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SPRING 2021

dawnlight

a chirp

skims the pool

 

John Zheng

 

 

the night
he wasn’t born
rain-heavy melons

 

Isabel Caves

 

 

winter
   interior
   internal
   in
   i

 

Christopher Patchel

 

 

New Year's day sunlight—

poinsettia flowers wound

around slats of the sled

 

Wally Swist

 

 

kinglets

dither in cat briar

tinge of winter

 

Erin Castaldi

 

 

someone's soul

in the meadow silence

is becoming a bug

 

Mile Lisica

 

 

bringing the mountain with it the spring wind 

 

Jenny Fraser

 

 

a day with rain—

coffeeshop cobblestones

thicker with moss

 

Michael Dylan Welch

 

 

pond bridge—
the willow stirs
this other me

 

Gavin Austin

 

 

long afternoon...

an egret hops 

over a tether rope

 

K. Ramesh

 

 

the swamp

slowly thaws

first blackbirds

 

Brad Bennett

 

 

phosphorescence

a school of moon jellies

drifts in the current

 

Jay Friedenberg

 

 

twilight 

bats let loose

their angles

 

Bryan Rickert

 

 

winter sands 

a pop of wormholes

takes me out of this world

 

John Hawkhead

 

 

family bible

years of creases 

in grandma's hands

 

Rich Schilling

 

 

the same moon

as when we all

lived here

 

John Stevenson

 

 

stony descent
a store of the snow winds
in my forearms

 

Kristen Lang

 

 

purple wisteria   

a beetle vanishes         

down the ant lion’s pit

 

Ferris Gilli

 

 

ripe wheat

yields to the wind

the farmer's heavy eyes

 

Robert Witmer

 

 

last year's calendar

in her dad's nursing-home room

winter stillness

 

Chen-ou Liu

 

 

January thaw . . . 

stacks of yellowed hay bales

steaming in the meadow

 

Wally Swist

 

 

gutters 

clogged with leaves –

this grief

 

Maire Morrissey Cummins

 

 

a mouse digging

into a giant rat's hide —

lion's mouth sprouts

 

Taofeek Ayeyemi

 

 

through the corn

just enough road

to hold a truck

 

Bryan Rickert

 

 

harvest wind—the meadow takes flight

 

Laurie D. Morrissey

 

 

breaking apart

the flow of a stream

below the ice

 

Bruce H. Feingold

 

 

this twilight

pulling some weeds

from my father’s chest

 

Mark Gilbert

 

 

shrouded moon 

the scent of parijat 

almost visible 

 

Meera Rehm

 

 

gathering 

wild dune freesias   

a fling of spray

 

Jenny Fraser

 

 

dead low water

the turn of light inside

a wendletrap

 

Richard Tindall

 

 

on a paper lamp

in a corner of the world

nocturnal butterflies

 

Alvin Cruz

 

 

pecking seed

on the snowy deck

birds on one foot

 

Seren Fargo

 

 

mimosa pudica his little fingers curl around one of mine

 

Silk

 

 

no fish...

a kingfisher keeps 

preening itself

 

K. Ramesh

 

 

cow bells

following a trail

into the wind

 

Joanna Ashwell

 

 

marina fog—

faint along the park edge

belladonna lilies

 

Richard Tice

 

 

on the tallest dune,

a discarded shopping trolley

faces the sea

 

Rhys Owain Williams

 

 

Lullaby...

mother stops

mosquitoes continue.

 

Enobong Ernest Enobong

 

 

squally showers 

sweeping the saltings 

the peewit’s cry

 

Clive Bennett

 

 

north wind

flooded reeds share a flash

of kingfisher blue

 

Michael Baeyens

 

 

evening news

only the birds

arrive home

 

Shalini Pattabiraman

 

 

crescent moon

a constant wind shapes

the sapling

 

Lorraine Haig

 

 

ghost moon underwater frog songs

 

Marilyn Fleming

 

 

the new leaves –

grandfather's smile

behind the glass

 

Cinzia Pitingaro

 

 

forest path

leads only to itself

catbird cry

 

our thomas

 

 

a .22 bore

among my father’s things —

deep autumn

 

Kanchan Chatterjee

 

 

our place
in the company of mountains
a gentle foothold

 

Helga Jermy

 

 

deckle-edged

with daffodils                

spring dawn    

 

Helen Buckingham

 

 

unburdened
an ant’s shadow
enters mine

 

Mike White

 

 

dew soaked straw

on the threshing floor –

I inhale my childhood

 

Paul Callus

 

 

moving again

how do you pack 

the silence?

