Haibun
Uncertain Light
On The Cruise Ship “Miracle”
A tinny “You can’t always get what you want” out of the mercifully muted loudspeaker. Glinting steel posts. Lights mirrored in the shiny rain-covered floor.
I’m here for the sunrise. Not the gentle dawn before a few clouds in the west turn gold and pink and the sun, unimpeded, makes its glorious appearance. No, here, the clouds are thick and the space between sky and ocean is fogged up like the windows in an old car. The ship heaves and rolls, the tarps bang against the girders, the pool sloshes.
A few minutes ago the horizon started showing against the dark muddle of sky and waves. But I’m uncertain. Where it’s a tad brighter, this is East, right? But what about the bit of light starboard, on the opposite side?
A part of me wonders whether the sun will ever rise.
Patience.
For a few minutes nothing seems to change. Then the part of the sky that’s lighter than the rest shifts. Is that really the sun behind the clouds?
The wind is louder than the loudspeaker now. I look over the railing. How high are the waves? I never know. My eyes are not trained for these vast dimensions, with no tree, no city house, no dog or woman showing me how to see.
I turn my attention away for a few minutes and read a bit in a book on mindfulness.
6:22
the sun sticks it to the man
once again
Isabella Mori, Vancouver, BC
Butterflies in the grass
It’s a lovely day today as we make our way to Heptonstall. I’ve never been before, but the landscape of the Calder Valley is stunning, with moss green hills rising seemingly endlessly skywards. Being lazy, we take the bus from Hebden Bridge as otherwise it’s a steep climb. The road is narrow and passing oncoming vehicles is not without risk, but it’s worth it.
Walking past the ruins of the old church we stumble over headstones from centuries ago. It’s silent in the graveyard except for woodpigeons and the sounds of grass moving. Birds dart in and out of headstones. We know where we are going. Sylvia’s grave. Her last name Hughes has been carefully restored. Life spills from this place with blue clouds of forget-me-nots that reflect the clear blue of the sky. We each read a poem.
Afterwards we head for lunch at the Towngate cafe, where they serve Sylvia’s lemon meringue.
time and
dandelion seeds
lost on the breeze
Melissa Dennison, UK
Lone Accord
The road winds along a ridge, dividing rice paddies from orchard slopes. Mist gathers in the valley at dawn, drifting around persimmon trees bowed in silence. I stop for tea at a roadside hut—porcelain cracked, steam rising from a chipped blue cup. The old woman bows once. No words. A radio crackles—static, then weather, then a folk song I can’t name, but recognize in my bones.
I walk until the sun lowers, light falling across the terraces. Cicadas rise in chorus, their call like old paper fans snapping open. Memory stirs—another road, another summer, a name once carried carefully, now folded into stillness.
hitchhiker moon
we share a peach
and nothing else
Nalini Shetty, Mumbai, India
Bittersweet in Distant Lands
Our trip to Southern Africa exposed both the beauty and harshness of life. Indelible memories producing valuable lessons. I reveled at the joy of a baby elephant, the elegance of a cheetah atop a termite mound and the royalty of a young male lion sprawled in the shade of a marula tree; while pondering the death of a young giraffe, food for a pride. I watched breaching whales and frolicking seals in the channel where Shark Week is filmed. I watched the powerful white rhino grazing under the gaze of armed guards. I learned of the harshness of apartheid and tribal prejudice as well as the magnificence of Nelson Mandela’s acts of reconciliation.
Robben Island
prison cell darkness
ignited love’s light
Jeral Williams, Mobile Alabama
Immersion
There is a dense canopy of green above me. I hear the river rushing by. The birds are singing. My footsteps sink into the smooth earth of the tracks. A leaf floats past my face. I look up and can see the sun filtering through interlocked branches. There is no need for conversation. Nature has a soundtrack of accompaniment. There are patches of bluebells still holding onto yesterday’s rain. The glimmer sparks and dances within my eyeline. The garlic flowers too are pungent after the rainfall. The slopes are filled with their white petals. There is a snap of a twig and a deer slides back into shadow. My breath lengthens to an arc of peace.
