Featured Poet – Lee Gurga
class reunion
with my old girlfriend
her girlfriend
postal chess —
he moves me
from his cell
graduation day —
my son and I side by side
knotting our ties
empty room
the silence of
your post-it
cumulonimbus
easier said
than done
Lee Gurga has served as president of the Haiku Society of America and editor of Modern Haiku. He is currently editor of Modern Haiku Press. His In & Out of Fog and Fresh Scent, were awarded First Prize in the HSA Merit Book Awards; his Haiku: A Poet’s Guide was recognized by the HSA as the “Best Book of Criticism” for 2004. His awards include an Illinois Arts Council Poetry Fellowship, the Japan-America Society of Chicago’s Cultural Achievement Award, a couple of Touchstone Awards and, in his work as a dentist, an American Red Cross Healthcare Heroes Award. He lives on the Sangamon River in Piatt County, Illinois.
crow-stepped gable
under shooting stars
a war crime
– John Hawkhead
siren again
the toddler rearranges
his tin soldiers
– Maya Daneva
mating doves …
Ukraine promised
killer drones
– Neena Singh
griping about gas as another war rages
– Nathanael Tico
under the bombs
no shelter
in the word children
– Chad Lee Robinson
2022 daffodil
I read all the meanings
of nuclear
– Annie Bachini
black holes
what to do with
knowing
– Pat Davis
forest trail
the disappearance
of certainty
– Joanna Ashwell
in the mind
of its maker —
scarecrow
– Laurie D. Morrissey
hung jury
no one knows where a river
becomes sea
– Vandana Parashar
butterfly nebula
fragments of shimmer
through light years
– Angela Terry
almost Spring …
the blue-green flash
of a kingfisher
– Neena Singh
morning sun
a turmeric stain
in the bamboo bowl
– Brad Bennett
seaside fireworks
the blue heron’s grace
goes unnoticed
– Debbie Strange
the dust
since yesterday
winter light
– Evan Vandermeer
a daughter born
in an underground bunker
war cry
– Lorraine Carey
green cherries —
my daughter’s first
earrings
– Kristina Todorova
spring night sky …
a refugee girl counts
the stars
– Milan Rajkumar
pink roses
resting in father’s palm
the newborn’s hand
– Minal Sarosh
at the right
moment
butterfly
– Roberta Beach Jacobson
a gesture
is all —
white tulip
– Jamie Wimberly
a few words
in the right order
wood ducklings
– Brad Bennett
tattered thoughts —
soft scraps overlap a
torn paper collage
– KB Nelson
dewdrops
the weight of unwilling
to let go
– Christopher Calvin
again and again
the cries of a cicada
confession box
– Arvinder Kaur
if I fall in love
with you …
day lily
– Tony Williams
a ladybug
on my splayed hand —
speed dating
– Richard L. Matta
our first taste
of summer together
berry pie
– Joanna Ashwell
flower shopping
a bee and I choose
the same peony
– Bryan Rickert
wildflower moon
let’s do
and say we didn’t
– Edward Cody Huddleston
village taverna
old men roll up shag
with the war news
– Marietta McGregor
Cold War 2.0
in the distance rumbles
thunder
– Deborah Karl-Brandt
war news
a spider crosses the floor
in a hurry
– Richa Sharma
Crimea —
in a fallen tree
leaves rustle
– Joe Sebastian
war news
she dusts off
the Buddha figure
– Meera Rehm
vintage kimono …
the weight of layers
of little lies
– Angela Terry
at a loss for words
haiku poet
at father’s funeral
– Douglas J. Lanzo
dragonfly …
the friend who went
without a goodbye
– Neena Singh
between your words
a flurry of snow
and mine
– Mark A. Forrester
a story
too sad to tell
blackberry moon
– Carolyn Hall
pinot noir
my carpet remains
modern art
– Srinidhi Senthil
palace resort
adjusting his mask before
the king’s portrait
– Minal Sarosh
bird watchers
all turn to the chirping
cellphone
– Marilyn Ashbaugh
vacation rain
my car lands
on Park Place
– Joseph P. Wechselberger
thunder storm —
pilot announces a detour
through Sagittarius
– Sankara Jayanth Sudanagunta
crabapple whiff
what a wormhole does
for my curveball
– Mike White
a girl’s name …
through this birch forest
I’ve been before
– Mircea Moldovan
on a birdlimed twig —
too mellow to remain free
the green linnet
– Mike Gallagher
watching me closely
a microbat dangles
from the lampshade
– Barbara A. Taylor
same face
as the prostitute
the Buddha
– Veronika Zora
windflowers —
wind gust after wind gust
has its way
– Lorin Ford
with each hat coin
the beatboxer
touches his heart
– Annie Bachini
rings concertinaed
on her finger
the weight of lives
– Christine Eales
pearl stud
behind the dresser
lunar eclipse
– Kelly Sargent
starless night
the darkness
death reveals
– Lisa Espenmiller
red poppies
at the border
beating hearts
– Lori Kiefer
summer sky
bleached like old jeans
plumbago blossoms
– Christa Pandey
without knowing
its true color
wild iris bloom
– Nazarena Rampini
spring equinox —
the book with blue pages
in my lap
– Daniela Misso
wild flowers
doing what they want
monday morning
– Tony Burfield
butterfly garden
the sound and color
of wings
– Jeff Hoagland
swallowtails over the fence
this time we are
the new neighbors
– Carolyn Hall
new moon …
our collie finds a new
border crossing
– Pat Davis
evening meadow
