haikuNetra

Editor's Note

We received a bulk load of submissions for the fourth Issue. Each haikuist has submitted his or her best for this Issue. It was a tough job carrying out the selection process. Rejections were less this time compared to the last three Issues. Thanks to Sayantani Roy for providing such a beautiful cover art. In its three-month journey, haikuNetra has received a lot of love from the haiku fraternity. We have published some of the finest poets out there. We take immense pride in announcing that haikuNetra has sent about 20 nominations for the Touchstone Award from its last three Issues. We are planning to introduce some new genres and activities in the upcoming year, 2024. We won't be bringing out any Issue in the month of January. The submission details for ISSUE 1.5 have been updated in the submission guidelines at the end of this blog. We expect you to show the same amount of love and send us the best of haiku and senryu for the subsequent Issues as well. Wishing you all a happy and prosperous NEW YEAR in advance.

– Daipayan Nair, Editor

haikuChitra - The Haiga Gallery

haikuNetra will be introducing haiga art and shahai from its next ISSUE 1.5 onwards. The journal looks forward to receiving submissions of thought-provoking artworks, paintings incorporated with Japanese aesthetics and photographs. To give you an idea of what we are expecting, here's a haiga submitted by Elliot Diamond:

haikuManthan - The Commentary

the dragonfly's glint

so many neighbourhood cats

pad around us

Alan Summers

all feathers & typos

the threatened kingdom

of myself

Alan Summers

Alan Summers demonstrates versatility, writing superbly in both traditional and modern styles. The first haiku is the more traditional of the two. “dragonfly” is an autumn kigo, since dragonflies were traditionally considered to be at their most beautiful during this season. Alan, with a true poet’s eye, focuses on a specific aspect of the dragonfly’s beauty, the “glint.” The dragonfly’s iridescence shines, as it were, on the rest of the poem. The poet, the neighbourhood, and its many cats are contextualized, through the juxtaposition of images, with the glint of the dragonfly. The overall impression might be akin to magical realism. Conversely, in the context of the poet’s feline friends, the dragonfly becomes another neighbour. The haiku’s disparate images achieve an overall harmony between the human and nonhuman, between the urban and the natural. We can see the toriawase as all of the images fit together in an expression of harmony.

The last words of the haiku suggest that the reader too is part of the neighbourhood: “so many neighbourhood cats/pad around us.” The ambiguity of “us” gives the reader space to imagine himself walking with the poet. The reader’s involvement is facilitated by the haiku’s clarity and simplicity so that she can comprehend the scene with the poet’s own immediacy.

The second of Alan’s two haiku is, in some sense, a mirror image of the first. While the first verse shows us the world around the poet, the second reveals the world inside him, “the threatened kingdom / of myself.” The phrase, from my standpoint, reflects modern haiku’s focus on the poet’s interiority. The fragment, “all feathers & typos,” is composed of images that are not necessarily drawn from the poet’s immediate sense impressions. It’s not as if the poet were in a bird sanctuary, typing. The images of the second verse could easily be drawn from memories of different times and places. Perhaps the poet has combined the images purposefully, like words in a sentence, to express personal symbolism.

Modern haiku and the classic tradition are alike in this sense: They invite the reader to piece the images together. In both of Alan’s poems, the fragment and the phrase contextualize each other. What light does “all feathers & typos” shed on “the threatened kingdom / of myself”? From my standpoint, the juxtaposition suggests that the threats to the self are not as great as the poet imagines --- that they amount to feathers and typos. The poet, with gentle humour, is chiding himself for his fears. Alan’s two verses demonstrate how images can be orchestrated to reflect the outer world or the inner world. In doing so, he demonstrates the differences between the traditional and the modern schools, as well as the continuity between them.

