A Room of My Own: Dayandnightmare

Trump Empire, Inc.: C

a senryu-inflected, visual haibun

A red brick wall fills my field of vision; its perimeters are out of sight.

MAGAMAGA

echoingback

MAGAMAGA

Added:

The Sound of Absence 

a senryu-inflected, visual haibun

Bedroom door slammed shut, I'm left to my own devices.

finger scrolling

OnlyFansSexTubePornDude ...

one stray outbarks the rest

Added:

the moan of a dove ...

my wife replies, I fake it

until you make it

Butterfly Dream: Salamander Haiku by Fay Aoyagi

English Original

salamander

gerrymandering

river stones

Mariposa, 48, Spring/Summer 2023

Fay Aoyagi

Chinese Translation (Traditional)

蠑螈

將一堆河石劃分成

大小不勻的區塊

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

蝾螈

将一堆河石划分成

大小不匀的区块

 

Bio Sketch

Fay Aoyagi （青柳飛）was born in Tokyo and immigrated to the U.S. in 1982. She is currently a member of Haiku Society of America and Haiku Poets of Northern California. She serves as an associate editor of The Heron's Nest.  She also writes in Japanese and belongs to two Japanese haiku groups; Ten'I (天為) and "Aki"（秋), and  she is a member of Haijin Kyokai (俳人協会).

Biting NOT Barking: Arms Deal Haiku by Simon Hanson

English Original

arms deal

prosthetic legs, too

Simon Hanson

Chinese Translation (Traditional)

武器交易

還有, 義肢

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

武器交易

还有, 义肢

Bio Sketch

Simon Hanson lives in forested Tasmania in the company of animals and birds and the sounds of a trickling creek. Formerly Secretary to the Australian Haiku Society he is currently co-editor of Echidna Tracks. He has an e-book collection; Desert Stones (Snapshot Press) freely available here for you. 

Reading More and Writing Better: Cockroaches Kyoka

Realm of Contagious Stupidity, II

In response to India's "cockroach" movement

what if 

all cockroaches come together?

punch after punch

stamp upon stamp

across The Metamorphosis

Chen-ou Liu

FYI: Ls 1&2, "what if all cockroaches come together?," refer to the viral, youth-led Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) movement in India.

The structure of this politically satirical kyōka is built around a reversal of the premise of Kafka's The Metamorphosis.

Politically allusive, Ls 1–2—"what if / all cockroaches come together?"—invite the reader to suspend Kafka's world of isolation and imagine an alternative. Structurally, these opening lines establish possibility.

The poem then shifts from collective imagination to kinetic action. The question immediately becomes movement:

punch after punch

stamp upon stamp

The repetition gives the kyōka momentum. Notice that neither line has an explicit subject; instead, the actions themselves accumulate. This omission makes the movement feel collective and anonymous, fitting the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) premise that no single individual matters as much as the mass.

Syntactically, the parallelism of Ls 3–4 mimics waves or marching rhythms. It also echoes the cadence of protest chants, where repetition itself becomes force.

L5 changes the scale:

across The Metamorphosis

Up to this point, the kyōka exists within a contemporary political moment. The final line suddenly relocates everything into literature.

This is the poem's real structural surprise. It imagines the protest unfolding across the pages of Kafka's novella.

The direction is significant.

Not inside the book.

Not against the book.

But across it.

That preposition suggests movement over, through, and beyond the literary text.

The kyōka thus reverses Kafka's narrative trajectory.

Kafka's salesman Gregor Samsa is

isolated,

immobilized,

increasingly silent,

ultimately erased.

The kyōka proceeds in precisely the opposite direction.

Instead of

one insect → death

we have

many insects → motion.

The poem begins with a topical, even humorous premise—"cockroaches" organizing politically. It develops that premise through rhythmic repetition before culminating in an unexpected literary reframing that transforms the joke into a critique.

The kyōka's deepest move is not simply its satire of a particular political moment; it is its reversal of The Metamorphosis. Kafka's insect is tragic because he is alone. The "cockroaches" in the kyōka become politically potent precisely because they are together. That inversion gives the poem its structural coherence and its strongest literary resonance.

Reading More and Writing Better: War and Peace Tanka

Trump Empire, Inc., XCIX

written in response to The Washington Post, July 9 2026: 

Trump reopens the Iran war — and a political problem he can’t shake

firefly light on, off ...

the porch breeze leafing 

through a worn copy

of War and Peace

as Trump news is muted

FYI: Leo Tolstoy's War and Peace is famously vast, historical, and weighty. In Ls 2–4, the "porch breeze leafing / through a worn copy / of War and Peace" creates a striking paradox: a gentle force of nature effortlessly turns the pages of one of literature's great meditations on humanity's heaviest conflicts. The image also animates the book, as though history itself is quietly being revisited.

The "worn copy" carries additional resonance. It suggests a book returned to over many years, perhaps for solace, reflection, or perspective. Its physical wear stands in contrast to the fleeting, relentless cycle of contemporary news. By placing War and Peace within the scene, the tanka frames current events against the backdrop of history, implying that war, political upheaval, and struggles for power are enduring features of the human condition.

