haikuNetra ISSUE 1.3

 

Editor's Note

The streak of good and thoughtful haiku continues in the third issue of haikuNetra. This issue, like its predecessors, has witnessed submissions from a wide range of voices. It was a joy reading each and every submission, engaging in healthy and enlightening discussions with the contributors. haikuNetra takes immense pride in announcing its list of nominees for the Touchstone Award from Issue 1.1 and Issue 1.2, the templates of which have been shared on different social media handles. It's good to see many young haikuists (below 15 years) being open to receiving constructive feedback and showing the interest to submit to different journals in spite of repeated rejections. It only goes to ascertain the future of Haikai Literature being in safe hands. 

– Daipayan Nair, Editor 

haikuManthan - The Commentary

Rebecca Drouilhet understands that a kigo is worth a thousand words:

autumn dusk...

one child left spinning

on the merry-go-round

In a different haiku, “autumn dusk” might evoke such traditional connotations as stillness, peacefulness, or silence. The same kigo conjures a different set of associations, however, in the context of “one child left spinning / on the merry-go-round.” This disquieting image suggests traditional autumnal themes like loneliness, sadness, worries, abandonment and emptiness. Why does the child stay when everyone else has gone? Where are her caregivers? How does she feel about being alone? Is something wrong with this picture? Autumn has yet other associations, including the unknown, the unseen, and belief in spirits. Circuses, children and autumn are familiar themes for horror and the supernatural. Perhaps the little girl’s story has layers beyond layers. As a kigo, “autumn dusk” elaborates the child’s story through an array of potential meanings. Each reader inevitably sees the story in a unique way. Rebecca gives us the space to complete the creative process that she began.

Bakhtiyar Amini is similarly adept with kigo, though his use is very different:

waning moon

am I

a loser?

“waning moon’ is another autumnal kigo, similarly evoking emptiness, loneliness, and --- above all --- worry. Even as the poet shares his concern with the moon, however, he comes to terms with it. Through the kigo, the poet’s question is set against the endless cycle of seasons. The question shrinks in significance.

Or does it become more significant, when it is no longer merely personal, but part of the great cycle? Does the question become extrapersonal, asked one way or another in every place and time?

Between them, Rebecca and Bakhtiyar give us a master class on kigo’s potential to evoke layers of feeling and meaning.

– Lev Hart, Co-Editor 

haikuRatna - Editor's Pick

rural road

one skater unzips

the dotted line

              Debbie Strange

fall migration it all went south

                     Cynthia Anderson

choosing

my gravesite —

cemetery wind

             Mona Bedi

what I never

want to hear

bombardier

            Kathabela Wilson

closed casket

the questions I should

have asked

             John Pappas

sudden rain

how easily I slip

into melancholy

             Bryan Rickert

sunflower stalks...

a farmer in a tractor 

tows a tank

              Myron Lysenko

if sunrise

made a sound...

singing bowl

              Tony Williams

my heirloom veil

                             longer

than our marriage

               Barrie Levine

river mouth

her mother tongue

flows freely

               C.X. Turner

winter night...

eating the rice harvested

in our backyard

                 K. Ramesh

first sign of spring mom's cherry blossom obi

                                Michael Smeer (Mikō)

haikuPrakash - The Enlightenment

moonless night

the winding path

of a glow-worm

             Marilyn Ward

funeral eulogy —

my lover was also

a good wife

            Antonio Mangiameli

airbnb

by the sea

hara-kiri

          Kimberly A. Horning

hillwalkers

how many footsteps

make a track

          Debbie Strange

dancing naked...

the infinity

of my freedom

          Jovana Dragojlovic

backyard trees

the eastern sky

no longer mine

         Lakshmi Iyer

fallen arches

this pressing weight

of the world

           Bonnie J Scherer

psychopomp

a cabbage white leads me

deeper into the meadow

            Joshua St. Claire

once full of life...

