EarthRise Rolling Haiku Collaboration

Earthrise Rolling Haiku Collaboration 2021

 

Welcome to the world’s largest annual collaborative poem. This year our seed poem honors the late Bill Pauly. Please add your poem(s) in the Reply Box below, ideally at dawn at your location, but any time that you are able. The timeline for this begins at 12:01 A.M. on April 17 on the International Date Line (which is why it seems to have started the day before, for many of us). Your poem(s) may respond to the “seed” poem:

snowmelt . . .
she enters
the earth on her knees

          — Bill Pauly (Harold G. Henderson Haiku Contest, 1991)

or to any of the posted poems, and you can even start a new thread. You may participate as often as you like. All we ask is that you respond to the theme at hand.

Enjoy!

This Post Has 483 Comments

  1. World 🐧 Day (4/25)

    incognito
    smartly dressed
    in skin-tight tuxedo

    Michael (MV) 🐧

  2. Aztec sunrise…
    beat of a drum seeps around
    stone to jacaranda root

    Michelle Beyers
    Copyright © 4/22/21

    1. Following to the beat of Michelle’s . .

      Aztec sun rising
      to the drum circle . .
      murmurs among the ruins

      Michael (MV) 😎

      1. nice, Michael!

        more among the ruins😎

        what dreams may
        come rising from the
        smoking embers of ruins

        Michelle Beyers
        Copyright © 4/24/21

        1. Hi Michelle,

          I read yours, and the Phoenix surfaced, and then that proper noun morphed into a verbal:

          new dreams
          phoenixing
          from the embers of ruins

          😎 Michael (MV) 🌻

    1. Hi Adjei,

      This one earns the Gerard Manley Hopkins award for haiku crafted with lyrical alliteration, consonance, and assonance – sonics in service to sense – I shivered (with musical delight) myself 🐧, and I’m not sheared 😄

      And, might that be a spring snowfall – and then there’s a continuation of alliteration for your haiku.

      By the way, admirable, too, how your “sheared sheep” image is analogous to the “snowmelt” of Pauly’s seed(lead) haiku.

      Michael (MV) 🐏

    2. the flood waters recede . .
      neighbors return to what
      remains of their homes

      flood waters
      have disappeared;
      some pets, too

      the dogwood
      finds it way back home —
      Sabbath-Easter eve

      Venice –
      Her people wake to wake
      on water

      Michael (MV) 🌻

      1. Following Bidyutprabha

        and hearing my brother, John Keats –

        sleep walking –
        pied – to the piping
        of the nightingale

        And here, hearing my sister in song, Stevie Nicks:

        Sleep rocking
        and rolling to the lull
        of the night bird

        And here, brother Steve Winwood:

        Sleep-talking back
        to the night, riding
        the rails of a red eye

        Michael (MV)
        all over again
        like crimson & clover
        (“over & over”)

        The spring fever
        refusing
        to break

        “I am
        with you
        always”

        I am with You
        there I am
        always. 🌻

    1. ratcatcher’s moon
      the dog’s whiskers
      closely behind

      Alan Summers
      i.m. “Max” still hunting at a Toowoomba sheep station (Queensland, Australia) in the sky!

      Australian Haiku Society Spring Equinox Haiku String 2019 (September 24th 2019)

      empirical owls…
      the sheep gather quietly
      into their own bones

      Alan Summers
      “Gwdihŵ” a haikai sequence
      Wales Haiku Journal issue one Spring 2018

      .
      drifting snow
the steam rolls off 
a field of sheep

      Alan Summers

      Stardust Haiku Issue 8 – August 2017
      ed. Valentina Ranaldi-Adams

      Kirkstone Pass
      a sheepdog gathers its part
      of the world

      Alan Summers
      Muttering Thunder vol. 1, 2014 ed. Allan Burns

    2. Following Robert kingston; and sharing versions:

      watching the orchid
      unfold – a week
      well-spent

      a week
      watching the orchid
      unfold – priceless

      a week watching
      the orchid unfold –
      not precious, priceless

      a week playing
      haiku, and still not spent –
      🐕 Michael (MV) 🌻

      1. Michael. So so sorry to have seen this so far down the line. Thank you very much for your kind words.

  7. wild carrots in the meadows
    a horsefly settles on Queen Anne’s lace

    Christina Chin
    The Asahi Shimbun

    1. after Christina –

      after grazing on wild
      carrots, the horse
      fly rides on Queen Anne’s lace

      Thanks, Christina,

      Michael (MV) 🐎

  8. the cat’s in love
    night becomes Magritte
    with a bowler hat

    Alan Summers
    Asahi Shimbun (Japan, March 2020)

    note:
    surrealist artist Rene Magritte (1898-1967).
    neko no koi 猫の恋 “cats in love” is an early Spring seasonal reference aka kigo

    .
    blind date for a cat
    an alleyway becomes
    a tunnel of love

    Alan Summers
    Asahi Shimbun (Japan, March 2020)
    note:
    neko no koi 猫の恋 “cats in love” is an early Spring seasonal reference aka kigo

    .

    spring breeze
an unexpected lilt
    of blackbird trill

    Alan Summers
    Half A Rainbow
    Haiku Nook: An Anthology ed. Jacob Salzer & The Nook Editorial Staff (2020)
    Dedicated to Rachel Sutcliffe (1977-2019) & the Haiku Nook G+ group
    https://jsalzer.wixsite.com/halfarainbowhaiku

    1. Hi Alan,

      Thanks for educating me, us re:
      “neko no koi 猫の恋”

      As for myself, I wasn’t aware, and enjoyed the new knowledge. Thank you, Alan.