– Lev Hart, Co-Editor

haikuRatna - Editor's Pick

distant horizon
a dragon cloud watches
over the mountains

Adjei Agyei-Baah

long meeting
my diary fills
with senryu

Srini

bitter grapefruit sweet memories of grandma

Timothy Daly

whispering waves . . .
Chinese lanterns float
between the dunes

Kathleen Trocmet

mourning dove
today, mother knows
who I am

Debbie Strange

stars
reflecting Buddha
Buddha reflecting stars

Roberta Beach Jacobson

crescent earth
the moon colonist
writes home

Pat Davis

porch glider
grandpa
slowing down

Barrie Levine

shiver of grasses the priest calls my name

Marilyn Ashbaugh

crabgrass
on the garden's edge —
trial separation

Kelly Sargent

winter rain
a duckling sleeps like you—
head-tucked-under

Neena Singh

plunging over
the cliff's edge
a blue wind

Mark Gilbert

traveling light
i carry
your ashes

Alvin B. Cruz

field mouse
the elliptical twist
of the owl's head

Jay Friedenberg

the slow swell
of a toad's throat...
blink!

Suraja Menon Roychowdhury

cuckoo's song
in crescendo...
the tiger
there, not here

Amoolya Kamalnath

one more time
over the reaped fields
sickle moon

Bryan Rickert

haikuPrakash - The Enlightenment

apple blossom
the sweet drift
of Dad's memory

Marilyn Ward

waning moon
the perfume in his hair
not mine

Adele Evershed

shopping centre
a crying toddler
sits on Santa's lap

Tuyet Van Do

lacewing
her dream
for her daughter

Amita Paul

first snowflakes...
my pot of basil
full of blossoms

Steliana Voicu

treasure hunt
in the old cauldron
autumn leaves

Ana Drobot

temple visit . . .
memories of tamarind rice
in both hands

Lakshmi Iyer

rain drops...
the decision to end up
with an ellipsis...

