A Room of My Own: Halloween Night Haiku

on a power line
onecrowafteranother
Halloween twilight

Butterfly Dream: Heat Wave Haiku by Joan Prefontaine

English Original

heat wave
the blackened skins
of roasting chilies

tinywords, 12.1, December 2012

Joan Prefontaine


Chinese Translation (Traditional)

熱浪來襲
烧烤辣椒
的熏黑外皮

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

热浪来袭
烧烤辣椒
的熏黑外皮


Bio Sketch

Joan Prefontaine lives near Cottonwood, Arizona. She has been writing poetry for many years and began focusing on haiku in 2012. Some of her poems have been set to music by contemporary composers. She teaches Lifelong Learning classes at Yavapai College.

One Man's Maple Moon: Auschwitz Tanka by Sonam Chhoki

English Original

unable
to buy postcards
in Auschwitz
I pick a fallen leaf
fold it into my notebook

A Hundred Gourds, 3:2, March 2014

Sonam Chhoki


Chinese Translation (Traditional)

在奧斯威辛集中營
無法買到
一張明信片
我揀起一片落葉
將它折疊放入筆記本中

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

在奥斯威辛集中营
无法买到
一张明信片
我拣起一片落叶
将它折叠放入笔记本中


Bio Sketch

Born and raised in the eastern Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan, Sonam Chhoki has been writing Japanese short forms of haiku, tanka and haibun for about 7 years. These forms resonate with her Tibetan Buddhist upbringing and provide the perfect medium for the exploration of  her country's rich ritual, social and cultural heritage. She is inspired by her father, Sonam Gyamtsho, the architect of Bhutan's non-monastic modern education. Her haiku, tanka and haibun have been published in poetry journals and anthologies in Australia, Canada, Ireland, Japan, UK and US.

Butterdly Dream: Bulbul Haiku by Sandip Chauhan

English Original

mango blossoms ...
all day the bulbul’s song
rises and fades

Haiku Reality, 2014

Sandip Chauhan


Chinese Translation (Traditional)

芒果花盛開...
整天夜鶯的歌聲
上揚, 然後淡出

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

芒果花盛开...
整天夜莺的歌声
上扬, 然後淡出


Bio Sketch

Sandip Chauhan holds a PhD in Punjabi Literature from Punjabi University in Patiala, India. She writes mainly in Punjabi and English. Publications include two haiku anthologies: In One Breath - a Haiku moment , 2013 and Kokil Anb Suhavi Bole /ਕੋਕਿਲ ਅੰਬਿ ਸੁਹਾਵੀ ਬੋਲੇ , 2014, where haiku and its aesthetics are introduced in Punjabi for the first time. She currently resides in northern Virginia, USA.

One Man's Maple Moon: Canvas Tanka by Pamela A. Babusci

English Original

i want to become
a Klimt woman
dangling
off the canvas
dripping golden light

Ribbons, 4:4, Winter 2008

Pamela A. Babusci


Chinese Translation (Traditional)

我想成為
一名克里姆特的女人
晃出到
滴著金色光芒
的畫布之外

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

我想成为
一名克里姆特的女人
晃出到
滴著金色光芒
的画布之外


Bio Sketch

Pamela A. Babusci  is an internationally award winning haiku, tanka poet and haiga artist. Some of her awards include: Museum of Haiku Literature Award, International Tanka Splendor Awards, First Place Yellow Moon Competition (Aust) tanka category,  First Place Kokako Tanka Competition,(NZ) First Place Saigyo Tanka Awards (US), Basho Festival Haiku Contests (Japan).  Pamela has illustrated several books, including: Full Moon Tide: The Best of Tanka Splendor Awards, Taboo Haiku, Chasing the Sun, Take Five: Best Contemporary Tanka, and A Thousand Reasons 2009. Pamela was the founder and now is the solo Editor of Moonbathing: a journal of women’s tanka; the first all women’s tanka journal in the US

Butterfly Dream: Hermit Crab Haiku by Rebecca Drouilhet

English Original

beach date...
a hermit crab deeper
inside its shell

Rebecca Drouilhet


Chinese Translation (Traditional)

沙灘約會 ...
寄居蟹更進一步地
縮在它的殼內

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

沙滩约会 ...
寄居蟹更进一步地
缩在它的壳内


Bio Sketch

Rebecca Drouilhet is a 59-year-old retired registered nurse. Her haiku and tanka have appeared in numerous print and electronic journals.  In 2012, she won a Sakura award in the Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival Haiku Invitational.  She and her husband, Robert Michael Drouilhet have written a book of haiku titled Lighting a Path

