A Room of My Own: Tip of My Tongue Haiku

strawberry between her teeth the tip of my tongue

Added:

twilit orchard

one bite of an apple 

from her hand

Added:

Valentine's night  

between clouds of breath I lean 

to a stranger's kiss

Added:

clouds of breath

between roses and three words 

Valentine's night

To the Lighthouse: Toriaswase (Association)

on the blade of grass

drops of dew roll into one

dream within a dream

5-7-5 Haiku Journal, February 2 2026

Chen-ou Liu

The haiku begins with a concrete, sensory image: dewdrops rolling along a blade of grass (Ls 1&2). It then shifts toward an abstract realization in L3—"dream within a dream." This movement from the tangible to the metaphysical reflects the classic haiku technique of toriawase (association), in which two seemingly distinct elements resonate with and illuminate one another.

The verb phrase “roll into one” in L2 creates a gentle sense of motion and unity. It bridges the physical merging of droplets with the subtle blurring of reality suggested in L3. The literal coalescence of water becomes a metaphor for dissolving boundaries—between self and world, waking and dreaming.

Ending on “dream within a dream,” an allusion to Ryōkan’s well-known haiku below, adds further depth and poignancy. It gestures toward the ephemeral nature of existence while maintaining a tone of quiet acceptance:

This world—

a dream inside a dream.

And yet, how lovely.

Ryōkan

This dewdrop haiku also recalls James Clavell’s reflection—adapted from a Japanese death poem:

Like dew I was born.

Like dew I vanish.

And all that I have ever done

is but a dream within a dream.

In both echoes, dew functions as a classic symbol of transience. The merging drops become not only an image of physical unity, but a meditation on impermanence, illusion, and the fragile beauty of being.

Butterfly Dream: Old Guitar Haiku by Natalia Kuznetsova

English Original

fifty years on ...

dad's old guitar and me

get in tune at last

"Haiku Dialogue," The Haiku Foundation, October 8, 2025

Natalia Kuznetsova

Chinese Translation (Traditional)

五十年過去了 ...

爸爸的老吉他和我

終於合拍了

Chinese Translation (Simplified) 

五十年过去了 ...

爸爸的老吉他和我

终于合拍了

Bio Sketch

Living in Moscow, Russia, Natalia Kuznetsova is a teacher of English and freelance interpreter. Before discovering the haiku world, she wrote poetry in Russian. She started writing tanka and mostly haiku in English in 2007, and participated in numerous competitions worldwide and won some awards. She contributes regularly to World Haiku Review, Asahi Haikuist Network, Daily Haiku, Poetry Pea and other traditional and on-line publications. She was included on the list of "European Top 100 Most Creative Haiku Authors" from 2010 to 2023.

Butterfly Dream: Absence Haiku by Daniela Misso

English Original

waking 

to the silence of snow …

his absence

Outstanding Haiku, 2nd Oku-no-hosomichi Sōka Matsubara International Haiku Competition

Daniela Misso

Chinese Translation (Traditional) 

醒來

面對落雪的寂靜 ...

他不在身邊

Chinese Translation (Simplified) 

醒来

面对落雪的寂静 ...

他不在身边

Bio Sketch

Daniela Misso lives with her husband and son in Umbria, Italy where she composes verses. Winner of national and international competitions, she has many haiku published in magazines. She is the author of the book, Connessioni Sottili, ed. FusibiliaLibri, 2021.

One Man's Maple Moon: Breasts and Toes Tanka by Kirsty Karkow

English Original

the sound

of splashing in the tub!

the longing

to rush in and soap

your floating breasts and toes

                                    

Eucalypt, 5, 2008

Kirsty Karkow

Chinese Translation (Traditional)

浴缸裡

嘩啦嘩啦的水聲

渴望

衝進去用香皂擦洗

你浮起的乳房和腳趾

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

浴缸里

哗啦哗啦的水声

渴望

冲进去用香皂擦洗

你浮起的乳房和脚趾

Bio Sketch

Kirsty Karkow lived in Waldoboro, Maine, where she wrote haiku, sijo, tanka, and other short forms. Lyrical, poignant, and spare, her poetry reflected a rich and deep sense of place and spirit. Her haiku have won the Mainichi and the R.H Blyth Award and placed in other contests. And she had two best-selling books in print: water poems: haiku, tanka and sijo and shorelines: haiku, haibun and tanka , published by Black Cat Press.

Biting NOT Barking: War Crime Haiku by Garry Eaton

English Original

war crime

he puts a gun to his head

and kills them all

Kamesan's World Haiku Anthology on War, Violence and Human Rights Violation, 2017

Garry Eaton

Chinese Translation (Traditional) 

戰爭罪行

他用槍指著自己的頭

然後殺死他們所有的人

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

战争罪行

他用枪指着自己的头

然后杀死他们所有的人

Bio Sketch

Garry Eaton was a Canadian poet from British Columbia. He started writing haiku in 2006 and was published occasionally in the major haiku magazines. He volunteered as the digital librarian for The Haiku Foundation Digital Library.

