Featured Poet – Scott Mason
the chrysalis
beginning to open
a child’s eyes
Bach Fugue in A-minor our fingers entwined
New Year’s Day
our angel returns
to the attic
no escaping
this moonlight —
Pompeii
my death poem
rejected
I carry on
Scott Mason is the author of The Wonder Code, recipient of the Kirkus Star from Kirkus Reviews, the Distinguished Books Award from The Haiku Foundation, and a Merit Book Award (Best Prose) from the Haiku Society of America. A former longtime editor with The Heron’s Nest, he currently serves on the board of The Haiku Foundation. His own haiku have placed first in more than two dozen competitions.
sparkling Venus —
we toast to another
night on earth
– kei andersen
pinpricks
in a silken robe
night’s lights
– Robert Witmer
stardust
from a supernova …
the you in me
– Lee Hudspeth
night breeze
paper daisies rattle
the moonlight
– Gavin Austin
owl dark
the body of a blowdown
aglow with fungus
– Kristen Lindquist
silhouette hour
feeling the shape
of your darkness
– Ravi Kiran
winter light
a sparrow pecks
at its shadow
– Jenny Fraser
moon slipping
from behind a cloud
her nightdress falls to the floor
– Ann Sullivan
almost dawn
bats ripple
the river of stars
– Gavin Austin
chiffon saree
the transparency
of his intentions
– Vandana Parashar
harvest moon
the rice farmer’s
tipsy belly dance
– Keiko Izawa
serving wine
the whiskey in
the butler’s voice
– Tom Zille
spent leaves deep in his cups February
– Lorraine A Padden
rearranging
the constellations
warm sake
– Marilyn Ashbaugh
my kind
of wine
screw cap
– Ruth Holzer
grandmother’s house
no one allowed inside
the walled garden
– Patricia Hawkhead
depression —
bat wings
crowd out the moon
– Herb Kitson
power failure
the silence
of blackness
– Al Williams
home alone
a cold wind clatters
through the letterbox
– Ben Oliver
winter blues
this urge
for swallow songs
– Mariangela Canzi
restless night …
the dreamcatcher’s threads
in tatters
– Audrey Quinn
fresh snowfall
the silence
of not knowing
– Lee Hudspeth
ice apple
the child on my class register
no longer there
– Adele Evershed
shorter days
falling back
into a bad dream
– Nathanael Tico
champagne breakfast
clouds on the horizon
darken our bubbles
– Patricia Hawkhead
when the rain doesn’t stop
humming old hymns
to forgotten words
– Gary Hotham
winter fire
the taste of applewood
in our flatbread
– Paula Sears
church picnic
breaking bread
with the sparrows
– Rick Jackofsky
home again
the piney fragrance
of clothespins
– Tom Bierovic
a box of sermons
blessed, too,
are the silverfish
– Dan Schwerin
lifting the black veil —
from the tombstones
starlings rise
– kei andersen
banshee fog
a barn owl summons
the night
– Debbie Strange
rock pool
a broken piece
of moon
– Gavin Austin
wind in the trees
the creak
of his wicker coffin
– Tony Williams
ghosted again
I take a long walk
with my shadow
– Nalini Shetty
a fallen leaf…
another family photo
without me
– Alvin B. Cruz
denim jacket —
the space
only you can fill
– Mary McCormack
Anniversary
the presence
of your absence
– M. R. Pelletier
without you the night without stars
– Joseph P. Wechselberger
one less person
in the methadone queue
midwinter dusk
– Stephen Toft
scraps of sunlight
the wedding quilt
reworked
– Anne Elise Burgevin
moon shadows —
the bobbing branch
where an owl was
– Janice Doppler
from spoon
to tea cup
autumn light
– Al Williams
slipping back
into silence
the pine’s shadow
– Kathryn Liebowitz
illuminating our search
for the winter quilts
October’s full moon
– Anna Eklund-Cheong
nuclear winter
the permanent shadows
of snowmen
– Mark Forrester
deep suburb
the oppressive whiteness
of the sky
– Dan Belmont
war orphan —
the missing petals
of a flower
– Kevin Valentine
snowday
the diazepam buildup
of fake news
– Roberta Beary
mizzle …
the a-bomb museum corner
with haiku
– Keiko Izawa
rough around the edges morning moon
– Angela Terry
winter deepens —
the blood pressure cuff
around my forearm
