Morning of June 30, 2025

 


      
Sonic Boom: https://sonicboomjournal.wixsite.com/sonicboom/submission-guidelines



ACCOMPLISHMENT


In battling the cyclops

Blinding that one eye allows you

To appreciate his exacting sense of smell.

~Ken Poyner



snakes ever dreading I become a mongoose

~Tejendra Sherchan




exotic matter we discuss tropical vacations

~Colleen M. Farrelly




ghosted he doesn't even pick up his things

~Colleen M. Farrelly




stardust every edge of me mirrors in darkness

~Joanna Ashwell




haunted basement a sock ghosts the washing machine

~Colleen M. Farrelly




The Art of Haiku: Open for submissions July 1-31

https://artofhaiku.org/official-rules-english-2025/



English-Speaking Union of Japan: Submissions closing July 25

https://www.esuj.gr.jp/event/5_index_detail.php



APPLICABLE GUILT



I painted obscenities on a nearby concrete wall.

When I was later arrested, it was not for the

Obscenities, but for painting without a license.

~Ken Poyner




Cut It Out, Robert

 

I really think that’s disgusting.

Why don’t

you get out of there

and start

singing along to Steely Dan.

 

The major dudes

turn over the garbage cans

and skitter off into

the prudent bourgeoisie.

 

With all their committees.

~Noah Berlatsky




tramp stamp

ICE leaves a bruise

on her back

~Colleen M. Farrelly





Modern Haiku: Submissions closing July 15

http://modernhaiku.org/submissions.html




my favorite place to be

in the whole wide world

outside

~Jennifer Gurney




steppingstones creek crossing

I trod on

a trilobite

~John J. Dunphy




CONFINEMENT



This is the movie in which I am the villain.

You must be either the hero or the temptress.

How typical of me to write a script

In which you must be only

One or the other.

~Ken Poyner




Spiderweb catches

A glimpse of the sun

Diary closes

~Sarah Mahina Calvello




break-up song

you know the one

hum-along blues

~Joanna Ashwell




throwing you

back to the sea

matters to this one

~Jennifer Gurney





ENDEAVOR


A sack of chemicals

And a vibration.  The cat

Worries unfaithfully.  I watch

As the morning’s dishes

Plot their escape.  No room

For religion.  Window or door?

~Ken Poyner


 

Cattails Journal: Open July 1-31

http://www.cattailsjournal.com

 

Afternoon of June 28, 2025

 


the demon

chasing me

stumbles

I pause to let it

catch up

~John J. Dunphy




pyroclastic 

     flow

         the slow

  hardening

 of

  attitudes

~John Hawkhead




woodlouse memoir

damp

has a beginning

~C.X. Turner




one sock gone

mid-spin

conspiracy of lint

~C.X. Turner




writer's block

fluttering white butterfly

in the summer dusk

~Tejendra Sherchan




music blares

in a moving bus

dancing beanies

~Tejendra Sherchan




in my head

bird song

stops

~Noah Berlatsky




part sculptor

part sculptee...

love

~Jennifer Gurney




tree

poem

lovely

be it

apple

or orange

~dan smith




Paducah's easy,

try spelling syzygy

when you've got a broken toe

~Patrick Sweeney




going on a bit about electrons...

when their faces bent to phones

like Sartre on mescaline

~Patrick Sweeney




a victim of quantum systems

her work shoes

polished white

~Patrick Sweeney




worms in a dark puddle

all those drowned

and drowning hearts

~Patrick Sweeney




Human psychology


Human psychology...

The slanting rays through black clouds.

~Partha Sarkar




ophthalmologist's waiting room

receptionist helps a patient

find her husband

~John J. Dunphy




directing me

to Terminator 2

AI movie bot

~Douglas J. Lanzo



organic protest

vegetables tossed

from farmer’s market

~Douglas J. Lanzo



leading by accident

the most popular

body shop in town

~Douglas J. Lanzo




in the name

of a dead elderly man

allowance payments

~Tejendra Sherchan


 


she says I was born with it

~C.X. Turner



sharing elements of a star me

~Tejendra Sherchan



not what I say who I am

~John Hawkhead



societal healing too many decades to count

~Roberta Beach Jacobson

 

 

he gives pop quizzes to perfect strangers

~Patrick Sweeney

 

 

Afternoon of June 25, 2025

  

 


dogerwauling on a dogamaran outside the dogacombs

~Nicholas De Marino




She

moths

toward

the glow

where

it didn't

land.

~Nicholas De Marino




The squeaky ghost gets the exorcism.

~Nicholas De Marino




creaky old house

not the same ghost

I grew up with

~Randy Brooks




power washer

the addiction of

before and after

~Randy Brooks




to leave

or not

permanent twilight

~Tiffany Elise




lava like i know

how to chill

~Tiffany Elise




ssstatic the ego so easily shreds 

~Tiffany Elise




climate change

are cobras really moving

up the mountains?

~Tejendra Sherchan




Jung Avocado, Tesla Toast



What even is telepathy? I mean, just text me!

~Isaac Offski




stacking

exotic building blocks

in the microcosm

~Roberta Beach Jacobson




lonely hearts club please bring another lonely heart for a membership discount

~Martina Matijević




You're not invited to my party!" - cancel culture before cancel culture

~Martina Matijević




How much patience would Buddha still have after a conversation with world leaders?

