Haiku Dialogue: Poet’s Choice, Brevity
Welcome to the Poet’s Choice series, hosted by guest editor Craig Kittner.
Posted below are the submissions for the theme of brevity. For this series, the haiku appear in the order in which I received them.
Our next theme is 5-7-5.
This structure of three lines – with five syllables in the first line, seven syllables in the second line, and five syllables in the third line – has fallen out of fashion among most contemporary writers. However, there is no denying its importance in the development of English language haiku.
Brevity is a fine tool, but brevity as an end goal is limiting. Honing the skill to express a haiku experience in a rigid, more lengthy structure can increase your versatility.
For inspiration this week, let’s take a look at a haiku by O Mabson Southard, from a collection of his work titled Deep Shade Flickering Sunlight, published by Brooks Books:
One breaker crashes . . .
As the next draws up, a lull –
and sandpiper cries
Think about how the 5-7-5 structure influences the way you read this haiku. Consider, too, how the haikuist maintains an economy of language within the lengthier structure.
Now let’s get traditional!
Send one original, unpublished, 5-7-5 haiku (5 syllables in the first line, seven syllables in the second line, and 5 syllables in the third line) via our Contact Form by Saturday midnight, and it will be included in next week’s blog. (If you send more then one, only the first one will be posted). Include your name as you would like it to appear.
Here are the submissions for Brevity:
sunrise
opening my
intuitionLakshmi Iyer
returning
from sick leave
tea-stained cupRehn Kovacic
blackbird’s song
I ignore
nearing deathAljoša Vuković
dad’s soft touch calluses
john hawkhead
autumn
warm colorful
sunsetTsanka Shishkova
reunion…
wider
hugsPris Campbell
stalling
again
new moonShloka Shankar
narc(I)ss(I)st
Jackie Chou
windstorm
the weight
of your wordsOlivier Schopfer
life
born
to dieStephen A. Peters
pickled ginger slice of life
Robin Anna Smith
flowers
of evening
greenfliesGuliz Mutlu
shifting –
only memories
with youRadhamani sarma
waiting on
gas station …
coffeeSD Desai
honeycomb
ants suddenly
piggishMarietta McGregor
your hand
around
my heartnancy liddle
night Train
long whistle
teardropsNeni Rusliana
looking forward
to
angel’s wingsPatrick Gallagher
on autoplay the birdsong
Vandana Parashar
socks’ smell
in the rain –
subwayMargherita Petriccione
brook –
sky through
the fieldTomislav Maretić
deep autumn
the trees lose
their voicesLucy Whitehead
rain
tiptoes
to chrysalis dreamNeelam Dadhwal
midnight
a thunder destroys
the treeSlobodan Pupovac
tiger
approaches
from the frameSusan Bonk Plumridge
mountain waterfall mouthwash spit
Mark Gilbert
cancer…
in stillness
stars riseSteve Tabb
cherry blossoms
mimicking
butterfliesSherrod Taylor
Milky Way
the wake
of firefliesAngela Giordano
cicadas –
the profile
of shadowsGiovanna Restuccia
stone
upon stone
my father’s houseGeorge Hinton
Spring
happy tractor
humsSusan L. Roberts
into its whistle speeding train
Adjei Agyei-Baah
stone thrower
the sun
ripplesRobert Kingston
song for birth
and for death
silence in betweenDubravka Šćukanec
shooting stars
dark night
sighsLemuel Waite
brevity
levity
all I askBruce Jewett
saguaro
no drip
systemPaul Geiger
knothole
deepening
annihilationHifsa Ashraf
squirrel
rests
long way downKathleen Mazurowski
the same knot
in the handkerchief –
anniversaryEzio Infantino
summer mirage
emerging from
asphaltX3+us the Whale
cicadas
sing
…nevermorejoel
Easter
postcards
with rabbitLjiljana Dobra
an old hand
his whiskers
quiverclysta seney
junkyard morning
collections
of snowGarry Eaton
two wolves
changed the valley
river tooSaša Slavković
denialism
ridi pagliaccioSanela Plisko
a mouse
at my party
girls screamFranjo Ordanic
moonlight
broken dreams
on the rocksElisa Allo
words of grief
what
can I carry?Alfred Booth
a vision
in white . . .
plum blossomsValentina Ranaldi-Adams
bathtub–
exchange of
baby smilesPravat Kumar Padhy
buzzing
rattlesnake!
