Newcomer’s Edition
early October
trees by train station
wait for change
-Patricia Carragon
copper-colored leaves fall
canyons breathe in life
exhale peace
-Michael Shoemaker, Magna, Utah
samhain…
orange fairy lights
at the witch store
-Kimberly A. Horning,
St. Augustine, Florida
silvery, wet trails
show a dangerous passage-
slug in the dog’s bowl
-Madeline Walker, Victoria, BC
September
school routines
sleepy eyed child
-Ann Marie McDowell, Kelowna BC
green dances, bows
ushers in the crisp brown
chiming of leaves
-Liz Kornelsen, Winnipeg, Manitoba
sun trades its glare
for ochre-
body in repose
-Lesley-Ann Evans, Belfast, Ireland
Button up fleece
Lost in a towering corn maze
Raging bonfire
-Patience Percy-Bell, Courtney, BC
Michele’s Musings
Hello all!
While you read this, I will be on Vancouver Island with my mom, visiting my brother!
It’s not easy for me to travel. I have a painful disease called trigeminal neuralgia that impacts every move I make. So a plane ride, a ferry ride, and a drive aren’t really on my list of fun things to do anymore. But once I am there and settled, it will be awesome! The thing I look forward to the most, aside from seeing my brother, is sitting on the beach seeking out haiku among the seashells.
It can be tricky to keep up a writing practice when travelling! Here is what I do.
I create a new file in Google Keep (a note-making app on my phone) titled with the destination. Then, whenever something catches my attention, I jot it down. I try to also note the weather, location and if I notice two things at the same time, I link them. Then when I have a quiet moment, I go back and look at those reminders and see what comes to me. It’s a good little break from visiting and my family is really respectful of my writing time.
Sometimes what I get in a first draft is pure drivel! And that’s ok. When I get home, I can go back and see what feelings come back to me and edit from there.
What tips do you use when writing on holidays? Let me know and I will post them to help others.
Member News
kj munro has put out a lovely video collection of haiku by her Solstice Haiku group in the Yukon. You can check it out here:
Here is a link to the latest edition of the Pan Haiku Review. So many of you have works in this edition, I can’t even begin to name you all. Congratulations!
In our last edition, I mentioned David Brydges photo haiku appearing on the Ashahi Haikuist Network. My mistake – the network does not include any photos. Here it is for your viewing pleasure:
In the Wee Sparrow Press Haiku Nook, you will find works by Tony Williams and Ruth Holzer. Ruth’s haiku took the honor of being chosen Haiku of the Month!
Haiku Girl Summer has ended for this year, but not before publishing haiku by Julie Bloss Kelsey, kj munro, CX Turner, Joanna Ashwell, Ruth Holzer, and Barbara Anna Gaiardoni. Way to go, ladies!
Debbie Strange had a piece in the Helio Sparrow Poetry Journal and Valentina Ranaldi-Adams showed up in my inbox from Café Haiku.
Finally, congratulations to the following haikuists for making the long list of the Haiku Foundations Looking Out Far From Earth:
Tony Williams, Tracy Davidson, Jerome Berglund, Biswajit Mishra, Valentina Ranadi-Adams, Julie Bloss Kelsay, CX Turner, and Maya Daneva.
Sally’s Notebook
I’ve been feeling restless and anxious for weeks now. I’m not certain the cause of my distress, but it’s made it hard to focus on anything. I keep up my daily writing practice, but sometimes it feels pointless. Do any of you feel that way?
I was introduced to the term “toxic positivity” recently. Upon doing further research, I realized that I have a tendency toward this. But the fact is, things aren’t always great. You can spin it any way you like, but that doesn’t eliminate the emotion. When you do it to other people, it’s like you’re disrespecting them, disregarding the validity of their emotions. When you do it to yourself, all you are doing is stuffing those emotions in a corner where they will continue to fester. There is a fine line between optimism and toxic positivity. But that’s where the practice of writing haiku/senryu and haibun can help us. It lets us recognize those painful moments in ourselves as they relate to the world around us.
A while back, I started a project – a book of place-specific haiku, haibun, and photo haiga. For some reason I set it aside. Yesterday, I looked at it again and to my surprise, I found myself energized to take up my pen and my camera and continue this journey. I feel better for two reasons – first, because I always feel better when I have something to look forward to, a dream, a goal, even an overnight getaway. But secondly, because it allowed me to recognize that not every story has to have a happy ending, that it’s okay to write about difficult things. The following is a haibun I wrote, first published in Modern Haiku. I hope you enjoy reading it.
What Should Have Been
This was supposed to be about fruit trees, sticky with heat, cherries warmed by the sun. This was supposed to be about road dust and the fragrance of Ponderosa Pine. This was supposed to be about boys and kisses, and the thrill of the unknown—warm water after a day of sun on sand, roasted hot dogs and lukewarm ginger ale. It wasn’t supposed to be about guilt, about the childhood you didn’t get because I didn’t know how to manage my life. It wasn’t supposed to be about regret and tears, promises broken and fathers that hurt you.
mirrored on the lake full moon
-Sally Quon
Upcoming Deadlines and Things to Read
The latest issue of The Heron’s Nest is available to read online. A number of our readers have haiku in this edition. Their next deadline is on September 15.
Also closing on September 15, The Cicada’s Cry.
tsuri-dōrō closes on September 10.
A free chapbook by Hassane Zemmouri can be found here.
This Week’s Prompt
I received this luscious photo haiga from Joanna Ashwell (UK) and thought it would make the perfect prompt for this week.
heads turning sunward
becoming part of the sky
a dreamer’s dial
-Joanna Ashwell, UK
Please send your haiku to sally_quon@yahoo.com or kelownalady@hotmail.com
Also feel free to send your news, thoughts, suggestions, or anything else that crosses your mind. We love to hear from our readers!
“Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.”
Mahatma Gandhi
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.