the old

newspapers

            Daniel Birnbaum

old oak tree

we all complete

our journey

            Sandip Chauhan

morning breeze

a pot marigold glowing

on the footpath

             Tuyet Van Do

wheeled walker

the slow steps 

to recovery

             Hassane Zemmouri

as a bamboo bends...

his ego soars

like a fly

            Genevieve S. Aguinaldo

tidelines

outgrowing the home

on my back

             Cynthia Anderson

heat shimmer—

there is more to me

than my pain

             Mona Bedi

fallen leaves . . . so much loss and birdsong

               Timothy Daly

rusted knocker

grandma just knew

who was there

              Minal Sarosh

summer grasses my tears

               Kathabela Wilson

poem or prayer

the reddening leaves

of maples

               John Pappas

rainbow 

the bullet flies through

a rainbow

             Myron Lysenko

harvest moon

a hut lantern lights up

the pond

              Sue Wood

a water droplet

stable in the middle

of a lotus leaf

              Radhika De Silva

fiddleheads

behind the shed

the song he never finished

               Kelly Sargent

electric chair

the condemned man's tears

sizzling

              John J. Dunphy

empty distances 

mapping the interior

of a broken home

            John Hawkhead

morning fog

a haiku

nowhere in sight

             Rupa Anand

opening the door

to gatherings of leaves

a little less alone

            Tony Williams

my chinky eyes

seeing the world

same as yours

            Kalyanee Arandhara

our shared inheritance spring sunrise

              Srini

incoming 

cold front

... bombs

            Jan Stretch

breezy woodland

I listen

to a sea of bluebells

           Chen-ou Liu

nothing added

or taken away -

starry night

            Alvin B. Cruz

fading photo

as young to me now

as he was then

             Pris Campbell

the Buddha's face —

a puddle 

before the rain

             Mark Gilbert

autumn crocus

too late

for returns

            Anna Maria Domburg-Sancristoforo

anaesthesia

grandpa mumbles

the broken lyrics

              Zerine Wahid

getting the drop on me rain

               Susan Burch

wooded walk

I almost forget

my to-do list

               Colette Kern

losing the stream

losing myself . . .

at the estuary

               Suraj Nanu

where have the leaves swept away?

weathered wrinkles

               Nitu Yumnam

sudden rain...

a canna lily unfurls

its deep secret

               Neena Singh

after the last guest leaves   birdsong

                Arvinder kaur

new day -

still travelling

without leaving

              Giuliana Ravaglia

stopping midway

the hare looks equally

surprised

              Biswajit Mishra

so soundless

this changing world

scudding clouds

              Jay Friedenberg

war...

everything I can't

bring with me

            Angiola Inglese

no cure

the deep end

of the ocean

            Sharon Martina

white butterfly –

the nun goes from bed to bed

              Guido De Pelsmaeker

fresh air

I breathe out 

for the trees

             Alice Wanderer

puja ghar laddus-

the scent of elaichi

in my fingers

             Bidyutprabha Gantayat

sunflowers

rising and rising

a skylark's trill

           Sue Courtney

smooth skin

and skinny limbs

the body I had

           Jenny Shepherd

falling star . . .

I wish you could see

me

           Jayson Dela Fuente

patches of green

in the dry grass

one-sided love

           Maya Daneva

autumn mountains—

I want them to hear me say

magnificent

             James Penha

the piercing

cry of a newborn

garbage bin

           Nicoletta Ignatti

dusting off

all this grief

moth wings

           C.X. Turner

paddy fields...

no walls to block

the full moon

            K. Ramesh

first rain—

the apples

slowly rot

           B. L. Bruce

pond adventure

the children return

with frog song

           Michael Smeer (Mikō)

clearcut a tuneless cricket

              Lorraine A Padden

I pray to the god

for Dad's resurrection

summer fog

              Bipasha Majumder (De)

running...

one bomb crater

to another

              Stephen Jarell Williams

ripples the power of one stone unthrown

                Julie Schwerin

I take a break

from resting

curled leaves

             Bee Jay

from a perch

      on the fence

                  father's sky

             Marilyn Ashbaugh

a spring cloud

once again

learning non-attachment

              Dan Schwerin

sound of rain . . .

