Cool Announcement: 2025 Songbirds Online WAKA Anthology

My Dear Friends:

NeverEnding Story contributor, an'ya, published the 2025 Songbirds Online WAKA Anthology as a digital flip book . The mission at Songbirds Online is to "preserve the songlike rhythm of Tanka and its predecessor Waka." 

Selected Tanka:

I waited all-day

your absence a restless ache --

now this winter night 

a chill that won't let go

wraps around my heart

Neena Singh

each heartbeat

lost in these pines --

when did love

become a fixed point

for our loneliness

Joanna Ashwell

days like beads

on a broken necklace

scatter ...

all leave behind

regrets and love lost

Dawn Bruce

dewdrops freeze

on a bed of fallen leaves

her scent 

pressed into the pillow

pressed against my broken heart

Robert Witmer

in a summer sky

temple doves somersault

into wing song

my thoughts are far away

on the sands of time

Kala Ramesh

night descends

and fireflies light up

the meadow

you trace a star map

across my belly

Debbie Strange 

the open gate

leading to wide fields

how quietly

my child has outgrown

the circle of my arms

Nitu Yumnam

no longer

waiting for her return

I open

the window and my heart

letting in the dawn chorus

Chen-ou Liu

Hot News: Two Haiku Included in Haiku 21.2

My Dear Friends and Readers:

Two of my haiku below are included in Haiku 21.2,  a new anthology that presents examples of the best haiku being written in the second decade of the 21st century as Haiku 21 presented the first. It is edited by Lee Gurga and Scott Metz and published by Modern Haiku Press. 

I

remarried

the taste of pinot noir

left open overnight

Frogpond, 40:3, Fall 2017

And my free verse below could be read as its prequel:

Pickled Sorrow

I slice my sorrow,

pickle the cutlets,

and closet them in a jar.

When hungry,

I'll have a slice

with pinot noir.

Winter 2009 issue of Concise Delight

II

a white lie

to cover another

early snowfall

Failed Haiku, 5:58, October 2020

jar of rain: The Red Moon Anthology of English-Language Haiku 2020

Haiku 2021

Commentary: Like the falling snow, white lies are pleasing to the senses, but too much of each may do more harm than good. This deceptively simple haiku seems like a cautionary tale, reminding readers to watch their words, even if well intended... review of jar of rain by Joanne Morcom

And my haiku below could be read as its prequel:

snow drifting ...

all her colorful words

about love

Paper Wasp, 18:4, Summer 2012

FYI: Haiku 21: an anthology of contemporary English-language haiku is the Winner of the “Best Anthology” award from the Haiku Society of America and the Haiku Foundation Touchstone Award.

Hot News: 66 Tanka Selected for One Man's Maple Moon, Volume IV

My Dear Friends:

I'm pleased to announce the following tanka selected for One Man's Maple Moon: 66 Selected English-Chinese Bilingual Tanka, Volume Four. The anthology is scheduled to be published in mid December. Each poet whose tanka is included in the anthology will receive a copy of  its e-book edition.

Please post to all appropriate venues. Your time and help would be greatly appreciated. And look forward to reading your tanka (see 2018 tanka anthology submission guidelines)

Happy Reading!

Chen-ou

Selected Tanka

what to do
with these old pillows …
each one
filled with the feathers
of a thousand dreams

Commended, 2015 Mandy’s Pages Tanka Contest

Susan Constable

a siren
comes and goes …
somewhere
a mother hugs her newborn,
a man outlives his son

Eucalypt, 19, 2015

Susan Constable
 
shiny pens and a stapler --
no one tells
the new hire
his desk is where
the suicide sat

Gusts, 17, Spring/Summer 2013

Michael Dylan Welch

as if on cue
insect song turns
adagio,
geese resume
their autumn path

NeverEnding Story, March 30, 2017

Brian Zimmer

no wind tonight
a puddle of silver
in the bay’s darkness,
a full moon
off the port bow

Heron Sea,Short Poems of the Chesapeake Bay, 2007

M. Kei

river gums
stranded by drought
the ghosts
of a life
that could have been

Gusts, 24, Fall/Winter 2016

Keitha Keyes

every time I see
a newly-built house
slight sadness
emerges
from nowhere

A Single Flower: 100 Bilingual Tanka 2003-2014

Kiyoko Ogawa 

in the blizzard's wake
I follow your funeral procession
to the cemetery
the whole point of your small life
lost in a flurry of snow

Certificate of Merit, 6th International Tanka Festival Competition

Susan Mary Wade
 
I can't stay here
... any more
like the sleeves
of an old sweater
your life unraveling

Ribbons, 12:1, Winter 2016

Susan Weaver
 
just enough water
for one cup of tea
she murmurs
to the empty chair
about a recurring dream

NeverEnding Story, September 26, 2017

Rajani Radhakrishnan
 
nothing works
not even a smile
tonight
three women walk
thru my cigar smoke

Biding Time: Selected Poems 2001-2013

H. Gene Murtha
 
mum smiling
in that old photo
with dad --
the perfect half
of a hazy moon

Blithe Spirit, 26:2, 2016

Shrikaanth Krishnamurthy
 
the strut
of a stag in rut --
your texts
dripping with love
for someone else

Skylark, Oct, 2015

Shrikaanth Krishnamurthy

icy wind
nicks to the bone:
inside the midnight deli
inside her loose wool coat
the naked hooker

Streetlights: Poetry of Urban Life, 2009

Marian Olson
 
Auburn curls
around her floppy straw hat
everything about her
fresh as the beets she gathers
for borscht tonight

Honorable Mention, 2016 Stanford Goldstein International Tanka Contest

Marian Olson

the jerk
of the up-pull
on the yoyo
again and again
you change your mind
    
Ripples in the Sand: 2016 TSA Members’ Anthology

Marianne Paul

one block away
from E-business conference
a man
with a shopping cart
talking to the sky

Honorable Mention, 2010 TSA International Tanka Contest

Fay Aoyagi

a supernova
the shared obsession
of young love . . .
wrinkled hands entwined
we stroll beneath the stars

red lights,  January 2015

Joyce S. Greene
 
end of summer
air hangs heavy over
a decaying seal
I too may disappear
under a burden of sighs

Haiku Heute, September 2006

Jane Reichhold

clouds of smoke
from a too-hot skillet --
my thoughts
swirl with the uncertainty
of what's to come

A Hundred Gourds, 4:3, June 2015

Janet Lynn Davis

my small voice
struggles its way
onto the page
hard to hear it when each moment
trawls with it past memories

Bent Arm for a Pillow, 2016

Naomi Beth Wakan

my pile of journals
crammed with thoughts
to Jesus …
a snow-laden branch
about to crack

Red Lights, 12:1, January 2016

Mary Davila

my black cat
stretched out full length
on the concrete --
patio flowers wilting
in the morning sunshine

NeverEnding Story, July 28, 2017

Mary Gunn

wettest winter
year of mother’s death
I walk in the rain
feel the cold sting
of words left unsaid

Atlas Poetica, 13, Autumn 2012

Sonam Chhoki

even now
when I light butter lamps
at dawn
I hear father’s murmur ...
prayer flags in the wind

Skylark, 3:2, Winter 2015

Sonam Chhoki

in the garden
after the loss
of her
not able or willing
to cut flowers

NeverEnding Story, May 17, 2017

Robert Henry Poulin

a gust of wind
and all the leaves but one
flutter to the ground --
and then and then and
then until the end

Ribbons, 9:3, Winter 2014

Bob Lucky

after shower
drops on the lawn shining
in the sun --
in the beginning,
words used to be diamonds

GUSTS, 23, spring/summer 2016

Aya Yuhki

the drone
of a city going home
fills the hour
you move
from coma to death

Gusts, 9, Spring/Summer 2009

LeRoy Gorman

the hills catch fire
tourists wear sunglasses
and place their shoes
in the footprints
of the dead

Modern English Tanka, 3:3, Fall 2009

Kristyn Blessing

thinking about
everything I lost
and gained
a song from my childhood
in a foreign tongue

A Hundred Gourds, 4:2, March 2015

Maria Tomczak

all day
and into the night
the drip of rain
ticking off the hours
and leaving no memory