A Room of My Own: Gazan Child's Stare Haiku

Against the Drowning Noise of Other Words, CCLXXXI: "smoky gray and child's stare"

part of winter sky

where pale white turns smoky gray

a Gazan child's stare

Added: Against the Drowning Noise of Other Words, CCLXXXII": "Zeitoun, Gaza’s largest neighbourhood, flattened"

Cooking smoke hangs on with sea air, where wartime memories snag like rusted fishhooks.

first bombless night

with eyes closed, the ones he loves

drift beyond reach

Added:

one glass, then two ...

this winter night darkens

as distant sirens wail

Added:

ten hours of winter

tick-tock still stretching

in the ER clock

FYI: This is a sequel to my haiku below:

waitingroom  t h e  s   t   r   e   t   c   h  o f  t e n  h o u r s

A Hundred Gourds, 5:3, June 2016

Added:

three-week cold snap ...

my heart and mind stretched

by this longing

for blooming snowdrops

and red-winged blackbirds

Added:

squeak, squeaking

of an empty porch swing

the bank notice flips

Poetic Musings: Battle Haiku by Masaoka Shiki

the pear blossoming 

after the battle

this ruined house

The Haiku Handbook, 1985

Masaoka Shiki

Commentary: This wartime haiku effectively employs what William J. Higginson terms the “zoom-lens effect” (The Haiku Handbook, p. 116). Its visual focus shifts from a tight close-up on the “pear blossoming” (L1) to a wider frame that reveals the aftermath of conflict in “after the battle / this ruined house” (Ls 2&3). This movement from intimate natural detail to human devastation deepens its emotional resonance without explicit commentary.

The juxtaposition of “pear blossoming” with “after the battle / this ruined house” suggests the continuation of life in an ordinary, almost indifferent manner. The blossoms do not function as symbols of hope so much as evidence of nature proceeding unperturbed, heightening the quiet brutality of the human ruin beside them.

Finally, the demonstrative “this” in L3 anchors the haiku in an immediate, lived moment rather than an abstract or symbolic landscape. The narrator is not surveying distant ruins but standing directly before one, implicating the reader in the scene and reinforcing the poem’s stark intimacy.

Shiki's haiku reminds me of the following haiku about a burnt house:

On my return from Tsukushi at the close of March, I found that my hut had been destroyed by fire. Looking at the ruins, I composed this verse.

violets here and there

in the ruins

of my burnt house

Haiku Mind: 108 Poems to Cultivate Awareness and Open Your Heart

Shokyu-ni

For detailed comments, see "Poetic Musings: Burnt House Haiku by Shokyu-ni" 

Special Feature: Selected Poems on the Normalization of Genocide of Palestinians

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

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 New Verse News, November 9 2025

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

Feb. 4 2026: 24 Palestinians Killed by Israeli Fire [in one Day] in Gaza in Ongoing Wave of Strikes, Medics Say

Israeli strikes and artillery shelling were reported throughout Wednesday, wounding dozens and killing at least eight children and a paramedic. 

Jan. 29 2026: IDF Accepts Gaza Health Ministry Death Toll of Over 71,000 Palestinians Killed During the War

Although many international experts have accepted the Health Ministry's data as reliable, and even conservative relative to the true death toll, Israel had refused to accept the Health Ministry's count until now

The IDF has accepted the estimate of the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry that approximately 71,000 Palestinians were killed during the Israel-Gaza war, noting that the number does not include missing residents who are potentially buried under rubble.

No state should join any initiative except those led by the United Nations or mandated by it, and those based on international law and the Palestinian right to self determination. 

The Peace Council fails on both counts. States committed to the rule of law should push to dismantle it immediately, not join it.

-- Francesca Albanese

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

NeverEnding Story, January 19 2026

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

written in response to Haaretz, Jan. 25 2026: A West Bank Bus Trip Through 'the Best Documented Ethnic Cleansing in History'

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

NeverEnding Story, January 26 2026

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

NeverEnding Story, January 26 2026

 

Against the Drowning Noise of Other Words, CCLXXV: "New Gaza"

New Gaza: a coastal strip, replete with high-rises and resorts.

newsfeed scroll:

ripped tents after ripped tents

in freezing rain

NeverEnding Story, January 27 2026

To conclude today's "Special Feature" post, I would like to share with you the latest entry of Against the Drowning Noise of Other Words, CCLXXVII: "Groundhog Day loop"

Phase two of the Gaza ceasefire plan rolls on the news ticker. 

fireball by fireball

day and night, night and day:

Groundhog Day loop

FYI: "Groundhog Day Loop:" a plot in which the character is caught in a time loop, doomed to repeat a period of time (often exactly one day) over and over..." Watch the time loop scene from 1993 Groundhog Day.

