Featured Poet – Christopher Herold
foghorns …
we lower a kayak
into the sound
spring morning
the art of walking beside
someone much older
early twilight
snow enters a barn
on the backs of cows
bird shadow
from tree shadow
to fence shadow
bell ending zazen
everyone begins to move
except the spider
Christopher Herold has been verbalizing AHA! moments since 1968. He is a past-president of the Haiku Poets of Northern California and he helped to organize the first Haiku North America conference in 1991. In 1999 he co-founded The Heron’s Nest haiku journal and served as its Managing Editor through 2007. His haiku have appeared widely in several languages and he has had six collections of his work published, two receiving HSA Merit Book Awards, one a Touchstone Distinguished Book Award. He has also written three novels and has had his drumming featured on thirteen record albums.
winter branches —
surfing the internet
for flowery dresses
– kei andersen
strawberry moon
she reaches
the second trimester
– Adele Evershed
wireless fidelity
the spontaneity
of his kiss
– Susan Yavaniski
bowing
to the daffodils
snowman
– Robert Witmer
summer sun
watering his garden
with a rainbow
– Kerry J Heckman
reading a banned book
the hummingbird sings
at night
– Alvin B. Cruz
box ticking
a redundant tick
on the pronoun box
– Suraj Nanu
going around the bishop
once again
Creeping Charlie
– Dan Schwerin
independence day
she sneaks a sip
from dad’s beer
– John Pappas
taking their protest
to the streets …
wildflowers
– Tony Williams
blood moon —
I cast myself
in your shadow
– Neena Singh
drifting bottle
the half in, half out
of his commitment
– A.J. Anwar
daylily
making promises
I can’t keep
– Sharon Martina
whenever he says
maybe one day …
autumn moon
– Lori Kiefer
i break open
our relationship
there she is
– Christine Eales
cowboy moon
the night sky studded
with rhinestones
– Carol Judkins
mosquito
i become
a bit edible
– David Kãwika Eyre
you’re only old once
the last wildflower
still wild
– Edward Cody Huddleston
goslings …
the crossing guard holds up
her cell phone
– P. H. Fischer
Trappist monk
in prayer
a fly in his hair
– Noel King
a faraway smell
in the western winter —
miso soup
– Marie Derley
empty nest —
once her house was filled
with cuckoo songs
– Ram Chandran
cloudless blue —
her chair empty
by the morning glories
– kei andersen
cicada song —
the empty shell
within me
– Mark Forrester
frostwork
on the windowpane …
I wish you’d stayed
– Debbie Strange
tsunami
sheltering
from my thoughts
– Scott Wiggerman
my inner Merton cottontail
– Dan Schwerin
six million sunsets
the silence
of no graves
– Mike Fainzilber
walking meditation
with every step …
the journey within
– Neena Singh
my curling rock —
the slow glide
of memory
– Angela Terry
lazy afternoon
a friend’s perfectly timed
cancellation
– Nathanael Tico
ssshhhhchanterelles
– Jeff Hoagland
swinging back
towards the stars
beach hammock
– Joanna Ashwell
a day without deadlines
an inchworm suspended
midair
– Shawn Blair
lawn chair breeze
the cup shaping
my drink
– Gary Hotham
day’s end bit by bit the floating world
– Ella Aboutboul
in the pink
beneath a clear blue sky
naked ladies
– Lorin Ford
the thrust of stamens
from the lily’s throat
sunrise
– Jenny Ward Angyal
strutting upon
the men’s club globe
daddy long legs
– Scott Mason
the rain heavy again considering sex work
– Rowan Beckett
after rain
her body on mine …
mosquito
– Laurence Stacey
his and her kayaks
easing into
the water lilies
– Randy Brooks
a quivering
patch of tree trunk
the chameleon
– Dipankar Dasgupta
local bookstore
between romance and thriller
… flirtation
– Jay Friedenberg
ocean sunset
so many shades
of toenail polish
– Susan Yavaniski
oldies café
the faded gold rim
of this beer glass
– Keiko Izawa
the shape
of five days
dad’s lunch pail
– Barrie Levine
perfect sunset
the obligation
to stay
– Tom Zille
outdoor wedding
two puddles
become one
– Edward Cody Huddleston
after the sidewalk
a dirt path
i sweep that too
– Suzanne Leaf-Brock
nightjar’s shrill
the forgotten birthmark
– Richa Sharma
Father’s soiled diaper
I gaze at the bony hand
that once slapped me
– Chen-ou Liu
bar stools anchored to rock bottom
– Lorraine A Padden
lemon tart
the bitter taste
of infidelity
