Biting NOT Barking: Refugee Train Haiku by Debbie Strange

English Original

refugee train

small hands starfished

against the glass

 

First Place, 2024 Triveni Awards

Debbie Strange

Chinese Translation (Traditional)

難民列車

小手像海星一樣張開

緊貼著玻璃

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

难民列车

小手像海星一样张开

紧贴着玻璃

Bio Sketch

Debbie Strange is a chronically ill Canadian short form poet, haiga artist, and photographer. Snapshot Press released her first full-length haiku collection, Random Blue Sparks, in 2024. It received 3rd Place honours in the 2025 Haiku Society of America’s Merit Book Awards. An archive of awards and publications can be accessed at http://debbiemstrange.blogspot.ca/ and you are welcome to follow her @Debbie_Strange on X and @debbiemstrange on Instagram.

Butterfly Dream: Wash of Pink Haiku by Rachel Sutcliffe

English Original

sunrise

a wash of pink

on the rose

Presence, 63,  2019

Rachel Sutcliffe

Chinese Translation (Traditional)

日出

玫瑰花的一抹

粉紅色

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

日出

玫瑰花的一抹

粉红色

Bio Sketch

Rachel Sutcliffe suffered from a serious immune disorder for over sixteen years. Throughout that time, writing was her therapy, and it kept her from going insane. She was an active member of the British Haiku Society and was published in various journals, including Prune Juice, Failed Haiku, and Hedgerow.

A Room of My Own: Another Snowstorm Tanka

another snowstorm …

in a world of one color

I watch passersby

each of us drifting

alone together

Added: 

a gray-haired man

slumps against the alley wall

behind a tavern

clouds of his breath rise

and drift into the dark

Added:

red tip of a cigarett

between missile sirens --

darkness among stars

Added:

between sirens  

the moonlit alley holds  

a stray’s cry

Added:

in silence

I rehearse my script again

outside the job fair

daffodil heads peek out 

from a patch of snow

Added: Trump Empire, Inc, LXXXVIII

first "pop, pop, pop"  

then lies layered with cement ...

ICE on the beat

Added: Trump Empire, Inc, LXXXIX

to camera lights

the peanut-brained man vows, 

"I bend to no one ..."

lineups snake at the pumps

and at food banks too

Added: No More Fairy Tales, LI

It’s March Weather

Hawaii floods and Alabama snows. In the Northeast, temperatures flip-flop daily while the West Coast burns under a red-hot heatwave. With the TV on mute, I stare through the window at the twilight, grey as ash.

coal-soot haze rests

on scattered farmhouses

Four More Years askew

Poetic Musings: Haze Tanka by Susan Constable

in memory of Susan Constable

an early supporter of NeverEnding Story, who passed away on the evening of March 18.

ocean salt

spatters the windows

by winter’s end

I peer through a haze

of might-have-beens

The Eternity of Waves, 2017

Susan Constable

Commentary: This tanka follows the classic structure beautifully, beginning with a sharp, physical image in Ls 1-3 before shifting into an emotional realization in Ls 4&5. The transition in L 3, “by winter’s end,” is both thematically and emotionally effective. It moves the reader from the external, cold grime of the world into the internal reflection of the self.

The choice of “ocean salt” as the metaphor for the haze of regrets is tactile and resonant. Salt is both abrasive and preserving, adding depth to the concept of “might-have-beens.” It's a fitting symbol for regret: something that wears down but also lingers, much like the residue of the past.

And while the phrase “might-have-beens” can sometimes verge on cliché, it feels earned here. Grounded in the image of the dirty window, it resonates with the specific end-of-winter lethargy—where everything feels slightly blurred and stagnant, and the weight of what could have been lingers in the cold, quiet air.

Butterfly Dream: End of Winter Haiku by Bruce Ross

English Original

darkness

in the old growth pine

end of winter

The Mainichi, April 2, 2019

Bruce Ross

Chinese Translation (Traditional)

古老松樹林中

的一片黑暗

冬季結束

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

古老松树林中

的一片黑暗

冬季结束

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.

