One Man's Maple Moon: Crowded People Tanka by Aya Yuhki

English Original

I shuffle
along the street at dusk
among crowded people
talking and laughing aloud --
no sign of the sky falling

Ribbons, 12:1, Winter 2016

Aya Yuhki


Chinese Translation (Traditional)

黃昏時沿著街道
我拖著腳步行走
街上擁擠的人群
大聲地說笑 --
天空沒有崩塌的跡象

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

黄昏时沿着街道
我拖着脚步行走
街上拥挤的人群
大声地说笑 --
天空没有崩塌的迹象


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.

Butterfly Dream: Frost Haiku by Simon Hanson

English Original

sunrise
all these little fires
in the frost

First Prize, 2017 Irish Haiku Society International Haiku Competition

Simon Hanson


Chinese Translation (Traditional)

日出
反照在霜凍上
的這些小火

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

日出
反照在霜冻上
的这些小火


Bio Sketch

Simon Hanson lives in sub-tropical Queensland, Australia where he enjoys his proximity to the Pacific Ocean and areas of rainforest.  He is a committee member of the Australian Haiku Society and is published in various journals and anthologies. https://australianhaikusociety.org/

Butterfly Dream: Embrace Haiku by Ulrike Narwani

English Original

on the chair
your sweater still holding
my embrace

Erotic Haiku, Of Skin on Skin, 2017

Ulrike Narwani


Chinese Translation (Traditional)

在椅子上
你的毛衣依舊握住
我的擁抱

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

在椅子上
你的毛衣依旧握住
我的拥抱


Bio Sketch

Ulrike Narwani’s poetry has appeared in literary journals, chapbooks and anthologies. Won Freefall’s contest (2012), and received honorable mention in Vallum (2013). Collecting Silence is her debut volume of poetry (Ronsdale Press, 2017). Her poem "Three Wishes" was selected for the 2017 BC Poetry in Transit program. 

A Room of My Own: Lips and Heart Tanka

your lips may be near
but where is your heart ?
I plant a kiss
on this shore where I lost her
to another woman

Butterfly Dream: Baby Buggy Haiku by Cheryl Ashley

English Original

rusting baby buggy
fills with pink
cherry blossom petals

Best Haiku, B.C., 2014 Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival

Cheryl Ashley


Chinese Translation (Traditional)

生鏽的嬰兒車
填滿了粉紅色
櫻花花瓣

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

生锈的婴儿车
填满了粉红色
樱花花瓣


Bio Sketch

Cheryl Ashley - From photography and writing haiku;  a photograph captured in words, a small moment of time. She lives on a small island in the Salish Sea surrounded by the forest and the wind that sustains her.

Butterfly Dream: Tempest Moon Haiku by Michael Henry Lee

English Original

tempest moon
already against
the next war

Honorable Mention, World Haiku Review,  August  2014

Michael Henry Lee


Chinese Translation (Traditional)

暴風雨的月亮
已經反對
下一場戰爭

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

暴风雨的月亮
已经反对
下一场战争


Bio Sketch

Michael Henry Lee  lives in St. Augustine Florida with his wife, rescue cat, and several bonsai trees. His work has appeared in numerous print and on line journals including: Heron's Nest, Frogpond, Modern Haiku, and A Hundred Gourds among others. His second book, Against the Grain, received Honorable Mention in the 2013 Mildred Kanterman Book Awards.

One Man's Maple Moon: Love-Making Tanka by Larry Kimmel

English Original

after love-making
she laughs
and her breasts quiver --
through the cabin window
the Sphinx-like summer sunshine

Atlas Poetica, 21, Spring 2015

Larry Kimmel


Chinese Translation (Traditional)

做愛後
她笑了
並且她的乳房顫動 --
從度假小屋的窗戶我看到
獅身人面像般夏日陽光

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

做爱后
她笑了
并且她的乳房颤动 -
从度假小屋的窗户我看到
狮身人面像般夏日阳光 


Bio Sketch

Larry Kimmel was born in Johnstown, Pennsylvania.  He lives quietly in the hills of western Massachusetts.  His most recent books are shards and dust and outer edges. The Piercing Blue of Sirius: Selected Poems 1968 - 2008 is free to read online.

