Special Feature: Selected Poems for Reflections on Remembrance Day

My Dear Readers:

There is a danger that Remembrance Day becomes an annual performance of patriotism and national pride rather than an occasion for honest reflection. We honour the fallen, but do we question deeply enough the wars that claimed their lives, the political decisions that brought them about, or the conflicts that continue to ravage our world today?

Perhaps the most meaningful act of remembrance is to examine the political choices, competing interests, and failures of diplomacy that lead to war—and to recognize that our greatest obligation to those who sacrificed their lives is to work towards a world where peace, justice, and human dignity prevail for all.

Presented here is a selection of poems intended to inspire such reflections, raise difficult questions, and remind us that true remembrance must extend beyond the past to embrace our shared responsibility for the future.

Selected Poems:

               a poppy ...

          a field of poppies!

the hills blowing with poppies!

Michael McClintock

all that remains --

dreams of jungle,

sand, sky

Marilyn Hazelton

camera clicks ...

this great war will end

all wars

Chen-ou Liu

bursts from our guns

the town on the horizon

a brief vision of light

Julien Vocance

          poppies

            again

           & again

           & again

the open fields & the sky

A A Marcoff

talking to the tree

outside the window

about rain, about the war

Marlina Rinzen

War Is Peace

A bruised girl’s hand clutches a slice of bread in pixels, while a news ticker flashes past: "This war to end all wars." 

Remembrance Day

the parade lengthened

by armless vets

Chen-ou Liu

afterwards

nothing else matters

white poppy

Brendon Kent 

FYI: First introduced by British pacifists in 1926, the white poppy is used as a symbol of peace and worn as an alternative to (or complement to) the red poppy for Remembrance Day.

Butterfly Dream: Grave Visiting Haiku by Agnieszka Filipek

English Original

grave visiting ...

lilies of the valley

hang their heads

Under the Bashō, June 15, 2020

Agnieszka Filipek

Chinese Translation (Traditional) 

墓地祭拜 ...

一簇簇的鈴蘭

低垂著頭

Chinese Translation (Simplified) 

墓地祭拜 ...

一簇簇的铃兰

低垂着头

Bio Sketch

Agnieszka Filipek is a Polish–born poet and translator living in Ireland. Her work has been published worldwide. Her poems have appeared in Poetry Ireland Review, Crannóg, The Cicada’s Cry, Chrysanthemum, Shamrock Haiku Journal, Panning for Poems Journal, Haiku Commentary, Under the Bashō Journal, First Frost Journal, and many others.

A Room of My Own: Other Shore Tanka

Re-Homing in the Maple Land, XLV

the north wind

carries my daydream

to the other shore

of this promised land ...

together alone with shadows

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

Re-Homing in the Maple Land, XXXVIII

in this promised land

my immigrant life compressed

to hard working 

and light sleeping between jobs ... 

fresh morning in my broken world 

NeverEnding Story, April 16 2025 

Added:

the seashore lashed 

with winds, rain, high-walled surf ...

this stalled life

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

eye of the hurricane

alone in the dark I look

into my life

Plum Tree Tavern, September 22, 2023

Added: Against the Drowning Noise of Other Words, CCCXXVII: "drone after drone"

drone after drone --

a stream of mud and waste

winds through ripped tents

Added: Against the Drowning Noise of Other Words, CCCXXVIII: "girl's scream"

buzzing overhead

a girl's scream lengthens

this Gazan night

Added: Against the Drowning Noise of Other Words, CCCXXIX: "dripping blood"

farmhouse in flame

an olive tree 

dripping blood

Added: Against the Drowning Noise of Other Words, CCCXXX: "patchwork tents"

one lightning flash

after one lightning flash ...

Gazan patchworked tents

To the Lighthouse: Metaphysical Gendai Haiku

Gendai haiku, or modern haiku, moves beyond the conventions of traditional haiku, embracing experimentation in form, language, imagery and philosophical expression. Within this broader poetic movement, metaphysical gendai haiku explores questions of existence, identity, time, consciousness and the nature of change. Rather than simply capturing a moment in the natural world, it uses poetic compression, metaphor and linguistic innovation to suggest deeper dimensions of human experience and being.

