closed window
a wren’s song
finds an opening
Kim Klugh
Lancaster, Pennsylvania
salmon swim
upstream in red robes
another circle closed
Karl Kliparchuk,
Burnaby, BC
my heart
limitless affection
you
Jennifer Gurney
Broomfield, Colorado US
hasten home
to hymns of hope . . .
harvest moon
Monica Kakkar
India and United States of America
Thanksgiving leftovers
this relief when things remain
half-spoken
Chen-ou Liu,
Ajax, Ontario, Canada
In the cold night sky
moon casts it’s foggy shadow
a sound of wild fox
Manasa Reddy Chichili, India
a blessing
to be caught in it
summer sunshower
Ruth Holzer, Potomac Falls, VA, USA
gratitude –
in grandma’s weedy garden
a wild flower grows
Paul Callus, Malta
Game of the Goose
when I was little
he let me win
Marie Derley
Ath, Wallonia, Belgium
wren notes
the grace of morning in sunrise
Joanna Ashwell, UK
family gathering
at an old table
two empty benches
Refika Dedić
Bosnia and Herzegovina
the three not eaten
by magpies—
autumn strawberries
Cristy Watson, Calgary, AB
Michele’s Musings
We recently flew across Canada to Halifax, Nova Scotia with my 81 year old mother. When she immigrated with her family in 1952 from Holland, they landed at Pier 21. The pier has since been converted to the Canadian Museum of Immigration.
We were so pleased to be able to find mom’s family name there. The staff made a big fuss over mom, giving her a special badge that said “Pier 21 Alumni” and inviting her to tell her story as we moved through the museum.
The best part was watching mom transform from an 81 year old woman to an eight year old girl again!
Pier 21
the shy smile of an 8 year old
flashes across her face
There were so many things to be grateful for this year, and your haiku reflected that! Once again, so difficult to choose! We ended up settling on twelve, a few more than usual. We are so grateful to all of you for being part of our lives!
Member News
An exhibit entitled “Haiga; The Art of Haiku” has opened at the Johnson-Humrickhouse Museum in Coshocton, Ohio. The exhibit features haiga created by an international group of artists. Also on display at the museum is the Midwest Haiku Traveling Rock Garden.
Link to museum’s web site Special Exhibit – Johnson-Humrickhouse Museum
Link to Haiku Rock Garden’s web site – Home | The Midwest Haiku Traveling Rock Garden
Our thanks to Valentina Ranaldi-Adams for sending us these links!
From Charlotte Digregorio’s Blog:
family dinner
our heated discussion
on global warming
Rowan Beckett Minor (USA)
Second Place
Gerald Brady Memorial Senryu Award, 2025
Haiku Society of America
renting a muscle car for the funeral
Ruth Holzer (USA)
bottle rockets, #28, 2013
Remembrance Day
a white-haired veteran wears
his scars inside
Chen-ou Liu (Canada)
lakeshore
i wade
into summer
Roberta Beary (USA/Ireland), Author
Carousel, Snapshot Press, 2024
Our own Michele Rule was interviewed by Chris Walker on CBC Radio Kelowna. The link to that interview can be found here.
Now, on to the lists! Folks have been busy and it’s great to see so many familiar names popping up.
The following poets have work appearing in Chrysanthemum 35:
Joanna Ashwell
Roberta Beach Jacobson
Jerome Berglund
Debbie Strange
Chen-ou Liu
Valentina Ranaldi-Adams
Joshua St. Claire
C.X. Turner
Nitu Yumnam
In Enchanted Garden Issue 13 we find work from:
Paul Callus
Emil Karla
Tony Williams
Monica Kakkar
Debbie Strange
Joanna Ashwell
Barbara Anna Gaiardoni
Jerome Berglund
Marilyn Ashbaugh
Roberta Beach Jacobson
Joshua St. Claire
Marilyn Humbert
Nitu Yumnam
C.X. Turner
Monica Kakkar
Eavonka Ettinger
Valentina Ranaldi-Adams
Ruth HolzerH
Recipients of Sakura Awards in the Vancouver International Cherry Blossom Festival:
Michele Rule
Debbie Strange
Marilyn Ashbaugh
Julie Bloss Kelsey
Honorable Mentions:
Charlotte Hrenchuk
Chen-ou Liu
Sandra St. Laurent
Madeleine Kavenaugh
Kimberly Kuchar
Kelly Sargent
And finally, a big congratulations to the following poets nominated for a Touchstone Award by Haiku Girl Summer:
C.X. Turner
Joanna Ashwell
Kelly Sargent
Michele Rule
Kimberly Horning
kj munro
Nitu Yumnam
Ruth Holzer
Again, my apologies if I’ve missed anyone. Feel free to email your news to sally_quon@yahoo.com. We’d love to join the celebration!