L5 firmly anchors the tanka in the present: "as Trump news is muted." Rather than announcing an escape from politics, the tanka simply records the act of muting the broadcast. The news remains present, but it is relegated to the periphery of attention, becoming another element of the evening rather than its defining focus.

This restraint is what gives the tanka much of its power. Had L 5 stated "to escape Trump news," it would have imposed a single interpretation. Instead, the juxtaposition invites readers to consider Tolstoy's exploration of war, power, and ordinary lives alongside the contemporary moment without insisting on a particular conclusion.

The tanka ultimately contrasts two ways of encountering conflict: the enduring, reflective perspective of literature and the immediate, incessant rhythm of modern news. It does not claim that one is superior to the other. Rather, it allows both to coexist within the same quiet evening, leaving readers to discover their own relationship between history and the present..

FYI: Here are some of the best-known War and Peace quotes:

If everyone fought for their own convictions there would be no war.

A battle is won by him who is firmly resolved to win it.

The strongest of all warriors are these two — Time and Patience.

Added: Politics of Distraction, XX

Power on, off, on, off— a heat dome buckles the grid.

my neighbor's TV

blasting Iran War news ...

one stray outbarks the rest

FYI: The Guardian, July 13, 2026: Oil prices leap and stocks fall as Trump reinstates Hormuz blockade on Iranian shipping

Brent crude rises 5% after US president says 20% toll will be imposed on key trade route to cover  "safety and security."

Added:

war news on mute

the drawn out cry

of a cricket

Special Feature: Selected Poems for Reflections on America 250

On the Brink of Trumperica, XII

the people of Trump

                  by the people of DOGE

                  for the people of the SuperRich ...

sun-bleached stars and stripes

atop the Capitol fencing

NeverEnding Story, February 8 2025

The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) is an initiative by the second Trump administration in the United States. It was first suggested to Donald Trump by Elon Musk in 2024, and was officially established by an executive order on January 20, 2025

And

The New Yorker, July 2 2026: The Unprecedented Profiteering Revealed by Donald Trump’s Financial Disclosure

Donald Trump released a 927-page personal-financial-disclosure report for 2025. It recorded more than $2.2 billion in earnings.

The President cashed in on his office to the tune of billions of dollars last year, largely through the sale of crypto tokens. His investors weren’t so fortunate...The fine print revealed that seventy-five per cent of proceeds from token sales went into the pockets of Trump and his family.

Politics of Distraction, XVII

In the land of the free, dreaming ...

To American midterm-election voters

The poor and middle class pay taxes, the rich pay accountants, the super-rich pay lawyers, and the ultra-rich pay politicians.

smell of muggy noon —

the Reflecting Pool's blue sky

turns algae green

Trump news on mute ...

in the soup kitchen mirror

a twentysomething's stare

NeverEnding Story,  June 23, 2026

The Atlantic, June 26 2026: Trump’s Peeling Green Gift to America

The Reflecting Pool fiasco says everything about how the Trump administration operates.

Donald Trump, trying to renovate the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool for America’s 250th birthday and, instead, scoring a tax-payer-funded, $14 million-over-[close to $15 million-dollar] budget own goal in the form of a cracked and peeling, green-algae-riddled, potentially duck-killing militarized zone in the nation’s capital. One of the firms hired for the renovation is named Greenwater Services.

And

University of California, Riverside/UCR study, April 17, 2023: [Cumulative] Poverty is the 4th greatest cause of U.S. deaths: Only heart disease, cancer, and smoking were associated with a greater number of deaths.

Trump Empire, Inc., XCV

the White House roof

shadowed against sunset skies

America First banner

NeverEnding Story, June 24 2026

From this day forward, it’s going to be only [Me] First. [Me] First.

-- Donald Trump, 2017 & 2025 Inaugural Addresses

The Guardian News Clip, June 30, 2026: How Trump is making the US's 250th anniversary about himself

... there's something more insidious too, which is Trump and his allies are seizing on this as an opportunity to rewrite American history, to make it a story of heroic white male Christian men on some providential journey pursuing their destiny. That's what American greatness is about....

And

DW News, July 4 2026: How Donald Trump is rewriting the history of US independence

the White House is rewriting history.

We are watching in real time as they remove the history of slavery from national parks. They're trying to remove a lot of content and things from the African-American History Museum as well.

Trump Empire, Inc., XCVI 

Pursuit of Happiness

for MAGA cult and Christian Nationalists in Trumperica

gated cul-de-sac

lined with wavy green oaks

in golden sunlight

diverse shapes and heights

of white picket fences

whitewashed fence

taller by two feet this year …

neighbors equipped

with security cams, bulldogs

and stars-and-stripes rifles

FYI: Stars-and-Stripes rifles refer to limited-edition or custom American flag-themed firearms. 

And "Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness" is a well-known phrase from the United States Declaration of Independence. Like the other principles in the Declaration of Independence, this phrase is not legally binding, but has been widely referenced and seen as an inspiration for the basis of government.

