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

 

 

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