Suzanne Leaf-Brock

wildfire smoke
drifting through the exhaust vent
dove's coo

Michelle V. Alkerton

holding his photo
missing
myself

Peter Shipman

leaves fall
upon the lake . . .
loneliness

Daniela Misso

lost pacifier
teaching my nephew
to let go

Hassane Zemmouri

shhh... says my journey in a conch shell

Sharon Ferrante

grandmother's
last breath-
forget-me-not

Nicoletta Ignatti

frosty night—
a bowl of dog food
for our fox

Ruth Holzer

anxiety
floating freely
a rock

Richard Bailly

light rain
a homeless man keeping
the park bench dry

Joseph P. Wechselberger

cemetery walkers
sometimes they talk
to the living

Randy Brooks

visiting
this cold night
my late teacher

Timothy Daly

drops of sunlight ...
leaping up the waterfall
pink salmon

Chen-ou Liu

unhooking

t h e a n k l e t

her smile

Nalani De Silva

in the quiet
of my solitude
snowfall

Natalia Kuznetsova

evening stroll...
one-by-one the scents
of different dinners

Tony Williams

autumn begins this one grackle morning

Bryan Rickert

snow-clad lake
pine shadows growing
taller, shorter

Debbie Strange

his last cigarette -
the uncertainty
of the patio light

Simon De Courcey

finding myself
in a field of butterflies
surgeon's ceiling

Roberta Beach Jacobson

cinnamon tea
warming up
to winter

Marjolein Rotsteeg

refugee camp
the sinner who died
a saint

Pat Davis

narrowing river...
this smallness
when compared

Nitu Yumnam

cocooned robes
with beads and prayers
bodhi sunrise

Elliot Diamond

slow dawn
the hills awaken
sunbird by sunbird

Rupa Anand

bamboo rake—
last year's autumn
tangled in the tines

Barrie Levine

no map
i trust the sand
under my feet

Isabella Mori

fleeing war tears swept dry wind river

Marilyn Ashbaugh

forest walk
the sibilant whispers
of lost souls

Marilyn Humbert

dappled sunlight
in the cuckoo's cry
my beloved's name

Arvinder Kaur

tall weeds
an oriole nest fallen
from the palm

Cynthia Anderson

northern mockingbird
at daybreak —
her morning mantra

Kelly Sargent

the young are noisy
harried parents
fluttering above

Jerome Berglund

unconscious
in my cloud boat
I sail

K. G. Munro

typo? this is my true porpoise

Susan Burch

yellowed leaves
the breeze flutters
light and shade

Neena Singh

December wind —
mom's new
Betty Davis voice

Robert Epstein

reopening the cabin...
the mildew scent
of mice

Allison Douglas-Tourner

how to draw
wind in the pines —
art class

Mona Bedi

balanced on a pin
upside down
world

Mark Gilbert

winter moon
licking
the river's skin

Goran Gatalica

bitter morning
a caged parrot
breaks the ice

Sue Courtney

ikebana
the way the wind
rearranges me

Barbara Sabol

cottontail
on the welcome mat
looking for home

Scott Wiggerman

a leaf on a stream
the traveling poet
leaves no trace

Alvin B. Cruz

giving one pause caesura

Peter Jastermsky

herbal tea—
turning over
a new leaf

Shane Coppage

swirling autumn leaf
a spaniel watches
her owner

Ella Aboutboul

back to the beginning a quiet christmas

Shizuku Tsukino

walking cane —
father sweeps garbage
off mother's grave

Kumudini Mendis

Polaris
what kind of ancestor
will I be?

Julie Schwerin

winter sunrise
frost sparkling on the fur
of fighting jackals

Judit Hollos

borderless birdsong

Lorelyn Arevalo

school play —
amongst the noisy trees
a quiet lion

Baisali Chatterjee Dutt

after rain...
the two friends
no longer friends

Amoolya Kamalnath

he grieves
for one who still breathes

Dominic Willis

crescent moon
vanishes at dawn
the last dream

Giuliana Ravaglia

shivering in the bunker
a child asks
what is war

Padma Rajeswari

the outbreak
of break-ins
at her place

Kathabela Wilson

winter thaw...
flower pots slowly fill
with stars

Suraja Menon Roychowdhury

spotted butterfly ...
counting these flaws
in a changing me

Vani Sathyanarayan

winter rain
the niece paints
a still life

Mircea Moldovan

temple bells
the forest still
resounds...

