One Man's Maple Moon: Golden Ripples Tanka by Brian Zimmer

English Original

casting his line

into the golden ripples

of the setting sun

he catches nothing today

but a basket full of peace

Gusts, 19, Spring/Summer 2014

Brian Zimmer

Chinese Translation (Traditional)

將魚線拋入

一波波金色漣漪

的夕陽中

他今天一無所獲

卻滿載著寧靜

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

将鱼线抛入

一波波金色涟漪

的夕阳中

他今天一无所获

却满载着宁静

Bio Sketch

Brian Zimmer was an American poet who wrote from the banks of the Mississippi River in St. Louis, Missouri. Published across a variety of international print and online journals, his work was heavily inspired by classical Japanese forms, particularly the poetic-diary (utanikki) and the free-form poetic essay (zuihitsu).

A Room of My Own: War and Peace Haiku

leafing War and Peace

front to back, back to front

summer whiffle

Added:

hillside and valley

flecked with cloud shadows ...

smell of sunshine

Added:

farmers' market

tasting a strawberry

then her lips

Added:

the ripe tangle

of wild strawberries ...

an urge to love 

Added:

overlapping hearts

on a summer train window

our reflections

Added:

first outing

after the breakup

on the beach

I trip on a heart

made of stones

Added:

alone again

on the moonlit shore ...

my shadow

stretches closer, closer

to lapping waves

Added: No More Fairy Tales, LVI

What has been will be again

Acrid black columns choke the morning sun. Trapped in a valley of smoke, cars barrel past leaping tongues of fire. Across Northern Ontario, wildfires burn hotter, bigger, and deadlier than ever. More than one thousand miles away, their smoke casts an orange haze over New York's crawling traffic.

Meanwhile, silhouetted against smoky skies, the Premier’s mouth opens and closes for the camera lights, broadcasting word after word into the heat.

tongues of forest fire

there is no Plan[et] B, the rest

blah, blah, blah...

FYI: Canada’s climate-change-charged wildfires are becoming a horrific annual event. 

Over 800 wildfires are burning across Canada, with one entirely destroying the northern Indigenous community of Namaygoosisagagun. 

Back in 2023, Emma Paling reported that the same Indigenous communities that gave early warnings against burning fossil fuels are among the first to be permanently displaced by climate change.

The Breach, August 24, 2023: First Nations say they’re not wildfire evacuees, but climate refugees

Indigenous communities that first warned against burning fossil fuels are now facing permanent displacement caused by climate breakdown

Special Feature: Selected Poems on Donald Trump's Attacks on Pope Leo XIV

We are growing accustomed to violence, resigning ourselves to it, and becoming indifferent, indifferent to the deaths of thousands of people.

-- Pope Leo XIV

peace talks stalled

I hold onto the long half

of a wishbone

NeverEnding Story, April 12 2026

Politics of Distraction, VI:

Make America Great Again

After the failed peace talks, leaning over the Resolute Desk toward the camera lights, the man vows with a meaty smile, "I'll block ships crossing the Strait of Hormuz."

block the blockade

to break the blockade ...

in the briefing room

silence broken only

by a buzzing fly

NeverEnding Story, April 12 2026

At a White House press conference, Donald Trump responded to a question on whether God supports U.S. actions in the war, saying, “I do because God is good, and God wants to see people taken care of"

God does not bless any conflict. Anyone who is a disciple of Christ, the Prince of Peace, is never on the side of those who once wielded the sword and today drop bombs... God does not listen to the prayers of those who wage war.

I have no fear neither of the Trump administration, nor of speaking out loudly about the message of the Gospel... I do believe the message of the Gospel—‘blessed are the peacemakers’—is the message that the world needs to hear today

-- Pope Leo XIV

Politics of Distraction, VII:

In Broad Daylight 

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

a poll sign

against the White House fence: 

"Pope vs Dope" 

a mangy stray corks its leg 

marks "Dope" with a yellow stream

FYI: The Nation Magazine, April 13 2026: Trump’s Deranged, One-Way Feud With Pope Leo: He’s finally met someone he can’t bully.

