Category Archives: senryu

Brass Bell Contributions

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Here are several of my contributions in Brass Bell:

Brass Bell October 2022 / Theme: kitchen haiku

teatime
just water and leaves
you and me 

Brass Bell September 2022 / Theme: homeplace

buffalo, new york
we all laugh & tumble off
the long toboggan again

 

Brass Bell August 2022 / Theme: water

icy rain—
somehow this ache
just won’t leave

washed up
without a song
moon shell

 

Brass Bell July 2022 / Theme: sound

lyrics long forgotten
the melody always
in my mind

 

Brass Bell is published on the first day of every month. This delightful haiku journal is beautifully curated by editor/writer, Zee Zehava and can be found here: http://brassbellhaiku.blogspot.com. Writers are from around the world and some of the finest haiku/senryu writers appear on these pages.

 

 

Lucid dreaming

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Brass Bell June 2022

Theme: One line haiku

 ~ ~

lucid dreaming wild-eyed pansies glancing back and forth

~ ~

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Screen Shot 2022-07-28 at 5.48.17 PMhr_70041134_4

~ ~

Note: All pansy pictures are taken from Pinterest. No specific photographers were listed.

Spring’s soft greening (tanka)

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Like so many other people, the year and a half pandemic has thrown my sense of time way off. I’m so far behind in posting newly published poems on this blog that I find myself now playing catch up.  I am both honored and happy to have had such fine journals select some of my work to publish in 2021. 

 

both of us relieved
we made it to this side
of the pandemic –
falling back in love
with spring’s soft greening

 

Published in Ribbons, Tanka Café, Spring 2021

 

 

Shadow…(haiku/senryu)

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Shadow…(haiku/senryu)

 

day moon ~

no shadow on

my mammogram

 

Published: Blithe Spirit  31.3  2021

 

A haiku or a senryu? I love this poem very much, and I’m so grateful to Caroline Skanne, the editor of Blithe Spirit, for choosing it for publication.

 

I have always been fascinated with seeing a “day moon.” I’ve always considered it a sign or good luck or something fortunate happening or about to happen. Do you have any thoughts about seeing the moon out during the daylight hours? Is it magical to you? It is for me.

 

 

 

 

 

Bleakness . . . (haiku)

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bleakness  –

the lingering taste

of a bad dream

Blithe Spirit, 31.1 2021

forgetfulness

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forgetfulness—

soft feathers drift out

of a poultry truck

 

~ ~

 

Published in Frogpond vol. 43:3 fall 2020

 

Frogpond is the journal of the Haiku Society of America

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.
.
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)
.
Here’s a link to the whole anthology: pj-book-of-senryu

.
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.
.
Here are mine that they published:
.
Mary Kendall – USA
12 issues

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

.

 

 

 

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.

 

 

Widowhood

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Published in FROGPOND, Volume 43:1, Winter 2020:

 

 

 

 

widowhood

day blurs into evening

into night . . .

 

 

 

 

This poem is dedicated to my dear sister-in-law, Paulett Brylinski, who lost her beloved husband, Jimmy, in December 2017. Watching her learn to cope and live with grief has taught me so much about courage and love.

 

Woods Hole, MA – 3/30/14

 

 

 

Two (winning) haiga

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I don’t enter many poetry contests, but I do love to see what entries win or place in contests/competitions I enjoy and admire. There is always so much to learn from other writers, of course, and it is always an inspiration to see what others produce.

One competition I really wanted to enter was the Fourth Annual Jane Reichhold Memorial Haiga  Competition, which is co-hosted by Failed Haiku and Prune Juice, two of the very finest Senryu journals around. It is divided into two groups: the Traditional (i.e., with original drawn art) Category (judged by Ron C. Moss) and the Photographic/Mixed Media Category (judged by Steve Hodge). My two entries were in the second category using photographs I had taken. One was left untouched and the other was embellished by some art programs I enjoy using on my iPad.

Imagine my surprise when I found out one of my entries won First Place in the Photographic/Mixed Media Category and the other one got an Honorable Mention! Yes, I was over the moon. It’s a double honor indeed. All the other entries selected in both categories were wonderful. I really can’t imagine how an editor selects one over another, but they do. My thanks to editor, Steve Hodge for selecting both of my haiga in this competition. I am deeply honored. Thanks also to Mike Rehling and Brent Goodman who edit Failed Haiku and Prune Juice.