– Goran Gatalica
storm warning
a cloud rises
from my coffee cup
– Tim Dwyer
pawning
her last sapphire
something blue
– Carissa Coane
day moon —
yesterday
was my visitation day
– Ram Chandran
après-ski
his wandering eye
slaloms her curves
– Scott Mason
she tries
to pin him down …
voodoo doll
– Valentina Ranaldi-Adams
on the loose again
hospital gown flapping
behind
– Randy Brooks
alien moon
everyone living
under martian law
– susan burch
roadwork
she checks
her makeup
– Greg Schwartz
old age —
it all depends
on Depends
– dan smith
xanax no two ways about it
– Tomislav Sjekloća
winter morning
a crimson rosella
in the bare ash
– Owen Bullock
blue hour
the half moon
my dinner companion
– Katie Montagna
spindrift
a single feather
left behind
– Susan Yavaniski
what else to tell
about my loneliness …
winter tarn
– Meera Rehm
holding on, holding off
thoughts of home …
and yet southbound geese
– Chen-ou Liu
silent lightning
the things I keep
to myself
– Ravi Kiran
Rubik’s Cube
the mind games
you and I play
– Valentina Ranaldi-Adams
thin ice —
the heaviness of silence
between us
– Meera Rehm
catbriers
some games
best not played
– Jeff Hoagland
first thaw
I search for you
in every green
– C.X. Turner
winter sunset
a pinch of saffron
on my congee
– Archie G. Carlos
first bite
of the cookie
crescent moon
– thomas david
tai chi …
snowflakes quiver
on his hair
– David He
reading simple poems
while she eats
her first peach
– Evan Vandermeer
winter sun
the warmth
of worn hands
– Shruti Patel
new dog
naming the bitch
after his mother
– Vera Constantineau
new year’s eve
this kiss from a woman
doesn’t count
– Roberta Beary
mother eagle
not looking
that maternal
– Laurie D. Morrissey
as he fucks me gently the birdsong
– Rowan Beckett Minor
Chopin’s heart pickled
in a jar of alcohol
autumnal willows
– Ernest Wit
anxiety —
the wind keeps banging
on the door
– Nitu Yumnam
family dinner
chewing together
on the TV news
– Mona Iordan
ballot counting
my mother tells me
the sun is out
– Mariel Herbert
the election
only days away
dense fog advisory
– Nancy Orr
clocks have changed
said the leaf-sweeper
can’t say much else has
– Mark Valentine
senior living
my new role
as hearing aid
– Pat Davis
sharing
our crests of gray
bird and I
– Roberta Beach Jacobson
winter’s onset
a frayed kitchen sponge
I still can’t throw out
– Keiko Izawa
two old friends
on the seesaw
re-blooming roses
– Corine Timmer
forest of beech
I am
no great age
– Ruth Holzer
shorter days
my daily constitutional
around the cemetery
– Christopher Patchel
no more autumn
left in the linden tree …
first love failure
– Steliana Voicu
long drought
the pond
going, going,
– Ann Sullivan
deathwatch …
zugunruhe flutters
in her wings
– Julie Schwerin
retirement
the last empty boxes
in the crossword
– Alvin B. Cruz
year of the dragon
my resolutions
already up in smoke
– Kelly Sargent
everyday words
the colourless colour
of the snow
– Marie Derley
city stars
the dreams
of my youth
– Christopher Patchel
long sermon —
a heavy snow accumulates
on the street
– Nicoletta Ignatti
not the past
I’d hoped for —
spring ephemerals
– Laurie D. Morrissey
fly rod …
grandfather’s summers
spent with the rainbows
– Stephenie Story
shucking corn
in the barn’s cool shadow
sticky-silk hands
– Jo Balistreri
crisp blue sky
a pair of chuck taylor’s
hanging from a wire
– Deborah A. Bennett
mosquito season
the shadow of a swallow
swoops over me
– Lynn Edge
in my evening cup
a hundred stars
and one fly
– Matt Cariello
deer path
the rustle of leaves
rats me out
– Marilyn Ashbaugh
a Carolina wren’s
rising cheer
autumn arrives
– Anne Elise Burgevin
black racer
faster than
the speed of light
– Jeff Hoagland
rising on the downbeat
the egret leaves
with the light
– Erica Ison
now fit for monarchs our butterfly garden
– John J. Dunphy
editor’s email
the return
of phantom limb pain
– Mike Fainzilber
the love note
failed to deliver
beach fog
– petro c. k.