A metaphysical gendai haiku often works through implication rather than explanation. It invites readers to look beyond the literal meaning of words and discover the philosophical ideas and relationships concealed within them. Its brevity becomes a means of concentrating thought, while metaphor provides a bridge between the tangible and the abstract.

Consider the following one-line gendai haiku:

chrysalwas chrysalis chrysalwillbe

Sonic Boom, July 2026

Millicent Bee

This experimental composition offers an intriguing exploration of time, identity and transformation through the "creative manipulation of a SINGLE WORD."

The three interconnected expressions suggest past, present and future:

chrysalwas evokes what has been: a previous state of existence, an earlier identity or a completed phase of being.

chrysalis represents the present: a state of suspension, transition and potential, in which transformation is taking place, even if it remains unseen.

chrysalwillbe anticipates what is yet to come: an emerging identity, an unrealised possibility or a future state of existence.

The chrysalis thus becomes more than a biological image of metamorphosis. It becomes a metaphor for existence itself: the perpetual movement between what we were, what we are and what we may become.

One of the most compelling aspects of this haiku is its linguistic construction. By removing spaces and punctuation, the poet unites the three temporal expressions into a continuous verbal sequence. Past, present and future are no longer clearly separated; instead, they merge into a single unfolding process.

The poem's structure consequently mirrors its subject. Just as a chrysalis contains the possibility of transformation, the central word chrysalis is linguistically transformed by the addition of temporal dimensions. The poem does not simply describe metamorphosis; it enacts metamorphosis through language.

This creates an interesting philosophical resonance with the "concept of becoming": the idea that existence is not a fixed or completed condition but an ongoing process of change. Identity, in this interpretation, is neither entirely defined by the past nor confined to the present. It remains open to the possibilities of the future.

Metaphysical gendai haiku demonstrates how a very brief poetic form can accommodate complex philosophical ideas. Through metaphor, compression and experimentation with language, it can move beyond the immediate observation of nature towards an exploration of existence and consciousness.

Millicent Bee's minimalist haiku, "chrysalwas chrysalis chrysalwillbe" exemplifies this possibility. Its single-line structure, inventive wordplay and temporal ambiguity transform the chrysalis into a symbol of continuous becoming. It is simultaneously an image, a linguistic experiment and a meditation on existence.

Ultimately, the poem suggests that being is never entirely separate from becoming: what we have been, what we are and what we will be are inseparable parts of an ongoing metamorphosis.

One Man's Maple Moon: Latest Wrinkles Tanka by Maria Tosti

English Original

and time goes by

drawing on my face

its latest wrinkles —

who cares if deep inside

still a flight of butterflies

Chrysanthemum journal, 34, April 2025

Maria Tosti 

Chinese Translation (Traditional)

時光流逝

在我臉上留下

最新的皺紋—

誰會在乎如果內心深處

仍有一群蝴蝶翩翩起舞

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

时光流逝

在我脸上留下

最新的皱纹—

谁会在乎如果内心深处

仍有一群蝴蝶翩翩起舞

Bio Sketch

Maria Tosti is an Italian author and artist from Perugia. She made her literary debut in 2014 with a multilingual poetry collection. Although she enjoys exploring various forms of poetry, she is particularly drawn to short poems and Japanese poetic forms. Her passion for photography, drawing, and painting also inspires her to create visual poetry.

Butterfly Dream: Amber Light Haiku by Susan Constable

English Original

amber light

the time it takes

a leaf to fall

The Heron’s Nest, X, 2008

Susan Constable

Chinese Translation (Traditional)

琥珀色陽光

一片葉子飄落

所需的時間

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

琥珀色阳光

一片叶子飘落

所需的时间

Bio Sketch

Susan Constable (1943–2026) was an award-winning Canadian poet whose haiku and tanka appeared widely in global journals. She authored the acclaimed collection The Eternity of Waves and served as tanka editor for A Hundred Gourds (2012–2016). Constable also co-edited multiple anthologies and judged numerous international short-form poetry contests. 

Poetic Musings: The Skin He’s In by Chen-ou Liu

Five days after the New Year’s Eve ball drop and publication of a 300-plus-page report, the senior justice addresses reporters in a firm voice. “Random street checks should end as there is little evidence to show this policing practice is useful in reducing crime, while it disproportionately impacts Black, Indigenous and racialized groups.”