footfalls stopAl Gallia
ducks dip
into clouds
lakeside daydreamSandra Ellerbeck
on our eleventh date rape
Lori A Minor
gardening
my silent partner
a hummingbirdDean Okamura
her life
as we saw it
mountain fogMark Meyer
first nation
somewhere distant
a loon’s wailIngrid Baluch
last kite flew
out of site
twilightAju Mukhopadhyay
tree work
sparrows
unboughedLaurie Greer
late fall years
kinder
than earnedTim Heaney
his lean teen look chemo
Greg Longenecker
rock limpet
the grip
of griefMartha Magenta
chrysalis
wet wings
waitingAnn Rawson
our sun
from out there
just a starPeggy Hale Bilbro
Faded eyes
still shine
with loveMargaret Cole
darkened room
the tears
of oneIsabel Caves
the wind
and i
whistlingMadhuri Pillai
south wind
wildflowers
danceBarbara Tate
bikini
tighty whitie
briefsGigi’s Magic
Nope
I hope
but I doTrilla Pando
rain dear…
Adrian Bouter
rainbow
she fades
into mistAgus Maulana Sunjaya
Art Longa
and Vito Brevis
walk into a bar…Charles Harmon
still calling
your name –
cuckoo birdCristina Angelescu
a desire…
daisy
petalsRosa Maria Di Salvatore
in the nest . . .
a fledgling
missingTaofeek Ayeyemi (Aswagaawy)
yellow leaf
full of memories
summerZdenka Mlinar
fog
a boat
surfacesJoanne van Helvoort
daylight. . .
the empty space
of a dreamcarol jones
say
no less
no moreRon Scully
crescent moon
clouds
moldedTomislav Sjekloća
student overachieving orbit
C.R. Harper
sighs
the night
skyNadejda Kostadinova
campfire
sparking
memoriesRonald K. Craig
beneath
the surface
moon jelliesRuth Powell
moonshine
still
hiddenMargaret Walker
rip currents
drowning
in debtNancy Brady
the swoop
of bat wings
sundownJoan Prefontaine
full moon
butterflies
within meNicky Gutierrez
moonshot
Planet B
swervesAlan Summers
sunrise
gliding into
the riverXenia Tran
mist …
a red monkey cap
alonearvinder kaur
star
cloud
chicory blueJanice Munro
turtle jaws
my strawberry
toenailKath Abela Wilson
doll:
in the slow air
hands of saltGiuliana Ravaglia
autumn leaves more sky
Rich Schilling
thaw
humming
an old songcezar ciobîcă
low tide
retreating into
myselfEdward Cody Huddleston
trying
to get to you
autumn duskcristina apetrei
On-off
FirefliesMargie Gustafson
a no tombolo day
simonj UK
before
my name
river stonesKari Davidson
moon landing
waiting
to exhaleBona M. Santos
flitting
butterflies
my thoughtsClaire Vogel Camargo
slow wingbeats
melting shadowsVictor Ortiz
mother’s day
he laces
her shoesRoberta Beary
wrapped
in myself
the chrysalisTheresa A. Cancro
after rain
how the snails
silverSusan Rogers
sandcastle
the kids
the wavesVali Gholami
rewind
the kingfisher’s
flashJoanna Ashwell
you said
I love you
onceKaren Harvey
gnats
flustered-
first raindropsSanja Clifton
pruning
the second time
deerDebbie Scheving
thirsty wings
sipping
morning sunsetswendy c. bialek
Big Bang
the first time’s
the bestJohn S Green
Guest Editor Craig Kittner lives near the banks of the Cape Fear River in Wilmington, North Carolina. He has worked as a gallery director in Washington, DC, and a program director for the Kentucky Arts Council. He currently serves on the board of the North Carolina Poetry Society, directing contests for the 2020 edition of the Pinesong Awards anthology.
Katherine Munro lives in Whitehorse, Yukon Territory, and publishes under the name kjmunro. She is Membership Secretary for Haiku Canada, and her debut poetry collection is contractions (Red Moon Press, 2019).