NeverEnding Story, June 23, 2017

Adelaide B. Shaw

in the stillness
of the pond
the dark depths
beyond myself
a starry sky

The Sacred in Contemporary Haiku, 2013

Simon Hanson

sleepless night
I turn my nightgown
inside out
to join the scarred moon
in my dream of passion

A Thousand Fireflies, 2012

Luminita Suse

from the dunes
watching red kites
duel
we rehash
the same affairs

Ripples in the Sand: TSA Members Anthology, 2016

Marilyn Humbert

snow on snow ...  
the silent wall between us
stretching
until it singszzzz
almost about to snap

Bamboo Hut, 2016

Marilyn Fleming

the universe
e x p a n d i n g
day by day
my messages take
longer and longer to reach you

NeverEnding Story, July 31, 2017

Frank Dietrich

green tea
in old porcelain cups --
a bygone era
when life was a poem
waiting to be written

Shore Lights, 2017

Magdalena Dale

this time, she tells me,
she’s telling the truth --
between us
I watch the struggles of a wasp
drowning in peach juice

The Tanka Journal, 26, 2005

Larry Kimmel

it wasn't always so
the words and silences
that came between us
now I bring you irises
cut this morning in the rain

First Place, TSA Contest, 2010

James Chessing

rushrush
out the door and off you go
a quick hug
before the slow embrace
of silence and the night

Third Place, 2016 Haiku Poets of Northern California International Competiton

Lesley Anne Swanson

reading you
that fable
at bedtime
my wings
in shadow

still 3: two, 1998

ai li

training corps
marking time with style
blue mink stockings
bomber jacket, skirt
we made love not war

The Bamboo Hut, Autumn 2016

Martha Magenta

an egret
then a gull
then a butterfly
these are the wings
of the river

Time Haiku, 44, 2016

A A Marcoff

I have come
to a place
of no memory --
white butterflies,
pure breeze, light

Presence, 55, 2016

A A Marcoff

“for flowers”
Anonymous sent money
to the nursing home
she folded the envelope
into iris origami

Gusts, 21, Spring/Summer 2015

Neal Whitman

sipping wine
with an old friend
we laugh
about nothing
something, everything

GUSTS, 21, spring/summer 2015

Joanne Morcom

eternal blue
between the mountains
at first light
a deer sips
the earth's sky

Chrysanthemum, 19, April 2016

Steliana Cristina Voicu

first calligraphy
the feel of it
on rice paper
writing a love letter
to my deceased mother

A Solitary Woman, 2013

Pamela A. Babusci

the professor drones
on and on about novels
of doomed love
I ask myself
what other kind is there

Take Five: Best Contemporary Tanka, Vol. 4, 2013

Sylvia Forges-Ryan

bird etchings
in the pale dawn skies
of winter
weeks and weeks
until your probable return

All You Need Is Love, 2015

Amelia Fielden

the silence
after magpies sing ...
enough to know
you cradled the phone
the way I did when we hung up

Distinctive Scribbling Award, Eucalypt,  20

Kathy Kituai

a robin
with spring air
lands here
I’ll fly to Wonderland
to see my other self

Skylark, 3:1, Summer 2015

Kozue Uzawa

back in my hometown
for the first time in years
I get lost ...
two roads divide,
but the woods are still green

NeverEnding Story, October 19, 2017

Jackson Smith

in my homeland
a friend is amused
by my accent
a strange place to be
neither here, nor there

Eucalypt, 20, 2016

Samantha Sirimanne Hyde

liquid black
those pupils
of a bus kid
staring, staring
on his mother’s lap

This Short Life : Minimalist Tanka, 2014

Sanford Goldstein

a dark side
to the memorial
fading light
renders all
soldiers unknown

Skylark, 4:1, summer 2016

Tim Gardiner

dismissing my fears
I step into the darkness
alone
there are shadows
in the sunshine too

One Hundred Gourds, 2:2, March 2013

Sheila Bello

a small death
the cracked shell
of a snail
now this delay
at the train station

The Strand Book Of International Poets, 2010

Alan Summers

I race against
my former self
Ben-Hur unbound in Rome
as our chariots spark
and separate again

Gusts, 24, Fall/Winter, 2016

Barry George

frazil ice
on a mountain lake
at breakup
the tinkling chimes
signal your departure

A Hundred Gourds, 4:2, March 2015

Debbie Strange

I am alone
with the sound of rapids
constantly churning
tonight the river
will not sleep

Night Sky, 2000

Thelma Mariano

the rains came
and from that day on
continued
throughout a lifetime
of floods and bridges

Excellent Tanka, 7th International Tanka Festival Competition

an’ya

dear Mom, long dead --
will the first sound I hear
after my final spasm
be her scolding
about clean shorts?

Ribbons, 2013

David Bachelor

a homeless man
who was playing a flute
on the street corner
fell suddenly in the rain --
a donor card in his pocket

A Hundred Gourds, 5:2, March 2016

Lavana Kray

eternal blue
between the mountains
at first light
a deer sips
the earth's sky

Chrysanthemum, 19, April 2016

Steliana Cristina Voicu

Hot News: 66 Haiku Selected for Butterfly Dream, Volume IV

My Dear Friends:
 

I'm pleased to announce the following haiku selected for Butterfly Dream: 66 Selected English-Chinese Bilingual Haiku, Volume Four. The anthology is scheduled to be published in early November. Each poet whose haiku is included in the anthology will receive a copy of  its e-book edition.

Please post to all appropriate venues. Your time and help would be greatly appreciated. And look forward to reading your haiku (see 2018 haiku anthology submission guidelines)

Happy Reading!

