.

WHO

Anyone in the world, of any age or background, may participate (SCP Membership not required). Among members of the Society of Classical Poets, everyone including Advisory Board members may participate, if not involved in judging the contest. The winner, if not a U.S. resident, must have a PayPal account or a bank that accepts U.S. checks, in order to receive prize money.

IMPORTANT: By submitting haiku to this contest, the contestant declares that the poems are his or her own work, and that they were written in the last twelve months and therefore are not a repeat submission from a previous year. Poems written using artificial intelligence (AI) are not allowed. Please submit using your first and last name, as we may find it difficult to distinguish between contestants who have similar first names.

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PRIZE

$200

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JUDGES

J. Thomas Rimer, Professor Emeritus of Japanese Literature, Theatre, and Art at the University of Pittsburgh; former chief of the Asian Division of the Library of Congress.

Margaret Coats, Ph.D. in English and American Literature and Language from Harvard University; retired from a career of teaching literature, languages, and writing that included considerable work in homeschooling for her own family and others. 

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WHEN

Now until August 15, 2025, 6 pm EST (New York time).  Results to be announced August 28, 2025. Please check back on August 28 or after to view the “Best Haiku of 2025” selected from this competition.

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HOW

Post your entries in the Comments below.

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WHAT

Each competitor may post in the comments below up to three haiku of traditional form: three lines per poem with 5 syllables in the first line, 7 syllables in the second, and 5 in the third. Entrants are recommended to conform to other traditional haiku requirements outlined HERE.

If you want coaching on haiku features, please read the examples and explanation before submitting your entries. Once entries are posted, they can be revised or withdrawn ONLY by making another Comment. This is permitted until the competition closes, but do take reasonable care to complete work to your satisfaction before you enter it. Please do not use the Comment area as your scratch pad. That is discourteous to other competitors, to interested readers, and to the judge and will disqualify you.

Entries that do not meet basic traditional haiku requirements may be deleted. Anyone who submits more than three entries will have ALL his or her entries disqualified, unless excess entries are clearly withdrawn by a later Comment.

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PAST WINNERS

2024
2023
2022
2021
2020

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The Society of Classical Poets does not endorse any views expressed in individual poems or commentary.

 

***Read Our Comments Policy Here***

 

367 Responses

  1. Rousseaux

    With the water’s pace
    pilgrims slowly make their way
    to the warm spring’s call

    Life’s winding path
    like this curving mountain road
    seeking peaceful rest

    Path’s summit reached
    warm comfort in a tea cup
    green calm now finds you

    Reply
    • John Tiong Chung Hoo

      summer solstice
      on the historic river
      poets, tears and dumplings

      on the radio — war
      on the table a couple’s
      new wedding letter

      Chinese New Year do
      In the red packet money
      and his love letter

      Reply
      • John Tiong Chung Hoo

        summer solstice
        on the historic river
        poets, tears and dumplings

        on the radio — war
        on the table a couple’s
        new wedding letter

        Chinese New Year do
        In the red packet money
        and his proposal

      • Kevin Parker

        Two hearts enfold each
        other: origami of
        love, union, fate, life.

    • Joanne Gram

      Joanne Gram

      Steps in the driveway
      Crisp autumn oak leaf passing
      me at my window

      Reply
      • Shofiqure Rahman

        stillness in the pond
        a dragonfly splits the light
        without making sound

        first frost on the grass
        the morning sun slowly lifts
        a veil from the earth

        abandoned temple
        moss climbs the forgotten gods
        green reclaiming stone.

    • Bhupin Butaney

      cast from a garden
      as faint shadows on this earth
      longing to return

      a leaf folds and bends
      to the pressure of rain drops
      finding their way home

      Reply
    • Fred McIlmoyle

      Sunlit dreamy days
      Float through golden summer haze
      Into memory

      Musky amber scents
      Swirl in sultry wistful air
      Infusing my mind

      White virgin snowdrops
      Winter’s gems whisper to me
      Immortality

      Reply
    • Michael Shoemaker

      casting light tackle
      high into the wind above
      crashing sounds of surf

      ocean winds’ fingers
      trace playful shapes in the sand
      stirring gulls and tears

      Hunter’s supermoon
      somehow we forgot what we
      mean to each other

      Reply
      • Ali Aldawood

        Birds are yet to see
        Through Shrubs home for pedes to be
        Leap of faith unsought

        Haze-Slogged mind and tired
        Of weary words, uninspired
        The sky cried today

        Sky’s elocution
        Moonless nights and scorching suns
        Found calm in your storm

    • Aiman showkat bhat

      Title: The Sound

      I always wonder
      why it beated like that, now
      I know why it bled…

      Reply
    • Wallace kaufman

      sixteen million years
      these white waves meet black cliffs.
      My friend lies near death

      Old trees, old darkness
      summer nap on cool mosses
      Trees are drinking light

      it’s his song, whose choice?
      “Video” or “Figaro”
      wren’s familiar voice

      Reply
    • Diyora

      1. Late summer dusk

      dragonfly at dusk—
      its wings catch the last warm light,
      gone before I speak

      2. First snowfall

      hush of first snowfall—
      lantern’s glow on empty road,
      footsteps far away

      3. New moon

      bare branches shiver—
      somewhere a new moon rises,
      no one to see it

      Reply
    • Amie

      Bare trees do not speak.
      The sky forgets your first name.
      Even crows have gone.