      The “bowler hat” alone tells me surreal & Magritte. And, btw, as for this reader & writer of haiku & micro-poem, I detect a playful pun on *bowl*er

      the cat’s in love
      night dons
      a bowler hat

      *
      a cat called
      Magritte,
      sans bowler

      Needless to say, Springsteen sprung to the table, and I’m enjoying serving this – and all previous & upcoming shares:

      cat on a blind date
      the alley
      a tunnel of love

      Inspired by Alan’s cat-ku, and a cool cat called Springsteen:

      lost in the tunnel of love
      patrol pulls in —
      blinded by the light

      Michael (MV) 😎

    2. cherry blossoms
      she tilts her umbrella
      to have a glance

      © Bidyutprabha
      Thanks
      Allan Summers
      Enjoyed your poems 🙏❤️💐

  9. sitting in the sun
    glistening dewdrops
    in a gossamer lace

    日向ぼこレースの中に光る露
    [tr. 熊(くま) Kuma]

    The Taiwan Anthology of The Global Haiku & Tanka
    (English Version: Vol.1).

    1. girls ski past
      snow-white trees
      a red scarf flaps

      スキーの娘赤い襟巻きはためかせ
      [tr. 中野千秋 Chiaki Nakano]

      The Taiwan Anthology of The Global Haiku & Tanka
      (English Version: Vol.1).

    2. moving clouds
      in the cold wind
      trees with no leaves

      裸木や雲の流るる風の中　
      [tr. 中野千秋 Chiaki Nakano]

      The Taiwan Anthology of The Global Haiku & Tanka
      (English Version: Vol.1).

    3. buttercups
      glittering with dewdrops …
      a gust of wind

      Natalia Kuznetsova
      ( Basho Festival Contest 2009, runner-up prize )

    1. after Adjei –

      tonguing at cracks
      in the thawing ice –
      a dehydrated doe

      Thanks, Adjei,

      Michael (MV)

  11. moving
    in one direction
    the coyote chases a deer

    コヨーテや一方向に鹿を追ふ
    [tr. 中野千秋 Chiaki Nakano]

    The Taiwan Anthology of The Global Haiku & Tanka
    (English Version: Vol.1).

    1. Hi Christina,

      Taking a look at this as one long line running from left to right:

      moving in one direction the coyote chases a deer

      Michael (MV) 😎

    1. January thaw
      looking for an ice
      in a pool

      (c) adesokan babatunde waliyullah

    2. Hi Adjei,

      Love the Humor here
      cute & clever

      Recalls to me the observation in your snapshot of Budda with shoulder pads of snow.

      Alliterating the head & torso with:

      solstice sunrise
      the snowman soaks
      his bottom

      Adjei, ironic – your light senryū has inspired me to share this heavy haiku:

      end of life:
      snowman begins
      to bottom out

      ^^ maybe the heavier, for being reversed:

      snowman begins
      to bottom out:
      end of life

      Easter sunrise
      absorbs the last breadths of snow:
      hospice bed cleared of sheets

      Michael (MV) 🌻

    1. After Adjei:

      blizzard —
      the scarecrow scared
      to white

      winter field
      the scarecrow
      drained of color

      the field
      flooded with snow —
      the scarecrow washed away

      Thanks, Adjei,

      Michael (MV) 🐧

  18. cascading moonfall
    on eyelashes
    puff of powder snow

    Michelle Beyers
    Copyright © 1/20/21

    1. Thank you, Michelle –

      Your sensuous image takes me to the Floating World

      and so I follow my sister of the moon

      Michael (MV) 🌻

      P.S. ever listen to Al Stewart’s “Year of the Cat” from the 70s

  19. morning chat with
    the babbling brook
    water hyacinth

    Meguro International Haiku Network, 17th April 2021 Online haiku meeting.

    1. dressed for the party
      rape blossoms
      in vinaigrette

      Christina Chin
      Meguro International Haiku Circle 18th April 2021.

      1. decked up drunk woman
        swirled and giggled in the party
        a school girl walked out

  20. snow descending…
    the child reaches up
    to break their fall

    Alan Summers
    THF Haiku Dialogue: Poet’s Choice, Suchness ed. Craig Kittner (August 2019)

    Illustrated Children’s Book credit:
    The Amazing Glass House: A Haiku Storybook
    by Susan Beth Furst
    (Purple Cotton Candy Arts, October 2019)
    interior, and back page
    https://www.amazon.com/Amazing-Glass-House-Haiku-Storybook/dp/1732989753/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_2?dchild=1&keywords=Susan+Furst+haikustory+book&qid=1584284297&sr=8-2-fkmr0

    .

    1. Hi Alan,

      I composed a lengthy commentary, detailing how I arrived to this edit (below), which I share in the spirit of Creativity, and because I relate to the Wordsworthian kinship – “the child”(l’enfance) – I find in the vision of your wonderful & admiral haiku-poem.

      However, I lost it.
      Therefore, I here propose referring to it as:

      the snowflake in cyberspace edits
      ❄
      Michael (MV)

      snowflakes…
      the child reaching
      to break the fall

      snowflakes…
      the child reaching
      to break free the fall

      (and a peripheral from these studies)

      snow flakes
      making a clean
      break from the clouds

      1. That’s a lot of snow. 🙂

        If you have daughters, granddaughters, nieces, I highly recommend this book for them, depending on their respective ages or if they have daughters etc…

        The Amazing Glass House: A Haiku Storybook
        by Susan Beth Furst
        (Purple Cotton Candy Arts, October 2019)
        interior, and back page
        https://www.amazon.com/Amazing-Glass-House-Haiku-Storybook/dp/1732989753/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_2?dchild=1&keywords=Susan+Furst+haikustory+book&qid=1584284297&sr=8-2-fkmr0

    1. frost damage
      tree branches have died
      but roots shoot

      snow harvest
      how little water
      to flush

  24. the return of Spring,
    familiar, like replays
    of Downton Abbey

    *

    And again with the dogwood coming back home, the return of the annual EarthRise has been a moveable feast for nourishing creativity.

