Haiku by Michelle Villanueva

expansion

 

mother's crinoline

scrapes while she paces these paths

too blistered to fly

 

prairies built on less

breathe as though sleek hummingbirds

when she wanders past

 

and the silhouette

I remember twice she called

beyond mere windows

 

with snow slick as skin

hedgerows our blank crucible

hush the violets

 

all along the trees

whisper their benediction

they call her starlight

 

 

Michelle Villanueva is a student finishing up an MFA in Creative Writing - Poetry at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.  She is the author of one chapbook, Postcard: Lions (forthcoming 2015, Etched Press), and her poetry has been published in Foothill Poetry Journal, The Tower Review, The Camel Saloon, and other print and online publications.


 

Haiku by Ag Synclair

gray ghosts of winter
a bluster of blinding snow
flakes of poetry




From the safety of his boring suburban New Hampshire condo, Ag Synclair publishes The Montucky Review and edits poetry forThe Bookends Review. Widely published in the small presses, he manages to fly under the radar. Deftly.

Haiku by Nells Wasilewski

graveside service
summer sun beats down
everything dried up--even tears


uninhibited
broken song on a careless breeze
child plays the piano

Nells Wasilewski lives in a small southern town, seventy miles southeast of Nashville, TN. with her husband, Walter.  She retired from the mortgage industry in 2011 and began pursuing her lifelong dream of writing.  Her work has been greatly influenced by her faith, her own experiences and nature.  Her work has appeared in Haiku Journal, 50 Haikus, Three Line Poetry, Dual Coast Magazine, Barefoot Review, High Coupe, Ancient Paths, and Poetry Quarterly.  Two devotionals to be published in 2015 issue.  She is currently an administrator of the Facebook Group, Christian Poets and Writers.

 

 

 

 

Haiku by Alan S. Bridges

the iridescent flash
off a dark wing
roadkill

Alan S. Bridges began writing haiku in 2008, with encouragement from poet John Stevenson after the pair met on a cross-country train ride.  Alan was subsequently included in A New Resonance 7, Emerging Voices in English-Language Haiku, Red Moon Press, 2011.  An avid fisherman, he is currently compiling fishing-related haiku for an anthology.  He resides in Littleton, Massachusetts.

Haiku by Steve Ausherman

Chalky limestone cliffs
Lug upon their fossil backs
Shadows of clattering birds.


Photographers point lenses
Of sadness at the defeat
Of leaves gone autumn brown.


Crickets hum darkness.
Alleyway alchemy
Of murkiness into song.


What about beat-up bags
Of sin and redemption.
The preacher is sweating.


Stiff-necked sky soldiers.
Ravens hold updrafts
In wingtips brittle as moon.

Steve Ausherman is an artist, photographer and writer whose poetry has thrice been nominated for the Pushcart Prize in poetry.  His first chapbook entitled Creek Bed Blue (Encircle Publications, 2012) has been nominated for a 2014 New Mexico Book Award and celebrates farming, family heritage and a connection to place.  His forthcoming chapbook entitled, Marking the Bend (Encircle Publications) is scheduled for 2015 publication and celebrates travel, spirit in the landscape, and a love of wilderness.  His poetry has recently been in the literary journals Decanto, Bear Creek Haiku, the Aurorean, Cheap Seats:  Ticket to Ride, Pilgrimage and Shemom.  As well, his work recently appeared in the poetry anthology Mo'Joe (Beatlick Press, 2014).  Free time finds him exploring the hiking trails of the American West with his wife Denise.

Haiku by Kelley White

thin window shade--
my neighbor's christmas lights
flash in my dreams


Three Kings Day--poor old
Christmas tree stripped of lights
and decorations.



Pediatrician Kelley White worked in inner city Philadelphia and now works in rural New Hampshire.  Her poems have appeared in journals including Exquisite Corpse, Rattle and JAMA.  Her most recent books are Toxic Environment (Boston Poet Press) and Two Birds in Flame (Beech River Books).  She received a 2008 Pennsylvania Council on the Arts grant.

Haiku by Jane Blanchard

midwestern landscape
patchwork quilt of green and gold
best seen from above


rain from north and south
creeping across the ceiling
crawling on the floor



inside or outside
silence after song may mean
something is amiss



Jane Blanchard lives and writes in Georgia.  Her work has recently appeared in Boston Literary Magazine, The Enigmatist, Halycon, Kigo, and Leaves of Ink.