      Snow swallows the path
      the one you once walked with hope,
      now lost in the drift.

      No fire, no sound here.
      Just your breath against the glass,
      clouding what once was.

      Reply
    • Michelle Visser

      summer thunderstorm
      jumping in new puddles then
      footprints to the door

      chickadees return
      five spotted eggs in the nest
      until the jays come

      waves erase the beach
      starting anew highlighting
      a single starfish

      Reply
    • Bela Janostikova

      Bela J.
      August 6, 2025

      the old Turkish rug –
      footprints over its patterns
      lead far off this world

      autumn cherry trees
      mist veiling the bare twigs
      the coolness of touch

      Reply
  2. Randy Brooks

    warm campfire coffee
    one end of the wooden bench
    covered with wet moss

    fingertips over
    scales of a fossil lizard
    who remembers me?

    Labor Day picnic
    a checkered tablecloth spread
    under a parked jet

    Reply
  3. Eric O Owen

    Eric Owen

    Never have I been
    where hot springs peep through the soil
    Even in winter

    Verdant rolling hills
    Geothermal salty ash
    I wish I were there

    I made my peace with
    steely shapeless wandering
    Hot spring under foot

    Reply
  4. Jackie Chou

    summer butterfly
    an automated email
    from classmates dot com

    spotted rose petals
    discovering acne scars
    on his school photo

    the fading glitter
    around an unread poem
    a snail’s silver slime

    Reply
  5. Haim Schlesinger

    Today’s not like old
    In each era we’re told
    The truth? Now is gold!

    Aged, father time
    In future still far will chime
    Meanwhile, you’re fine

    I just don’t know how
    It has all vanished somehow
    And when was it now?

    Reply
  6. fred schueler

    I’m working on translating all my March poems about birds into haiku, and here are three of them:

    Lank-winged as Ravens
    Snow-flurried pairs of Crows
    Claim their landscape share.

    Sunny and springlike,
    Snow almost gone from the fields –
    Starlings’ sudden song.

    A springtime Redtail
    Upright on a flat-topped pole
    Scans Cattails for prey.

    Reply
  7. Muralidharan Parthasarathy

    She was narcissist
    I was chauvinist for her
    storm in the tea cup

    He is playing guitar
    strings vibrate his notations
    feathers play thin air

    “Goodbye”, she exited
    “I am not your care giver”
    Umbrella nodded

    Reply
  8. Boryana Boteva

    yellow tulips
    among the bomb survivors
    stains of blue

    blooming chestnuts
    white and pink mixture
    forgetting myself

    storks kissed by frogs
    a never ending story
    at the old lake

    Reply
  9. Subir Ningthouja

    monsoon evening
    a bulbul flutters its wings
    to the breeze’s rhythm
    —–
    first monsoon rainfall
    the river and clouds unite
    in throes of passion
    —–
    autumn evening
    the candle sheds waxy tears
    a flame on its head
    —–

    Reply
  10. Paul Chambers

    hiss of meadow grass
    a water strider drifting
    across the horse trough

    the scent of diesel
    where the tractor crossed the lane
    drifting willow seed

    derelict farmhouse
    a cloud of bats emptying
    into the half-light

    Reply
  11. Barbara Anna Gaiardoni

    unceasing rustling
    of leaves in the autumn breeze . . .
    our search for housing

    a rainbow appears –
    in touch with expatriates
    all over the world

    golden eagle nest
    a small miracle on top
    of that mountain there

    Reply
  12. Ram Krishna Singh

    vultures waiting for
    the remains of sacrifice
    on the temple tree

    knocking emptiness
    I cross the valleys within
    now stand at stone gate

    on the river’s bank
    his soul is lighted for peace-
    lantern in the sky

    Reply
  13. Beata E. Olszewska

    Truth is uncovered
    Wolves have gone away to feast
    Men are abandoned

    Sad dandelion
    Met his certain destiny
    Be gone with the wind

    Sometime long ago
    When birds were first in this world
    People still had dreams

    Reply
  14. Alan Peat

    facing an ocean
    alone on the promenade
    grief comes on in waves

    sheep in pouring rain
    hard against a drystone wall
    huddling together

    Reply
  15. Paul A. Freeman

    A lone oasis,
    beckoning parched travellers.
    Water wrought from sand.

    Carved by millennia.
    Under the Saharan sand
    a desert rose blooms.

    Above the yellow
    of undulating sand dunes –
    infinite blueness.

