Melting Snow/Spring Clouds
snow patch
shrinking on shed roof
pigeons dine on tin table
-David Brydges
spring thaw
washes away
winter’s tears
-Jessica Allyson
soundlessly
the forest floor absorbs
winter’s regrets
-Morag Humble
white shingles
black shingles–
melting snow
-Paul Engel
melting snow puddles
underneath muddy dog paws
patio art
-Darlene Romako
Snow falling from cloud
white soft fluffy down covers
my grey hatless head
-Darlene Romanko
spreading its wings
across the sunset –
cloud parrot
-Anna Dean
snow sculptures
even the strongest
melts away
-Ceó Ruaírc
spring clouds
daffodil trumpets
a new song
-Ceó Ruaírc
Michele’s Musings
What a joy it has been reading all of your haiku over the past two weeks. In the end over 600 haiku were entered in the first annual Solitary Daisy Haiku Contest!! It has been difficult narrowing things down but starting this week Sally and I will be working through a short list as we choose the first, second, and third place haiku along with three honourable mentions. We are confident we will be able to announce the results in the next newsletter, so stay tuned!
When I haven’t been reading your haiku I have been wandering around in the garden, looking for the telltale signs of spring. We have a 50 foot pussywillow tree that is full of fuzzy kittens. Soon it will bloom and the bees will awaken and take advantage of the bountiful pollen. At ground level there are silky white snowdrops and crocuses in orange and purple. The witch hazel in the front yard is blooming and the aconite is putting on a great show. Wandering around like this puts me in mind of a gingko walk.
A gingko walk is a walk with fellow haikuists through a park, a neighbourhood, in an orchard or along the water. It’s a very slow walk, where the group stops often to read and write haiku together. Sally and I have done these walks a number of times and in April we will do another one and invite you along. Watch this space for time and place.
Finally, April is Poetry Month! The Solitary Daisy will provide another list of prompts like we did in February. Another good source is the River Heron Review although they are not haiku specific.
Have a great few weeks and enjoy the spring weather!
Member News
While scrolling through the latest edition of Enchanted Garden (issue six), I came across this haiku from Isabella Mori:
bicycle
on the gravel path
echoes in the rhododendrons
-Isabella Mori, Canada
And one of my own:
street preacher
praises the Lord, above
cherry blossoms
-Sally Quon, Canada
I was also thrilled to find these two stunning collage haiga by Debbie Strange (see interview with Debbie in The Solitary Daisy) in The Heliosparrow Poetry Journal.
a box of disillusions
between startle and stare
Sally’s Notebook
One of my greatest passions is to get out and explore the backroads near my home. I write a monthly blog detailing these adventures with photos. On my last road trip, I combined braided prose with photos and haiku. I invite you all to stop by and have a read. The title of this post is “A Dream of Winter,” but of course you are welcome to go back and read previous posts as well.
Upcoming Deadlines, Openings, and Readings
The Nick Virgilio Haiku Association is open weekly for Haiku In Action. Submissions close on Mondays, and selected haiku appears on Thursdays.
The Poetry Pea submission calendar can be found by clicking the link. Two of the three deadlines for March are open until the end of the month.
Open until March 25, Failed Haiku is accepting senryu, haiga, and haibun.
The deadline for Frogpond is March 31.
Also closing March 31, Wales Haiku Journal.
Finally, here is a YouTube video you might enjoy. An Introduction to Haiga
This Week’s Prompt
Write a haiku based on this photo of Prairie Crocus (Pasque Flower), and send it to sally_quon@yahoo.com or kelownalady@hotmail.com. We welcome your submissions, news, questions, and any haiku you would like to receive an anonymous comment on. Hit us up!
“Haiku is not a shriek, a howl, a sigh, or a yawn; rather, it is the deep breath of life.”
-Santoka Taneda
Sally Quon is a disabled poet and photographer living in the Okanagan Valley of beautiful British Columbia, Canada. She is an associate member of The League of Canadian Poets and a member of Haiku Canada. Her work has been published in numerous journals including The Heron’s Nest, Modern Haiku, Frogpond, First Frost, and Time Haiku. She is currently working on her first book of haiku, haibun, and haiga, tentatively titled, “My Valley, My Home.”
Featherstone Creative
Michele Rule is a disabled writer from Kelowna BC. She is especially interested in the topics of chronic illness, relationships and nature. Michele is published in the Asahi Shimbun Haikuist, Pine Cone Review, the Enchanted Garden, Five Minute Lit, Shadow Pond, WordCityLit, and the anthologies F*ck the Patriarchy, Chicken Soup for the Soul, and To Live Here, among others. She is an associate member of the League of Canadian Poets and Haiku Canada. Michele has been awarded honourable mention twice for the Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival Haiku Invitational and also for the Haiku Northwest Porad Award. Her first chapbook is Around the World in Fifteen Haiku. Michele lives in a beautiful garden surrounded by people who love her just the way she is.