I’ve included the comments of the editor because it’s always great to hear someone else’s interpretation and response to a poem.

 

 

 

 

Unable to forget . . .

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Modern Haiku, Issue 50:3, 2019

 

 

pruning roses

unable to forget her

scarred wrists

 

 

 

Dementia . . .

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The Heron’s Nest, Volume XXI, Number 3: September 2019

 

dementia

     the soft clay begins

to harden

 

 

 

Powerless (two senryu)

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Prune Juice, Journal of Senryu, Kyoka, Haibun & Haiga

Issue #28, July 2019

 

 

 

 

powerless

neighbors mingle

after the storm

 

~

 

 

our gods

stand between us

total eclipse

 

 

 

 

 

All we left unsaid . . .

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Two senryu and one haiga are in the July issue of Failed Haiku.

 

 

Failed ​Haiku, A Journal of English Senryu

Volume 4, Issue 43

July 2019

 

 

 

 

abandoned nest

four blue eggs

but no answers

 

~

 

vagrant fog

     a distant train

            slows the night   

 

 

 

 

~

 

Catching up!

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Over the past few months, a lot of my work has been published, but I’ve been negligent in getting them posted. Breaking from my usual tradition of a separate post for each journal, I’m going to post all of them here in a single posting. Separate poems and journals are both divided by  ***.

 

 

Redlights, Volume 15, No. 2, June 2019

.

a day will come

when we are the faces

in old picture albums

and no one left

to give us names

***

 

babcia’s borscht recipe

in faded black ink—

can you smell the beets

bubble and hear her

hum along

 

 

Ribbons Spring/Summer 2019: Volume 15, No. 2

.

 

PET scan . . .

all the dogs & cats

I ever knew & loved

romp in the tunnel

where I lie in stillness

***

 

Ribbons Spring/Summer 2019: Volume 15, No. 2

Tanka Café:  Theme: What Matters [to You]

 

they say time

moves faster as we age

yet here I am

stealing an hour

to listen to the birds

 ***

 

cattails: The Official Journal of the United Haiku and Tanka Society, April 2019 Issue

.

 

late winter

the garden’s breath

shifts once more

 

*** 

 

one crow

and a clutch of chickadees

at the birdfeeder —

that simple need

to fit in someplace

       

 

***

 

 

Frogpond 42.2 * 2019

.

graveside—

white blossoms

lighten the darkness

 

 

*** 

 

 

Blithe Spirit 29.2, 2019

.

 

evening meditation

fireflies flit here

& there

                           & there

 

***

.

sacred sites

finding myself praying

in another language

.

***

.

the soft rustle

of quivering aspen leaves

over and over

I replay the words

I might have said

.

***

.

a feeling of you

standing behind me …

when I turn around,

only shadow

only silence

.

 

*** 

 

 

.

Moonbathing 20 Spring/Summer 2019

.

 

sea glass

    a distant story

        told in waves

            I long

                to read

 

.

*** 

.

The Heron’s Nest, Volume XXI, Number 2: June 2019

.

 

a single brass button—

I try to remember

his voice

*** 

.

Eucalypt  Issue 26,  2019

.

 

without warning

a leaf rises in the wind

then tumbles—

our need for forgiveness

so unexpected, too

.

(Eucalypt, The Distinctive Scribblings Awards)

http://eucalypt.info/E-awards.html?fbclid=IwAR2TIZkoI7env3GUJGjZftPzY1FSJbEBKzn5UTsZ7nmXxncO_NpCwyEzE_A

 

 

*** 

.

Gusts, Contemporary Tanka  No. 29, Spring/Summer 2019

 

.

 

faint notes

of a harpsichord

playing Bach –

why is it you always wait

for one wrong note

 

 ***

 

you pour a second cup

of pale moon tea

in a teashop in Prague

. . . I wonder what story

the leaves might tell

 

 

***

 

walking alone

past the tide’s own

push and pull –

I turn to see my footprints

wash away

 

 

*** 

 

 

Kokako 30, 2019

 

.