    Reply
  16. Katy B Cook

    Before time began
    Water formed a thought of life
    We bob in the waves

    Before time began
    Ripples in a Spring puddle
    An ancient mirror

    Before time began
    Not in galaxies far off
    I meditate still

    Reply
  17. Michael Pappafava

    meeting the in-laws —
    the magpies in the yard at
    their best behaviour

    the silent treatment —
    brooding thunder rolling in
    on june beetle wings

    making a big fuss
    about the smallest of things — singing cicadas

    Reply
    • Leila Northcross Wakely

      Humorous haiku are always fun to read. There are poignant, deeply spiritual haiku and then there are the everyday simple life haiku. For me, they both have a place. Good job. Here is a haiku I wrote about Cicadas:
      Evening cicadas
      quiet rest before next song-
      Good, good vibrations
      Good luck on the competition.

      Reply
  18. Micutiu Sorin

    still pond at twilight
    a small frog contemplates
    on a drifting leaf

    *

    sunlight and shadow
    white lily gently drifting
    across mirrored calm

    *

    warm June afternoon
    beneath the golden sunlight
    a frog claims its throne

    Reply
  19. Anne-Marie Labelle

    heatwave on the land
    if I am the main problem
    how can I help her?

    Reply
  20. Srija Chakraborty

    Approaching twilight
    The dust from the cattle hooves
    Beckoning banshee

    Glistening like pearls
    Adorned with water droplets
    Purple lotuses

    A wood-fired oven
    Pepperoni and four cheese
    Gossip aplenty

    Reply
  21. Oliver Mackie

    Storm clouds glowering
    Dark foreboding shadows loom
    Cut by bright rainbow

    Reply
  22. Monika Cooper

    you forget they’re there –
    the sacred spaces among
    the inspired words

    a raw green rainfall
    and in the yellow kitchen
    the chicken sizzles

    myriad flowers
    for one tablespoon honey!
    but she likes her work

    Reply
    • Monika Cooper

      I am withdrawing these haiku from the contest and will post three new ones below.

      Thank you and sorry for any inconvenience.

      Reply
  23. Adele Robins

    Like a beard of ice
    Preparing for a sun shave
    Frost begins to weep

    Reply
  24. Adele Robins

    Solstice signals change
    The seasonal shift complete
    Shadow and light play

    Reply
  25. Jack McAuley

    The steep cost of life
    Even while the world burns down
    The birds sing in spring

    God makes no mistakes
    A spring bird with a clipped wing
    Plans hidden in song

    She opens her eyes
    To forests once out of sight
    Gentleness of life

    Reply
  26. Jack McAuley

    First green leaves unfold—
    eyes awaken to the wood,
    soft hum of spring rain.

    Beneath plum blossoms—
    a swallow, one wing broken,
    hides dreams in its song.

    Ash falls like petals—
    while wildfire scorches the earth,
    the nightingale sings.

    Reply
  27. Jack McAuley

    Spring light in her hands,
    yet she saw only the dusk—
    gold in a pine box.

    Ash falls like petals—
    while wildfire scorches the earth,
    the nightingale sings.

    Beneath plum blossoms—
    a swallow, one wing broken,
    hides dreams in its song.

    Reply
  28. Eric O Owen

    Hello poets. If I may? My name is Eric.
    I have been reading and silently critiquing haiku by some aspiring poets on this site, and while I enjoy their imagination and various ways of expressing their surroundings in the most difficult task of fitting it all into three lines and seventeen syllables, I have noticed that a dependence on definite articles (mainly “the”) to deliver the cutaway line often breaks from the poem’s rhythm and loses its intended effect. Please keep trying to deliver those lines differently without the definite article, and sometimes a splicing comma that also tends to break from a poem’s rhythm. I hope this helps. You may respond if you have questions, and I will answer.

    Reply
      • Peter C Free

        Hi Roy
        Most often haiku start each line with a lower case letter
        Peter

    • ABB

      Though you have zero chance of winning, James, this is a very funny anti-haiku.

      Reply
      • James Sale

        Damn, ABB!!! I’d set my sights on winning this one: is it really so bad? I’ll have to stick to terza rima then!

  29. James A. Tweedie

    Softly falling snow
    Makes my back lawn disappear.
    Abracadabra!

    Wintry wisps of fog
    Skim the surface of the lake
    Lifetimes passing by

    End of life draws near.
    Winter sunset, final breath.
    Will there be a spring?

    Reply
  30. Jeffrey Ferrara

    a small kettle pond
    left behind by the glacier
    blinking in the dawn

    a raft of otters
    tied together in the kelp
    we watch holding hands

    the lone erratic
    so much softer than bedrock
    a cloud on the ridge

    Reply
  31. David R. Solheim

    Mercury below
    Zero, chimney smoke stripes sky
    Heeling sundogs flare.

    Near my feet hoppers
    Spring out of the grass buzzing
    Like a rattlesnake.

    Red-capped cranes stroll
    Trilling each other like two
    Baritone crickets.

    Reply
    • Margaret Coats

      Thank you, David. These three stand as your entries for the contest, and I believe the moderator has removed the others.

