Powered by RedCircle
The Haiku Pea Podcast where we meet up with some of our dearest haiku friends and get to meet some new ones along the way. Welcome one and all.
Each podcast is very special but today more so than usual because today is our 100th episode.
Congratulations to all of us because the podcast is a community effort. Thank you for coming along and making time fly.
I’m Patricia, and this time I’m joined by Craig Kittner and Ben Gaa both of whom we’ve met before and Matt Snyder who is making his debut on the podcast. They are our community charges for this month and have chosen their nominations. I wonder if you will agree with them?
Before we go on I have an update from the last episode. If you remember I was beside myself with excitement because Richard Tice and his poem:
our car never nearer the shimmer of black water on the desert road
had made the Touchstone award longlist for individual poems, well he also made the shortlist. You can imagine my excitement. Now I’m preparing and recording this podcast before the final results are out so it might seem weird if I say good luck to our Richard, but everything is crossed and I’m willing you on.
As usual for this podcast I will be reading you some previously published haiku and some which have been written especially for us on the topic of no ego. You might remember that Ben Gaa came along to give us the workshop and I was very excited about having a podcast without the mention I, we, you, us and I’m rather pleased with the results.
My thanks to James Young and to Robert Horrobin who were instrumental in choosing the poetry that is featured this month whether here on the podcast or in the Journal of which more news later. If you would like to join the editing team if only for one month, please let us know we’d be delighted to have you on board.
Speaking of whom, they and Ted Sherman are editing this month’s submission on Euphony, deadline 20th April, 2021 midnight CET. So you are fast running out of time. Haiku and senryu with sound and rhythm.
Let’s start with some poetry that’s been previously published I’ll read the poem first as always and the poet after.
Previously published:
between
wildflowers
a comma
Jeff Hoagland
sun breaking through–
the entire village
silent
Lysa Collins
Both from Presence Journal #69
storm hour
the cliff’s face carved
a little deeper
Debbie Strange, 3rd Prize, 2020 Irish Haiku Society Int’l Haiku Competition
Now for your original haiku and senryu written especially for the podcast on the topic of no ego. We’ll start with Craig Kittner’s nomination. Welcome back Craig and congratulations on being shortlisted for the Haiku foundation Touchstone awards for individual poems with this poem:
fall starts measuring time in butterflies
Craig Kittner, Bones 21
Fabulous work. As I said before we are recording this before the final results are out so I wish you all the best with your poem.
Craig’s nomination for the Judge’s choice:
fallen bramleys
and the dark windows
of the pub
Mark Gilbert
Thanks Craig. Now let’s hear some more haiku and senryu:
leaf litter
turkey tail fungus
skirts the pine
Debbie Strange
a vase filled
with autumn leaves –
the shape of shadows
Angela Terry
gathering dusk
an urgency in the sound
of scurrying leaves
Vandana Parashar
under the redwoods
a tall man
diminished
Christa Pandy
snow laden trees
midday sun creating a
silhouette rain shower
Dean Leivers
a night breeze
bends the blossomed branch
newlyweds
Robert Witmer
log pile
getting smaller by the day
longer and longer
James Young
in
an empty nest
an acorn
Pippa Phillips
carpenter’s saw
but the trees are silent
as they fall
Minal Sarosh
new moon
through spring willows
drifting mist
David He
Many of you were inspired by the birdlife that you see around you.
cormorants hopping
along the shore…
dotted silence
Sonal Srinivasan
march 1st –
a dove
spreads its wings
Zahra Mughis
dusting off mirrors hummingbird wings
wendy c. bialek
what might have been
birds falling into deep blues
of shadows
Sarah Mahina Calvello
birdsong the tug of winter
Roberta Beach Jacobson
longest day
a copper opens its wings
to the sun
Kristen Lindquist
stiff winds
a flock of sparrows beat
against the sea
Bruce H Feingold
at the shrine –
a sparrow drinks
from Buddha’s hands
Bill Fay
floating voices
geese ride a current
to still water
Craig Kittner
Indian summer
the silence buried
in a sparrow’s nest
Isabel Caves
winter dusk….