    Like the childhood anticipation of the Noël, I look forward to the global collaboration rolling around the next 17th of April, National Poetry Month,
    if I am still strolling & scrolling the earth.

    Our time here –
    like the night before the Noël
    that is never wrapped up

    Not toys, The Joy!

    ☮ in the sign of ✝️

    Michael (MV)

  25. porch side mountains
    the wind-pushed snow
    all around us

    Alan Summers
    Asahi Shimbun (December 2019, Japan)

    .
    Hopper diners the fading starlight short orders gather momentum

    Alan Summers
    proletaria politics philosophy phenomena ed. Elancharan Gunasekaran (December 2019)

    .
    jackdaws in snow
    thumbing through
    all our dreams

    Alan Summers
    Publication:
    The Comfort of Crows
    Hifsa Ashraf & Alan Summers
    https://www.velvetduskpublishing.com/uploads/3/7/5/9/37595991/the_comfort_of_crows_ebook.pdf

    .
    old circus site
    the lingering scent
    of its sawdust

    Alan Summers
    World Haiku Series:
    World Haiku Series (2019 Akita Haiku Network, Japan)

  27. soft pink & peachy
    my sister
    of the April moon

    from the testosterone
    of the sol
    the moon glows

    luminous lunar
    estrogen absorbed
    in the sunrise

  28. all fingers and thumbs
    the river bends & turns us
    into other songs

    Alan Summers
    Experience Japan Festival 10th Anniversary Competition
    Dublin, Ireland (April 2019)

  29. .
    powdered snow–
    a crow’s eyes above
    the no parking sign

    Alan Summers

    Award credit: Joint Winner, Haiku International Association 10th Anniversary Haiku Contest 1999

    Publication credits: The Mie Times, Japan (1999); Haiku International magazine (Japan 1999); Watermark: A Poet’s Notebook – Crows (2004)

    Collections:
    The In-Between Season (With Words Pamphlet Series 2012);
    Does Fish-God Know (YTBN Press 2012)
    https://www.amazon.com/Does-Fish-God-Know-Alan-Summers/dp/1479211044/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=Does+Fish-God+Know+haiku&qid=1618763169&sr=8-1

    .
    virgin snow
    a fox makes prints
    for the morning

    Alan Summers
    Icebox, Hailstone Haiku Circle Japan (2010)
    The Haiku Calendar 2012 (Snapshot Press)

    eAnthology:
    a little help from my friends (Red Dragonfly ePamphlet 2011) ed. Melissa Allen
    fox dreams ed. Aubrie Cox (April 2012)

    Anthology:
    Inking Bitterns (Gert Macky Books December, 2013) ed. Dru Marland

    Award credits:
    Runner Up, The Haiku Calendar Competition 2011 (Snapshot Press)

    Featured:
    The Haiku Foundation re:Virals 14 December 18th 2015
    https://www.thehaikufoundation.org/2015/12/18/revirals-14/

  30. April supermoon
    pink & pregnant
    with light of the sun

    April supermoon
    pink & plump
    with sun light

    April supermoon
    plump & rosy
    cranraisin

    Michael (MV) 🌻☮

    1. Greetings Srinivasa,

      That image – epic & cinematic

      s w e e p I n g

      swept me to the last of Shelley’s enduring 19thC sonnet: “Ozymandias”
      (especially that finale image):

      “Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair!
      Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
      Of that colossal Wreck, boundless and bare
      The lone and level sands stretch far away.”

      The commonality of arid sand & frigid snow. A conjunction of opposites: a Romantic ideology.

      🐕 🌻 Michael (MV)

  36. earth day event
    the village chief grants
    a deeper borewell

    (Blithe Spirit, August 2018)

  38. early morning mist
    the palest tinge of yellow
    in the folds of daffodils

    Michelle Beyers
    Copyright © 4/15/21

      1. twilight on snow shadows deepen the grip of stars

        Alan Summers
        Publication Credit: Frogpond 37:2 (2014)
        Anthology Credits:
        big data The Red Moon Anthology of English-Language Haiku 2014
        Butterfly Dream: 66 Selected English-Chinese Bilingual Haiku, Volume Three ed. Chen-ou Liu (2017)

        .

        snowfall she takes her daffodils Underground

        Alan Summers
        Blithe Spirit vol. 19 no. 1 (2009)
        Collection: Does Fish-God Know (YTBN Press 2012)
        https://www.amazon.co.uk/Does-Fish-God-Know-Alan-Summers/dp/1479211044/ref=sr_1_2?dchild=1&keywords=alan+summers+haiku&qid=1608464998&s=books&sr=1-2

        1. Alan,

          I so admire your poetry. Thank you for sharing and for your generosity.

          Diane Alleva Caceres

      2. Dear Alan,

        What an honor to hear you say that! I adore all of your haiku and haibun! Thank you so much!

        A big admirer of your poetry,
        Michelle

        1. Wow, thank you Michelle! And every time you post a new haiku that is at the top, I cannot bear to post a new one of mine.

          Love the latest too!