      Reply
  32. Kathabela Wilson

    in dawn’s early light
    our boat makes it into shore
    now swept out again

    astro poetry
    a haiku fit between words
    the world opens wide

    25 years
    in this garden together
    bright orange poppies

    Reply
  33. M.D. Skeen

    cold water rises
    tree roots grasp at sifting soil
    the bank collapses

    ripening peaches
    partially covered by leaves
    basking in sunshine

    a pretty spring dress
    essential equipment for
    twirling in the rain

    Reply
  34. M.D. Skeen

    cold water rises
    tree roots grasp at shifting soil
    the bank collapses

    Reply
  35. Marilyn Ashbaugh

    sheets off the clothesline . . .
    carrying the scented breeze
    inside for a nap

    autumn solitude
    a dark-roasted chicken rests
    in the dutch oven

    calling us all home
    a flock of birds moves as one
    deepening autumn

    Reply
  36. Adele Robins

    Frozen winter light
    Sparkling like diamond gems
    Priceless until spring

    Reply
  37. Tom Shaw

    A ghastly gale slams
    Against a crumbled castle…
    Still no surrender.

    Sifting ashen soils,
    Between the black, wild-fired wood,
    Grows a wry green wisp.

    Fallen from its grace,
    Blossom gathers in the drains—
    Flooding closes roads.

    Reply
  38. Joseph Mason

    midnight sale review:
    monkeys take over our zoo
    drinking from the loo

    cuckoos build haiku
    wire – duck tape – crazy glue
    jimmy sing da blues

    lawsuit – windfall – sue
    yellow snow has soaked his shoes
    booger in the stew

    Reply
  39. Mitra Javadpour

    ‘Are you lost?’ He asks
    ‘No,’ head shakes, moves through the mist
    She is very lost

    Golden leaf drifts down
    I could catch it but instead
    Let it fall and rot

    Moth caught in a web
    I could save it but tread on
    To the flower field

    Reply
  40. Diane Descoteaux

    only phlox and me –
    suddenly an honeybee
    buzzes between us

    an old Texan died
    of hemorrhagic fever –
    last October moon

    long live the shower!
    the koi fish on my left calf
    with its open mouth

    Reply
  41. Joe Kleponis

    wind through a cornfield
    a sighing across the land
    a scarecrow dances

    a raging storm of leaves
    on a windy afternoon-
    an endless cycle

    a flowered chalice
    offering this spring morning –
    a golden tulip

    Reply
  42. Adam Sedia

    Humid night swelters.
    Distant lightning flashes white.
    No sound of thunder.

    Darkness of storm clouds;
    A gust shakes blooming pear trees.
    White petals rain down.

    Snow blankets the path,
    Silent beneath clear starlight.
    Crunch! I leave footprints.

    Reply
  43. Helen Saleyi

    My darling Sunny.
    Sunshine that warms up my world.
    Oh, I love you so.

    My baby so sweet.
    My sun, so tender, so warm.
    So much love to give.

    Gentle summer breeze.
    Birds sing and vibrant blooms sway.
    With each breath you take.

    Reply
  44. Joan Enoch

    Color mandalas
    Rest for your weary being
    Enjoy life again

    Nature everywhere
    In the heart of the colors
    Purity unleashed

    Mandala is the
    Geometric universe
    A Buddhist symbol

    Reply
  45. Joan Leotta

    morning dewdrops dry
    as sun sizzles…petals
    glisten with my sweat

    asphalt on my street
    melts in afternoon strong heat
    sticks to tires, shoes, feet

    water trickles from
    our hose after watering
    robin stops to drink

    Reply
  46. Harvey Jenkins

    sun dog fills the sky
    our pet’s let outside to play
    with his own shadow

    Creeping Bellflower
    the slow spread of decaying
    yellow aspen leaves

    slung like a hammock
    the heavy farmyard’s clothesline
    kisses the hard ground

    Reply
  47. Mari Felices

    on the gloomy night
    the moon is hiding its light
    crickets sing with pride

    a lonesome sparrow
    severe rain ruptures her nest
    quivering with fear

    on the way back home
    smells rotten egg in the train
    man raises his hand

    Reply
  48. Eloise Pengelly

    Through the window, birds
    Red apple skins shrivelled old
    Unpicked tree, birds eat

    Reply
    • Eloise Pengelly

      heat wobbles off roof
      two girls bounce up red balloon
      rising rising pop

      Reply
  49. Barrie Levine

    scent of summer rain
    rolling up all the windows
    in dad’s jalopy

    Reply
  50. Jack McAuley

    Spring light in her palms,
    yet she sees only the dusk—
    a coffin’s gilt edge.

    Ash falls like petals—
    wildfire splits the old oak’s spine;
    the nightingale sings.

    Beneath plum blossoms,
    a swallow with one wing limp
    hides its dreams in song.

    Reply
    • Margaret Coats

      Thanks, Jack McAuley, for the haiku you’ve posted. In order for any of them to be considered for recognition in judging, you will need to select the three you want to be competition entries, and withdraw the others in a further comment.

      Reply
      • Jack McAuley

        I would like this one to be my official entry and would like to withdraw the other ones.

        How do I withdraw the others?

      • Margaret Coats

        Thanks, Jack, you’ve done what’s necessary. Sorry I didn’t notice for a few days, but you can be sure now that your competition entries are the three above, the first one beginning, “Spring light in her palms.”

