stinging nettles –
things that were said
I can’t forget
The Heron’s Nest
Volume XXIV, Number 4: December, 2022
stinging nettles –
things that were said
I can’t forget
The lovely New Zealand journal, Kokaku, published two haiku and two tanka in their fall issue: Kokaku #37, 2022.
Kokaku #37, 2022
evening web –
the last plum blossom
caught fast
***
corner flower shop –
if only our lives were
arranged so well
***
quick twists and turns
of rutting deer ~
another season passes
adrift in colours
of passion and promise
***
This tanka appeared on my blog last month but was from this issue (37):
a tiny fawn dead
by the side of the road –
I close my eyes & imagine
all those children lost
in Ukraine strikes
***
~
having made it
halfway across, halfway back
I stop and pause
wondering which way
I really want to go
~
Published in Eucalypt 32 Tanka, May 2022 Issue
~
Tight-Rope Walker by Jean Louis Forain, c. 1885, Art Institute of Chicago
This tanka was inspired by a painting of a tightrope walker:
Tight Rope Walker by Jean Louis Forain, The Art Institute of Chicago
~
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.
Presence #72, Spring 2022
.
winter birds crack seeds
& feast on blocks of suet –
my long morning is spent
polishing old pieces
of silver we rarely use
.
.
Photo by Stauffers of Kissel Hill
GUSTS: Contemporary Tanka 33 (Tanka Canada)
life as we knew it
vanished in quarantine,
yet tiny helicopters
of maple seeds will twirl
& spin again one day