Migratory Birds
migrating warblers pass
through our marshes
– Black Swamp
– Nancy Brady Ohio, USA
swallow wings
split the soft sky
leaving no trace
– C.X. Turner
back home
calling wandering tattler-
getting cold down under
– Anna Dean Australia
empty birdfeeder
all the songs that
used to be
– Nitu Yumnam India
Snow geese—
Gearing up
For the big eVent
– Kim Klugh Lancaster, Pennsylvania
chalk on the sidewalk
forgotten amid the honks—
geese crossing over
– Monica Kakkar, India/US
acrobat delights
a goldfinch in meadow
feasts on asters thistle
– Darlene Romanko
flying south
for the winter . . .
empty nesters
– Valentina Ranaldi-Adams Fairlawn, Ohio USA
a feather
in the empty box –
the healed thrush flies home
– Paul Callus Malta
thick fog
taking off from the marsh
a snowy egret
– Madeleine Kavanagh Northern California
peppering the sky
with their departure
swallow wings
– Joanna Ashwell UK
finally taking leave
of my eaves…
house martins
– Tracy Davidson
egrets in flight a piece of white sky
– Barbara Anna Gaiardoni Verona, Italy
starling flock on hydro lines
black dots and spaces—sheet music
– Lesley-Anne Evans Canada (currently in Ireland!)
Michele’s Musings
So, it’s been a week. I have had another small stroke and Sally is down with a nasty stomach flu. I couldn’t decide by myself about which haiku to post, so I just picked one from each of you. Hopefully that will make up for the shortened newsletter, because while I am feeling significantly better, Sally is not in any shape to write. It will become evident as you read through that she does the bulk of the work!
starling murmuration
what do we know
about unity?
- Nitu Yumnam
This haiku, submitted under the last issue’s prompt, resonated with me so strongly I needed to spend some extra time with it here.
I’ve been watching the starlings as they dance in unity across the dusk sky, golden light behind them. It’s magical. Each bird just an inch away from the next, moving in an unbelievable synchronicity. And then just as the birds turn, the haiku turns. What do we know about unity? Apparently nothing, given the state of the world today. Excellent work, Nitu!
Mark your calendars! Sally and I will be leading a hybrid haiku session with our local Central Okanagan Writers on November 23rd at 10 am PST. Details about how to register will be shared as soon as they are available.
While it’s not haiku, Sally has a great new blog post about a little drive up the mountain that she took recently. If you haven’t taken the time to read through some of her past posts, I encourage you to do so! You will learn so much about the land we live on here in the Okanagan Valley, the unceded territory of the Syilx Okanagan people.
Upcoming Deadlines, Openings, and Readings
Pulse welcomes your haiku. For the month of October, Pulse will be reviewing haiku submissions for publication in 2025. This magazine focuses on health from the perspective of doctors, nurses, other staff, patients and caregivers.
Helene Disaster Relief Haiku Anthology
Deadline is October 15. The theme for this anthology is storms, but should not be limited to hurricanes and floods. This could also include monsoons, tsunamis, earthquakes, tornadoes, thunderstorms, rain showers, etc. We are also looking for haiku and senryu that are about rebuilding, hope, and renewal in relation to storms. Poems should encompass an authentic moment. Poems should NOT be fictitious or appropriated moments for the sake of raising awareness.
For our members in Australia, don’t forget to submit to Catchment – Poetry of Place, Third Edition, open until November 21.
Those of you residing in the Philippines, there is a call for submissions for a Filipino Haiku and Senryu Anthology. The deadline for this is December 31.
October 31 is the deadline for the San Francisco International Haiku/Senryu/Tanka contest.
Looking to read more haiku? Here is a listing of online haiku journals from our friends at tsuri-dōrō.
This Week’s Prompt
The weather is blustery here, but it’s different all the time, all over the world. Write us one or two haiku about weather conditions!
Send your haiku to sally_quon@yahoo.com or kelownalady@hotmail.com.
As always, we welcome all communication, news, stories, adventures in haiku, or anything else you’d like to contribute.
– Stephen King
“The scariest moment is always
just before you start.”
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.
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
Dear Ms. Rule and Ms. Quon,
Greetings for Urban Wildlife Conservation Day! Congratulations to participating poets!
I appreciate your efforts despite the challenges. I am delighted to read my haiku published in The Solitary Daisy – Issue 37. It includes a late autumn season word, kigo: geese crossing over, kari wataru 雁渡る (かりわたる).
The World Kigo Database by Dr. Gabi Greve, Daruma Museum, Japan, is my primary almanac (saijiki) for kigo and for translation of kigo into English.
Thank you for your consideration. Best wishes.
Sincerely,
Monica Kakkar (she/her/hers)
https://www.linkedin.com/in/monicakakkar/