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.

To the Lighthouse: Yūgen (幽玄)

Yūgen is often described as a profound, subtle awareness of mystery—something partially hidden, suggested rather than stated, that evokes depths beyond explanation. Rather than revealing everything, a haiku embodying yūgen invites the reader to sense what lies just beyond perception.

For example:

silhouette

through the closed shade

a crow's caw

NeverEnding Story, June 17, 2026

Marion Alice Poirier

In Ls 1&2, the narrator perceives only an indistinct form from indoors. The closed shade establishes both physical and psychological separation, allowing the silhouette to remain vague and inaccessible rather than fully seen.

L 3 introduces the sudden caw of a crow, punctuating the surrounding stillness. Because the visual scene remains unresolved, the sound deepens the mystery rather than explaining it. The haiku evokes the unsettling sense that something is present but ultimately beyond our reach. Its emotional depth arises precisely from what remains concealed.

Two examples from my own haiku explore yūgen in contemporary urban settings:

silhouette

across storefront ATM glow

moths circling

This haiku approaches yūgen through a stark, modern cityscape. Ls 1&2 place an unidentified silhouette against the cold, artificial light of a storefront ATM, creating an atmosphere of isolation and concealed identity.

L3 introduces the restless circling of moths. Their repetitive motion echoes the narrator's lingering gaze, as if both observer and insects are drawn toward something they cannot fully comprehend. By never revealing who the figure is or what they are doing, the haiku resists narrative closure, leaving the reader with an enduring sense of mystery unfolding in the stillness of night.

beneath the billboard

a shopping cart of blankets

frost in the moonlight

This haiku evokes yūgen by contrasting the imposing scale of commercial imagery with quiet human vulnerability. Ls 1&2 establish a bleak urban landscape: a towering billboard overlooks a shopping cart filled with blankets, suggesting a makeshift shelter.

L3 introduces frost illuminated by moonlight, transforming an ordinary city scene into one of quiet, almost transcendent stillness. By never directly mentioning the person beneath the blankets, the haiku preserves their dignity while inviting the reader to contemplate the unseen life hidden beneath the coverings. The mystery is not merely about who is there, but about the unknowable depth of another person's existence—a quality at the heart of yūgen.

Butterfly Dream: Tree Hollow Haiku by Simon Hanson

English Original

tree hollow

the ins and outs

of another world

Desert Stones, 2018

  

Simon Hanson 

Chinese Translation (Traditional)

樹洞

另一個世界

的來龍去脈

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

树洞

另一个世界

的来龙去脉

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. 

One Man's Maple Moon: Fruit Tanka by Kala Ramesh

English Original

mother laments

being old and bent

I see her

as a curved branch

laden with fruit  

the unseen arc, 2017  

Kala Ramesh 

Chinese Translation (Traditional) 

母親感嘆

年老體衰

我瞅見她

如同一條彎曲的枝條

掛滿果實

Chinese Translation (Simplified) 

母亲感叹

年老体衰

我瞅见她

如同一条弯曲的枝条

挂满果实

Bio Sketch

Kala Ramesh is the Founder and Director of Triveni Haikai India, the Founder and Managing Editor of haikuKATHA Journal, an anthologist, and an external faculty member of Symbiosis International University Pune, where she taught a 60-hour haikai course from 2012 to 2021 — a first in India. She has organised eight major haiku festivals and to bring haiku into everyday spaces, Kala has initiated several successful projects in India.