Added: Trump Empire, Inc., XCVII

an eagle spirals

into the gathering dark

this fireworks night

a one-armed veteran

stares beyond his front yard flag

Added: Trump Empire, Inc., XCVIII

Culmination

From the blood-stained sport on the White House lawn, to the pigeons-more-than-visitors fiasco of the “Great American State Fair,” to the fenced-in, algae-green reflecting pool on the National Mall, to the knock-the-hell-out-of-Iran recycled speech:

rainbow flowers

bloom in the July 4th sky

a war veteran

takes aim at the enemy

still fighting in his head

FYI: CNBC News, July 4 2026: Trump hails U.S. exceptionalism before veering into darkly political speech to usher in America’s 250th anniversary

Communism is a mortal threat to American liberty.

-- Donald Trump, America 250 speech

Biting NOT Barking: Hyphen Haiku by Fay Aoyagi

English Original

spring mud

the hyphen

before American

Frogpond, 44:2, Summer/Spring 2021

Fay Aoyagi

Chinese Translation (Traditional)

春天的泥漿

放在“美國”之前

的連字符

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

春天的泥浆

放在“美国”之前

的连字符

 

Bio Sketch

Fay Aoyagi （青柳飛）was born in Tokyo and immigrated to the U.S. in 1982. She is currently a member of Haiku Society of America and Haiku Poets of Northern California. She serves as an associate editor of The Heron's Nest.  She also writes in Japanese and belongs to two Japanese haiku groups; Ten'I (天為) and "Aki"（秋), and  she is a member of Haijin Kyokai (俳人協会).

Special Feature: Selected Poems for Reflections on UN's Report on Israel Committing Genocide and Other War Crimes

"Israel's oldest daily, Haaretz," which was was sanctioned by the Israeli government on Nov. 24, 2024

Against the Drowning Noise of Other Words, CLXXXVIII: "A Gazan baby"

written in response to Haaretz, May 20, 2025: Opposition MK Says Israel Risks Pariah Status, "Sane State Doesn't Kill Babies as Hobby"

a Gazan baby

the glitter 

in a sniper's eye

NeverEnding Story, May 21 2025

first frost …

a Gazan baby’s face

in pixels

Commendation, 15th Polish International Haiku Competition 2025

a dull-eyed baby

with loose skin over bone ...

red glow of Gazan skies

NeverEnding Story, July 21 2025

(reprinted in Haikuniverse, July 26, 2025)

On June 18, 2026, the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry published a major report titled “The essence of childhood has been destroyed: Israel’s deliberate targeting of Palestinian children in the Occupied Palestinian Territory since 7 October 2023”. 

The paper describes the deliberate targeting and killing of Palestinian children, including post-ceasefire since the October 2025 Gaza peace plan. The Commission also examines a sharp increase in violence perpetrated by members of Israeli settlers against Palestinian children in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem.

Against the Drowning Noise of Other Words, CIII: "settler violence"

          under        slate-gray            skies

                                   |                          

a settler aims his gun | a boy throws his rock

                                   |

          tank track marks on the grass

NeverEnding Story, October 4 2024

it’s peaceful now

M-16 rifles are blooming, 2000-pound bombs singing, and Merkava tanks sweeping the streets.

Gaza is cleaner than ever, clean of blood-covered children. Yet, somewhere among the rubble the only moving thing is a boy’s eyes that look up to Heaven.

a mural

on the separation wall

of the West Bank:

in midair a girl grasps

a bunch of rainbow balloons

contemporary haibun online, 20:2, 2024

Contemporary Haibun Anthology 20

Against the Drowning Noise of Other Words, CXC: "ghostly memory"

inspired by a short documentary, Severed: The Story of a Boy From Gaza,  premiering on The Nation Magazine website this week for free.

awake alone

with the ghostly memory

of skeletal houses ...

this one-legged Gazan teen stares

into the borderless sky

NeverEnding Story, May 27 2025

Against the Drowning Noise of Other Words, CLXXXIX: "Heaven and Gaza's ruins"

an armless boy's stare

midnight lightning links Heaven 

and Gaza's ruins ...

NeverEnding Story, May 21 2025

The United Nations has officially placed and kept the Israeli military on its annual "blacklist" (formally known as the Children and Armed Conflict report annex) for committing grave violations against children, including killing, maiming, and attacking schools and hospitals

Against the Drowning Noise of Other Words, XLIV, "hospitals destroyed"

written in response to the destruction of Gaza's biggest hospital, Al Shifa

between blood of birth

and blood of death

a new life

on the hospital floor ...

a Gazan mother's last look

NeverEnding Story, April 4 2024

collapsed school wall

a butterfly

in shades of charcoal

First Place, 2025 Porad Haiku Award

To conclude today's "Special Feature" post, I would like to share the latest entry of Against the Drowning Noise of Other Words, CCXCIX: "Ceasefire: You Cease, I Fire"

Ceasefire: You Cease, I Fire

Boom, boom, boom ... trailed by intermittent night-piercing screams, near and far. 

an armless boy's stare

midnight lightning links Heaven 

and smoky ruins 

hazy day moon

an orphaned girl, her world

of paper cranes

There is no ceasefire in Gaza; the world has normalized the genocide of Palestinians.

