Issue 41 The Haiga Edition

Haiga Edition

Michele’s Musings

I have some news!!

We are looking to expand the team here at the Solitary Daisy by adding a social media person.

What we are envisaging is an Instagram and possibly a Blue Sky account. The posts would be announcements of the bi-weekly newsletters as they are posted to the website, any other announcements like contests or whatever, and then picking haiku from the newsletter and sharing them randomly. There would also be some initial effort finding haijin to follow as well as other haiku journals. Sometimes there might be some conversation needed as people comment on posts, i.e. thanking them. This position would be volunteer (we are all volunteers!) and training could be provided if needed. Please send your expressions of interest to me (Michele, kelownalady@hotmail.com).

December starts tomorrow and many of us are counting down to Christmas or to Solstice when the days get longer again. Sally, Frithjof and I have made a little haiku advent calendar for you all to enjoy as the days get their darkest. Here is the link – hope you enjoy it!

Member News

Congratulations to David Brydges for having a haiku accepted in Sense and Sensibility Haiku. We would love to share the haiku, but don’t want to risk having it pulled because we printed it here first.

kj munro had this haiku reprinted on Charlotte Digregorio’s Blog:
 
pink dress girl baby blues
 
Prune Juice, #13, 2014

Also on Charlotte’s blog is this piece:

Embers

(a sci-fi/apocalyptic rengay by Kimberly Kuchar (USA) & C.X. Turner (UK).  Italicized verses by Turner.)

a boy
waves goodbye
the final rocket

solar winds
whisper into the void

flash of light
no room
in the bomb shelter

dead forest
rust creeping
into old circuits

sunshine through thinning ash
melting permafrost

frozen in orbit
an android's last memory
of a child’s laugh

I’m not even sure if Alan subscribes to The Solitary Daisy, but if he doesn’t, he should! This one is just too beautiful not to share. Again, thank you, Charlotte.

light rain
sharing the evening
with blackbird song

by Alan Summers (UK)
Mainichi Shimbun, Dec. 23, 2010

One more from Charlotte’s blog:

november tears …
the shallow shadows
of the afternoon sun

by Isabella Mori (Canada)

And this one. Charlotte finds all the good stuff. If you don’t follow her blog, you should. The link is here.

fallen acorn renewing our vows 

by Kelly Sargent (USA)
Frogpond, 47.1, Winter 2024

Speaking of haiga, Valentina Ranaldi-Adams and her husband created this lovely plaque which was subsequently donated to the 43rd Annual Holiday Tree Festival that raises money for the Akron Children’s Hospital. What a wonderful way to give to the community!

Our congratulations to Tony Williams and Tracy Davidson, both of whom were nominated for Best of the Net, by Haiku in Action.

Finally, found on Cityscapes – Dining Alfresco was this gem!

Haiku by Paul Callus, Malta

dining alfresco –
a blend of aromas
mixes with soft jazz

suffocating
beneath the urban skyline
the last patch of grass

Again, Cityscapes – End of Shift

Haiku by Jerome Berglund, US

end of shift
what a hard rain did
to the dandelions

Read commentary on one of Debbie Strange’s haiku here on The Haiku Foundation.

Sally’s Notebook

I would like to mention how much I appreciate correspondence from our subscribers that doesn’t have anything to do with news or prompts. Thank you, Debbie, Sherry, and Jeral. I like to think we are a friendly community. It is wonderful to see people reaching out to say hi, show concern for us, and tell us pieces of your stories. It means a lot to be trusted with not only your poetry, but with your vulnerability.

I have a couple of videos for you to check out. The first one is Ben Gaa’s Haiku Talk where he talks about a haiku by Debbie Strange.

Remember a while back when Michele and I went to Spotted Lake with her husband and our friend, Pam? Well, a local photographer sent this video to our news site, and I thought you would enjoy seeing it. Spotted Lake from above, after snowfall. Here is the link. You may have to scroll down the page to find it, but you’ll see it!

Deadlines and Fun Stuff

Our thanks to Monica Kakkar for turning us on to these two contests.

The Irish Haiku Society’s International Haiku Contest does have an entry fee per haiku entered.

Sunnydale Diaries is a bit niche. Haiku must be in 5-7-5 with Season 3 of Buffy the Vampire Slayer as the theme.

I found this feature of Nicky Gutierrez on Confluence Haiku. It’s a great read!

And here, Jacob Salzer interviews Pris Campbell.

I don’t have a lot on my own calendar, but Michele showed me this site and it has more opportunities than one could imagine. Thank you to Greg Schwarz from Haiku and Horror for this comprehensive guide.

This Week’s Prompt

This photo was taken in 2023, on our annual Christmas tree hunt. Michele, Jaki, Kat, and I go out every year to find and cut down our Christmas trees. (Yes, we have permits!)

Your prompt is winter. You don’t have to use the word winter, but whatever words you use, it should be clear that the season is winter. As always, we look forward to reading your work! Send one or two haiku to sally_quon@yahoo.com or kelownalady@hotmail.com.

The sun shines, snow falls, mountains rise and valleys sink, night deepens and pales into day, but it is only very seldom that we attend to such things. . . . When we are grasping the inexpressible meaning of these things, this is life, this is living. To do this twenty-four hours a day is the Way of Haiku. It is having life more abundantly.

-Reginald Horace Blyth

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