One Man's Maple Moon: Shroud Tanka by Debbie Strange

English Original

when I began
to lose my hair
I wove
a shirt of myself
for your shroud

Presence, 49, February 2014

Debbie Strange


Chinese Translation (Traditional)

當我開始
掉頭髮
我以自身作為織料
縫製一件襯衫
作為你的壽衣

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

当我开始
掉头髮
我以自身作为织料
缝製一件衬衫
作为你的寿衣


Bio Sketch

Debbie Strange belongs to the Writers' Collective of Manitoba and several haiku and tanka organizations. Her writing has received awards and been published in numerous journals. She is a singer-songwriter and photographer whose photographs have been published and exhibited.  She is currently assembling a haiga collection. Visit her on twitter @Debbie_Strange

A Room of My Room: Frog Haiku

reciting haiku ...
the rippling surface
of an old pond

Notes:

1 For more information about Basho's frog haiku, see

a) Poetic Musings: Generic Analysis of Basho’s Frog Haiku (written from the perspective of kigo, "season word," and first published in Magnapoets, 7,January 2011) and

b) To the Lighthouse: Cutting through Time and Space (written from the perspective of  kire, "cutting")

2 Below are some of the frog haiku I've written over four years in response to Basho's frog haiku or to the comments on Basho's frog haiku:

moonlit pond ...
the sound of water brings
news of a dead frog
(for Onishi Yasuyo)

Honourable Mention (Shintai), World Haiku Review, March 2013

lotus pond ...
all that remains
of  frog song

NeverEnding Story, April 18, 2013

frog pond ...
the weight of a shadow
on the lotus leaf

PoemHunter, Feb. 1, 2013

rippling pond ...
what's left
of his words

The Heron's Nest, 16:4, December 2012

starry pond
the pulsing throat
of a frog

Editor's Choice Haiku, Pond Life Thread of Sketchbook, 7:2, March/April 2012

moonlit pond...
a frog jumps
from star to star

Haiku Pix review, 4, Fall 2011

moonlit pond...
a frog penetrates
itself

Simply Haiku, 9:2, Summer 2011

One Man's Maple Moon: Destiny Tanka by Larry Kimmel

English Original

on my back
on a bed
in a bed & breakfast –
my dime destiny
mapped on a cracked ceiling

Modern English Tanka, 12, Summer 2009

Larry Kimmel


Chinese Translation (Traditional)

平躺在
家庭旅館
的床上 --
我的廉價命運反映
在有裂縫的天花板上

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

平躺在
家庭旅馆
的床上 --
我的廉价命运反映
在有裂缝的天花板上


Bio Sketch

Larry Kimmel is a US poet. He holds degrees from Oberlin Conservatory and Pittsburgh University, and has worked at everything from steel mills to libraries. Recent books are this hunger, tissue-thin, and shards and dust. He lives with his wife in the hills of Western Massachusetts.

Butterfly Dream: Nest Haiku by Keitha Keyes

English Original

No junk mail …
starlings build a nest
in the letter box

paper wasp, 19:2, winter 2013

Keitha Keyes


Chinese Translation (Traditional)

不要垃圾郵件 ...
椋鳥在郵箱裡面
築了一個巢

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

不要垃圾邮件 ...
椋鸟在邮箱里面
築了一个巢


Bio Sketch

Keitha Keyes lives in Sydney but her heart is still in the Australian bush where she grew up. She mostly writes tanka and related genres, revelling in the inspiration, friendship and generosity of these writing communities. Her work appears in many print and online journals and anthologies.

One Man's Maple Moon: Fifty Shades of Blue Tanka by Shloka Shankar

English Original

sultry afternoon ...
lost in a maze
of longings
I dissolve into
fifty shades of blue 

Undertow Tanka Review, 2, August 2014

Shloka Shankar


Chinese Translation (Traditional)

悶熱午後 ...
迷失在迷宮中
的渴望
我消散於五十種
深淺不同的藍色憂鬱

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

闷热午後 ...
迷失在迷宫中
的渴望
我消散於五十种
深浅不同的蓝色忧鬱


Bio Sketch

Shloka Shankar is a freelance writer residing in India. Her work appears in over two dozen international anthologies. Her haiku, haiga and tanka have appeared in numerous print and online journals. She is also the editor of the literary and arts journal, Sonic Boom.

