviews, readings, speaking/workshop engagements, and exhibits of their work. (Published by Artful Communicators Press, 2020).

,

Daily Haiku: Nov. 14, 2020

another winter

my lap empty 

of cat

 

 

 

by Terri L. French (USA)

 

Daily Haiku: Nov. 13, 2020

before the monk
& his walking stick
ageless mountain

 

 

 

by Pamela A. Babusci (USA)

Basho Haiku Festival 2007

Daily Haiku: Nov. 12, 2020 (Something to Think About Before Thanksgiving)

where to house

50 million souls

turkey heaven

 

 

 

by Robert Epstein (Author)

Turkey Heaven: Animal Rights Haiku, 2016

 

 

 

 

Poem by Robert Mucci

Leaves Upon the Ground

by Robert Mucci

 

A gentle breeze sends autumn leaves swirling to the ground

Tumbling through the tepid air as they twirl ‘round.

Orange, greens and yellows, bronze and muted browns

Nature’s palette limitless defies all earthly bounds.

 

 

Waves of curled leaves form a cloudy airy mound 

That crackles under childrens’ feet as they walk upon the ground.

Gathering all the leaves into a giant bunch

The children jump into the mound to hear the magic crunch.

 

 

Soon autumn days are gone, like leaves scattered in the wind

We cling fast to our memories and the happiness within.

The laughter of the children simply triggered we have found

By strolling on an autumn’s day over leaves upon the ground.

 

 

Daily Haiku: Nov. 11, 2020

soft rain

down a hillside

a donkey

cobbles me home

by Roberta Beary (Ireland/USA)

seashores, Vol. 5, November 2020

Daily Haiku: Nov. 10, 2020

peaceful morning

a prayer from childhood

still with me

 

 

 

by Ellen Grace Olinger (USA)

Bundled Wildflowers

Haiku Society of America 2020 Members’ Anthology

 

Daily Haiku: Nov. 9, 2020

half light

the river scarred

by a heron

 

 

 

 

by Beverley George (Australia), Author

The Birds That Stay: haiku by Beverley George

 

Special to The Daily Haiku– Haiku and Tanka in a New Book: Nov. 8, 2020

From this new book by Debbie Strange of Canada,  featured are three selections below:

rainbows

spin from the crest

of a wave . . .

I wish we’d had more

time to say goodbye

feathers

on the empty beach

I write his name

***

a star tortoise

carries the universe

on its back . . .

are we slowly moving

away from each other

dark matter

we never plan

to be alone

***

ancient graves

sink into marshland . . .

the long bones

of our ancestors

wandering, still

hollyhocks

our parents grow smaller

every year

by Debbie Strange

For more information about this book, you may use the link below.

https://sablebooks.org/the-language-of-loss/

Daily Haiku: Nov. 7, 2020

drawing cranes
with grandson—
my walking stick

 

 

 

by Neena Singh (India)

Chrysanthemum, Issue 28, October 2020

Daily Haiku: Nov. 6, 2020

weathered gray

the old barn leans

into the storm

 

 

 

 

by Jeffrey Winke (USA)

Modern Haiku, Vol. XXXI, No. 2, Summer, 2000

 

Daily Haiku: Nov. 5, 2020

filling the hammock’s emptiness copper-colored leaves

 

 

 

by Doris Lynch (USA)

Bundled Wildflowers

Haiku Society of America, 2020 Members’ Anthology

 

Daily Haiku: Nov. 4, 2020

senryu

rough turbulence

I switch the playlist

to gospel

 

 

 

by Crystal Simone Smith (USA)

Bundled Wildflowers

Haiku Society of America 2020 Members’ Anthology

 

Daily Haiku: Nov. 3, 2020

senryu

 

 

 

motel mirror–

I too am

just passing through

 

 

by Peter Yovu (USA)

Best of the Winter-Spring Issue

Modern Haiku, Vol. XXXI, No. 1, 2000

 

Nov. 2, 2020 Special: The Daily Haiku

October sugar

maples undressing

top down

by Donna Bauerly (USA)

Charlotte Digregorio reviewed this book authored by Poet Donna Bauerly on Goodreads– a must-read for haikuists!

Donna Bauerly is the author of Raymond Roseliep: Man of Art Who Loves the Rose. It is one of the most thoroughly-researched author biographies I have ever read. The book contains such a wide sampling of comments from Poet Raymond Roseliep’s colleagues, students, friends, poets, and literary critics. It’s a must-read book for anyone who is interested in the history of haiku in the U.S., its luminaries, and how Roseliep influenced the form. Until I read this book, I knew very little about Roseliep and his haiku accomplishments and writing of longer poems. He wrote in an era when the American public had heard little about the haiku form.

Bauerly, a retired professor and poet, gives us an inside and intimate look at the complexity of Roseliep’s life from childhood through adulthood as a priest and professor/author/poet colleague of hers. It’s fascinating to read of the connections Roseliep made in the general poetry world with “Big-Name” poets of other forms, thereby allowing haiku to be recognized and appreciated by them. Roseliep’s poetry that Bauerly includes are beautiful examples of his imagery, sensitivity, and love for haiku.

