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