Issue 57 – Natural Disasters

Natural Disasters

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Sally’s Notebook

It was March. I was trying to make my way up Myra Canyon Road, a steep incline of gravel and mud. But there was a problem. No matter how hard I stepped on the gas, the car only inched forward, the engine squealing. The temperature quickly rose to dangerous levels. Realizing I could go no further without possibly getting stranded, I wiggled my way around until I was pointed downhill and coasted to the bottom.

From that moment on, I stopped driving except for grocery runs and taking my son to work. I slipped into depression, stopped writing altogether. The car continued to deteriorate, sometimes taking two hours of trying before it would turn over and start. I took it to a local shop.

The end result? The car was unfixable. It was, after all, more than 30 years old. So, for the next three weeks, we were without a car while we tried to figure out what to do. My son was taking transit to work, but by the time he finished, the buses were no longer running, and the hour long walk after an 8-hour shift was a lot.

As for me, I was housebound. I no longer have the strength to walk even as far as the bus stop with my walker. It became a lot like the first COVID lockdown. I retreated inside myself, stopped doing anything at all, feeling like I was just sitting around waiting to die.

Then the mechanic called. He knew my financial situation, but he had a car he could sell me at a decent price. My son found the money and before long, we were the proud owners of a cream-coloured PT Cruiser. It’s 20 years old, but in fantastic condition.

My friend, Jaki, names all her cars, asked me what colour it was. When I said cream, she said, “So are you going to name it cheese, or puff?”

“Puff,” I replied, and so it was. Only instead of Cream Puff, it became Puff the Magic Wagon.

It is magic. While I haven’t yet taken it to the backroads, or even out of town, the depression is gone. I have been given back my legs. I can go to pick up milk if I run out. No more hour-long walks for my son. I’ve started writing again and making plans to get out every day. And for the first time this summer, I went to the beach, where I wrote my first haiku since the end of February.

summer fashion…
everywhere you look
beach bums

Thanks for sticking with me through my story, and I apologize for my absence. I am ever grateful to Michele for holding the reins and picking up the slack. It’s good to be back.

Member News

I was delighted to find and read haiku from the following poets as I sat on the beach reading the Spring 2025 issue of First Frost:

I was delighted to find and read haiku from the following poets as I sat on the beach reading the Spring 2025 issue of First Frost:

Kim Klugh
Tony Williams
Debbie Strange

And in the latest issue of Sonic Boom:

Jerome Berglund
Debbie Strange
Roberta Beach Jacobson
Mona Bedi
dan smith

This tanka on Charlotte Digregorio’s Blog:

the peace
that accompanies
forgiveness
after this long drought
an ecstasy of rain

Debbie Strange (Canada)
GUSTS, No. 25, Spring/Summer 2017

Also from Charlotte Digregorio’s Blog, these haiku:

rush hour traffic . . .
bumper sticker: Honk if you love peace
and quiet

Chen-ou Liu (Canada)

past the open doors
of a stalled train
birdsong enters

Patricia Carragon (USA)
Bear Creek Haiku Blogspot, Feb. 10, 2018

convinced
it's a woman in the moon
we count the stars

Melissa Dennison (UK) 
Presence, Issue 81, March 2025

Don’t forget to share your news so we can help you celebrate!

Places to Submit

Heterodox Haiku Journal is open for submissions until the end of July, with a few days of wiggle room according to editor and friend of the Daisy, Jerome Berglund. The theme is ‘contrarians’.  You may submit up to 10 haiku or senryu for consideration.  Challenge the assumptions and conventions of society, government, or English Language Haiku (especially!😊). Send submissions to Jerome at jbphotography746@yahoo.com.

First Frost is open for submissions for the month of July. Don’t forget to check out their marvelous collection of “ten haiku by”!

Frogpond Journal will be open to submissions for the month of July. They will accept up to eight haiku or senryu. In addition, your submission can include: up to three haibun, up to three rengay or other short sequences (including alternate forms of rengay and split sequences), and one renku.

Seashores Haiku Journal out of Ireland is accepting up to eight haiku for their November issue. Deadline is July 31^st.

bric-a-brac is excited to announce the Haiku of the Week Contest for their upcoming 2026 Digital Weekly Planner! Four artists, 53 seasonal haiku. The result? 53 scrumptious monochrome haiga for printable planners. Submissions must be in by August 15^th.

The Society of Classical Poets 2025 Haiku Competition is on now. All submissions must be in the traditional form of 5-7-5. Submit up to three haiku by August 15th at 6 pm Eastern time.

Haiku Northwest is celebrating its 22^nd Annual Porad Haiku Award! Submissions open on July 14^th, and must be received by August 31^st. Winners will be announced at Haiku Northwest’s annual Seabeck Haiku Getaway, to be held October 23–26, 2025.

Submissions for The Short of It are open now and run until December 31^st. All kinds of very short poetry and prose are accepted including haiku.

The latest issue of Eucalypt  is online now! Enjoy reading and learning about the Japanese short-form of tanka.

Here is a wonderful interview with the Canadian haijin Sophia Conway by Jacob D. Salzer! Enjoy! Haiku Poet Interviews.

Are you involved with a haiku or other short Japanese form journal? Be sure to let us know when your submission dates are so we can share them here.

This Week’s Prompt

For our upcoming issue, we would like to hear from those of you who have never been published in the Solitary Daisy before! The theme is open; remember we do like a seasonal reference and a bit of surprise – just something that makes us say “Oh”. Send one or two haiku to sally_quon@yahoo.com or to Michele at kelownalady@hotmail.com. Find our full submission info here. Don’t forget to tell us where you are writing from!

“The world is full of magic things, patiently waiting for our senses to grow sharper.” 

—W. B. Yeats

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

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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