A Room of My Own: Lovers' Quarrel Haiku

lovers' quarrel  

in the summer twilight  

knotted branches sway

FYI: This could be read as a sequel/counter-poem to my haiku below:

dappled trail 

a summer breeze humming

our sweet nothings 

NeverEnding Story, June 28 2025

Added:

summer stars 

tangled in my love's hair: 

skinny-dipping 

Added:

starry midnight ...

summer rain

into the silence

Added:

rippling sunset

the far-off sound

of a fishing boat

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

summer dusk

fishing boats set their nets

around the sun

First Place, Fifth Setouchi Matsuyama Photo Haiku Contest

Marietta Jane McGregor

Added:

late afternoon light

the snarl 

of lawn mowers

Added:

monsoon rain

my toddler wanders

from room to room

One Man's Maple Moon: Cosmetics Tanka by Margaret Chula

English Original

those half-used tubes

of her cosmetics

why did I keep them?

rubbing in face cream

I feel my mother’s bones

Winter Deepens, 2018

Margaret Chula 

Chinese Translation (Traditional)

那些用過一半的

她的化妝品

為什麼還要留著它們？

當塗抹乳霜時

我感覺到母親的骨頭

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

那些用过一半的

她的化妆品

为什么还要留着它们？

当涂抹乳霜时

我感觉到母亲的骨头

Bio Sketch

 

Margaret Chula has published two collections of tanka: Always Filling, Always Full and Just This. She has promoted tanka through her one-woman dramatization, “Three Women Who Loved Love”, which traveled to Krakow, New York, Boston, Portland, Ottawa, and Ogaki, Japan. And from 2011 to 2015, Maggie served as president of the Tanka Society of America.

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).

One Man's Maple Moon: Flicker Tanka by Christine L.Villa

English Original

every now and then

the flicker of a firefly ...

still in my hand

all of you I need

to let go

The Bluebird’s Cry, 2016

Christine L. Villa

Chinese Translation (Traditional)

不時地

螢火蟲閃爍的光芒 ...

依然在我手中

你的所有一切

我需要現在放手

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

不时地

萤火虫闪烁的光芒 ...

依然在我手中

你的所有一切

我需要现在放手

Bio Sketch

An animated story teller and an artist by nature, Christine L. Villa dabbles in children's writing, Japanese short-form poetry, and photography. She is the founder and editor of Frameless Sky -- a video journal showcasing poets, artists, and musicians in collaborative projects. She blogs her haiku, tanka, and haiga at Blossom Rain.

Poetic Musings: Following the Moon to the Maple Land by Chen-ou Liu

for my first Canada Day, July 1, 2003

Name: Chen-ou Liu (phonic);

Country of Birth: R.O.C.;

(Cross out R.O.C. and fill in Taiwan) 

Place of Birth; Date of Birth; Sex;

simply more technocratic questions

the Immigration Officer needs to pin down my borders.

He is always looking for shortcuts,

more interested in the roadside signposts

than in the landscape that has made me.

The line he wants me confined to

is an analytically recognizable category:

immigrant. My history is meticulously stamped.

Now, you're legally a landed immigrant.

Take a copy of A Newcomer’s Introduction to Canada.

from Lake Ontario

I scoop the Taiwan moon

distant sirens

Contemporary Haibun Online, 10:2, July 2014

Chen-ou Liu

Commentary: The title and dedication, "Following the Moon to the Maple Land / for my first Canada Day, July 1, 2003," immediately establish a dual physical and symbolic journey. By grounding the piece in a specific national holiday, the author infuses the narrative with cultural resonance, allowing the historical weight of the date to speak for itself without heavy-handed exposition.

The opening lines mimic the sterile, clinical language of official immigration forms. This technical data entry stands in stark, poignant contrast to the narrator’s rich inner life. The parenthetical intrusion, "(Cross out R.O.C. and fill in Taiwan)," instantly injects geopolitical and personal complexity into the scene. Through a simple bureaucratic instruction, the text captures a profound crisis of identity, sovereignty, and displaced history.

The haibun’s emotional core lies in its central metaphor:

He is always looking for shortcuts,

more interested in the roadside signposts

than in the landscape that has made me.

In this layered yet accessible image, "signposts" represent rigid, official categories, while "landscape" embodies lived history, culture, memory, and personal identity. The strength of this passage lies in its emotional restraint. The speaker never explicitly states feelings of diminishment or alienation; instead, the prose trusts the reader to infer the subtle violence of being reduced to a bureaucratic category.