Added: Against the Drowning Noise of Other Words, CCLXXVIII: "cart of bodies"

Drones buzzing against Gaza's sky tinged orange-red.

a fork in the road

lined with smoky rubble ...

a cart of bodies

Added: Against the Drowning Noise of Other Words, CCLXXIX: "outstretched hands"

A crowd of kids with outstretched hands, metal bowls gleaming in the dust.

a girl's empty stare 

grains scraped from the cracked pot

tumble past the bowl 

Added: Against the Drowning Noise of Other Words, CCLXXX: "wall of fire"

In four minutes, a farmhouse in the West Bank village enveloped in a wall of fire.

blood-stained olive leaves

cinder through the smoky air

laughter greets laughter

Butterfly Dream: Flag Haiku by André Surridge

English Original

evening breeze

a flag releases

its stars

Janice Bostok International Haiku Award 2012

André Surridge 

Chinese Translation (Traditional)

晚風

旗幟飄揚

釋出星辰

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

晚风

旗帜飘扬

释出星辰

Bio Sketch

André Surridge was an award-winning playwright and poet who immigrated to New Zealand from Yorkshire, England in 1972. He was President of the Playwrights Association of New Zealand from 1998-2000. Widely published, some of his awards included: 1995 Minolta Playwriting Award,  2007 Elizabeth Searle Lamb Award, 2008 Tanka Splendor Award, and 2010 Jane Reichhold International prize. And his first collection of haiku ans senryu, one hundred petals, was critically acclaimed in 2019.

One Man's Maple Moon: White Hare Tanka by Fumi Saito

English Original

a white hare

from a snow-covered mountain

when it came out

it was killed

with eyes still open

White Letter Poems, 1998

Fumi Saito

Chinese Translation (Traditional)

來自一座白雪皚皚的山

的一隻白兔

當它跑出來時

就被殺死了

它的眼睛仍然睜著

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

来自一座白雪皑皑的山

的一只白兔

当它跑出来时

就被杀死了

它的眼睛仍然睁着

 

 

Bio Sketch

Daughter of a military officer who was noted for his verse-writing talent, Fumi Saito began writing poetry in the traditional 31-syllable tanka form in her early teens. Her first book of tanka, Fish Songs, published in 1940, immediately established her as a brilliant young poet. She was inducted into the Japan Art Academy in 1993 and invited to serve as meshiudo (a position similar to the Poet Laureate's) at the Imperial Palace in 1997.

To the Lighthouse: Smols , A Haiku Inspired Form

The word smol is an internet slang term derived from small, used affectionately to describe something or someone that is tiny, fragile, and exceptionally adorable. Smols, a haiku-inspired genre created by NeverEnding Story contributor Roberta Beach Jacobson, are ultra-short poems—no more than five words—built on effective juxtaposition.

Selected Smols:

redacting the free wor(l)d

Roberta Beach Jacobson

supernova an explosion of daffodils

Vandana Parashar

inkblot shapeshifting my shadow

Hifsa Ashraf

Arctic snap, sound of white

Chen-ou Liu

dizzying  ...                      

the Tru(mp)-man show

Oscar Luparia

FYI: L2 alludes to the 1998 movie, The Truman Show, about Truman Burbank, an ordinary man who discovers that his entire life, from his hometown to his relationships, is a massive, 24/7 reality television show broadcast globally, with everyone he knows being actors.

sunrise

the thunder

in light

Bonnie J Scherer

snowbound

and still

no vodka

Florin C. Ciobîcă

Added:

hands starfished 

against windows

flicker

Added:

roof icicle

dripping dawnlight

cascade 

Added:

chain-link

  life after 

MAGA Dream

Added:

White House entrance

         No Parking 

A Room of My Own: Winter Stars Haiku

half awake, alone ...

winter stars upon stars 

upon stars

FYI: This haiku could be read as a prequel to the following:

more darkness

more stars

moving on

Frogpond, 34:2, Spring/Summer 2011

Sandra Mooney-Ellerbeck

Added:

the river

curves through winter mist

a man at its edge

Added:

the sound

of screeching tires

twilight chill

Added:

hilltop cross ...

the shape

of this misty night

Butterfly Dream: Last Goodbye Haiku by Laryalee Fraser

English Original

the distance 

light reflects ...

his last goodbye

A Hundred Gourds, 3:1, December 2013

Laryalee Fraser 

Chinese Translation (Traditional)

燈光反射

的距離

他最後的告別

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

灯光反射

的距离

他最后的告别

Bio Sketch

A resident of British Columbia, Canada, Laryalee Fraser was actively engaged in online poetry forums from the mid-1990’s until her death in 2013. Her poetry has been widely published in haiku and tanka journals, and  in 2006, she compiled an online anthology of haiku, "a procession of ripples."

Butterfly Dream: Spring Equinox Haiku by Dru Philippou

English Original

spring equinox

a crack splits

the frozen river

tinywords, 25:1, March 24, 2025

Dru Philippou

Chinese Translation (Traditional)

春分

冰封的河流裂開

一道裂縫

Chinese Translation (Simplified) 

春分

冰封的河流裂开

一道裂缝

Bio Sketch

Dru Philippou lives in northern New Mexico, where hiking in the desert wilderness nourishes her spirit and her writing. Her haibun “Afterlife” won first place in the Haiku Society of America’s 2021 Haibun Awards. Also, her haibun “Pilgrimage” won first place in 2023 in the same contest. She is the author of A Place to Land, a tanka prose memoir.