Haiku by M.J. Iuppa

sudden gust of wind:
            starlings before your eyes--
                        swirling maple leaves.


sunflowers glow
two feet above my head
brighter than streetlights


late autumn warmth:
back yard crab apple flowers
blooming confusion

M.J. Iuppa lives on a small farm near the shores of Lake Ontario.  Between Worlds is her most recent chapbook, featuring lyric essays, flash fiction and prose poems (Foothills Publishing, 2013).  She is the Writer-in-Residence and Director of the Visual and Performing Arts Minor Program at St. John Fisher College.  You can follow her musings on writing and creative sustainability on Red Rooster Farm on mjiuppa.blogspot.com

Haiku by Cindy O'Nanski

Our Backyard

Welcome to our yard
Where sweet memories are made
Closed for the season.

Cindy O'Nanski comes from the small town of Renfrew, Ontario, Canada.  Her passion has always been reading and writing poetry.  She writes for many online publications, including a Facebook poetry group called Apoetseye.  her poems "Young For Years," and "Unspoken Words," have been published in one of the groups collaborative books titled Sonnets APE/APLS 2013.  Her poem Halloween Dreams won a poetry contest in 2012 and appears in the book Spooky Poems by Soapbox Publishing.  Halloween Dreams was also a finalist in the Mattia Family 15th Annual Poetry Contest in 2012.

Haiku by Matthew Valdespino

Our last thanksgiving
Turkey stuffed with words of death
We smile and laugh


There's more to the rain
Than a slippery sidewalk
Think of the flowers

Matthew Valdespino is a 23 year old graduate of the University of Pennsylvania currently living in Tacoma.  After spending the past year working on farms in Lynden, Washington and Central Chile, he has moved into the Seattle-Tacoma area to pursue his interests in Poetry on a more full time basis.  His work tends to explore limitations, both of himself and those around him, the virtue of struggle, and the city of Seattle.

Gendai Haiku by John W. Sexton

glare of the car's eyes / night halts for the shrew



no grammarians for bird-song / the birds just sing



the movement of the stars:  the fixity of the stars:  stars



in the aftertaste of the kumquat / a legend of nebulae



Pleaides / on my sleeve the moth's bright smear

John W. Sexton lives in the Republic of Ireland and is the author of five poetry collections, the most recent being The Offspring of the Moon (Salmon Poetry, 2013).  He is a past nominee for The Hennessy Literary Award and his poem "The Green Owl" won the Listowel Poetry Prize 2007.  Also in 2007, he was awarded a Patrick and Katherine Kavanagh Fellowship in Poetry.  His haiku have previously appeared in Acorn, Ginyu, Modern Haiku, Frogpond, Simply Haiku, The Heron's Nest, The 58th Basho Festival Haiku Anthology, bottle rockets, Roadrunner, Chrysanthemum, Moonset, Haiku Scotland, Albatross, paper wasp and World Haiku Review.

Haiku by Carlo Frank Calo

Deja Vu

I lost my draft card.
Dominoes have never left.
Soldiers flower still.


Sphinx Perspective

Swirling gusts of time
Look beyond the stones long lain
Sands strip bare my skin

Carlo Frank Calo, the grandson of Sicilian immigrants, is a husband, father and grandfather.  He was born in Harlem, grew up in the Bronx projects and is retired on Long Island.  When not fishing, bicycling, playing poker, working part-time counseling TBI survivors or babysitting his grandchildren he enjoys writing eclectically.  He has been published in Hippocampus Magazine, The Fast Forward Festival, The Copperfield Review, and Great South Bay Magazine.

Haiku by ayaz daryl nielsen

younger brother
this close again as I wear
his favorite jacket


red-winged blackbirds
no two eggs from the same male
well, that's blackbirds!



ayaz daryl nielsen, husband, father, veteran, x-roughneck (as on oil rigs), hospice nurse, editor of bear creek haiku (25+ years/120+ issues), homes include Lilliput Review, Jellyfish Whispers, Writing the Whirlwind, Shamrock, and bearcreekhaiku.blogspot.com (translates as joie de vivre).