Chen-ou

Selected Haiku
 
windswept landscape ...
the thud of peat
on his coffin

FourXFour Poetry Journal, 14, Autumn 2015

Marion Clarke
 
evening rain
the sound of solitude
creeping in

Wild Plum, 2:2, Fall/Winter 2016

Angelo B. Ancheta
 
spring thaw
shards of sunlight
shatter the pond

Shamrock, 30, February 2015

Rachel Sutcliffe
 
silence at her end ...
the cord around my finger
coiling uncoiling

Blithe Spirit, 25:4,November 2015

Shrikaanth Krishnamurthy
 
cloud watching --
the drift of an eagle
earth watching

paper wasp, 17:2, Autumn 2011

Jan Dobb

Mardi Gras
behind one mask
another

NeverEnding Story, March 26, 2017

Rebecca Drouilhet

a nightingale
trills in the fog
fractured moonlight

A Hundred Gourds, 4:2, March 2015

Jo Balistreri

boatload of refugees --
the wind playing with a doll
on the shore

Third Prize, 2016 European Haiku Prize

Lavana Kray

spring afternoon
the paperbark sheds
layers of light

Daily Haiga, March 3, 2016

Jane Williams
 
waiting room
a patch of sunlight
wears out the chairs

Jane Reichhold

a boy’s drum
moves the dragon’s feet
New Year’s Day

The Heron's Nest, 18:1, March 2016

Tom Sacramona

unsure
of the way ahead
fly on the window

Modern Haiku, 45:2, Summer 2014

Gregory Longenecker

freezing rain
my umbrella outstretched
over mother’s grave      

Wah, 1:3, Autumn/Winter 2014

Gregory Skala 

to find a river
free from memory
curving into dusk

still 3: two, 1998

ai li

thunder and apple blossoms
her naked presence in the orchard grass

Ink Sweat & Tears, June 5, 2009

Larry Kimmel

the sheen
of her pearl earring
summer moon

The Heron’s Nest, 16:3, September 2014

Susan Constable

autumn dawn --
sheepdogs bark the fog
off the sun

The Heron's Nest, 17:3, September 2015

Marietta Jane McGregor

supper for one
a bare branch taps
at the window

Cattails, April 2014

Bob Lucky

pebbles in the tide
my regrets lose
their rough edges

tinywords, 15:2, September 18, 2015

Joan Prefontaine

road rage
a fly’s frantic buzzing
on the windscreen

FreeXpresSion, August 2016

Martha Magenta

pumpkins
stacked in a pyramid
postcard from home town
  
Second Place, 2015 Pumpkin Festival

Neal Whitman

the answer is yes no yes breaking waves

Touchstone Individual Poem Award, 2015

Robert Epstein

new year saké ...
the gradual dimming
of your flaws

First Prize, Shiki Monthly Kukai, January 2014

Roberta Beary

the dog star --
feeling the bite
of winter wind

Short Stuff, January 2004

Deborah P Kolodji

a song from home --
another pinch of spice
into the stir fry

Chrysanthemum, 18, October 2015

Samantha Sirimanne Hyde

rain done
orange maple leaves
in breaking light

October Winner,  2009 Snapshot Press Haiku Calendar Contest

Marshall Hryciuk

long summer
the whiskey glass full
of midnights

The Heron's Nest, 16:4, December 2014

Tom Drescher

half moon
netted by black branches ...
his white lie

NeverEnding Story, June 29, 2017

Pat Tompkins

eating around
the avocado pit
I hold the moon

NeverEnding Story, September 8, 2017

Terry Ann Carter

cello moon
son's first Christmas card
from prison

Waco WordFest Anthology, 2016

Jan Benson

cloudless sky
a pelican’s pouch
full of light

Editors' Choices, The Heron’s Nest, 18:2, June 2016

Debbie Strange 

rocky ledge
a wolf with the moon
in its mouth

Third Place, 7th International Haiku Competition, 2015

Debbie Strange

this wild life
the touch of rain
on my face

NeverEnding Story, December 29, 2017

Marianne Paul

day of the dead
i find myself grieving
the living

Winner, The Haiku Calendar Competition 2016

Anna Maris

at the edge
of the milky way
a kitten's purr

World Haiku Review, June 2015

Polona Oblak

autumn morning
sequins sparkle
on the girls’ hijabs     

Chrysanthemum, 1, April 2007

Barry George

only so far
onto the beach
tracks of a wheelchair

tinywords, 15:1, March 6 2015

Michael Dylan Welch

starry night
reeds bow
in a loon's wake

Biding Time: Selected Poems 2001-2013, 2013

H. Gene Murtha

petroglyphs  o n l y  t h e  w  i  n  d    

A Hundred Gourds, 4:1 December 2014

Helga Stania

neap tide
the old fisherman harvests
moon crystals

First Place, European Quarterly Kukai, Winter 2014

Cynthia Rowe

a wasp
caught between window and screen --
the paths we take

NeverEnding Story,  June 18, 2017

Adelaide B. Shaw

house clearance
room by room by room
my mother disappears

Blithe Spirit, 26:1, March 2016

Alan Summers

news the war to end all wars rolling

Bones, 5, November 2014

Helen Buckingham

last notes
drifting skyward
night of stars

NeverEnding Story, June 28, 2017

Elizabeth Nicholls

motorbike rider
po-potato-potato
kick-starts summer

NeverEnding Story,  July 2, 2017

David McMurray

rising with the sun
the scent of sugarcane
steeped in dew

A Hundred Gourds, 2:3, June 2013

Sheila Bello

Yukon hike
water sloshes to the beat
of the bear bell

DailyHaiku, Cycle 18,  Fall 2014/Winter 2015

Kjmunro

army of sunflowers
again peace becomes
war somewhere

Third Prize, 2016 Kusamakura Haiku Competition

Dietmar Tauchner

breaking off an icicle
         the taste of metal
                   and my childhood

NeverEnding Story, November 27, 2017

Sylvia Forges-Ryan

fireflies in the field
the on-off
of desire

Modern Haiku, 47:3, Fall 2016

Munira Judith Avinger

pine needle path --
ordinary words
layered just so

Second Place, 2015 HPNC International Haiku Competition

Julie Warther

holding the warmth
of the afternoon sun
dandelion ridge

Second Place, 2011 Jack Stamm Award

Jo McInerney

ultrasound scan
I rearrange
my dreams

Third Place, 2015 Peggy Willis Lyles Haiku Awards

Sonam Chhoki

refugee child --
folding and unfolding
his paper boat

First Prize, 2017 Sharpening the Green Pencil Haiku Contest

Stella Pierides

graveyard shift
the leftover radish
tumbles in the lunch box

Editors' Choice, The Heron's Nest, 17:3, September 2015

Elmedin Kadric

passing clouds before gale --
we stick to our own
opinions

WHA Haiga Contest, April 2014

Goda V. Bendoraitiene

nightfall
the wind in the curtain
the curtain in the wind        

Second Place, Shiki Kukai, November 2015

Simon Hanson

unfaithful husband
weeding the garden
non-stop

First Place, 2017 Mainichi Haiku Contest

Pamela A. Babusci

afternoon stillness
at first a shadow
and then the butterfly

Mystic Illuminations, 3, 2016

Ben Moeller-Gaa

crows spiral
in a double helix --
battlefield smoke

Windfall, 4, 2016

Marilyn Humbert
 
moonlit grass
and black shapes of cattle
a distant flute

The Heron's Nest, 12:4, December, 2010

Angelee Deodhar

waterfall
without the rush
of words

Modern Haiku, 47:3, Autumn 2016 

Deb Koen

where words fail pines along the cliff's edge

Kokako, 22, 2015

Elliot Nicely

old pond
      oil slick rainbows
          slip in

tinywords, 15:2, 2016

Lorin Ford

my grandfather’s face
we try to read
between the lines

The Heron’s Nest, 18:1, March 2016

Debbi Antebi

coldest night
the hard stare
of her nipples

Chrysanthemum, 22, Fall 2017

LeRoy Gormam

Hot News: One Man's Maple Moon, Volume Three

We read to know we're not alone.  William Nicholson

The proper response to a poem is another poem. Phyllis Webb


My Dear Contributors and Readers:

I am pleased to announce that One Man's Maple Moon: 66 Selected English-Chinese Bilingual Tanka, Volume Three 2017 is now available online for your reading pleasure.  (Note: I'd revised some of Chinese translations. For those whose tanka are included in the anthology, each  will receive a copy of its e-book edition within three days)

The daily practice of crafting tanka is akin to writing lyrics. It connects me more closely to the natural world, and to myself.

-- Debbie Strange

The following tanka is chosen  as the best tanka of the year

migrating geese
writing cursive letters
across the sky
I finally read between
the white of your lies

Debbie Strange

Three tanka of  Debbie's own choice are featured in the anthology.

Please post this good news to all appropriate venues. Your time and help would be greatly appreciated. And many thanks for your continued support of my project.

Look forward to reading your tanka (see "2017 One Man's Maple Moon: Call for Tanka Submissions " Deadline: December 31)

Happy Reading

Chen-ou


Selected Tanka

you were lost
to the night as quick
as this moth
when midsummer haze
stole her compass moon

an'ya

sensing
his loneliness
I hide my loneliness
in the tea cup
this cold afternoon

Kozue Uzawa

no wine    no moon
still
I make my song
from this pool of lamplight
and the void around me

Larry Kimmel

another city
another market
so mundane
so commonplace ...
’til the bombs fall

Marilyn Humbert

before i knew
a thing about war, or
of a bee's sting
i longed to be held
between your breasts

H. Gene Murtha

humming something
strange to me
my mother is somewhere else
the steady fall
of hibiscus blooms

LeRoy Gorman

the doctor tells us
of the baby's heart murmur --
outside the hospital window
snow half way
down the distant mountain

Michael Dylan Welch

lost
in the sharpening
of my words,
I need a strong blade
for this broken pencil

Sanford Goldstein

you speak of grief
as if it were punishment
a curse, a blight
I sing it as a lullaby
for the child I never held

Sonam Chhoki

this war ...
what colour
are the shadows
of guns
or the tears of a widow?

