The Solitary Daisy Issue 32

Lily

Michele’s Musings

Hi all! It’s been a terrible week for wildfires here in BC but the heat broke and there has been a little rain. We send our love to any of you who are caught up in evacuations right now.

For those of you that follow Sally’s blog, you will know that we went on a little adventure a few weeks back! I encourage you to take a few minutes and read the story in full here. The Centre of the Universe, which is located near Vidette Lake near Kamloops, BC, was calling us and we went! It was an amazing trip full of Flora and Fauna! We saw many creatures and you can see the list at the end of the newsletter under Prompts. When you read the story you will hear a little bit about some misadventures too including a broken ankle! You can read all about that here at Frithjof’s blog!

We stayed in an amazing cabin. This is Frithjof’s rendition of that.

And we hiked in to the Centre of the Universe! Here are the four of us there.

Photo Sally Quon

Of course we also wrote haiku as the setting was full of inspiration. Here are a few of them for you to enjoy.

common yellow throat
not so common but still –
the robin
-	Michele Rule 

butterfly on yarrow
wings folded
disappears 
-	Jaki Sawyer

heat wave-
even the flies
search for stillness
-	Sally Quon

the women gather
at the poet’s round table
mosquito drone hum
-	Diane Feught

What kind of adventures have you had this summer? What is inspiring you to write haiku? I’d love to hear from you!

Member News

Lakshman Bulusu sent us a note to let us know his first book of mixed Japanese short forms will be available soon. The title is Light In My Palm. We look forward to hearing more! Let us know where and when it is released.

Valentina Ranaldi-Adams wrote to let us know of the passing of a well-known haiku poet. Deborah P Kolodji passed away on July 21, 2024. The link to her Wikipedia page is here.

Monica Kakkar had a haiku show up on Charlotte Digregorio’s website. This haiku first appeared in Haiku Dialogue, The Haiku Foundation.

ebb of temple bells—
a tender coconut rides
the waves in heat wave

This next haiku, by Jerome Berglund, first appeared in Frogpond and was also featured on Charlotte Digregorio’s website.

solitary walk . . .
a pennyroyal leads me
over the fence

Michael Dylan Welch wrote this haiku that showed up in my inbox, courtesy of  Tiny Words

chill in the air—
leaves swirling
by an election sign

Karen Hernandez Rodriguez wrote to me to chat about haiku. Here is one of hers.

a brush of white paint
in the sky—
summer cloud

One of our friends from All Things Haiku, Peggy Anderson, is keeping up with her summer practice and sent us some of her most recent haiku. I love this one. It made me laugh:

camper van:       
insomniac mosquito                                                   
seeks midnight snack 

At least five of our subscribers had haiku selected for the long-list of Wind and Waves at the Beach by the Haiku Foundation. Congratulations to Paul Callus, Jerome Berglund, Monica Kakkar, Tracy Davidson, and Ruth Holzer. There may be more I’ve missed. Just a reminder we only get to know you through your interactions with us, either by responding to a prompt or sharing news. Michele will be choosing her members to spotlight based on what we read of your work.

Sally’s Notebook

One of the first haiku workshops I ever attended online was via the Upaya Zen Centre. It was my gateway to haiku. One of the reasons it appealed to me so much is that Natalie Goldberg, author of Writing Down the Bones and Three Simple Lines: A Writer’s Pilgrimage to the Heart and Homeland of Haiku, among others, was one of the speakers. The Upaya Zen Centre is much more than the occasional haiku workshop. There are Dharma Talks, on-line and in person programs and so much more. I absolutely love Roshi Joan Halifax. If you have an interest at all in Buddhism and Zen, I encourage you to visit their site. This link will take you to a 45-minute podcast by Natalie Goldberg. Happy listening!

Upcoming Deadlines and Things to Read

This email was in my inbox. Definitely a few opportunities here, not just for Haiku Canada members.

Dear Haiku Canada members,
  Thank you for your keen interest in the Asahi Haikuist column, and we’re delighted that Haiku Canada shares our call for submissions.

   The column runs in sync with the seasons.

   The next issue is about what you do in Canada when a home appliance breaks down, i.e. the air conditioner or when the fridge is on the fritz. I bet many Canadians drive to the cottage (if they don’t sell it before the capital gains tax kicks in), so the July issue will showcase haiku about cottages in Canada.

 August issues relate to the end of wars (Japan surrendered August 15) or never-ending wars and the return of ancestral spirits. There is a special issue on first nations’ Buck moon.
  There is a “summer’s gone” issue and a lingering heat issue.
  Trees and wine (if the LCBO strike ends) topics will fill out the always very robust autumn issues of the Asahi Haikuist network.
  Feel free to email haiku on any topic and if it is in season, or we think it will tickle the fancy of your readers around the world it will be published.
  Your Haiku Canada colleague rose to the top place because Luminita Suse wrote about the Star festival which is being celebrated today. Happy Tanabata Haiku Canada.
   Canada’s Haikuist are noteworthy for their deep understanding of seasons, affinity with First Nations respect for nature, humor, and an uncanny ability to hit nerves (Case in point RawNervz haiku journal),
 At the end of each column readers can find a call for the upcoming one, two, or three issues. We also occasionally call for contests too.

  Here’s a complimentary link to the column where haikuists find another Star
https://www.asahi.com/sp/ajw/articles/15327524

  All the stars come together here,
https://www.asahi.com/sp/ajw/special/haiku/

David McMurray

Submission information for The Poetry Pea

The 2024 Porad Award closes on August 31.

Some light summer reading here at Failed Haiku

Still time to register for Haiku Down Under. Registered participants are eligible to enter the associated haiku contest.

Charlotte Digregorio has a call for submissions on her website. The theme is “pets.” Previously published haiku are preferred.

The Haiku Foundation is looking for submissions of haiku and tanka on the Ukraine War.

The Wee Sparrow Poetry Press accepts submissions from the 1-15 of the month.

And don’t forget First Frost submissions close at the end of July.

Also closing at the end of July is the 78th Basho Memorial English Haiku Contest

Here’s another email!

Dear haiku poets:

I am guest editor for The Haiku Foundation website’s Per Diem/ Haiku of the Day for September 2024, on the theme of “Fresh Starts and Transitions.”

Please send up to 5 poems (published or unpublished) on this theme for consideration into this monthly set to: rolandpacker36@gmail.com

If selected I’ll send a permission email to you before publication. Deadline is the end of July.

Thanks to all haiku poets for taking the time to send in your work. I look forward to reading each and every poem. 

sincerely,

Roland Packer

This Week’s Prompt

This is the list of creatures (and birds and bugs) that we saw up at Vidette Lake! For your prompt this week, pick one or two that has some meaning to you and write a haiku about it. Do a little research – what does it eat, what sound does it make, does it have a smell or can it smell, etc. Looking forward to seeing what you come up with! Send us one or two haiku and also, don’t forget to tell us where you are joining us from. We love to see participation from around the globe! @sally_quon@yahoo.com or kelownalady@hotmail.com

“It’s not what you
look at that matters, it’s what you see.”

-Henry David Thoreau

Michele Rule

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.

michelerule.ca/

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Sally Quon( Writer / Poet )

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

featherstonecreative.wordpress.com/

• Ginko Walk at Munson Pond
• Maude Roxby Ginko
• Interview with Michael Dylan Welch