Haiku by Stacy Lynn Mar

Alienation

She's misunderstood,
A bright neon stop-light of
Backroad confetti


Afterglow

I am all elbows,
A breathless sigh midmorning,
My lovers still sleeping.


The Lonely

Inter-changeable
Strange bare parallel crosswalks,
We are all alone.


Daydreaming

Two cups of red wine
Lovers dream atop barstools,
The young streets of Spain.


Hanging the Stars

She's not doing much,
Just wrestling a werewolf moon
And hanging silver stars

Stacy Lynn Mar is a 30-something American poet.  Inspired by the works of Sharon Olds and Anne Sexton, her work is primarily confessional.  She holds three graduate degrees in psychology and attended Lindsey Wilson College of Human Sciences as well as Ellis College of NYIT for a BA in English.  Shacy divides her time between her young daughter, her forays into writing, a genuine love of books, film, coffee, vintage things, and her life partner.  She is founder and masthead of a new literary ezine for women, Pink. Girl. Ink, and also has a book review blog.  She invites you to visit her personal blog  www.warningthestars.blogspot.com  

Haiku by A.J. Huffman

Acorn foragers
harvest transport and stockpile
hibernation's fuel.


Chlorophyll retracts,
green withers to arid brown,
shatters in fall's breath.


Last year's seeds take root,
grow vines that yield engorged orbs
waiting to be carved.


Scarecrow sags in field
stripped bare by harvesting blades,
mourns ghosted crops.


Feathered flightlings launch,
set bearings for warmer winds,
sands of southern shores.



A.J. Huffman has published nine solo chapbooks and one joint chapbook through various small presses.  She also has two new full-length poetry collections forthcoming: Another Blood Jet (Eldritch Press) and A Few Bullets Short of Home (mgv2>publishing).  She is a Pushcart Prize nominee, and her poetry, fiction, haiku and photography have appeared in hundreds of national and international journals, including Labletter, The James Dickey Review, Bone Orchard, EgoPHobia, and Kritya.  She is also the founding editor of Kind of a Hurricane Press.  www.kindofahurricanepress.com 

Haiku by Cristine A. Gruber

Collins, Hass and Bly . . .
many nights spent in their worlds
drunk on wine


Around the table
sits the strength of worlds
teacups in small hands


Cerulean sky
silent and wondrous painting
broken by dove's wings


Bright constellations
form a nocturnal map
lead the cat back home


Barren winter sky
calling to the lonely sun
will it ever end

Cristine A. Gruber has had work featured in numerous magazines, including North American Review, Writer's Digest, Writers' Journal, Ascent Aspirations, California Quarterly, Dead Snakes Online Journal, The Endicott Review, Garbanzo Literary Journal, The Homestead Review, Iodine Poetry Journal, Kind of a Hurricane Press's Something's Brewing Anthology, Miller's Pond Poetry Magazine, The Penwood Review, Poem, Thema, The Tule Review, and Westward Quarterly.  Her first full-length collection of poetry, Lifeline, was released by Infinity Publishing and is available from Amazon.com 

Haiku by Iain Macdonald

December beach --
the taste of salt
when we kiss


after long illness,
walking again
this cold morning

Born and raised in Glasgow, Scotland, Iain Macdonald currently lives in Arcata, California.  He has earned his bread and beer in various ways, from flower picker to factory hand, merchant marine officer to high school teacher.  His chapbooks, Plotting the Course and Transit Report, are published by March Street Press.  A third chapbook, The Wrecker's Yard, has been accepted for publication by Kattywompus Press.

A Haiku String by Susan Dale

Passions 2

Bodies heavy
with heat
Oh, the ache of it

   *****

Hot colors of the heart
spread out in the sun
to burn

   *****

Sensing the smoke of fire
Breathing
embered breath

   *****

Compulsions meet
in tangled skeins
of legs and arms

   *****

The language of our hearts
we feel
in our bodies

Susan Dale's poems and fiction are on Kind of a Hurricane Press, Ken*Again, Penman Review, Inner Art Journal, Feathered Flounder, Garbanzo, and Linden Avenue.  In 2007, she won the grand prize for poetry from Oneswan.  She has two published chapbooks on the internet:  Spaces Among Spaces by languageandculture.org and Bending the Spaces of Time by Barometric Pressure.

