Daily Haiku: June 16, 2021

windshield dew

the wayward journey

of a garden snail

 

 

 

by Michael Dudley (Canada)

triveni haikai calendar, 2021

 

Daily Haiku: June 15, 2021

bare branches
a raven weighing
moonlight

 

 

 

by Claire Vogel Camargo (USA)

NeverEnding Story, 2018

Daily Haiku: June 14, 2021

lighting the path

of a falling leaf . . .

autumn moon

 

by Arvinder Kaur (India)

Frogpond, 44.1, Winter 2021

 

Daily Haiku Special: June 13, 2021, 7 Haiku by Corine Timmer (Portugal)

in the branches

of a fallen conifer tree

a warbler’s nest  

Hedgerow, #133, Dec. 30, 2020

 

a sacred rope

wrapped around the cedar tree

our arms

Modern Haiku, 52:1, Winter-Spring 2021

 

non-nEGOtiable

FemkuMag, August 2019

 

 

wild bergamot in bloom her wind-swept hair

Poetrypea (podcast & journal), May 2020

 

leaf-strewn street — 

my reflection

in a passing hearse

Commended  Haiku

Little Iris Haiku Contest, Croatia, 2018

 

silent prayer . . .

from the cloisters

the cooing of turtledoves

 

oração silenciosa . . .

dos claustros

o arrulho das rolas

 

Portuguese translation: Corine Timmer and Esperança Dickman

IRIS International haiku magazine, December 2019

 

stampede—

the cheetah

barely touches the ground

 

The Mamba: Journal of African Haiku, Issue 5, March 2018

Daily Haiku: June 12, 2021

beach walk
the stick I tossed
yesterday

by Tom Painting (USA)

Mann Library’s Daily Haiku, March 7, 2011

Daily Haiku: June 11, 2021

forest bathing
red maples with a hint
of woodsmoke

 

 

by Lynne Jambor (Canada)

Poets Salon, Nov. 20, 2019

 

Daily Haiku: June 10, 2021

senryu

 

 

 

note to the ex–

too late

to halve it all

 

 

 

by Lin Geary (Canada)

2021 Haiku Canada Members’ Anthology

 

Daily Haiku: June 9, 2021

full bloom
the mothers-to-be swap
old wives tales

 

 

 

by Marianne Paul (Canada) 

a hole in the light, The Red Moon Anthology, 2019

Daily Haiku Special: 2 Haiku by Neena Singh

 

wooden ladder

on the neighbour’s wall

the moon climbs down

 

 

by Neena Singh (India)

Honorable Mention

Poetry Pea Podcast S4 E6 & Spring Journal, 2021

 

 

 

autumn dusk

the hand of an old friend 

in mine

 

 

 

by Neena Singh (India)

Third Prize

Monthly Kukai, April 2021

The Haiku Foundation

Daily Haiku: June 7, 2021

wild violet–
my footsteps, too
seem aimless

by Donna Fleischer (USA)

seed packets: an anthology of flower haiku, 2010

Free Verse by Jackie Chou

reflections

today
the sum of things slowly dissolves
as I, in sunshades, sit on a shore
not functioning up to par
I have lost the spark
the ocean waves crash against
my outstretched feet
touching my toes
I feel myself sink into the golden sand
until I am no longer visible
the words will not come
for me to shout to be rescued
the seashells are broken like my faith
the sharks have eaten my dignity
still they say not to look back
or criticize myself
the sea spits back the dreams
only in chewed up pieces
too shattered to make up a whole again
I put them in a treasure box and close it
not knowing the meaning of anything
this silence surrounding me
this blue of the air

 

by Jackie Chou (USA)

Madness Muse Press, #3, 2020

Daily Haiku: June 6, 2021

city sirens

the wolves that used to

sing us home

 

 

 

by Debbie Strange (Canada)

Runner-Up Senryu

Shamrock, 42, September 2019

Free Workshop: Learn All About Writing Haiku & Senryu

“Writing Haiku & Senryu”

Free Zoom Workshop for All from Everywhere

Sponsored by the Winnetka Public Library, Winnetka, Illinois, USA

Sunday, Sept. 19, 2 to 3:30 p.m. (Chicago–USA Time)

 

For Beginners! Learn all about the art of haiku and senryu. These short poems are about life, nature, seasons, and human nature. Enjoy crafting/publishing insightful, wise, moving, and healing poems that capture your life’s moments. Participants will have the opportunity to read a poem during the event (optional.)