To conclude today's "Special Feature" post, I would like to share with you Pope Leo's post on X, April 14:

God’s heart is torn apart by wars, violence, injustice and lies. But our Father’s heart is not with the wicked, the arrogant, or the proud. God’s heart is with the little ones and the humble, and with them He builds up His Kingdom of love and peace day by day. Wherever there is love and service, God is there.

Stand with Pope Leo XIV. End the Iran War.

Added: Politics of Distraction, VIII:

Blocking the Blockade to Break the Blockade

      Donald Trump

            $ 20,28

          per gallon

White House entrance

         No Parking 

          all     quiet

              on

        frontal lobe

FYI: The third smol, “all quiet on the frontal lobe,” playfully echoes the iconic anti-war novel All Quiet on the Western Front, which depicts the realities of World War I. The idiom “all quiet on the Western Front” has since come to suggest that an outward sense of calm may conceal deeper, and sometimes troubling, underlying realities.

A Room of My Own: Whitewashed Road Sign Tanka

Against the Drowning Noise of Other Words, CCLXXXVIII: "a whitewashed road sign"

dust swirling past

"<-- Tarqumia, Jerusalem -->

peace be with you" 

under the scorching sun

a whitewashed road sign

Added: Against the Drowning Noise of Other Words, CCLXXXIX: "skeletal house"

skeletal house  

and charred pottery shards --  

grass creeps in the cracks

Added: Against the Drowning Noise of Other Words, CCXC: "between wire fences"

slate-gray sky

swarm after swarm of flies

between wire fences

Added: Against the Drowning Noise of Other Words, CCXCI: "the Death Bill"

Sde Teiman

silhouetted against desert sunset 

on the TV

passing of the Death Bill

popping of champagne 

FYI: Sde Teiman is a scandal-plagued Israeli detention camp in the Negev desert near the Gaza border.

And Haaretz, April 1, 2026: The Death Penalty Bill Illustrates How the Kahanist Revolution Has Taken Over Israeli Society

The evening of the vote marked not only a moral abyss, but also anointed the next right-wing leader: Itamar Ben-Gvir, who has managed to transform himself from a marginal thug into a shaper of right-wing ideology

Add:

straddled between

this war-torn world and the one

in my mind ...

I slam the blinds down

as fists crash on the street

Special Feature: Selected Poems for Reflections on Remembrance Day

war is peace: the war to end all wars, news rolling

Remembrance Day

the parade lengthens

by armless vets

(FYI: Originated as an idealistic slogan during World War I, "The War to End All Wars" now is a sarcastic term for this Great War. And according to Geneva Academy of International Humanitarian Law, "today, it monitors more than 110 armed conflicts ... Some of them started recently, while others have lasted for more than 50 years."

And for more about gembun, see To the Lighthouse: Gembun, Untitled Minimalist Haibun)

1984

spine broken, margins yellowed ... 

"war is peace" in red 

Chen-ou Liu

watercolor poppies

blowing across the field . . .

why

is it so hard

to learn from history

Honorable Mention,  2020 Tanka Society of America Tanka Contest 

Rebecca Drouilhet

To conclude today's Special Feature post, I would like to share with you the following tanka, written by by the most famous Buddhist monk-poet Saigyo’s (1118–1190 AD), with the longest prefatory note:

In the world of men it came to be a time of warfare. Throughout the country -- west, east, north, and south -- there was no place where the war was not being fought. The count of those dying because of it climbed continually and reached an enormous number. It was beyond belief! And for what on earth was this struggle taking place? A most tragic state of affairs 

There's no gap or break

In the rank of those marching

Under the hill:

An endless line of dying men,

Moving on and on and on ...

FYI: This lengthy and sociopolitically conscious prefatory note establishes the thematic and emotive context of the poem while the tanka visually enhances the tone and mood. Saigyo's use of repetition in the last line adds extra emotional weight and psychological depth to the poem... (For detailed comments, see "To the Lighthouse: Joshi (Prefatory Note) as a Poetic Device" and "Poetic Musings: Dying Men Tanka by Saigyo Hoshi.")