Butterfly Dream: Chickadee Haiku by Pamela A. Babusci

English Original

chickadee-dee-dee-deepines

Raw NerVZ, 11:1, Spring 1995

Pamela A. Babusci 


Chinese Translation (Traditional)

山雀-迪-迪-迪松樹林

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

山雀-迪-迪-迪松树林


Bio Sketch

Pamela A. Babusci  is an internationally award winning haiku, tanka poet and haiga artist. Some of her awards include: Museum of Haiku Literature Award, International Tanka Splendor Awards, First Place Yellow Moon Competition (Aust) tanka category,  First Place Kokako Tanka Competition,(NZ) First Place Saigyo Tanka Awards (US), Basho Festival Haiku Contests (Japan).  Pamela has illustrated several books, including: Full Moon Tide: The Best of Tanka Splendor Awards, Taboo Haiku, Chasing the Sun, Take Five: Best Contemporary Tanka, and A Thousand Reasons 2009. Pamela was the founder and now is the solo Editor of Moonbathing: a journal of women’s tanka; the first all women’s tanka journal in the US.

Butterfly Dream: Stolen Kiss Haiku by Marilyn Fleming

English Original

far side
of the moon --
that stolen kiss

Wild Plum, Fall/Winter 2017

Marilyn Fleming


Chinese Translation (Traditional)

月亮遠方
的那一端 --
偷偷地一吻

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

月亮远方
的那一端 --
偷偷地一吻


Bio Sketch

Marilyn Fleming is a Wisconsin short form poet and sumi-e haiga artist. Her special interests are Asian forms of poetry, (haiku tanka and haibun.) She is widely published in US as well as internationally. Her website:   marilynflemingpoet.wordpress.com Follow her on twitter: @mflem9811 to see some of her recent work.

One Man's Maple Moon: Last Breath Tanka by Gabriel Bates

English Original

every time
I think this will be
my last breath
the sound of insects
stirs me

Gabriel Bates


Chinese Translation (Traditional)

每一次
我認為這將是
最後的一口氣
昆蟲的聲音
就攪動我的心

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

每一次
我认为这将是
最后的一口气
昆虫的声音
就搅动我的心


Bio Sketch

Gabriel Bates is a contemporary poet from Pittsburg, Kansas. His work has appeared in several journals, online and in print. Keep up with him at gabrieljbates.wordpress.com

A Room of My Own: White Picket Fence Haiku

                              |
                              |
white picket fence  |   I step on the neighbor's shadow
                              |
                              |

Note: The poem above is a sequel to the following haiku:

a cold moon
over the white picket fence
black youth

Season’s Greetings Letter, 2017

Chen-ou Liu

Butterfly Dream: Milking Time Haiku by Keitha Keyes

English Original

milking time ...
a tide of cows
flows into dawn

Windfall, 6, 2018

Keitha Keyes


Chinese Translation (Traditional)

擠奶時間 ...
一群牛好像潮水
滔滔流入黎明

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

挤奶时间 ...
一群牛好像潮水
滔滔流入黎明


Bio Sketch

Keitha Keyes lives in Sydney, Australia in a small house decorated with ship models, antique irons and trivets. And a cocker spaniel. Her retirement would be very empty without the lure of writing tanka, haiku, senryu, cherita and other poetry.

One Man's Maple Moon: Bleeding Heart Tanka by Wendy Bourke

English Original

the last time
I visited her grave
a hummingbird
fluttered near me
in the bleeding heart I’d planted

Ripples in the Sand :TSA Anthology 2016

Wendy Bourke


Chinese Translation (Traditional)

最後一次
我探訪她的墳墓時
一隻蜂鳥
在我所種植的荷包牡丹中
鼓翼飛向我的身邊

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

最后一次
我探访她的坟墓时
一只蜂鸟
在我所种植的荷包牡丹中
鼓翼飞向我的身边


Bio Sketch

Wendy Bourke lives in Vancouver, Canada where she writes, takes long rambling walks gathering photos and inspiration – and hangs out with her young grandsons.  Her work has appeared in dozens of anthologies, journals, chapbooks and tanka publications. 

Butterfly Dream: Darkness Haiku by Ben Moeller-Gaa

English Original

bar lights
the darkness in
her eyes

Under the Basho, 2017

Ben Moeller-Gaa


Chinese Translation (Traditional)

酒吧燈光
她眼睛中
的陰暗

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

酒吧灯光
她眼睛中
的阴暗


Bio Sketch

Ben Moeller-Gaa is the author of two haiku chapbooks, Wasp Shadows (Folded Word 2014) and Blowing on a Hot Soup Spoon (poor metaphor design 2014). You can find more on Ben online

One Man's Maple Moon: Bitter Words Tanka by Radka Mindova

English Original

I put sachets of sugar
one after another
in my coffee
his words
are bitter

Second Place , 2014 Mandy's Pages Tanka Contest

Radka Mindova


Chinese Translation (Traditional)

