Thursday, January 27, 2022

Haiku Dialogue - The Haiku Foundation, 2022

old novelist waking up from a dream in a dream

Haiku Dialogue - Family Portraits – Portrait Three

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evening shadows
overshadowing
my evening thoughts

Haiku Dialogue - Literary Devices - repetition/parallelism

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driftwood 
half buried in the sand 
my Achilles’ heel

Published in Haiku Dialogue -Literary Devices - allusion (religious/mythic allusions)

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wind howling
through the knothole
my dead name

Published in Haiku Dialogue -Literary Devices - personification

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sultry day—
the smell of straws
from a scarecrow

Published in Haiku Dialogue -Literary Devices - alliteration


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the thud of 
a fallen apple… 
moving day

Haiku Dialogue - Literary Devices - onomatopoeia

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papercut—
the sharp edge
of his words

Haiku Dialogue - Literary Devices - synecdoche/metonymy

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wedding day—
the motia bracelets
on mom’s hands

Haiku Dialogue - The Language of Flowers - Colour Symbolism


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jasmine qehwa 
i drift from dream 
to dream

Haiku Dialogue - Flora as food and medicine 

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wild orchid— 
how deep is the pain 
of this betrayal

Haiku Dialogue - The Scent of Flowers

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self-healing
I paint my face
with seven colours

Haiku Dialogue - making art

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heart-shaped kite 
the pull of his love 
still not visible

Haiku Dialogue - flying kites

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cobblestone alley 
the juxta puzzle 
of my random thoughts 

Haiku Dialogue - far from crowds

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morning pilgrimage 
each dewdrop carries 
its own sunlight 

Haiku Dialogue - on a pilgrimage


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Himalayan breeze

the aroma of lemongrass
from my qehwa


HAIKU DIALOGUE – Ekphrasti-ku - Hanuman Bearing the Mountaintop with Medicinal Herbs

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in the rubble of war lingering lullabies


HAIKU DIALOGUE – Ekphrasti-ku - In the Realms of the Unreal

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Helios’s betrayal
the quincunx
of sunflower seeds

HAIKU DIALOGUE – Ekphrasi-ku- sunflower seeds 

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globalization—
yet we keep in mind
our own businesses

HAIKU DIALOGUE – Ekphrasi-ku- “Nunavut, Our Land”


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winter equinox
finding the axis
of my shadow

Editor's Comments: 

There is no such thing as a winter equinox, and setting up this seasonal impossibility creates an immediate tension in this poem that will not be remedied. If seasons exist due to the tilt in the global axis, then the poet looks inward, to the seasons that compose herself, her contradictions and impossibilities – her shadow self.

HAIKU DIALOGUE – Ekphrasti-ku, Tree of Hope, Remain Strong

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misguided generations
stack upon one another
their unforgivable sins

Wangechi Mutu
Misguided Little Unforgivable Hierarchies - Ekphrastic


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Hell Courtesan—
each fold of her obi
unfolds sufferings

Hell Courtesan - Ekphrastic
https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1985.268#

Haiku in Action 2022, Nick Virgilio Haiku Association


autumn clouds
floating in the pond
apple blossoms 

November 1st - November 7th
Haiku in Action 


















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scuba diving

my thoughts wander

through the kelp forest


September 1st - September 7th
Haiku in Action 




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lily...
rippling in the water
day moon 

June 15th - June 26th
Haiku in Action 




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post-storm beach
a driftwood curls 
around the moon

May 4th - May 10th
Haiku in Action 




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sublimation—
I turn my silence
into a flute song

April 26th -May 3rd - Haiku in Action





















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April heat
even the pansy's eyes
slightly squinted

April 5th -April 18th - Haiku in Action


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forest stroll
hooting back
to the owl's hoot

February 22nd -February 28th - Haiku in Action 



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zen garden 
settling my mind
the raked sand 

February 15th-21st
Haiku in Action 





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artificial snow 
leaving no footprints
his triumphant leap 

February 8th-14th
Haiku in Action 





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pleiades—
I name each star
after my loved ones

Haiku in Action
January 18th - 24th January 2022


Thursday, January 20, 2022

Creatrix, 2021


half-buried leaves
paving my way
to retirement


autumn meadow
all those flowers
without names


spring festival
the beggar’s bowl full
of apple blossoms

Creatrix # 55

Wednesday, January 19, 2022

The Mainichi Japan, 2022

sunlit dewdrops
on the grassy ground
niece's first poem

Selected by Dhugal J. Lindsay
September 29, 2022 (Mainichi - Japan's National Daily)

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falling snow
grandma calls me
by the wrong name

January 19, 2022 (Mainichi - Japan's National Daily)

Friday, January 7, 2022

ASAHI HAIKUIST NETWORK, 2022


rare family dinner
the chili flakes sizzle
in the sunflower oil

ASAHI HAIKUIST NETWORK/ David McMurray
September 16, 2022

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family reunion
a layer of soybean oil
on the chicken curry

ASAHI HAIKUIST NETWORK/ David McMurray
September 2, 2022

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fall sky

in full bloom
the Japanese maple

ASAHI HAIKUIST NETWORK/ David McMurray
April 1, 2022

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solitary walk 
paving my way 
the maple leaves

ASAHI HAIKUIST NETWORK/ David McMurray
March 4, 2022

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moving day 
a fist full 
of snowflakes

ASAHI HAIKUIST NETWORK/ David McMurray

January 21st, 2022


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first snow--
the dandelion stalk 
blooms again

ASAHI HAIKUIST NETWORK/ David McMurray

January 7th, 2022

Monday, January 3, 2022

The Zen Space, 2022


hu mantra —
beyond breath clouds
the first light


sand dunes
contouring the footprints
of this inner journey


midsummer dreams
floating on the lake
rice paper lanterns


the point where
I decided to move on
river’s bend


after pilgrimage
the noctilucent clouds
walks me home


cloudburst—
the breaking point
of my insecurities


murmuration—
the dark shadow
of my silence

The Zen Space, Winter issue 2022








failed haiku, 2022



cusp of the years reshaping my shadow


A collaborative haiga with Zee Zahava

Failed Haiku, Volume 8, Issue# 85 (December 2022) - As a guest editor along with Arvinder Kaur


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A Blissful Day

meadow breeze

mom sings to me
her 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


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vertigo spiral
blending my shadow
with delusions

all over screens
my projected ascent

Failed Haiku, Volume 7, Issue 80


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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 


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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

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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

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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

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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


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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


Arvinder Kaur & Hifsa Ashraf 

Failed Haiku, Volume 7, Issue 77



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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


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Rendezvous

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

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Silent Sonata

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

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night at the border 
the perseids interweave 
this emptiness solitude walk 
the fading glow 
of Venus
back to my homeland 
still orbiting around me 
the ashes of war


Failed Haiku, Vol. 7, issue 74

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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