Padmasiri Jayathilaka

haikuDrishti - The Observation

snow day -
classroom learning goes down
a slippery slope

Bonnie J Scherer

mom's necklace
I tiptoe towards
the stars

Stephanie Zepherelli

moving train
school children wearing
hi-vis jackets

Tuyet Van Do

they appear
they disappear -
shadows

Antonio Mangiameli

city rubble
the child wears
a welcome mat

Dennis Andrew S. Aguinaldo

Christmas of yore...
she shakes the snow globe
to make a wish

Steliana Voicu

an old vagrant
chewing her roti . . .
the waning moon

Suraj Nanu

my ID scanning—
the security agent
nods his head

Suzanne Leaf-Brock

doctor's office -
a bitten apple
in every selfie

Ana Drobot

autumn in Gaza
—leaves of grenade
rustle in the wind

Nket Godwin

winter evening
aroma of corn kernels pops
our giggles

Lakshmi Iyer

a black olive
between my fingers
autumn sun

Daniela Misso

the child caressing a dandelion
bee sting

Hassane Zemmouri

bumpy road
even the moon
is shaking

Srini

so caressing
his smile...
forest moss

Nicoletta Ignatti

the mound of snow
bounds away—
Arctic hare

Ruth Holzer

swashing...
a river
full of horns

Shamik Banerjee

fishing
the S-curve
of a flamingo's neck

Joseph P. Wechselberger

feeding
the live birth guppies
her baby voice

Randy Brooks

blue afternoon
the wilted woman
waits for the bus

Timothy Daly

anniversary dinner
the click, click
of our chopsticks

Chen-ou Liu

falling for you low-hanging lemons

Jackie Chou

slipping off
her wrinkled kimono . . .
the end of a long night

Kathleen Trocmet

rain drops
on the water hyacinths
afternoon tea

Susan Farner

rusty cowbell
near a muddy field
the farmer's suicide

David Roberts

winter wedding
the rush
at carrot halwa stove

Govind Joshi

ant column...
a dung beetle
pauses its roll

Adjei Agyei-Baah

bus station
a kid and I kicking feet
out of time

Tony Williams

trade wind
on the cruising boat
a rain of kapok

Christina Chin

old underwear
in the spin cycle
autumn leaves

John Hawkhead

origami cranes
offered to the river . . .
a silent protest

Debbie Strange

half a word -
fingerprints on
early pottery

Simon De Courcey

with a tap from one war to the next

Roberta Beach Jacobson

half-moon
my wish to feel
whole again

Marjolein Rotsteeg

life rushes by a series of stills

Margaret Walker

piano keys
her crippled hands
hovering

Pat Davis

poppies unfold
to the marine
safely home

Elliot Diamond

in a boat
a freshly married couple
bobbing up and down

Guido De Pelsmaeker

family time
soup simmering
on the stove

Sharon Martina

clothesline carousel
grandma spins her stories
out of thin air

Barrie Levine

grief and relief
dragonflies chase each other
across the water

Matt Robison

perfect pitch
the slant of sun
through pines

John Pappas

zen pond by the intersection a thousand sunken swearwords

Isabella Mori

crooked cocktail hat
her tone sharpens
as her husband nears

Joshua St. Claire

red grapevine
on the old window
dawn sun

Angiola Inglese

at the supermarket
cheese out of reach
of my four foot self

Bernadette O'Reilly

patrolling the park perimeter a kookaburra

Marilyn Humbert

dad's death anniversary
I gather falling leaves
in my shawl

Arvinder Kaur

maelstrom
in the tumbling bottle
no love letter

Pris Campbell

street dog
carrying storm light
into the shadows

Joanna Ashwell

night life mouse scat by the doormat

Cynthia Anderson

hearts on the wall -
her little hands draw the 'v'
then an 'm' on top

Gillena Cox

ebbing tide . . .
kid puts the thumb
back in the mouth

Aparna Pathak

moonlit glen
the shadows
of his half-truths

Kelly Sargent

in the sidewalk
trash and vegetation
fill in the blanks

Jerome Berglund

tired mind
breaks as the snow
pours again

K.G. Munro

I throw a pebble
time ripples
to the other shore

Melissa Dennison

jagged glass
what if I'm just
unlovable

Susan Burch

silver coins
in a tight fist
grandmother night

Robert Witmer

torn love letter
she walks over
the confetti

Nalini Shetty

winter paddy
silhouettes still bent
at day's end

Neena Singh

straw flowers
I pick up from the ground
today's silence

Giuliana Ravaglia

past her bedtime
my niece wants to know
where fireflies sleep

Robert Epstein

majestic stripes
move with stealth
the hunters

Sue Wood

loss of memories
the road traveled
full of leaves

Carmela Marino

west winds settle
me next to the oleander
alight with bees

Laurie Kuntz

the cricket that
didn't exist ...
flashlight blink

Allison Douglas-Tourner

she tries out
her new bathing suit