the forest clearing fills with

a woodlark's song

              Lori Kiefer

daddy's gramophone

a waltz

down memory lane

             Baisali Chatterjee Dutt

it takes a cold night

to bring us together

blankets of snow

              Patricia Hawkhead

haikuDrishti - The Observation

first snow -

the yodeling newsboy

twirls his moustache 

                Hla Yin Mon

misty dawn 

every colour fades

in me 

              Beata Czeszejko

the weight of you

on my lap -

centering

             Jennifer Gurney

muddy feet —

rice gatherers count

the grains

              Zvonko Jurcevic

the rhythm of

our sleepless feet

school day

            Engin Gulez

hazy moon

the muffled sound

of a vinyl disc

            Daniela Misso

another chapter

coming to a close—

third trimester

             Shane Coppage

gran's sari

I see her gazing at me

from the mirror

              Baisali Chatterjee Dutt

a love letter

in my old diary

remembrance day

              Lori Kiefer

turning to leave cherry blossoms

              Dan Schwerin

red-winged moth –

my child leaps out

of my lap

              Jyoti Doley

rain of flowers

little hands shake

the creepers

             Kumarendra Mallick

autumn dawn...

father-in-law's gasps fill

his loneliness

                    Amoolya Kamalnath

morning mist

the blackbird's song

seems louder

             Tomislav Maretic

sudden hard rain

two mallard ducks

in a pop-up puddle

             Wilda W. Morris

old mango tree -

a yellow-breasted kiskadee

at the topmost branch

              Gillena Cox

cicada drone

the syncopated rhythm

of summer love

              Marilyn Ashbaugh

afternoon wind

the pile of scrap wood

in the driveway

             Goran Gatalica

hanging baskets

filled with flowers

spring breeze

            Zaidee Pisani - Lysenko

the last train under a black cloud overcoats

              Bee Jay

the lightness

of children's laughter

crimson leaves

          Eavonka Ettinger

our rendezvous

today, the brook

with little to say

           Julie Schwerin

worried about death...

the quiet boy walks

with his grandma

             Stephen Jarell Williams

cyclone

the last player swings

his bat

             Bipasha Majumder (De)

crickets

the pivot

between

            Daya Bhat

trading recipes

over the fence

braided river

           Lorraine A Padden

incessant rain

the village floods

with wellies

             Michael Smeer (Mikō)

autumn mist

the stag disappears

into the woods

              B. L. Bruce

Milky Way...

hostel boys switch off

the torch lights 

             K. Ramesh

express lane

strung blue lights

imitate a tree

           Jerome Berglund

heavy backpack . . .

the light wings

of a butterfly

            Rosa Maria Di Salvatore

this longing

of an empty nester

gathering dusk

            Lorelyn De la Cruz Arevalo

moon-viewing ...

wondering about

his dark side

             Natalia Kuznetsova

tan lines

time in the sun

fading

             Elizabeth Crocket

escaping

only the sound of air

lab rat

             C.X. Turner

prickly neighbor

I listen to her need

to tell the story

              Randy Brooks

moonlight

entering his tent...

squeak of flip-flops

               Maya Daneva

the pin drops

the faintest ping

as it hits the floor

              Jenny Shepherd

from the high branch

a leaf fluttering

in adagio

             Mark Meyer

oriental bazaar

a new incense tickles

my nose

              Christa Pandey

beautiful morning

I catch a few lyrics

from a passerby

                Sue Courtney

dancing dragonfly...

a wayward stroke 

on guitar

               Bidyutprabha Gantayat

cuckoo's call -

the cheer

in grandma's face

              Guido De Pelsmaeker

her mind made up

overnight the ginkgo

drops its leaves

               Sharon Martina

wind in the gray sky last dahlias

                Angiola Inglese

onomatopoeia

the dee dee dee

of a chickadee

               Jay Friedenberg

Navaratri—

the priest tests speakers

for mantra

             Biswajit Mishra

warming up

by your side -

hot chestnuts

              Lavana Kray

lottery tickets

a rusted corner

of granny's trunk

             Arvinder Kaur

crisp autumn air...