  51. Fortunato Salazar

    Poor Aegisthus. One
    job & done. Had it in his
    grasp; dude lost the axe.

    Reply
  52. John Rux-Burton

    When the whale leapt
    I saw stars twinkle answers
    Though the splash was gone

    Reply
  53. Greg Nelson

    Very vocative. A thoughtful look at something ordinary. Excellent!

    Reply
  54. Margaret Coats

    Thank you, David R. Solheim, for your haiku. If you wish any of the six to be considered as competition entries, please select no more than three for that purpose, and clearly state that you withdraw the others.

    Reply
    • David R. Solheim

      I would like the three haiku I posted on 24 June to continue to be entered in the competition and withdraw the three posted on 27 June. Thank you for the clarifying note.

      Reply
  55. Tushar Gandhi

    spring foraging course
    they say Dandelion flowers
    do not attract bees

    a squirrel’s new home
    my unused table drawer
    first monsoon showers

    I follow a dog
    to a panoramic view
    Snowshoeing at dawn

    Reply
  56. beryl

    Hello, I still don’t understand whether haikus should be related to Hiroshige’s print. Could you please clarify this for me?

    Reply
    • Margaret Coats

      Hello, Beryl. Your haiku does NOT need to be related to the Hiroshige print. All you need is any 5-7-5 haiku of your own composition during the past twelve months. You may submit three to be considered for the prize. Please use first and last name on the comment where you submit. Thanks!

      Reply
      • Christine Beryl

        Thank you Margaret for these clarifications.

  57. John Hawkhead

    in a church ruin
    where the roof has given way
    snow as a blessing

    periwinkle dusk
    I loiter in the garden
    my parents tended

    stumble-step pebbles
    a horizon-skimming moon
    ripples the neap-tide

    Reply
  58. Rupa Anand

    garden stone Buddha —
    the compassion in his eyes
    salty tears in mine

    Reply
  59. Oliver Mackie

    thunder rolls its bass
    hot summer days give thier way
    to evening rain

    dark speck in the sky
    red kite soaring on thermals
    looking for her lunch

    Reply
  60. Daniela Misso

    sleet on the window
    on his ninetieth birthday
    flickering candles

    *

    din of cicadas
    curtains blowing to and fro
    in the evening breeze

    *

    a pregnant woman
    holds her belly with her hands
    snow on the gutters

    Daniela Misso

    Reply
  61. Tomislav Maretic

    emu in the Milky Way
    always in the same place –
    the longest night

    Reply
  62. Snigdha Agrawal

    bow-tie neatly pinned
    his love pre-tied and fastened
    all through the season’s
    —-
    broken hornet’s nest
    sting in his words failed to upset
    used to deeper pain
    —-
    monsoon bonanza
    through the screen of fogginess
    a haiku took shape

    Reply
  63. Harrison Heng

    Winter has arrived
    The lake starts icing over
    Intrusive thoughts win

    I open the door
    Heat envelops me quickly
    I like air con more

    colourful rainbow
    it’s not the same anymore
    why is it a flag

    Reply
  64. Sydney Liu

    The snow sprinkles down
    The slipp-ery ice is covered
    I fall to the ground

    Serene, quiet, night
    The moon exposes the dark
    “Crack!” What was that sound?

    The clouds float away
    The bright sun dries the old trees
    Disaster awaits

    Reply
  65. Donal Wu

    Canadian goose
    Honking uncontrollably
    My new alarm clock

    The lake is frozen
    The trees bare and without leaves
    Where did the fish go?

    The green grass rustles
    The river beside gurgles
    Tiny rabbits appear

    Reply
  66. Venus Mayhew

    Jesus came to us,
    Teaching of rebirth and love.
    We crucified him.

    Hot night, college ground,
    No one here to make a sound.
    Cicadas screaming.

    They tell us of hope,
    Just let the ancient trees rot.
    That hope is not mine.

    Reply
  67. David R. Solheim

    Goldfinches gather
    On the weeping willow crown
    Enchanting their charms.

    At sunrise a flock of
    Of geese fly into my dreams
    Rude drivers wheeling.

    Roadside chunk of tread
    Shining the ditch like raven’s
    Wings ready to fly.

    Reply
  68. Scharlie Meeuws

    Lilies scent the air
    A hidden birdsong echoes
    The truth of summer

    The plum tree bares fruit
    Sweetness and Color unite
    In constant prayers

    My eighty two years
    Sailing still in calm waters
    Breathe among the frogs

    Reply
  69. Linda Arnott

    a pink lotus pond
    in solitary beauty
    as the sun rises

    headless camellia
    darkness thunder lightning rain
    a samurai wind

    the sunflowers smile
    through a window of blue skies
    a sip of sunshine

    Reply
  70. Sara Wenger

    fall mountains ablaze
    apples hang like bells from trees
    a farmer looks up

    crescent moon, your squint
    tilts in the night sky eking
    out eternal light

    a finite number
    of stars, an impossible
    string of pearls to count

    Reply
  71. Eric O Owen

    Hello again, poets. It’s Eric, still reading your work. And again, if you will allow, I wish to share an observation with you and hopefully provide an additional layer for using your wonderful talents in poetry.
    Every haiku that I have read has included a form of “cutaway line” as its ending. Some were successful and some not so much. Perhaps the following will help: Try approaching the “cutaway line” using one of its synonyms, namely the “epiphany,” as your last line to accomplish the same goal.