-- Francesca Albanese, UN Special Rapporteur on Palestine and author of UN Report, "Anatomy of a Genocide"

And

There comes a time when silence is betrayal.

Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.

-- Martin Luther King, Jr.

Added: Against the Drowning Noise of Other Words, CCC: "one thousand cranes"

cherry blossoms

and yet Gazan children ... 

one thousand cranes

Poetic Musings: New Leaf Haiku by Eric A. Lohman

turn of a new leaf over and over climate conference

 

Trash Panda, 5, 2023

Eric A. Lohman

Commentary: This climate haiku works effectively because it uses the monoku (one-line haiku) format to create a "looping" effect that perfectly mirrors its subject.

The opening phrase, "turn of a new leaf," is a classic idiom for change, but in the sociopolitical context of a "climate conference," it becomes literal (foliage/nature) and ironic (the lack of actual progress). And by placing "over and over" in the middle, the haiku creates a circular rhythm. The reader's eye repeats the phrase, mimicking the repetitive, cyclical nature of these conferences where the same promises are made and broken.

Furthermore, in a one-liner, the lack of stops allows the "leaf" to "turn" right into the "climate conference," suggesting that the rhetoric is just part of a spin cycle. This haiku captures a specific modern frustration—the performance of change vs. the reality of repetition.

And my vertical climate haiku below could be read as a narrative and thematic prequel to Eric A. Lohman's horizontal one-liner above:

climate

talk

after

talk

leaf

on

leaf

Scarlet Dragonfly Journal, May 12 2022

Chronological Shift:

The vertical haiku captures the agonizing, passive passage of time before or during the climate event. The horizontal one-liner captures the frantic, repetitive aftermath.

Escalation of Frustration:

The vertical structure isolates the word "talk" to show quiet disillusionment. The horizontal structure crams the words together to show overwhelming political fatigue.

Accumulation to Action:

The phrase, "Leaf on leaf" in the vertical haiku shows the physical pileup of unaddressed time. This accumulation directly triggers the manic, cyclic action of turning the leaf "over and over" in the horizontal one-liner.

Special Feature: Selected Poems for Reflections on LGBTQ Rights in Trumperica

My Dear Readers and Friends:

On this first Sunday of June, I’m sharing a few poems reflecting on warning, struggle, and the joy of resistance in Trumperica:

On the Brink of Trumperica, IX

the White House

pronounces, only two sexes ...

trans youth trapped

between black-and-white Kansas

and rainbow-colored Oz

NeverEnding Story, January 27 2025

The following gembun is its sequel:

Trump Empire, Inc., XCIII

A Family Values banner tangled with the flagpole atop the White House roof, silhouetted against the sunset.

only two sexes ...

clouds drift through bands

of hazy gray

And the following is the sequel to the gembun:

Trump Empire, Inc., XCIV inspired by The Guardian, May 31, 2025: Four queer business owners on Pride under Trump: ‘Our joy is resistance’

near the White House gate

a rainbow-haired teen's waist 

wrapped in a flipped flag

under the guards' dark-glassed stare

she pirouettes timelessly

A Room of My Own: Stock Ticker Tanka

Against the Drowning Noise of Other Words, CCXCVI: "stock ticker "

a bruised girl’s hand

clutches a slice of bread

in pixels—

a stock ticker flashes past

Lockheed Martin up red-hot

FYI: "Israel's oldest daily, Haaretz," which was was sanctioned by the Israeli government on Nov. 24, 2024

May 24 2026: Israel's Destruction of Gaza Mapped Using Digital Archive of Wartime Footage

Built from geolocated videos, photographs and social media posts, the website – called Genocide Live – compiles footage of Israeli airstrikes, military manoeuvres, and destruction from across Gaza, the West Bank and the wider regional war, including in Lebanon, Syria, Iran and Qatar.

May 25 2026: Humanitarian Conditions in Gaza Deteriorating Again, Aid Groups Warn

The groups report a resurgence in malnutrition among Gazan children, as well as deaths resulting from a failure to provide medical evacuations, collapsing sewage systems, a spike in pest infestations and a serious shortage of medical equipment, among other problems.

And Kavout, Stock Analysis: Is Global Conflict Driving a New Era for Defense Stocks

Key Takeaways

Global defense spending, now at an estimated $3 trillion, is surging due to escalating geopolitical tensions, creating a robust tailwind for defense contractors and drone technology firms.

Lockheed Martin (LMT) offers investors a stable, blue-chip play on this trend, benefiting from strong demand for its established platforms and a substantial backlog, despite its premium valuation. 

Added: Against the Drowning Noise of Other Words, CCXCVII: "Eid al-Adha"

Eid al-Adha

shrouded in smoky dust

armless Gazan child

FYI: Eid al-Adha (May 26–30) is the Feast of Sacrifice, the largest of the two main Islamic festivals celebrated worldwide. It is traditionally marked by clean clothes, festive meals, and charity.

