Afternoon of October 7, 2025

 

naps are good but then

you wake up and you’re just

back where you started

~Noah Berlatsky

drone

not knowing where to land

sunflowers

~Gareth Nurden

last goodbye

the cold cutting

of the moon

~Sarah Mahina Calvello

Gradual End of Days

Fimbulwinter

on right.

Ragnarök

to left.

Both seek

the center.

~Chad Parenteau

caught

within my kundabuffer

bluebirds

~Kelly Sauvage Moyer

guru worship

i wash down my meds

with a mantra

~Kelly Sauvage Moyer

the tattered thread count of inner-linens

~Kelly Sauvage Moyer

slow corruption the body of state

~John Hawkhead

 

downtrodden an unexploded word

~John Hawkhead

At night, trees ask each other

How to escape to freedom.

~Mykyta Ryzhykh

straying from the herd

my legs leap from the bed

as I fall asleep

~M. R. Pelletier

life lessons

I get better & better

at being no good

~M. R. Pelletier

election month

prisoners released

in large numbers

~Bipasha Majumder (De)

potatoes

sold at a high rate

politicians

~Bipasha Majumder (De)

illumination

what I don’t get

from watching T.V.

~Douglas J. Lanzo

budget debates

what used to precede

shutdowns

~Douglas J. Lanzo

 

politicians

explaining away votes

babbling brooks

~Douglas J. Lanzo

peace agreements –

the devil's plan

in the details

~Nicoletta Ignatti

virtual keyboard . . .

collecting my fingerprints

on the screen


~Oscar Luparia

feline paw the new vase ready for kintsugi


~Oscar Luparia

 

Morning of October 2, 2025

 

demons don't dwell deep

but buzz busy bouquets 

traded through together times

playing phony, plainly plight

lovingly loatheing  lonesome lands

swell sweetly searching sense

in inlays indeed intended

~Allen David Simon

shameless shamans sell spirits

offering obscene opportunities

neverworld neigh need

altogether abandoning altruism anyone added
 

~Allen David Simon

times took time till tranquility trickled through

~Allen David Simon

truest trust traced to tomorrowland triumphantly turned tail

~Allen David Simon

divorce

rearranging the furniture

one more time

~Anne Fox

barren landscape

no place to rest my head

in my mind

~Anne Fox

hyperventilating into a brown bag lunch

~Anne Fox

cacao ceremony —

spilling all the beans

~Olinda Ninolakis

If I won the lottery

I’d just sit here writing poetry,

and, hey, that’s what I’m doing

right now.

~Noah Berlatsky

inhale…

the sky cleans me

of me

~Maya Daneva

clinic’s garden

where rain and tears

mix

~Maya Daneva

bones that crack

silhouettes of velvet night

hiding under blankets

~Sarah Mahina Calvello

bongo-playing in the woods

I jam with

a woodpecker

~John J. Dunphy

my poetry reading

a listener

claps his hands

to squash

a mosquito

~John J. Dunphy

every morning

a cockroach drowns

in my water glass

~Tejendra Sherchan

the thin sinking socks of illiteracy

~Patrick Sweeney

nothing like watching a sea nettle practice the Tao

~Patrick Sweeney

spray-painted on the wall of Checks Cashed Here

a rainbow and a unicorn

~Patrick Sweeney

the medieval dread

of unknown

callers

~Patrick Sweeney

Duchamp resurrected and peed in the fountain.

~Martina Matijević

3:00AM

all the blinking lights

that never sleep

~Joshua St. Claire

a tight pony-tail screaming

at a seven year-old boy

aluminum bleachers

~Joshua St. Claire

ChatGPT programmed

not to admit it

dukkha

~Joshua St. Claire

 

rheumatism

in dog years

I am a tortoise


~Joshua St. Claire

On Prednisone



The only thing you need to know is that this is the third haibun I’ve written today.


flare star last gasp

~Joshua St. Claire

 

Morning of September 30, 2025

 

 

 

 

 

 

zero sum mindset the schism chasm between

~words & image Debbie Strange

winter light pillars making the most of insomnia


~Debbie Strange

 

fortune teller there will be (s)crying in my future


~Debbie Strange

 

from a torn equation ecstasy drips

~Vijay Prasad

Rebuke to Apolloniare

Maybe your life is a venereal disease,

but the love of a dog is pure.