My friend, a long-time Somali community activist, shrugs. “It’ll end up gathering dust on a bookshelf, like all the others.”

twilight chill

a cop's shadow cuts through

a black teen

Contemporary Haibun Online, 17:1, April 2021

Featured in Haibun Gallery of haikuKATHA, October 8 2026

Chen-ou Liu

Commentary by Vidya Premkumar: The haibun places the official language of reform against the lived knowledge of a community that has heard such promises before. The friend’s shrug is devastating precisely because it is so restrained, turning the bookshelf into a graveyard of reports and recommendations. The title works on several levels, pointing to race, embodiment and the inescapable fact that a person is read by the skin he inhabits before he is heard as an individual. The haiku compresses that larger institutional history into one immediate image, where the cop’s shadow becomes an extension of surveillance falling across a young body. What makes the ending linger is the distance between policy language and the black teen standing beneath it, exposed to the same old shadow.

Biting NOT Barking: Gun in Wildflowers Haiku by William J. Higginson

English Original

a gun in the wildflowers

one young man

more or less

The Unswept Path: Contemporary American Haiku, 2005

William J. Higginson

 

Chinese Translation (Traditional)

野花叢中的一把槍

一個年輕人

差不多吧

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

野花丛中的一把枪

一个年轻人

差不多吧

 

Bio Sketch

William J. Higginson (1938–2008) was an influential American haiku poet, translator, editor and teacher. A founding member and former president of the Haiku Society of America, he helped shape the development of English-language haiku. His influential publications include The Haiku Handbook (with Penny Harter), Haiku World and The Haiku Seasons. He was also a dedicated mentor and advocate for haiku internationally.

A Room of My Own: AI and Redundant Souls Tanka

the AI 

lists redundant souls

no one speaks

while packing cardboard boxes 

under unblinking lights

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

Disemployed?

laid off

the autumn gust changes

its direction

unemployed

all these shapes

of winter clouds

job hunting

I step on the spring sun

in a puddle

summer heat

the AI greeter makes out

my fake smile

(note: AI stands for Artificial Intelligence)

Haiku Canada Review, 12:2, October 2018

Added: Trump Empire, Inc.: CI

in dim light

midterm elections news

on mute—

we make love, alone together

in this Trump-noisy world

FYI: The Daily Beast, October 23, 2026: Trump’s Weird Rally Moment Gets Brutal X-Rated Roast

It’s like a burp, a hiccup, and a dry-heave all in one... Sounds like Melania on their wedding night...Trump’s been in so many MRI machines, he now sounds like one. -- Jimmy Fallon

And Irish Stars, October 29 2026: Trump's strange noises during speeches are 'neurological dysfunction,' psychologist claims

Forensic psychologist Dr. John Paul Garrison suggested that the strange noises Donald Trump has been making at his rallies could be a result of "neurological dysfunction."

Added: Trump Empire, Inc.: CII

droning nonstop

with the neighbor's tv

broadcasting

midterm elections news:

the new data center

FYI: NPR, September 21 2026: The data center backlash is reshaping American politics

With striking speed, the widespread debate around data centers has become a fault line in American communities, cutting across political parties, splitting constituencies and forging unexpected alliances.

In city halls and county commission chambers, east to west and north to south, people are squaring off against their local representatives.

November 1 2026: Data centers are on everyone's minds going into Election Day

Added: Trump Empire, Inc.: CIII

crow after crow

on the White House rooftop

Donald Trumped

Added: Trump Empire, Inc.: CIV

Bluenami

a kyoka-inflected tanka set for the MAGA diehards

on the White House lawn

this golfball-brained man blares

Triumphal Arch

and Reflecting Pool ...

state after state turning blue

in fading light

cameras click, click, click --

with a meaty smile

this golfball-brained man wears

a red-lettered VETO hat

Added:

shop windows

reflecting the other side

of the street:

a silver-haired man

and his paper cup

Added: Against the Drowning Noise of Other Words, CCCXXV: "nowhere, everywhere"

nowhere

village homes

everywhere 

smoky fog

Added: Against the Drowning Noise of Other Words, CCCXXVI: Gazan girl's scream

lost at last

among smoky rubble

a Gazan girl's scream

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

Against the Drowning Noise of Other Words, CCCXX: "witnessing"

roaring attack drones

drown out midnight screams --

surrounded by fire

a Gazan girl in red

witnessing her mother ...