The concluding haiku delivers a powerful, unresolved finish:

from Lake Ontario

I scoop the Taiwan moon

distant sirens

Here, the moon acts as a bridge rather than a barrier. L1 anchors the speaker in their new geographical reality ("Lake Ontario"), while L2 preserves their internal, emotional geography ("Taiwan moon"). The action of "scooping" suggests an active attempt to hold onto one's heritage. Crucially, L3—"distant sirens"—cuts through any potential sentimentality. This auditory disruption yanks the reader back to an unfamiliar, urban present, serving as a reminder that immigration is an ongoing psychological negotiation rather than a static, completed event.

The title itself warrants deeper appreciation. By choosing "Following the Moon to the Maple Land" over explicit prose terms like "immigration," the author favors poetic suggestion over documentary literalism. The "moon" serves as a universal constant linking two distant shores, while "Maple Land" gently invokes Canada through its natural landscape rather than its political borders. This opening choices primes the reader for a narrative focused on emotional topography rather than legal status.

Added: The following is my reflection on Canada Day, 2026

the Maple Leaf

billows on July First …

the added hyphen

weighted with ancestral names

before Canadian

A Room of My Own: Drifting in White Ribbons Tanka

Re-Homing in the Maple Land, XLIII

written on Canada Day Eve

twilight mist

drifting in white ribbons

over the river ...

thoughts of staying or going

tangled in my immigrant past

FYI: This could be read as a sequel to the following gembun

Re-Homing in the Maple Land, XLII

A new life in this promised land of milk and honey, where my veil of forgetfulness drapes like a shroud.

shoppers come and go

“I used to be” in the folds

of my Walmart smile

NeverEnding Story, December 14 2025

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

at winter twilight

should have, could have, would have

are a boulder

rolling down the hill of life

I push it up, and yet ...

Gusts, 39, Spring/Summer 2024

And this tanka could be read as a sequel to my tanka prose below:

The Point of No Return

On the day of my emigration to Canada, a land of maple leaves and snowflakes that will eventually bury my past.

a parting

of summer clouds

mother

lets go of my hand

. . . and of my heart

Ribbons, 16:1, Winter 2020

Added: Re-Homing in the Maple Land, XLIV

a fork in the road —  

thoughts of returning

to my homeland

as a blue butterfly veers

into the narrower trail

Butterfly Dream: Mountain Path Haiku by Dave Read

English Original

mountain path ...

I slip a little

into the past

Fifty at Fifty: My Haiku, 2021

Dave Read 

Chinese Translation (Traditional)

山路 ...

我漸漸地回到

過去

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

山路 ...

我渐渐地回到

过去

Bio Sketch

Dave Read is a Canadian poet living in Calgary.  He writes short poems with an emphasis on the Japanese genres of haiku, senryu, tanka, and haibun.  His work has been published in many journals, including dust devils: The Red Moon Anthology of English-Language Haiku 2016.  You can visit his blog, davereadpoetry.blogspot.ca.

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, CCXCX: "one thousand cranes"

cherry blossoms

and yet Gazan children ... 

one thousand cranes

Butterfly Dream: Prayer Haiku by Christine L.Villa

English Original

moon cradle

the prayer that becomes

your lullaby

The Bluebird’s Cry, 2016

Christine L. Villa

Chinese Translation (Traditional)

月之搖籃

你的搖籃曲

成為祈禱

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

月之摇篮

你的摇篮曲

成为祈祷

Bio Sketch

An animated story teller and an artist by nature, Christine L. Villa dabbles in children's writing, Japanese short-form poetry, and photography. She is the founder and editor of Frameless Sky -- a video journal showcasing poets, artists, and musicians in collaborative projects. She blogs her haiku, tanka, and haiga at Blossom Rain.

Butterfly Dream: Moonglow Haiku by Debbie Strange

English Original

moonglow

a thousand jellyfish

in an ocean of sky

A Year Unfolding, 2017 

Debbie Strange

Chinese Translation (Traditional)

月光

千隻水母在倒映天空

的汪洋大海

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

月光

千只水母在倒映天空

的汪洋大海

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.