    Thanks for letting me share.

    Reply
    • Leila Northcross Wakely

      I am new, so please excuse my ignorance. I am not familiar with “cutaway line”. Are you referring to the Kireji?

      Reply
  72. wendy lee klenetsky

    Met at a party “YOU ARE WHAT YOU EAT!”
    neither one wanted to go that’s what all of the books say
    Wed 51 years Then I guess I’m “NUTS!”

    Reply
  73. Don Reese

    vaulting young squirrels,
    flapping bats, and gliding birds—
    we soar by watching

    a soft, late spring rain,
    four red umbrellas waiting
    for the light to change

    teeth bared, spine exposed,
    umber fur in the gutter
    shocks me walking past

    Reply
    • Vasile Moldovan

      New wedding season –
      even the full moon is wearing
      a veil of bride

      The moon behind clouds –
      the dog sniffles all around
      for the lost shadow

      The old clock tower –
      a flock of crows fighting for
      a place on the cross

      Reply
  74. Emily Meng

    1. Pink little blossom,
    swaying in the gentle breeze,
    tells of fruit to come.

    2. Old and enduring,
    white light shines on dusty road –
    pilgrims and the moon.

    3. White bobber plunges,
    Hook floats among rock and weed;
    red fishes dart – hide.

    Reply
  75. Murray Eiland

    Childhood’s vibrant spark,
    Shifts like shadows on the wall,
    Springing of the soul.

    Bird songs in morning,
    Death’s mourning interrupted—
    Selfish hearts in grief.

    In shadows we walk,
    Finding joy in fractured light—
    Life’s dark jest unfolds.

    Reply
  76. Wieslaw Karlinski

    just after the storm
    a sound of water drowns out
    late evening church bell

    on the way to school
    in the pocket there’s still left—
    grandma’s apple pie

    another full moon
    brightens all the countryside
    lushy cotton field

    Reply
  77. Jenna Tedesco

    June Surprise

    Move, darling daughter.
    Swim to the sound of my voice
    Singing you lovesongs.

    My Daughter, Baby

    My daughter, baby:
    My longing, mother-hunger for you
    Has made you so sweet.

    Ripening

    The tree ripened to
    Autumn as my baby
    Ripened into real.

    Reply
  78. Ian Richardson

    afternoon shower
    suddenly chokes the warm sun
    umbrella closeness

    ahh spring ohh my spring
    how great is a new spring day!
    Mmm, etcetera

    grey winter drizzle
    draining the houses of life
    an unwelcome guest

    Reply
  79. Lakshman Bulusu

    early morning dew
    welcoming rays woo the pearls
    my daydreams melt warm

    Mt.Everest thoughts
    chase away my winter blues
    solitude’s splendor

    yonder distant hills
    setting sun meets rising moon
    evening rendezvous

    Reply
    • Isabel Chenot

      1. Fog

      We bulge out of half-
      viscous day. Fade on its blear
      iris. Scale to grey.

      2. hoary mustard

      A bright weed by the
      road, its moth snare netting dark —
      and breath snags, star-meshed.

      3. roadside mustard

      Mind, tangled on the
      nodes of nebulae — moth weed
      that lures remembrance.

      Reply
  80. Dave Earnhardt

    Crickets still chanting
    on Thanksgiving blind with hope—
    joy in the sorrows!
    *
    An eagle fallen
    weather-worn along this road—
    just a newspaper.
    *
    Trout kisses rise up
    across the pond reflecting
    sky of puckered clouds.

    Reply
  81. Zvonko Jurcevic

    summer afternoon –
    resting on the sea surface
    seagulls and the sun

    little night music –
    Mozart in the canopy
    cricket on the leaf

    an old octopuss
    slides down the rock to the sea –
    a morning sunrise

    Reply
  82. Itay Felker

    bodacious goddess
    dew in sun’s glittering gaze
    Spring flows to the drain

    deserts myrrh rises
    above the crust of a dune
    Mary in a spoon

    Haiku is a sham
    Unlike Epic’s fertile ford
    A seasonal brook

    Reply
    • oliver

      the last of the three –
      reflection on poetry . . .
      yeah! it REALLY works!!