Haiku by Jonel Abellanosa

Before I Was Born

I miss running round
the late afternoon meadow
before I was born

golden light--
over the field of grass
before I was born

before I was born
Springtime conversed with Always
drops from the eves' thaw

Jonel Abellanosa resides in Cebu City, the Philippines.  Remembering things that seem to never have happened, he thinks this life on Earth may not be his first.  He continues to search for more proof that ultimate hope is real.  Instead of relying on science, he approaches poetry like a pilgrim, prayerful in discerning the eternal that other poets might have consciously or inadvertently left in their works; looking for universal hope expressing itself in different forms through stories of ordinary individuals.

Haiku by ayaz daryl nielsen

we rest by the sea
carafes of Prosecco outdoors
keening of white gulls


Spring afternoon
a queen wasp quietly
building her nest


morning crowishness
cantankerous racket
of being crow


on the fence posts
cowboy boots and hip waders
a woman's slipper


December's first ice
catfish and Northern pike
deeper and slower


red and white roses
children in the playground
sun above all



ayaz daryl nielsen, husband, father, veteran, x-roughneck (as on oil rigs), hospice nurse, editor of bear creek haiku (25+ years/120+ issues), homes include Lilliput Review, Jellyfish Whispers, Writing the Whirlwind, Shamrock, and bearcreekhaiku.blogspot.com (translates as joie de vivre).

Haiku by Nells Wasilewski

leaves long gone
fierce winter winds blow--bare limbs
shiver in protest


a cold winter night
warmth radiates between us
your heart next to mine


early spring morning
frost lingers--buttercups glisten
winter's fleeing kiss


icy waves spew wrath
upon a deserted shore
drowning self pity



Nells Wasilewski lives in a small southern town, seventy miles southeast of Nashville, Tennessee with her husband, Walter.  She retired from the mortgage industry in 2011 and began pursuing her lifelong dream of writing.  Her writing has been greatly influenced by her faith in Jesus Christ, her own experiences and nature.  She is currently working on daily devotionals.  Her work has appeared in Haiku Journal, Three Line Poetry, 50 Haikus, Poetry Quarterly, Barefoot Review, and Dual Coast Magazine.

Haiku by Changming Yuan

Seascape:  Four Haiku

f2 may 8, 10

a daring spirit
trying to stir the whole sea
with its tiny beak

p16 may 8, 10

in grace and leisure
you dance with a raging storm
to the blue descent

f18 may 2, 10

however winds blow
all waves keep pushing forward
to the shore only

p19 may 2, 10

light rays at sunset
retreat to the ocean's heart
together with gulls



Changming Yuan, 8-time Pushcart nominee and author of Chansons of a Chinaman (2009) and Landscaping (2013) grew up in rural China, holds a PhD in English, and currently tutors in Vancouver, where he co-edits Poetry Pacific with Allen Qing Yuan and operates PP Press.  Since mid-2005, Yuan has published poetry in Asia Literary Review Best Canadian Poetry, BestNewPoemsOnline, London Magazine, Threepenny Review and 889 other literary journals/anthologies across 30 countries.

Haiku by Changming Yuan

Chinese Gentility:  Four Confucian Haiku

Orchid:     Deep in the valley
                 Alone on an obscure spot
                 You bloom none the less

Lotus:       From foul decayed silt
                 You shoot clean against the sun
                 Never pollutable

Mum:       Hanging on and on
                Even when wishes wither
                You keep flowering

Plum:       Your brave bold blood dropped
                 As though to melt all world's snow
                 Before spring gathers



Changming Yuan, 8-time Pushcart nominee and author of Chansons of a Chinaman (2009) and Landscaping (2013) grew up in rural China, holds a PhD in English, and currently tutors in Vancouver, where he co-edits Poetry Pacific with Allen Qing Yuan and operates PP Press.  Since mid-2005, Yuan has published poetry in Asia Literary Review Best Canadian Poetry, BestNewPoemsOnline, London Magazine, Threepenny Review and 889 other literary journals/anthologies across 30 countries.