Peace is the only battle worth waging.

-- Albert Camus, written in August 1945, the day after the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima.

in the gathering dark

one candle kindles another:

peace vigil

NeverEnding Story, October 5 2025

Chen-ou Liu

A Room of My Own: Golden Dove Statue Tanka

Against the Drowning Noise of Other Words, CCXXXVI: "a golden dove statue"

inspired by George Orwell's ghost

the man who bombed kids

gives a golden dove statue

to the man

who sent him planeloads of bombs:

war is peace, peace is war ...

FYI: The Jerusalem Post, Oct. 13 2025: PM Netanyahu presented US President Trump with a gift today, gifting him a golden dove.

And Haaretz, Editorial, Oct. 15 2025: Netanyahu Fears Peace More Than He Fears War. 

Added: Against the Drowning Noise of Other Words, CCXXXVII: "now, ceasefire"

Now, "Ceasefire"

a boy stares

into the TV camera ...

his bones

protruding as if chiseled

by the cruel hand of famine

with glazed pupils

a white-haired woman

gazes up

searching for a sky-high shelf

of hummus-stuffed bread

FYI: Democracy Now, Oct. 15 2025: Pressure Grows on Israel to Allow More Aid into Gaza

Pressure is growing on Israel to allow more aid into Gaza as the ceasefire continues to hold. On Tuesday, Israel told the United Nations it would allow only half of the 600 daily aid trucks called for under the deal. 

And The New Yorker, Oct. 18, 2025: What Comes After Starvation in Gaza?

This month, a United Nations study published in The Lancet reported that more than fifty-four thousand children are malnourished in Gaza.

For the severely malnourished, simply starting to eat normal meals again can cause sickness—even death.

Added: Against the Drowning Noise of Other Words, CCXXXVIII: "first bombless day"

First Bombless Day

hometown

once a place of human warmth

and safety

now a pile of stones and dust

where memories crumble

family

once a source of love and help

now whispered names

on trembling lips

with a question, "still alive?"

ruins and ruins ...

under Gaza's smeared sun

childhood memories

scatter like splintered shards

that can’t be fit together

ceasefire deal

once a sunbird singing nonstop

now a mute swan

battling the chilly winds

of hunger and despair

The New Verse News, October 16 2025

Author’s note: The Palestine sunbird pictured above (Cinnyris osea) is a small passerine bird of the sunbird family, Nectariniidae, and in 2015, the Palestinian Authority adopted the species as a national bird. Native to Eurasia but migrating south for the winter, the mute swan (Cygnus olor) is a rare winter visitor to Palestine.

Added: Against the Drowning Noise of Other Words, CCXXXIX: "first bombless night"

canopy of stars

on first bombless night

shards of thoughts

Added: Against the Drowning Noise of Other Words, CCXL: "death and life"

Death and Life

I stand closer to you

than I have been in two years 

but there's no hug

no healing..., a mother eulogizes

as the sky roils with dark clouds

the first rays 

of autumn sunset glow

the color 

returning to the face

of a released hostage

Reading More and Writing Better: The World Unseen Tanka

men and women 

birth and death, war and peace ... 

between pages

of A Farewell to Arms

the world unseen breaks each one

FYI: L5 refers to the following lines from A Farewell to Arms:

The world breaks everyone and afterward many are strong at the broken places. But those that will not break it kills. It kills the very good and the very gentle and the very brave impartially. If you are none of these you can be sure it will kill you too but there will be no special hurry.”

And the following is an excerpt from "Last Words" by Joan Didion, which was published  The New Yorker, October 25, 1998

In the late summer of that year we lived in a house in a village that looked across the river and the plain to the mountains. In the bed of the river there were pebbles and boulders, dry and white in the sun, and the water was clear and swiftly moving and blue in the channels. Troops went by the house and down the road and the dust they raised powdered the leaves of the trees. The trunks of the trees too were dusty and the leaves fell early that year and we saw the troops marching along the road and the dust rising and leaves, stirred by the breeze, falling and the soldiers marching and afterward the road bare and white except for the leaves.