 

the wren

moves apart

from its song

by Raymond Roseliep

 

Bauerly even writes of Roseliep’s erotic haiku, which certainly comes as a surprise, given he was a priest. Roseliep’s awards and publishing history are also meticulously-researched, and the Appendices are exhaustive. Haiku enthusiasts and poets of other forms will surely be inspired to write haiku after reading this sensitive and honest portrayal of Roseliep and his art by an author who knew him well.

 

For more information about Bauerly’s book, contact The Haiku Foundation: www.thehaikufoundation.org

 

Donna Bauerly’s bio:

Born in 1934, Donna Bauerly lived for a short time in Potosi, Wisconsin, then moved with her recently widowed mother and two siblings to live in Dubuque, Iowa (hotbed of haiku), for most of her life.  She taught for 66 years in a wide variety of school assignments, the last 36 of them as a professor of literature and writing at Loras College in Dubuque.  She retired (sort of) in 2007, serving her last two years in a 13-year tenure as a member of the public school board, and finally as a volunteer teacher of Newbery Award-winning novels to 5^th grade students in a nearby elementary school from 2016 to 2019.  She completed her 13-year journey of researching and writing the biography, Raymond Roseliep. Man of Art Who Loves the Rose, published in 2015 by The Haiku Foundation.

 

Free Verse by Mary Jo Balistreri

Archeology of Desire

Steam curls its way up the spout,

unfurls petals of mist that displace

the winter of a cold kitchen.

My gramma cups her hands around

the blue-willow cup, its glaze

cracked and veined. She lowers

her face to the heat, takes a sip

and rests her head against the back

of the rocker, the hiss of wet wood,

our background music. Soon

the stories spin from her mouth,

worn from telling, smooth

as softest flannel. How they tint

the bleak day in warm pastels.

She guides me through the prairies

of youth, the furrowed ground

of growing old, of births and deaths

of children and husband, crocheting

the past with mauve shadows laid

against the gray simplicity

of the North Dakota Plains.

by Mary Jo Balistreri (USA)

Daily Haiku: Nov. 1, 2020

summer downpour fluting the low tin roof

 

 

 

 

by Roberta Beary (Ireland/USA)

seashores, Vol. 5, November 2020

Daily Haiku: Oct. 31, 2020

senryu

 

 

 

it’s ALS–

such a short

sentence

 

 

by Lew Watts (USA)

Modern Haiku, Vol. 44.3, Fall 2013

 

Daily Haiku: Oct. 30, 2020

halfway to the sea
a seagull’s shadow
follows its cry

 

by Andy McLellan (U.K.)

Blithe Spirit, 27:3, September 2017

Daily Haiku: Oct. 29, 2020

senryu

 

 

gone in a flood

my Feng Shui

for Dummies

 

 

by LeRoy Gorman (Canada)

Modern Haiku, Vol. 39.2, Summer 2008

Free Verse by Charlotte Digregorio

This poem is taken from my new poetry-reference book, Ripples of Air: Poems of Healing, that includes 330 poems of fourteen forms, along with inspiration, guidance, and publicity ideas for writers.

The Dust

by Charlotte Digregorio

 

I look at lingering fog

and crusty leaves.

Inside, another Sabbath

 

of housework begins,

a black apron

around my neck.

 

My worn hands dust the table.

One swipe with a rag

and white blackens.

 

Dust descends to the rug

like dandelion puffs drifting.

It hides in fibers.

 

Above the mantle, I remove

film from the mirror.

Behind loose strands of hair,

 

I stare at my aging self,

getting the freckles

I wanted in childhood.

 

The radio plays dissonant,

nameless sonatas

with sobbing violins.

 

I vacuum with Mother’s Electrolux,

drowning out the requiem,

wondering how much of this dust is me.

 

Copyright 2020 by Charlotte Digregorio.

 

Daily Haiku: Oct. 28, 2020

senryu

 

 

mimeographing

the pastor says I’d make

a good minister

 

 

 

by Gregory Longenecker (USA)

Modern Haiku, Vol. 44.3, Fall 2013

 

Tanka by Pamela A. Babusci

Tanka scattered lovers never a husband these cherry trees raining petals everywhere, nowhere by Pamela A. Babusci (USA), Author A Thousand Reasons: Tanka by Pamela A. Babusci moongate44@gmail.com

Daily Haiku: Oct. 27, 2020

 

senryu

 

 

Chinatown tour

the vegetable peddler fans

the buses’ fumes

 

 

 

by Anthony J. Pupello (USA)

Modern Haiku, Vol. XXVII, No. 1, Winter-Spring 1996

 

Daily Haiku: Oct. 26, 2020

senryu

 

 

All Souls’ Day

at the cemetery entrance

a flower peddler

 

 

by John J. Dunphy (USA)

bottle rockets, #14, 2006