Haiku by Changming Yuan

Two Domestic Haiku


The Dog

Although newly grown
Your teeth are strong enough to chew
All the hardest days


The Cat

Dyed with the dark night
Your black pupils can see through
The sunlight's secrets

Changming Yuan, 8-time Pushcart nominee and author of Chansons of a Chinaman (2009) and Landscaping (2013) grew up in rural China, holds a PhD in English, and currently tutors in Vancouver, where he co-edits Poetry Pacific with Allen Qing Yuan and operates PP Press.  Since mid-2005, Yuan has published poetry in Asia Literary Review Best Canadian Poetry, BestNewPoemsOnline, London Magazine, Threepenny Review and 889 other literary journals/anthologies across 30 countries.

Haiku by Ron Lavalette

Haiku Stupid

1.

sixteen chickens cross

I curse the road for its width
stupid slowpoke birds

2.

they roll themselves down

stupid Pakistani socks
blame it on Wal-Mart

3.

stupid galaxy

we have nowhere else to go
stay home in the pits

4.

deadly golden arch

America malnourished
stupid plastic food

5.

turn the damned thing off
stupid reality shows
big ol’ bunch of dopes

 

 

Ron Lavalette is a cranky poet from Barton VT. He has been widely published in both ink and pixel form.  A reasonable sample of his published work can be found at EGGS OVER TOKYO (http://eggsovertokyo.blogspot.com).

Haiku by Nancy May

blossom in the fall

I listen to the advice

of my grandmother

the wings of a dove

unfold in a cool spring breeze

new words between us

 

 

 

Nancy May has haiku published in Haiku Journal, Three Line Poetry, Poetry Quarterly, Inclement Poetry, Twisted Dreams Magazine, Vox Poetica, Eskimo Pie, Icebox, Dark Pens, Daily Love, Leaves of Ink, The Blue Hour Magazine, Kernels, Mused - The BellaOnline Literary Review, Dead Snakes, Danse Macabre - An online Literary Magazine, A Handful of Stones, Lyrical Passion Poetry E-Zine, UFO Gigolo, 50 Haikus, The Germ, Boston Literary Review, Be Happy Zone, Every Day Poets, Cattails, Ppigpenn and Creatrix Journal.  She is monthly contributor at The Camel Saloon and Poems and Poetry.  She has reached the Heron's Nest consideration stage twice and the Chrysanthemum consideration stage once.  She is working on her first haiku collection.

 

 

 

Haiku by ayaz daryl nielsen

dry southern forest

wild boars dig among roots and 

the rain still won’t fall

ayaz daryl nielsen, husband, father, veteran, x-roughneck (as on oil rigs)/hospice nurse, editor of bear creek haiku (24+ years/119+ issues), homes include Lilliput Review, Jellyfish Whispers, Eye On Life, High Coupe, Shamrock, SCIFAIKUEST, Shemom - ensembles include Concentric Penumbras of the Heart and Tumbleweeds Still Tumbling, released 2013’s anthology The Poets of Bear Creek - beloved wife/poet Judith Partin-Nielsen, worthy assistant Frosty, and! bearcreekhaiku.blogspot.com (translates as joie de vivre)

 

Haiku by A.J. Huffman

Carousel horses
fly, frozen ghosts of spirit,
captured purity.

Umbrellas offer

protection but not solace.
Rain still makes me cry.

Sandcastle learning:

What hands toil to erect,
nature will erase.

Color by numbers.

Two tiny hands pretending
they are Picasso’s.

Crescent snags starless

sky, illuminates blanket
of smothering night.

A.J. Huffman has published seven solo chapbooks and one joint chapbook through various small presses.  Her eighth solo chapbook, Drippings from a Painted Mind, won the 2013 Two Wolves Chapbook Contest.  She is a Pushcart Prize nominee, and her poetry, fiction, haiku, and photography have appeared in hundreds of national and international journals, including Labletter, The James Dickey Review, Bone Orchard, EgoPHobia, Kritya, and Offerta Speciale, in which her work appeared in both English and Italian translation.  She is also the founding editor of Kind of a Hurricane Press.  www.kindofahurricanepress.com

 

Haiku by Denny E. Marshall

Aliens attack
Transform the world into a
Ball of candy


Worn roadside sign says
Unlimited dreams ten bucks
All nightmares are free


Clones only action
Is to repeatedly sigh
I call him cyclone


Martian colony
Lots of work available
Except for lifeguards


Mars evolution
History long ago hid
By meteorites

Denny E. Marshall has had art and poetry published, some recently. He does have a website with previously published works. The address is www.dennymarshall.com.