          Alan

          1. Dear Alan,

            Surely I have died and gone to heaven! It is such an honor to hear you say that. I so adore your work. Thank you so much!😇

            your biggest poetry admirer,
            Michelle

    2. Hi Michelle,

      Yes, Brava!

      William Wordsworth springs to mind, for me.

      Sharing a leaner, but not lesser, edit:

      morning mist –
      the palest tinge of yellow
      in daffodils folds

      And with your lyrical haiku, I hear Sting’s “Fields of Gold”:

      morning mist –
      the palest tinge of gold
      in daffodils fields

      😎 Michael (MV) 🌻

      1. Thank you for your kind words, Michael! I am a big admirer of Wordsworth and Sting as well. I had never heard that song before and had to look it up. What beautiful sounds and poetry. I also looked up his firlds of barley which are indeed gold and heavenly romantic swaying in the wind. Thank you for intrfucing me to a lovely song. I like your exit, by the way. Taking out all the prepositions makes it less wordy.

      1. my finger traces
        the north star

        Alan Summers
        “City” The British Haiku Society 30th Anniversary Members’ Haiku Anthology 1990-2020
        ed. Diana Webb

        1. or even:

          .
          backyard love
          my finger traces
          the north star

          Alan Summers
          “City” The British Haiku Society 30th Anniversary Members’ Haiku Anthology 1990-2020
          ed. Diana Webb

    1. solstice
      a farmer grass-seeding
      the early snow

      (c) Adesokan Babatunde Waliyullah 18-04-2021

    3. Thanks, Adjei,

      for sharing this very cool snapshot

      A time to make light of Enlightenment – highlighting the light(humorous) in Enlightenment.

      I likely might have overlooked it, but Thanks to you, Adjei, it is a freeze frame in the archives of my memory bank.

      🎥 Michael (MV) 😎

  41. climbing the fence
    a diamond-shaped net
    for clematis-to-be

    4/17/2021 by wendy © bialek

        1. lipstick stain
          on a coffee cup
          fiery sunset

          (c) Adesokan Babatunde Waliyullah
          18-04-2021

        1. snowfall
          the town turning
          into a white cake

          (c) Adesokan Babatunde Waliyullah 18-04-2021

          1. Hi Babatunde,

            I saw & heard Emily Dickinson’s snow poem, and then I saw a Brontësque vision of the other Emily,

            and that’s when I was moved to a more wuthering version, to partake in a new height:

            snowstorm —
            the town
            caked & frosted

            *
            and that led me to further intensify:

            sudden artic blast —
            cream pies smashed
            against the cityscape

            in the kin-ship of creativity,

            Michael (MV) 😎

      3. 🐕 Following you, Christina –

        the sign of orion
        so bright, how could I not follow

        Thanks for lead, Christina 🌻

        Michael (MV)

  43. down
    on the forest’s floor
    where crickets opine

    4/17/2021 by wendy © bialek

  44. everywhere, springs
    the whole earth upset
    over lingering knee

    4/17/2021 by wendy © bialek

    1. Billy Antonio,

      Thank you
      for the fun-ku –
      I play, too

      *
      mud season
      wallowing in bed
      night after night . . . night
      (to the cadence
      of Emily Dickinson’s
      “Wild nights, wild nights”)

      a compulsion for
      compression, and a mad
      compassion for the mud

      memories
      made from mud
      on white muslin

      white blooms
      in a bed
      of pig sty slush
      (compost of choice)

      a mud
      for all
      seasons

      😎 Michael (MV) 🌻

  46. Every star
    a tree, a bird,
    a man, a woman

    Michelle Beyers
    Copyright © 4/11/21

    1. shafts of sunrise
      gather over the lake
      flamingo-shaped clouds

      Natalia Kuznetsova
      (Asahi Haikuist Network, Feb.2017)

  52. almost free-
    the anchor
    holding the child’s kite

    Jumble box 2017
    A MDW compilation

  55. on my knees
    sprinkling eggshells
    on tomorrow’s tomatoes

    4/17/2021 by wendy © bialek

  66. a lotus caretaker
    up to his waist in murky waters…
    lingering clouds
    -The Asahi Shimbun, 2019

  68. viewing snow-capped vista
    above clouds at world’s top
    heart melts

    high snow melts
    into rivers that sustain
    life giving grandeur

    our blue home
    rising over the moon
    melting hearts

  69. mid-day sun
    winter mountains
    unravel slowly

    Bona M. Santos
    4:1, Autumn/Winter 2020-2021 of Autumn Moon Haiku Journal.

  70. all the blue notes
    of night moves
    eveloping moon

    Michelle Beyers
    Copyright © 4/17/21

    all the blue notes
    of night moves
    crescent moon

    Michelle Beyers
    Copyright © 4/17/21

    2. The s word seems to be fooling us year after year, late freeze really put one on fresh buds this year; really slipped up on me.