Sally’s Notebook
There is something deeply satisfying about cooking a holiday meal. This week we celebrated Thanksgiving in Canada. Normally, I consider Thanksgiving dinner to be a practice run for Christmas dinner. Inevitably, something goes wrong. Either the mashed potatoes are lumpy, the gravy too thin – something. This week, however, everything was perfect.
Anyway, prepping and cooking the holiday meal was comforting. Making sure all the elements were prepared and ready to be cooked at the appropriate time felt like home. Steady, but not rushed. And it all came together perfectly. I knew my son wasn’t going to eat the bean salad, but I made it anyway. I like a holiday meal to have something a little extra.
I consider cooking to be my job. My disabilities prevent me from doing many things, but I can still cook. Because of the hours my son works, meals are usually things that can be prepared quickly. I try to make them varied and interesting, but also economical and quick.
A holiday meal is almost meditative, hypnotic, a time to slow down and really feel the vibe. The enticing smells from the oven bring to mind the holiday meals I grew up with, and all the love going into it makes it taste even better.
Why am I telling you all this? Because preparing a holiday meal is a little bit like writing a haiku, when you let go of all the bustle and chaos of everyday life and let yourself fall completely into the moment, become absorbed in it, until there is no difference between you and what surrounds you.
harvest feast –
no such thing
as leftovers
Places to submit
The Seabeck Haiku Retreat is happening this October 23rd to 26th. This is the 18th annual Haiku Northwest retreat and is a great opportunity to learn and meet new haiku writers!
Leaf – Journal of the Daily Haiku is open for submissions the month of October. They especially encourage youth under 18 to submit.
Mark down these dates for upcoming submissions to the San Francisco International Competition for Haiku, Senryu, Tanka, Rengay and Haibun, sponsored by the Haiku Poets of Northern California. Deadlines for Haiku, Senryu, and Tanka: October 31, 2025, Rengay: January 31, 2026, Haibun: Deadline May 1, 2026.
Pure Haiku will be opening up for submissions for the month of October. They will announce their theme on October 1st so be sure to check it out. They only accept haiku written in the 5-7-5 syllable pattern.
JAL FOUNDATION biennially organizes the ‘World Children’s Haiku Contest’, and they are happy to announce that the 19th contest is to be held this year. The theme is “Sound”. The Regional Contest (works in local languages) runs from October 1st, 2025 to February 28th, 2026. Applicants must be children under 15 years old as of February 28th, 2026.
Whiptail Journal is celebrating their 4th anniversary with their upcoming edition. Accepting a wide variety of monoku, or single line haiku, the optional theme will be anything related to four. Submissions only open from October 21st to 27th.
Pulse Voices is looking for haiku that arise from your own healthcare experiences or those of your patients or loved ones. Submissions may be made in the month of October. The editor is Solitary Daisy friend Michael Dylan Welch!
Prune Juice is seeking submissions of original, previously unpublished* English Senryu which showcase the vast expanse of the human condition from around the world. Submissions for their December issue will be accepted from October 1st to October 31st.
The Enchanted Garden is looking for spicy-ku from October 15th to 31st! The theme is spices, condiments or herbs you use in the kitchen. I think I smell cinnamon and nutmeg! You can check out their latest issue, Tea Time, here.
Haiku Pause is accepting submissions on the theme of Shiki’s Window until November 9th. Shiki was a Japanese poet, author, and literary critic in Meiji period Japan. He is considered a major figure in the development of modern haiku poetry.
Check out this Haiku Foundation article, New to Haiku: Advice for Beginners with Michael Smeer!
This Week’s Prompt
Write us a spooky haiku in honour of Halloween! Submissions are due by October 29th 2025.
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!
“To a clear eye the smallest fact is a window through which the infinite may be seen.”
—Thomas Henry Huxley
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
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 for all the mentions of Pure Haiku’s current theme! With much appreciation!