Haiku by April Salzano

Bright bulb swinging on
bare, black wire.  Questioning.
Interrogation.


Messing up my own
mistake counting syllables,
writing haiku wrong.


Knick knack paddy whack.
Dog, bone, sudden elation.
Then she goes to sleep.



April Salzano teaches college writing in Pennsylvania where she lives with her husband and two sons.  Most recently, she was nominated for two Pushcart prizes and finished her first collection of poetry.  She is working on a memoir on raising a child with autism.  Her work has appeared in journals such as Convergence, Ascent Aspirations, The Camel Saloon, Centrifugal Eye, Deadsnakes, Visceral Uterus, Salome, Poetry Quarterly, Writing Tomorrow and Rattle.  The author also serves as co-editor at Kind of a Hurricane Press.

Haiku by Kelly-Cressio-Moeller

Haiku Noir

I did not want to

burn the bridge, only remove

a few of the planks

sometimes we have to

throw ourselves off the cliff in

order not to drown

lampblack raindrops fall

from the nib of my fountain

pen, a vein punctured

black widow spider

mother protecting her young

still, the hourglass drains

inhaling paint fumes

the sigh of brush on canvas

never been higher

 

 

 

Kelly Cressio-Moeller’s poetry has appeared or is forthcoming in Boxcar Poetry Review, Crab Creek Review, Crab Orchard Review, Gargoyle, Pirene’s Fountain, Poet Lore, Rattle, Southern Humanities Review, THRUSH Poetry Journal, Valparaiso Poetry Review, and ZYZZYVA others as well as in Diane Lockward’s book, The Crafty Poet. She shares her fully-caffeinated life with her tall husband, two ever-growing sons, and their immortal basset hound in Northern California. She’s at work on her first book of poems.

Haiku by Jennine Scarboro

monument

stone angel
veiled glance cracked, still wings
impassable

Jennine Scarboro is a poet, arts writer and painter. Her writing has appeared in HAARP, Vallum, Whole Beast Rag, pacificREVIEW, Whitehot and on the KQEDArts website. When she’s not at her day job sorting slides of 80s installation-art in the CSP Archive, Jennine’s scribbling verses and making paintings in her downtown Oakland studio. www.jenninescarboro.com

Haiku by Alexis Rhone Fancher

Bad Apple

 

he’s a bad apple.

the kind you hope kills himself,

saves you the trouble.

 

says there’s a gun in

the garage, but won’t say where.

in clutter it hides.

 

she sees she was blind.

now that it’s too late, two young

boys to feed and clothe.

 

protection order?

get real. if he wants you, he’ll

find you, anyway.

 

at your mother’s house.

your girlfriend’s. some cheap motel.

there’s no money left.

 

he’s ruined your credit.

destroyed your self-esteem. now

you can only wait.

 

he’s a bad apple.

the kind you hope kills himself,

before he kills you.

 

 

 

Alexis Rhone Fancher’s work most recently can be found in Rattle, The MacGuffin, Slipstream, Fjords Review, and H_NGM_N. Her book of erotic poems, How I Lost My Virginity To Michael Cohen and Other Heart Stab Poems,” will be published this August by Sybaritic Press. In 2013 she was nominated for two Pushcart Prizes. She is poetry editor of Cultural Weekly. www.alexisrhonefancher.com

Haiku by Mary Orovan

apricots
furry angelic
orange


in a few days
spring painted herself
ecstatic


the madly
colorful death cries
of leaves


Reverse Haiku:

he was the rainbow
of my life
and the blueberries

Mary Orovan's book "Green Rain" is on Amazon.com.  She has current or recent poems online at 2River.org, Winter Issue, and First Literary Review http://www.rulrul.4mg.com/.  Print journals include "San Pedro River Review," "Poetry East," and many other publications.  She's been writing poetry for about 12 years.