我放了一袋
又一袋的糖
到我的咖啡杯裡
他的話
充滿苦澀

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

我放了一袋
又一袋的糖
到我的咖啡杯里
他的话
充满苦涩


Bio Sketch

Radka Mindova is an economist from Sliven, Bulgaria. She has been writing haiku for several years and her work has appeared in numerous print and on-line journals, including, Cattails, Ershik, World Haiku Review, and The Mainichi Haiku.  In 2012, 2014, and 2015, her haiku won awards in the Bulgarian Haiku Contest. Radka was selected as the European Top 100 Most Creative Haiku Authors.

Butterfly Dream: Songbird Haiku by Peter Jastermsky

English Original

paths crossing ...
a songbird becomes
the wind

Peter Jastermsky


Chinese Translation (Traditional)

路途交錯 ...
一隻會唱歌的鳥成為
一陣風

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

路途交错...
一只会唱歌的鸟成为
一阵风


Bio Sketch

His pen silent for 30 years, Peter Jastermsky reemerged 2 years ago as a writer of Japanese short-form poetry. His work has appeared in many journals, including Failed Haiku, Haibun Today, The Cherita, and KYSO  Flash. Peter and his family live in Southern California, where he works as a licensed counselor.

Butterfly Dream: Paycheck Haiku by Jennifer Hambrick

English Original

her paycheck
next to his
three-quarter moon

Modern Haiku, 48:2, Summer 2017

Jennifer Hambrick


Chinese Translation (Traditional)

她的薪水支票
並排在他的支票旁邊
四分之三的月亮

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

她的薪水支票
并排在他的薪水支票旁边
四分之三的月亮


Bio Sketch

A Pushcart Prize nominee, Jennifer Hambrick has received honors in the Vancouver International Cherry Blossom Festival Haiku Invitational, the International Golden Triangle Haiku Contest, the Jane Reichhold Memorial Haiga Competition, from NHK World TV’s Haiku Masters series, and elsewhere. A classical musician and public radio broadcaster and web producer, Jennifer’s blog, Inner Voices, is at jenniferhambrick.com

One Man's Maple Moon: Solitary Kite Tanka by Pravat Kumar Padhy

English Original

a solitary kite
in the twilight sky
dusk deepens
unfolding the heaviness
of her loneliness

A Hundred Gourds, 4:2, March 2015

Pravat Kumar Padhy


Chinese Translation (Traditional)

孤獨的風箏
在黃昏的天空中飛翔
暮色漸漸加深
展現出她的孤獨
之沉重

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

孤独的风筝
在黄昏的天空中飞翔
暮色渐渐加深
展现出她的孤独
之沉重


Bio Sketch 

Pravat Kumar Padhy, a poet-scientist, did his Masters and Ph.D from IIT-Dhanbad, India. Work referred in Spectrum History of Indian Literature in English, Alienation in Contemporary Indian English Poetry etc. His Japanese short form of poetry appeared in many international journals. He is a recipient of Editor’s Choice Awards, Special and Honourable Mentions. His fourth collection of verses, Ripple of Resonance is in press.

A Room of My Own: Pink-Haired Sex Worker Haiku

her shadow
stretches longer and longer ...
pink-haired sex worker

Butterfly Dream: Drops of Light Haiku by Dan Iulian

English Original

early morning --
the cormorant’s wings shake
first drops of light

Honorable Mention, 2014 Matsuo Bashō Festival Haiku Contest

Dan Iulian


Chinese Translation (Traditional)

清晨 --
一隻鸕鶿的翅膀抖掉
最初的幾滴陽光

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

清晨 --
一只鸬鶿的翅膀抖掉
最初的几滴阳光


Bio Sketch

Dan Iulian, a Romanian haiku poet, currently works as senior researcher in Bucharest. Since 2011, he has won many  awards and honourable mentions for haiku in English, French, Italian and Romanian languages. His work was  published in various magazines and anthologies in Romania and abroad.

Butterfly Dream: Cold Moon Haiku by Neal Whitman

English Original

not a window
but a mirror
full cold moon
   
Second Prize, 2016 San Francisco International Contest

Neal Whitman


Chinese Translation (Traditional)

不是一個窗戶
而是一面鏡子
一輪冷月

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

不是一个窗户
而是一面镜子
一轮冷月


Bio Sketch

Neal Whitman lives in Pacific Grove, California, with his wife Elaine. He is the haiku editor for Pulse: Voices from the Heart of Medicine and is Vice President of the United Haiku and Tanka Society.