Led by Charlotte Digregorio, author of Haiku and Senryu: A Simple Guide for All and editor of this blog with The Daily Haiku that’s been running for more than six years.

Invaluable instruction that will get you writing great, publishable poems! Many publishing tips included!

Register at:

https://winnetkalibrary.libcal.com/calendar/events/?cid=3782&t=d&d=2021-09-19&cal=3782&inc=0

 

Daily Haiku: June 5, 2021

so quiet

the moon climbs

a roof
   

by Marta Chocilowska (Poland)

brass bell: a haiku journal, June 2021

 

Daily Haiku: June 4, 2021

hangs in the air

trill of

the Whippoorwill

 

by Erin Castaldi (USA)

Wales Haiku Journal, Summer 2020

Daily Haiku: June 3, 2021

my backyard a winter wren fills the space

 

 

 

by Clive Bennett (U.K.), Author

Feathered Skies, Proletaria, Spring 2020

Daily Haiku: June 2, 2021

in hidden corner
listening to my dreams
philodendrons

 

by Lisbeth Ho (Indonesia)

Haiku Dialogue, March 31, 2021

Daily Haiku: June 1, 2021

senryu

 

 

 

 

eye exam
in the dark he compliments
my retinas

 

 

 

by Annette Makino (USA)

The Heron’s Nest, Vol. XVI, No. 4, December 2014

Daily Haiku: May 31, 2021

senryu

riverfront tavern
patrons stand at the bar
in wading boots

 

by John J. Dunphy (USA)

Asahi Haikuist Network, July 31, 2020

Daily Haiku: May 30, 2021

 

squabbling squirrels

I no longer remember the names

of childhood bullies

 

 

 

by Robert Epstein (USA)

The Heron’s Nest, Vol. XIII, No. 1, March 2011

 

 

 

 

 

Judges’ Reviews Are In– “Ripples of Air: Poems of Healing”

These are the latest reviews of my new book, Ripples of Air: Poems of Healing from the judges of the prestigious contest, Benjamin Franklin Awards (2021). The contest is conducted by the Independent Book Publishers Association.

I am proud!

 

Benjamin Franklin Awards (2021): Independent Book Publishers Association

 

Comments from Judge #1:

Life in all its aspects flows through Charlotte Digregorio’s buoyant poetry collection. For its healing and inspirational qualities, this is a book to keep and reread frequently. It inspires enhanced living and writing. Excellent!

 

Comments from Judge #2

 This book is a very easy and pleasurable read. I read every poem with delight in about 6 days. (236 pages). There are lines in the poetry that if they were fireworks would light up the night sky. This book is that good. The introduction is a marvelous bit of writing, explaining the author’s view on poetry, and about the title’s meaning. All through the book, when each new section is about to unfold, there is prose explanation of what one is about to encounter. These preludes to the sections are one of the best features of the book.