– Susan Burch
90% dark chocolate
a professor’s non-stop
innuendos
– Amoolya Kamalnath
custody battle
stuck in the fence
an apple core
– Hifsa Ashraf
watermelon seed
spitting summer
at his sister
– Marilyn Ashbaugh
misdirected anger the caterpillar’s false eyespots
– Kristen Lindquist
magic beans
turns out
I don’t know Jack
– Susan Burch
singularity
Siri tells me
to stop asking questions
– Douglas J. Lanzo
overdue date night
she chooses
a slasher
– Evan Vandermeer
the vineyard
ripening to purple
autumn sunset
– Gavin Austin
shallow bend
a sheep skull half-buried
in river sand
– Thomas Powell
flowering yucca
the silence
of ivory bells
– Christine Wenk-Harrison
short-eared owl
one hay bale taller
than the others
– Debbie Strange
crusader ruins —
a blue dragonfly grips
a reed stalk
– Roman Lyakhovetsky
fallen petals
the eerie silence
of decay
– Christa Pandey
closed piano
the dust
on yesterday’s songs
– Meg Arnot
wabi-sabi my aging eyes
– Christopher Patchel
teaching
The Tao of Death …
a drop of dew
– Veronika Zora Novak
creeping up on me
way too quick
my shadow
– Owen Bullock
morning mood
the silence
of sunrise
– Petra Schmidt
autumn wind
the changing tenor
of birdsong
– Kevin Valentine
empty shore
the gull’s cry
trails to rain
– Gavin Austin
sky’s edge my blues get bluer
– Hifsa Ashraf
picking up
where we left off
morning rain
– Mark Forrester
THiRD PLaNET FROm THE SUN an antHILL
– Julie Bloss Kelsey
desert stars …
when we sleep
who’s counting
– Lee Hudspeth
dog days
the Doppler effect
of a housefly
– Shawn Blair
JWST
clearer views
of what we don’t know
– Pat Davis
at the end
of a laser pointer —
Orion’s right foot
– Laurie D. Morrissey
the same page reading the same page
– Scott Wiggerman
all-night bookstore
fantasy
lit from within
– Kathryn Liebowitz
blank page
another reason
to go on
– Ruth Holzer
nightfall
the generation that can’t read
this cursive journal
– Carolyn Hall
new book smell …
turning the page
on my screen habit
– Timothy Daly
migrant crisis:
cutting bread slices
too large for the boss
– Anthony Lusardi
summer vacation Greenland ever greener
– Eric Lohman
golden hour
a father and son fishing
for bottles and cans
– Nathanael Tico
if that mockingbird don’t sing climate crisis
– petro c. k.
gunmetal sky
naming our eras
after our wars
– Jennifer Hambrick
mud soft
beneath the snow
Lent begins
– Julie Schwerin
green moss on gray rocks —
my old bedroom
in the old house
– Anthony Lusardi
half a chapati
mother scatters her touch
among the pigeons
– Arvinder Kaur
Rilke at the wedding
between the lines
finch song
– Matt Snyder
summer crumbles
into fall —
mom’s apple pie
– Bonnie J Scherer
trying
to recall his laugh …
falling leaf
– Earl Livings
your mandala
of feathers
death poem
– Jeff Hoagland
winter solstice
four horses now three
in the neighbor’s corral
– Carolyn Hall
obituary
the lives we leave
behind
– Mona Bedi
my father’s eyes
in the rearview mirror
autumn drizzle
– Stephen Toft
blood moon
a stray dog follows us
to the polling station
– Susan Yavaniski
an orchid
among wildflowers …
did I marry wrong
– Vandana Parashar
winter drizzle
this life not adding
up to much
– Bryan Rickert
gathering
at the scene of the accident
crows on a power line
– Joseph P. Wechselberger
our turn to dig
a hole for the dog …
summer’s end
– Evan Vandermeer
smart mirror
it speaks only
when I speak
– Minal Sarosh
blonde highlights
for the funeral
his favourite
– Christine Eales
climate change
Humpty Dumpty
is falling
– Valentina Ranaldi-Adams
too much
of a good thing
beeturia
– Jerome Berglund
at the altar
their heartfelt vows
written by AI
– Kimberly Kuchar
drought lingers
interpreting the length
of her silence
– Ravi Kiran
job interview
trying on a dead man’s suit
at the thrift store
– Steve Black
palm reading
even in past lives
this solitude
– Bryan Rickert
air plants and I apartment after apartment
– Christopher Patchel
house clearance
removing her picture
from the frame
– John Hawkhead
alone at the museum
I sit opposite
Van Gogh’s Chair
– Millicent Bee
cairn stones
shadows hide
where they touch
– Brad Bennett
first day of school …
coaxing the turtle
out of its shell
– Deborah Karl-Brandt
frozen fountain
the layers of ice
between us
– Eavonka Ettinger
legion hall supper . . .
