Category Archives: haiku

Catching up!

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Today I realized I’d forgotten to post a number of poems published this year (2020), so here they are. I hope you enjoy reading them.

Ribbons 16:2 (spring 2020)

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icebergs drift and melt
and furious fires rage
will this earth dissolve
into rivulets
of decisions poorly made?

~

Frameless Sky, Issue 12, 2020

soft ripe plums
sitting on the sideboard ~
wouldn’t it lovely
to know you’re
so desired

Presence 66

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tiny fledglings
with wings outstretched
take that first leap—
how old were we
when doubt began

                             ~

wind spilling
from copper rain bells
unbroken drought

.

                        ~

impossible
to count them
fireflies 

Bitter wind

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I am delighted to have one tanka and two haiku in the latest issue of Presence:

 

Presence, Issue 67, July 2020

 

 

bitter wind
the maple’s heart
still frozen

 

~

 

once so innocent
we had to make up sins
. . . first confession

 

 

~

 

I tried to bury
those memories
for so long…
the raw scent
of freshly plowed earth

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A nice surprise!

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What a very nice surprise! I am one of the top contributors to Prune Juice, a journal every haiku and senryu/kyoka poet knows and loves. What a thrill to be included with such excellent senryu poets.
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Many thanks to the great editors: Brent Goodman (current editor); past editors are: Steve Hodge​ (2016 – 2018); Terri L. French​ (2013 – 2015); Liam Wilkinson​ (2010 – 2012); Alexis Rotella (​ 2009)
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Here’s a link to the whole anthology: pj-book-of-senryu

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The PRUNE JUICE BOOK of SENRYU celebrates 10 years of the finest English Senryu from around the world by 85 of our TOP Contributors, featuring 337 poems plucked from the journal’s first 29 issues by past and current Prune Juice editors.
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Here are mine that they published:
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Mary Kendall – USA
12 issues

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your tumor growing     we worry about the snow
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#18 2016
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Reiki session . . .
feeling so
out of touch
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#20 2016
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beginner’s yoga class . . .
our first sun salutation
eclipsed by the teacher
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#22 2017
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promises not kept —
that umbrella you gave me
blows inside out
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#23 2017
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defined
by their parameters
love triangle
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#29 2019
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Prune Juice Book of Senryu: Celebrating 10 Years: 2009 – 2019 Copyright © 2020 Prune Juice
p. 94

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Chokecherry

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the slow hiss
and sudden pop
of a pinecone in fire—
admitting the mistake
is a first step

 

*

 

had you lived
we’d almost be twins,
two sisters
so close in time
we nearly touched

 

*

 

this urge
to turn and walk away
     chokecherry

 

 

Mary Kendall (c) 2020

Kokako 32, 2020, a journal of the New Zealand Poetry Society
My thanks to the editors of Kokako for publishing all three poems.