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.