the scent of salt air

Anne Curran

squeezing out
the left-over toothpaste —
relationship woes

Mona Bedi

into the fountain
the last leaf falls -
too soft to break the sun

Deborah A. Bennett

easel
a wash of yellow
on the trees

Mike Gallagher

orange blossoms
slow circling to land
a swallowtail

Jharna Sanyal

the lost legal papers fog everywhere

Bidyutprabha Gantayat

cold moon —
untrained fingers
slicing a radish

Genevieve S. Aguinaldo

red ants race
on the black fence
sunrise

Rituraj Gogoi

medlar in bloom -
the discreet piling up
of leaves and leaves

Maria Teresa Sisti

all the stars
shimmering at once
black starling

Colette Kern

a raindrop
in my bucket
a rainbow

Jan Stretch

gloomy porch...
the gleam of rain drops
on the clothesline

K. Ramesh

my mum
finishing my sentence
for me

Mark Gilbert

plop!
the fish slipped
a fisherman slipped

Titilayo Matiku

primer -
little boy scratching
his head

Krzysztof Kokot

soundless
like a snail
this clock

Kalyanee Arandhara

deep autumn —
a marmalade jar rotten
with baby teeth

Goran Gatalica

garden pond
a willow scripts
mallard sounds

Richard L Matta

first date
the bass tones
in his laugh

Sue Courtney

evening mist
the becoming
of a moon

Bhawana Rathore

first frost
the shrinking universe
of the puddle

Francoise Maurice

monsoon shower
a frockless lass with plantain leaf
as headgear

Bipasha Majumder (De)

sweetgrass tips
towards the shadowed bench
come, sit

Barbara Sabol

the miles we've drifted river flow

Scott Wiggerman

empty house
the shades
of Eucalyptus

Padma Rajeswari

the loved ones we leave crying cicadas

Alvin B. Cruz

foxhole
her telescope scans
the darkness

Lorraine Carey

cardiac ward
the irregular beat
of my flip-flops

Marianne Paul

some tourists
pose for a picture
war protests

M. R. Defibaugh

shifting weather
a cool wind spins
the porch umbrella

Eavonka Ettinger

eating snow
the sniper calls
his rifle baby

Myron Lysenko

holding her breath a child's last balloon

Peter Jastermsky

all we do
is fight—
troll farm

Shane Coppage

tiny ruler
from Grandpa's pocket
the length of his smile

Kimberly Kuchar

tea with milk
mom always wanted
to know

Ella Aboutboul

red leaves on a bare tree shadow

Shizuku Tsukino

sushi bar aquarium
the octopus and I
plotting our escapes

Mike Fainzilber

clattering rocks
the delicate dance
of an ibex

Jay Friedenberg

fresh chrysanthemums
my old mom's disheveled hair
in the morning

Nazarena Rampini

at the dining table
of daughter's doll house
oh...! another mother

Kumuduni Mendis

silence
solitude
stars
slipping
away

Julie Schwerin

stretching out
the word patience . . .
mountain stream

C. X. Turner

rainy day -
only one umbrella stops
by the forsythia

Tomislav Maretic

mirrored sea
a red-haired girl skips
the tideline

Ron C. Moss

war night
the dreamcatcher's net
heavy with moonbeams

Judit Hollos

morning fog
hungover
hangover

Lorelyn Arevalo

winter chill
gran exhales
all her summers

Baisali Chatterjee Dutt

uninvited guest
all the shrimps in the aquarium
hidden

Amoolya Kamalnath

mancala -
my parents sort medicines
into pill boxes

Gordon Gearhart

the clink
in your glass
snow moon

B. L. Bruce

haikuJyoti - The Third Eye

sun-bleached photos
my grandparents fade
into each other

Gordon Gearhart

winter evening still on the trail of the cowherd's cow

Amoolya Kamalnath

phantom pain
he loves me
he loves me not

Lorelyn Arevalo

woodsmoke
dissipating spirals
of a double helix

Suraja Menon Roychowdhury

fossilized footprint
coming back to me
on the peak

Kathabela Wilson

change of tide
a horseshoe crab's telson
flips over the sun

Judit Hollos

moon-bleached wind this night becoming

Ron C. Moss

star gazing
the lingering scent
of jasmine

Naomi G. Tangonan

pilgrimage
our local beggar
also on the train

Tomislav Maretic

pulling it to the grave
the heaviness
of a secret

Elizabeth Crocket

winter blizzard
feathers of rooks
turn white

Malgorzata Formanowska

half-empty Old Spice
the scent
of his absent presence

Baisali Chatterjee Dutt

tree split—
the longer nights
spent alone

C. X. Turner

river
dam

grief
repairing

each

breach

Julie Schwerin

needle eye
smaller than it used to be?
asks grandma

Kumuduni Mendis

long pause -
the breath of trees
under the snow

Nazarena Rampini

simmering magma
the viscosity
of her anger

Jay Friedenberg

snail at the dojo gate
it also follows
the Way

Mike Fainzilber

winter blues
wave after wave
of "we should've..."