This Post Has 96 Comments
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So many wonderful poems and comments! Haiku are brief by their nature, but here
we are pushing the limits. Can’t get shorter than one word. But even one word can contain
an ancient myth and multiple meanings.
narc(I)ss(I)st
Jackie Chou
This says so much. Just incredible.
dad’s soft touch calluses
john hawkhead
Men can be strong and powerful and also gentle and kind. Working hard for family and others.
his lean teen look chemo
Greg Longenecker
Having lost friends to cancer in middle age is sad enough. I remember students afflicted in their short lives and some miracle survivors.
reunion…
wider
hugs
Pris Campbell
Our family and friends are so “spread out” around the country and the world, reunions are always interesting…
reunion…
wider
hugs
.
Pris Campbell
.
This small ku seems to grow and expand with each word and then collapses upon itself. Like an absorbing black hole, the ever-widening hugs of members of this reunion continue until, I imagine, that everyone is finally included and sucked into one blissful presence. I too feel part of this group hug!
.
.
his lean teen look chemo
.
Greg Longenecker
.
When I come to the surprise at the end of Longenecker’s ku, I’m compelled to reread the poem again but now with a changed perception. The semantic meaning of “lean” takes on an additional importance, even a changed meaning, from what I thought I already knew about the teen. The brevity of the poem emphasizes the two-syllable word “chemo” at the end as does the contrast of “chemo” with the preceding four monosyllabic words.
I really loved these brevity haiku!
So many of them sparkled like jewels.
I especially liked Rehn Kovacic’s
returning
from sick leave
tea-stained cup
which reaches out to me with the clearly rendered edge of that tea-stained cup!
I also loved Joanne van Helvoort’s
fog
a boat
surfaces
as the lines themselves seem to suggest the progression of the boat emerging from fog
And I loved Kathabela Wilson’s mysterious haiku with the turtle and the strawberry toe…
turtlejaws
my strawberry
toenail
They were all wonderful.
Thank you for highlighting my poem!! I’m glad that you liked it.
Thank you so much for putting this together Craig, it’s a lovely collection!
Thank-you Craig for challenging us to write haiku with this series.
Wonderful poems, a reminder to offer, our ku to others.
This is a marvelous collection of haiku! The best yet! The brevity challenge has brought out the best of us all! There are so many excellent poems here that I can’t even begin to call them out. Kudos to everyone for an excellent response to the challenge. I can’t imagine the 5-7-5 challenge will top this.
We have three more prompts in this series after the 5-7-5.
Can’t wait to find out what they are…
Many good poems!
My favourite are:
cancer…
in stillness
stars rise
——Steve Tabb
cicadas –
the profile
of shadows
——–Giovanna Restuccia
on our eleventh date rape
——Lori A Minor
wrapped
in myself
the chrysalis
——Theresa A. Cancro
Elisabetta, thank you.
Going through looking for favorites but really there are too many to list. Someone make a haiku brevity anthology.
👍 yes!
after rain
how the snails
silver
Susan Rogers
Love “silver” working as a color and a verb. Great sounds in this too!
Thank you so much Rich!!
I had this image in my head and when I tried to catch it in words I kept changing it to be shorter. I love seeing the silver trails snails make on the wet pavement and even how they glisten silver too. I am always afraid I may step on one by mistake. When I come home after the rain they are everwhere.
I like the many double-meanings possible in:
*
moonshine
still
hidden
.
Margaret Walker
*
moonlight or liquor; a still, or not moving or yet… such an accomplishment within such brevity! kj
Kathy, Thank you for the kind comments! I am so pleased that you saw the multiple meanings I hoped to convey.
slow wingbeats
melting shadows
.
Victor Ortiz
.
In all the brevity, I keep returning to this.
Maybe because of personal experience…swans in a white winter sky…, but also because the few words draw out time.
The right words in the right order, but the words can be read in any order and this haiku retains its poeticism. Extra marks for a successfully miscast verb.
Need I say more?
.
simonj
Thank you Simon for your generous comments.
.
Victor
a vision
in white
plum blossoms
Valentina Ranaldi-Adams
.
My adult daughter will marry in the next couple of years and I’ll remember your poem till that day. Thanks!
Thank-you Ron for commenting on mine.
rip currents
drowning
In debt
Nancy Brady
.
Nice image, an overwhelming but real experience for some. Rip current captures this feeling!
Ron
Thanks Ron for your comment. I n the past several weeks, our city on the lake has had, unfortunately, several drowning by rip currents..the people just swept away or in trying to rescue them. Debt can suck the soul as well. The public beach has finally reopens with new safety guidelines, but with Erie being so high this year, who knows what could happen next.
And not just poems got lost in the internet, so did my comment yesterday.