~Noah Berlatsky

your lips say “Karen”

but I can hear the dog whistle

~Nicholas De Marino

fractional inspiration


(never)         mind

(doesn't)       matter


~Nicholas De Marino

 

You can't keep blaming

the time-traveling mongoose ghost.


~Nicholas De Marino

the three uses of the butter knife

1. Spread room-temp dairy product, so you can tell which side goes up.

2. Saw through sourdough, so someone asks about your trip to Europe.

3. Threaten the baker who lied about the freshness.

~Nicholas De Marino

fall nightmare

I walk the green mile

back to school

~Helen Buckingham

 

bar happy hour

even the restroom's toilet paper

unwinding

~John J. Dunphy

under the old jalopy

gnarled pumpkin vines

grow

~Joan C. Fingon

mooncakes

one piece of the rabbit

left to share

~Joanna Ashwell

wishbones

fearing the snap

of disappointment

~Joanna Ashwell

rising humidity

I call a guy over

to kill the cockroach

~Violet Avery Hall

zoom class

a fly keeps landing

on the girl that hates me

~Violet Avery Hall

I had writer’s block.

Then I decided

this poem was good enough.

~Noah Berlatsky

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

lpt

~Jaey Price

Discover his music: https://songwhip.com/jaeyprice

Evening of September 26, 2025

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 press conference-

the stomping

leads to whine

~dan smith

Electoral College

no electives

anymore

~dan smith

she saved

calculated every expense

put everything aside

then she lost her mind

that's how her life went

~Marie Derley

elle a épargné

calculé chaque dépense

tout mis de côté

puis elle a perdu l’esprit

ainsi s’est passée sa vie

~Marie Derley

my world

ruled mostly

by honey badgers

~Tejendra Sherchan

what’s the trick

for staying grounded here?

well, gravity

~Sarah Mahina Calvello

these days

relating

to a gnarled tree

~Sarah Mahina Calvello

zebra day

licorice night

full tux wedding

~Elliot Diamond

winter deepens the earworm of our tragedy

~Bryan Rickert

slamming the door our house of cards

~Bryan Rickert

the spherical uncertainty of a perfect circle

~Roberta Beach Jacobson

stuck between white and black holes of her heart my self

~Tejendra Sherchan

the artists who broke the kindergarten paint rules

~Patrick Sweeney

an infinity of locked doors in the spotted leopard's mind


~Patrick Sweeney

loneliness circling back with a limp

~Patrick Sweeney

living for years on Aretha's 'huh'

~Patrick Sweeney

 

 

Afternoon of September 24, 2025

 

 

projected on the castle wall memories

~Tom Blessing

 

flying trapeze

a spider sways

on its lifeline

~Milan Rajkumar

 

Twitter war

night owls wait

for the early birds

~Milan Rajkumar

 

cold calling   ∞   funeral bells

~John Hawkhead

remains all that remains

~John Hawkhead

leaving littoral in the literal

~John Hawkhead

dandelions

the only clocks

i need

~Pegah Rahmati Nezhad

low-value passport

wishing

i were a bird

~Pegah Rahmati Nezhad

Truth lies


~Mykyta Ryzhykh

melting

I long to dip my toes

in your coolness

~Jennifer Gurney

My Dream

I just wanna

live, y’know?


~Jeannette Zallar

reptilian leaves

commingling shadows

on the hidden path

~Sarah Mahina Calvello

my fate

is my fate

crossing bridges

~Sarah Mahina Calvello

Dust on the mirror

Time has not been kind

brightening moon

~Sarah Mahina Calvello

short eternity

eternity always

feels too

short when you're

one of the ancient

daughters of the moon.

~linda m. crate

angry moon crab

when i cut the tail

of scorpions off

with my claws,

they aren't so scary;

and i've never been

scared to cut a fish

in half.

~linda m. crate

what if

everything ends now

tornado watch


~Mona Bedi

animal balloons

an elephant wanders

among the clouds

~Mona Bedi

 

psychic’s couch 

the things I hid

from myself

~Mona Bedi

after the rapture a world without dogs

~Julie Bloss Kelsey