 

This book is available through Amazon or through me, Charlotte Digregorio. You may  contact me at  c-books@hotmail.com

 

 

 

 

 

Daily Haiku: May 29, 2021

summer’s end loose-leaf notebook snaps echo in the hall

by Sari Grandstaff (USA) The Heron’s Nest, Vol. VIII, No. 1, March 2006

Daily Haiku: May 28, 2021

drawing
the red lampshade
autumn rain

 

by Miriam Sagan (USA)

Wales Haiku Journal, Winter 2019

Haiku Sequence by Roberta Beary

 

 

Memorial Service

dark winter sky

mourners approach

in single file

 

memorial service —

work on the left

family on the right

 

slide show

a handsome young soldier

with the same nose

 

eulogy —

his only son 

tests the mic

 

ending

the moment of silence

pop of champagne

 

 

by Roberta Beary (Ireland/USA)

Frogpond, 38.1, 2015

Daily Haiku: May 27, 2021

the homeless
between buildings
night fog

 

by Dave Read (Canada)

Wales Haiku Journal, Spring 2018

Daily Haiku: May 26, 2021

watering roses
a toad baptized
from the pour spout

 

by Marilyn Fleming (USA)

The Heron’s Nest, Vol. XIX, No. 2, June 2017

Daily Haiku: May 25, 2021

senryu

 

 

 

house for sale . . .

smoke alarm beeps

echoing the emptiness

 

 

 

by Donna Bauerly (USA)

Daily Haiku: May 24, 2021

senryu

 

 

rain showers . . .

i listen

to the faucet drip

 

 

by Rick Daddario (USA)

https://19planets.wordpress.com/

Daily Haiku: May 23, 2021

senryu

 

airport lounge a bartender mutes the dead

by Roberta Beary  (Ireland/USA)

NOON 6, 2008

Poem by Maureen Weldon

AND I DON’T KNOW WHY

Somehow I’ve ended up here

and I don’t know why

I’ve ended up here

but I’ve ended up here.

 

Somehow I met you

and I know how that was

meeting you.

 

I crossed the border

that night

after you kissed me.

 

And somehow I’ve ended up here.

 

by Maureen Weldon (Wales)

Ink Sweat & Tears, May 2021

Daily Haiku Special: May 22, 2021– 2 Haiku by Barbara Tate (USA)

senryu

 

 

happy hour

on the near side of midnight

wrapped in his shirt

 

                   

 

Echidna Tracks, June 1, 2021

Australian Haiku Society

 

 

 

siblings

we remember childhood

three ways

 

 

 

 

                   

hedgerow, Issue #34, 2021

The Clock by Paul Beech

THE CLOCK

He’s here with me now, my kid bro from the south. A brilliant inventor, patents registered, top prizes won. Until stricken with early dementia.

 

We’re in North Wales, not far from the sea, at a Fabrics and Haberdashery store. Sitting outside, whiling away the hour. Despite his mind’s slow waning, he’s fascinated still by devices.

 

11:45, not long to go. I take him in. And climbing the stairs, point out the cast iron weights on wires. Already we hear the tick, tick, tick of ratchet and pawl.

 

Reaching the Fabrics Hall, we turn. And there, on the wall above the stairwell, in all its brassy glory, sits the clock, green bob pendulum swinging.

 

Gingham, velvet, poly-cotton. Women sneak curious glances in our direction, quickly turning aside.

 

Twelve times, the bell rings out to the rafters.

 

He’s here with me now, my kid bro from the south. And his eyes shine.

 

our past lives

in box brownie snaps

two boys on stilts

 

by Paul Beech (Wales)

 

failed haiku: A Journal of English Senryu, Vol. 5, Issue 56, August 2020

 

 

Daily Haiku: May 21, 2021

senryu

talking to himself

versus talking to no one

clozapine

by Neal Whitman (USA)

Frogpond, 40:1, Winter 2017

Poem by Robert Mucci

Memorial Day

Every year in the month of May

We celebrate Memorial Day,

Honoring all those who’ve  fallen:

Husbands, Fathers, Mothers, Daughters,

Sons and Wives,

All of whom heard freedom’s cries

All of whom heard freedom calling, and

Answered bravely with their lives.

 

Freedom’s spark of evolution

Started with the Revolution

 

Yorktown, Washington, Saratoga

Trenton, Princeton, Lexington

Cowpens, Monmouth, Ticonderoga

Germantown, Camden, Charleston.