 

Shalini Pattabiraman

 

 

baby kicks mom’s ribs

delicately expanding

her soft universe

 

Pat Hull

 

 

the silence after

pattering the pane of glass—

cold December rain

 

Wally Swist

 

 

morning light
whitebait’s tiny eyes
glitter in my dish bowl

 

Keiko Izawa

 

 

spring equinox

two fledgling eagles 

toss a sprig of pine

 

Bill Cooper

 

 

slush on the street—

scraping of a shovel

against sunrise

 

Lenard D. Moore

 

 

Easter egg hunt

resurrects the child

searching for clues

 

Lorraine Carey

 

 

dawn’s glow

black-headed gulls

ripple the floodplain

 

Thomas Powell

 

 

still afternoon

the pheasant clucks softly

to her chicks

 

Kristen Lindquist

 

 

Spring waterlilies

the sounds of geese

where the color ends

 

Bill Fay

 

 

my dying cat                                               

memories of tree climbing

in the curve of her paws

 

David Watts

 

 

night rolls in wreaths of bladderwrack hissing foam

 

Chris Jupp

 

 

sultry evening

my teeth deep into

the persimmon

 

Maya Daneva

 

 

black ice
a widow reaches for
the crook of his arm

 

Mike White

 

 

candle smoke
the slow coo of a dove
in light rain

 

Jeanne Cook

 

 

martins 

the purple piping 

of winter twilight 

 

Laurie Greer

 

 

polar vortex

fog pushes through

a revolving door

 

Debbie Strange

 

 

dinner table 

the tip of my finger

still traces your name

 

Neena Singh

 

 

dead leaves

a sudden shift of the hollow

 

martin gottlieb cohen

 

 

seagull's fogbound cry

the hunched outline

of a lone fisherman

 

Lisa Espenmiller

 

 

revolution

the cow ends up where it was

this morning

 

Robert Beveridge

 

 

stream cleaning the pebbles cleaning the stream

 

Srinivasa Rao Sambangi

 

 

sunrise
reaching for the horizon
crocus shadows

 

B.A. France

 

 

slung boots

over the powerline

southbound geese

 

Gideon Young

 

 

baby clothes

outgrown —

bud scales

 

Nola Obee

 

 

stitching

shadow to light

the snake

 

Corey D. Cook

 

 

my mind made up
the leaf lets go
of the tree

 

Ben Gaa

 

 

night-time echo

following the truck horn

a tawny owl

 

Ted Sherman

 

 

dawnlight
the willow buds
shed dewdrops

 

David He 

 

 

a puddle
under each swing
first bluebird

 

Marilyn Ashbaugh

 

 

dandelion
with a puff
I'm a kid again

 

Oscar Luparia

 

 

father's sigh

his breath still blowing

with the mountain wind

 

Meg Arnot

 

 

summer sun—

a diamond python curls

about the gum branch

 

Marilyn Humbert

 

 

countermelody

returning every night

cricket in the vents

 

Daniel McGee

 

 

nursing home 

a swing squeaks

in the quiet afternoon

 

Vladislav Hristov

 

 

summer wind

shivers down the spine

of a field

 

Sandra St-Laurent

 

 

end of autumn

the cow fails to eat 

with my hands

 

Richa Sharma

 

 

watering radishes

growing fatter

slowly

 

Bisshie

 

 

nuthatch

chisels the liquid surface

of a stone basin

 

R. J. Swanson

 

 

the spider remakes its web
in the corner I swept
yesterday

 

Michael Battisto

 

 

the rotten smell 

of a decaying dog —

rose blossoms 

 

Oluwasegun Oluseyi Adesina

 

 

childhood memories

half of the shell 

in the sand

 

Carmela Marino

 

 

school reopening –

on cobwebbed blackboard

last year's lesson

 

Milan Rajkumar

 

 

spring breeze 

even her napkin 

smells of flowers 

 

Maria Concetta Conti

 

 

morning walk

in her womb the slight 

kick of spring 

 

Minal Sarosh 

 