my tired legs lead me
through birdsong
– Benjamin Bläsi
abandoned house
scent of forget-me-nots
passes the fence
– Kristina Todorova
blue sky morning
children play hopscotch
behind the razor wire
– Mark Miller
heavy rain …
a cloud
loses itself
– Barrie Levine
where the bookstore
used to be —
Auto Zone
– Ruth Holzer
cold snap – cutting
him out of her
wedding photo
– Mike White
summer solstice
seventeen hours of sunlight
obscured by clouds
– Wilda Morris
silence between panpipe notes
seven days work
to fill the skip
– Meg Arnot
moonless night
the Milky Way
laps the shore
– Srinivas S
country song
wafting scent from
the tatami shop
– Keiko Izawa
mindful walk
the gentle breathing
of a bullfrog
– Ryland Shengzhi Li
a ladybug
at a slow pace …
dewdrops
– Daniela Misso
dandelion puffs
my wishes go where
the wind goes
– Lori Kiefer
late Rembrandt
at that age when we make
the self ourselves
– Mike White
first trip abroad
foreign moon
– Roberta Beach Jacobson
between what should be
and what will never be
me
– Ravi Kiran
springtime …
out of my comfort zone
my hairdo
– Manoj Sharma
winter dusk
finding the glasses I wear
to look for my glasses
– David Oates
Ash Wednesday
sorting through
my dirty laundry
– Marilyn Ashbaugh
cowboy dreams
the old whiskey jar
half-full of pennies
– Steve Black
night in the nail bar
at the end of each finger
the sun moon and stars
– John Hawkhead
flea bite
that itch
for spring
– Marilyn Ashbaugh
winter wildflowers
too old
to die young
– Edward Cody Huddleston
backwater July
biking home from the bookshop
with second hand dreams
– Ash Evan Lippert
summer canoe
I circle the moon
again and again
– Srinidhi Senthil
the sun against her skin
one dawn after
another
– cain gwynne
sunset breeze
through the open window
a whiff of orange
– Lori Kiefer
the wrinkles
we’ve gained together —
a favorite paperback
– Chad Lee Robinson
making up
in the maples
sugar moon
– P. H. Fischer
shelter in place
the din
of silence
– Sandra Anfang
wind picking up this pain in my side
– Cynthia Anderson
hard rain
the crowd throws stones
at the prison van
– Steve Black
in the grip
of deep despair
weeping willow
– C.X. Turner
ice jam
the distance between me
and a masked friend
– Chen-ou Liu
massacre site
the bony shoulders
of a ghost gum
– Marietta McGregor
forest-bathing
seeing the potential
widowmakers
– Nathanael Tico
fixed eye
of the caught fish —
light drains from the sky
– Mark Miller
night owl …
another poem
bites the dust
– Madhuri Pillai
graveyard shift —
the nicotine patch
bleeds itself dry
– cain gwynne
squeezing a lot
into a summer
cider press
– Brad Bennett
floating blossom
my watch says:
japanese movement
– Stephen Toft
waning summer …
the pilcrows showing
in my Word file
– Michael Dylan Welch
prefab house
its resemblance
to my new haiku
– Keiko Izawa
yard sale
the bookworm is served
its pink slip
– Stephanie Newbern
peace talks
the border bridge
sheeted in ice
– Chen-ou Liu
crowded with silence
the emptied house
death cleaning
– Lisa Espenmiller
remembering
a friend’s rhyme …
evening koel
– Madhuri Pillai
snow squalls the spaces between words
– Jim Krotzman
winter frost …
those who went without
a word
– Lorin Ford
stone steps
their silence
before we walk up
– Gary Hotham
Vivaldi’s Winter up loud
speeding past fields white
with Queen Anne’s lace
– Kristen Lindquist
inside the whistle
— nothing
until it comes out
– Laurie D. Morrissey
deeper darkness
in a cannon’s shadow
1812 Overture
– Marietta McGregor
frozen pond
the missing sound
of skipping stones
– Pravat Kumar Padhy
same as it ever was the new spring day
– Jim Kacian
wrinkles …
the folded corners
of an origami
– Rosa Maria Di Salvatore
monsoon rain
for some flowers
it is time
– Sankara Jayanth Sudanagunta
staging the farm for sale tasseled corn
– Caroline Giles Banks
two-day bus ride
to dad’s funeral —
mountains are just mountains
– Paul Engel
peppered with crows the pumpkin patch
– Michael Dylan Welch
crescent moon
the silent flight
of a barn owl
– Joseph P. Wechselberger
leaf fall
the ragged edges
of butterfly wings
– Bryan Rickert
snowy pine
a nuthatch spirals
into the unknown
– Debbie Strange
end of the trail —
two dried slugs
side by side
– Tony Williams
summer haze …
a pair of doves there
not there
– sanjuktaa asopa
November rain
loose at his ankles
hospital socks
– Mark Forrester
hours he spent
building the birdhouse
nest egg
– Jamie Wimberly
onion snow
my son
picks up my shovel
– Joshua St. Claire
third quarter moon
when will my life
begin again
– Christine Eales
tamarind tree
our school yard capers
still relished
– Madhuri Pillai
summer afternoon
on the funeral home’s porch
empty rockers
– David Oates
swallows at sunrise ode to joy
– Mariangela Canzi
Sunday brunch
a sprightly carillon
of teacups
– Ash Evan Lippert
whirling carousel
I launch my toddler
on a flying horse
– Barrie Levine
Dyngus Day
the oompah of an accordion
through the pussy willows
– Joshua Gage
war carnival —
in the Kiev metro
the last tango
– Vincenzo Adamo
Haiga – Mariel Herbert