today’s song
finding a note
of my own
Joanna Ashwell, UK
Wind Fight
A southeast wind is the worst. Nothing our island can buffet. White crests on the lake—relentless. So today, instead of a swim, I place rocks to weigh down the bow of my pedal kayak. At the stern, I plow headstrong into wind. Bounced by waves, I push on, zigzagging so as not to take them head-on. I pedal toward a development on a far Island, from where I’d intended to turn around and surf back, but the direct tack begins to strain, so I modify just a bit—a small turn toward Birch Island, a bit closer, might provide me with a buffer. Sunfish sailboats between Birch and Jolly, the next island further away, so I think that might be a little calmer, and head for the channel. I’m mistaken though.
between islands
a river waves
too many arguments
Carla Schwartz, Meredith, NH and Carlisle, MA
Spurred by Spring Ephemerals
The 90-minute drive through a thunderstorm ended in a cloud bank. I stepped out of the car, narrowly avoiding a pothole filled with rain, and questioned my life choices. Why had I voluntarily come to this narrow trail surrounded by poison ivy? The nearest bathroom was an outhouse a mile down the road. I laced my boots tighter, doused myself in bug spray, and trudged to the trailhead.
Clare was already there, of course, with her bright smile, magnifier loop, and near-encyclopedic knowledge of botany.
“Are those flowers missing petals?” I asked. The odd little blooms filled the grassy field.
“No,” she replied. “That’s what we’ve come to see.”
still surprised
by nature’s wonders . . .
white trillium
Julie Bloss Kelsey, Germantown, Maryland
Michele’s Musings
Hello everyone!
Sally is ill this week so we will catch up on Member News next time.
It’s definitely ginko season now and we enjoyed a great one last Saturday at Kasugai Gardens. Kasugai, Japan, and Kelowna, Canada, are sister cities. This garden was made in recognition of that in 1984 and the alliance was recently reconfirmed in 2023.
The garden features a pond with giant koi in it, a waterfall, a stream and a Zen garden of gravel. Weeping crabapples and birch trees along with dogwood trees, lilies and peonies line the pathways. Even though it is located in the middle of downtown, the walls keep the noise out and it is a peaceful place to relax for a while with its benches and gazebos.
I have attached a few photos below for you to see, and another one is this issue’s prompt.
Where are you going for ginko walks? Let me know!
Places to Submit
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! Submissions close on June 15th.
Femku Magazine’s Marlene Mountain Memorial Contest is open from June 1st until June 15th. Be sure to read the guidelines carefully.
The International EJCA Spring Haiku Contest 2025 is now accepting submissions! Make sure to give your haiku a SPRING theme by using a spring season word. Deadline to enter is June 21st.
Prune Juice is seeking submissions of original, previously unpublished English Senryu which showcase the vast expanse of the human condition from around the world. Deadline to submit is June 30th.
Wales Haiku Journal is open from June 1st until June 30th. Works that embody the nature tradition of haiku are particularly keenly sought.
Yavanika Press is currently reading for chapbooks. They are looking for collections of minis (poems under 10 lines), Japanese short-forms, short prose/hybrids/haibun, or mixed-genre. Submissions are due by June 30th.
Triveni Haikai Review is open from June 1st to July 1st. There is no theme and they will accept two haiku or senryu.
Seashores Haiku Journal out of Ireland is accepting up to eight haiku for their November issue. Eight haiku is a lot so I’m giving you lots of time to work on it. Deadline is July 31st.
confluence Poet Fellows Reading
Saturday, June 21st, 1pm Eastern (10am Pacific, 6pm British Summer Time, 1030pm India Standard time)
confluence haiku journal invites you to a poetry reading in celebration of its inaugural year of Poet Fellows. Six confluence Fellows (Daniel Shank Cruz, David Green, Lorraine A Padden, Nicky Gutierrez, Rowan Beckett Minor, and Vandana Parashar) will read their poems and share about their creative inspiration. confluence also offers readers the opportunity to respond to the Fellows’ poems during the event, and for your responses to be published in the next confluence issue. You are invited to read your own work during the open mic portion of the evening. If you’re not yet a subscriber, join for free at the confluence website.
The Noodle Bowl Haiku Group shares their tips for revising haiku in this collaborative essay entitled Polishing Our Intent.
This Week’s Prompt
Use this photo that Michele took at Kasugai Gardens as inspiration for next issue’s submission. Please send one or two haiku by June 25th to kelownalady@hotmail.com or sally_quon@yahoo.com. Details for submissions can be found here.
“A writer, I think, is someone who pays attention to the world.“
-Susan Sontag
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.