  74. a flurry of snow
    the night settles
    on each crow 

    Alan Summers
    Lyrical Passion showcase ed. Raquel Bailey (July 2020)

    .
    winter wheat
    a breeze rattles
    the wire act

    Alan Summers

    .

    snowflakes
    but for the red
    of this fox

    Alan Summers
    THF Haiku Dialogue: Red ed Tia Haynes

    Australian Haiku Society Winter Solstice Haiga Kukai 2020: Seasonal

    1. getting Ted Hughes with ya — Thanks, Alan

      snow settles
      on the rooftop
      of crow

      *

      snow turns
      crow
      to whitebird

      *

      flakes
      dandruff
      the crow

      *

      flight
      frees the crow
      from frosted flakes

      *

      the crow takes flight –
      flakes free falling
      from feathers

      * and the Beats, too

      a powder-puff layer of fresh snow
      : coke-covered crows

      *

      a murder lands
      on mounds of snowdust :
      crows on coke

      😎 ☮ 🌻

      Michael (MV)

    1. should read:

      snowmelt- if only
      everything covid killed
      came back

      4/17/2021 by wendy © bialek

    1. Very nice haiku entry. Here in South Carolina it rains all around me but not on me. Enjoyed reading. hj

  79. watering the droop
    of windowsill houseplant
    my posture improves

    4/17/2021 by wendy © bialek

    1. Hi Alan,

      Consider “sfumato” –

      sfumato how the snow melds us Da Vinci-esco

      and then with the ‘esco,” the begin & end are connected by thr rhyming Italiano

      al fresco,

      Michael (MV) 😎

  83. losing its colour to the wind crepe myrtle

    (Cattails, April 2020)

    *

    nebulous the pale sound of autumn rain

    (Hedgerow #131)

    *

    morning contrail the world at a stretch

    (Presence, March 2021)

    *

  84. morning prayer
    the sound of blackbirds
    fine-tuning dawn

    *
    (Blithe Spirit, August 2020)

  85. chapel steps . . .
    soft winds of spring
    dry the Queen’s tears

    minute of silence
    before his final resting . . .
    only birdsong

    Liz Ann Winkler
    Canada

  89. glass plate
    with apples and rose hips
    cranes fly south

    Tsanka Shishkova,
    ASAHI HAIKUIST NETWORK
    4 December 2020

  91. first daisies…
    decorations on a defrosted cake

    The Asahi Shimbun Asahi Haikuist Network January 31, 2020
    *
    laundry
    drying on the terrace …
    snowmelt

    bucato
    steso sul terrazzo …
    disgelo

    Daniela Misso
    THF Haiku Dialogue The Haiku Mind – Sign of Spring March 25, 2020

    1. Ciao, Daniela Misso,

      Enjoyed these; the Italiana. too

      Sharing:

      Venice —
      people wake to walk
      on water

      Spring —
      a boy’s first taste
      of tiramisu

      Michael (MV), with ancestors from Sicily🌻

  92. snowmelt
    learning to say
    what I think

    Hedgerow #123

    spring’s first dawn
    the call of wild geese
    along the river

    Wales Haiku Journal Spring 2019

    misty sky
    the last migratory birds
    fly low

    Seashores, Vol. 4, Apr. 2020

    blast of wind
    pumpkin seeds scattered
    on the windowsill

    (Haikuniverse, Nov. 2016)

    snowy fields
    the first crocus blooms
    invisibly
    Otata, Oct. 2018

    robin song
    the longing to return
    to the previous spring
    Otata, Apr. 2019

    spring wind
    the shelter of a leaf
    somewhere
    Otata, Apr. 2019

  96. .
    snowmelt . . .
    she enters
    the earth on her knees

    — Bill Pauly (Harold G. Henderson Haiku Contest, 1991)

    .
    flindrikin…
    all our elbows pumping
    to finish the compost

    Alan Summers

    note:
    flindrikin is Scots for “a slight snow shower” which we had in mid-April, followed by sun spells!

    .
    jacob’s ladder —
    the long walk with elbows
    and knees creaking

    Alan Summers

    1. empty subway
      filling the air
      with footsteps

      petrified oak wood
      the surrounding fence…
      electrified

  99. clicking the remote
    one storm after another
    climate changed
    ~ Sari Grandstaff

  100. deserted alley
    a man tapping his cane
    in a rhythm of blues

    Tsanka Shishkova
    Sofia, Bulgaria

  105. .
    night blizzard
    each snowflake pairs
    with a star

    Alan Summers
    Presence issue #67 (July 2020)

    .

    snowdrops to dawn chorus the teardrops of white

    Alan Summers
    The Australian Haiku Society Spring Equinox Haiku String 2020

    1. Hi Alan,

      Happy IHPD!
      I have been enjoying your contributions to the collaborative.

      To your 2nd, I respond with:

      mourning
      becomes
      white

      To your 1st, with:

      No
      two stars
      shine the same

      Each star
      reflects
      the same

      Michael (MV)

      1. Dear Michae (MV),

        Ah yes, white is a mourning color for funerals in some cultures.

        .
        this coat of white the sky burial of higher stratus clouds

        Alan Summers

  107. on earth mourned
    from this long April freeze
    still, on their knees
    **
    **

    orchard buds
    in April’s long freeze
    the steep slope of hope
    **

  109. spring clouds…
    a white-pebbled pathway
    to heaven

    ~Chrysanthemum Issue 29, April 2021
    *****

    morning prayer
    a koel’s song
    in every room

    ~ THF-Haiku Dialogue 31.3.21

    *****

    a fragrance
    of orange blossoms
    the old dog rests

    ~ Cold Moon, 20.12.20

    *****

    a damselfly
    folds its wings
    your sudden adieu

    ~ Creatrix, March 2021

    1. spring sunshine
      pink mist of cherry blossoms
      in no one’s garden

      Natalia Kuznetsova

  112. all I didn’t say…
    Michaelmas daisies
    in Spring rain

    Michelle Beyers
    Copyright © 4/17/21

  113. snowy mountains
    a bird appears
    in the cloud
    .
    filled with love
    her lasting footprint
    in this world
    .
    laurel leaf
    the seeds of peace
    she planted
    .
    snowmelt
    remembering her life
    anew
    .
    Xenia Tran, Scotland
    .
    In memory of Rachel Corrie (1979-2003)