~Martina Matijević




my husband’s not just a pretty face

whose truth yours or mine

~Linda L Ludwig




even her hellos sound like a reproach

~dan smith




Propaganda 2025


too many

Leni Reifenstahls

not enough

Lilli Marlenes

~dan smith




When


every street corner

looks like a Brecht/Weill opera

and your brainwashed children

inform on you

maybe then you will know

what you threw away

~dan smith




This Place


He inna better place

What place? There is no other place

Well, better'n this place

~Isaac Offski




Please Do Not Call The Cops On Our Lawn

 

The long grass waves because

we have not cut the long grass.

 

The neighbors are irritated but the bees

are bobbing like idle balloons

 

amidst the weeds. Grow where you will,

grass, over the sidewalk and the dog poop

 

and the neighbors’ angry stares. We are

bad neighbors but the grass

 

hides rabbits and many faults

in its mute and shaggy dance.

~Noah Berlatsky




jellyfish

the door slams

fallen souffle

~Sherri J Moye-Dombrosky




Never feed a stray cat, they said

we fed a stray cat…or two

they adopted us

now

we feed twenty-two cats

~Sherri J Moye-Dombrosky




Plates of moo shu

Celebration for one

Pouring jasmine tea

~Sarah Mahina Calvello




Placing cookies

Under pillows

To dream of love

~Sarah Mahina Calvello




Good deeds

And some egg rolls

Along the way

~Sarah Mahina Calvello




first contact…

an alien bug

on my tomato

~Sharon Ferrante




it’s ok to be ghosted

I have all his LPs

~Sharon Ferrante




with a rotten peach I bribe the fly on the wall

~Sharon Ferrante




the lies sound familiar this murder mystery

~Sharon Ferrante




telling the cactus you’ll have water in about two weeks

~Sharon Ferrante




foreign policy sticking to our guns

~dan smith




I have no cursor, I am cursed

~dan smith

 

 

Afternoon of June 21, 2025

 

 

she suspects I might be genetically predisposed

to abduction

by UFOs

~Patrick Sweeney




he made everyone feel they were poor listeners

~Patrick Sweeney




the demeanor of a man who flunked second grade

~Patrick Sweeney




our tired and poor still tired and poor

~Roberta Beach Jacobson




after 'hi' it was always who's paying for this long-distance phone call

~Patrick Sweeney




news fog - headlines reach dew point

~Dara Royal




he's not the kind of guy to change his assigned seat

~Patrick Sweeney




avoiding my own playlist

~Patrick Sweeney




engaging me

in conversation

her stinky breath

~Tejendra Sherchan




six foot four man

six inch baby bunny

sharing secrets

~Belinda Behne




the conversation turned zodiacal

I put Cassius

on mute

~Patrick Sweeney




reunion

uneasily walking on

the University's grasses

~Patrick Sweeney




all

the daisies I ruined

for love

~Roberta Beach Jacobson




everyone should have an older brother

who says watch out for the werewolf

on the dark stairs

~Patrick Sweeney

 


Afternoon of June 20, 2025


monsoon dusk

beetles rise from earth

one by one

~Neena Singh



 

storm-wet wood

an earwig curls

into silence

~Neena Singh




her thing-like character in excess materiality

~Vijay Prasad



 

generation after generation poverty

~Roberta Beach Jacobson




Snail moves towards eternity


Moves towards meagre demand

Without rush

But with a vast life snail...


That's why, it is alive and meets eternity.

~Partha Sarkar




waning moon

little by little

I disappear

~Jackie Chou



 

overthinking

the annoyed caw

of a crow

~Jackie Chou




off-stage

actor’s knife sharpened

he waits

~Roberta Beach Jacobson




afternoon nap

jumping awake thinking

it’s tomorrow

~Sherri J Moye-Dombrosky




sips –

coffee rings

until yesterday

~Elliot Diamond

 

 

A call for haiku about American Independence Day

https://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/15852436

 


Morning of June 19, 2025

 

 

 

sugar maple

kept awake with

jelly beans


~Jerome Berglund




held

too tightly

sugar glass


    summer fling


~Jerome Berglund &

    Shane Coppage




script doctor 

feeling pleasure 

removing pain


    the serviceberry


~Jerome Berglund &

    Shane Coppage




summer

reflections of a cat’s

tail thumping


    it's all angelology

    really


~Christina Chin &

    Jerome Berglund




monoculture:

there will be

no heirs


~Jerome Berglund




Happy World Air Day


Abnormal smog in cognition.

Nothing is visible.


Happy World Air Day.

~Partha Sarkar




The curve of a shell

Gentle effervescence

Quieting emotions


~Sarah Mahina Calvello




Being grateful

For the crumbs you throw

That’s not happening


~Sarah Mahina Calvello




Memories

Of you burning sage

It didn’t work


~Sarah Mahina Calvello




a peacock's tail

she's burdened

with beauty

~Bipasha Majumder (De)




For My Daughter

 

My wish to you is that

you need no words from your father.

 

Though if you decide you want them

they are here.

~Noah Berlatsky




mind your step

don’t slip

into autocracy


~Roberta Beach Jacobson




minding

the suet

wing walkers


~Roberta Beach Jacobson




I keep seeing things

in my peripheral view

but when I turn to look

they are gone

was it you?


~Jennifer Gurney




when right

is also obtuse

present tense


~Jennifer Gurney