One Man's Maple Moon: Map Tanka by Rajani Radhakrishnan

English Original

migratory birds
make a note
on their map
a new tent city
shrinking the desert

Rajani Radhakrishnan


Chinese Translation (Traditional)

一群候鳥
在它們的地圖上
做個註記
一座新的帳篷城市
正使得沙漠縮小

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

一群候鸟
在它们的地图上
做个注记
一座新的帐篷城市
正使得沙漠缩小


Bio Sketch

Rajani Radhakrishnan is from Bangalore, India.  Finding time and renewed enthusiasm for poetry after a long career in Financial Applications, she blogs at thotpurge.wordpress.com . Her poems have recently appeared in The Lake, Quiet Letter, Under the Basho and The Cherita.

Butterfly Dream: Dandelion Clock Haiku by Rebecca Drouilhet

English Original

dandelion clock
from one spent blossom
a hundred wishes

Editor's Choice Haiku, Cattails, Fall 2017

Rebecca Drouilhet


Chinese Translation (Traditional)

蒲公英花鐘
一朵開過的花
一百個願望

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

蒲公英花钟
一朵开过的花
一百个愿望


Bio Sketch

Rebecca Drouilhet is a retired registered nurse whose haiku and tanka have appeared in numerous print journal and ezines.  She won a Sakura Award in the 2012 Vancouver Cherry Blossom Haiku Invitation and an Honorable Mention in that same contest in 20`7.  The Japanese Tanka Poets Society has awarded her a Certificate of Fine Tanka.  In her free time, she enjoys reading, playing word games and spending time with her large family in Picayune, Mississippi.

Butterfly Dream: Clay Buddha Haiku by Jackson Smith

English Original

old pond ...
a clay Buddha stares
into water's sound

Jackson Smith


Chinese Translation (Traditional)
   
古塘 ...
一座泥土佛像凝視
池水的聲音

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

古塘...
一座泥土佛像凝视
池水的声音


Bio Sketch

Jackson Smith is a writer and homemaker from Chicago, Il. He is a grateful heart transplant recipient. He first started writing to cope with isolation during the time in the hospital spent waiting for a new heart to become available. 

One Man's Maple Moon: Bridge Tanka by LeRoy Gorman

English Original

to get elected
they promise jobs
to build a bridge
big enough for the jobless
to jump from

Gusts, 25, Spring/Summer  2017

LeRoy Gorman


Chinese Translation (Traditional)

為了當選
他們承諾搭建一座橋樑
來創造就業
它對於失業者來說
大得足夠從橋上跳下

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

为了当选
他们承诺搭建一座桥梁
来创造就业
它对于失业者来说
大得足够从桥上跳下


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.

Butterfly Dream: Peace Talks Haiku by Sonam Chhoki

English Original

more peace talks …
a monal hen startled
by our approach

Shamrock, 32,  2015

Sonam Chhoki


Chinese Translation (Traditional)

更多的和平會談 ...
因為我們的逼近
一隻母雞嚇了一跳

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

更多的和平会谈...
因为我们的逼近
一只母鸡吓了一跳


Bio Sketch

Born and raised in the kingdom of Bhutan. Sonam Chhoki is inspired by her father, Sonam Gyamtsho, the architect of Bhutan's non-monastic modern education. Her Japanese short form poetry has been published in journals and anthologies in several countries. She is the current haibun and haiku editor of the UHTS journal, cattails.

A Room of My Own: Just Words

a senryu sequence written for Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un

first peace talks
crows on the power line
answering crows

peace talks halted
a raven cries
into the gathering dark

peace talks resume
a small twist
to the president's mouth

One Man's Maple Moon: Twilight Sky Tanka by Kozue Uzawa

English Original

waiting for
the fireworks to begin
on the beach
I look up into the twilight sky
with my childhood loneliness

Gusts, 24,  Fall/Winter 2016

Kozue Uzawa


Chinese Translation (Traditional)

在沙灘上
等待煙花
開始怒放
我仰望暮色天空
想到我的童年孤獨

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

在沙滩上
等待烟花
开始怒放
我仰望暮色天空
想到我的童年孤独 


Bio Sketch

Kozue Uzawa is a retired university professor. She works as editor of the English tanka journal GUSTS. She composes tanka both in Japanese and English. She also translates Japanese tanka into English and co-published Ferris Wheel: 101 Modern and Contemporary Tanka (Boston: Cheng & Tsui, 2006), and Kaleidoscope: Selected Tanka of Shuji Terayama (Tokyo: Hokuseido Press, 2008). Ferris Wheel received the 2007 Donald Keene Translation Award for Japanese Literature from Columbia University.