fog on the lake
a fisherman casts his net
full of mist
– Diane Webster
hard-boiled egg
I let him think
he’s right
– Sharon Martina
dried up stream
a semi’s worth
of tires
– Bryan Rickert
homemade lasagna
a pair of lovers
introduce their teens
– Joseph Howse
deadheading yarrow
we right the wrongs
in our marriage
– Barrie Levine
her mom’s recipe
will power
and a cast iron pan
– Shawn Blair
exhaling
the steam iron’s limescale
specs a black t-shirt
– Annie Bachini
family lunch
my tired brother chokes down
the cheque
– Timothy Daly
hipster service
waiting for the tulip
in my latte
– thomas david
picnic lunch
a butterfly the color
of butter
– Bryan Rickert
family reunion
much larger bodies
orbit the newborn
– Scott Mason
warming the little pot
one or two cups
of gossip
– Randy Brooks
long marriage
practicing
our loon calls
– Marianne Paul
a parade of leaves
crosses the road
— Veterans’ Day
– Nancy Brady
with the wind
the weft and warp
of flowering wheat
– Marilyn Humbert
Christmas party —
weaving through tables
social butterflies
– Tuyet Van Do
picking broad beans
my father’s earth-lined fingers
ruffling my hair
– John Hawkhead
spindrift thoughts of other summers
– Brad Bennett
dental anaesthesia
my smile
as if I’m ok
– Ella Aboutboul
departing autumn …
a garland on the Ganges
fresh in the flotsam
– Monica Kakkar
”Rock of Ages”
the Salvation Army Band
among syringes
– Frank Higgins
pediatric oncology
the clown’s makeup
streaked with tears
– John Pappas
genderqueer
wants to be called “they”
neighbor says “it”
– David Oates
jazz quartet
each eyes the other
with their ears
– Bob Stewart
extended drought
the pitter-patter
of acorn drops
– Christine Wenk-Harrison
trumpet practice
the silence between notes
grows louder
– Debbie Olson
knocker-upper
the newspaper boy
at it again
– Jagajit Salam
evening snow
purple light spilling
from the blues bar
– Deborah A. Bennett
a satellite
blinking beneath the moon
boobooks’ call
– Jo McInerney
filling
trick-or-treaters’ bags
the front porch light
– Gordon Brown
off-season
the public beach
uncastled
– Brad Bennett
yellowed leaves
old scrabble scoresheets
in grandpa’s scrawl
– John Pappas
wind in the chimney —
a musician
wets his reed
– Allison Douglas-Tourner
death of somebody
an ensemble of wreaths
from big names
– A.J. Anwar
winter solitude
eating spilled popcorn
off my belly
– Lev Hart
the weight
of a cigarette
stratus sky
– Joshua St. Claire
last rites
he requests
a sextant
– Eric Sundquist
all this religion
to be jealous
of the ocean
– Dan Schwerin
Haiga – John Hawkhead
