Geographical Feature
shallow pond
the weight
of sunrise
Gareth Nurden
Newport, Wales
snake river
the hiss
of hot rain on rocks
Tracy Davidson
UK
the man in the moon
rippling downstream
with the river
Melissa Dennison, UK
she asks for
six scoops —
cold mountain
Lisa C Reynolds
Durham Region, Ontario
river’s edge
the ebb and flow
of her tears
Jahnavi Gogoi,
Ajax, Ontario, Canada
sitting
on a mountain top –
reading stars
Anna Dean
(Australia)
drumlin trail
the frost beads
beneath our feet
Joanna Ashwell
UK
night dip
pearl-moon ripples
sequin the Nile
Sheikha A.
Dubai, United Arab Emirates
stuck in traffic
the shimmer
of the river
Madeleine Kavanagh
California
Turtle Creek Bay…
the hunch of a bald eagle
in the drizzle
Joshua Gage
Michele’s Musings
Well, Sally and I bit off more than we could chew this past week, thinking we might be able to get the results for the contest done by today! Instead I got a migraine and Sally came down with a bug. So we apologize for the delay and the results will be ready for our next issue – coincidentally our 50th issue!
April 10th is Poem in Your Pocket Day! I encourage you all to write up one of your favourite haiku and share it with people you meet along the way that day. It’s a fun way to strike up a discussion about haiku and poetry in general.
And finally, April 11th is Poet in a Cupcake Day! I have no idea who made that up. I think it would be better if it was Cupcake in a Poet Day, so you will find Sally and me happily munching down a cupcake while we work our way through all of your tremendous haiku.
Until next time, keep writing!
Member News
Congratulations to those who made the long list for the Touchstone Awards! In individual haibun we have Roberta Beary and Joanna Ashwell. For individual haiku, Julie Bloss Kelsey and Kelly Sargent.
Follow this link to read Monica Kakkar’s FIVE haiku selected as Curator’s Choice on Pure Haiku.
Jerome Berglund has been busy, with two haiku on the Helio Sparrow Poetry Journal, and one on Charlotte Digregorio’s blog.
this snowstorm
is given a name . . .
cleaning it up
Jerome Berglund (USA)
Also on Charlotte’s blog, this haiku from Roberta Beary:
custody hearing
inside my pocket
her letter to santa
Roberta Beary (USA/Ireland)
And this selection of work from Debbie Strange:
midnight sun
a polar bear’s breath
catches fire
Third Place (joint)
Irish Haiku Society International Haiku Contest, 2024
vintage typewriter
the spiderling adds
an asterisk
Judges’ Favorites
Golden Triangle Haiku Contest, 2023
an arbutus
sheds its outer bark . . .
my skin
is the only thing
holding me together
Honorable Mention
Sanford Goldstein International Tanka Contest, 2024
Debbie Strange (Canada)
Finally, on Cityscapes – Moving Day
Haiku by C.X. Turner, UK
moving day
scattered on the grass
yellow crocus
city walking off the ferocity of summer
And congratulations to those of you who made the Troutswirl Longlist for Mountains and Rivers. I counted at least 14 names I recognized.
Don’t forget the deadline for your February Haiku Challenge submissions is Wednesday, April 17th!
Places to Submit
Bottle Rockets has had a change in editor! Congratulations to Tom Sacramona on taking over the lead. Important note: entries within the US must be mailed in while other may be emailed. Open now – closes May 15th.
Folk Ku submissions for the May/June 2025 Issue are due by April 15th. The theme for Issue 5 is water – they are particularly interested in the healing power of water & connections to water – fishing, beachcombing, water sports, recreation & water therapies, waterfalls, birds, et cetera.
Drifting Sands Haibun and Tanka Prose is accepting submissions for Issue 32 from April 1st to 15th. Guest Editor is Anju Kishore and publication is June 15th.
Trash Panda is looking for English language haiku/senryu and other short form micropoems of 17 syllables or less that uniquely convey the reality of life in the Anthropocene. Submissions close on April 15th.
Woodend Haiku Festival in Australia runs from April 1st to 30th. Along with a number of onsite activities there is a Haiku contest on the theme of autumn. Under 18 and Open Age sections. Book prizes for the two winners. Free entry.
Hexapod Haiku Challenge! is open! Along with regular hexapod haiku there is a special topic award this year for the best haiku featuring ground-dwelling arthropods. Have fun with that! March 15th through June 15th.
Remember the Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival is on now with events all over Vancouver! The associated Haiku Invitational has also begun, with submissions closing on June 1st. Haiku for this contest must be on the subject of cherry blossoms.
Haiku Avenue publishes on a seasonal basis. Solitary Daisy friend Jerome Berglund sent me this bit of advice about submitting. “I think most important is they really care about trying to hit metric targets for tercets, also huge fans of monostich and publish some sequences, very friendly to experimental concrete style stuff in context of fixed form verses too, super cool journal.” Email your work to haikuavenue@gmail.com.
This Week’s Prompt
Because the next issue is our 50th, we challenge you to write a haiku that contains a number!
Poetry is nearer to vital truth than history.
Plato
Frithjof helps to get the Solidary Daisy content out to the internet. He wrangles the email monkeys 🐵 and improves the website.
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.
Thank you, Sally and Michele for including my poem in the geographical feature, among such lovely haiku!