Added:

her only son's photo

as he was

Memorial Day

Added:

in breezy sunshine

tulip bulbs tucked in the earth

last autumn

begin to murmur awake ...

will our hope for peace take root?

FYI: Vision of Humanity: Highest number of countries engaged in conflict since World War II

Added:

the edge

of this dappled trail

shadow and me

Added:

gazing out

at this borderless spring sky 

thoughts pass through

Added:

kitchen secret

in the slanted moonlight

onions unpeeled

Added:

half-sleep, half-wake 

my hand across the bed

finds a hollow

Added:

sultry beach night

my body finds the spot

where hers once lay

Added:

solar eclipse

a church bell’s echo slips

into the dark

Poetic Musings: Gazan Baby's Face Haiku by Chen-ou Liu

first frost ...

a Gazan baby’s face

in pixels

Commendation, 15th Polish International Haiku Competition 2025

Chen-ou Liu

Judge's Comment: The first sign of winter is juxtaposed with a baby in Gaza, likely seen under terrible circumstances. Pixels are the tiny units – or pieces (a shadow word, surely) – that make up a digital image. News is always to hand, refreshed continuously if we choose to look, but the devices we use can make us feel remote, less empathetic. The author’s intent (to me anyway) is unclear, which adds another layer of interest.

My Response:

The emotional force of this haiku depends largely on the relationship between Ls 2&3. Without L 3, “a Gazan baby’s face” functions as a direct image of suffering. But L 3 — “in pixels” — radically reframes the image. It reveals that the speaker is not physically present with the child, but encountering the face through a screen: a phone, livestream, news clip, or social-media feed. 

That shift opens several layers of meaning.

1. Mediation and distance

“In pixels” foregrounds the technological mediation of suffering. The child reaches the speaker only as digital light — fragmented image-data transmitted across distance. The haiku creates tension between intimacy and separation: the immediacy of a baby’s face contrasted with the remoteness of screen-based witnessing.

The haiku quietly asks what it means to experience catastrophe through technology rather than direct human contact.

2. Fragmentation and dehumanization

Pixels are the tiny units that collectively simulate reality. Ending on “pixels” subtly suggests how modern tragedy is consumed as image — fragmented, streamed, and reduced to visual information.

L 3 therefore carries an implicit critique of contemporary spectatorship: human suffering risks becoming just another flow of digital content.

3. The contrast with “first frost” in L 1

The juxtaposition with “first frost” is crucial. Traditionally, first frost evokes seasonal transition, stillness, delicacy, beauty, and coldness. Placed beside the image of a Gazan baby, the frost acquires moral and emotional overtones: emotional numbness, chilling distance, fragility of life, even the cold glow of screens.

The ellipsis after “first frost …” deepens this effect by creating a suspended pause before the intrusion of geopolitical reality.

4. Why “in pixels” works

The restraint of “in pixels” is precisely what gives the haiku its force. It avoids overt political rhetoric, graphic imagery, and explicit emotional instruction. Instead, L 3 quietly transforms the haiku from simple observation into a meditation on mediated witnessing in the digital age.

And this haiku is a sequel to mine below:

Against the Drowning Noise of Other Words, CLXXXVIII: "A Gazan baby"

written in response to Haaretz, May 20, 2025: Opposition MK Says Israel Risks Pariah Status, 'Sane State Doesn't Kill Babies as Hobby'

a Gazan baby

the glitter 

in a sniper's eye

NeverEnding Story, May 21 2025

A Room of My Own: Wind-Spun Petals Haiku

wind-spun petals

go back where you came from

brayed down the block

FYI: This haiku is a prequel to mine below:

the zigzag path 

of a yellow maple leaf ...

to stay or to go?

Mamba, 18, 2025

Added: 

fireball-lit skies

"ceasefire" for 45 days

inked on paper

FYI: BBC News, May 18 2026: Death toll from Israeli strikes on Lebanon passes 3,000, officials say

Added:

blossom-spun wind

against the chain-link fence

store foreclosure

Added:

rooftop pool

I float in the light

of stars

Added:

a row of beach chairs

in every pair of glasses

drifting clouds

FYI:  This haiku could be read as a prequel to mine below:

dream space

between our beach chairs

rippling sunset

Wales Haiku Journal, Summer 2022

Biting NOT Barking: New Leaf Haiku by Eric A. Lohman

English Original

turn of a new leaf over and over climate conference

 

Trash Panda, 5, 2023

Eric A. Lohman

Chinese Translation (Traditional)

重啟新頁一次又一次氣候變遷大會

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

重启新页一次又一次气候变迁大会

Bio Sketch

Eric A. Lohman is a psychiatric social worker at a large public teaching hospital in downtown Atlanta,  Georgia, USA. His career focuses on helping the homeless, addicted and chronically mentally ill populations of Atlanta and the surrounding area. Most of his writing serves as a response to that reality. 