grandson cuddles me

at the school gate

              Neena Singh

for how long to keep it bottled up

fermenting cider

               Nitu Yumnam

milkweed floss

drifting under

a raptor's shadow

                Colette Kern

on top of spaghetti somebody's sneeze

                  Susan Burch

fresh mehendi —

a few hand gestures

zipping up her blouse

                Zerine Wahid

stone-still

the watchful

kookaburra

               Marilyn Humbert

eager sun

between briars -

last fox home

              Simon De Courcey

community table—

the lamb stew bubbling 

with innkeeper's tales

              Barrie Levine

our secret tryst

a grove filled

with blue asters

               Pris Campbell

cloudless sky

the beggar peers

inside his cup

             Alvin B. Cruz

the millipede ... then me

              Jan Stretch

archive–

a book of ethics

in a dusty shelf

             Kalyanee Arandhara

between wind

and window gap

a drawn-out conversation

             Tony Williams

a pop art

   of dialects

       Indian train

              Rupa Anand

quiet morning

I watch the spider

on your shoulder

            Sharon Ferrante

a boat rests

on a wave of sand

lake bed

            Robert Witmer

street kitten

the letter carrier lifts

her mailbag

              John J. Dunphy

midday sunflowers

my third-grade teacher

reads my poem to the class

               Kelly Sargent

spiking my blood sugar treacly tanka

                Peter Jastermsky

magenta sunset

mother unties

her silk scarf

             Sue Wood

snow

piling in trenches

dead soldiers

             Myron Lysenko

little cliques

on the college campus

white china roses

              Jackie Chou

after rain

the nearby squeak 

of a wheelbarrow

              Mike Gallagher

swifts

between us

this song and dance

              Bryan Rickert

event horizon

slipping into something

less comfortable

              John Pappas

indigenous flower

she wears mother's

wedding dress

              Kathabela Wilson

deer antlers

his first love letter

full of exclamations

             Minal Sarosh

lovers' tiff

the cat moves

house

           Wanda Amos

busy metro

the young girl lost

in her book

             Timothy Daly

false spring —

a misplaced love letter

in my mailbox

             Mona Bedi

shrink wrap

my big mistake

never far

            Cynthia Anderson

acacia leaves—

fingers intertwined 

at midnight

             Genevieve S. Aguinaldo

henna night candles...

the drowsy cousins

rub their eyes

               Hassane Zemmouri

november romance the sea churns white

                  Isabella Mori

home flight ...