Keitha Keyes

hush at the pond
where you spent many days
angling
your loneliness is still there
among the weeping willows

Djurdja Vukelic Rozic

Milky Way swirling
in martini glasses
with each sip
we swallow
star after star

Pamela A. Babusci

when the sun sinks low
refugees' shadows conglobulate
over the wired border ...
a tender lullaby
softens the wind

Lavana Kray

linden blossoms
softly falling between
our silences --
we are but two strangers
sitting on the same bench

Steliana Cristina Voicu

at day’s end
cows and their shadows
drift in the fields . . .
grazing on grass
tinged with gold

Simon Hanson

out of the flames
still tasting the ash
a Phoenix ...
how quickly the old life crumbles
scattered by wind and time

Rebecca Drouilhet

the calligraphy
of winter branches
under blue sky
everything he needs to say
in the touch of his hands

Susan Constable

his first move
in forty-four years
furniture
bound like mummies
in swathes of plastic wrap

Janet Lynn Davis

We talk about
which one of us will stay
who will go
the stone in my heart
when did it become my heart

Sylvia Forges-Ryan

the stillness inside
the stillness of snow
falling on snow
nothing left to try
but the letting go                            

James Chessing

the wind spins
leaves on the birch
faces
         of sorrow
faces of light

Mark Gordon

observe the butterfly
under glass
a garden
eternal
in its silence

ai li

this beach
charges me nothing
to walk among
the sea rack and
shards of memory

M. Kei

a world
beyond thought
the river flows
into light
like a swan

A A Marcoff

the disease
spreading inside my friend
like a white fern
made of frost
on the window glass

Patricia Prime

endless rain ...
at the sudden news
of your death
I remember the dove
in your last painting

Marion Clarke

Hot News: Butterfly Dream, Volume III

We write to taste life twice, in the moment and in retrospect. -- Anaïs Nin

My Dear Contributors and Readers:

I am pleased to announce that Butterfly Dream: 66 Selected English-Chinese Bilingual Haiku, Volume Three 2017 is now available online for your reading pleasure (Note: I'd revised some of Chinese translations. For those whose haiku are included in the anthology, each  will receive a copy of its e-book edition within three days)

This book is dedicated to Jane Reichhold (1937 -- 2016), second NeverEnding Story supporter and contributor.

Perhaps, nothing is absolute in haiku. Like life, haiku require learning, experience and balance. -- Jane Reichhold

Featured Haiku by Jane Reichhold

canyon stream
dried to a slit
of clear sky

moving into the sun
the pony takes with him
some mountain shadow

coming home
flower
           by
                   flower

Please post to all appropriate venues. Your time and help would be greatly appreciated. And I look forward to reading your haiku (see "2017 Butterfly Dream: Call for Haiku Submissions"; Deadline: December 31)

Happy Reading

Chen-ou


Selected Haiku:

after the funeral
first a sprinkle of stars
then a dusting of snow

Angelee Deodhar

braiding
silence into a dream …
the full moon

Rita Odeh

twilight on snow shadows deepen the grip of stars

Alan Summers

a firefly’s glow
against her palm
passed to mine

Michael Dylan Welch

snow upon snow
the layers of oblivion
in my father's mind       

Dietmar Tauchner

autumn wind
the yellowing leaves
of a diary

Anna Maris

bark
becoming whimper
becoming night

Polona Oblak

petal by petal the yellow rose on her inner thigh

S.M. Abeles

fading summer
the robin's song trails
my melancholy

Caroline Skanne

shades of blue …
the deer’s remaining eye
cradled by bone

Susan Constable

midnight surf
the rumble of moonlight

Simon Hanson

stone cairns
a faded cap drifts
downriver

Debbie Strange

rumble of the metro
a queue of city crabs
inches forward

Fay Aoyagi

last rites. . .
rain fading into
bird song

Carl Seguiban

farmer's scythe
a harvesting song
in each sweep

an'ya

nagasaki ...
in her belly, the sound
of unopened mail

Don Baird

empty house
that kiss
deeper

ai li

my son and  i
counting fireflies
counting stars

Roberta Beary

from star to star
down the Milky Way
a little finger

Dejan Pavlinović

        border

more than two sides to it
   
                       crossing

Joan Prefontaine

bullettrainallisforgotten

Michael Henry Lee

she waves a thin blue scarf becoming sky

Lorin Ford

Hot News: 66 Tanka Selected for One Man's Maple Moon, Volume III

My Dear Friends:

I'm pleased to announce the following tanka selected for One Man's Maple Moon: 66 Selected English-Chinese Bilingual Tanka, Volume Three. The anthology is scheduled to be published in mid August. Each poet whose tanka is included in the anthology will receive a copy of  its e-book edition.

Please post to all appropriate venues. Your time and help would be greatly appreciated. And look forward to reading your tanka (see 2017 tanka anthology submission guidelines)

Happy Reading!

Chen-ou

Selected Tanka

you were lost
to the night as quick
as this moth
when midsummer haze
stole her compass moon

Honorable Mention, 2008 Saigyo Awards for Tanka

an'ya    

trailing the flames
of a sinking sun
heron wings
remind me
to be brave

The Bamboo Hut, Autumn 2014

Caroline Skanne

tumbling
through winter
she knew she didn't stay fit ...
a doll's life trapped
inside a young man’s body

NeverEnding Story, April 29, 2016

Sergio A. Ortiz

sensing
his loneliness
I hide my loneliness
in the tea cup
this cold afternoon

I'm a Traveler, 2011

Kozue Uzawa

f i s s u r e s
and (whose) fault lines
cracking open
we try to mend the damage
of our quaking lives

Undertow Tanka Review, 1, August 2014

Debbie Strange

migrating geese
writing cursive letters
across the sky
I finally read between
the white of your lies

Runner-up, British Haiku Society Tanka Awards, 2014-2015

Debbie Strange

some days
I regard you as the girl
with a delicate nape
at other times
the comrade I rely on

Eucalypt, 2, 2007

Aya Yuhki

no wine    no moon
still
I make my song
from this pool of lamplight
and the void around me

NeverEnding Story, February 15, 2016

Larry Kimmel

his eulogy --
these trivial thoughts trickling
through my grief,
while raindrops are handed down
from leaf to leaf to leaf

Lynx, 13:3, 1998

Larry Kimmel

mourning the loss
of loved ones ...
I find comfort
in the slow release
of autumn leaves

NeverEnding Story, February 26, 2016

Anne Curran

another city
another market
so mundane
so commonplace ...
’til the bombs fall

Eucalypt, 17,  2014

Marilyn Humbert

an orchid
beneath the vines
fails to flower --
my child snared
by mind-demons

Moonbathing, 12, Spring/Summer 2015

Marilyn Humbert

before i knew
a thing about war, or
of a bee's sting
i longed to be held
between your breasts

Biding Time: Selected Poems 2001-2013

H. Gene Murtha

ferris wheel,
go round and round!
memories last
one day for you
a lifetime for me

Ferris Wheel, 2006

Kyoko Kuriki

humming something
strange to me
my mother is somewhere else
the steady fall
of hibiscus blooms

All The Shells: 2014 TSA Members' Anthology

LeRoy Gorman

dwarfing a factory
built when Victoria was queen
a digital goddess
pitches underwear
for a perfect world

"The Garage, Not the Garden," Atlas Poetica, 2014

LeRoy Gorman

empty beds
in the old house
at night
the furnace whispers
its litany of names

Gusts, 16, Fall/Winter 2012

Brian Zimmer

the doctor tells us
of the baby's heart murmur --
outside the hospital window
snow half way
down the distant mountain

Honorable Mention, 2006 TSA International Tanka Contest

Michael Dylan Welch

lost
in the sharpening
of my words,
I need a strong blade
for this broken pencil

Selected Tanka, Gusts, 22, Fall/Winter 2015

Sanford Goldstein

you speak of grief
as if it were punishment
a curse, a blight
I sing it as a lullaby
for the child I never held

A Hundred Gourds, 4:2, March 2015

Sonam Chhoki

grandma tucks
his old hat
in her cedar chest
unable to pack
grief with it

Moonbathing, 11, Fall/Winter 2014

Karen O’Leary

this war ...
what colour
are the shadows
of guns
or the tears of a widow?