.
To try again: the ones that captured a comment from me were . . .
.
a desire . . .
daisy
petals
(Rosa Maria Di Salvatore)
.
turtle jaws
my strawberry
tonail
(Kath Abela Wilson)
.
thaw
humming
an old song
(cezar ciobica)
.
As I have begun working on this week’s theme I’ve decided to use the same story as I did with the Brevity theme. Would anyone else be interested in trying to see how the same story would work in each poetic form for this five week series?
That’s a cool idea, Susan! Looking forward to reading the results.
Having already submitted before I see this, is it something for another week. Perhaps a two poem entry. One brevity one 575?
We have three more prompts in this series after the 5-7-5.
I love your idea, Susan!
So I took up that challenge and did the same thing using the same story for 5-7-5 as for brevity. I look forward to reading yours!
Hi Susan
I responded to your invitation but the reply went after Craig’s comment. I will join you in using the same story! Cheers!
That works for me, great idea, thanks.
Thank you, Susan!
What a selection – almost a book load of short haiku here and all of them interesting/challenging.
.
I’m particularly taken with Lori’s: on our eleventh date rape
.
So much in 5 words.
As a relative novice to the haiku form, I’m very much still learning, and today, having had work turned down for not focussing on sound and rhythm, I came across the following interesting article by Elizabeth St Jacques, dealing with both these and extra-lean ‘skeletal’ haiku. Maybe useful.
.
http://startag.tripod.com/Rhythm.html
Thank you Ingrid for sharing that link. As well as an instructive article, on the very bottom of the page there is a link to the older Haiku Light journal. There are many familiar names there. And typewritten! This is one I hadn’t read yet in my continuous online search for resources, which began with One Hundred Gourds. Also, there are some lovely tanka written in the traditional 5-7-5-7-7 format. Debbie
Thanks Craig Kittner for selecting my ku.
There are so many works that spoke to me of this collection.
Regards,
Neelam Dadhwal
I did not participate, perhaps brevity isn’t my strong side😉. But I enjoyed to read all those haiku.
My favourite are:
autumn leaves more sky
Rich Schilling
on our eleventh date rape
Lori A Minor
On-off
Fireflies
Margie Gustafson
rain dear…
Adrian Bouter
Thanks Anna Maria! I usually write in 5-7-5. I found it challenging to write briefer, but rewarding too.
Glad you enjoyed mine!
I appreciated many of these either for their meaning, cleverness, or the yummy sounds read out loud. Some were commented on already, so I will comment on some of the others.
*
rock limpet
the grip
of grief
*
Martha Magenta
*
A wonderful use of nature and human nature, and a strong description of grief.
*
his lean teen look chemo
*
Greg Longenecker
*
A surprise ending after the lightness of the start.
*
fog
a boat
surfaces
*
Joanne van Helvoort
*
Living by the water, this is an image I’m familiar with, but once this little haiku looked like a sail to me, it stuck!
*
turtle jaws
my strawberry
toenail
*
Kath Abela Wilson
*
I’m not sure what her story is here, but it jarred me into the recollection of an encounter with a snapping turtle in a strawberry patch when visiting family in Missouri. Back in western Washington, It’s the pesky deer.
Thank you Debby for you kind words. And I am glad you noticed the sail.
Pardon the pun; I felt I had to have a shot at this one by Alan.
Use to his selfless commenting on many of our poems weekly, seldom receiving comment himself when he offers up his own poems.
.
Always fully loaded I find myself sometimes seeking deeper and deeper, believing sometimes he is writing in a unique form of binary language. Albeit in a light and succinct manner.
Perhaps it’s just me reading too deep.
.
.
moonshot
Planet B
swerves
Alan Summers
.
Captured ever so succinctly, a poem I believe written about the extinction of our planet. coupled with our desire to find a new home before crunch day.
.
Moon shot
.
The first line clearly speaks of man’s attempt at another (some doubt we did it before) moon landing. So desperate are we, that enemies on earth congregate to seek out our future home together.
.
Planet B
.
The pivot, deliberately made cryptic in order to cause thought. My first being to insert “black or blue”, knowing he was referring to our blue planet, how it is turning dark through human abuse, though also guiding towards his London roots, for the cockney slang term for black and blue (meaning bruised). Following, I found myself turning to google to go beyond “b” believing I found an intention to expand in a 70’s fiction film. Titled “planet B”.