Haiku by Les Merton

girl on mobile phone
plaits hair with freehand fingers
her eyes comb escape


newspaper reader's face
reflects the seriousness of text
a buddhist meditates



Author, Poet, Editor Les Merton likes to enjoy the time retirement brings by writing.  In 2013 he did a three book deal with Bradwell Books of Sheffield, two of these books Cornish Dialect and Cornish Ghosts have been published and can be purchased from http://www.bradwellbooks.co.uk/

 

Haiku by ayaz daryl nielsen

my period of time

sixty-five and some years wide

weather-brown and creased

snowdrift agenda

         this city’s quiet moments

a poem revisioned   

all our grey hairs

laughter when we hear the

gossip about us

 

 

 

 

ayaz daryl nielsen is editor of bear creek haiku (24+ years/116+ issues), his poetry’s homes include Lilliput Review, Yellow Mama, Verse Wisconsin, Shamrock, High Coupe, Shemom and Lalitamba, poetry ensembles include Haiku  Tumbleweeds Still Tumbling and Bear Creek Haiku Anthology  Poets of Bear Creek - beloved wife/poet Judith Partin-Nielsen, assistant Frosty, and! bearcreekhaiku.blogspot.com (translates as joie de vivre)

High Coupe by ayaz daryl nielsen

this earth we live on
betoaded and cawified
naked heart and toes


replacing floorboards
the grey expired strides
of ancestors



ayaz daryl nielsen is editor of bear creek haiku (24+ years/116+ issues).  his poetry's homes include Lilliput Review, Yellow Mama, Verse Wisconsin, Shamrock, High Coupe, Shemom and Lalitamba, poetry ensembles include Haiku Tumbleweeds Still Tumbling and Bear Creek Haiku Anthology Poets of Bear Creek -- beloved wife/poet Judith Partin-Nielsen, assistant Frosty, and! bearcreekhaiku.blogspot.com (translates as joie de vivre).

Haiku by Mary Jo Balistreri

tropical cold spell

last shaken light on river

starlings shift and turn

muted smoke-peach blends

daughter watches gulf sunset

mother’s ghost painting

crimson crowns tipped back

sixty-million year echoes

pleistocene bugling

Mary Jo Balistreri has two books of poetry, Joy in the Morning, and gathering the harvest, both published by Bellowing Ark Press.  A chapbook, Best Brothers, is forthcoming in spring, 2014 from Tiger's Eye Press.  Mary Jo has published widely, and has three Pushcart nominations and two Best of the Net.  She is a founding member of Grace River Poets, an outreach for schools, women's shelters, and churches.  Please visit Mary Jo on her website: maryjobalistreripoet.com 

Haiku from Sam Bockover

Ghost visage in rock
Americana landmark
The Black Hills judge us

 

Chords rising through air
Harmonica and guitar
Naming human pains

 

Crumpled pages speak
Bad poems and Baphomets
High school memories

 

 

Chalk, hands, torn blisters
Rock lessons applied to life
All ascents have risk

 

 

Ayahuasca tastes
Outer space blooms inside you
Universe of love

 

 

 

 

Sam Bockover is a writer and poet from the American midwest.

Haiku by ayaz daryl nielsen

never a headline

a few threadbare footnotes

always a friend

 

 

 

a fool for beauty

inside the art gallery

alongside my wife

 

 

 

ayaz daryl nielsen, husband, father, veteran, x-roughneck (as on oil rigs) and x-hospice nurse, is editor of bear creek haiku (24+ years/116+ issues), his poetry’s homes include Lilliput Review, Yellow Mama, Verse Wisconsin, Shamrock, High Coupe and Shemom, he has earned some cherished awards and participated in worthy anthologies - his poetry ensembles include Concentric Penumbra’s of the Heart and Tumbleweeds Still Tumbling, and, in 2013, released an anthology of poetry titled The Poet’s of Bear Creek - beloved wife/poet Judith Partin-Nielsen, assistant Frosty, and! bearcreekhaiku.blogspot.com (translates as joie de vivre)

Haiku from your Editor, A.J. Huffman

Fallen leaves dissolve
beneath winter's smothering
kiss.  Seasons' cycle.


Skeletal trees stretch
through morning's fog, desperate
for hint of sun's warmth.


Grey eye of winter
blinks, snowflakes fall at random,
bless the earth like tears.

A.J. Huffman has published seven solo chapbooks and one joint chapbook through various small presses.  She is a Pushcart Prize nominee, and the winner of the 2012 Promise of Light Haiku Contest.  Her poetry, fiction, and haiku have appeared in hundreds of national and international journals, including Labletter, The James Dickey Review, Bone Orchard, EgoPHobia, Kritya, and Offerta Speciale, in which her work appeared in both English and Italian translation.  She is also the founding editor of Kind of a Hurricane Press.  www.kindofahurricanepress.com

Four Autism Haiku from your editor, April Salzano

Rote answer robot
programmed with your ABA.
Independent thoughts?