 

Brandywine, King’s Mountain, Chelsea Creek

Valley Forge and Musgrove Mill

Long Island, Concord, Chesapeake

New York, Boston, Bunker Hill.

 

The Civil War was

Like no other

Family against family,                             

Brother against brother,

 

Gettysburg, Vicksburg,

Fort Sumter, Antietam,

Bull Run, Atlanta

In the name of freedom.

 

From Tripoli to Galipoli

Sicily and Bataan

Normandy to Paris,

Korea, and Saigon.

 

Iwo Jima, Okinawa, 

Danang and Hue.

Guadalcanal , Corregidor, 

Manila, Midway.

 

Crete, Luzon, Sedan,

Verdun, Berlin, Ardennes

Battle of the Coral Sea

The Bulge, Brody and Cantigny.

 

The Solomons and New Guinea,

Leyte Gulf and Santa Cruz 

Bastogne and the Java Sea

St. Vith, Eglais, and Malmedy.

 

Monte Cassini, Anzio

The Maine, the Cole, the Alamo

Upon our shores our flag unfurl

Eternal memory for those at Pearl.

 

Baghdad, Kandahar, Mozul

Fallujah, Ramadi, Kabul,

Basra, Karbala, Kuwait Desert Shield,

Freedom’s fight can never yield.

 

They died in  jungles of distant lands,

They died at beaches on foreign sands,

They died in the air, on land and sea

They died where there was tyranny

 

We pause to reflect the price that was paid 

By so many who faced death unafraid

The rows of markers at Arlington laid

Only begin to reveal the sacrifice made.

 

Another year of time soon passes 

The markers tower above the grasses

Reminding us that we should pray

For every day is Memorial Day.

 

 

by Robert Mucci (USA)

 

 

Daily Haiku: May 20, 2021

after the funeral soft rain down the chimney

 

by Dave Russo (USA)

Acorn, 22, 2009

Poem by Ellen Grace Olinger

new green leaves
on trees that knew

the colors
of dramatic autumn

in silence sometimes
and in small ways

new dreams grow

 

by Ellen Grace Olinger (USA)

https://ellenolinger.wordpress.com/

 

Daily Haiku: May 19, 2021

wild roses

she catches him kissing

her sister

 

by Bee Jay (Australia)

Frogpond, Vol. 41:2, Spring/Summer 2018

Daily Haiku: May 18, 2021

your beard
soft against my neck
sun through the blinds

 

 

 

by Maxianne Berger (Canada) 

Sun Through the Blinds:

Montreal Haiku Today, 2003

Daily Haiku: May 17, 2021

senryu

 

 

 

missed anniversary
my wife and I exchange
vowels

 

 

by Lew Watts (USA)

Failed Haiku, Issue 37, 2019

 

New Book by Sharmagne Leland-St. John!

Artful poetry is music, but it’s often hard to find thoughtful poetry that is melodic. “A Raga for George Harrison,” by Sharmagne Leland-St. John is a very special poetry collection with poems that read like songs. Some of the poems take us back in history celebrating famous people, poets and singers. Leland-St. John also shares her life’s events– its hardships, losses in love, and deaths of those close to her– that readers find relatable. This soulful and poignant book is a window into Leland-St. John’s life and experiences that have shaped her, in which we learn more about ourselves.

“Raga” is a reference to the melodies found in Indian music. Leland-St. John is a Native American author. Through “swaras,” the singer progresses up, then down the musical scale. Similarly, Leland-St. John’s poetry ascends and descends in tones.

Poems that readers will particularly remember and re-read are those written about George Harrison, Janis Joplin, Virginia Woolf, Allen Ginsberg, and Federico Garcia Lorca. She writes of those who’ve impacted her life, as tributes.