So goes the famous first paragraph of Ernest Hemingway’s A Farewell to Arms, which I was moved to reread by the recent announcement that what was said to be Hemingway’s last novel would be published posthumously next year. That paragraph, which was published in 1929, bears examination: four deceptively simple sentences, one hundred and twenty-six words, the arrangement of which remains as mysterious and thrilling to me now as it did when I first read them, at twelve or thirteen, and imagined that if I studied them closely enough and practiced hard enough I might one day arrange one hundred and twenty-six such words myself. Only one of the words has three syllables. Twenty-two have two. The other hundred and three have one. Twenty-four of the words are “the,” fifteen are “and.” There are are four commas. The liturgical cadence of the paragraph derives in part from the placement of the commas (their presence in the second and fourth sentences, their absence in the first and third), but also from that repetition of “the” and of “and,” creating a rhythm so pronounced that the omission of “the” before the word “leaves” in the fourth sentence (“and we saw the troops marching along the road and the dust rising and leaves, stirred by the breeze, falling”) casts exactly what it was meant to cast, a chill, a premonition, a foreshadowing of the story to come, the awareness that the author has already shifted his attention from late summer to a darker season. The power of the paragraph, offering as it does the illusion but not the fact of specificity, derives precisely from this kind of deliberate omission, from the tension of withheld information. In the late summer of what year? What river, what mountains, what troops? 

Biting NOT Barking: War News Haiku by Elmedin Kadric

English Original

war news

again I stand

with the wildflowers

Autumn Moon Haiku Journal, 7:1

Elmedin Kadric 

Chinese Translation (Traditional)

戰爭新聞

再一次我支持

遍地野花

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

战争新闻

再一次我支持

遍地野花

Bio Sketch

Elmedin Kadric was born in Novi Pazar, Serbia, but writes out of Helsingborg, Sweden. His first collection, buying time (2017), was published by Red Moon Press.

Special Feature: Selected Poems and Remarks for Reflections on Nakba Day

Just one day after Israelis commemorated the Declaration of Independence on 14 May 1948, Palestinians around the world mark their Nakba Day, the anniversary of their mass expulsion and exodus from what is now Israel with protests and other events at a time of mounting concern over the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. The Nakba, Arabic for "catastrophe," refers to the 700,000 Palestinians who fled or were driven out of what is now Israel before and during the "War of Independence in 1948." (The Times of Israel, May 15).

Against the Drowning Noise of Other Words, LXIII: "the day after 'Independence Day,' "Nakba Day"

giant Stars of David

and "Together We Will Win" signs

fill Tel Aviv's sky ...

Gazans flee to nowhere

in a desert of rubble

Against the Drowning Noise of Other Words, LIX: "health crisis"

the Grim Reaper waits ...

Gazan children in danger 

from the smoky sky

disease on the ground 

and death from hunger and thirst

(FYI: Haaretz, May 16: Health Crisis in Gaza Spirals as New Diseases, Infections Spread)

It's because the Holocaust dwarfed all other instances of 20th-century injustice and illegality, Edward Said, exiled American Palestinian scholar and probably the world's most famous literary critic claimed, the Palestinians became "Victims of the period's most tragic victims."

However, he made the following special emphasis: 

You cannot continue to victimize someone else just because you yourself were a victim once—there has to be a LIMIT.

And most importantly, 

Haaretz, Analysis, May 13: What Will Happen When the Holocaust No Longer Prevents the World From Seeing Israel as It Is?

For anyone who wanted to see, the truth was already abundantly clear in 1955: "They treat the Arabs, those still here, in a way that in itself would be enough to rally the whole world against Israel," wrote Hannah Arendt.

smoky ruins ...

each day a new battle

for water and food

NeverEnding Story, November 1, 2023

In the real world, a real country serves a purpose other than just as a haven from persecution.

-- Anshel Pfeffer, "Israel's Foundational Conflict Is Playing Out in the Gaza War," Haaretz, Opinion, May 10

candlelight virgil

a tattooed survivor holds

a Stop the War sign

NeverEnding Story, January 27 2028

For peace-loving people around the world, I would like to share the following relevant part of a powerful speech Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. gave on Vietnam. What he said then is totally applicable to our times now. 

