Shloka Shankar, Wales Haiku Journal Spring 2020
self-quarantine a monarch ferries this world to me -Shloka Shankar
I love to meet new people. I love hearing about their lives, their hopes and dreams, about the people they care about, and the people they don’t. It is all endlessly fascinating to me and spurs me on to take a closer look at my own life, for I believe that it is what we hold onto and what we share that defines us.
In this collection, I have gathered senryu from across the world that showcases the art of memoir. Senryu is not only about wit, humor, and satire, it is about sharing the vast tapestry of experiences that make up our collective humanity. It creates an ongoing conversation of all that we see and feel around us. Senryu can be formed from the moments that hold deep importance. Whether grand or playful, joyful, or full of pain, senryu can be used to explore it all. It can help us capture what we hope to never forget, and give us a means to retell our stories. The stories that define us. The stories that connect us. The stories that will outlive us when we are gone. Our memoirs.
– Tia Haynes
self-quarantine a monarch ferries this world to me -Shloka Shankar
childhood village only one as it was a banyan tree -Srinivasa Rao Sambangi
first day of school her hand lets go before mine -Matthew Markworth
Friday night football a taste of cherry lipstick behind the bleachers -Joe McKeon
now we can talk of what might have been – menopause -Geethanjali Rajan
Mother’s Day most of our verbs in past tense -Susan Constable
garage sale – the flowered couch on which I became a woman -Carol Raisfeld
prayer beads one hundred and eight times i ask why -Michael Rehling
following in mom's footsteps - radiation therapy -Roberta Beach Jacobson
her suicide . . . the church full of people I think I know -Bill Kenney
beach trip a souvenir of sand in all the wrong places -Lori A Minor
opening night the name tag that says I’m an artist -June Rose Dowis
roadside diner a shade too brown for service -Jonathan Roman
forty years later: my father’s laughter in my laughter -Emmanuel Jessie Kalusian
second marriage– we circle the pothole after it’s filled -Sondra J. Byrnes
turning sixty - I cut all the deadheads off the roses -Abigail Friedman