 

abbey ruins

voices of evensong

     nowhere                 everywhere

 

***

 

 

old burying ground

so many grave markers

buried too

 

***

 

 

in the coffee shop

a glimpse of someone

who looks just like you—

I quickly check my face

in a mirror

 

***

 

 

dark storm clouds

dissolve in sunlight

and shift again—

your changing moods

just as quick

***

 

 

Haiku Holiday turns 40

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The North Carolina Haiku Society hosts an all-day meeting on the last Saturday of each April. This year marked the 40th year of these days called “Haiku Holiday.” Each of the past 40 years has been hosted by one wonderful poet and woman, Jean Earnhardt

on Bolin Brook Farm, an old farmstead that has been in her family for 12 generations. Can you imagine opening up your home and garden annually to a large group of poets? Jean does so graciously and with a welcoming, inclusive attitude. Thank you, Jean!

 

“In honor of the 40th anniversary of Haiku Holiday, we read 40 haiku by current and past members of the North Carolina Haiku Society. Crystal Simone-Smith selected the poems and published them as a broadside.”  (Dave Russo, the NCHS website Editor)

 

The Broadside is so beautiful, and it’s an honor to be part of this. My two haiku are listed below. My thanks to Crystal for selecting this to be included.

 

Haiku Holiday, NCHS, 2019

40 Years, 40 Haiku: A Broadside

 

 

dandelion—

more and more invisible

as I grow old

 

 

our country’s story

ever evolving

. . . fallen blossoms

 

 

Both haiku by Mary Kendall (c) 2019

 

that look . . . (haiku/senryu)

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Modern Haiku, Volume 50.1, Winter-Spring 2019

 

 

 

that look . . .   

a skim coat of ice

in the bird bath

 

 

 

 

 

Frozen Birdbath with Frozen Ripples (c) Terry Gray

 

 

finding a way back . . . (four Senryu)

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Part 2:
Prune Juice, A Journal of Senryu, Kyoka,
Haibun and Haiga,
Issue 26 – November 2018

 

 

Four Senryu:

 

 

reproach –
finding a way back
from heated words

 

~

 

 

 

overanalyzing–
the smell of wood smoke
on the wind

 

~

 

 

 

winter walk
learning to negotiate
what can’t be seen

 

~

 

 

the house
where I was born
weeds & more weeds

 

 

 

          Photograph by Marina Shemesh

pale lichens on stone . . . (two haiga)

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Prune Juice, A Journal of Senryu, Kyoka, Haibun and Haiga,
Issue 26 – November 2018

 

~

 

photography by Mary Kendall
Highgate Cemetery, London

 

 

Photograph by Mary Kendall,
Blackwood Farm, Hillsborough, North Carolina

 

~

 

My deepest thanks to Steve Hodge, editor. This was his last issue as editor of Prune Juice. It has been a joy and a wonderful learning experience working with Steve as an editor. 

 

Cover art by Chase Gagnon (c) 2018

 

Here is the link to the full issue of this amazing journal. It includes the amazing prize winners of the Jane Reichhold Memorial Haiga Competition for 2018 (edited by Steve Hodge and Michael Rehling), pdf:   pj-26-rev

 website:  https://prunejuice.wordpress.com

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

No second guessing

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1.

 

how many times

can a stone skip

before sinking . . .

deep in my breast

a small lump appears

 

Unsplash by Linus Nylund

 

 

2.

 

no second guessing a kingfisher’s straight dive

 

 

 

Kingfisher and Irises by-Ohara Koson, The Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, Holland.

 

 

3.

leaves turning –

an old friendship

ends

 

Golden Tree by Mary Kendall

 

 

ephemerae,
an international of haikai, tanka & beyond
Volume 1, C: November 2018

 

My thanks to Shrikaanth Krishnamurthy for publishing two of my haiku and one tanka in the November issue of ephemerae. 

 

 

 

 

Hospice window (a haiku)

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My first time in this journal.

 

Haiku Canada Review, October 2018

 

 

hospice window

cherry blossoms

fade and fall

 

heart in pink

Wild apple (some senryu)

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Three senryu and one haiga appeared in Prune Juice, Journal of Senryu, Kyoka, Haibun & Haiga, Issue 25, July 2018.

