cusp of the years reshaping my shadow
---------
A Blissful Day
meadow breeze
mom sings to meher childhood song
making a bouquet
with fallen blossoms
hand in hand
following the trail
of a white butterfly
a passerby
plays a merry tune
with his flute
dancing along
the buzzing bees
dusk deepens
our shadows lengthen
above the tall grass
Hifsa Ashraf/Milan Rajkumar
------
blending my shadow
with delusions
my projected ascent
Failed Haiku, Volume 7, Issue 80
------
A War Within
cigarette butts
in the ashtray
our last night's
arguments
all that’s left
war ravages
my dream home
smoldering
of your memories
before migration
the shooting star
lost into the smoke
Arvinder Kaur & Hifsa Ashraf
-------
Aftermath
chimney smoke
nostalgia
adding more logs
to the fireplace
the scent
long wait
at the window
silent stars
of burnt letters
immersion
the scribble of love
in her eyes
Arvinder Kaur & Hifsa Ashraf
failed haiku, Volume 7, Issue 79
-------
eggs on toast
another negative
maternity test
ground zero
resurfacing my desires
John Hawkhead & Hifsa Ashraf
coffee stains
on the table runner
family secrets
queueing for raindrops
at the foodbank
Hifsa Ashraf & John Hawkhead
------
lumps
in the rice pudding
first snow
summer heat
adding more mint chutney
in chickpea salad
lingering on
my daydreams
noon chai
family reunion—
the aroma of biryani
softens the arguments
Failed Haiku, A Journal of English Senryu
Volume 7, Issue 78
-----
looping swallows
children enter the workbank
fully weaponized
crypto crash
the turbulence in a dark pool
~
stale bread
everything in the doctrine
crumbles away
cliff birds shifting
in the axis of the wind
John Hawkhead/Hifsa Ashraf
-----
Late Summer Rain
after the drizzle
adjusting kohl
in the rear-view mirror
screechy tires
glimpses from the past
monsoon hums
a dead heroine’s song
long drive
empty horizon
the shades
of this grief
billowing clouds
a pillion rider’s open hair
subway mirage
slipping into
anonymity
Failed Haiku, Volume 7, Issue 77
-------
her thumbprints on the wedding contract dried violet
dry crayon box her forgotten dreams
dusk deepening her dimples filled with tears
rouged cheeks of a teen girl tangerine sky
her shadow on the aisle trodden rose petals
rag doll in the dump her self-image
her nose pin a winter star in the sky
twilight murmuration overshadowing her freewill
Failed Haiku, Volume 7, Issue 76
rusty keyhole
stumbling
into a room of eyes
the guilty party
the low notes
whispers
twist and turn
clinking glasses
of a forgotten song
silence expands
to fill empty space
a ring between us
Hifsa Ashraf & John Hawkhead
lingering memory
the smell of old letters
from a drawer
lacy shadows
carve the room
white curtains
unleashing
love notes
echoes
of her words
silence with a bell
candlelight
flickers her eyes
chimes
in a hollow wind
a deep heart's cry
Hifsa Ashraf & David Watts
Failed Haiku, Volume 7, Issue 75
------
-------
evening chill
a vagrant child gathers
the fallen twigs
winter fog
how long does
this grief last
frost moon
what if I break
my silence
Failed Haiku Vol 7, Issue 73