NeverEnding Story, October 7 2026

Butterfly Dream: Kaleidoscope Haiku by Ellen Compton

English Original

kaleidoscope

the little sound of a star

shattering

Modern Haiku, 23:1, 1992

Ellen Compton

Chinese Translation (Traditional)

萬花筒

一顆破碎星星

的細微聲響

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

万花筒

一颗破碎星星

的细微声响

Bio Sketch

Ellen Compton was an award-winning haiku poet with a background in visual and theatre arts. Her haiku  collection, Gathering Dusk, received a Snapshot Press Book Award. And she was an editor emerita of The Red Moon Anthology series and a founding member of Towpath. Ellen credited her childhood in the Ohio River Valley for her deep love of the natural world and for her awareness of its fragility. 

One Man's Maple Moon: Sedation Tanka by Michael McClintock

English Original

peppering

the morning egg

I work through

yesterday’s sedation

and my gift of bad news

Second Place, San Francisco International Haiku, Senryu, and Tanka Contest, 2012

Michael McClintock

Chinese Translation (Traditional)

撒胡椒粉

在早晨的雞蛋

我努力克服

昨天鎮靜劑的藥效

以及我收到的壞消息

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

撒胡椒粉

在早晨的鸡蛋

我努力克服

昨天镇静剂的药效

以及我收到的坏消息

Bio Sketch

Michael McClintock's lifework in haiku, tanka, and related literature spanned over four decades. His many contributions to the field included six years as president of the Tanka Society of America (2004-2010) and contributing editor, essayist, and poet for dozens of journals, anthologies, landmark collections and critical studies. McClintock lived in Clovis, California, where he worked as an independent scholar, consultant for public libraries, and poet. Meals at Midnight [tanka], Sketches from the San Joaquin [haiku] and Streetlights: Poetry of Urban Life in Modern English Tanka, were some of his recent titles.

Special Feature: Selected Halloween Haiku for Your Reading "Pleasure"

My Dear Readers:

It’s Halloween, everyone’s entitled to one good scare.

-- Brackett, Halloween, 1978

And

I would like, if I may, to take you on a strange journey.

--The Criminologist, The Rocky Horror Picture Show,  1975

Selected Haiku:

halloween twilight

army helicopters

fill the sky

 

Roberta Beary

pointed hats dip

into black inked sky

a constellation of witches

Karen A VandenBos

twilit sky

one grim reaper, two, three

forged of drones

night mist

taillights fading into

Halloween screams

twilight wind

a black skeleton rattling

against my door

Chen-ou Liu

tiger amulet 

on the front entrance ...

a grim reaper's stare

K.G. Munro

my bulldog

growls at a Grim Reaper 

the scythe falls first

Chen-ou Liu

trick-or-treating

the warmth

of the skeleton's hand

Michelle Schaefer

howling wind

the Grim Reaper

headless

All Saints' Day

drop by drop by drop

yesterday's blood

Chen-ou Liu

All Souls’ Eve  --

tipping the spirit level

this way & that

Sandra Simpson

All Souls Day

so many masks

left behind 

David McKe

Butterfly Dream: Biting Cold Haiku by Maria Tosti

English Original

biting cold —

a morse code alphabet

your breath

Shadow Pond, 6, December 23 2025

Maria Tosti 

Chinese Translation (Traditional)

刺骨的寒冷—

你呼吸出

摩斯電碼字母表

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

刺骨的寒冷—

你呼吸出

摩斯电码字母表

Bio Sketch

Maria Tosti is an Italian author and artist from Perugia. She made her literary debut in 2014 with a multilingual poetry collection. Although she enjoys exploring various forms of poetry, she is particularly drawn to short poems and Japanese poetic forms. Her passion for photography, drawing, and painting also inspires her to create visual poetry.