Shizuku Tsukino

hunter's moon
fishing for bigger
than life

Ella Aboutboul

rockeries...
where ducks were nesting
wild violets

Maya Daneva

leaf pile
grandad and grandson
scatter the years

Kimberly Kuchar

until it isn't peace

Shane Coppage

heated moments consulting a new dragon

Peter Jastermsky

the rise
and fall of oligarchs...
spring clean

Myron Lysenko

winter sun
mosquito bites
still not healed

Eavonka Ettinger

she lights the candle with the light from another prayer

M. R. Defibaugh

midnight doomscrolling
the deep space
between snowflakes

Marianne Paul

flowering cacti
grown-ups remember
prickly aunts

Lorraine Carey

fresh sushi
on mikawachi yaki
blue bamboo forest

Rob McKinnon

letter from home
opening the jars
of spices

Alvin B. Cruz

white noise
wings of egrets
over the ice

Scott Wiggerman

the ceiling fan's
rhythmic pulse
missyou missyou missyou

Barbara Sabol

the end
of a five-year war . . .
cancer free

Valentina Ranaldi-Adams

everything far away
shines through
autumn mist

Anna Maria Domburg-Sancristoforo

tentative snowfall
dreams of festivity
rise early for work

DJ Tyrer

deep autumn
the black and white of magpies
shake the light

Francoise Maurice

river sound
the 'I' in me
slowly dissolves

Bhawana Rathore

hoar frost
the way he rolls
his Rs

Sue Courtney

coming my way
romance and money...
today's horoscope

Wanda Amos

crackle of leaves
one more broken vein
in his outstretched hand

Richard L Matta

one family
divides the rays
of the sun

Zvonko Jurcevic

ongoing war —
my mouth
full of ash

Goran Gatalica

night of fireflies
I need
to cheer up

Kalyanee Arandhara

Venus in the sky -
a baby has finished suckling
mother's breast

Krzysztof Kokot

between the rainbow
and the child
a dancing kite

Padmasiri Jayathilaka

revisiting
a lifetime of memories
monarch butterflies

Douglas J. Lanzo

rushing motion
an egg rolls towards
the precipice

Mark Gilbert

fading evening light...
the munia returns with
a grass blade

K. Ramesh

unknown gravesite
overgrown
Japanese maple

Diane Funston

relief in the silence of a siren

Jan Stretch

time grows old -
the autumn wind
never the same

Maria Teresa Sisti

first light
from behind the pines
the hens wake

B. L. Bruce

a butcher swats flies
misses—
maneki-neko

Genevieve S. Aguinaldo

eye donation
looking for mom
in her

Bidyutprabha Gantayat

toothless gums
the smell of clove
in gran's pillow

Jharna Sanyal

the bush shakes
at the waterfront...
morning glory

Thomas Landgraf

no destination
never lost -
blackbirds in the field

Deborah A. Bennett

refusing
to lower my standards
writer's block

Mona Bedi

would-be suitor
whispers sweet nothings
into the breeze

Anne Curran

sticks and bones
Raven's building pile

Allison Douglas-Tourner

bullfinches
appear and disappear
mountain ash

Wieslaw Karlinski

dogs howl
at the rainbow
caught inside a squall

Laurie Kuntz

stone moon
the shadow of a secret
remains afloat

Carmela Marino

ornate jewels
light the forest path
toadstool

Sue Wood

pink slip —
I need the shelter
of another pine

Robert Epstein

tanabeta -
the words never said
to the stars

Giuliana Ravaglia

a shooting star
we wish for love
fortieth anniversary

Neena Singh

airstriking
a lullaby held back
in a flash

Nalini Shetty

dust
on the windowsill
a schoolboy writes her name

Robert Witmer

sinking
sun
I guess
we are
just
friends

Susan Burch

winter flock
thankful
for the tree's welcome

Melissa Dennison

Santa Claus
eats just one cookie
inflation

K.G. Munro

daddy long-legs
and mama long-legs:
power couple

Jerome Berglund

warm sunshine
songs of yesteryears
oiling the ears

Hla Yin Mon

midwinter kisses
in the driveway
breath on breath

Kelly Sargent

trial separation
his handwriting
begins to slant

Aparna Pathak

the dendrobium
loses another flower
autumn chill

Alfred Booth

howling
without a moon
bulldog wind

Cynthia Anderson

retirement home-
grandmother takes care
of one's appearance

Angela Giordano

broken sails
cast adrift
without you

Joanna Ashwell

slumber party
my dead friends once dreamed
of endless futures

Pris Campbell

kohl smudges
a lonely smoke cloud
near the crescent

Arvinder Kaur

shadows lengthen
the gaggle of school kids
emerge into sunshine

Marilyn Humbert

clouds...
the clarity
in the sky

Angiola Inglese

object permanence
my son doodles
his uncle's wheelchair

Joshua St. Claire

stirring matcha sea gulls circle in my bowl

Marilyn Ashbaugh

your voice in my head . . .
as swallows
fly south

Sarah Das Gupta

clouded saffron
she pulls her sari
out of the puddle

Isabella Mori

crow
by crow
night falls

John Pappas

on a pink post-it
on the refrigerator
his death poem

Mark Meyer

the moon
through willow leaves
one leopard frog

Matt Robison

harvest fair
the chestnut cart returns
with my childhood

Barrie Levine

second summer followed by a semicolon

Sharon Martina

grandpa uncorks
a bottle of wine -
the plop

Guido De Pelsmaeker

with each turn
of a prayer bead
hope

Rupa Anand

to where the dove can fly

Elliot Diamond

custard apple seeds
close yet distant
roots of family

Nitu Yumnam

when no one remembers when

Margaret Walker

the country lane
crosses
war cemeteries

Marjolein Rotsteeg

feeling the drips watercolor sky

Roberta Beach Jacobson

prognosis in print -
his annual walk
to the headland

Simon De Courcey

hydroponic garden
every strawberry
a lantern

Debbie Strange

working through grief
so many shades of black
in crow feathers

John Hawkhead

December
ice thick enough
to slide this stone

Bryan Rickert

unsettled
by an egret
a hundred waking geese

Tony Williams

farm path...
the crunch of snail
under my gumboot

Adjei Agyei-Baah

canning jars...
the conversations
I still remember

David Roberts

me and the moon . . .
the musty smell of
a Greyhound bus

Kathleen Trocmet

the sweep
of wind-sculpted dunes
this loss, and yet ...

Chen-ou Liu

distant pigeons
my future
flying away

Timothy Daly

biting into
a missed cantaloupe seed
summer's end

Joseph P. Wechselberger

rutted road—
the crows and I
headed home

Ruth Holzer

autumn moon-
I'm too tired
to fight

Nicoletta Ignatti

where school ends wildflowers

Srini

late autumn
the thinness
of mother's hand

Sharon Ferrante

my nephew's joy
with his new clothes
autumn leaves

Hassane Zemmouri

staring blankly the unwashed dishes

Peter Shipman

yipping dog
elevator pings open
at every door

Michelle V. Alkerton

breaking news:
a hairline crack
in an earthen pot

Lakshmi Iyer

the perseverance
of learning clarinet scales
cricket song

Suzanne Leaf-Brock

winter separation
relishing the softness
of clams

Suraj Nanu

snowfall slides along the razor-fine squirm contested homes

Alan Summers

prairie smoke...
the sky a shade darker
than my mood

Adele Evershed

cold wind
tossing dried leaves
a blackbird's beak

Marilyn Ward

wind gusts
pushing doors open
neighborhood gossip

Stephanie Zepherelli

a mouthful
of sun-dried cherries
summer moon

Kavita Ratna

***

haikuNetra

Saturday, December 9, 2023

haikuNetra ISSUE 1.4

haikuNetra ISSUE 1.4

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