There comes a time when "Silence Is Betrayal..." Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter....In the end, we will not remember the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.

grinding sound of tanks ...

Never Again, Never Again 

for everyone

NeverEnding Story, November 5, 2023

Peace vigil

our candles flicker and hold

in the wind

Frogpond, May, 1988

Peggy Heinrich

To conclude today's post, I would like to share with two poems by Palestinian poets:

I The following is the last stanza of one of the most read/popular Palestinian poems, "Identity Card," written by Mahmoud Darwish, poet of Palestinian resistance (1941-2008) and author of The Butterfly Effect, 2008, who died believing in the power of his poetry to make a difference.

Therefore!

Write down on the top of the first page:

I do not hate people

Nor do I encroach

But if I become hungry

The usurper's flesh will be my food

Beware ...

Beware ...

Of my hunger

And my anger!

II Watch the Scottish actor Brian Cox read Refaat Alareer's poem, “If I Must Die,” posted on December 1, 2023 on Twitter/X, a heartbreakingly prophetic farewell poem that has now been translated into more than 40 languages.

“If I Must Die” 

If I must die,

you must live

to tell my story

to sell my things

to buy a piece of cloth

and some strings,

(make it white with a long tail)

so that a child, somewhere in Gaza

while looking heaven in the eye

awaiting his dad who left in a blaze –

and bid no one farewell 

not even to his flesh

not even to himself –

sees the kite, my kite you made, flying up

above

and thinks for a moment an angel is there

bringing back love

If I must die

let it bring hope

let it be a tale.

(FYI: Refaat Alareer was killed on December 6, around 6 PM local time in Gaza, in a targeted Israeli airstrike that also killed his brother, his sister, and four of her children)

FYI: For the Israeli side of the story, see Haaretz, Analysis, May 13: This Independence Day, Israel Has Split Into Two Incompatible Jewish States

There is an elephant in the Israeli room – and no, it's not occupation, though that is its main cause.

The elephant in the room is Israel gradually but inexorably being divided into the State of Israel – a high-tech, secular, outward-looking, imperfect but liberal state – and the Kingdom of Judea, a Jewish-supremacist, ultranationalist theocracy with messianic, antidemocratic tendencies that encourage isolation.

Never in the proud 76 years of Israel's sovereign existence has there been a sadder, more somber, depressing and acrimonious Independence Day than this year … But above and beyond pondering October 7, there is a growing realization that 'unity,' 'one destiny' and 'we have no choice and no other country' have become meaningless and hollow clichés. Instead, more and more Israelis on both sides of the divide see their country as essentially split into two distinct entities: Judea and Israel" 

A Room of My Own: From the River to the Sea Haiku

Against the Drowning Noise of Other Words, IX: "from the river to the sea"

Tel Aviv in twilight

from the river to the sea

peace, peace only ...

FYI: Salon, Jan.18:  “From the river to the sea”: Netanyahu says he rejected Biden's call for Palestinian state after war: Netanyahu used phrase Israel's supporters claim is a call for Israeli genocide when used by Palestinian advocates

Netanyahu, who has long opposed the formation of a Palestinian state, rejected any such notion on Thursday.

“This conflict is not about the lack of a state of Palestinians but the existence of a Jewish state,” he said, according to a translation from i24News. “Every area we evacuate, we receive terrible terror… and therefore I clarify that in any arrangement, in the future the state of Israel has to control the from the river to the sea,” he continued, repeating a phrase that Israeli supporters have claimed is a call for genocide when used by pro-Palestinian supporters.

Washington Post, Oct. 16 2023: Welcome to the new, ‘new’ Middle East

This time [when he addressed the U.N. General Assembly on "Sep. 22, 2023," which means "before Oct. 7th"], Netanyahu had a different image as a prop — a map titled “The New Middle East,” depicting a section of the region shaded in green. That included all of Israel from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea, with no delineations showing occupied Palestinian territory, as well as countries such as Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates.