Moonbathing, 11, Fall/Winter 2014

Keitha Keyes

sometimes
wishing the time away    
sometimes
wanting it to stand still
… a river flows to the sea

Cattails, January 2015

Keitha Keyes

hush at the pond
where you spent many days
angling
your loneliness is still there
among the weeping willows

First Pprize, 5th Kokako International Tanka Competition

Djurdja Vukelic Rozic

Milky Way swirling
in martini glasses
with each sip
we swallow
star after star

A Solitary Woman, 2013

Pamela A. Babusci

when the sun sinks low
refugees' shadows conglobulate
over the wired border ...
a tender lullaby
softens the wind

Back Cover Tanka, Ribbons, 12:1, Winter 2016

Lavana Kray

linden blossoms
softly falling between
our silences --
we are but two strangers
sitting on the same bench

First Prize, 2015 UHTS Fleeting Words Contest

Steliana Cristina Voicu

at day’s end
cows and their shadows
drift in the fields . . .
grazing on grass
tinged with gold

Eucalypt, 18, 2015

Simon Hanson

Mother’s Day
at the seniors’ home
the old ladies
dressed up, waiting
for kids who aren’t coming

NeverEnding Story, May 8, 2016

Ignatius Fay

she'd have been
twelve today ...
her hello kitty mug
warming my hands
on this winter morning

NevenEdning Story, May 13, 2016

Jackson Smith

out of the flames
still tasting the ash
a Phoenix ...
how quickly the old life crumbles
scattered by wind and time

NeverEnding Story, July 17, 2016

Rebecca Drouilhet

the calligraphy
of winter branches
under blue sky
everything he needs to say
in the touch of his hands

GUSTS, 20, Fall/Winter 2014

Susan Constable

the veena
mom played everyday --
an off note
as my fingers brush
years of dust away

Editor’s Choice Tanka, Cattails, May 2015

Shrikaanth Krishnamurthy

riding our bikes
alongside factories --
we watch the sun
set on rows
of broken windows

NeverEnding Story, June 14, 2016

Robyn Cairns

in Mother's attic
boxes of souvenirs --
which one holds
the pieces of my heart
torn apart by bullies?

Moonbathing, Fall/Winter 2014

Joyce S. Greene

in the shadow
of the giant cottonwood
your empty chair
my fingertips search the bark
our initials barely there

Blithe Spirit, 25:4, 2015

Marilyn Fleming

his first move
in forty-four years
furniture
bound like mummies
in swathes of plastic wrap

Eucalypt, 19, November 2015

Janet Lynn Davis

his tragic crash
headlines for two days
then is displaced
by a campus rape
and life continues

Bent Arm for a Pillow, 2016

Naomi Beth Wakan

being a German
the privilege
of pronouncing
Beethoven and Dachau
without an accent

The Tanka Journal, 47, 2015

Tony Boehle

white clouds
blue sky
quilting by
wind
and contrails   

Gusts, 20,  Fall/Winter 2014

Edna Searles

always beyond
the circle of her bedside lamp
darkness
but on the hospice wall
she sees a painted sunrise

cattails, September 2015

Maria Tomczak

in the supplicant
gaze of this deer
the eyes
of all my lost dead
looking back at me

The Tanka Journal, 40, 2012

Susan Mary Wade

seeking the past
I look through old photos
outside my window
clouds snow bare trees
the world in black and white

Gusts, 11, Spring/Summer 2010

Munira Judith Avinger

September rain
and a few wine-dark leaves
tumbling
into a day
of shared loss

Moonbathing, 9, Fall/Winter 2013

Carol Purington

honking geese
pass over rooftops
same time each evening --
such loneliness
in close formations

Blithe Spirit, 25:1, 2015

Tim Gardiner

this morning
whiff of jasmine
in my room --
amid my silence
his last words still echo

The Bamboo Hut, 2:1, 2014

Archana Kapoor Nagpal

these eyes
staring back from the mirror
no longer mine...
when did I start living
in denial?

Chrysanthemum, October 2014

Shloka Shankar

We talk about
which one of us will stay
who will go
the stone in my heart
when did it become my heart

Fire Pearls, 2, 2013

Sylvia Forges-Ryan

the stillness inside
the stillness of snow
falling on snow
nothing left to try
but the letting go                             

Member's Choice Tanka, Ribbons, 7:4, 2011

James Chessing

her to do list
so much longer than mine --
here I sit
biting an apple
down to the core

American Tanka, 25, 2015

Lesley Anne Swanson

The wind spins
leaves on the birch
faces
      of sorrow
faces of light

NeverEnding Story, October 19, 2016

Mark Gordon

observe the butterfly
under glass
a garden
eternal
in its silence

still 4: three, 2000

ai li

the fog doesn't
come on little cat feet,
Mr Sandburg;
it shuffles in the wake
of the minimum-waged                            

A Hundred Gourds, 5:1, December 2015

Bob Lucky

this beach
charges me nothing
to walk among
the sea rack and
shards of memory

Heron Sea,Short Poems of the Chesapeake Bay, 2007

M. Kei

in the park
a butterfly shadow
on the marigold
my niece's first birthday
without her father

NeverEnding Story, November 15, 2016

Nicholas Klacsanzky

a world
beyond thought
the river flows
into light
like a swan

Presence, 56, 2016

A A Marcoff

all my life
I expect no grand bouquet
yet wish for
someone to greet me
with a single flower

Scribblings Award, Eucalypt, 14, 2013

Kiyoko Ogawa

how can I be
so angry
over her remark ...
look long in the mirror
see my father staring back

NeverEnding Story, December 15, 2016

Thomas Martin

the slump
of fallen wires
after the storm
I carry the moon
on my back

A Hundred Gourds, 4:3, June 2015

Mary Davila

by the fountain
with a ring encircling
my finger ...
all I knew then
was the word forever

The Bluebird’s Cry, 2016

Christine L. Villa

beside me
an illusory chair --
no more nights now
of waiting
and longing for him

Ferris Wheel, 2006

Tamiko Ohnishi

life’s rough and tumble
give and take
somehow
my heart becalmed
by the rhythm of the sea

Tanka Poets On Site, September 6, 2015

Michele L. Harvey

the disease
spreading inside my friend
like a white fern
made of frost
on the window glass

NeverEnding Story, January 29, 2017

Patricia Prime

endless rain ...
at the sudden news
of your death
I remember the dove
in your last painting

NeverEnding Story, February 10, 2017

Marion Clarke

a dead skunk’s
open mouth drinks
the cold rain
in a marshy field
I wait for honeysuckle

NeverEnding Story, February 25, 2017

Anna Cates

a year has passed
since the end of the war --
living longer
I fear the world,
and death, too

The Prism of Mokichi, 2013

Saito Mokichi

Hot News: 66 Haiku Selected for Butterfly Dream, Volume III

My Dear Friends:
 

I'm pleased to announce the following haiku selected for Butterfly Dream: 66 Selected English-Chinese Bilingual Haiku, Volume Three. The anthology is scheduled to be published in early July. Each poet whose haiku is included in the anthology will receive a copy of  its e-book edition.

Please post to all appropriate venues. Your time and help would be greatly appreciated. And look forward to reading your haiku (see 2017 haiku anthology submission guidelines)

Happy Reading!