The poem “Lorca” is absolutely stunning, recounting the poet’s execution by Nationalists in the Spanish Civil War, amid the backdrop of the beauty and gentleness of nature:

 

Lorca 
by Sharmagne Leland-St. John

Across the ochre meadow
He stumbled,
Blindfolded.
Wildflowers dotting
Unfamiliar terrain, quivered
In morning’s cool breeze.
The same gentle wind 
Slightly ruffled his hair.

For a brief moment 
Clouds obscured sun
Then the high-pitched
Click and clink
Of metal upon metal–
Ammunition loaded,
Rifles cocked,
While butterflies danced
An erratic air ballet.

How would he have described 
The staccato sound of a firing squad 
As it shatters the golden dawn?
Or should one perhaps
Refer instead
To the sudden cessation of birdsong
Then the silken whisper of wings…
Beating
Against a blood drenched sky;
As seen through 
The dead poet’s eye?

 

In the collection, Leland-St. John appears to write flowing poems effortlessly, and this spurs the reader to write poetry, too.

Her poems are rich in imagery and often rhyme.

 

From “Tiny Warrior,” about the death of her baby boy:

 

You never saw the spring my love

Or the red-tailed hawk circling high above

On feathered wings my love

You only knew the snow

You never saw the prairie grasses bend and blow

And undulate like the shimmering indigo sea

 

In “Wild Dark Love Song,” the poem begins:

 

Her man,

A wild dark love song.

Borne deep within her gypsy soul.

He’s gone to live in jagged mountains,

Where salmon jump and sing,

In tarns

High above

The cloud lines

Beyond the silver moon.

 

In “An Unsung Song To Ron,” I liked this passage:

 

When you look in Monday’s mirror

Will you understand a woman’s fears

And when you see the rain next time

Will it remind you of my tears?

 

In the last poem, the last line of the collection, the poet speaks of “Tomorrow’s fragile dreams.” Yet the beauty in this book gives us the courage to move forward and appreciate our life’s experiences we learn from.

There is dignified expression and beauty throughout this fine collection. Don’t miss this highly-recommended book, elegantly produced by cyberwit.net.

 

A Raga for George Harrison, Copyright 2020
by Sharmagne Leland-St. John
94 pages ~ 54 poems
ISBN: 978-93-88125-90-1
Publisher: Cyberwit.net
http://www.cyberwit.net

  

About Sharmagne Leland-St. John

Sharmagne Leland-St. John, 15-time Pushcart Prize nominee, is a Native American poet,
concert performer, lyricist, artist and filmmaker. She is the Editor-in-Chief of the
19-year-old literary and cultural arts journal Quill and Parchment.com.

The author spends time at home in the Hollywood Hills in California, her fly fishing
lodge on the Stillaguamish River in the Pacific Northwest, a casita/writer’s retreat
in Taos, N.M. and her villa in Tuscany. She is the founder of fogdog poetry in
Arlington, WA and tours the United States, Canada, and England as a performance poet.

She is widely anthologized, and her poetry and short stories appear in many
online literary journals. She has published four books of poetry: Unsung Songs (2003),
Silver Tears and Time (2005), Contingencies (2008), La Kalima (2010); and she co-
authored a book on film production design: Designing Movies: Portrait of a Holly
-wood Artist (Greenwood/Praeger 2006).

She is the editor of Cradle Songs: An Anthology of Poems on Motherhood, winner
of the 2013 International Book Award Honouring Excellence in Mainstream and Independent Publishing and one of four finalists for the NIEA (National Independent Excellence Award).

Daily Haiku: March 16, 2021

not lonely

but alone, the moonlit

goldfish

 

 

 

by David G. Lanoue (USA)

Modern Haiku, 35:2, 2004

Poetry Open Mic: Read Your Poems to a Global Audience!

