By Laura Jones Introduction from Jane Valencia Recently, my friend Laura Jones shared with me some comics she had created for an online Haiku Comic class with David Lasky. I was captivated and charmed, and asked if we could print one. Though traditional haiku has three lines containing 5-7-5 syllables, not all haikus stick to…
By Jo Ann Herbert I live under giant sequoiaswith deer grazing by moonlight I watch thoughts rush tangleand lead me to anger and despair. I count warm memoriesI see wrongs the world over I cuddle animal sweetnessthat calms the bitter themes I live under giant sequoias.
By Jane Valencia Quiet nightblue snowhidden moon twirls a skein of light Snow fallssoft woolen coinsspinning between antler branches A Christmas rose unfurlsfrom her clouded petticoatShe dyes petals within silent ponds Moon! Your footfallson the new-woven snowreveal patterns in this winter grove
By Jane Valencia Download a pdf of the poem set to music Years ago, in the dark of the year, a friend shared with me a dream she’d had. I quickly forgot the nature of her dream, but a phrase she spoke sparked my imagination: “Take, for what is given.” I set to work on…
By Claudia Hollander-Lucas Two poems in tribute to poet-songwriter Leonard Cohen, who died shortly before the 2016 Presidential election. “Outlaw” takes creative license to an excerpt from ”A Street” and “No Halleluias” is my poem in response to the 2016 and 2024 elections.
By Marc J. Elzenbeck It’s true that when you travelyou’re never free of Woody Allen.Every sidewalk artist knows himand four score more sketchable actorswho’ll ambush you from here to Thailandicons of the monoculture from which we come. Such harbingers. It reminds me how the prophetssaid the ends of earth express a single sum.Some foretell of…
Hosted by the Mukai Farm & Garden, the Mukai Haiku Festival 2024 received over a hundred haiku from 12 countries around the world. We are delighted to present the prize winners and their haiku, below. Category, Heritage First place:On Vashon Islandwhere our ancestors made home—the strawberries’ scent!~ Geoffrey Philp (Jamaica) Second place:Spring at Mukai FarmCherry…