graveyard wind
the long vowels
of the dead
Nalini Shetty, Mumbai, India
will you have this dance…
two skeletons shake
in the autumn wind
Madeleine Kavanagh, California
in the garden cat(nip)s in love, me aww
Shalini Gupta, India
practicing
total transparency . . .
ghosts
Valentina Ranaldi-Adams, USA
candy-stuffed children
no wonder the old witch
is diabetic
Tracy Davidson , Warwickshire, UK
baby trick-or-treater a teething gargoyle's day out
Sheikha A. , Dubai, United Arab Emirates
peanut butter cup
a little ghost
forgets to scare
Soumya Mukherjee
the crusty leaves
of a dying vine—
pumpkins by the crypt
Patricia Carragon, Brooklyn, NY
twilight deepens—
three steps behind
the dead
Goran Gatalica, Zagreb, Croatia
all saint's eve
not the only day
they slip through
Laurinda Lind, Sackets Harbor, NY
ghost stories
her voice lowers
raising gooseflesh
Millicent Bee, Richmond, Virginia
tricksters the full moon ripples under sugar rushes
Alan Summers
Michele’s Musings
Hello friends!
I’ve been having nightmares brought on by some pretty creepy haiku! Thanks, friends! There were so many entries in this category it was very difficult to narrow them down. I hope you enjoy our final selection!
It’s full on autumn now in Kelowna. The crunch of leaves, the calls of Canada geese as they prepare to leave, and this past weekend the smell of turkey basting in the ovens in our neighbourhood. This is my favourite season. I’ve been inspired so often and my purse is full of bits of envelopes and napkins that I have jotted haiku down onto. Do you have a favourite season and do you find yourself writing more haiku during that time? What inspires you?
Sally and I are really excited to be collaborating with the Northern haiku group on our book of Canadian season words. We are still looking for more words, especially from the Prairies and the rest of the Eastern part of Canada. All contributors will be acknowledged!
This issue’s prompt is a call for haiga. I want to point you towards this excellent article by Daisy friend Michael Dylan Welch. You may use art or photography in creating your haiga. Looking forward to your creations!
Keep on writing!
Member News
Margaret Anderson, Vancouver, BC
One of my haiku submissions to the Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival Haiku Invitational was chosen in the Best Vancouver category.
hazakura
his new shoes
already too small
I also received an Honorable Mention in the Vancouver category.
cherry blossoms --
she travels through
the looking glass
I am very excited to have received this honour!
Laurinda Lind, Sackets Harbor, NY
Since there was a note in this recent issue about wanting people to send in more publication news:–in September some of my haiku made it into these places: three in The Pocket Poet, three in Renku Sessions, one in Haiku Dialogue, one in Asahi Haikuist Network, and one in Poetry Pea.
the writing I fish
up from the deep
I am the fish
Haiku Dialogue, October 7, 2026
Rowan Beckett Minor has won two awards in this year’s Ohio Poetry Day Contests. They are honored to have won 1st place in the Quiet and Mysterious Contest and 3rd place in the Micro-poem Contest. Rowan is also honored to have received an honorable mention in the 2026 Vancouver Cherry Blossom Invitational.
returning cherries
the scars on my wrist
mostly faded
Michele Rule won first place in the Vancouver Cherry Blossom Haiku Invitational in the category of Best BC.
holstein calf
a muzzle full
of cherry blossoms
She also published a chapbook of poetry (not haiku, but an excellent read) titled “Home Looks Different From Here.” This is a collection of poems based entirely on the Artemis II space mission.
Sally Quon received a Sakura Award for her monoku in the Vancouver Cherry Blossom Haiku Invitational.
joining the conversation cherry blossoms
Thank you for sharing your news with us! It’s so wonderful to hear about your successes!
Sally’s Notebook
It’s been a rough few weeks after an unexpected hospital stay and an equally unexpected surgery. I’m still in recovery mode, but I have enjoyed reading your stories of your first published haiku! Please continue to send them in until Sunday, October 25th to sally_quon@yahoo.com. Thanks!
Just For Fun
Sally and Michele are still collecting season words from across Canada! We are especially interested in the Maritimes, Quebec, Ontario, and the Prairies. We are excited to have a collab going with a Northern Canadian group for words from that region. All contributors will be credited in the book. Please mark your email “season words” and send to kelownalady@hotmail.com.
Pulse Magazine is calling for haiku arising from your own health experiences or those of your patients or loved ones. Please submit up to three unpublished haiku by October 31st.
Cornflower Magazine will open for submissions on October 1st until October 31st. This is a delightful new magazine and issues one and two are available to read for free on their website.
The San Francisco International Haiku, Senryu, and Tanka Contest is now open! This contest is sponsored by the Haiku Poets of Northern California. Deadline for submissions is October 31st.
UBU: small absurd poems is hosting the inaugural Capitale de la Haibun Contest, in honor of French Surrealist Paul Éluard. The contest will be open for submissions from October 1-31, 2026. They are looking for experimental haibun that push the boundaries of the form and are rooted in absurdism, dadaism, surrealism, expressionism, existentialism, or nihilism. This contest will be judged by Colleen M. Farrelly, Bryan Rickert, and Rowan Beckett Minor, and a cash prize will be awarded to first, second, and third place winners.
Prune Juice is accepting senryu about communication, the lack of it, grammar, metatextuality, profanity, and language itself. They especially invite bilingual poems and poetry written in other languages. Submissions are due on October 31st.
fugu soup is a journal of bold, urban & experimental haiku, tanka & minimalist poetry. They accept 5-10 haiku/tanka/minimalist poems, or up to 5 haibun on a rolling basis for two issues a year.
If you are looking for a little more spooky fun, the Halloween edition of Sense and Sensibility is out!
The Solitary Daisy Winter Haiku call is now open. Please send one winter themed haiku by October 31st. We will choose 25 haiku for use in an electronic advent calendar that will be shared with everyone. Please put “winter haiku” in the subject line and send to kelownalady@hotmail.com. Don’t forget your name and country!
This Week’s Prompt
Send us one art or photography based haiga on any topic.
Deadline for submissions is October 25th.
Send one haiga 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!
“Traveler, there is no path, paths are made by walking.”
― Antonio Machado
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.
