Afternoon of March 31, 2026

 

Hair Gal

YOUR FATE

Cursed

at birth

by a witch

who misspoke

 

you led

a happy

prosperous

life

~John Grey

INNER CITY PARK

The fountain

is small

its rainbow tiny.

The council

strapped for cash,

threatens to shut the fountain

down permanently.

The rainbow

is unlikely to survive.

~John Grey

the body grows still

spirit asks

"What took so long?"

~Richard Magahiz

at last we burn

our eyes glazed

with cuttlefish ink

~Richard Magahiz

now he's gone

all those bitcoin

can't ever be spent

~Richard Magahiz

twice distilled tears

aged in snow -- they burn

as you drink

~Richard Magahiz

And the peace prize

After the missiles across the desert,

the peace prize goes to the cacti.

~Partha Sakar

business meeting . . .

is there a horse on fire

behind me?

~Barbara Anna Gaiardoni

war drags on

authority receives dire warning

secret weapon

to end the conflict

- life goes on

~Tuyet Van Do

love's logic

 

getting to the point

 

pet cactus

 

 

~Robert Witmer

 

cavities

 

in a language

 

filled with memes

 

 

~Robert Witmer

 

 

drifting

 

over deep water

 

sitting ducks

 

 

~Robert Witmer

epiphanies

 

the juxtaposition of images

 

in a jukebox

 

 

~Robert Witmer

immortality ... dust collecting in the corner of a circular room

 

 

~Robert Witmer

 

amid starlings a black hole crow

 

 

~Bryan Rickert

wind through leaves lost in translation

 

 

~Bryan Rickert

 

caring less and less about more and more winter fog

~Bryan Rickert

mushroom picking who to bomb next

 

 

~John Hawkhead

irrational numbers calculating collateral casualties

 

 

~John Hawkhead

calls to prayer

 

smoke from a crater

 

thurifies the dawn

 

 

~John Hawkhead

with daughter's cancer--

 

the season when I agree

 

to be a place for ghosts

 

 

~Beata Czeszejko

 

 

 

spring

 

ringing in her head:

 

pink pills pink pills

 

 

~Beata Czeszejko

         D.C. Follies

featuring:

Hoove the Groove

 

Tricky Dicky

 

Ronnie Ray Gun

 

Dub the Flub and

 

Donnie Destructo,

 

the Culminator

 

 

~dan smith

evicted from their dwelling --

 

clinging to their mother

 

baby possums

 

 

~John J. Dunphy

my AI informs me

 

'A' should stand for

 

'Absolute'

 

 

~John J. Dunphy

 

Prompt: Mother Earth's Rebirth

Please do not send before April 1—they won’t be considered.

https://sensesensibilityhaikujournal.wordpress.com/

 

                                                                                                       Update: Issue full. Now closed!

Afternoon of March 26, 2026

I’m Your Venus

pushing the limit

the weep of a bomb

before it explodes

~Robert Moyer

a lie tightens

the muscles in her face

congressional hearing

~Robert Moyer

every year the mirror

gets older

~Noah Berlatsky

I can’t rest in peace

Instead haunting

In retribution

~Sarah Mahina Calvello

let the crows haunt you

singing of my magic

until you go

mad,

and i will dance on your

bones in a red dress.

~linda m. crate

dancing with the moon

no one listens to

my problems,

but the stars are

pretty tonight;

don't ask me why

i would rather dance

with the moon than you.

~linda m. crate

the dreams tell me

i am lestat's daughter,

and i don't question them;

i have always had fangs

and a need for attention.

~linda m. crate

another dimension

i opened another

dimension,

crawled in those bones

instead;

like my odds better

there.

~linda m. crate

the yowling cats

hiss my concern

over the world.

~linda m. crate

i can't love you anymore

because that means

abandoning

me.

~linda m. crate

family photo

her shoulder blocking

half of her husband

~Ingrid Bruck

dusty apartment

before she moved in

after she left

~David C. Kopaska-Merkel

swamp tour

only a few tourists

eaten

~David C. Kopaska-Merkel

holy war swag . . .

upon each wrist a bracelet asks,

“What would Genghis Khan do?”

~Kelly Sauvage Moyer

spring flowers

preparing

for nuclear winter

~Kelly Sauvage Moyer

last gasp

the constitution’s DNR order

written with AI

~Kelly Sauvage Moyer

 

paper cup—

bubble gum

underneath

~Elliot Diamond

Get your bug ku to the annual Hexapod Contest!


https://ento.psu.edu/about/facilities/frost/hexapod

ideally not for predation the ironclad beetle


~Tejendra Sherchan

sitting on the broken curb of childhood

~Patrick Sweeney

my inner yes to the first dandelion

~Patrick Sweeney

yellow forsythia interfacing with the cyclone fence

~Patrick Sweeney

he's fairly certain his family would turn him in for the reward

~Patrick Sweeney

with two forms of ID where and when I could not prove who I am

~Ron Scully

snowing apple blossoms the weather report is on to the bombing

~Ron Scully

extragalactic night the moons shine down alone

~David C. Kopaska-Merkel

quantum universe

I reset my watch

again

~John J. Dunphy

mouse!

my cat pounces

into an empty box

~John J. Dunphy

March

a bungee jump of

unpredictability

~Jennifer Gurney

where have we been

all these years

pretending we are okay

~Jennifer Gurney

 

https://confluencehaiku.com/prize/

https://nordeweeklyupdate.my.canva.site/aoty

 

 

 

Morning of March 25, 2026

 Five Fleas Swag

https://www.zazzle.com/store/five_fleas

scrolling through the void

until the thumb

forgets its purpose —

an evolutionary

u-turn


~Jacek Margolak

my shadow

longer than my intentions —

the sun

is such

a perfectionist

~Jacek Margolak

smoke rises

from

a saxophone

an exclamation

point

emerging

~Peter Jastermsky

 

future-proofing

a world

without stairs


~Tony Williams

patches of snow

this world

of yesterday

~Maya Daneva

january is when

you can hide your bones

under the snow

and pretend the snow isn't red

~Mykyta Ryzhykh

(Previously published in Shot Glass Journal)

bombs crack

the sky open

raining fire

another cry for peace rises

~Belinda Behne

she prefers only

drinking dry red wines

ash-throated flycatcher

~Amber Winter

courage

on urban streets

ICE storm

~Jenny Sharpe

two suns above me–

astigmatism’s

new world visions


~Jenny Sharpe

neurotypical

neurotypical

neurotypical

neurotypical

neurotypical

neurotypical

neurotypical

neurotypical

neurotypical

neurotypical

~Noah Berlatsky

double doubles

at Tim Hortons

elbows up

~Jenny Sharpe

tempus fugit(ive)

~Billy Antonio

her cries wakes me cat or banshee

~Bernadette O'Reilly

stringing her charm bracelet with contradictions

~Stephanie Zepherelli

breathing freely

the yoga instructor

doesn’t show

~Stephanie Zepherelli

Evolution

We swim.

I drown.

You float.

I glide.

~T. Morrow