    2. Hi Terri,

      Your symbolic solar-ku prompted me to share this variation:

      to the sun
      through the winter window
      the prayer plant opens

      Michael (MV) in Birmingham, AL

  116. what I couldn’t say . . .
    first anemone
    in the spring rain
    –
    –
    Otata 25 Janaury 2018, haibun, “Crossing the line”

  119. more poems…
    the return of birds
    from afar

    Daniela Misso
    Italy
    #FemkuMag July 2020 issue 26

      1. patio laying
        the robin
        on my shoulder

        evening meal
        the robin seeking warmth?
        rests on the bbq

  123. crawling through
    trembling night blooms
    purple lightning

    Michelle Beyers
    Copyright © 4/17/21

    *

    ebb tide
    every bird song
    spawns a new moonfall

    Michelle Beyers
    Copyright © 4/15/21

  124. mourners slow
    to undo
    their embrace
    *
    a cathedral
    500 years old—
    redwood forest
    *
    the beating heart
    of the minnow –
    sunlight on the hook

  126. the unseen
    from everything
    the seed
    .
    the dandelions’ fluff sun seeds
    .
    sprouted seeds
    metastasis
    in x-ray
    .
    no matter
    of color skin
    the same shadow
    The Haiku Foundation – Haiku Dialogue – Opposites Attract open/shut 12 august 2020
    .
    full nest –
    all the loved ones
    in my heart
    Best of Autumn Moon Haiku Journal, Volume 3 (3:1 and 3:2) July, 2020
    .
    reopening –
    all things I haven’t seen
    before
    THF Monthly Kukai — July 2020, Honorable Mention: by TOM BORKOWSKI
    .
    barbed wire
    with every passing bird
    a part of me
    Issue 27 of FemkuMag October 2020
    .

    a few sparks
    rising from the campfire —
    starry night
    February 20, 2021 (Mainichi Japan)

  128. snowmelt
    the wild crocuses
    you loved

    2nd Place, 2019 Morioka 1st Int’l Haiku Contest
    *
    fallow fields a light dusting of snow geese

    Mariposa 39, 2018
    Shortlisted 2018 Touchstone Awards
    *
    longer days
    I knight my sister
    with an icicle

    5th HM, 2018 Robert Spiess Memorial Competition
    *
    Happy International Haiku Poetry Day 2021! My thanks to THF for organizing this event.

    Debbie Strange (Canada)

    2. Sadly British haikai poet Stuart Quine, a brilliant one line haiku writer, was the first of our poets to die from Covid-19.

      .
      winter solstice darkness gathers in the unrung bells

      Stuart Quine
      (3 November 1962 – 24 March 2020)
      Sour Pickle – one-line haiku, 1st collection by Stuart Quine (May 2018, Alba Publishing, UK)
      website: http://www.albapublishing.com

  131. weight of loneliness the broken branch

    *****

    holding the breeze her last voice

    *****

    clouds erasing the patches of light

    *****

    shortness of breath fading song into the sky

    *****

    deep pain lightning into lightning

    *****

  134. wedding day
    cherry petals
    in the wind
    —
    i couldn’t say
    it’s enough
    lilac scent
    —
    lime tree in bloom
    scenting the shape
    of my solitude
    butterfly
    the fragrance
    of first kiss
    —
    velum clouds
    a moth passing among
    the wind chimes
    —
    the ghost of a man
    who rescued me from the lake
    autumn rain
    —
    bluebell field
    somehow nearer
    the heaven
    —
    jasmine
    the neighbor’s fence
    invisible

  135. snowmelt . . .
    she enters
    the earth on her knees

    — Bill Pauly (Harold G. Henderson Haiku Contest, 1991)

    –
    –
    –
    –
    –
    –
    stolen wombs —
    the wind brings only dust
    to the village well

    Sonam Chhoki,
    [Chrysanthemum 14
    (October 2013), 26
    Haiku News 2:8 (2103)
    Lee Gurga and Scott Metz, eds. Haiku]

    1. Dear Sonam Chhoki

      This though from time past is my favourite this year.
      Thank you!

  136. morning pray
    the blade of grass bents
    under the dew’s weight
    *
    a concrete jungle
    the gnarled pear tree
    in white
    *
    lingering lockdown
    a forgotten fragrance
    of spring rain
    *
    daybreak
    between sea and sky
    a bright border
    *
    hometown
    a glass skyscraper mirrors
    the old sakura
    Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival 2018, International Sakura Award
    *
    a gun salute
    how silently cherry tree
    sheds petals
    Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival 2020, Honorable Mention

    1. nothing but pink haze
      filling the horizon –
      vernal sunrise

      Natalia Kuznetsova
      ( 68th Basho Festival contest 2014,HM)

    3. Dear Marta
      I love your poetry generally.
      In this set I particularly like your first one.
      So much weight rests in that tiny dew drop.
      Lovely!
      Thank you

      1. And to add.
        I thought your “gun salute” very fitting for the day for us in the UK this day

        1. Dear Robert, thank you very much, so happy to read your comments!
          All the best, stay safe!
          Marta

  137. Meera Rehm
    April 17, 2021 at 12:45

    broken silence _
    daffodil pushes
    the black earth

    cloudless sky
    daffodil pushes
    the black earth

    after the funeral
    the widow plants
    the daffodil bulbs

  138. fairy lights in the magnolia tree the coming of snowmen

    Alan Summers
    THF HAIKU DIALOGUE – Connection with Natural World ed. Tanya McDonald & Kelly Sauvage Angel

    .
    café longueur
    a Parisian train station
    invents snow

    Alan Summers
    Presence #68 (November 2020)

    .
    thunder
    I slide a kigo
    into the gun

    Alan Summers
    First publication credit: tinywords 20.2 (November 2020)

    Anthology credit: Haiku 21 (Lee Gurga & Scott Metz, editors (Modern Haiku Press)

    Features:
    2021 Southern California Haiku Study Group Zoom Presentation

    re:Virals 283 (February 2021)
    The Haiku Foundation’s weekly poem commentary feature on some of the finest haiku ever written in English.