Reading More and Writing Better: Valley of Booze and Regret Kyoka

After Psalm 23:4

even though

I walk through the valley

of booze and regret

I'll fear no one but myself

alone under the bedsheets

Chen-ou Liu

FYI: The joshi (prefatory note), “After Psalm 23:4,” invokes the biblical verse, “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for you are with me.” The allusion serves as the thematic anchor of this kyoka, establishing a pointed irony: a passage traditionally associated with spiritual comfort, unwavering faith, and divine protection is recast as the gritty, modern, and comically pathetic reality of a severe hangover—or a wave of life regret.

The kyoka opens with “even though,” a phrase that immediately establishes tension. It leaves the reader suspended, anticipating a trial or obstacle worthy of the solemn declaration to follow. This understated opening echoes the gravity of the biblical source while preparing the ground for its irreverent subversion.

Ls 2&3, “I walk through the valley / of booze and regret,” enact the central parody. The sweeping imagery of the biblical valley initially retains its epic resonance, only to be abruptly grounded in the familiar consequences of drinking and poor decisions. The line break prolongs the journey, allowing the reader to anticipate something profound before the descent into “booze and regret” delivers its deflating punch. The grand spiritual landscape becomes a painfully ordinary terrain of self-inflicted misery.

In L 4, “I'll fear no one but myself,” the poem directly inverts the Psalm's declaration, “I will fear no evil.” The source text's external dangers and spiritual adversities give way to an entirely internal antagonist: the speaker. There is no monster to confront, no enemy to overcome. The threat is one's own conduct, and the confidence of the original declaration becomes an admission of self-inflicted trouble. This turn establishes the poem's self-deprecating humor while adding a note of genuine psychological unease.

L 5, “alone under the bedsheets,” brings the poem's grand scale crashing down to earth. The expansive biblical valley gives way to the cramped, intimate space of a bed, where the speaker retreats from the world—and perhaps from the consequences of their own actions. The word “alone” is especially significant. In Psalm 23, the speaker finds comfort in the assurance of God's presence; here, that reassurance has vanished. The speaker is left alone with the one adversary they cannot escape: themselves.

This reversal captures the spirit of kyōka, the Japanese tradition of humorous or satirical poetry that playfully subverts established literary conventions and elevated subjects. By borrowing the solemnity of scripture and bringing it into collision with the indignities of everyday life, the poem transforms spiritual reassurance into comic self-reproach.

The humor lies not merely in the contrast between the sacred and the profane, but in the recognition that the speaker's predicament is entirely self-inflicted. The valley may be metaphorical, the danger largely psychological, and the refuge embarrassingly small. Yet the underlying vulnerability is real.

Ultimately, the poem replaces divine protection with uncomfortable self-awareness. There is no shepherd to guide the speaker through the valley, no promise of deliverance—only booze, regret, and the bedsheets beneath which the speaker hides from both the world and the self.

A Room of My Own: Stadium’s Thunder Gembun

Ears ringing with  "Y.M.C.A.," a sea of red-hatted supporters carry the stadium’s thunder out into the streets.

a soup kitchen line

under slate-gray clouds

pigeons pick crumbs

FYI: Democracy Now, October 26, 2026: Number of People on Food Stamps Falls by 13% After One Big Beautiful Bill

The number of people on food stamps in the U.S. has fallen by 13% from 41.6 million people in July 2025, before the One Big Beautiful Bill Act took effect, to 36.5 million in June 2026. Advocates say more people are seeking help from food banks or going hungry. Currently, 47 million people, including one in five children, are living in food-insecure households nationwide.

And this poem could be read as a prequel to my tanka below

a MAGA pin

on this old man's breast pocket ...

his patience 

stretched to the limit

by a breadline blocks ahead

NeverEnding Story, July 13 2023

FYI: MAGA stands for "Make America Great Again." And Democracy Now, June 28, 2023: Poverty 4th Leading Cause of Death in U.S. as Calls Grow for Third Reconstruction.

Added:

thud, thud, thud

of his butcher knife

cutting red meat --

on the wall-mounted tv

war after war blaring

Added:

A wrong call: a drunk mumbling secrets intended for an old, dead flame.

sleepless again

I write emails trying

to get emails 

Added:

eyes on the phone

I wait for confirmation ...

my hamster

on the wheel to catch up

something yet nothing

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

alone

holding a cup of tea

I look out the window

at new year's snow ...

this life on a hamster wheel

Scarlet Dragonfly Journal, January 22 2023