.
swerves
.
Line three for me sums up the sceptics.
The ones to whom many lay people turn, in order to detract from providing their energy to further boost our efforts in protecting this ever so diverse planet..
.
For me Alan’s is an expansive poem, joyful to explore, though filled with sadness and a desperate call for food for thought.
.
Thanks Alan for the journey.
Hoping I’ve not discredited in any way.
Best wishes
Rob
Robert, I just read this as I was logging out for the day, and it is something to contemplate! And here I thought it might involve an imaginative video game. I should have known better. Debbie
Debbie,
Thank you for adding another link, I though did consider a video game, me having been credited with 29 others on being part of a VG @ outer worldly / idea.com.The comp having had a link for submissions from this the. I’m sure Alan’s poem would have received one of those places had it been submitted.
It would be interesting to read further your contemplations.
Best wishes
Rob
Hi Robert
I couldn’t agree more with your first two paragraphs.
And the rest of your post is very interesting to read regarding Alan’s verse. No doubt you’re
on the right road.
Having taken a few workshops with him online, and in person, Karen also, deep indeed 🙂 and they give such a wealth of information over and above the curriculum of the workshop day.
Hi Carol,
Thank you for your comment.
I too had the pleasure of sitting on one of Alan and Karen’s haiku courses.
Knowing I will return one day. Sometimes thinking, that should be soon. I would and do recommend “ call of the page” as a worthy avenue of learning, along with the blog page “area 17”.
Best wishes
Rob
i read it as planet B choosing to swerve to avoid earthlings so they must return to fix what they have broken — a cosmic joke with a warning …. i don’t know Alan so don’t have the insight of his students. made me think big …. a fine and varied assortment of brevity by all
Hi Clysta
I see where you are coming from. I often fail to see gags that are right in front of me. Clearly, if you are right, it certainly swerved me. Who knows, it could be another slant that Alan intended.
Best wishes
Rob
Rob, I appreciate your reading of it — I should have said so originally. The ku rocked my universe and likely had little to do with the author’s intention, which was your point. Thank you for your deep insights. Clysta
Dear Clysta,
If correct Alan has certainly squeezed a lot into so few words.
Best wishes
Rob
Life through a prism.
I marvelled at both the diversity and connectivity of so many great poems.
Congratulations to all and thank you for the journey.
I picked two this week, both touching deep.
.
mother’s day
he laces
her shoes
.
Roberta Bleary
.
None of us have a crystal ball. if we did, I wonder if we could or would change things.
Reberta’s poem shows how life through time reverses everything. A poem that stops you in your tracks to reflect. What are we here for, are we getting it right?
.
on our eleventh date rape
.
Lori A Minor
.
Lori’s poem again hit deep.
.
Ratcheting up the tension from the off, arriving at a slight pause, ending abruptly.
The clever use of “eleventh” as a pivot works well with the two concrete images.
thanks for including mine
Thanks Olivier!
My favourites were:-
.
‘blackbird’s song
I ignore
nearing death’
Aljoša Vuković
.
‘tiger
approaches
from the frame’
Susan Bonk Plumridge
.
‘stone
upon stone
my father’s house’
George Hinton
.
‘knothole
deepening
annihilation’
Hifsa Ashraf
Some wonderful brief haiku this week, though I felt some seemed to struggle. It was interesting to see the numbers of poems which fell beneath the usual two-part structure for these efforts which seemed so delicate that imposing such a structure on them would have caused them to shatter. Having said that, I spotted both a three-image and a four-image haiku accommodated satisfactorily.
i see it now on the bottom. thanks, Craig K. for fixing the list and placing my short poem with the other entries.
Enjoy the Conf.
stone thrower
the sun
ripples
Robert Kingston
yes….i can see this moment….thank you Robert
Thank you Wendy
Pleased it touched you.
reverberations end to end 🙂
mother’s day
he laces
her shoes
.
Roberta Beary
.
This one sweetly captures what it is like to have an aging parent.
wrapped
in myself
the chrysalis
.
Theresa A. Cancro
.
A nice comparison between the human world and the natural world.
Thank you , Valentina! So pleased you found that comparison.
Best,
Theresa
Happy HNA Conference, everyone! I just got settled into my room here at the Hawthorne. If you are here or will be soon, keep an eye out for me and say “hi!” This is my first conference and I am quite excited.
Ta!