A Room of My Own: Whitewashed Road Sign Tanka

Against the Drowning Noise of Other Words, CCLXXXVIII: "a whitewashed road sign"

dust swirling past

"<-- Tarqumia, Jerusalem -->

peace be with you" 

under the scorching sun

a whitewashed road sign

Added: Against the Drowning Noise of Other Words, CCLXXXIX: "skeletal house"

skeletal house  

and charred pottery shards --  

grass creeps in the cracks

Added: Against the Drowning Noise of Other Words, CCXC: "between wire fences"

slate-gray sky

swarm after swarm of flies

between wire fences

Added: Against the Drowning Noise of Other Words, CCXCI: "the Death Bill"

Sde Teiman

silhouetted against desert sunset 

on the TV

passing of the Death Bill

popping of champagne 

FYI: Sde Teiman is a scandal-plagued Israeli detention camp in the Negev desert near the Gaza border.

And Haaretz, April 1, 2026: The Death Penalty Bill Illustrates How the Kahanist Revolution Has Taken Over Israeli Society

The evening of the vote marked not only a moral abyss, but also anointed the next right-wing leader: Itamar Ben-Gvir, who has managed to transform himself from a marginal thug into a shaper of right-wing ideology

Add:

straddled between

this war-torn world and the one

in my mind ...

I slam the blinds down

as fists crash on the street

Reading More and Writing Better: Yawp of "USA!" Tanka by Chen-ou Liu

a lament for Walt Whitman's America

to cameras

no, more wars! the chant

echoes, echoing

around the Congress chamber

swelled with the yawp of USA!

FYI: The joshi (prefatory note), “a lament for Walt Whitman's America,” serves as the thematic anchor of the tanka. By invoking the “barbaric yawp” from Song of Myself by Walt Whitman, the tanka establishes a pointed irony: what Whitman envisioned as a raw, soulful cry of individual liberation and democratic vitality has here been transformed into a partisan, nationalistic roar.

Linking the “yawp” directly to the chant of “USA!” suggests that the “barbaric” quality Whitman celebrated as natural and poetic has become performative and aggressive. This connection bridges the joshi to the final line, revealing how the “America” being lamented has shifted symbolically from Whitman’s open road to the echoing chamber of Congress.

The joshi works effectively by establishing a melancholic, almost high-literary tone that immediately crashes immediately into the "modern reality, i.e. Trumperica," of the tanka. By invoking Whitman’s idealized vision of America, the poem creates a baseline of democratic optimism against which the final “yawp” reads as a distortion—or even a perversion—of the original spirit.

And For more about the use of "joshi," see "To the Lighthouse" post, "Joshi (Prefatory Note) as a Poetic Device."

Note: “Song of Myself,” the central poem of Walt Whitman’s 1855 collection Leaves of Grass, is a sweeping meditation on the self and its relation to the world. Written in innovative free verse, the poem celebrates an expansive identity that connects the individual with nature and the broader human community.

Composed during the American Renaissance, the poem reflects the influence of Transcendentalism and the democratic optimism of Jacksonian democracy—a movement associated with Andrew Jackson that promoted the belief that political power should rest with the “common man” rather than traditional elites.

Whitman’s sweeping catalogs of people, occupations, and everyday scenes create a democratic panorama in which all lives are interconnected, culminating in his famous declaration: “I am large, I contain multitudes.”

A Room of My Own: Coal-Soot Haze Haiku

No More Fairy Tales, XLIX

coal-soot haze hangs 

over a field of farmhouses

Four More Years crooked

FYI: This haiku could be read as a sequel to mine below:

clean coal billboard ...

a fork-tongued thought 

darkens the night

Plum Tree Tavern, January 21, 2023

Added: No More Fairy Tales, L

rows of wind turbines

a field of prairie grass

bends in twilight

FYI: This haiku could be read as a sequel to my tanka below:

No More Fairy Tales, XLVIII

COP30:

more fossil fuels

or green energy?

a question smeared in ash

from the burned Amazon

NeverEnding Story, November 21 2025

Added: Trump Empire, Inc, LXXXVI

in gold-color

Trump holds Epstein’s stretched arms

from behind

on the National Mall:

King of the World Statue

Added: Trump Empire, Inc, LXXXVII

the peanut-brained man

behind the Resolute Desk

grins to cameras,

"just a little excursion"

oily clouds over Tehran

Added:

billows of smoke

from Beirut neighborhoods ...

the war chief vows,

we will take the territory 

block by block, street by street

FYI: Haaretz, March 13 2026:  Defense Minister Israel Katz said Thursday morning that he had "warned" Lebanese President Joseph Aoun following Hezbollah fire toward Israel. "I warned the president of Lebanon that if the Lebanese government cannot control the territory and prevent Hezbollah from threatening the northern communities and firing at Israel – we will take the territory and do it ourselves," Katz said. 

Added: Politics of Distraction, I

oil-dark clouds

hang heavy over Tehran —

reporters squint

at row after row of black bars

in Epstein’s redacted files

FYI: Politics of Distraction is my new writing project. The title is taken from Al Jazeera: February 26, 2026: Epstein and the politics of distraction

Scandal individualises corruption, creating a spectacle that redirects anger away from structural power.