Butterfly Dream: Low Winter Moon Haiku by Elliot Nicely

English Original

low winter moon

the silhouettes

of shuttered steel mills

Frogpond, 48:3, 2025

Elliot Nicely

Chinese Translation (Traditional)

冬日低垂的月光

廢棄鋼鐵廠

的殘垣斷壁輪廓

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

冬日低垂的月光

废弃钢铁厂

的残垣断壁轮廓

Bio Sketch

Elliot Nicely is the author of Sine Qua Non (Red Moon Press, 2024). He resides in Lakewood, Ohio.

Biting NOT Barking: Bloody Hand Print Haiku by Denis M. Garrison

English Original

back home after work --

on my fresh-painted front door

a bloody hand print

Fire Blossoms, 2008

Denis M. Garrison

Chinese Translation (Traditional)

下班回家 --

在我剛粉刷過的前門上

一個血淋淋的手印

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

下班回家 --

在我刚粉刷过的前门上

一个血淋淋的手印

Bio Sketch

Denis M. Garrison was born in Iowa, USA, and his childhood was spent in Japan, youth in Europe, Africa and western Pacific. His poetry has been widely published. Garrison’s print collections include First Winter Rain,Eight Shades of Blue, Hidden River, Sailor in the Rain and Other Poems, and Fire Blossoms.

Butterfly Dream: New Snow Haiku by LeRoy Gorman

English Original

sun on new snow

the boy who died

calls to wake me

Presence, 46, 2012

Leroy Gorman

Chinese Translation (Traditional)

陽光灑在新雪

這個死去的男孩

呼喚我醒來

    

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

阳光洒在新雪

这个死去的男孩

呼唤我醒来

Bio Sketch

LeRoy Gorman lives in Napanee, Ontario. His poetry, much of it minimalist and visual, has appeared in publications and exhibitions worldwide. He is the author of two dozen poetry books and chapbooks. He is also the winner of the 2017 Dwarf Stars Award

A Room of My Own: Cinematic Fray Tanka

for the 98th Oscars ceremony

in dim light

battle after battle …

muffled cries

screams, laughter, clapping hands

in this cinematic fray

FYI: L2 is a thematic and emotional play on the title of Paul Thomas Anderson’s comedic political thriller, One Battle After Another, a major movie with 13 nominations and six wins including Best Picture.

Added: Politics of Distraction, II

The Czech Shopkeeper Story Re-told

A row of neon shop windows in Washington, D.C., each holding a full moon. Above the doorframe hangs a sign: "Prices are stable. Everything’s fine."

fireball-lit sky

the reach of winter night

over Tehran

FYI: The title alludes to the parable of the shopkeeper (or greengrocer) in Václav Havel's 1978 essay “The Power of the Powerless: Citizens Against the State in Central Eastern Europe,” where a shopkeeper posts the slogan “Workers of the world, unite!” to signal obedience to the system; such everyday rituals help sustain political lies.

This is a sequel to the first entry of  Politics of Distraction

oil-dark clouds

hang heavy over Tehran —

reporters squint

at row after row of black bars

in Epstein’s redacted files

NeverEnding Story, March 10 2026

(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)

Added: Politics of Distraction, III

Ramadan moon

sliced by one jet's contrail

after another

ink-dark columns rising

from tankers near Hormuz

Added: Against the Drowning Noise of Other Words, CCLXXXVII: "Ramadan sunset"

the last glow

of Ramadan sunset —

fingers lick hummus 

Added: 

Make Love, Not War...

candles in drifting snow

flicker, yet hold

FYI: "Make love, not war" is a legendary 1960s counterculture slogan advocating for peace, love, and sexual liberation over violence and conflict, primarily opposing the Vietnam War.