Added: Against the Drowning Noise of Other Words, X: "Let My People Go"

lingering echoes

from a sea of protesters

in Tel Aviv:

Let My People Go

Elections Now

FYI: "Let My People Go" is a phrase that originates in the Book of Exodus 5:1:

And afterward Moses and Aaron went in, and told Pharaoh, Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, Let my people go, that they may hold a feast unto me in the wilderness.

And Haaretz, Jan. 20: "Only Graveyards Will Be Named After Netanyahu" 

Thousands Protest Across Israel Against Netanyahu's Government

Thousands attended demonstrations in Tel Aviv, Haifa, Jerusalem, and outside Netanyahu's private residence in Caesarea. Bereaved sister: 'The values on which this country was built were replaced by political survival, bickering, and incitement'

One Man's Maple Moon: Love and Peace Tanka by Lorraine Pester

English Original

sketched in the air

and brought alive

with Christmas lights ...

wire line-drawings

shape love and peace

Lorraine Pester

Chinese Translation (Traditional)

素描在天空中

並且被聖誕彩燈

賦予了生命 ...

這些電線圖畫

形塑愛與和平

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

素描在天空中

并且被圣诞彩灯

赋予了生命 ...

这些电线图画

形塑爱与和平

Bio Sketch

Being curious and staying open to possibility is Lorraine Pester’s way of keeping her haikai fresh. She shies from no topic that presents itself. Her deliberate interactions with birds while dog walking is a frequent theme. She lives with her husband and  Abbey schnauzer in south Texas. 

Butterfly Dream: Peace Vigil Haiku by Peggy Heinrich

English Original

Peace vigil

our candles flicker and hold

in the wind

Frogpond, May, 1988

Peggy Heinrich

Chinese Translation (Traditional)

和平守夜

在風中我們的蠟燭

閃爍並持續發光

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

和平守夜

在风中我们的蜡烛

闪烁并持续发光

Bio Sketch

Peggy Heinrich's haiku had appeared in almost every haiku journal both nationally and internationally and in many anthologies. Awards include Top Prize in the Yamadera Basho Memorial Museum English Haiku Contest in both 2009 and 2010. Peeling an Orange, a collection of her haiku with photographs by John Bolivar, was published in 2009 by Modern English Tanka Press. Forward Moving Shadows, a collection of her tanka, with photographs by John Bolivar, was published in 2012.

Special Feature: Haiku and Tanka Selected for International Women's Day against War and for Peace

My Dear Readers:

With war raging in Europe after 77 years of peace, this International Women’s Day is a time to acknowledge the courage, intellect and grit of extraordinary women in key roles in every aspect of this conflict. In commemoration of International Women’s Day 2022, I would like to encourage each of you to take time to rethink the geo/sociopolitics of war and peace through the haiku and tanka selected below:

Selected Haiku and Tanka:

drum roll

rifles at the ready 

at the march out

she can't distinguish 

her son from the others

Ribbons,  13:1, Winter 2017

Hazel Hall

fireflies --

a Kamikaze mother whispers

her son's name

Chrysanthemum Love, 2003

Fay Aoyagi

a soldier

in a foreign land

my son

is too far away to hold

yesterday ... I bathed him

NeverEnding Story, July 12, 2018

Giddy Nielsen-Sweep

crows spiral

in a double helix --

battlefield smoke

Windfall, 4, 2016

Marilyn Humbert

one child

sits alone weeping

for a mother

the falling bombs

will kill twice

NeverEnding Story,  May 17, 2019

Giddy Nielsen-Sweep 

sun dogs

on the winter horizon ...