    .

    1. *
      how much
      long the waiting …
      a giraffe’s birth
      _ Mamba Journal/ March 2021
      **
      reawakening
      to what is not mine
      the passing clouds
      _ the Haiku Foundation/ monthly kukai/ April 2021
      **
      day dreaming
      in father’s loud laughter
      I cuddle up
      _ Brass Bell/ haiku happiness/ April 2021
      **
      newspaper kite
      the obituary page
      now closer to heaven
      _ Honourable Mention/ 24 th Mainichi haiku Contest, 2021
      **
      mother gathers
      a spoonful of stars …
      autumn light
      _ Commendation/ First Yugen International Haiku Contest, Romania/ April 2021
      **
      birds take off
      in the muezzin’s call
      sunset time
      _ Frogpond/ Feb2021
      **
      winter rains
      in the cuckoo’s cooing
      a long day
      _ Stardust Haiku/ Issue 50/ Feb2021
      **
      cows find their way
      without the cowherd
      twilight time
      _Nick Virgilio Haiku Association/ Dec28-Jan3rd, 2021
      **
      old village pond
      the smell of moss
      in the washed clothes
      _ Wales Haiku Journal/ Winter Issue/ Jan 2021
      ****

    1. snowmelt . . .
      she enters
      the earth on her knees

      — Bill Pauly (Harold G. Henderson Haiku Contest, 1991)

      a spare lifeboat
      we both could have defied the
      sinking titanic

  148. final goodbye –
    your pink allamanda 
    wave in the breeze

    (Akita World Haiku 2020)

  150. first day of spring
    not a single weed
    succumbed to COVID

    signs of spring
    election placards
    fade in the sun

    spring
    an old man’s fancy turns to
    naps in the sun

    1. Cool, Robert, Bravo!

      Thanks for sharing this unique & brave snapshot of donning a death mask, sporty in an urban western haiku

      Life affirmative, Eternally

      not flat lines
      laugh lines
      leading Home

      Michael (MV)

      1. Thank you Michael
        I enjoyed your response too.

        blue iris
        almost a century
        churning the earth

        Japan society 2021

      1. The poem above should read

        moonlight lingers
        in melted snow – the weight
        of my wedding ring

  155. dilapidated duck house
    still holding
    an egg

    pole position
    a blackbird
    opens the dawn

    Akitsu quarterly autumn 2020 

    1. The previous post should have read:

      his funeral
      the ice cubes melting
      in my whiskey

      Creatrix #49

    1. i couldn’t
      go wrong…
      morning jasmines

      2nd Place, Caribbean Kigo Kukai
      Int’l. Haiku Poetry Day
      Kukai 2021

  170. not yet spring
    the neighbour’s ball
    still in the garden

    blithe spirit (award) 2016

  187. sequestered
    gran counts the days
    to spring equinox

    clear skies
    learning to draw
    the twinkle of a star

    spring blossoms
    …all the colours
    of her laughter

    ( European Kukai)

  195. extracting the doubt
    out of earth-
    orchid blooms

    moving too fast
    to miss a step
    earth roll

    as if?
    oceans could speak
    land slide

    giant’s footstep
    long before
    man could sail

    red lips…
    the mountain speaks
    in volumes

    litter picking
    another shift over
    from the rich

  202. Spring 2021 –
    masks melting
    from sun-lit faces

    *

    removing the mask,
    and then, removing the mask

    *

    Easter 2021:
    faces coming
    out of mourning

    *

    Lifting the mandate:

    Faces

    in full relief

    *

    vaccinated kisses :
    Valentine’s even warmer
    with spring fever

    *

    masks littered
    like snake shed
    along city streets

    *

    like Shroud,
    like mask,
    left to the tomb

    *

    Resurrection Sunday
    unveiling the masked marble
    revealing the Master’s peace

    *

  203. Life –
    immune to virus,
    but never to vitality
    Eternally

    *

    What’s real
    can’t be killed.

    Virus can be killed;
    Virus, not real.

  206. tearing winds —
    her wings impaled
    on my dreams

    Carole Harrison
    The Living Haiku Anthology 2014

  207. spring morning
    birdsong opens
    another rosebud

    — Chrysanthemum No. 29. April 2021

  208. Trees, still dressed
    in summer clothes,
    dance in the breeze.

    Raindrops on rooftops.
    Dark clouds, heavily pregnant.
    Storm dissipates heat.

    Crayon colours
    scribbled across evening sky.
    Nature’s paintbox.