Charlotte Digregorio has organized a poetry open mic, for all from everywhere, Sunday, July 25 at 2 p.m. (Chicago-USA Time). For those who’d like a global audience for their poetry through Zoom, this Winnetka (IL) Public Library-sponsored event, will spotlight beginners & experienced poets. Poets will introduce themselves, tell why they like to write poetry, and share up to five of their poems. Charlotte will kick off the event by reading some poems from her new book, Ripples of Air: Poems of Healing. Non-poets are also welcome to be part of the audience. Register: https://winnetkalibrary.libcal.com/calendar/events/?cid=3782&t=d&d=2021-07-25&cal=3782&in

Since the event is far into the future, if you do sign up, and later find you can’t make it, please contact me to let me know you need to cancel your registration. Space is limited, and it would be of great help to those who want to attend who otherwise couldn’t get in.  My address is: c-books@hotmail.com. And, you can also email me with questions about the event.

 

My books Ripples of Air: Poems of Healing and Haiku and Senryu: A Simple Guide for All are available through many U.S. libraries, (public and university). They are also free to receive through inter-library loan, if your library doesn’t have them. For those living outside the U.S., please inquire through your local library.

Peace and thanks,

Charlotte Digregorio

 

Daily Haiku: May 15, 2021

senryu

 

stepfamily some assembly required

 

 

 

by Gregory Longenecker (USA)

Mariposa, 36, 2017

Daily Haiku: May 14, 2021

a hermit

died in those woods:

noonday pond

 

 

 

by Mike Dillon (USA)

Modern Haiku, Vol. 45:2, Summer 2014

Daily Haiku: May 13, 2021

homeless–

his cough

in our air

 

 

 

by Margaret Peacock (USA)

Modern Haiku, 33:2, 2002

Daily Haiku: May 12, 2021

 

tuning the cello

finches turn their heads

this way and that

 

 

 

by Bob Lucky (Portugal)

Modern Haiku, Vol. 45:2, Summer 2014

 

Daily Haiku: May 11, 2021

locusts weave

every grandpa story

hip-high bluestem

 

by Mary Jo Balistreri (USA)

Bundled Wildflowers

Haiku Society of America 2020 Members’ Anthology

Daily Haiku: May 10, 2021

fall sunshine

the copier warms up

in the library

 

by Lenard D. Moore (USA)

Modern Haiku, 42:1, Winter-Spring 2011

Daily Haiku: May 9, 2021–2 Haiku

standing in the middle of now here

 

by Peter Newton (USA)

Haiku in English: The First Hundred Years, 2013

sorrow on Mother’s Day . . .

in my garden

I watch the butterfly

by Ellen Grace Olinger (USA)

Haiku Special: May 8, 2021–New Book by Philomene Kocher and Marco Fraticelli!

Have you ever heard of “septenga”? A septenga is haiku– a sequence of seven links, starting with a three-liner, followed by two, and ending with a three-liner. (3-2-3-2-3-2-3). The poem contains a theme that unites the seven links, and it can either be written solo or with a partner.

“Changing Demographics” is a book of septenga by Canadian Haikuists Philomene Kocher and Marco Fraticelli. The three-liners are written by Kocher and the two-liners by Fraticelli.

In this thoughtful chapbook, I learned a new form! Published by catkin press in 2021, owned by Canadian Claudia Coutu Radmore, the book cover was also designed by Radmore. (She is the President of Haiku Canada.)

Kocher and Fraticelli enjoy writing linked verse because collaborative writing is “a great antidote” to what is often a solitary experience, according to Fraticelli.

The septenga form was created by Haikuists Alexis K. Rotella and ai li in 1997.

Here is one septenga from the book:

Silent Wind

a crow

on the bare branch

of a tree shadow

closing

the open coffin

covid summer

only the flowers

blooming on campus

silent wind

chimes

in the middle of the field

headstones

taller than the corn

my remaining days measured

in pills

almost dark

and the cicada

still sings

For more information on this book, you may contact Fraticelli at: Mapletree67@hotmail.com