another body count

First Prize, 2007 Porad Award Winners

Francine Banwarth

more peace talks …

a monal hen startled

by our approach

Shamrock, 32,  2015

Sonam Chhoki

ceasefire --

a soldier comes home

wrapped in moonlight

Honorable Mention, 2015 Mainichi Haiku Contest

Arvinder Kaur

a soldier's headstone  

from one date to another

so short a line

First Prize, 2008 Ukiah Festival

Sylvia Forges-Ryan

in attic webs

I find letters

from father

lost to the dark side

after his tour of duty

Eucalypt, 20, 2016

Marilyn Humbert

training corps

marking time with style

blue mink stockings

bomber jacket, skirt

we made love not war

The Bamboo Hut, Autumn 2016

Martha Magenta

To conclude today's International Women's Day Special Feature post, I would like to share with you the following poems and remarks:

written for Ukrainian girls

bomb shelter wall

the girl draws a dove flying

to a field of sunflowers

Lviv Art Center

turned into a refugee shelter

the sunflowers

in a pink-haired girl's painting

change into soaring white doves

Added: written one day after International Women's Day against War and for Peace

the silhouette

of a soaring white dove

girl at the border

Poetry acts as a witness in, to, and most importantly, through troubled times.

-- Chen-ou Liu, An Interview with Dimitar Anakiev

This is our response to war: to make haiku/tanka more intensely, more beautifully, more devotedly than ever before. Changing the world one haiku/tanka at a time.

-- Chen-ou Liu paraphrasing Leonard Bernstein

Happy International Women's Day for Peace

Chen-ou

A Room of My Own: Trapped in the Endgame

written for the Global Day of Action against War

a line of soldiers

sprawled on muddy ground 

before a disabled tank ...

sheets of snow falling

on a sheet of snow

rattling cups

against jail-cell bars

in dim light

bruised Russian students shout out

fight for peace! fight for peace!

shouting, No to War

staffers leave the studio

live and on-air ...

after loud bangs, then silence

the news channel plays Swan Lake

FYI: Punch, March 3: Putin detains 8,000 Russian protesters;  The IndianEXPRESS, March 4:  Russian news channel signs out saying ‘No To War,’ plays ‘Swan Lake’ as staff walks out; CBC News, March 5: Kremlin tightens grip on Russians' access to media with misinformation law; and Reuters, March 6: Ukraine's president  Volodymyr Zelenskiy tells Russians to protest before it's too late

Citizens of Russia! For you, this is a struggle not only for peace in Ukraine! This is a fight for your country... If you keep silent now, only your poverty will speak for you later. And only repression will answer.

If Russia stops fighting, there will be no war.

If Ukraine stops fighting, there will be no more Ukraine!!! 

-- Anti-War Protest Sign

Added:

written for the Global Day of Action for Peace

soul-tired refugees

stream through the Polish border

behind the fence

a pianist's fingers dancing

across ivory keys for peace

FYI: Wion, March 4: Watch: "Piano Man" Davide Martello brought some musical joy to the refugees. Martello travelled from Germany with his instruments on wheels.

Added: written for Dr. Y (whose name has been withheld to protect his safety) and his 5-year-old son: 

amidst oil price surge

Russian invasion and Trump 

ranting on Fox News ...

in his Batcopter the Batman

soars into skies over Kyiv

FYI: Today, Feb. 28: Ukrainian father gives his son Batman toy and a message, "Be brave:"This Kyiv pediatrician and dad drove his family 40 hours to safety, then turned around to go back and fight for his country.

And The Batman premiered in the United States on March 1, 2022.

Added:

Death of Innocence

hospice courtyard

Russian children line up

in the shape of Z

smoky sky

in each cracked window ... 

Kharkiv daycare center

FYI: Sky News, March 7: Ukraine war: Terminally ill children in Russia line up outside hospice in shape of 'Z' to show support for invasion

The letter Z has become a propaganda symbol showing support for Russian President Vladimir Putin and his military invasion of Ukraine... The Z insignia has become popular in Russia, with many daubing it on their cars or wearing it on their t-shirts. It came to prominence after it was spotted on Russian military vehicles operating in Ukraine.