Butterfly Dream: Starlight Haiku by Marion Alice Poirier

English Original

starlight ...
under the blossoms
an old couple

Marion Alice Poirier


Chinese Translation (Traditional)

星光閃爍 ...
在盛開的鮮花底下
一對老夫婦

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

星光闪烁 ...
在盛开的鲜花底下
一对老夫妇


Bio Sketch

Marion Alice Poirier is a lifetime resident of  Boston, MA.  She began writing haiku in 2001 and eventually began to teach haiku in workshops on Poetry Circle and Emerging Poets. She also write short poetry and have been published in on-line haiku and short poetry journals like Tinywords, Hedgerow and The Heron's Nest.

Butterfly Dream: Dog's Death Haiku by Charlotte Digregorio

English Original

our dog's death ...
her leash hangs next to
the children's coats

Acorn, 38, 2017

Charlotte Digregorio


Chinese Translation (Traditional)

我們的狗死了 ...
它的皮鏈掛在
孩子們的外套旁邊

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

我们的狗死了...
它的皮链挂在
孩子们的外套旁边


Bio Sketch

Charlotte Digregorio has authored five reference books including Haiku and Senryu: A Simple Guide for All, and a haiku collection. Her haiku exhibit travels nationally. Winner of 41 poetry awards, Pushcart Prize nominee, former radio poetry program host and Haiku Society of America officer, she runs The Daily Haiku.

One Man's Maple Moon: Stags Tanka by Susan Mary Wade

English Original

two stags
their antlers locked in a combat
only one may win
summer
hastily decamping

The Tanka Journal, 47, 2015

Susan Mary Wade


Chinese Translation (Traditional)

兩隻雄鹿的鹿角
在鬥毆中卡住
只有一隻可能會贏
夏季
正匆忙地消逝

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

两只雄鹿的鹿角
在斗殴中卡住
只有一只可能会赢
夏季
正匆忙地消逝 


Bio Sketch

Susan Mary Wade has been a regular contributor to The Tanka Journal (Japan Tanka Poets' Society) for several years now. Her tanka have appeared worldwide in many magazines and been anthologized. In 2009 and 2016 she was awarded a Certificate of Merit at the 6th & 8th International Tanka Festival Competitions in Japan.

A Room of My Own: Real News About Fake News

a haibun written in the spirit of senryu

Any resemblance to current events or actual locales, or to living persons, is not coincidental.

election night

I too lose this pissing contest

with my shadow

Reprinted in Failed Haiku, 5:57, 2020

Poetic Musings: Afterlife Haiku by Peggy Willis Lyles

into the afterlife red leaves

Modern Haiku, 41:1, Winter/Spring 2010
Touchstone Awards for Individual Poems, 2010 

Peggy Willis Lyles
      
Commentary by the Touchstone Awards Panel   

... Buddhists believe the River Styx separates the world of the dead from the world of living. Red spider lilies bloom on the shore on the side of the living. In previous life cycles, we could be those red leaves falling to the ground. We may have no memory of previous lives and will not know who and what will be in our next lives, but somewhere in those repeating cycles, our paths will cross with the one who entered the other world before us ...

The following haiku is the opening poem in "Section Two: Featured Haiku," Ripples from a Splash: A Collection of Haiku Essays with Award-Winning Haiku by Chen-ou Liu

river's edge

red leaves fall

into a poem

in memory of Peggy Willis Lyles who helped me publish my first English language haiku

and in response to her "red leaves" haiku

One Man's Maple Moon: Night Tanka by Sheila Sondik

English Original

all my devices
plugged in for the night
I'm free to dream
of the years I had babies
and no screens to nurture

Honorable Mention, 2017 Sanford Goldstein International Tanka Contest

Sheila Sondik


Chinese Translation (Traditional)

晚上將所有的電子設備
都插入儲電
現在我可以自由地做夢
那些年我有孩子
卻沒有使用電子屏幕來養育他們

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

晚上将所有的电子设备
都插入储电
现在我可以自由地做梦
那些年我有孩子
却没有使用电子屏幕来养育他们


Bio Sketch

Sheila Sondik is a poet and printmaker in the Pacific Northwest. A long-time lover of haiku (and practitioner of several other Japanese and Chinese art forms), she began writing haiku and tanka in 2010. Her work has been widely published.

