Another night of shifting, flipping the pillow, and counting sheep …
my thoughts pacing
in moonlit dark, one stray
outbarks the rest
Tuesday, January 27, 2026
Monday, January 26, 2026
Special Feature: Selected Poems for Reflection on "Annexation on Steroids" in the West Bank, Palestine
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 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
"Israel's oldest daily, Haaretz," which was was sanctioned by the Israeli government on Nov. 24, 2024
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
Sunday, January 25, 2026
Butterfly Dream: Lore Haiku by Elmedin Kadric
English Original
the lore
in a breeze
dandelion seeds
Frogpond, 47:3, Autumn 2024
Elmedin Kadric
Chinese Translation (Traditional)
傳說
在微風中
蒲公英種子
Chinese Translation (Simplified)
传说
在微风中
蒲公英种子
Bio Sketch
Elmedin Kadric was born in Novi Pazar, Serbia, but writes out of Helsingborg, Sweden. His first collection, buying time (2017), was published by Red Moon Press.
Saturday, January 24, 2026
One Man's Maple Moon: Shooting Star Tanka by Aya Yuhki
English Original
in the wake
of a shooting star
a brightness
resembling love
shines in me awhile
White Flowers in the Sky, 2005
Aya Yuhki
Chinese Translation (Traditional)
一顆流星
劃過天際之後
一道光芒
如愛般
在我心中閃耀片刻
Chinese Translation (Simplified)
一颗流星
划过天际之后
一道光芒
如爱般
在我心中闪耀片刻
Bio Sketch
Aya Yuhki was born and now lives in Tokyo. She started writing tanka more than thirty years ago and has expanded her interests to include free verse poetry, essay writing, and literary criticism. Aya Yuhki is Editor-in-Chief of The Tanka Journal published by the Japan Poets’ Society. Her works are featured on the homepage of the Japan Pen Club’s Electronic Library.
Friday, January 23, 2026
Butterfly Dream: Vacant House Haiku by Theresa A. Cancro
English Original
vacant house ...
light snow shrouds
the eaves
Theresa A. Cancro
Chinese Translation (Traditional)
空屋 ...
薄雪覆蓋
屋簷
Chinese Translation (Simplified)
空屋 ...
薄雪覆盖
屋檐
Bio Sketch
Theresa A. Cancro has been writing modern English-language haiku, senryu, tanka, haibun, and tanka prose since 2012. Dozens of her poems have been published in print and online journals as well as numerous anthologies. Theresa is currently a THF board member and Second Vice President of the Tanka Society of America. She resides in Wilmington, Delaware.
Thursday, January 22, 2026
Butterfly Dream: Dewpoint Haiku by Michele Root-Bernstein
English Original
past midnight the story reaches dewpoint
Frogpond, 48:2, 2025
Michele Root-Bernstein
Chinese Translation (Traditional)
午夜過後故事達到露點
Chinese Translation (Simplified)
午夜过后故事达到露点
Bio Sketch
Michele Root-Bernstein appears in A New Resonance 6; the 2016 chapbook, Scent of the Past…Imperfect; Haiku 2014; Haiku 2016; and on three rocks in Ohio. She is co-author with Francine Banwarth of The Haiku Life, What We Learned as Editors of Frogpond and facilitator of a Michigan haiku study group.
Wednesday, January 21, 2026
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
Tuesday, January 20, 2026
A Room of My Own: Mountain Sunrise Haiku
mountain sunrise
I forget for a moment
this fleeting life
FYI: It might be interesting to do a thematic comparison reading of my haiku below:
Grand Canyon sunrise ...
learning to love
here and now
Added:
war news on mute
a gnat’s smudge
on my forearm
reprinted in Haikuniverse, January 25, 2026
Added:
snow on snow ...
my footprints deep and deeper
under the slate-gray sky
Added:
dawnlit sky
a canvas
of birdsongs
Monday, January 19, 2026
To the Lighthouse: Selected Poems for Reflections on Phase Two of the "Ceasefire" Plan
"Israel's oldest daily, Haaretz," which was was sanctioned by the Israeli government on Nov. 24, 2024
Analysis, January 18, 2026: Beneath the Bombast, Trump's Cease-fire Plan in Gaza Is on the Rocks
U.S. President Donald Trump proclaimed last week, with characteristic bombast and ham-fistedness, that the Gaza cease-fire arrangement had advanced to its second phase.
