A Room of My Own: Raven Shadow Haiku

raven shadow

after raven shadow ...

blood-stained debris

FYI: This is the sequel to the following haiku:

collapse of mud houses ...

a girl closes her eyes at last

and the world ...disappears

NeverEnding Story, September 12 2023

Added:

a bomb crater ...

bits and pieces of clothing 

and patches of grass

FYI: This is the sequel to the following haiku:

spring counteroffensive ...

the buzzing sound 

of an old man's meat grinder

NeverEnding Story, May 22 2023

Added:

howl of the north wind ...

snow on snow on sunflowers

in a girl's drawing

FYI: This is the sequel to the following haiku:

bomb shelter wall

the girl draws a dove flying

to a field of sunflowers

NeverEnding Story, March 8 2022

Added:

aftermath ...

a girl's blood-smeared face 

in pixels

Butterfly Dream: Moonrise Haiku by Rachel Sutcliffe

English Original

on the wings

of a raven

moonrise

Stardust, 12, December 2017

Rachel Sutcliffe

Chinese Translation (Traditional)

在烏鴉翅膀

之上

月出

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

在乌鸦翅膀

之上

月出

 

 

Bio Sketch

Rachel Sutcliffe had suffered from a serious immune disorder for over 16 years; throughout  this time writing had been her therapy, and it kept her from going insane! She was an active member of the British Haiku Society and has been published in various journals including  Prune Juice, Failed Haiku and Hedgerow.

A Room of My Own: Russian Withdrawal from Bucha

a row of houses

piled into rubble

smokey twilight

trees blackened 

by a cloud of ravens 

blood-stained doll 

a Ukrainian's stare ...

his shadow slips 

into a mass grave

FYI: Reuters, April 4: Biden urges Putin war crimes trial after Bucha killings

You saw what happened in Bucha... This warrants [Putin] - he is a war criminal...We have to gather the information. We have to continue to provide Ukraine with the weapons they need to continue the fight. And we have to get all the detail so this can be an actual, have a war crimes trial.

Los Angeles Times, April 5:  Bucha isn't just a graveyard of Ukrainian dead, it's a cemetery of Russian weapons

... The people “were killed in apartments, houses, blown up by grenades,” President Volodymyr Zelensky told the United Nations on Tuesday, adding that some in civilian cars “were crushed by tanks ... in the middle of the road. For fun.”

... As they gather up the dead, officials and the military are also engaged in another task: clearing up the many mines, piles of unexploded ordnance and other battle detritus left behind in Bucha and other formerly occupied towns. Signs warning, “Danger: Mines,” dot the area. Some buildings may be booby-trapped, the military warns.

Added:

Bombshell Words Hang in the Air

PutinPutin ...

a war veteran murmurs, 

in a time machine

togetherwearehurtling

into the glorious past

one sanction

after another, another ...

one pile of bodies

on top of another

in smoky twilight 

Butterfly Dream: Winter Landscape Haiku by Marian Olson

English Original

winter landscape

one more raven flaps out

of her paintbrush 

The Heron's Nest, 4:3, 2002

Marian Olson

Chinese Translation (Traditional)

冬季景觀

又一隻烏鴉

從她的畫筆飛了出去

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

冬季景观

又一只乌鸦

从她的画笔飞了出去

Bio Sketch

Marian Olson, non-fiction writer and widely published international poet, was the author of nine books of poetry, including the award winning haiku in Songs of the Chicken Yard, Desert Hours, Consider This, and Moondance. Published in 2017, The Other and Kaleidoscope were her first books of tanka.

Butterfly Dream: Churchyard Haiku by Carol Jones

English Original

winter wind moans through the churchyard ravens in flight

Carol Jones

Chinese Translation (Traditional)

冬風怒吼穿過教堂墓地一群烏鴉狂亂地拍打翅膀

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

冬风怒吼穿过教堂墓地一群乌鸦狂乱地拍打翅膀

Bio Sketch

Carol Jones lives and works on a farm in one of the South Wales valleys, UK. Although she hasn't the time to get involved in the wider environmental issues, she does document her own environment as she goes about her work.

A Room of My Own: Calls for Removal Tanka

the White House

enveloped in a cloud

of ravens

the calls for removal

grow more intense and louder

FYI: NBC News, Jan. 7: Over 200 lawmakers are calling for President Trump's removal. 

Butterfly Dream: Bare Branches Haiku by Claire Vogel Camargo

English Original

bare branches
a raven weighing
moonlight

British Haiku Society Members’ Anthology, 2017

Claire Vogel Camargo


Chinese Translation (Traditional)

光禿的樹枝
一隻烏鴉衡量
月光之重

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

光秃的树枝
一只乌鸦衡量
月光之重


Bio Sketch

Claire Vogel Camargo, author of Iris Opening, an ekphrastic collection, has poems in Blithe Spirit, Brass Bell, Cattails, Lifting the Sky: Southwestern Haiku & Haiga, Presence, Texas Poetry Calendar, World Haiku Review, others. She is a member of the Austin Poetry Society Board of Directors and British Haiku Society.

A Room of My Own: Just Words

a senryu sequence written for Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un

first peace talks
crows on the power line
answering crows

peace talks halted
a raven cries
into the gathering dark

peace talks resume
a small twist
to the president's mouth

Butterfly Dream: Raven Haiku by Jessica Malone Latham

English Original

a raven flies
from rooftop to rooftop
neighborhood gossip

Jessica Malone Latham


Chinese Translation (Traditional)

一隻烏鴉從一個屋頂
飛到另一個屋頂
鄰里八卦

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

一只乌鸦从一个屋顶
飞到另一个屋顶
邻里八卦


Bio Sketch

Jessica Malone Latham: Author of cricket song: Haiku and Short Poems from a Mother's Heart and of the chapbook, clouds of light.
t. @rowdyprisoners     
w. jessicalatham.com  
b. rowdyprisoners.com

A Room of My Own: Both Sides of the Same Coin

a gang of ravens
on the power line
very fake news

White House news
a scythe of lightning
in the winter sky

One Man's Maple Moon: White Raven Tanka by Rebecca Drouilhet

English Original

In the First Nation legends, the white raven comes to guard the moon and stars from evil

(Editor's Note: see To the Lighthouse: Joshi (Prefatory Note) as a Poetic Device )

a full moon

in the winter sky

the white raven

circling

Vancouver Island

Rebecca Drouilhet

Chinese Translation (Traditional)

在加拿大原住民的傳說中，白烏鴉會來保衛月亮和星星遠離邪惡

冬季天空中

出現一輪圓月

一隻白烏鴉

盤旋於

溫哥華島

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

在加拿大原住民的传说中，白乌鸦会来保卫月亮和星星远离邪恶

冬季天空中

出现一轮圆月

一只白乌鸦

盘旋於

温哥华岛

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.

A Room of My Own: Nevermore

"I should have killed all these clichés when I had the chance," I yell out in the dream. Sunlight slipping through the attic window onto the empty side of my bed.

the raven settles
on a maple branch --
Good Friday morning

A Room of My Own: Autumn Twilight Haiku

autumn twilight

the raven and I speak

for ourselves

Published in Lyrical Passion Poetry E-Zine