Chen-ou

Selected Haiku

after the funeral
first a sprinkle of stars
then a dusting of snow

Haiku Canada Sheets, 2017

Angelee Deodhar

new year’s dream
the clarity
of falling snow

Magnapoets, 5,  January 2010

Pamela A. Babusci

braiding
silence into a dream …
the full moon

HSA Anthology, 2014

Rita Odeh

sand dunes
by morning
a different dream

Third Place, 2015 HSA Henderson Haiku Contest

Renée Owen

herring clouds ...
the fisherman's net heavy
with light

Third Prize, 17th Kusamakura Haiku Competition

Maya Lyubenova

divorce papers         falling leaves

micro haiku: three to nine syllables, 2014

George Swede

tracing the cracks
on his leather chair ...
death anniversary

The Bluebird’s Cry, 2016

Christine L. Villa

twilight on snow shadows deepen the grip of stars

Frogpond, 37:2, Spring/Summer 2014

Alan Summers

Yoga practice
in the shadow of Mount Fuji
stretching to the top

Special Recognition, 2013 Fujisan Haiku Contest

Liette Janelle

a firefly’s glow
against her palm
passed to mine

tinywords, 11:1, April 12 2011

Michael Dylan Welch

early twilight
sorting shells
by sound

Frogpond, 38:1, Winter 2015

Elmedin Kadric

appointment calendar
a coffee ring joins
one day to the next

The Heron's Nest, 8:1, March 2006

LeRoy Gorman

snow upon snow
the layers of oblivion
in my father's mind        

Second Prize, 2014 Mainichi haiku Contest 2014

Dietmar Tauchner

winter dusk
an empty beer can
taps the dock

Biding Time: Selected Poems, 2001-2013

H. Gene Murtha

canadageese
  swimming
    V form
      atio
       n

Haiku Canada Review, 8:2, October 2014

Kjmunro

autumn wind
the yellowing leaves
of a diary

Shamrock, 30, 2015

Anna Maris

bark
becoming whimper
becoming night

The Heron's Nest, 16:1, March 2014

Polona Oblak

petal by petal the yellow rose on her inner thigh

Frogpond, 38:2, Spring/Summer 2015

S.M. Abeles

a fishing hat
on the hook by the door --
widow’s house for sale

Neverending Story, February 11, 2017

Kelley White

riding on owl wings the stars above the stars

DailyHaiku, May 16, 2013

Meik Blöttenberger

starling murmuration love comes and goes 
               
Blithe Spirit, 25:1, 2015

Tim Gardiner

fading summer
the robin's song trails
my melancholy

Akitsu Quarterly, Fall 2014

Caroline Skanne

autumn evening
my deck rail underlines
the sunset

cattails, May 2015

Shirley Plummer

shades of blue …
the deer’s remaining eye
cradled by bone

Third Place, 2012 Robert Speiss Memorial Contest

Susan Constable

midnight surf
the rumble of moonlight

Taj Mahal Review, 14:1, 2015

Simon Hanson

summer thunder --
the ice cream ads
after a war newsbreak

The Mainichi Daily News, September 3, 2014

Ken Sawitri

heavy rain
end of the war
with cardboard swords

Frogpond, 38:2, Spring/Summer 2015

Robert Kania

stone cairns
a faded cap drifts
downriver

First Place, 2015 Harold G. Henderson Awards

Debbie Strange

rumble of the metro
a queue of city crabs
inches forward

Beyond the Reach of My Chopsticks, 2012

Fay Aoyagi

god a pressed ant

NeverEnding Story, March 15, 2016

Robert Epstein

the same crow
the same branch ...
autumn deepens

NeverEnding Story, March 23, 2016

Anna Cates

that old tune …
knots in my shoelace
coming loose

Third Place, 2015 Spiess Memorial Haiku Competition

Lesley Anne Swanson

embracing the boundless --
an empty boat
closer to the moon

First Prize, 2015 Wild Plum Haiku Contest.

Steliana Cristina Voicu

fragrance of green tea --
I sharpen my old pencil
under the moon's light

First Prize, 2014 Haiku Now! Awards

Nicole Pottier

harbour sunset
a flash of silver
in their nets

NeverEnding Story, April 8, 2016

Marion Clarke

summer storm
the windscreen wipers
slice our silence

Second Place, 2009 Jack Stamm Award

Jo McInerney

last rites. . .
rain fading into
bird song

First Place, 2015 Betty Drevniok Award

Carl Seguiban

farmer's scythe
a harvesting song
in each sweep

Third Place, 2009 Betty Drevniok Award

an'ya

the way she braids
her long gray hair
winter evening

Acorn, 14, Spring 2005

Agnes Eva Savich

storm clouds the inside of a tulip

Honorable Mention, 2015 World Haiku Contest

Julie Warther

two roads diverge
so many sitting
on the fence

Sonic Boom, 2, 2015

Karen Harvey

walking
inside the fog
inside myself

NeverEnding Story, May 20, 2016

Rebecca Drouilhet

sunset walk ...
a pool of gold
at the rainbow's end

NeverEnding Story, June 15, 2016

Barbara Tate

ice storm
the glitter in
a killer's eye

NeverEnding Story, July 5, 2016

Denis M. Garrison

winding to where
the river used to be
grandpa's story

Frozen Butterfly, 2,  2015

Ben Moeller-Gaa

sunny day --
a sudden outbreak
of lawn mowers

Cattails, January 2015

Keitha Keyes

shaking the stone from her shoe --
a white opal swings
from between brown breasts

Haiku Society of America Members' Anthology 1997

Larry Kimmel

Autumn chill
the sound of the wind
on its way to the sea

tinywords,14:2, October 28, 2014

Sylvia Forges-Ryan

moonless night
bleached bones and
the whir of a copter

NeverEnding Story, July 31, 2016

Jan Benson

summer's end
a sunflower bends over
the school fence

Honorable Mention, 2015 International Basho Award

Alexey Andreev

nagasaki ...
in her belly, the sound
of unopened mail

First Place, 2013 HaikuNow Haiku Contest

Don Baird

kindergarten quiet...
first seedlings
in styrofoam cups

The Heron’s Nest, 15:2, June 2013

Debra Fox

sunless morning
and yet ...
sunflowers in Auschwitz

Sonam Chhoki

cloudburst
the animal in me
shaking itself

NeverEnding Story, December 12, 2016

Marilyn Fleming

empty house
that kiss
deeper

still 2: three, 1999

ai li

spring thaw
my wife undresses
with the lights on

Asahi Haikuist Network, 6 March 2015

Bob Lucky

Gettysburg
the hushed silence
of snow

Honourable Mention, World Haiku Review December 2012

Gregory Longenecker

my son and  i
counting fireflies
counting stars

The Unworn Necklace, 2007

Roberta Beary

from star to star
down the Milky Way
a little finger

Down the Milky Way, 2016

Dejan Pavlinović

border

more than two sides to it
    
            crossing

Modern Haiku, 46;1, 2015

Joan Prefontaine

dust motes
in a stream of moonlight
death poem

NeverEnding Story, October 29, 2016

Gabriel Bates

bullettrainallisforgotten

NeverEnding Story, November 7, 2016

Michael Henry Lee

from the kitchen
the snap of a mousetrap
midnight countdown

NeverEnding Story, December 31, 2016

Ignatius Fay

she waves a thin blue scarf becoming sky

tinywords, 15:2, 2015

Lorin Ford

wearing one slipper
my aunt slips
into winter fog

NeverEnding Story, December 4, 2016

Anna Yin

old chestnuts
X-mas song fest
at the Senior Center

Cattails, Winter 2015

Neal Whitman

Hot News: 66 Tanka Selected for One Man's Maple Moon, Volume II

My Dear Fellow Poets and Readers:

I'm pleased to announce the following tanka selected for One Man's Maple Moon: 66 Selected English-Chinese Bilingual Tanka, Volume Two. The anthology is scheduled to be published in late October. Each poet whose tanka is included in the anthology will receive a copy of  its e-book edition.

Please post to all appropriate venues. Your time and help would be greatly appreciated.

Wishing you all a very happy and creative 2016.

Chen-ou 


Selected Tanka:

my cardiologist
tells me my heart
is clogged
with a little bit of bacon
and a little bit of you ...

NeverEnding Story, March 23, 2014

Roary Williams


countless fireflies
crash into headlights
this summer
more suicide bombers
make the news

Haiku Canada Review, 7:2, October 2013

Luminita Suse


"Sa-Yo-Na-Ra"
I said in a dream --
opening the curtain,
a flood of light comes in
like a tsunami

Ribbons, 10:1, Winter 2014

Aya Yuhki


no need to pretend
nor guard myself from hurt
this mountain peak
pierces self-doubting clouds
I find my core again

NeverEnding Story, August 2 2014

Beverley George


I punctuate
the silence
between us
with one word
and a finger

NeverEnding Story, July 11 2014

Tzod Earf


the echo of children
and laughter
on Grandmother's porch
a faded rocking chair
cradles the breeze

Gusts, 18, Fall/Winter 2013

Kay L. Tracy


each fold
of Mum's old letter
demands
to be repeated ...
her hands, my hands

Moonbathing, 9, 2013

Keitha Keyes


every night
exploding stars
on the river
I play god
with my stones

Skylark, 1:2, Winter 2013

S.M. Abeles


she fed me
from her gentle breast ...
this morning
she murmurs to herself ,
I don't want to go to school

NeverEnding Story, May 10 2014

Djurdja Vukelic Rozic


a blue highway
taking me beyond the before
and after...
days I remember
days I remember to forget

NeverEnding Story, December 9, 2014

Rebecca Drouilhet


in silhouette
a woman sitting alone
beside the dock
the sound of a wave
turning into itself