Poetic Musings: Trade War News Haiku by Chen-ou Liu

trade war news

a spiderweb on the eaves

sagging with raindrops

Prize Winter, 27th Haiku International Association/HIA Haiku Contest

Chen-ou Liu

Judge's Commentary: The first line is clearly topical, a concern of the moment, while what follows is natural, observed. The spider’s web is, I imagine, on the eaves outside the poet’s house, where the heavy raindrops gather and threaten to destroy it. The web is the spider’s lair and means of existence, yet one that may soon give way. Our lives too are delicately wrought, and may be easily disrupted. In the meantime we can admire the light refracted in the glittering raindrops, before they fall. I note the syllable count of 3-7-5.

Analysis: The haiku opens in abstraction—economic conflict, media chatter, global tension—impersonal and distinctly contemporary. It then pivots from headline-scale urgency to intimate observation. The spiderweb “on the eaves” grounds the haiku in a specific domestic space, an image of fragility fastened to shelter.

The raindrops’ weight becomes an unstated metaphor. The web, strained by accumulated water, quietly echoes global economic systems under mounting pressure, without ever declaring the parallel. The haiku’s strength lies in this restraint: the small, rain-soaked scene absorbs and reflects the larger unease of geopolitical tension.

Special Feature: Selected Poems for Reflection on "Annexation on Steroids" in the West Bank, Palestine

(Note: "Israel's oldest daily, Haaretz," which was was sanctioned by the Israeli government on Nov. 24, 2024

Jan. 27: Settlers Rampage Through South Hebron Villages, Torch Homes and Steal Livestock.

Jan. 27: The Israeli Ethnic Cleansing Militias in the West Bank Have Suceeded Once Again

Jan. 27: "Ordinary, Decent Israelis" Still Think That What Happens in the West Bank Stays in the West Bank

FYI: Jan. 27: Netanyahu Government Ban on Haaretz Is Unlawful, Attorney General Tells Israel's Top Court)

It’s peaceful now

M-16 rifles are blooming, 2000-pound bombs singing, and Merkava tanks sweeping the streets.

Gaza is cleaner than ever, clean of blood-covered children. Yet, somewhere among the rubble the only moving thing is a boy’s eyes that look up to Heaven.

a mural

on the separation wall

of the West Bank:

in midair a girl grasps

a bunch of rainbow balloons

contemporary haibun online, 20:2, 2024

Contemporary Haibun Anthology 20

Atlantic Council, Dec. 2025: All West Bank annexation proposals are illegal—and put core international principles at risk

Against the Drowning Noise of Other Words, CLXVI: "military watch"

burning olive groves ...

the weight of thick gray and black

blanketing

over the West Bank families

under military watch

NeverEnding Story, March 11 2025

Haaretz:

 Jan. 25 2026: A West Bank Bus Trip Through 'the Best Documented Ethnic Cleansing in History'

"'What has been going on here in the West Bank is, to me, just like the Germans' actions in Poland between 1939 and 1943. The IDF can expel the residents – poor, weak shepherds – in one week, but the state has been doing it by proxy through an army of minors and criminals, some of them sheep thieves. There are no police,' says Amir Pansky of the group Looking the Occupation in the Eye. 'This is the best documented ethnic cleansing in history. We're recording everything in real time...

According to Ofran and Mizrachi, in the last three years we've been seeing "an annexation on steroids," which includes the expulsion of the local people, the building of hundreds of kilometers of roads and mammoth funding for settlements.

And Jan. 26 2026: Excess Soil From Tel Aviv Construction Sites Used to Expand West Bank Farms and Outposts

Against the Drowning Noise of Other Words, CCLXXIII: "Saharan desert warbler"

A Saharan desert warbler spotted in Haifa, only the second ever to be seen in Israel.

West Bank town fenced in ...

a rifle silhouette

against the boundless sky

Against the Drowning Noise of Other Words, CCLXXIV: "the Nakba"

The Nakba pictures in black and white; now this week in the color of smoky red.

fire's mouth

consumes the last farmhouse ...

settlers' roaring

Special Feature: One Year in Poems: Trumperica, Revisited

My Dear Readers:

I would like to share with you my published poems below for reflections on the impacts of one year of Trumperica:

I Before American Carnage

Election Campaign:

just a dream, and yet ...

the mountain lion roaring

to flocks of sheep,

once elected as your King

I'll be vegetarian

my pitbull

chasing her Siamese cat ...

Trump on TV blasts

If you go after me

I'm coming after you!

Election Victory:

USADecides:

TheSecondDumbing 

theredhotheadline

morphsintomarching

phalanxafterphalanx

II Trumpocalypse Now!

Post-Election

Trump this, Trump that ...

with this news-punched mind

I sound-bathe in silence

Trump news blackout

the calm between us holds

a world unspoken

trapped in the nightmare

of four more years of this man-child ...

we wake each morning

as if we're living

the Groundhog Day loop

Inauguration

the downward tilt

of his chin and forehead

and the knitted eyebrows ...