      Reply
  83. Joanna Raja Sekar

    cardinal returns,
    hops along the picket fence,
    little blur of fire

    coarse beneath my hands
    splintering bark, bustling leaves
    truth, an oak with roots

    petals in the grass
    these lazy lilacs, spilling
    their cursive secrets

    Reply
  84. Peter C Free

    spring wind song playing
    the time between you and us
    stick :: stick insect dance

    a distant laughter
    handfuls of childhood moss takes
    the rest of the tree

    two parallel skies
    stomping at the edge of the storm
    toddlers rainbow splash

    Reply
  85. John Savoie

    the pine I planted
    thirty seven years ago
    whispers me to sleep

    Reply
  86. Edward Fisher

    Enigma of earth—
    Archetype & miracle
    Playing in the sun

    Over the eons
    Imprinted in fossil rock
    The dream of a bird

    Under the vegetable eye
    Of the winter moon
    An orchard of snow

    Reply
  87. Wim Meeuws

    the oak tree grows on
    my son helped me planting it
    fifty years have passed

    Reply
  88. Ron C. Moss

    reincarnation . . .
    the late gardner’s seed packets
    ready for planting

    the armchair hero
    he turns down the TV sound
    to stop the missiles

    captured red starfish
    in a little boy’s bucket—
    the distant static

    Reply
  89. Goran Gatalica

    hunting the pheasants. . .
    intimate relationship
    with the food I eat

    treasured memories—
    becoming vermilion-tinged
    the closest cranes

    fragile ceasefire—
    a battlefield becoming
    an ice skating rink

    Reply
  90. Siniša Avramov

    Morning wind –
    a scar on my knee,
    no memory of the game

    A dog without leash
    sniffs a trail beside the road –
    utterly still

    A torn sugar sack –
    grains spill into stillness,
    one by one by one

    Reply
  91. Guy Graybill

    Hello:
    I’m confused. I sent three haiku entries by this comment section; but they only place anything appears is in some other section, not associated with the contest?

    I’ll send this, then try to come into this comment section elsewhere and send
    my haiku section once more. Yes, I’m utterly confused. GUY GRAYBILL

    Reply
    • Mike Bryant, Moderator

      Judges,
      Mr. Graybill placed his haiku on the “examples” post…
      Here are his entries:

      My three haiku selections:

      Love stories abound,
      ‘Tho destined to end sadly,
      As all loves must end!

      We are ever lost….
      We’ll never find the river!
      Ahhh! There’s the fog bank!

      Poem rejected.
      An invalid count was found.
      Seppuku’s my fate!

      Reply
    • Margaret Coats

      Thank you, Guy Graybill, for these haiku. Hope you are no longer confused, thanks to Mike Bryant’s explanation. And thank you, Mike, for scanning comments, noticing entries posted in the wrong place, and setting things right!

      Reply
  92. William Winslow

    shuffling ankle-deep
    through the fallen prophets
    of a maple grove

    the end of summer –
    a toy pail and shovel left
    behind in the dunes

    in a fallow field
    waiting for familiar hands –
    father’s wheelbarrow

    Reply
  93. Jessica Tommasi

    on the cusp of spring –
    the return of the osprey
    forsythia blooms

    gliding through the reeds
    a water beetle pauses –
    stillness in the flow

    tinkling in the breeze
    crystal bell whispers coolness –
    summer’s gentle song

    Reply
  94. Terrie Henrich

    let’s pick blueberries
    then call Oma for the
    streusel recipe

    from ashes you rise
    ignore the trolls, lacy Queen
    who call you a weed

    but your deadly roots
    i’d love you purple lythrum
    summer’s femme fatale

    Reply
  95. Mike Johansson

    Home beneath the clouds,
    Silver ferns sway in the breeze
    Tui calls me home

    Mist lifts from the sea
    The pohutukawa burns
    On a salt-kissed shore

    I miss moana
    I pine for the whenua
    Aotearoa

    Reply
  96. Irene Andersen

    A red garden bench
    Is dotted with windfall limes
    Colours in Winter

    Reply
  97. Chris Lipscombe

    Autumn nights grow cold
    While travellers sip their tea —
    Red moon, aeroplane.

    Red-hot pokers stand
    Proud against the horizon —
    The winter hills wait.

    Tulips push their tips
    Past their earthen carapace —
    Spring is here to stay.

    Reply
  98. Carl Bellerose

    morning reflection
    joining her hands in prayer
    a moth rests its wings

    Reply
  99. Ashley Horton

    Warning sirens blare
    Continuing to look down
    As birds fly away

    Earlier this time
    Branches against the window
    Calmness with the storm

    Ducklings cross the road
    Beauty meets fragility
    Slippery wet leaves

    Reply
  100. John Savoie

    nicely done, Carl
    well lineated, natural,
    uncluttered, spare

    Reply
  101. Diane Smither

    On my window-sill
    a cycladic
    figurine.

    reveals existential
    knowledge with
    threads of
    connection.

    5,000 years ago
    as i wash my
    dishes.

    Reply
  102. Judith McNeil

    Pohutukawa
    Water like paint in relief
    Framed in a Landscape

    Reply
  103. David Marriott

    I remember you
    Sunlight formica kitchen
    Brown knitted tie, shorts

    Ionisation
    Elevates mundanity
    On a solar wind

    Post apocalypse
    Amongst devastation ruins
    The cat enjoys the sun

    Reply
  104. David Nickless

    Before the sunrise,
    the waking world bares itself
    with a warming face.

    Stars in the cold night;
    lights shining across dark tides
    from so far away.

    A flight of starlings
    dances on the swirling winds
    like dry autumn leaves.

