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

 

 

Morning of September 14, 2025

 

Smoking

My father’s eyes flash lava

and his pipe erupts

with smoke and ash.

Volcanic smoke dims life and hope.

One day, we’ll see a fertile earth.

If only we survive.

~Nolcha Fox

Exasperation

is inspiration

sitting on its butt.

~Nolcha Fox

heavy burden

on tree arms

shoefiti

~Pegah Rahmati Nezhad

a reverse hourglass

i think of

illusion of time

~Pegah Rahmati Nezhad

in my dustpan

untouched by the broom

moonlight

~John J. Dunphy

I see her in birds

magpies, in particular

the blue & the white

~Stephen Ground

she grabbed her walker

& rolled right out the front door

destined for the sea

~Stephen Ground

she ran her fingers

through his bird's nest of a beard

& pulled out an egg


~Stephen Ground

windshield rain

this season of

goodbyes

~John Pappas

evening news

another reason for

another drink

~John Pappas

winter solstice

a short message

after the tone

~John Pappas

last fly

of the season

the smell

of coming winter

at the window


~Ron Scully

 

daylight savings

must come out of the long night's

deep pockets


~Ron Scully

the lawnmower

finds my lost trowel


~Belinda Behne

i enter the wind to become less

~Vijay Prasad

hats off to the ungovernable wind

~Patrick Sweeney

overdue nowhere

wolf spider

in the plastic tub

~Patrick Sweeney

gone ten thousand years

the back door left

wide-open

~Patrick Sweeney