  209. **
    first rains
    a parched earth drinks
    from the skies
    **
    tree planting …
    we press moist earth
    around each sapling
    **
    watching a little bird
    catch a raindrop
    monsoon magic
    **

  212. from the flower pot
    a bit of white descends
    . . . butterfly
    .
    Stardust Haiku – Issue 30 – June 2019

  217. cloud into cloud
    bees swarming
    the hearth

    Michelle Beyers
    Copyright © 4/16/21

  218. night nursing–
    how small the earth
    in the universe

    (Acorn #15; THF Haiku App; Wishbone Moon anthology)

    damp earth
    slick bellies
    of winter radishes

    (The Heron’s Nest IX:2)

    snowmelt
    the ache ebbs
    from my muscles

    Schneeschmelze
    der Schmerz läßt nach
    in meinen Muskeln

    (Chrysanthemum #29)

  219. odd socks
    snow is falling
    in the woods

    Alan Summers
    Nick Virgilio Association Haiku in Action (January 28th – February 3rd 2021)

    .
    a shimmer of a cocktail cherry snowballs at dawn

    Alan Summers
    The Blo͞o Outlier Journal Winter Christmas Eve Special Issue 2020 (Issue #1)

    .
    winter’s end the lichen of abandoned bridges

    Alan Summers
    Nick Virgilio Association Haiku in Action (Feb 18th – February 24th 2021)

    .

    冬の終わり
    ワードローブが閉まりました

    アランサマーズ

    .

  220. winter
    on the seashore
    sole wind

    Luisa Santoro – Rome, Italy
    8th Yamadera Basho Memorial Museum English Haiku Contest 2016

  222. Earth Day
    seeking her while
    she may yet be found

    first bird song
    the sweetest sound
    we’ve heard this year

    Samsara
    coming back for
    the cherry blossoms

  223. furrows in the field –
    to the right and left
    scattered seeds

    solchi nel campo –
    a destra e a sinistra
    i semi sparsi

    Daniela Misso
    THF Haiku Dialogue – Opposites attract – right/left November 11, 2020

  224. watermelon seeds
    additions and subtractions
    with my son

    Daniela Misso
    The Poetry Pea Journal of haiku and senryu ed. Patricia McGuire Winter 2020

  225. earth roots . . .
    still learning how
    to bird by ear

    — Ernesto P. Santiago, Athens, Greece

  227. Michaelmas flowers we hide and talk with faerie folk

    Alan Summers

    n.b.
    Season: September (Autumn)

    They got the nickname Michaelmas daisy because these flowers tend to bloom at the end of September, the time of the feast of St. Michael. The typical habitat is rocky limy areas, the edges of the bushes and copses, but also the sub-alpine meadows, marshy places and lake sides.
    pub. Tinywords photo prompt February 2021

  234. rained-out picnic
    those first umbrella kisses
    in an April field
    ~ Sari Grandstaff

  235. just when I’m thinking
    winter is here forever
    returning birdsong
    ~ Sari Grandstaff

    2. chrysalite mist
      in the town washed with rains …
      vernal morning

      Natalia Kuznetsova, Russia
      ( Asahi Haikuist Network, March 2017)

  237. outside the white tent
    where vaccines are given out
    snowdrops bow their heads
    ~ Sari Grandstaff

  238. first early snowdrop
    heralds an age-old story
    and yet breaks new ground
    ~ Sari Grandstaff

  243. spring snow
    the bride’s train drifts down
    the spiral staircase
    ~ Sari Grandstaff
    Saugerties, NY

  244. –
    on my knees
    i open my arms
    to embrace a cloud
    –
    on my knees
    the sanctuary
    of spring earth
    –
    on my knees
    closer to my Mother’s
    womb
    –
    marilyn ashbaugh
    usa

  249. Mother Earth
    pulling herself up in
    the sliding morning light

    Michelle Beyers
    Copyright © 4/16/21

    1. Mother Earth
      pulling herself up in
      the sliding morning light

      Michelle Beyers
      Copyright © 4/16/21

    1. Arousing Haiku
      Teasing these words together
      Like verbal foreplay

      Firm and wet in thought
      Reaching poetic climax
      Orgasm of words

  257. thaw drip
    a little girl jumps
    imaginary rope

    The R. H. Blyth Award 2019 (Haiku). Zatsuei, haiku of merit

    1. icicles drip
      the bright blue sky –
      vernal prelude

      Natalia Kuznetsova, Russia
      ( Asahi Haikuist Network, February 2017)

  258. difficult conversation
    snowflakes
    on the green grass

    The Mainichi, April 13, 2019

  259. taking over
    empty park benches
    first snowflakes

    Agus Maulana Sunjaya
    Tangerang, Indonesia

      1. Thanks, Marion,
        for including one – a classic – referencing the library.

        Timely, too, with Library Week occuring the same month as NPM & IHPD.

        Michael (MV) 😎

  264. spring daybreak
    a blind man staring
    into space

    Natalia Kuznetsova
    Wales Haiku Journal( Spring 2020)

    1. sunshine in the hills –
      all streamlets dashing headlong
      to the unknown

      Natalia Kuznetsova

      1. roaring stream –
        caught in the whirlpool
        a spray of cherry blossom

        Natalia Kuznetsova
        ( VCBF Haiku Invitational 2011, HM)

  270. spring sun …
    childhood memories
    thaw out

    Natalia Kuznetsova
    Black&White Haiga blog ( 3/11/2021)

    3. Hi Natalia,

      A favorite of mine this year, prompting me to share along:

      the spring sun thaws —
      childhood memories
      run out to play

      😎 Michael (MV) 🌻

  274. the thunder
    of approaching feet…
    daisies everywhere

    Alan Summers
    Australian Haiku Society Spring Equinox Haiku String 2019 (September 24/25th 2019)

    .
    phlox moon
    the different shades
    of its forest

    Alan Summers
    phlox moon/pink moon=April/Spring

    Australian Haiku Society Spring Equinox Haiku String 2019 (September 24/25th 2019)

    1. **
      petrichor
      in a handful of earth
      a child’s birth

      **
      here, there, everywhere
      the wildflowers sway
      … Earth Day
      **

      Lakshmi Iyer
      India

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