 

wild apple–
one bite is all
it took

 

inertia–
a thin coat of dust
on his burial urn

 

cloud cover–
darkness brewing
in daddy’s words

 

 

the sudden diagnosis haiga

 

My thanks to editor, Steve Hodge.

 

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Cover Art: Happy Monk by Jerry Dreesen

 

Unwanted touch …

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Presence Issue 61 (2018) / three haiku and one tanka:

 

1.

a shadow blocks the light    unwanted touch

 

2.

washed up –
this broken shell
once sang the sea

3.

far above
old cotton fields –
migrating swans

4.

thin curls of wood
fly away
from the lathe –
his memory slips 
away bit by bit

 

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Worry beads (Honorable Mention)

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I’m so honored to have had a Senryu receive an honorable mention in the
H. Gene Murtha Senryu Contest 2018.

 

Honorable Mention:

 

worry beads –
one by one I parse
your silence

 

 

Originally published in Under the Basho:  December 2016

 

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As if on cue . . . (Senryu/Tankart)

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Painted in Waterlogue

 

Published:  Failed Haiku, a Journal of English Senryu, Volume 3, Issue 31,
July 2018

Guest editors: Lori A. Minor and Chase Gagnon
Primary editor: Michael Rehling

 

 

Note: I’d like to thank my dear friend, Christine M. Kalke for her permission to use her beautiful photograph that was taken in Scandinavia during one of her visits. The digital art work was done by me. 

Sipping skinny lattés

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Prune Juice, Journal of Senryu, Kyoka, Haibun & Haiga, Issue, 24, Spring 2018:

two senryu and one kyoka published

 

 

 

pulling a single

strand of silken thread …

her undoing

 

              …

 

sipping skinny lattés

they march against

world hunger

 

              …

 

a slight limp

on cold and rainy days

how easy it is

to fall out of step

with myself

 

 

orb weaver Robert Potts:Getty Images

Orb Weaver Web / Photo by Robert Potts/Getty Images

 

 

Noon… (a haiga)

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Published in Prune Juice, Journal of Senryu, Kyoka, Haibun & Haiga, Issue, 24, Spring 2018

 

 

Chopsticks . . . (a haiga)

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Published in Prune Juice, Journal of Senryu, Kyoka, Haibun & Haiga, Issue, 24, Spring 2018

 

Note on the art work for this haiga: When we lived in London in 2017, I was enjoying the beautiful Christmas windows at Fortnum and Mason. You can see what is obviously a part of a window display in this haiga but superimposed on it is a reflection of the buildings that were on the opposite side of the street.  It was pure luck (since I’m not much of a photographer and usually only use my iPhone) that the sun was right and I caught this interesting juxtaposition. Obviously it was perfect for pairing with a verse and this senryu seemed to fit the bill.

 

All I have left

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The April 2018 issue of cattails: the Official Journal of the United Haiku and Tanka Society is out. Here is the link to the issue:

Click to access cattailsApril2018.pdf

I have three poems included–a haiku, a senryu and a tanka.

 

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My thanks to the editors for selecting these poems to be published. 

Pooh sticks . . .

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IMG_0052

In the November, 2017 issue of Blithe Spirit, the Journal of the British Haiku Society, these tanka and haiku were published. All poems are (c) 2017 Mary Kendall.

 

Screen Shot 2018-01-06 at 1.16.02 AM

 

 

Queen’s dollhouse—
we examine the tiny rooms
in barely a whisper

 

 

crowning—
the full moon pushes
through fog

 

 

 

his fingerprint
left under a cup
he made
her only way
to hold on

 

kimjpalmer_star_tribune.com_

 

the slow uncurling
of the fiddleheads
one by one
learning to let go
is never easy

 

 

 

Six in One

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Screen Shot 2017-12-23 at 12.10.47 AMScreen Shot 2017-12-23 at 12.00.00 AM

 

Under the Basho is an excellent and unusual haiku publication. It is unusual in that submissions and acceptances continue on a rolling basis through the year while other journals have very strict reading periods. It is also unusual in that the journal is divided into various haiku subcategories such as “Traditional haiku,” “Hokku,” “Modern Haiku,” “One-Line Haiku,” “Concrete Haiku,” and “Poet’s Personal Best Haiku.”