And “Z,” the Symbol of Russia’s New Politics of Aggression: The letter came to stand for devotion to the state, murderous rage, and unchecked power. Masha Gessen, The New Yorker, March 8 

One Man's Maple Moon: Peace Offerings Tanka by Debbie Strange

English Original

the ocean
was in a rage last night
but today,
these peace offerings
of blue mussels and kelp
 
First Place, 2018 Sanford Goldstein International Tanka Contest

Debbie Strange

 

Chinese Translation (Traditional)

海洋
昨晚浪潮洶湧
但是今天，
這些藍蚌和海帶
作為和平的奉獻

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

海洋
昨晚浪潮汹涌
但是今天，
这些蓝蚌和海带
作为和平的奉献

Bio Sketch

Debbie Strange is an award-winning Canadian short form poet, haiga artist, and photographer. Keibooks released her second full-length poetry collection, Three-Part Harmony: Tanka Verses in 2018, and Folded Word published her haiku chapbook, A Year Unfolding in 2017. An archive of publications may be accessed at http://debbiemstrange.blogspot.com/

Special Feature: War and Peace Haiku for D-Day

My Dear Readers:

Today, we commemorate  the 75th Anniversary of D-Day through the following war and peace haiku:

news of war

wrapped on a fish --

the smell lingers

Carl Seguiban

a machine gun --

in the middle of the forehead

a red flower blooms.

Saito Sanki

a drizzling rain ...

washing their blood

into their blood

Michael McClintock

sun dogs

on the winter horizon ...

another body count

Francine Banwarth

more peace talks …

a monal hen startled

by our approach

Sonam Chhoki

ceasefire --

a soldier comes home

wrapped in moonlight

Arvinder Kaur

war

memorial

no higher

than

a boy

Sandra Simpson

the road

to a war cemetery

morning glories

Chen-ou Liu

all that remains --

dreams of jungle,

sand, sky

Marilyn Hazelton

Normandy beach ...

this small white rock

washed clean

Anne LB Davidson

I would like to conclude today's post with the following remarks: 

This is our reply to violence: to make haiku more intensely, more beautifully, more devotedly than ever before. Changing the world one haiku at a time.

-- Chen-ou Liu paraphrasing Leonard Bernstein

 They have the guns, we have the poets. Therefore, we will win.

-- Howard Zinn

Happy Reading

Chen-ou

Special Feature: Selected Haiku for Remembrance Day

My Dear Readers:

To celebrate 100th birthday on Remembrance Sunday. I would like to encourage each of you to take time to rethink the politics of war memory and commemoration through the haiku selected below:

news the war to end all wars rolling

Helen Buckingham
(Note: "The war to end all wars" was a term for the First World War. Originally idealistic, it is now used mainly sardonically)

taking me out of the war the war

H. Gene Murtha

news of war
wrapped on a fish --
the smell lingers

Carl Seguiban

after the bombing
ruins of a bridge
linked by the fog

Nebojša Simin

a drizzling rain ...
washing their blood
into their blood

Michael McClintock

war dead
exit out of a blue mathematics

Sugimura Seirinshi

ceasefire --
a soldier comes home
wrapped in moonlight

Arvinder Kaur

memorial day
the parade lengthens
by a new war

Gail Oare

army of sunflowers
again peace becomes
war somewhere

Dietmar Tauchner

the road
to a war cemetery
morning glories

Chen-ou Liu

shadow on the Tomb
of the Unknown Soldier
Remembrance Day

Chen-ou Liu

Veteran’s Day
he salutes with his
missing hand

Edward Huddleston

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

Butterfly Dream: Army of Sunflowers Haiku by Dietmar Tauchner

English Original

army of sunflowers
again peace becomes
war somewhere

Third Prize, 2016 Kusamakura Haiku Competition

Dietmar Tauchner


Chinese Translation (Traditional)

向日葵軍隊
和平又再一次成為
某處的戰爭

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

向日葵军队
和平又再一次成为
某处的战争


Bio Sketch

Dietmar Tauchner, born in 1972 in Austria, lives & works in Puchberg & Vienna, as a social-worker / counselor, author and lover. His work has been published in various magazines & anthologies worldwide. He received some awards, as the Taisho (Grand Prize) at the International Kusamakura Haiku Competition in Kumamoto, Japan, in 2013; and received the Second Place for Noise of Our Origin (Red Moon Press, Winchester, 2013) at the 2014 HSA Mildred Kanterman Merit Book Awards