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)