This is the second time I’ve had the good fortune of having haiku in Under the Basho in three categories: Modern Haiku, One-Line Haiku and Poet’s Personal Best Haiku.

Here are my three in the Modern Haiku group:

UtB 2017 MK modern 2

I have two in the One-Line Haiku group:

UtB 2017 MK one liner 2

And I have one selected in the Poet’s Personal Best Haiku category. Poems in this group are haiku or senryu that have already been published:

UtB 2017 PPB MK 2

It is a wonderful way to end the year by having six haiku chosen to appear in this journal. My thanks to the editors for selecting these haiku.

 

Cerulean sky and other Senryu…

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Published in Prune Juice, A Journal of Senryu, Kyoka, 
Haibun and Haiga, Issue 23, November 2017

 In addition to three haiga published in Prune Juice, there were also these senryu:

 

walking meditation
       worries follow
             in shadow   

 

cerulean sky –
the wild sea air
tousles my thoughts

 

barren –
even the word
is devoid of hope

 

promises not kept—
that umbrella you gave me 
blows inside out

 

umbrella

This stormy, but fun, vintage illustration is from a 1911 book illustrated by Oliver Herford (1863-1935)

Soaring alone (a haiga)

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This Haiga was published in Failed Haiku: A Journal of English Senryu, October 2017.

Painted in Waterlogue

The artwork was done using Waterlogue.

Looking inward (a haiga)

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This Haiga was published in Failed Haiku: A Journal of English Senryu, October 2017.

 

looking inward

 

 

 

Faded numbers… (haiku)

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faded numbers
tattooed on your arm
I slip back in silence
.

~Mary Kendall~


Published in Presence 58 July 2017
.
.
Back story on this tanka. In 1972 I visited friends in Israel. As a tourist, I was eager to see the historical sites, one of which was Masada, site of a group suicide where a Jewish community was surrounded by Roman soldiers. The Jews chose suicide rather than be taken as captives. As I stood high up on the hilly site with other visitors, it was very, very quiet. It was after all a sacred place. An older man stood next to me, and I happened to glance at him also looking out at where the soldiers would have been waiting, hoping to starve out the isolated Jewish community. I noticed on his arm, faded numbers–numbers, of course, indicating he’d been captive in a Concentration Camp. The poignancy of him being there has stayed with me for over forty years. Never again, please Lord, shall we do such things to our fellow men.

Both pictures are from travel sites to and in Israel. Masada is located in the Judean desert, very close to the Dead Sea. Visiting these sites is like stepping back two thousand years. I am so grateful for having had this opportunity to visit.

Proprioception…(three senryu)

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Prune Juice : Journal of Senryu, Kyoka, Haibun & Haiga Issue 22: July, 2017

Screen Shot 2017-07-08 at 11.03.19 AM

 

Three of my senryu were published in the newest issue of Prune Juice. It is always an honor to be included in this excellent publication and among such fine poets. My thanks to editor and poet, Steve Hodge for including my work.

 

beginner’s yoga class . . .

our first sun salutation

eclipsed by the teacher

 

 

OCD

taming laugh lines

on my selfie

 

 

proprioception lost in his own world

 

 

Whispers and unmarked graves

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These three senryu and the single kyoka were published in Prune Juice, A Journal of Senryu, Kyoka, Haibun and Haiga, Issue 21, March 2017. It is always such a joy to have a poem selected to appear in this important journal of senryu. While senryu are frequently amusing and clever, they can also be dark or serious.

 

1.

slave burial ground
. . . only whispers
and unmarked graves

 

2.

evening news –                                
the tragedies of life
our common thread

 

3.

winter thaw –
finding a way back
from heated words

 

4.                                                                                

morning doves
cooing their way
through the garden…
I, too, never saw
the neighbor’s cat

 

A haiga for poets

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Do you like word play as much as I do? I’m a hopeless ‘punner,” and this senryu/haiga allowed me to have a little fun. I hope you like it, too. 

 

 

This haiga was published in Prune Juice, A Journal of Senryu, Kyoka, Haibun and Haiga, Issue 21, March 2017.

 

Indecision… (two senryu)

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I was very lucky to have two senryu published in Failed Haiku, A Journal of English Senryu, Issue 16, April 2017

1.

 

traffic jam   reversing my indecision

 

2.