a Tasmanian tiger

in the toy box

                 Tuyet Van Do

Labor Day—

the weary woodman

reaches his cot

                Sandip Chauhan

trailing to infinity reflections on the lake

                   Stephanie Zepherelli

ocean rise

the samphire

between our toes

                Joanna Ashwell

rat-a-tat-tat

a pileated woodpecker

fine-tunes its drill

              Bonnie J Scherer

tin wedding

the honorable seat

of surrogate mother

              Bakhtiyar Amini

hormonal pills

spitting

watermelon seeds

               Camela Marino

wooly bear

the posture of a toddler

learning

             Pat Davis

campfire night

the hearth carries ashes

of our conversation

                Anwitha Sudeep

produce market

a boy copies mommy

thumping melons

               Joseph P. Wechselberger

autumn shapes

a pregnant cow

adjusts her weight

              Lakshmi Iyer

rain boots

missing

our walks

             Jovana Dragojlovic

sea wolf

I wasn't expecting 

to find you here

             Debbie Strange

double dutch

the girls' pigtails

uncurl—

              Kimberly A. Horning

morning mist

she gently wipes

cataract eyes

               Marilyn Ward

haikuJyoti - The Third Eye

b   o   r   n

collecting

l a b e  l  s

b e f o r  e

s      h      e

i               s

C. X. Turner

getting old

I repeat the phrases

mother used

            Marilyn Ward

dragonfly buzzing backwards evolution

                Kimberly A. Horning

ethno music

the calling

of my roots

           Jovana Dragojlovic

dung-splattered street

an ektara tunes

the godhuli

            Lakshmi Iyer

early monsoon

...a drop

stains my jeans

              Anwitha Sudeep

plumes

of pampas grass

awaiting the goddess

              Amita Paul

sourdough

my son falls asleep

on the sick sinus

               Camela Marino

valley retreat

the way you 

navigate silence

             Joanna Ashwell

putting his blanket

back in the chest

damping off

             Joshua St. Claire

blackberry harvest

on my skin a tattoo

of the thorns

              Daniel Birnbaum

molten serpent

the grudge

I let go

              Sandip Chauhan

nightingale no matter how blackbird

                 M. R. Defibaugh

funeral

I can't

move on 

            Isabella Mori

bullying learning to love learning to hate

               Hassane Zemmouri

sunday sunlight -

my kids trying the old cradle

from my childhood

                Steliana Voicu

her mind

after the baby—

cornfield rats

              Genevieve S. Aguinaldo

pile of rubble

every war a stone 

in my heart

              Cynthia Anderson

nursing the bruise of heartbreak blue violets

                  Mona Bedi

airport bus

held up 

by her eyes

            Timothy Daly

 

knitted pouch

the agile jump

of an orphaned joey

             Wanda Amos

end of spring —

the books in father's library

I didn't read

               Minal Sarosh

sunlit bath

scrubbing harder

darkens the scars

               Patricia Hawkhead

earsplitting my head

               Kathabela Wilson

dune grass

as if it too

waves goodbye

              John Pappas

sheet clouds

not one break

in her lie

            Bryan Rickert

the new king

a gloved hand waving

at limbless veterans

              Mike Gallagher

sunlight through the slats

an acceptance letter

wedged between junk mail

                Jackie Chou

explosion 

on an energy grid

winter chill

            Myron Lysenko

jellyfish dance the poison in every jiggle 

               Peter Jastermsky

calm water-

she counts the clouds

dissolving

              Radhika De Silva

coronation

the monarch

unfolds its wings

             Kelly Sargent

"I'm not armed"

sign held by

the hitchhiker

             John J. Dunphy

juggling 

flaming torches

the child's eyes

           Robert Witmer

twinflowers the duality of (our) nature

               Debbie Strange

mother . . .

your tanchoi sari

the softness of warp

through the weft

             Rupa Anand

at sea

all the bits

of a broken moon

           Tony Williams

first date...

a horse races

back to the barn

            Jan Stretch

summer ending

scud clouds carry off

scraps of thought

            Chen-ou Liu

forget-me-nots

the war nowhere close

to the end

             Alvin B. Cruz

pressed bouquet...

each petal holds 

our memories

              Pris Campbell

sagging pockets . . .

grandfather's cardigan

full of change

             Barrie Levine

paper cut -

my memory

draws blood

             Jahnavi Gogoi

morning

through light and shadow

a blackcap

             Anna Maria Domburg-Sancristoforo

bedtime prayer

rosary beads click

click click

             Marilyn Humbert

banyan stump —

another fancy tale

of my ancestors

            Zerine Wahid

hangnail moon

filing

for divorce

           Susan Burch

dusty earrings

all the joy

I used to wear

          Colette Kern

dream scatters

in the rumblings

a hornbill's call 

            Suraj Nanu

flyer in hand

she tells her teddy

it's time to leave

            Nitu Yumnam

kneading flour

I pour water

on old hurts

       Neena Singh

resume

—

describing

what I used to be

Joseph P. Wechselberger

parents' gift —

my wristwatch

turns back time

           Adrian Bouter

night rain

shaking stars

off her hair

          Arvinder Kaur

honking geese

the ragged edge

of a summer cloud

           Jay Friedenberg

long shadows

my manager extends

the work time

             Pragyan Mishra

bare trees in winter

living from paycheck

to paycheck

              Sharon Martina

in the nest

by my front door

a strand of police tape

            Alice Wanderer

bride

carrying  a rainbow

rangoli

           Bidyutprabha Gantayat

the conversation

we need to have . . .