Added:

our street overflows

with dogs, laughter and snow balls

first day of March break

Added:

snow on snow ...

the shadow curls up

with me

Added:

a raven settles

on the burnt olive branch—

winter deepens

Added:

both sides

of a border crossing

honking geese

Poetic Musings: Wren Song Haiku by Claire Everett

just-fledged light

chips of wren song

from the log pile

Presence, 45, 2012

Claire Everett

Commentary: L1 functions as a setup. The adjective “just-fledged” normally describes a young bird that has only recently left the nest. Applied to “light,” it subtly personifies the dawn, suggesting its tentative, newly emerging quality—the fragile, slightly unsteady beginning of day.

Ls 2&3 introduce the action. The visual image of “chips” from a log pile is linked with the auditory image of “wren song.” This association is particularly effective: the song seems to break off in small, bright fragments, like woodchips. The result is a form of synesthesia, where sound is made to feel tactile and physical, giving the bird’s music a crisp, material presence in the scene.

Butterfly Dream: Moonlight and Prayers Haiku by Susan Constable

English Original

moonlight fingering the blue of her prayers

Acorn, 39, Fall 2017

Susan Constable

Chinese Translation (Traditional)

月光輕撫她祈禱中流露出的鬱悶

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

月光轻抚她祈祷中流露出的郁闷

Bio Sketch

Susan Constable’s haiku and tanka appear in numerous journals and anthologies. Her tanka collection, The Eternity of Waves, was one of the winning entries in the eChapbook Awards for 2012. As well as being the tanka editor of A Hundred Gourds from 2012-2016, she’s co-edited two anthologies and has judged haiku and senryu contests. 

Butterfly Dream: First Ice Haiku by Jacek Margolak

English Original

first ice --

last year’s calendar

on the kitchen wall

Jacek Margolak 

Chinese Translation (Traditional)

第一次結冰

掛在廚房牆上

是去年的日曆

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

第一次结冰

挂在厨房墙上

是去年的日历

Bio Sketch

Born in Rzeszów, Jacek Margolak now lives in Kielce, Poland. A printing technologist by profession, he has spent nearly twenty years writing Japanese short-form poetry, sometimes blending haiku with prose. His work appears in leading international journals and has received awards in Polish and Japanese competitions. 

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.”

Hot News: New Milestone, 3. 2 M Pageviews and Call for Submissions

My Dear Friends:

NeverEnding Story reached a new milestone late last night: 3.2 M pageveiws (FYI: On January 30, 2026, it reached 3 M pageviews) 

I’m grateful to everyone who has shared this poetry journey. NeverEnding Story now seeks haiku and tanka with teeth—poems that bite hard.

My belief is that art should not be comforting; for comfort, we have mass entertainment and one another. Art should provoke, disturb, arouse our emotions, expand our sympathies in directions we may not anticipate and may not even wish.

-- Joyce Carol Oates, who views art as a form of exploration and, at times, a transgression:

The accepted haiku and tanka will be translated into Chinese and posted on NeverEnding Story and X. And you are welcome to follow me on X at @ericcoliu (5 following, 5,090 followers).

on the windowsill

two canaries singing

to each other

I tweet and retweet

NeverEnding Story  😋

A writer is somebody for whom writing is more difficult than it is for other people.

-- Thomas Mann

A cursor blinks in the white of my screen.

darkness pools around stars

words I never said

words I never sent

A professional writer is an amateur who didn’t quit. 

-- Richard Bach

And

Every time a poem is written, every time a short story is written, it is written not by cunning, but by belief. The beauty, the something, the little charm of the thing to be, is more felt than known.

-- Robert Frost

Look forward to reading your poetry

Chen-ou

Added: I just found this "reading, writing and human connection" remark:

These days, it’s easy to feel that we’ve fallen out of connection with one another and with the earth and with reason and with love. I mean: we have. But to read, to write, is to say that we still believe in, at least, the possibility of connection.

George Saunders, A Swim in a Pond in the Rain: In Which Four Russians Give a Master Class on Writing, Reading, and Life, 2021.

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.