Butterfly Dream: Starlight Haiku by kjmunro

English Original

starlight
seeing the past
so clearly

Second Place, 2016 PORAD Contest

kjmunro


Chinese Translation (Traditional)

星光
如此清楚地
理解過去

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

星光
如此清楚地
理解过去


Bio Sketch

Originally from Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, kjmunro moved to the Yukon Territory in 1991. She is Membership Secretary for Haiku Canada & an Associate Member of the League of Canadian Poets. She has two leaflets with Leaf Press, & co-edited Body of Evidence: a collection of killer 'ku.

Butterfly Dream: Starlings Haiku by Jo Balistreri

English Original

weaving tree to tree
a skein
of starlings

akitso, winter 2017

Jo Balistreri


Chinese Translation (Traditional)

從一棵樹
連接到另一棵樹
一群椋鳥

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

从一棵树
连接到另一棵树
一群椋鸟


Bio Sketch

Jo Balistreri began writing haiku in 2014.  She has two books of poetry published by Bellowing Ark Press and two chapbooks by Tiger's Eye Press and is grateful, but she has found her happiness with the haiku community. They have been generous with hospitality, encouragement and time. Jo sees haiku as a way of life she wants to live within.

One Man's Maple Moon: Native Land Tanka by Elena Calvo

English Original

this winter dawn
drips with pale blue light
once again
leaving behind
my native land

Gusts, 23, Spring/Summer 2016

Elena Calvo


Chinese Translation (Traditional)

這個冬天黎明
潑灑淡藍的天光
再一次
離棄
我的祖國

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

这个冬天黎明
泼洒淡蓝的天光
再一次
离弃
我的祖国


Bio Sketch

Elena Calvo started journaling and writing poetry at the age of seven in her native land, Spain. She writes lyric poetry, essays, aphorisms, haiku and tanka in both English and Spanish. Her work has appeared in different anthologies published in Canada, as well as in OIW, HC, KaDo and Gusts.

Butterfly Dream: Refugee Tent Haiku by Lavana Kray

English Original

refugee tent --
a girl calls a butterfly
by her mom’s name

They Gave Us Life: Celebrating Mothers, Fathers & Others in Haiku

Lavana Kray


Chinese Translation (Traditional)

難民帳篷 --
一位女孩用媽媽的名字
呼喚一隻蝴蝶

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

难民帐篷 --
一位女孩用妈妈的名字
呼唤一只蝴蝶


Bio Sketch

Lavana Kray is from Iasi, Romania. She has won several awards, including the status of  Master Haiga Artist from the World Haiku Association. Her work has been published in many print and online journals. She was chosen for 2017 Haiku Euro Top 100. In 2018 she joined the United Haiku and Tanka Society as Haiga Editor of its journal, Cattails. This is her blog: http://photohaikuforyou.blogsp ot.ro

A Room of My Own: Shadow and Silence Haiku

the door ajar ...
my shadow and the silence
slip out

Hot News: 66 Tanka Selected for One Man's Maple Moon, Volume IV

My Dear Friends:

I'm pleased to announce the following tanka selected for One Man's Maple Moon: 66 Selected English-Chinese Bilingual Tanka, Volume Four. The anthology is scheduled to be published in mid December. Each poet whose tanka is included in the anthology will receive a copy of  its e-book edition.

Please post to all appropriate venues. Your time and help would be greatly appreciated. And look forward to reading your tanka (see 2018 tanka anthology submission guidelines)

Happy Reading!

Chen-ou

Selected Tanka

what to do
with these old pillows …
each one
filled with the feathers
of a thousand dreams

Commended, 2015 Mandy’s Pages Tanka Contest

Susan Constable

a siren
comes and goes …
somewhere
a mother hugs her newborn,
a man outlives his son

Eucalypt, 19, 2015

Susan Constable
 
shiny pens and a stapler --
no one tells
the new hire
his desk is where
the suicide sat

Gusts, 17, Spring/Summer 2013

Michael Dylan Welch

as if on cue
insect song turns
adagio,
geese resume
their autumn path

NeverEnding Story, March 30, 2017

Brian Zimmer

no wind tonight
a puddle of silver
in the bay’s darkness,
a full moon
off the port bow

Heron Sea,Short Poems of the Chesapeake Bay, 2007

M. Kei

river gums
stranded by drought
the ghosts
of a life
that could have been

Gusts, 24, Fall/Winter 2016

Keitha Keyes

every time I see
a newly-built house
slight sadness
emerges
from nowhere

A Single Flower: 100 Bilingual Tanka 2003-2014

Kiyoko Ogawa 

in the blizzard's wake
I follow your funeral procession
to the cemetery
the whole point of your small life
lost in a flurry of snow