Convicted Felon's official portrait

[l]awfully like his mug shot

Day One Promises and Crimes

American dream

somewhere over the rainbow

detention camps

this man-child fullmouths

frack and drill, baby, frack and drill

with a meaty smile ...

I turn off the TV, gazing

at cracked corners of my world

No more climate alarmist talk.

flashfloodingweareallinthistogether

floodafterfloodweareallinthis t o ge t h e r a gain

the White House

pronounces, only two sexes...

trans youth trapped

between black-and-white Kansas

and rainbow-colored Oz

the people of Trump

                  by the people of Musk

                  for the people of the SuperRich ...

sun-bleached stars and stripes

atop the Capitol fencing

one, big, beautiful bill ...

a hushed silence

sweeps the briefing room

then a loud fart 

echoes, echoing

trade war news

a spiderweb on the eaves

sagging with raindrops

sleepless again ...

I count Trump's crimes backwards

into oblivion

think, feel and act

while they're still "legal"

chant after chant

no more DOGEy business

drop this small dick(tator)

tariffs today

TACO tomorrow ... in heat

a stray chases its tail 

in red twilight

one stray trying to outbark

the other ...

the Trump-Musk feud grows

loud, louder and dark, darker

at the steps 

of the Statue of Liberty

each of these names

of the disappeared read out loud...

a breath, a wound, and a warning

Epstein files news

the rasp, rasping

of cicadas

In a 2011 email to Ghislaine Maxwell, “… that dog that hasn’t barked is Trump.”

a pink-haired girl

seen through a telescope

of age-spotted hands

the footfalls

of MAGA intruders

stir clouds of dust ...

the Wall of Free Speech in twilight

sentineled with talk show hosts

in dim light

staring at the TV talk show

Donald Trump holds 

a remote control with buttons:

Power, Pause, Mute, Sack, Deport

ka-kis-to-cracy ...

my English teacher's voice

quivering

as U-S-A! chants get louder

from the crowd outside the school

(FYI: The first part of kakistocracy comes from the Greek kákisto(s), meaning “worst.” Therefore, kakistocracy means “government by the WORST.”)

No Kings Protest:

chant after chant of fried truth

eggflation

scrambled justice, poached rights,

cracked democracy... Trump, Fuck Off

in gathering dark

the entrance to Mar-a-Lago

No Parking Any Time  😎

the burning photo

of gold-crowned Donald Trump ...

the flame licks upward

then a Nenee Good lookalike

lights her cigarette

Foreign Policies:

Land of the Crazed --> USA

Canada <-- Home of the Brave

giant road sign

at the corner of the border

as flocks of geese fly north

in Toronto sunshine

with the scent of early spring

and freedom

two Americans meet and part:

one draft dodger, one Trump evader

the Don posed 

behind the Resolute Desk

with fingers cocked

for the cameras' rapid fire ...

a map crossed with red X’s

Russian Invasion of Ukraine:

the barrage 

of blaring lies and shit-words

from his meaty mouth ...

between Trump's pauses 

Vance's thunderous echo-fart

wave after wave

of blue-and-yellow flags

in bitter cold

atop the White House Fencing

a hand-drawn sunflower

Gaza Genocide

the man who bombed kids

gives a golden dove statue

to the man

who sent him planeloads of bombs:

war is peace, peace is war ...

War Is Peace

pyramid

after pyramid of rubble ...

again "ceasefire" strikes

fireball by fireball ...

the length

of a Gazan night

smoky twilight

a cry sinks into the sound

of a gunshot

skeletal houses

these layers of silence

upon silence

The ink barely dry on the paper, and Phase Two of the ceasefire plan announced to the clicking of cameras.

these dark blue lips

as cracked window frost thickens

Gazan sky tinged red

One Year On

A notice pinned to the community library’s message board: The Post-Apocalyptic Fiction Section has been moved to Current Affairs.

Apocalypse Now

spine bent, margins yellowed …

on its last page

Trump 2028

inked in a shaking hand

Reflection

alone, putting

the Trump-raged world on mute

I take a sip

of morning black coffee

and listen to the snowfall

To conclude today's "Special feature" post, I would like to share with you the latest entry of Trump Empire, Inc, LXXI: 

a gembun written in response to Mark Carney's Davos speech on the first anniversary of the Convicted Felon sitting behind Resolute Desk:

Clapping of hands and thumping of feet to the claim: "If we're not at the table, we're on the menu."

my black cat returns

with a bloodied bird in mouth

drums of a trade war

Added: Trump Empire, Inc, LXXII

Canada lives

because of the US, Trump claims 

fart on fart in Davos

Added: Trump Empire, Inc, LXXIII

In the end, we have only whistles and the ICE agents have guns.

freezing cold ...

snapped from school to trap parents

five-year-old as bait

Added: Trump Empire, Inc, LXXVI

rings of five colors

link continents as one

outside the stadium

fists, voices rising as one:

"ICE out and justice for all"