Against the Drowning Noise of Other Words, CCLIII: "'ceasefire' strikes"
heavenward
rising
fireballs
fireballs
falling
heavenward
FYI: Socialist Project, Oct. 28, 2025: The Illusion of a Ceasefire: Gaza Still Under Continuous Genocide
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
On Saturday, the president named the first members of the Board of Peace, which will ostensibly oversee the reconstruction of the Gaza Strip. (Heads of state may join, according to the organization's charter, for the price of $1 billion; additional members are slated to be announced during the World Economic Forum in Davos this week).
Against the Drowning Noise of Other Words, CCLXXI: "Phase Two"
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 frost thickens on cracked panes
Gazan sky tinged red
FYI: Haaretz, Jan. 19, 2026: Trump Invites Putin to Board of Peace, EU States to Decline Invitation, Diplomats Say
Jan. 19, 2026: 'Gaza Is Ours': Israel's far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich Calls to Cancel Trump's Board of Peace, Israel to Resettle Gaza
And Jan. 20 2026: Trump: If France Doesn't Join Board of Peace, 'I'll Put 200% Tariff on Wine and Champagne'
Added: Against the Drowning Noise of Other Words, CCLXXII: "Gazan newborn"
a young woman
gazing long at her newborn
but his eyes
never open to the light—
Gaza's morning frost thickens
FYI: Haaretz, Opinion, Jan. 19 2026: What Is Happening to Mothers and Babies in Gaza Should Leave Us Deeply, Collectively Ashamed
As maternal mortality surges in post-war Gaza, and newborns face cold, infection and malnutrition, pregnancy and childbirth are daily fights for survival. Women and their babies, universally noncombatants, are suffering disproportionately – and serve as a measure of our moral failure
Sunday, January 18, 2026
One Man's Maple Moon: Fire and Ice Tanka by Jane Reichhold
English Original
fire and ice
in the obsidian
the memory
of flowing lava
under new-fallen snow
Ardea, 5, 2015
Jane Reichhold
Chinese Translation (Traditional)
黑曜石中
的火與冰
新的積雪之下
熔岩流淌
的記憶
Chinese Translation (Simplified)
黑曜石中
的火与冰
新的积雪之下
熔岩流淌
的记忆
Bio Sketch
Jane Reichhold was born as Janet Styer in 1937 in Lima , Ohio , USA . She had published over thirty books of haiku, renga, tanka, and translations. Her latest tanka book, Taking Tanka Home was translated into Japanese by Aya Yuhki. Her most popular book is Basho The Complete Haiku by Kodansha International. As founder and editor of AHA Books, Jane also published Mirrors: International Haiku Forum, Geppo, for the Yuki Teikei Haiku Society, and she had co-edited with Werner Reichhold, Lynx for Linking Poets since 1992. Lynx went online in 2000 in AHApoetry.com the web site Jane started in 1995. Since 2006 she had maintained an online forum – AHAforum
Saturday, January 17, 2026
Butterfly Dream: Hero’s Monument Haiku by Dimitar Anakiev
English Original
beneath the foot
of the hero’s monument
the tourist’s shadow
Frogpond, 23:3, 2000
Dimitar Anakiev
Chinese Translation (Traditional)
英雄紀念碑
的腳下
遊客的影子
Chinese Translation (Simplified)
英雄纪念碑
的脚下
游客的影子
Bio sketch
Dimitar Anakiev (aka Kamesan 亀さん, b. 1960 in Belgrade) poet, writer and filmmaker, began to write and publish poetry at the age of 13, and began writing haiku in 1985. He is the “father“ of many Balkan haiku projects such as Haiku Novine (Serbia) and Prijatelj and Apokalipsa haiku edition (Slovenia). He is a co-founder of World Haiku Association and co-editor of Knots: An Anthology of Southeatern European Haiku Poetry. His awards include the European Award: The Medal of Franz Kafka, The Museum of Haiku Literature Award, Haiku Society of America annual Merit Book Award and prizes from Mainichi Daily News, Daily Yomiuri (both Tokyo) and Azami (Osaka). He has also won several film awards, including the National Slovenian Award for best documentary film.
Friday, January 16, 2026
Butterfly Dream: Blue Winter Sky Haiku by Bruce Ross
English Original
blue winter sky
the little peck holes
up a pine tree
Summer Drizzles, 2005
Bruce Ross
Chinese Translation (Traditional)
冬日藍天
一棵松樹上
啄出的小洞
Chinese Translation (Simplified)
冬日蓝天
一棵松树上
啄出的小洞
Bio Sketch
Bruce Ross, Ph.D., former president of the HSA, was the editor of anthologies such as the seminal Haiku Moment and, more recently, co-editor of A Vast Sky. He was the founding editor of the online Autumn Moon Haiku Journal, and He has authored many collections of haiku and haibun.
