cicada husk
my lap suddenly too small
for my grandson
Kim Klugh
Lancaster, Pennsylvania
a few hops
across the rug...
becoming rabbit
Melissa Dennison
United Kingdom
kites -
a child's smile
runs with the wind
Nazarena Rampini
Milano, Italia
Mother's Day
a child draws his family
in the orphanage
Milan Rajkumar
Imphal, India
shoeless morning—
a child gathers sunlight
from broken water
Fabbiha Islam Nawal,
Dhaka, Bangladesh
summer rain
a child’s tongue
tasting the sky
Jacek Margolak
Kielce, Poland
forest camp—
a child scrolls his smartphone
learning of fireflies
Goran Gatalica
Zagreb, Croatia
planetarium . . .
my son waits for the universe
to begin
(Mrs.) Barrie Levine
Wenham, Massachusetts
a bag of buttons
starting this spring each of them
has a name
Urszula Marciniak
Łódź, Poland
tiny toes
the possibilities
in every puddle
Helen Ogden
Pacific Grove, California
map coloring
my son asks why borders
twist like rivers
Chen-ou Liu
Ajax, Ontario, Canada
Michele’s Musings
Dear friends,
I can’t believe we are heading into summer here in the Okanagan, where Sally and I live!
The change of season and a haiku call had Sally looking back at her haiku and realizing that she had a real lack of summer haiku. She decided maybe a prompt calendar would help rectify that problem. So the two of us put one together. After all the positive comments from our haiku month calendar, we thought we should share it with you!
Remember, prompts are just a starting point. For example, a specific bird prompt might lead you outside to see what other birds have appeared in your neighbourhood. Or a prompt like wild river might have you thinking about the time you left the hose running overnight and had created a little stream down the road! There is no need to use the prompt word (although that is okay) but just see where it leads you.
Enjoy the prompts and happy writing!
Download your copy of the calendar!
Member News
Kimberly A. Horning tells us:
“One of my poems will be published in Asahi Haiku Network on August 21. 🙏 Prof David McMurray.”
Rowan Beckett Minor was recently interviewed by Jacob Salzer. You can read the interview here:
https://haikupoetinterviews.wordpress.com/2026/05/01/rowan-b…
Congratulations to Kelly Sargent on the recent publication of her full-length haiku/senryu book! The Honeybee’s Waggle, published by Cuttlefish Books, is available as follows:
Bookshop (for less than $10.00):
Amazon USA (for $10.00):
Amazon Canada:
https://www.amazon.ca/Honeybees-Waggle-Kelly-Sargent/dp/1970860995
Just For Fun
Saying yes is the way the flower of the soul breaks through the stone of the world.” Mark Nepo
As spring slips into early summer, I find myself yearning for something I cannot name. It’s with me when I first wake up in the morning, and it’s the last niggling thought I have before I turn on the music to chase thoughts away before I sleep.
I don’t know exactly what it is I’m missing but there is a hole, filled with a hollow ache. Maybe it has something to do with the fact I’ll be turning 60 in a couple of weeks. I’ve never been one to be concerned about my age, but maybe on a subconscious level this milestone is having an effect on my psyche. What have I done with my life, after all? There’s no list I can look at and congratulate myself on my achievements. I survived. I suppose that’s something.
I know I want to feel more alive, to feel like I’m making the most of this one, precious life. Yet the things I could be doing to feel more alive, I avoid. Afraid of failure, maybe. Or afraid my too-old-too-soon body won’t let me. Taking comfort in daydreams, rather than action.
Every life has its regrets. Strangely, it’s not the big decisions I regret – they shaped who I am. No, it’s the little things.
I didn’t throw a snowball at Jaki that day we drove high in the mountains to where winter still lived. I didn’t stick my feet in the stream where the olive-brown water rushed over the stones. I didn’t laugh enough, or dance enough, or love enough. I didn’t order the Sangria. I didn’t touch the ocean and taste the salt on my lips. I didn’t walk, fully clothed into the lake, or let the sun shine on my face.
As haiku poets, we learn to observe, to see the layers hidden in simplicity, the beauty in the ordinary.
There is an old story about a photographer on a whale watching tour. Forgive me if I’ve told this story before, but it’s one that has always stuck with me. When a grey whale approached the boat, everyone reached out to pet the whale. The photographer captured the images, but he didn’t pet the whale.
We observe. We capture the images in our haiku. But some of those moments will never come again. Don’t be afraid to live. Don’t forget to pet the whale.
Just For Fun
Haiku Girl Summer is now accepting submissions! This year, in addition to the haiku/senryu submissions, there will be a special haiga week. Haiga submissions are due by July 19th. Final submissions for haiku/senryu is August 15th.
The Haiku Society of America Rengay Award is taking submissions 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 Japan Fair International Haiku Contest closes on May 24th. Winners will be announced at the Japan Fair in Bellevue, WA, USA on June 27th and 28th.
From May 1st to 31st, Haiku Commentary will host the George Klacsanzky Memorial Haiku Contest. Congratulations to Haiku Commentary on their tenth anniversary!
The Peggy Willis Lyles Haiku Awards, presented by Heron’s Nest, is open until June 1st.
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.
The 2026 Marlene Mountain Haiku Contest, hosted by #FemkuMag, will be open June 1st to 15th. This contest has a theme of “one-line haiku or senryu” and is open to women, transgender, nonbinary, and gender-expansive poets.
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.
This Week’s Prompt
Write a haiku or two set on an island! Deadline for submissions is May 31st.
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!
“Just let the world amaze you.”
― Augusta Kantra
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.