in a scarecrow’s straw heart
a fledgling awakes
Nisha Raviprasad
beachball
partly inflated
songbirds gone
Ignatius Fay
stormy gusts
the heron still
on its rock
Marion Clarke
swinging the birdfeeder,
the blue jay
coming and going
Kathleen Tice
carrying
the cold
the bird’s cry
Alex Fyffe
no race the snow geese taking off at the same time
Meik Blöttenberger
winter in Alaska
rooster crows
at noon
Pam Joy
five crows
one at a time
from bare oak to tall pine
Megan Herlaar
raindrops
a coot dives
headlong
Anna Maria Domburg Sancristoforo
sticks and weeds
the mute swans
get ready for spring
Marilyn Ward
still distancing
mother wren watches
across the garden
BA France
distant stars
on the fresh snow
a crow’s shadow
Humaira Sholihat
sharpening
the scars
cuckoo’s call
Richa Sharma
woodpeckers counting out
the last meters of winter
Art Fredeen
lucky charm
the shimmering gift
of a goldfinch
John Hawkhead
crescent moon
with each ripple
the curlew dips
David Eyre
Matt Snyder’s nomination for the judges’ choice:
stone Buddha
in newly formed puddle
melting snow
Anna Yin
Before I continue with the poetry I just want to say a couple of things. Most importantly thank you to Meik, Richard, Matt, Lorraine, Rob, Natalia, Neera and Peter, who clicked the buy me a coffee button on the website and bought me some coffees in March. I truly appreciate your kindness as it helps me to keep the podcast free to all comers.
You can always leave a message with your donation, I love to read them and Richard left a great suggestion. Could I do a podcast on punctuation? Yes I could Richard, thank you. Now a plea for help, would any of you like to help me out with a 15/20 minute workshop on how to punctuate haiku and senryu? Please email me and let me know.
Great news, the Spring Journal is out. It’s been out a week or so and those of you who have signed up for the mailings will have heard the news early. If you had a poem on the podcast or accepted for the Journal for the topics Kigo (from Januaries podcast), Humour, Exaggerated Perspective, Ogre, or you had a haibun or essay published in the spring journal, you can click on this link to buy it.
If you are not sure, please look at your acceptance email, it should tell you which Journal your work will be in.
A quick reminder that I am accepting haibun and essays for the journal, please email them to me. I rather think the ones in the journal are brilliant.
Now on with the poetry.
glasses left
on the poetry book.
it’s snowing!
David Wheeler
fox in deep snow
how cool it must be to sense
the easterly wind
Wendy Gent
barely spring…
forsythia blooms
through the snow
Pat Geyer
before the news –
the light
in the middle of the lake
Deborah A Bennett
fresh snow on lake ice
joint splashdown in rivulets
birds of a feather
Richard Bailly
a lipstick of snow
left by late winter’s flurries
rims the hay field’s dome
Ronald Tobey
bees pulsating
the temple bells
snowdrops
Christina Chin
a sunken stone
thorned sticks, broken reeds –
PoEM spelt in the snow
Geoff M Pope
hip-high
in new snow
yesterday’s snowman
Pat Davis
downpour
washing slates clean
new year’s day
Lorraine Carey
each wave claims
mounds of golden grains
high rollers
Hannah Hulbert
approaching storm –
the sea pounds relentlessly
against the levee
Richard Tice
drifting down
dual-tread fishing trail
twin sons’ whistling
Douglas J. Lanzo
banks of the Fraser
a shadow
sneaks a swim
P H Fischer
Milkyway’s image
radiance on a calm lake
mirrored galaxy
Chris Gomez
Celestial bodies and the sky were popular inspirations :
summer sun
the horned lizard appears
on the wildlife calendar
Christine Wenk-Harrison
first chemo
the fading boundary
of day moon
Hifsa Ashraf
full moon
roof corner icicles glow
winter silver
David Brydges
cold moon-
the warmth of yesterday
a distant dream
Margaret Dornaus
sunrise –
black mountain slowly
turns to gold
Neera Kashyap
only the night
ends with the sunrise
looming sunset
Natalia Kuznetsova
ashen sky –
burning on the pyre
a nameless corpse
Suresh Babu
opal sky
a birthstone charm
for the new child
Valentina Ranaldi Adams
angular shadows
moving softly in the moonlight
black butterfly
Barbara Carlson
sirens
through the fir trees
a howling moon
Edita Strieženec, translated by Juraj Strieženec and Ted Sherman
a flower blooms
in the midnight sun
or is it the moon?