Ribbons, 6:4, 2010

Susan Constable


walking
from rain to sleet
to snow …
the years sink deeper
into my bones

NeverEnding Story, November 27, 2015

Susan Constable


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

A Hundred Gourds, 2:2 March 2013

Simon Hanson


you sign your letters
"affectionately"
I write "loving you’
picking a scab in my cleavage
I watch it bleed

Just This, 2013

Margaret Chula


jazz and rain,
few words to say
in the space
of missing you,
only this blue wound

Moonbathing, 7,  Fall/Winter, 2013

Joyce Wong


easel in the attic
gathering dust,
while gazing at a maple tree
in the window
she 'paints' her first leaf

Gusts, 8, Fall/Winter 2008

Jenny Barnard   


birdsong
for a moment
I forget …
drifting downstream
songs I’ll never sing again

Lynx, 28:2, June 2013

Asni Amin


past the hens
bathing in the dirt
soundlessly
a knife sharpener
walks and is gone

The Prism of Mokichi, 2013

Saito Mokichi


high school reunion
the same antagonists
vie to be first...
lorikeets squabble
on the bird bath edge

Ribbons, 10:1, Winter 2014

Marilyn Humbert


the red dot
on my forehead
binds me
to a man
who's in his own orbit

Simply Haiku, 5:3,  Autumn 2007

Kala Ramesh


he chose
surgery to become
a woman
posing as a man
to see his grandchildren

NeverEnding Story, September 7 2014

Ignatius Fay


at four p.m.
my spirit drops down
like the sun
but then an old friend calls
chick-a-dee-dee-dee-dee

red lights, January 2014

Neal Whitman


time traveler                                     
on the road with Basho
watching stars spin
fireflies disappearing
I fill my brush with ink

The Bamboo Hut, 1:2, January 2014

Carole Johnston


waking half way
through the day
half the sunshine
half the pain
-- still time for a poem

Little Purple Universes, 2011

Helen Buckingham


only remembering
how he loved me...
in a clear brook
white clouds gather
in my hands

Honorable Mention, 2014 Tanka Society of America Tanka Contest

Christine L. Villa


this rock
in its silence
louder
through my flesh
than a cicada symphony

Bright Stars, 2, 2014

Carole Harrison    


life-size clay horse
made to pull a chariot
for an emperor
unearthed, it has traveled
to a foreign afterworld

NeverEnding Story, October 22, 2014

Pat Tompkins


we lean
into one another's
broken parts
a pair of thrushes
rebuild their nest

Biding Time: Selected Poems 2001-2013, 2013

H. Gene Murtha


for love
Anna threw herself
beneath a train --
grabbing coffee, I hear
his wife's cheating on my friend

Fire Pearls, 2,  2013

Joyce S. Greene


slowly
I open my wings
and let this loneliness
fly away
in the summer forest

I'm a Traveler, 2011

Kozue Uzawa


updating
the moonlight       
in her backyard garden
my neighbour's
LED birds

NeverEnding Story, November 14, 2014

Donald Wilson


perforations
along this notebook page
almost invisible
the tiny separations
that ease the final parting

First Place, 2014 TSA International Tanka Contest

Lesley Anne Swanson


astride
a fault line in the bay
a sea star
one small splice
in this fractured world

Certificate of Merit, 7th International Tanka Festival Competition

Lesley Anne Swanson


long before
Mother's burial
my life
had some sort of form ...
now this sea of rage

NeverEnding Story, November 19, 2014

Sergio A. Ortiz


I walk in the rain
chestnut flowers all around:
me after
   them after me
        after them…

A Hundred Gourds, 3:2, March 2014

Steliana Cristina Voicu


The phone lines
that should carry your voice
sag with ice…
this unfinished scarf,
I never could get the tension right

Ribbons, 9:3, Fall 2013

Carol Purington


this hour
of clarity each day
before dawn
and the dark wing
casts its shadow

Gusts, 18, Fall/Winter 2013

Brian Zimmer


Unable to sleep
I step outside
see the morning star --
which regret greater
my lived or unlived life

A Hundred Gourds, 3.1, December 2013

Bruce England


crossing over
the bridge of sighs
I felt you
folding into me
folding into prayer

Gusts, 19, Spring/Summer 2014

Debbie Strange


jingle of the dog’s collar
out in the hall --
we pause
in our lovemaking,
Christmas Eve

American Tanka, 11, 2007

Michael Dylan Welch


treasure hunting
in the Yamuna river
for your love
all I find is fear
mixed with plastic

Atlas Poetica, 19, 2014

Aruna Rao


aging
with or without
money
the ka-ching
of bones

Gusts, 19, Spring/Summer 2014

LeRoy Gorman


at typewriter
backspacing to a typo
ra ta ta ta tat
my anti-war muse
machine-gunned dead

Honourable Mention, Third International Tanka Competition

Guy Simser


from my hospital window
I see across a bare field
in the morning rain
a yellow silk umbrella
on its solitary way

First Place, 2003 Tanka Society of America International Tanka Contest

Sanford Goldstein


lying
under stars
becoming
a wide slow
river

Concise Delight, May 25, 2009

Larry Kimmel


on a high ledge
a squirrel is nervous
enough to jump --
you speak of
the discomforts of love

Lynx, 28:3, October 2013

Robert Annis


I reminisce
your childhood smile ...
like a butterfly
I chase
in the garden

Ribbons, 10:1, Winter 2014

Pravat Kumar Padhy


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


as if
still waiting to be claimed
a leather suitcase
in Auschwitz with the name:
M. FRANK, HOLLAND

Skylark, 2:1, Summer 2014

Sonam Chhoki


more willing now
to move with the tides
in my life
I hear the rhythmic creaking
of an old tree in the wind

Ribbons, 3:3, Autumn 2007

Thelma Mariano


cutting
turquoise-blue hyacinths
the color of sky
i visit my sister
who just miscarried

First Place,  2013 Tanka Way Contest

Pamela A. Babusci


never pregnant
i cut into a ripe
pomegranate
red seeds flowing
down the barren sink

Haiku Pix Review, 1, Winter 2011

Pamela A. Babusci


rain falling
on crumbling tombstones
in the woods
I feel the weight
of ancient grief

Eucalypt, 9, 2010

Gerry Jacobson


on a shelf
in her dining room...
the red truck
her father bought
hoping for a boy

A Hundred Gourds, 2:1, December 2012

Ken Slaughter


thinking what a fool
for love I've been
after a long sigh
I again pick up
Madame Bovary

Fire Pearls, 2, 2013

Sylvia Forges-Ryan


all dark
and boarded up
this year
the storefront where
the gypsy read my palm     

Gusts, 11, Spring/Summer 2010

Barry George


driving to work
on a winter morning...
the fog
of her dementia
envelops me

Kokako, 21, September 2014

Anne Curran


I look again
through mountain mists…
there, a skylark
illumines a thought
conjured in darkness

A Hundred Gourds, 3:3, June 2014

Alegria Imperial


last night's
storm still brewing
her voice
grows more defiant
with each fine

Atlas Poetica Special Feature: Angry Tanka,   2014

Shloka Shankar


flames lick
at logs that never burn
in the gas fireplace
after our divorce
embers smolder

Gusts, 19, Spring/Summer 2014

Helen E. Herr


the dandelion
trapped beneath a rock …
a swell of tears
from the child not picked
at the adoption fair

Undertow Tanka Review, 2, 2014

Mary Davila


the crows
are vanishing
at twilight
my child stretches
the end of play

Editor's Choice, Cattails, 2, May 2014

Ramesh Anand


there are stories
a mother shouldn't tell
her daughter --
that cloudless summer day
when you told me

All The Shells, 2014

Marianne Paul


you went through the motions
I was lost in the chill
our baby never was
but I know her face
in my dreams

NeverEnding Story, January 7, 2016

Leslie Bamford


Mother's Day --
although I know she's gone,
I knock
and wait for the distant
mountain to grow green

VerseWrights, April 13,  2014

Rita Odeh


dragon dance parade
in the financial district
heralding spring ...
lucky charms store owner
waits for the wind to fall

NeverEnding Story, February 8, 2015

Angelo B. Ancheta

Hot News: 66 Haiku Selected for Butterfly Dream, Volume II

My Dear Fellow Poets and Readers:

I'm pleased to announce the following haiku selected for Butterfly Dream: 66 Selected English-Chinese Bilingual Haiku, Volume Two. The anthology is scheduled to be published in early October 2016. Each poet whose haiku is included in the anthology will receive a copy of  its e-book edition.