butterfly weed

            Sue Courtney

toddler's shaved head –

the curse and blessing

of wildfires

             Christa Pandey

viewing myself

in a fisheye lens

raindrop

            Jenny Shepherd

rusty lock...

yet another try

to accept his apology

            Maya Daneva

Alzheimer's-

dad asks me 

my mom's name

            Nicoletta Ignatti

the wren's garden

chattering in case 

I forgot

            Randy Brooks

bonfire

we throw in 

regrets

         Elizabeth Crocket

looming storm ...

tired of half-truths

and white lies

           Natalia Kuznetsova

south-west wind . . .

a new fragrance

on my hair

            Rosa Maria Di Salvatore

low clouds -

how many laughs from dad

I carry inside

             Maria Teresa Sisti

golden oriole song...

the farmer's baby asleep

in the tree shade

             K. Ramesh

pre-election rally

all the transformations

of a cloud

            Samo Kreutz

the whites

of the dog's eyes

gibbous moon

            B. L. Bruce

cold autumn breeze

a feral cat twirls

with the leaves

            Michael Smeer (Mikō)

marginalia

he opens a conversation

with King James

            Lorraine A Padden

fresh start unlearning freshness

              Daya Bhat

a train derails

from the track -

addiction clinic

             Valentina Ranaldi-Adams

hyacinth blooms

her curly hair locks

entice me

            Bipasha Majumder (De)

heartbeats

the war spreading

inside and out

            Stephen Jarell Williams

labyrinth

my own pace added

to the path

           Julie Schwerin

handing over

this heart of mine

ladybug

           Eavonka Ettinger

a newspaper 

on the picnic rug

hospital garden

            Bee Jay

mossy rocks

the smiles of monkeys

as we toss coins

           Zaidee Pisani - Lysenko

twinkling star...

stuck to his nose

cherry blossom

             Dorna Hainds

with or without a blood moon war

               Roberta Beach Jacobson

home visit

a tire swing scar

on the oak's limb

            Marilyn Ashbaugh

newspaper wrap -

the blood-stained hands

of a fishmonger

            Gillena Cox

daylilies

mother's dislike

had a reason

            Wilda W. Morris

spiderweb

the approaching buzz

of a stink bug

           Tomislav Maretic

summer morning -

the glow of a flameback

in flight

            Amoolya Kamalnath

Diwali

refueling the lamps

deep within

            Kumarendra Mallick

whites of xewali spread cupid's spell

             Jyoti Doley

pushing apples

off the branch

harvest moon

           Dan Schwerin

at the end

of the bellflower path

ear clinic

          Lori Kiefer

standing ovation

she limps back 

to the greenroom

           Baisali Chatterjee Dutt

this desire

to cling to you

wilted leaf

            Debarati Sen

autumn stream

the same stones

other stones...

              Mircea Moldovan

acceptance—

taking the long

way around

             Shane Coppage

summer is over

fallen London Plane leaf

in the driver's seat

             Kathy Watts

leaves turn red . . .

a desire

to be younger

             Daniela Misso

the road

I've always taken

fallen leaves

             Engin Gulez

autumn rain

the glistening

on asphalt

             Nancy Brady Smith

turkey feather 

pinioned to a post 

walker's whim 

             JL Huffman

yoga

with my fourth-grade class –

balancing act

             Jennifer Gurney

flying birds:

how swift

is our passing

           Beata Czeszejko

an autumn leaf

here and there . . .

my bestie's return

            Malgorzata Formanowska

what lies beyond

the horizon

whale song

            Lorelyn De la Cruz Arevalo

technically can

probably shouldn't

thin ice sign

           Jerome Berglund 

 

 

******

 © All copyrights belong to to the contributors.