Robert Quezada
noir agave
sensual shapes, sinister shadows,
tequila lipstick
Eavonka Ettinger
wild rhubarb
not knowing what to say
in the chapel of rest
Tracy Davidson
between rains
a cricket’s chirps
flood the darkness
Srinivas S
spring lawn
freshly dug mole-tunnels
17-year cicadas
Doris Lynch
spring whispers
gentle blow of fresh air
buzzing bees
Bhawana Upadhyay
silent paws slip past
redwood fence top trails
i m a g i n e
Wayne Kingston
winter closes…
the dense chorus
of thawed wood frogs
EL Blizzard
itinerant monk
and an injured donkey
on his back
Mark Farrar
city zoo…
bold local rat steals food
from the lion’s cage
Rob McKinnon
cats take over
the pool table
stripes and solids
Lorraine A Padden
sweet pea –
the cat climbs up
the trellis
Paul Callus
in the meadow
a fawn stops
to spot clean her coat
Julie Gomez
locked gate
the meticulous web
across roof tiles
Joshua Gage
braking hard—
caught in the headlights
the jackrabbit makes it
Lee Hudsbeth
Juliet’s balcony
still empty
pissing up the wrong tree cocker spaniel
Dr Tim Gardiner
gnarled apples
forgotten orchard
feeding deer
C X Turner
sunlight through the tree
spider web of light weaving
stillness
Steve Ullom
stiff
in their winter coats
the grass
Allison Douglas-Tourner
bright green grass
children playing ball
an old man falls
Ellen Urowitz
white purple cups
blossoming above
fresh cut grass
Matt Snyder
chilly start to day
sip a mug of hot coffee
waiting on the sun
Veronica Hosking
black and white movie
two coffee cups
on the chequered tablecloth
Nadejda Kostadinova
hot sake… everyone speaking in tongues
Linda L Ludwig
butterflies
around the plant pots …
shades of tea
Daniela Misso
chipped mug
steam from green tea
blurs the falling snow
Stephen Joseph
bin day cacophony
breaches the summer silence
black coffee and toast
Ted Sherman
bar restroom
the ghost graffiti
show through the paint
David Oates
more than leaves and milk
the universe stirs within
a simple teacup
James Welsh
steeped mate tea
an afternoon bouquet
of new-mown hay
Michael Dudley
bamboo flutes
the melancholy of
mountain evenings
Anjali Warhadpande
storm in the mountains
a spider stretches his thread
across the painting
Eugeniusz Zacharski
birdbath –
ice cold
mud puddles
Laura Driscoll
raindrops
collected beads
from sunny days
Eva Drobna
rain rhythms
memories splashing
on the window
Kim Russell
clouds
on the slope
sheep
Dorothy Burrows
luciferin light
drapes a dark cove-emeralds
on décolletage
Joan Huffman
existing in
parallel worlds the
good and evil
Carolyn Crossley
candles
half a million flickering
sayonara
Achingliu Kamei
the one
red spine on the shelf
Macbeth
Dorothy Mahony
through a fence
scores of yellow gourds
tennis practice
Richard L Matta
termites …
dad’s bookshelf
Gone with the Wind
Lakshmi Iyer
reading
between the lines . . .
a cat’s tail
Ronald K. Craig
words
a poem sings
a life
Susan Plumridge
summer heat –
colours ripen within
the tired landscape
Margaret Dale Bennett
bus window view
Van Gogh’s rooftops
below the bridge
Jackie Chou
on the sidewalk
blue chalk hopscotch
a shade darker at night
Neena Singh
open blooms
of the Magnolia
a simple prayer
Eve Castle
march morning
a softener awakens
the smell of flowers
Samo Kreutz
spring dawn
a whiff of jasmine rises
in the stillness
Bona M Santos
Ben Gaa’s nomination for the judges’ choice
December
the persimmons
no one can reach
Bret Wooldridge
I really enjoyed the commentaries from our judges. I think hearing another perspective of a piece often gives it a freshness, don’t you? What did you think of their nominations? Would you have chosen differently?
Just a few reminders before I head off into the wild blue yonder:
- Your deadline for Euphony is the 20th April. If you are listening in real time that’s tomorrow, so if you haven’t submitted yet you need to get your skates on.
- If you would like to get involved as a community judge or as an editor, both of which are a great way to hone your own haiku, by the way, please email me for details.
- Don’t forget to check out the Poetry Pea YouTube channel for writing prompts and haiku moments as well as an ever increasing body of educational materials. Leave us a little message, it’s always lovely to hear from you and if you have time, please leave us a review on whatever platform you listen to the podcast, like iTunes, for example.
Last but not least, thank you to our lovely judges, Craig, Matt and Ben and to our terrific editors for April, James, Robert and Ted.
See you all in a couple of weeks for more haiku treats. Until then, keep writing….
If there’s anything I’ve left out or messed up, just email me and I’ll put it right.
Ciao