Please post to all appropriate venues. Your time and help would be greatly appreciated.

Wishing you all a very happy and creative 2016.

Chen-ou 


Selected Haiku:

leaving my loneliness     inside her

micro haiku: three to nine syllables, 2014

George Swede


New Year's Eve
the dragon's mouth
full of light

NeverEnding Story, October 24, 2014

Bruce Ross


children's
  book
   sh
  elves

Best of Showcase, Under the Basho, 2013

Michael Dylan Welch


(r)egret along the riverbank acid rain

NeverEnding Story, November 23, 2015

Marianne Paul


frog on lily-pad
reflecting
frog on lily-pad

Wednesday Haiku, 88, October 31, 2012

Ed Baker


linden shadows
watching people watching
the blind man

2007 Suruga-Baika Literary Festival Award

Helen Buckingham


leaves falling ...
the rustle of a newspaper
between us

Sharpening the Green Pencil, 2014

Robert Kania 


winter drizzle ...
the voice
in my mind

NeverEnding Story, March 9, 2014

Tzod Earf


smell of rain ...
a dream unfolds in the chatter
of sparrows

Simply Haiku, 10:3, Summer 2013

Asni Amin


all day winter rain...
scenes from the passing year
reflected in the pane

NeverEnding Story, March 25, 2014

Rebecca Drouilhet


summer sale
adjusting her bra
in the shop window

NeverEnding Story, March 31, 2014

Ignatius Fay


New surname
carved deeply into
summerwood

Haiku Canada Members’ Anthology, 2012

David McMurray


face to face
with the wailing wall . . .
an empty bench

Mayfly, 53, 2012

Rita Odeh


in pine shade
for a while I forget
this life will end

Moonset, 7, 2010

Robert Epstein


cold front
the edges
of loneliness

NeverEnding Story, May 15, 2014

Polona Oblak


northern lights
just beyond the reach
of my walking stick

Haiku Canada Review, 8:1, February 2014

kjmunro


in the hot tub
my eyes on her floating breasts
hunter's moon

Honorable Mention, 2013 Harold G. Henderson Haiku Contest

Neal Whitman


ocean of sand --
thousands of wind paths
within each grain

Wednesday Haiku, 184, July 2nd, 2014

Ken Sawitri


morning mist
how thin the veil
between here and gone

Modern Haiku, 44:1, Winter/Spring 2013

Munira Judith Avinger


In memory of Srebrenica victims

spring blossoms ...
Srebrenica fields silent
with the sky

Freedom in the Mist, 2013

Damir Janjalija


Indian summer --
a maple ablaze
over her headstone

3LIGHTS, Autumn 2009

Natalia Kuznetsova


I drive                         
into a eucharist
of rain

Bright Stars, 1, 2014

Carole Johnston


cherry blossoms --
a veteran repolishing
his medals

NeverEnding Story, August 31, 2015

Lavana Kray


full moon --
darkness flickers at each turn
of the prayer wheel

Under the Basho, 1,  Autumn 2013

Sonam Chhoki


spring breeze --
          I catch the tune
she leaves behind

Heron's Nest Award, 8:2,  Summer 2006

Kala Ramesh


on the tundra
caging a winter sky
caribou bones

Third Place, 2014 Hortensia Anderson Awards

Debbie Strange


blue and white sky
blue and white sea
wind herding mares’ tails

A Hundred Gourds, 3:1, December 2013

Pat Tompkins


between the cypress and the bell-tower
the cold blue sliced by swifts

Modern Haiku, 37:1, Winter/Spring 2006

John Kinory


moonbow ...
in a grain of wheat
a farmer’s song

2nd Place, 2014 International Matsuo Basho Award

Sandip Chauhan


winter solitude --
my breath
clouds the moon

Third Prize, 2012 Diogen Winter Haiku Contest

Nancy Nitrio


blue fairywren
lifting for a moment
a weight we carried

A Hundred Gourds, 2:2,  March 2013

Simon Hanson


Deep into winter
writing poems I can share
with no one  

First Prize, Key West Robert Frost Haiku Contest

Sylvia Forges-Ryan


Independence Day --
I let him touch
a little bit of me

Beyond the Reach of My Chopsticks, 2011

Fay Aoyagi


from a lifted oar
a shimmer connects the sky
and sunlit river

First Prize, 2009 Genkissu! Spirits Up! World Wide Hekinan Haiku Contest

Beverley George


the flutter
of a butterfly --
her first ballet

NeverEnding Story, September 18, 2014

Karen O’Leary


autumn chill
dialing her dead mother's number
by mistake

Close to the Wind, 2013 Haiku North America Anthology

Joan Prefontaine


the yard: a pile of tires, a baseball

yards & lots, 2012

Jack Galmitz


winter quilt
threads of conversation
between us 

Cattails, 1, January 2014

Anne Curran


autumn equinox
measuring nightfall
pumpkin by pumpkin

The Heron's Nest, 16:3, September 2014

Tash Adams


her shadow
his shadow
their shadow

paper wasp, 20:2, winter 2014

Cynthia Rowe


first light ...
slow to rise
a phoebe's tail

Biding Time: Selected Poems 2001-2013, 2013

H. Gene Murtha


falling leaves
how will I know
my time has come

Editor’s Choice, World Haiku Review, April 2012

Susan Constable


damp morning
a gray yard
before the robin

NeverEnding Story, November 29, 2014

Marion Clarke


sick in bed
the gap
between the curtains

Mayfly, 57, Summer 2014
       
Olivier Schopfer


In memory of Brian Zimmer

winter night
where the mists part
another star

NeverEnding Story, December 10, 2014

Toki


where forest was
the old map is thick
with dust

Tinywords, January 10, 2014

LeRoy Gorman


Fukushima --
a kingfisher catches
stained moonbeams

NeverEnding Story, December 14, 2014

Judit Katalin Hollos


It could be nothing
it could be something
winter darkness

First Place, 2013 Porad Haiku Award

Peggy Heinrich


bus stop
a plastic bag jellyfishing
in the breeze

Acorn, 33, 2014

Ben Moeller-Gaa


twilight moon --
a hole in the chestnut
fills with stars

2013 Haiku Canada Members’ Anthology

Pamela Cooper


mountain cabin ...
you, me
and the spiders

Asahi, May 2013

Gabriel Sawicki


milky way –
one by one fireflies
up the hill

First Place, 2014 Haiku "Aha" Moment Contest

Archana Kapoor Nagpal


bare branch
the shape of everything
but the bird

Modern Haiku, 45:1, Winter/Spring 2014

S.M. Abeles


rusted railway
a quick wind unzips
the grasses

The Heron’s Nest, 15:2, June 2013

Jan Dobb


a child fills his bucket
with sunset twinkle
from the peak of wave

The Mainichi, October 15, 2014

Goda V. Bendoraitiene


coming storm
less and less space
between us

Cattails, September 2014

Maria Tomczak


spring skies
even the crow's caw
full of light

NeverEnding Story, April 16, 2015

Kris Lindbeck


the stylist
rinses away
the sound of her voice

First Place, 2009 Gerald Brady Senryu Award

Barry George


still the same winter pond still

Mu, 4, 2012

Julie Warther


moss-covered rocks ...
mother never talks about
the one that died

First Place, 2010 Haiku Pen Contest

Irene Golas


the drip, drip, drip
of hometown memories ...
roof icicles

NeverEnding Story, May 17 2015

Marilyn Humbert


news of war
wrapped on a fish --
the smell lingers

Vanguard Haiku 2nd Place, World Haiku Review,  August2014

Carl Seguiban


one after the other
three crows become one
with the fog

Modern Haiku, 28:3, Fall 1997

Larry Kimmel


acres of darkness
outside, inside
then a firefly

Pail in Hand: 25 Haiku, 2000

Angelee Deodhar


origami moon…
so many lies tucked
into the night

Frozen Butterfly, 1, October 2014

Shloka Shankar


somewhere between
knowing and not
winter fog

Acorn, 32, Spring 2014

Maureen Virchau