Afternoon of January 10, 2024

 

new year

filling the recycling bin

same old resolutions

~Wanda Amos

Hiding in the Cabbage Patch

Companies can collect data

on connected children's products,

microphones and high-def cameras

hidden in the terms and conditions,

as you discover who's really behind

those dead, black marble eyes

of your child's favorite

stuffed and plush baby doll.

~Chris Butler

bicycles

on the screen

am I a robot

~David Josephsohn

robots

on the screen

am I a bicycle

~David Josephsohn

dragon’s breath—

pursuing the expectations

for hope and peace

in this waning year

of the rabbit

~Wanda Amos

Man Is Insane

Man

will start wars

for an invisible god,

but does not care if

they intentionally kill

their next door neighbor,

just because they haven't

shaved their shaggy lawn

in a couple of weeks.

~Chris Butler

there’s only purple where your head should be

~David Josephsohn

Tofu Dreg

Complex apartment complexes

crafted by empty egg cartons,

collapsing, crushing and cracking

all of the fragile human shells

piled by the hundreds high inside.

~Chris Butler

Parents

Father and Mother

bring us into this world.

Father Time and Mother Nature

take us out.

~Chris Butler

Scratchy Baby

Pour salt in the womb

and I shrivel up like a slug,

since I'm such an itchy baby

wearing little scratchy mittens.

~Chris Butler

mirrors

above both sinks

double vanity

~David Josephsohn

Afternoon of January 7, 2024

straight-arming the dashboard: a life spent bracing for impact

~Patrick Sweeney

paper snowflakes without knowing why climate change

~John Pappas

eyes without cataracts;

naked,

afraid,

vulnerable,

ugly

face without glasses.

~Suzanne S. Austin-Hill

a poem

with a mind of its own

digital citizen

~Roberta Beach Jacobson

the crowds now appear / loudly clamoring to see / all of my etchings

~Charles A. Perrone

Grief Is a Mother

She flips me upside down

and slaps me on the rump

until I stop breathing

and start crying.

~Nolcha Fox

bombs away in a manger

~John Pappas

the fifth finger on my hand

pretends to be torn off

~Mykyta Ryzhykh

postcolonial firing the western canon

~John Pappas

in deep waters: the blue whale of faith

~Patrick Sweeney

from dawn to dusk sunflower mechanics

~John Pappas

cat cute cut out ou oh o zero

~Mykyta Ryzhykh

I used to write long letters with a knife-sharpened pencil

~Patrick Sweeney

late fall—

a plastic parachutist

in the rain gutter

~John Pappas

by falling down

I see the wildflowers

much better

~Luke Levi

homecoming

under her collarbone

diving swallows

~John Pappas

winter night

the taste of no

strawberries

~John Pappas

The world’s best dental floss —

your hair.

~Oliver Kleyer

another growl

my right ear pressed against

the dentist's stomach

~John J. Dunphy

new year’s day

fresh strings on

an old guitar

~John Pappas

distant thunder

he orders more

toe tags

~John Pappas

Somebody’s reading

Night Train to Lisbon on the

morning bus to Rendsburg.

~Oliver Kleyer

that part of himself always pivoting as if to make a break for it

~Patrick Sweeney

new moon the clickclickclick of the delete key

~John Pappas

the constant intrusions of the ordinary

~Patrick Sweeney

Morning of January 5, 2024

 

the aging streetwalker's orthopedic shoes

~John J. Dunphy

his dry wit

I interview

a wine critic

~John J. Dunphy

on rainy nights

even the buddha snores

~Jay Passer

the refrigerator doesn't care

what I think

~Jay Passer

a murmuration of starlings

violating the Second Law of Thermodynamics

power lines

~Joshua St. Claire

candlelight

how tenderly he caresses

his iPhone

~Joshua St. Claire

paying a dime

for penny candy

cost of living adjustment

~Joshua St. Claire

Brand Name Cereal

now with more…

                              marketing

~Joshua St. Claire

the light of dead stars

                                       grocery store tabloids

~Joshua St. Claire

the Pierian Spring overflows as our Alps melt

you can't scuba dive

in the desert too many

heads in the sand

~dan smith

burnt rice —

the sticky remains

of our marriage

~Debarati Sen

fading colours

of betta fish –

mom turns sixty

~Debarati Sen

the new year dawns

before the sun rises—

Damn-cat-knocks-phone-off-bedside-table-at-four-am

~Jennifer Gurney

Why think of drowning?

A cricket on a floating branch

sings, just sings.

~Fhen M.

black-eyed peas the cornbread crumbles

~Jenn Ryan-Jauregui

Afternoon of December 31, 2023

monarch this too shall pass

~Kerry J Heckman

I used to look forward to the new year.

~Noah Berlatsky

crows gather for a murder could it be yours

~Roberta Beach Jacobson

like the chipped figurine a little broken

~Kerry J Heckman

firing up his ash bucket list

~Roberta Beach Jacobson

maybe it’s a sign…

the ladybug’s

seven spots

~Kerry J Heckman

the bard warned us

about the trickery

of such fellows

~Roberta Beach Jacobson

my inner sky

mostly sunny or

partly cloudy

~Kerry J Heckman

anniversary

he tells me he hates

my meatloaf

~Roberta Beach Jacobson

Twelfth Night kings' cake

I bite into

the baby Jesus

~John J. Dunphy

company

for Christmas

stray cats

~Roberta Beach Jacobson

prison math

 

i was 17

& you were 28

~Tiffany Elise

Afternoon of December 30, 2023

a new year

the woman with hope

releases the ball

~Sharon Ferrante

ringling pizza banana bread party on the lake

~J. D. Nelson

end of the year —

I win the lottery

in Monopoly

~Maurizio Brancaleoni

2024

everyone with their new

year's resolutions,

and here i am just hoping 2024

will be kinder than 2023 was.

~linda m. crate

Call for Submissions

Could 2024 be the year? The Asahi Haikuist Network is requesting haiku for the new

Anthropocene epoch. Send to David McMurray, mcmurray@fka.att.ne.jp.

flapping

as hard as I can

I kiss the street

~David C. Kopaska-Merkel

fish sticks people inside of the radio

~J. D. Nelson

like a sturgeon divested of her eggs

~David C. Kopaska-Merkel

soldering lamb the sleep of orion

~J. D. Nelson

Beatles once there were four

~Roberta Beach Jacobson

science barn rowdy tree bug inside

~J. D. Nelson

i don’t know what got into me rum

~Julie Bloss Kelsey

she coughed

the whole time

viral video

~David C. Kopaska-Merkel

halting moving

along a window ledge in December

a fly, poor thing

~Steve Van Allen

Beaks of sandpipers poking into the sand

and dart off to chase the waves.

Eleven pipers piping

in the sea, swimming.

~Fhen M.

overstaying

your welcome—

roadkill raccoon

~Julie Bloss Kelsey

‘twas a Phoenix, let it burn bright

illuminating our mind's dark corners.

~Fhen M.

Award Season

Are you aware individuals can nominate two haiku for a Touchstone Award? The deadline

nears, is Dec 31. Hurry! One poem can be your own work, the other a poem you admire.

Publication must have been during 2023.

Link to the (google form) nomination:

https://docs.google.com/forms

/d/e/1FAIpQLScNLIih4nJItt0IonbySDfdAbn_JK4RuN4IVmLnD516ce9CJw/viewform

death to parasites

you were a parasite

desperate to turn

every light into darkness,

but i have too many

feathers and have risen from

the ashes too many times

for you to win.

~linda m. crate

trash weeps a cloned carp

~J. D. Nelson

in an English Bath until I pruned

~J. D. Nelson