only one berry
left on the bush…a robin
and his rabble band
Madeleine Kavanagh, United States
Merlin app
using my cellphone
to catch a pipit
Nancy Brady, USA
babbling creek
a mudlark lines its nest
with possum fur
Louise Hopewell, Australia
fresh earthworks --
a glint in the
jackdaw's eye
Melissa Dennison, UK
snow-white Trumpeter
proclaims arrival . . .
winter's swan song
Rebecca St. Pierre, London ON
spring recital
chaffinch notes
threading the blossom
Joanna Ashwell, UK
possession being
nine-tenths of the law--
house wrens in the bluebird box
Kim Klugh, Lancaster, PA
snow-topped crabapples—
a surprise
of starlings
Cristy Watson, Calgary AB
singing a song
to the baby we lost
the cuckoo cries
Rowan Beckett Minor, USA
evening mist —
the distant call
of cranes
Jacek Margolak, Poland
Michele’s Musings
Hello friends!
We were so pleased with how many of you did the haiku prompts for Haiku Month! It was difficult to chose but we loved these three collections. Hope you all enjoy them as much as we did.
From Margaret Anderson, Vancouver, BC …
snowdrops
too soon for spring
cleaning
melting snow
feeds a hidden spring
new love
wheel-less bike
chained to a post
my broken heart
heart-to-heart
skipping stones
on thin ice
robin glimpsed
among the blossoms
cherry sunrise
rogue daffodils
across the hillside —
skipping a few steps
slapshot!
airbourne puck
finds a window
first flowers
on a strawberry vine
the long wait
rain-soaked worms
drying in the sun
homesick
drifting down
on an eggless nest
spring moon
From Joanna Ashwell,UK …
a bookmark
of sky blue
remembrance
raindrops
the prayer
before each bud
handing over
the last candle
February dawn
meeting in daylight
our afternoon tea
already dusk
the week
already gone
every shape of cloud
yellow wagtails
how easily you slip
into sunshine
marigolds
the last brush
stipples the grass
just in-case
the winter gloves
left on the sill
moonrise
gathering the gold
in each ripple
yellow card
playing footsie
with shadows
From Emil Karla, Paris, France …
spruce path
midway up the slope
white water
chocolate bunny
in the fridge door
untouched
thin ice
smiles on our faces
in the winter sun
stoplights—
a Chinese lantern swings
from a bare branch
futures
so many eggs
in the fish belly
newsfeed~
winter sun rays
on my bobun
unanswered calls
the German word
for daffodils
forsythia
the one question
I forgot to ask
delayed…
the sparrow's nest
in Terminal 2
the snatch
of the heron
blurred moon
Keep writing!
Member News
Nancy Brady had a senryu and a haiga in the newest issue of Kokako, Issue #44.
Joanna Ashwell has been accepted by the new senryu journal Only Human for the first issue and has just been published in the Folk Ku tree issue.
Tré has been busy and sends us the following news:
“I was featured on Pure Haiku as the Curator’s Choice this month.
I also received news that I am a winner of the University of Arizona Poetry Center’s 7th Annual Haiku Hike literary competition.
early morning trail
tears escape as i exchange
yawns with a raven
A plaque with my piece printed on it will be on display downtown Tuscon, Arizona, March 20th – June 1st. The location: 63 E Congress St. It goes up a few days before my birthday—feels like an early gift.
Pending release:
Another haiku of mine will be featured in the Spring ’26 edition of the Wales Haiku Journal, in April.
Two of my senryu will be in the first issue of Only Human, in April.
One of my senryu will appear in the April 2026 issue of Cattails.”
And finally, we hear from Belinda Bahne who sent us the following:
“I’m grateful to have these included on March 6th in Five Fleas Itchy Poetry
not only the nuthatch
knows the world
is upside down
thousands of voices
sing in the streets
melting the ice”
Congratulations to all of you! It’s great to see you’re getting your words out there, and we are thrilled for you to have shared your news.
Sally’s Notebook
Signs of Spring
It might look like spring – the grass is getting green, there are new buds on the lilac, and you just spotted your first Robin. But it isn’t really spring until you step out your front door and smell it. Some use the word petrichor, but the smell of spring is more than that, a combination of petrichor, geosmin, and who knows what else that fully engages your senses and makes you feel alive.
Places to submit
The Solitary Daisy 2026 Haiku Contest is well underway with over 175 haiku already received! Deadline is April 4th at midnight PT.
Wales Haiku Journal is open for submissions until March 31st. Work submitted may be on any theme or subject, but works that embody the nature tradition of haiku are particularly keenly sought.
The reading period for Frogpond is now open. Send in your haiku by March 31st to be considered for the spring/summer issue.
The Haiku Society of America Rengay Award opens on April 1st until May 31st. You can find last year’s winners here. Rengay was invented as a form by Garry Gay in 1992. You can find out how to write rengay in Daisy friend Michael Dylan Welch’s excellent website.
The 2026 confluence Poetry Prize invites your submission of one Japanese short form poem on the theme of death and dying. They will award $500 in total prize money for the best poems on this theme that expand our capacity for imagining and illuminating this human existence. Submissions are due by May 1, 2026.
The Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival Haiku Invitational is an international online contest that attracts submissions from all over the world. Submissions on the theme of cherry blossoms close on June 1st.
The Haiku Shack Anthology is a new series curated and edited by Cendrine Marrouat and Sherri J Moye-Dombrosky. Each volume will contain a maximum of 50 haiku selected from contributors living around the world. Submissions for the upcoming issue must be in by September 30th.
Hexapod Haiku Challenge is now open! In addition to the usual age-related award categories, they will offer a special topic award this year for the best haiku featuring arthropod recyclers. Deadline for submissions is June 15th.
Haiku Girl Summer has a brand-new website! Congratulations to chief editor Allyson Whipple – it looks fantastic and is a source of so many excellent haiku.
Fun event coming up on May 3rd! The Nick Virgilio Haiku Society is hosting its first of four Haiku Dojo Head-to-Heads online. Tickets are $5US, available here.
This Week’s Prompt
Look through a microscope this week as you write your haiku! Deadline for submissions is April 5th.
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!
“When you really pay attention, everything is your teacher.”
— Ezra Bayda
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.
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
Thank you for mentioning the wonderful Tre and Pure Haiku!