Undeniable
truth rests in what you say that
you think I can't hear.


Limit what is fun.
Electronics, narcotics,
poison for my brain.


Zipper weighted vest,
offer sensory fidget,
thing to bite or pull.



 

April Salzano teaches college writing in Pennsylvania where she lives with her husband and two sons. She recently finished her first collection of poetry, for which she is seeking a publisher and is working on a memoir on raising a child with autism. Her work has appeared in journals such as Poetry Salzburg, Convergence, Ascent Aspirations, The Camel Saloon, Centrifugal Eye, Deadsnakes, Montucky Review, Visceral Uterus, Salome, Poetry Quarterly, Writing Tomorrow and Rattle. The author also serves as co-editor at Kind of a Hurricane Press. 

 

 

Haiku by Pijush Kanti Deb

Cardinal virtues-

made of glittering glasses

handle with care.

 

 

 

 

Pijush Kanti Deb is an Associate Professor in Economics.  Has had 70 poems and haiku accepted or published by Indian and international publishers since June 2013,.they are, Tajmahal review, Camel Saloon Blog Spot, E-pao.Net, Dead Snake Blog Spot, Down in the Dirt, Poetic Monthly Magazine, Poems and Poetry Blog Spot, Poetry 24 Blog Spot, Long Story Short , Gean Tree Haiku Journal, My Word Wizard, and A Handful of Stones , Kalkion, ,Verse Engine ,The Apple Tree ,High Coupe and Madswril

 

 

 

Haiku by ayaz daryl nielsen

he lay aside his pen

the evening darkness in place

a quiet city

late summer labyrinth

a brown sheen upon the spell-

binding play of faces

 

 

 

 

ayaz daryl nielsen is a husband, father, veteran, x-roughneck (as on oil rigs) and hospice nurse, is editor of bear creek haiku (24+ years/116+ issues) whose poetry’s homes include Lilliput Review, Yellow Mama, Verse Wisconsin, Shamrock and Shemom has earned cherished awards and participated in strong anthologies - his poetry ensembles include Concentric Penumbra’s of the Heart and Tumbleweeds Still Tumbling, and, he has released a selection from 36 poets titled Bear Creek Anthology - beloved wife/poet Judith Partin-Nielsen, assistant Frosty, and! bearcreekhaiku.blogspot.com (translates as joie de vivre)

Haiku by Denny E. Marshall

Two UFO Haiku

UFO for sale
In excellent condition
Only drove “sun” days

UFO for sale
Excellent shape, low mileage
Less than half light year



Denny E. Marshall has had art, poetry, and fiction published.

Haiku by Pijush Kanti

The flying flowers-

fairies of reality-

ignored as insects.

 

 

A matured corn-field

encircling a bushy tree-

a trap for poor doves.

 

 

 

Pijush Kanti Deb is a new poet with 60 published poems and haiku in different national and international magazines and journals-print and online.He is an Associate Professor in Economics.He lives in India.

Haiku by Nancy May

footprints in the snow
the robin resting on top
of a rusty spade

a drizzle of rain
placing flowers by the road
memory of you

 

 

 

Nancy May has haiku published in Haiku Journal, Three Line Poetry, Poetry Quarterly, Inclement Poetry, Twisted Dreams Magazine, Vox Poetica, Eskimo Pie, Icebox, Dark Pens, Daily Love, Dead Snakes, Leaves of Ink, The Blue Hour Magazine, The Camel Saloon, Kernels, Mused - the BellaOnline Literary Review, Writer’s Haven, Danse Macabre – An online literary magazine and Lyrical Passion Poetry E-Zine. She has reached The Heron’s Nest consideration stage twice.  Haiku is published weekly on Haikuary.

Haiku by Joann Grisetti

over the back fence

morning whispers swirling

the light mist in green

darkness descending

one after another

houses don  their lights



Joann Grisetti lives in Florida with her husband and two sons.  Her poetry has appeared or is forthcoming in Haiku Magazine, Daily Love, Lynx, Inclement, Poetry Quarterly, Atlas Poetica, Living Haiku Anthology, Autumn Legends, Whispers In The Wind  and Haiku Journal.