Butterfly Dream: Shrimp Boat Haiku by Julie Warther

English Original

coming home ...
the outspread arms
of a shrimp boat

tinywords, 14:2, 2014

Julie Warther


Chinese Translation (Traditional)

返家 ...
捕蝦船伸展開
的捕撈工具
  
Chinese Translation (Simplified)

返家 ...
捕虾船伸展开
的捕捞工具


Bio Sketch

Julie Warther lives in Dover, Ohio with her husband and three children.  She serves as the Midwest Regional Coordinator for the Haiku Society of America.

One Man's Maple Moon: Conversation Tanka by Simon Hanson

 English Original

conversation
takes a lighter turn
dragonflies
skimming the surface
skirting the water's edge

A Hundred Gourds, 2:2 March 2013

Simon Hanson


Chinese Translation (Traditional)

我們的談話
轉向輕鬆的話題
一群蜻蜓
掠過表面
繞過水的邊緣
  
Chinese Translation (Simplified)

我们的谈话
转向轻松的话题
一群蜻蜓
掠过表面
绕过水的边缘


Bio Sketch

Simon Hanson lives in country South Australia enjoying the open spaces and nearby coastal environments.  He is excited by the natural world and relishes moments of the numinous in ordinary things. He is published in various journals and anthologies and never realised how much the moon meant to him until he started writing haiku.

Butterfly Dream: Darkness Haiku by Susan Constable

English Original

the darkness
inside an open peony
morning shadows

Presence, 42, 2010

Susan Constable


Chinese Translation (Traditional)

黑暗部分
在一朵盛開的牡丹內
清晨的陰影

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

黑暗部分
在一朵盛开的牡丹内
清晨的阴影


Bio Sketch

Susan Constable’s tanka appear in numerous journals and anthologies, including Take Five. Her tanka collection, The Eternity of Waves, was one of the winning entries in the eChapbook Awards for 2012. She is currently the tanka editor for the international on-line journal, A Hundred Gourds.

A Room of My Own: Paper Bag Tanka

bombarded
by the sound of silence
I look out the window
at a white paper bag
trapped in a wind vortex

Butterfly Dream: Pine Shadows Haiku by Sylvia Forges-Ryan

English Original

Winter afternoon
pine shadows deepen
the pond's stillness

Sylvia Forges-Ryan


Chinese Translation (Traditional)

冬日午後
松樹的陰影加深
池塘的寂靜

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

冬日午後
松树的阴影加深
池塘的寂静


Bio Sketch

Sylvia Forges-Ryan recently won Third Prize in the 2014 Robert Frost Poetry Contest for her poem, "On a Berkshire Hill". Her book, Take a Deep Breath: The Haiku Way to Inner Peace, which won an R. H. Blyth Honorable Mention for Outstanding Books in Haiku Literature from the World Haiku Review in 2013, was selected for permanent inclusion in the American Literature Collection of the Beinecke Library at Yale University.

One Man's Maple Moon: Hurly-Burly Life Tanka by Marilyn Humbert

English Original

autumn deepens
leaves swirl and collide
in the chill wind
my hurly-burly life
churns with doubt

A Hundred Gourds, 3:1, December 2013

Marilyn Humbert


Chinese Translation (Traditional)

秋天加深
在寒風中樹葉
回旋和碰撞在一起
我的喧囂生活
帶著疑問地擾動不安

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

秋天加深
在寒风中树叶
回旋和碰撞在一起
我的喧嚣生活
带著疑问地扰动不安


Bio Sketch

Marilyn Humbert lives in the Northern Suburbs of Sydney NSW surrounded by bush. Her pastimes include writing free verse poetry, tanka, tanka prose and related genre. She is the leader of Bottlebrush Tanka Group and member of the Huddle and Bowerbird Tanka Groups. Her tanka appears in Australian and international journals.

Butterfly Dream: Custody Battle Haiku by Carl Seguiban

English Original

custody battle --
small shoes on the doorstep
fill with blossoms

Chrysanthemum, 16, October 2014

Carl Seguiban


Chinese Translation (Traditional)

監護權官司 --
在門口的小鞋
被花朵覆蓋

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

监护权官司 --
在门口的小鞋
被花朵覆盖


Bio Sketch

Carl Seguiban resides in British Columbia which inspires his haiku. His poems have been published in Mayfly, Modern Haiku, Frogpond, Bottle Rockets, A Hundred Gourds, Moongarlic, Presence, Under the Basho, paper wasp, The Heron's Nest, Cattails, Prune Juice among others.