 

sleeplessness…                                
balancing dreams
and more dreams

 

My thanks to editor, Mike Rehling. Failed Haiku can be downloaded as a pdf file. This issue contains so many wonderful poets and senryu. Please go and explore it:

Click to access FailedHaikuIssue16.pdf

 

 

 

Watching my hair dance . . . (haiga)

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Using a photo I took and two different art programs on my iPad, a new picture appeared that was perfect for this senryu.

This haiga was published in:
Failed Haiku, A Journal of English Senryu, Issue 16, April 2017

 

 

 

 

Unforgettable…

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I’ve had two haiku and one haiga included in the newest edition of Wild Plum, a haiku journal, 3:1 Spring & Summer 2017.

 

unforgettable—
the taste of zinfandel
on your lips

 

 

forgiveness
the new year’s moon
lights the way

 

 

mourning-haiga

 

March brings lots of wonderful poetry journals. Another favorite of mine is
Wild Plum, a haiku journal, 3:1 Spring & Summer 2017. The journal is edited by Gabriel Sawicki. This journal is based in Poland, and it has a very international group of readers and contributors. The haiga editor is Maria Tomczak. I hope you will go to their journal directly and read it in full. It’s a very beautiful journal (lovely cover art by Azi Kuder. I’ve added a link at the bottom of this posting.

 

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Here’s a link to the complete version of this  lovely haiku journal:

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A flurry of poems…

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The fall issue of cattails is out at last. Due to a big switch around of editors, the September issue was delayed and is now published in December. What a big issue it is, full of so many poems to read. Many of my favorite poets are in this issue and there are some who are new to me still to be discovered.

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I have two haiku included in this issue:

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first blossoms –
I tell myself this year
will be different

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daybreak …
the birds wake us
song by song

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and a few senryu:

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long yawns …
breathing in
his boredom

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zafu zabuton zazen       zzzzz

 

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plus one tanka:

 

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long ago I heard
the sound of wuthering wind
blowing through the night –
a bleakness so forlorn,
a loneliness bereft of words   

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My thanks to all the editors of cattails for their hard work. I cannot begin to imagine the number of hours it takes to put together something this substantial.

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Bare branches . . . (a haiga)

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When it rains, it pours, or so the saying goes. This month I feel so fortunate to have so many things included in two of my favorite senryu journals, Failed Haiku and Prune Juice. 

 

This haiga was published in Failed Haiku: A Journal of English Senryu, Volume 1, Issue 11, November 2016. My thanks to Michael Rehling, editor of this fine journal.

 

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I took this photo in Regent’s Park, London, England, in 2015.

 

 

On my pillow… (a haiga)

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It’s an honor to have this haiga published in Prune Juice: A Journal of Senryu, Kyoka, Haibun and Haiga, Issue 20, November 16. My thanks to editor, Steve Hodge.

 

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This photo was taken by me in a small cafe in Edinborough, Scotland in March, 2013.

Some New Senryu

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November has been a month of riches–I’ve had senryu published in both Prune Juice and Failed Haiku.

 

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Four senryu published in Prune Juice, A Journal of Senryu, Kyoka, Haibun and Haiga, Issue 20, November 2016:

 

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Three senryu published in Failed Haiku, A Journal of English Senryu, Volume 1, Issue 11, November 2016:

 

 

 

 

 

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An Honorable Mention . . . (senryu)

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~ This poem/haiga is dedicated to all who have struggled with cancer. ~

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A wonderful surprise email told me that a haiga of mine had been selected as an “Honorable Mention, Mixed Media** Category” in the Jane Reichhold Haiga Contest sponsored by two wonderful senryu journals:

Failed Haiku, A Journal of English Senryu Volume 1, Issue 11, edited by Michael Rehling

Prune Juice – A Journal of Senryu, Kyoka, Haibun and Haiga, Issue 20, November 2016, edited by Steve Hodge

The Judges of the contest were: Kris Kondo, Ron C. Moss, Michele Root-Bernstein

Michele wrote the commentary on my haiga: 

 

“With the sparest of words and imagery, this haiga lays bare the essence of life in the face of death. If the poem skirts the uncertain boundary between haiku and senryu, just as certainly the picture skirts the shadowlands of mortality, its single image illuminating the darkness with a pulsating light. So well integrated are text and image that the associative leap between the two has the power of metaphor: the shaved skull is the incubating egg, never mind the incongruity. Avoiding the maudlin and the sentimental, this haiga speaks simply, honestly, of the beauty to be found in the ordinary, ordinarily hidden from view.”