 

my hospital bed                 

the out of doors

on my father’s coat

 

David Watts

 

 

sundown

landing all at once

red flamingos

 

Mirela Brăilean

 

 

autumn breeze
a butterfly settles
atop the sleeping hound

 

Greg Schwartz

 

 

springtime in Salem—
the dogwood rustles
its frilly skirt

 

Sarah Ockrim

 

 

gathering clouds . . .

a woman stitches the tear 

on an umbrella 

 

Oluwasegun Oluseyi Adesina

 

 

Calennig

the pandemic gives us

new prayers this year 

 

Rp Verlaine 

 

 

evening blues

a vole’s steady nibbling

at the vine

 

Anna Cates

 

 

she rests her hand

on an old book—

the pain is new

 

Tom Staudt

 

 

first picnic –

my girl and an ant

sharing the same apple

 

Daniela Sorina Ciurariu

 

 

stormy night

I imagine the garden

rearranged

 

Roger Watson

 

 

a faint mewl

from under the car bonnet...

spring moon

 

sanjuktaa asopa

 

 

barely spring

a coiled garter snake 

flicks its red tongue

 

 

Hannah Mahoney

 

moonlight falls

from the rooftops –

melting snow

 

Skylar Kay

 

 

harmattan deepens . . .

the city's new statue

smothered in dust

 

Ugwu Erochukwu Shedrach

 

 

twilight—
through the window
first raccoon trills

 

Jill Lange

 

 

winter gust

with her last breath

my childhood gone

 

Agus Maulana Sunjaya

 

 

oak tree

passing every season 

in your shadow

 

Karen Robbie

 

 

near dusk

a tern’s spread wings

dwarf the sun

 

John J. Han

 

 

fall rains –

needing a photo 

to remember her face

 

Antonietta Losito

 

 

after all this time

dock swans

 

Christina Martin

 

 

sickle moon

a lost cat poster

withers in the wind

 

Nika

 

 

not saying who

a pile of pellets

beneath the nest

 

Peter Jastermsky

 

 

scarecrow

a breeze drifts through

lines of cabbages

 

Adrian Bouter 

 

 

estate sale
no more memories
in the cedar chest

 

Suraja Roychowdhury

 

 

robins drinking

out of the pitted hands

of St. Francis

 

Ryland Shengzhi Li

 

 

along the sidewalk

umbrellas popping up –

the ink  mushrooms

 

Laughing waters

 

 

lockdown—
we scribble our names
on a dusty car

 

Uma Anandalwar

 

 

Autumn twilight 

a stray balloon 

drifts beyond the trees 

 

chad henry

 

 

treading waves
a fish crow stalks
the shore

 

Manoj Sharma 

 

 

waiting room gloom
umbrella stand
banded with brass

 

Sheila K. Barksdale

 

 

Even water drops

Have enough substance to cast

Shadows in the sun

 

Geoff Knowlton

 

 

gathering

what's left of a lost day

distant flute

 

Jackie Chou

 

 

bent over

endless dishes

moonlight at the bottom

 

Buffy Shutt

 

 

pissing—
even the fly
warms his hands

 

MB (Michael Boehm)

 

 

mulberry flowers –

playing hide and seek

in grandfather's garden

 

Elisa Allo

 

 

on the lough

mist, filling the space 

between countries 

 

Florence Heyhoe

 

 

incoming tide

the fisherman's gradual retreat

to the sunbathers

 

Dan Treagust

 

 

pandemic winter

crocus bulbs multiply

underground

 

Valentina Ranaldi-Adams

 

 

half of her

orange on the deck—

sunset

 

Geoff M. Pope

 

 

a coffee cup 

gathering dust...

cloudy afternoon

 

Adesokan Babatunde Waliyullah

 

 

summer gust

the straw and spittle

of an empty nest

 

Mike Gallagher

 

 

April daring swallows on my mind

 

Mariangela Canzi

 

 

hollow bones
of an arctic tern
the empty glass

 

Joan Chaput

 

 

the first and last flowers

to grace the garden . . . 

seeds I did not sow 

 

Anna Eklund-Cheong

 

 

mountain air

on my arms

goosebumps rising

 

Leanne Jaeger

 

 

summer heatwave / police patrol walks past – the sweat in their boots squeaking

 

Tim Roberts

 

