tolling temple bells . . .
in grandma’s footsteps
first light of the year
Monica Kakkar, USA/India
first morning
deep notes of wind
in the chill
Tim Dwyer, Bangor, Northern Ireland/Brooklyn, NY
New Year’s Day…
a golden sprout
from the daisy root
David He, China
first daybreak
grandma’s gold coin
on the windowsill
Sheikha A., Dubai, United Arab Emirates
new year’s fireworks –
scaring the living daylights
out of evil spirits
Paul Callus, Ħal Safi, Malta
New Year’s Day—
in the empty cup
sober moon
Federico C. Peralta, Bulacan, Philippines
blue hour deepens
in my new journal
your old note
Bhawana Rathore, India
New Year’s feast
sauerkraut and black-eyed peas
mixed family
Mary Oishi, Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA
And finally, a senryu that many of us can relate to:
2026 goals
committing to give up
self-help books
Louise Hopewell, Australia
Michele’s Musings
Hello friends!
Here we are, already in the middle of January 2026! Hope you have all had some kind of relaxing break over the holidays. Sally and I both enjoyed your new year haiku very much, along with the explanations about New Year celebrations in your area.
Sally and I were busy with family on the break, and then Frithjof and I went on a getaway to Tofino, which is on the west coast of Vancouver Island here in British Columbia. Being in nature rejuvenated both of our spirits and we feel ready to face to new year. The best part of the trip for me was being able to borrow a beach wheelchair from the tourism centre! I can’t traverse the sand in my regular chair, but with Frithjof’s help I was able to see miles of Long Beach.
February is coming up quickly and we are putting together a prompt-a-day list for Haiku Writing Month. If you have a suggestion of one or two words for prompts, please send them along. The list will be available in our next issue and on the website.
We really appreciate it when you share out this newsletter with other poets who might not receive it. It is encouraging to watch our numbers grow every month! The more people writing haiku, the merrier!
Member News
Bonnie J Scherer had her first poem published in smols on 12/3/2025:
sunrise
the thunder
in light
and had a poem nominated for the Touchstone Award for Individual Poems by Sense & Sensibility. Bonnie has also had a haiga selected for inclusion in this year’s volume of contemporary haibun 21 which will be available for purchase in early February from Amazon or Red Moon Press.
Emil Karla had a haiku accepted in Haiku in Action (prompt: “Peace Offering”)
peace bombing
their grave faces
as winter comes
Other recent acceptances include:
evening roofs
suddenly
s w a l l o w s
Modern Haiku, 56:3
And:
winter evening
the knife blade
under the apple skin
rainy dawn
myriads of marbles sizzle
in the canal
Pan Haku Review, issue 6
Rowan Beckett Minor was nominated for a Pushcart Prize by Confluence –
hell-flower
the ghost of you
still in my hollow
Finally, we have the following selections reprinted on Charlotte Digregorio’s Blog:
jasmine scent of the other woman is me
Modern Haiku, 44:1, 2013
green everywhere i turn into summer
tinywords, Issue 21.1, June 21, 2021
the shift to passive voice planet earth
The Heron’s Nest, Vol. XXVI, No. 4, 2024
by Roberta Beary (USA/Ireland)
Also on Charlotte’s blog:
first snow
filling the recesses
of his favorite chair
Wales Haiku Journal, Winter 2023/2024, February 2024
melting snow . . .
squeezing her hand
in the hospital
Frogpond, 47:1, Winter 2024
by Kimberly Kuchar (USA)
And another from Charlotte’s blog:
herding reindeer
maybe I was
good enough
Asahi Haikuist Network, Dec. 19, 2025
by Jerome Berglund (USA)
Thank you especially to those who send us their news. Congratulations to all! We love to hear and share your work.
Sally’a Notebook
It must have been mid-October. I was returning home after dropping my son off at work. As I turned into the driveway of the park, I looked up at the snow-capped mountains to the East and though, “Huh, I wonder when THAT happened?”
Because as much as I go on about being mindful and present in the moment, the truth is, sometimes life just gets in the way.
I remember my first yoga teacher – god, I loved that woman, she taught me so much. She was teaching me how to focus on breathing.
“Just like an untrained puppy, your thoughts will wander off. You must take hold of their collar and lead them back to the breath.”
This is also true of haiku. When we find ourselves busy with life and not being in the present, we must take our mindfulness by the collar and lead it back. If it’s been a while, it might take some practice to achieve your goal. I don’t know how many times I’ve whined to Michele, “I’ve forgotten how to haiku!’
I prefer to do this outside, in some remote part of the wilderness but that isn’t always an option, and it works just as well indoors.
Start with some deep breathing, making sure to focus on the breath. Eyes closed, you want to examine your body, finding the places where tension pools. Slowly relax those places. Loosen your jaw, let your shoulders fall into a natural position, let your belly hang. Once you are sufficiently relaxed, imagine yourself melding into your surroundings until you are a part of the landscape.
As a haiku poet, you are an observer. But we don’t just observe with our eyes. We do it with our ears, our nose, our hands.
Examine all of your senses in turn. What do you hear, smell, see? Does the air have a particular flavor, or can you still taste the garlic from your Caesar salad? Is there a cold wind on the back of your neck? Or sun, warm on your forehead?
What do you feel with your emotional self? To convey a feeling without naming that feeling is not an easy thing to do in less than 17 syllables, but what is a haiku practice without practice?
As I lead my untrained puppy mind into this new year, I wish you all the best in your practice and look forward to reading more of your stunning work.
Places to submit
Haiku Canada’s Betty Drevniok Award for 2026 opens December 15th and runs until February 28th. Find the submission form here.
First Frost is open for submissions of haiku and senryu only until January 31st. First Frost produces one of the most beautiful print editions we have ever seen!
Members of Haiku Canada are reminded to send in their haiku for the members anthology. Deadline is January 31st. It’s easy to become a member of this great group and well worth the fee.
The Wales Haiku Journal has put together a lovely little issue of their 2025 Touchstone nominations. Enjoy!
How to photograph with haiku in mind? Check out M. Rubin’s excellent site, Haiku^Photo and then watch the Haiku Society of America’s blog on January 15 for a submission call on a theme!
The Wee Sparrow Haiku Nook published monthly, with submissions accepted from the 1st to 15th of each month. Editor Marc Brimble looks for haiku that fit within the season or micro season.
seashores, an international journal to share the spirit of haiku, is now open for submissions for issue 15! Congratulations to them! Guest editors for this issue are Amanda Bell and Liam Carson. Deadline is January 31st.
Literary Revelations is working on a new anthology titled Haiku for Soulmates! If you have a soulmate, please compose five haiku for him or her. If you do not, let your imagination shape five haiku that describe the soulmate you hope to meet. Deadline is February 25th.
This Week’s Prompt
Write one or two haiku about hibernation without using the word “hibernation.” Submissions are due on January 28th.
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!
“What I’m trying to do is to tell young people that I teach them how to breathe before I teach the haiku. That one breath, that one breath, because the haiku keeps you alive. It keeps you going. If you learn how to breath the haiku, you learn how to breathe. If you learn how to breathe, you’re much healthier.“
— Sonia Sanchez
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.
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