Thursday, January 15, 2026
Poetic Musings: Ulysses Butterfly Tanka by Chen-ou Liu
shadowing
a Ulysses butterfly
to this mountain trail
of many twists and turns ...
at last Time leaves me alone
Honorable Mention, 2025 Fujisan Tanka Contest
Japanese Translation:
幸運の瑠璃蝶追いて山道をゆけども時間にとり残されて
Chen-ou Liu
Commentary: The tanka frames pursuit as a meditative act, with the speaker “shadowing” a Ulysses butterfly whose vivid, elusive flight draws attention away from the self and into motion. The butterfly’s name invokes Odysseus, subtly transforming the mountain trail’s “many twists and turns” into a miniature odyssey shaped by wandering rather than destination. As the trail mirrors both the butterfly’s erratic path and a life’s nonlinear course, time stretches and loosens through sustained attention. The ellipsis marks a pause of duration and effort, allowing the reader to feel the long following before the poem’s quiet turn. When “Time leaves me alone,” the moment reads as a hard-won release, achieved through immersion in beauty, movement, and myth-inflected presence.
Wednesday, January 14, 2026
A Room of My Own: Tel Aviv’s Sunset Tanka
Against the Drowning Noise of Other Words, CCLXVII: "Israelis leaving in record numbers"
I turn, turning back
to see Tel Aviv’s sunset
for the last time ...
this new neighbor’s words fade
in Toronto's snowfall
FYI: +972 Magazine, January 7 2026: Why Israelis are leaving in record numbers
Over 150,000 citizens have left the country in the past two years alone — many of them with a one-way ticket and no plans of returning.
And this tanka is a sequel to the following:
Against the Drowning Noise of Other Words, CCXI: "beach party and booms"
written in response to The New Yorker, July 28, 2025: Israel’s Zones of Denial
Tel Aviv's beach party
the faint boom, boom, boom
from Gaza
Added: Against the Drowning Noise of Other Words, CCLXVIII: "incarceration crisis"
hands starfished
against detention windows --
candlelights swell
FYI: Haaretz, January 14 2026: Mass Arrests With Nowhere to Hold Them: Overcrowding Deepens Israel's Incarceration Crisis
A growing number of Palestinians suspected of illegal entry are being held in police custody in overcrowded cells, even told to 'defecate on each other.'
And this is a sequel to the following:
Against the Drowning Noise of Other Words, CCLI: "Sde Teiman"
crimson twilight
at the edge of Sde Teiman
a scream snaps in two
FYI: +972 Magazine, Independent Journalism from Israel-Palestine, NewsLetter, Nov. 18, 2025: Torture, neglect, and starvation: new data reveals 98 Palestinian deaths in Israeli custody
Added: Against the Drowning Noise of Other Words, CCLXIX: "smoky moon"
from charred trees
to ruins of empty houses
smoky moon over Gaza
Added: Against the Drowning Noise of Other Words, CCLXX: "the yellow line"
a ponytailed girl
holds her brother’s hand
to search for firewood ...
"pop, pop" near the yellow line
take out the hidden threat
FYI: Haaretz, Jan. 15 2026: Three Months Into Gaza Cease-fire: Israel Expands Control and Razes Neighborhoods
Added:
still-born birthday
the sparkling window frost
in her nursery
Added:
for "Heated Rivalry" stars Ilya Rozanov and Shane Hollander
hockey stars
fight each other on the ice
then burn red-hot
elsewhere -- eyes after eyes
glued to the screen, sparkling
Tuesday, January 13, 2026
Butterfly Dream: Shaved Head Haiku by Susan Bonk Plumridge
English Original
shaved head
making friends
with the wind
Failed Haiku, 7: 77, May 2022
Susan Bonk Plumridge
Chinese Translation (Traditional)
剃光的頭
與風
做朋友
Chinese Translation (Simplified)
剃光的头
与风
做朋友
Bio Sketch
Susan Bonk Plumridge has been writing haiku since 2018. She keeps a record of what has been published on her blog www.plumbonkers.blogspot.ca Susan enjoys long walks in the woods near her home in London, Canada.
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