 

brittle autumn

the straw broom fans

the asphalt walkway

 

Jeffrey Winke

 

 

unravelling clouds –

greylag geese

out of the blue

 

Dorothy Burrows

 

 

wild onion scent

the worm’s every which way

through the ground

 

Jonathan Humphrey

 

 

childhood photo

a smile I don't do

anymore

 

Tomislav Sjekloća

 

 

a starlit breeze 
brushing the slopes
from the dunes

 

Carol Raisfeld

 

 

chrysalis – 

she pushes her bath-robe

off her shoulders

 

Dan Salontai 

 

 

calm river –

the flight of tiny bugs

against the light

 

Jorge Alberto Giallorenzi

 

 

spring forest

a moonbeam

finds the nest

 

Kevin Valentine

 

 

between dreams the rippling blue expanse

 

Carl Walsh

 

 

winter solitude

watching over frozen fields

just the solstice moon 

 

Ajay Jyoti

 

 

bonfire

starting to melt

my years

 

Samo Kreutz

 

 

child memorial…

origami cranes dance

to create one wish

 

Rob McKinnon

 

 

a robin
sings from the blackthorn
—we queue for the shop

 

Simon Wilson

 

 

fresh sand-eels
hang from mother’s beak
nesting puffin feast

 

Doug Lanzo

 

 

spring window

a red finch flirts with

his own reflection

 

Dottie Piet

 

 

Plovent al pujol,

roques aspres rentades,

salts d’aigua torba.

 

Raining on the hill,

washed rough rocks,

peaty waterfalls.

 

Xavier Panades

 

 

rising dawn –
pink mist of blossoms
in no one's garden

 

Natalia Kuznetsova

 

 

my fingers 

on his curly hair 

blue hyacinth 

 

Daniela Misso

 

 

hopscotch

fallen magnolia petals

rolling over

 

Zoran Doderovic

 

 

sunny spells

I tiptoe between

daffodil shoots

 

David Gale

 

 

nearer

the slow lane

the wild flowers

 

Keith Evetts

 

 

squirrel stands
amongst crocus sprouts
shutter snaps

 

Roger Moffitt

 

 

turning earth this heady smell of soil as we spin

 

Karen Harvey

 

 

the mangos

the moon

both unripe

 

Gordon Brown

 

 

greater blue heron
drained of color

October river

 

James Krotzman

 

 

baby’s first word

muttered 

in sleep

 

Sherry Grant

 

 

spring shower—

piercing through it

the crocus!

 

Evan Vandermeer

 

 

end of holidays

at the bottom of his pockets

a small piece of dune

 

Françoise Maurice

 

 

red kite billowing across the park her yellow cotton dress

 

Mark Miller

 

 

deeper than the 

hoot of snowy owls

winter solitude...

 

Joe Sebastian

 

 

netted firmament

he thumbs the pages

I'm being read to

 

Nicole Burgund

 

 

distant airplane

sleeping cat

follows with her ears

 

Allison Douglas-Tourner

 

 

my bike
stands still on one leg
stormy night

 

Ashoka Weerakkody

 

 

the last bus

rattles past

empty

 

Erica Ison

 

 

open window

the glare of the rainbow

after rain

 

Eufemia Griffo

 

 

Icy dawn.

The song of a lark

melts the hoarfrost

 

Ornella Vallino

 

gone the way

of forget-me-nots

my first love

 

Mary McCormack

 

 

the dog is silent

but its bark still echoes 

from the cedar valley

 

Luke Levi

 

 

citrus scent…

waiting for the bus

in the spring mist 

 

Ezio Infantino

 

 

first butterfly –

the baby´s wobbly steps

towards the hug

 

Julia Guzmán

 

 

paper crosses

dot each broken window

haunted farmhouse

 

Ashlee Ollmann

 

 

spring countryside

upside down

a trampoline

in a field

 

Brendan Duffin

 

 

deterioration

in the mirror

silvering

 

Paul Goggins

 

 

morning dew

a petal’s glowing drop

lures a hummingbird

 

Richard Matta

 

 

dusk—

a red-tailed hawk

alights on the lamppost

 

Adele Evershed

 

 

early spring sunshine

the neighbour's baby

singing her word-sounds

 

Andrew Hubball

 

© 2024 Wales Haiku Journal

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