This competition was in honor of the late Jane Reichhold who was such a brilliant poet, teacher, editor and mentor to so many who write haiku, senryu, tanka and other small form poems. I never had the honor of meeting her, but her main book on haiku has been a bible for me and so many others.

**Mixed Media, which can be any combination of traditional and photographic, or computer generated images and text.

 

 

 

 

 

Looking back…

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In Frameless Sky 4, editor Christine L. Villa paired my haiku/senryu with a another lovely photograph of Irena Iris Szewczyk. My thanks go to Irena Iris Szewczyk and to Christine L. Villa, editor of  Frameless Sky.

 

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Words by Mary Kendall
Photograph by Irena Iris Szewczyk
Frameless Sky 4, Summer 2016

Some Senryu for Springtime

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Some of you already know that one of my newest favorite online journals to read is Failed Haiku: A Journal of English Senryu. Edited by Michael Rehling, this journal has taken off in the really large number of readers and downloads. The latest issue is 100 pages of some of the finest haiku/senryu poets writing today. Please be sure to visit and download the journal, which comes in pdf form. You will really delight in these poems and as with all senryu, emotions run from laughter to being touched deeply and seriously.

Click to access FailedHaikuIssue4.pdf

I was fortunate to have one haiga (which I will post separately) and two senryu published in the April 2016 issue. I am thrilled! These are my offerings:

 

 

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Senryu…three for today

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These three senryu were just published in the March issue of faileD haikU, a Journal of English Senryu, Volume 1, Issue 3, edited by Michael Rehling.

 
senryu Failed Haiku March 2016

I hope you are enjoying senryu as much as I am. The world of haiku and senryu is so rich and open.

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Two New Senryu…

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I had two senryu published in the March, 2016, issue 18 of Prune Juice, Journal of Senryu, Kyoka, Haibun & Haiga, edited by Steve Hodge. It’s a real honor to be published in this excellent  journal.

 

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The first is dedicated to my friend, Gale, who underwent brain surgery last fall. She handled it with such grace and her usual humor. She has recovered and is doing really well. This poem is for her:

 

scalp stapled shut–
your laughter as you
try on bright new hats

 

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Senryu have a human element to them. They are often thought of as being humorous, but that is not always the case. They can be very serious as in the next poem. This poem is a one line senryu. It is dedicated to someone dear to me who is undergoing cancer treatment.

 

your tumor growing        we worry about the snow

 

 

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I hope you will explore all the writers in this issue of Prune Juice:  https://prunejuice.files.wordpress.com/2016/03/pj-issue-18-march-1603.pdf

 

Haiga #2 (a senryu)

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As mentioned in the last posting, I had three photo haiga  published in the March issue of faileD haikU, a Journal of English Senryu, Volume 1, Issue 3, edited by Michael Rehling. This is #2.

Kendall migraine 2 haiga

 

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Note:  Both the photo and senryu are by Mary Kendall.

Bits & Pieces

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I had three haiku published in issue #61 of hedgerow, a journal of small poems last week. 

 

old nest box…                                    
a flurry of blue birds
before the snow

 

(hedgerow #61)

 

roasted chestnuts–
how could I forget
your laughter?

 

(hedgerow #61)

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my dog leaps
into still night water
to fetch the moon

 

(hedgerow #61)

 

 

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Small Poems for a Cold Winter Day

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In my last posting here,  I put up a new haiga that was just published in cattails, January 2016, the journal of the United Haiku and Tanka Society, but I was really very fortunate this time round in having three other poems published in the same issue: a haiku, a senryu, and a tanka.

 

cattails, January 2016, haiku, p. 8:

 

winter—
each day closing in
on itself

 

cattails, January 2016, tanka, p. 4: 

 

chased away
by a gang of crows
the red-tailed hawk—
being different
is never easy

 

 

cattails, January 2016, senryu, p. 9:

 

black Friday—
the vultures circle
round and round