Certificate of Merit, 6th International Tanka Festival Competition

Susan Mary Wade
 
I can't stay here
... any more
like the sleeves
of an old sweater
your life unraveling

Ribbons, 12:1, Winter 2016

Susan Weaver
 
just enough water
for one cup of tea
she murmurs
to the empty chair
about a recurring dream

NeverEnding Story, September 26, 2017

Rajani Radhakrishnan
 
nothing works
not even a smile
tonight
three women walk
thru my cigar smoke

Biding Time: Selected Poems 2001-2013

H. Gene Murtha
 
mum smiling
in that old photo
with dad --
the perfect half
of a hazy moon

Blithe Spirit, 26:2, 2016

Shrikaanth Krishnamurthy
 
the strut
of a stag in rut --
your texts
dripping with love
for someone else

Skylark, Oct, 2015

Shrikaanth Krishnamurthy

icy wind
nicks to the bone:
inside the midnight deli
inside her loose wool coat
the naked hooker

Streetlights: Poetry of Urban Life, 2009

Marian Olson
 
Auburn curls
around her floppy straw hat
everything about her
fresh as the beets she gathers
for borscht tonight

Honorable Mention, 2016 Stanford Goldstein International Tanka Contest

Marian Olson

the jerk
of the up-pull
on the yoyo
again and again
you change your mind
    
Ripples in the Sand: 2016 TSA Members’ Anthology

Marianne Paul

one block away
from E-business conference
a man
with a shopping cart
talking to the sky

Honorable Mention, 2010 TSA International Tanka Contest

Fay Aoyagi

a supernova
the shared obsession
of young love . . .
wrinkled hands entwined
we stroll beneath the stars

red lights,  January 2015

Joyce S. Greene
 
end of summer
air hangs heavy over
a decaying seal
I too may disappear
under a burden of sighs

Haiku Heute, September 2006

Jane Reichhold

clouds of smoke
from a too-hot skillet --
my thoughts
swirl with the uncertainty
of what's to come

A Hundred Gourds, 4:3, June 2015

Janet Lynn Davis

my small voice
struggles its way
onto the page
hard to hear it when each moment
trawls with it past memories

Bent Arm for a Pillow, 2016

Naomi Beth Wakan

my pile of journals
crammed with thoughts
to Jesus …
a snow-laden branch
about to crack

Red Lights, 12:1, January 2016

Mary Davila

my black cat
stretched out full length
on the concrete --
patio flowers wilting
in the morning sunshine

NeverEnding Story, July 28, 2017

Mary Gunn

wettest winter
year of mother’s death
I walk in the rain
feel the cold sting
of words left unsaid

Atlas Poetica, 13, Autumn 2012

Sonam Chhoki

even now
when I light butter lamps
at dawn
I hear father’s murmur ...
prayer flags in the wind

Skylark, 3:2, Winter 2015

Sonam Chhoki

in the garden
after the loss
of her
not able or willing
to cut flowers

NeverEnding Story, May 17, 2017

Robert Henry Poulin

a gust of wind
and all the leaves but one
flutter to the ground --
and then and then and
then until the end

Ribbons, 9:3, Winter 2014

Bob Lucky

after shower
drops on the lawn shining
in the sun --
in the beginning,
words used to be diamonds

GUSTS, 23, spring/summer 2016

Aya Yuhki

the drone
of a city going home
fills the hour
you move
from coma to death

Gusts, 9, Spring/Summer 2009

LeRoy Gorman

the hills catch fire
tourists wear sunglasses
and place their shoes
in the footprints
of the dead

Modern English Tanka, 3:3, Fall 2009

Kristyn Blessing

thinking about
everything I lost
and gained
a song from my childhood
in a foreign tongue

A Hundred Gourds, 4:2, March 2015

Maria Tomczak

all day
and into the night
the drip of rain
ticking off the hours
and leaving no memory

NeverEnding Story, June 23, 2017

Adelaide B. Shaw

in the stillness
of the pond
the dark depths
beyond myself
a starry sky

The Sacred in Contemporary Haiku, 2013

Simon Hanson

sleepless night
I turn my nightgown
inside out
to join the scarred moon
in my dream of passion

A Thousand Fireflies, 2012

Luminita Suse

from the dunes
watching red kites
duel
we rehash
the same affairs

Ripples in the Sand: TSA Members Anthology, 2016

Marilyn Humbert

snow on snow ...  
the silent wall between us
stretching
until it singszzzz
almost about to snap

