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 in 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

 

 

Morning of September 20, 2025

 

holding a gold leaf

mom told me not to play

with fire

~Diane Webster

vanishing

the piece of candy

and ants

~Diane Webster

Ants

Ants carry a dead ant.

A procession after a pause.

~Partha Sarkar

Free speech is a poem.

 

Poems end.

~Noah Berlatsky

carrying a load

I struggle to climb

up a jagged mountain

in a dream

~Tejendra Sherchan

Sandcastles

Collecting memories

That were set aside

~Sarah Mahina Calvello

after the shooting

we finally find out

what’s in the backpack

~Roberta Beach Jacobson

back to the drawing board

breaking in the wind

the spider's web

~Michael Buckingham Gray

clouded sulphur butterfly in the middle of a three-run-homer

~Patrick Sweeney

she made me feel better about being a 'nobody, too'

~Patrick Sweeney

praying for the intercession of a saint

who burned clothespins

to keep warm

~Patrick Sweeney

he hid the hole in the wall with a scroll

he couldn't read

~Patrick Sweeney

tax deductions

his monogrammed golf balls

in the pond

~Roberta Beach Jacobson

a cracked dream system

numbed need for concrete future

animate process

~Scott C. Holstad

ice cream cone

flavors from the dirty

aquarium

~Roberta Beach Jacobson

eternalhorrorland violence of murderscene

                                                                          – I was the Zavior

~Scott C. Holstad

digital deathmatch

keyboard warriors battle

peace and love KO'd

~Gretchen VanOstrand

I'm not mad at god

burning down his creation

hell, I'd do it too

~Gretchen VanOstrand

-41

welcome

to 1984

~dan smith

 

 

It’s Time to Submit!

Call for Halloween Theme: The Asahi Haikuist

https://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/16033297

Call for Horror Theme: Horror Senryu Journal

Note: Poets are no longer restricted to sending just once a month.

Visit the journal (new address!) for their simple guidelines.

https://bsky.app/profile/horrorsenryu.bsky.social

 

 

Morning of September 18, 2025

 

a button instead of an eye


~Mykyta Ryzhykh

a book falls out of the window like a bird


~Mykyta Ryzhykh

God in every freckle

~Mykyta Ryzhykh

mountain crows

disappear into fog —

a smile I can't hide

~Fatma Zohra Habis

war zone shadows blur my identity

~Fatma Zohra Habis

flood-stage river

in my dream

a clear sky

~Fatma Zohra Habis

hole in my leg

never saw the spider

or felt its bite

~David C. Kopaska-Merkel

my headstone

I'd rather haunt

your damn house

~David C. Kopaska-Merkel

one more

island nation gone

ice shelf melts

~David C. Kopaska-Merkel

waterspout

ten thousand fish

launched

~David C. Kopaska-Merkel

You are nobody.

Neither the moon nor the sun

Sees you walk away.

~Noah Berlatsky

End words are the same as those in Richard Wright’s haiku no. 1

swap meet 

finding a gently used 

companion 

~Stephanie Zepherelli

 stolen dreams 

 the wrong end

 of a wishbone 

~Stephanie Zepherelli

 finding everything i don’t need inconvenience store

~Stephanie Zepherelli

insomnia

I contemplate the future

in circles

~Nisha Raviprasad

autumn sky

he leaves ...

halfway

~Nisha Raviprasad

potluck

my spoon

in his mouth

~Jiel Narvekar

staple head

holding together

our paper trail

~Jiel Narvekar

slurred speech

the dentist motions

towards the sink

~Jiel Narvekar

her shadow without alphabets on my wall

~Vijay Prasad

captured in the cobweb a cockroach

~Tejendra Sherchan

waking up at 10:57

checkout's 11

alarm didn't ring

~Sherri J Moye-Dombrosky

thinking it's seaweed

the stinging begins

sea nettles

~Sherri J Moye-Dombrosky

daytime tv

the algorithm of celebrity

and WW3

~Steve Black

distant sun

deadheading paper roses

in art therapy

~Steve Black

I scream

You scream

We all scream

And will never wake up

From the horrible nightmare

~Nicholas De Marino

quit circling the issue

and cut the difference

we both have π on our faces

~Nicholas De Marino

never alone in compromisery

~Nicholas De Marino

artifictional realternatives

~Nicholas De Marino