unable to find himself
in the group photo
– Kristen Lindquist
the Susquehanna coiling behind the Conowingo Dam a copperhead
– Joshua St. Claire
rose blossoms
keeping her diagnosis
hidden
– Maria Concetta Conti
sinusitis
cobwebs higher than
the broom can reach
– Michael Henry Lee
using her fingers
to send a phone email
age giveaway
– Annie Bachini
eco-anxious
her first elbow patch
a rough job
– Meg Arnot
kiddie pool —
innies and outies
begin
– Scott Mason
thrush whistle
grandma searches for
her dentures
– Daipayan Nair
their walk-off homerun
the stench of my father’s
burnt popcorn
– Joshua H. Gage
backyard gardening —
creeping over the fence
the neighbour’s envy
– Paul Callus
climate conference a little more CO2 escapes
– Eric Lohman
dappled sunlight
young boys cleaning
AK-47s
– Stephen Toft
cancer ward
flowers in a vase
without petals
– Carmela Marino
my tai chi friend
in a wheelchair
leafless trees
– Ruth Holzer
flyer
for cremation services
return to sender
– Caroline Giles Banks
falling leaves
the words slip
from Grandpa’s grasp
– Kimberly Kuchar
toy dinosaur
atop a tombstone
the patter of rain
– Mike White
not grasping
the concept of less is more
bougainvillea
– Nathanael Tico
spring melt —
the quiet creek
raises its voice
– Sally Quon
missing you
the ocean takes three syllables
from the sand
– Richard L. Matta
eavesdropping …
an audible wind
through the pines
– Barbara Sabol
windy snow
the stop sign guarding
the crossroads
– Gary Hotham
glacial melt
the years it took
to let him love her
– Cynthia Anderson
kintsugi
if only I could
afford the gold
– Surashree Joshi
ten years
in recovery
today’s new moon
– Jennifer Hambrick
so perfect
she’s afraid
of the last note
– Mary McCormack
morning mist …
the empty nester checks
the mailbox again
– Lorelyn De la Cruz Arevalo
the strength
of our love tested
broken futon
– petro c. k.
spring breeze
I tell him it was different
last year
– Mona Bedi
lovers’ quarrel
the burnt-out kettle
comes to a boil
– Danny Daw
deadwood —
neither of us
knows what to say
– Rowan Beckett
after love making
the crumpled grey
of clouds
– Vandana Parashar
city night
the insistence
of sirens
– Frank Hooven
moving pots
finding the best position
to greet my winter
– Patricia Hawkhead
in recovery …
violet roots
outgrowing their jar
– Rowan Beckett
tourist sight
mist photobombing
the cityscape
– Mona Iordan
the heat
deep bass of a neighbour’s
reggae track
– Annie Bachini
graveyard fees
that attractive price
for a child’s plot
– Tom Zille
pandemic lockdown
home haircuts
no one will see
– Michelle V. Alkerton
surgical suite
between life and death
her paper gown
– Barrie Levine
heatwave
the perfect vegetables
on the seed packets
– Marie Derley
their dying leaves us breathless sugar maples
– Meera Rehm
snow on snow
words that went unsaid
still unsaid
– Lee Hudspeth
pluviometer …
that man to man talk
in a pub
– Samo Kreutz
wind-filled spinnaker —
the difference between yes
and maybe
– Angela Terry
launderette
our small talk
between wash and rinse
– Jay Friedenberg
polluted stream too much dirty talk
– Susan Burch
a bigger loan than hoped for summer solstice
– Victor Ortiz
summer solstice
the kiddie pool
open for business
– Helen Ogden
autumn quiet —
the tourist town looks
like a picture
– Kanchan Chatterjee
Endpiece – Debbie Strange