Bamboo Hut, 2016

Marilyn Fleming

the universe
e x p a n d i n g
day by day
my messages take
longer and longer to reach you

NeverEnding Story, July 31, 2017

Frank Dietrich

green tea
in old porcelain cups --
a bygone era
when life was a poem
waiting to be written

Shore Lights, 2017

Magdalena Dale

this time, she tells me,
she’s telling the truth --
between us
I watch the struggles of a wasp
drowning in peach juice

The Tanka Journal, 26, 2005

Larry Kimmel

it wasn't always so
the words and silences
that came between us
now I bring you irises
cut this morning in the rain

First Place, TSA Contest, 2010

James Chessing

rushrush
out the door and off you go
a quick hug
before the slow embrace
of silence and the night

Third Place, 2016 Haiku Poets of Northern California International Competiton

Lesley Anne Swanson

reading you
that fable
at bedtime
my wings
in shadow

still 3: two, 1998

ai li

training corps
marking time with style
blue mink stockings
bomber jacket, skirt
we made love not war

The Bamboo Hut, Autumn 2016

Martha Magenta

an egret
then a gull
then a butterfly
these are the wings
of the river

Time Haiku, 44, 2016

A A Marcoff

I have come
to a place
of no memory --
white butterflies,
pure breeze, light

Presence, 55, 2016

A A Marcoff

“for flowers”
Anonymous sent money
to the nursing home
she folded the envelope
into iris origami

Gusts, 21, Spring/Summer 2015

Neal Whitman

sipping wine
with an old friend
we laugh
about nothing
something, everything

GUSTS, 21, spring/summer 2015

Joanne Morcom

eternal blue
between the mountains
at first light
a deer sips
the earth's sky

Chrysanthemum, 19, April 2016

Steliana Cristina Voicu

first calligraphy
the feel of it
on rice paper
writing a love letter
to my deceased mother

A Solitary Woman, 2013

Pamela A. Babusci

the professor drones
on and on about novels
of doomed love
I ask myself
what other kind is there

Take Five: Best Contemporary Tanka, Vol. 4, 2013

Sylvia Forges-Ryan

bird etchings
in the pale dawn skies
of winter
weeks and weeks
until your probable return

All You Need Is Love, 2015

Amelia Fielden

the silence
after magpies sing ...
enough to know
you cradled the phone
the way I did when we hung up

Distinctive Scribbling Award, Eucalypt,  20

Kathy Kituai

a robin
with spring air
lands here
I’ll fly to Wonderland
to see my other self

Skylark, 3:1, Summer 2015

Kozue Uzawa

back in my hometown
for the first time in years
I get lost ...
two roads divide,
but the woods are still green

NeverEnding Story, October 19, 2017

Jackson Smith

in my homeland
a friend is amused
by my accent
a strange place to be
neither here, nor there

Eucalypt, 20, 2016

Samantha Sirimanne Hyde

liquid black
those pupils
of a bus kid
staring, staring
on his mother’s lap

This Short Life : Minimalist Tanka, 2014

Sanford Goldstein

a dark side
to the memorial
fading light
renders all
soldiers unknown

Skylark, 4:1, summer 2016

Tim Gardiner

dismissing my fears
I step into the darkness
alone
there are shadows
in the sunshine too

One Hundred Gourds, 2:2, March 2013

Sheila Bello

a small death
the cracked shell
of a snail
now this delay
at the train station

The Strand Book Of International Poets, 2010

Alan Summers

I race against
my former self
Ben-Hur unbound in Rome
as our chariots spark
and separate again

Gusts, 24, Fall/Winter, 2016

Barry George

frazil ice
on a mountain lake
at breakup
the tinkling chimes
signal your departure

A Hundred Gourds, 4:2, March 2015

Debbie Strange

I am alone
with the sound of rapids
constantly churning
tonight the river
will not sleep

Night Sky, 2000

Thelma Mariano

the rains came
and from that day on
continued
throughout a lifetime
of floods and bridges

Excellent Tanka, 7th International Tanka Festival Competition

an’ya

dear Mom, long dead --
will the first sound I hear
after my final spasm
be her scolding
about clean shorts?

Ribbons, 2013

David Bachelor

a homeless man
who was playing a flute
on the street corner
fell suddenly in the rain --
a donor card in his pocket

A Hundred Gourds, 5:2, March 2016

Lavana Kray

eternal blue
between the mountains
at first light
a deer sips
the earth's sky

Chrysanthemum, 19, April 2016

Steliana Cristina Voicu