I had sent one of my own, but it was not inserted,
maybe I did something wrong in sending ?
clouds –
the snow
of long ago
Congrats to all 🙂
have a fabulous conference, Craig! I’m so sorry to be missing it… kj
We had a couple of hiccups getting started on the series. My apologies to Wendy C Bialek and Debbie Scheving for missing their submissions. I’m not sure where the disconnect occurred, so, please, if you sent something before the Saturday at Midnight deadline and you don’t see it here, let me know.
Thank you Craig for the speedy fix, and enjoy the conference! Debbie
sent it Friday the 2nd….Craig….i still don’t see it here. sent you an email with submission poem
Got it uploaded now, Wendy.
thanks, craig for taking the time to fix it
my brief poem
appears
briefly
Sent this in Saturday morning.
.
Big Bang
the first time’s
the best
.
John S Green
Bellingham, WA
Added to the post, John. Sorry for the oversight.
I had sent one of my own, but it was not inserted,
maybe I did something wrong in sending ?
clouds –
the snow
of long ago
Congrats to all 🙂
Ne avevo inviato uno mio, ma non è stato inserito,
forse ho fatto qualcosa di sbagliato nell’invio?
nuvole –
la neve
di molto tempo fa
Complimenti a tutti 🙂
I had sent one of my own, but it was not inserted.
edelweiss…
moving images
in her mind
Elisabetta Castagnoli
An amazing read, so much portrayed with so few syllables.
.
Thank you Craig for adding my verse to this versatile collection.
Always astounded by what can be conveyed with so few words.
Thanks, Craig n’ kj!
Dear Craig,kittner
Greetings .Thank you for including mine, going through all the wonderful contributions and my favorite this week is,
campfire
sparking
memories
Ronald K. Craig
I am honored! Thank you, Radhamani sarma.
Ron
mother’s day
he laces
her shoes
Roberta Beary
i love the story here…thank you, Roberta Beary
Craig…………
missing
my haiku
on brevity
wendy c. bialek
can not
discuss
missing ‘ku
wendy c. bialek
Let’s get it on here, Wendy. Sending you an email.
Really taken with Jackie Chou’s haiku, it says so much in a few letters.
.
So much heart, so much poignancy, so much feeling in all of these brief, but spectacular haiku. Now, to return to reading and contemplating others.
.
The randomness of the entries in the order presented really freshness up the column, Craig. Thanks for taking over the column for the next few weeks.
reunion…
wider
hugs
Pris Campbell
I haven’t read all the entries yet but this one started my day with a chuckle! Thanks, Pris!
Thanks, Margaret!
John Hawkhead’s monoku, four words that describe great depth of feeling:
.
dad’s soft touch calluses
.
Lucy Whitehead: autumn does indeed bring about a change of tune until the last leaf has gone. I love this concept. But I was also reminded in my own work how essential is a definite or indefinite article? Would this ku have worked as well without the ‘the’, unless they are specific trees?:
.
deep autumn
the trees lose
their voices
.
Similarly, in the joyful simplicity of Madhuri Pillai’s:
.
the wind
and i
whistling
.
So much expressed in Steve Tabb’s poem. I see many things in these five moving words, including grief, hope and relief:
.
cancer…
in stillness
stars rise
Looking forward to this series and to greater self discipline! Thank you Craig.
Thanks for commenting on mine, Ingrid. 🙂
Ingrid, thank you for commenting on my poem.
Thank you Ingrid.
campfire
sparking
memories
.
Ronald K. Craig
.
This one works two ways. Someone could be sitting in front of a campfire right now or that someone could be experiencing memories now of a campfire in the past. All this in just 7 syllables.
Thank you, Valentina. I like brevity and haven’t written 5-7-5 in several years. That may be a challenge!
Ron
full moon
butterflies
within me
.
Nicky Gutierrez
.
Nice contrast of the external and the internal.
Thank you! Valentina Ranaldi-Adams
Many good poems this week. My two favourites: Jackie Chou’s concrete poem “narc(I)ss(I)st”, brilliant, and Rich Schilling’s “autumn leaves more sky” for the double reading of “leaves”, excellent. The art of saying more with less.
rip currents
drowning
in debt
,
Nancy Brady
.
The concept is well expressed in only 7 syllables.
Thanks Valentina for the kind remarks.
Your wedding ‘ku just perfect
I am glad that you like it, Nancy.
Thank-you Craig for hosting this set of columns.