    Reply
  105. Howard Osborne

    BREEZE

    The breeze passes by
    Unnoticed, except by some
    Yet is still a voice

    LUNAR VIEW

    A blue horizon
    As seen from the darker side
    And still there are tides

    AUTUMN THOUGHTS

    Leaves fall and settle
    All in red and golden brown
    Yet in peaceful rest

    Reply
  106. BDW

    Learn about the pines
    from the pines, and from the spine,
    learn about the spine.

    On the paved concrete,
    the screech of the cicadas
    sinks into my head.

    In Kyoto too,
    cuckoos long for Kyoto,
    kyoo-kyoo, and cuckoos.

    Reply
  107. JOHN PAPIA

    from winter to spring
    velvet snow turns to water
    flowers on the hill

    old men laughing loud
    speak of times long long ago
    mind over matter

    a river flows free
    at the end the ocean waits
    I will not forget

    Reply
  108. Alison Ivey

    Grey skies in July
    Garden waterlogged and drab
    Then a daffodil.

    Melancholy day
    Wistfully recollecting
    Fragrance of daphne.

    Reply
  109. Kyle Brogmus

    Haiku 0 for my Rose (11012024) by Kyle Brogmus

    In crunchy leaves jump

    surrounded by death we laugh

    within the Fall grace

    Reply
  110. Mahathier Dama

    rain’s deafening din.
    ‎scorching sun, dry wind, abate.
    ‎drip, again it comes.


    ‎dark clouds horizon.
    ‎ants scavenge, stash, shelter, wait.
    ‎pale lilac shrouds land.


    ‎sky darkens, wind howls.
    ‎volcano spews, earth devours.
    ‎sky lightens, wind calms.

    Reply
  111. Julie Davey

    The Crunch of the Frost
    A Girl is flushed with Cold
    The Horse waits for Day

    Reply
  112. Sheila Barksdale

    this winter acre
    of deep furrows, hare-hurtle
    heart-hurtle, faster

    clumsy hash of oars
    watching riverbank whiskers
    halt their dainty dip

    scrabbling musty air
    a porch mosquito inspects
    old Sears catalogues

    Reply
  113. Dylan Stover

    Dendrobium white
    bedside in the filtered light
    a cup of ice chips

    reasons I stay here…
    the geography of blood
    in a rabbit’s ears

    Ozymandias!
    rising from the horse’s dung
    freshly sprouted grass

    Reply
  114. Sophia Meindl

    A silent whisper
    A voice lost in the deep sea
    Deafening silence.

    Reply
  115. Jill Garrett

    Veridian splendor
    In the wilds, turquoise the sea
    Face up to the sun

    Drizzle, pour and pelt
    Winter rain – a bleak outlook
    We are warm inside

    Paradise, this view
    of gentle slopes and hues, I
    know not all is lost

    Reply
  116. Sonia Grant

    Pregnant ewes grazing
    Grass shivers, southerly breeze
    Spring biding her time

    Stones grind underfoot
    Driftwood litters onyx sand
    Muddy sea claims all

    Coriander sprawls
    Pluck slender stems, pick a bunch
    Gardener’s delight

    Reply
  117. Bogdana

    1. outburst of my pain
    lava of such volcano
    in an overdose

    2. pasive fugitive
    blocked in body , free in mind
    mixture of beings

    3. blurred channel of view
    bad signal from the
    critics
    any dream time stopped

    Bogdana Găgeanu

    Reply
  118. Alizetta Dawson

    Mess on the clean floor,
    a breeze moves crumbs in sunlight-
    things I’m not sorry for!

    Reply
  119. Alvin Cruz

    the first day of spring
    I also dance to the tune
    of the snake charmer

    familiar sadness
    somewhere I hear the echo
    of yesterday’s rain

    trying to fathom
    what goes on under the sun
    drooping sunflowers

    Reply
  120. Barrie Levine

    open air café . . .
    watching lovers hand-in-hand
    on Champs-Élysées

    Reply
  121. H.M.Elsenpeter

    rose petals fall down
    my sense is to still smell them
    knowing there is some

    blue sky and white clouds
    beauty I see from below
    imagine the view up high

    my spring has sprung now
    I am more than done to go
    dance into eternity

    Reply
  122. Michael Henry Lee

    raging winter wind
    turning one frost bitten cheek
    and then the other

    Reply
  123. Michael Henry Lee

    fast approaching storm
    squeezing a thunder shirt
    over the dog’s head

    Reply
  124. Michael Henry Lee

    first day of the year
    twenty twenty six fills up
    with appointments

    Reply
  125. Sherri Ali

    Tiny, crushed sparrow
    Her wings still trying to fly
    On wind from cruel cars

    Reply
  126. Vera Kochanowsky

    after the rainstorm
    ant armies, in single file,
    march into my house

    red leaves and yellow
    falling on the woodland path
    slow me on my way

    ripened heads of wheat
    nod in the late summer sun
    heavy with wisdom

    Reply
  127. Carl Brennan

    Spring light composing
    sonnets on blond fur, my cat
    beheads a March hare

    My cat dines neatly
    on dragonfly al fresco–
    earthly Paradise

    My young cat riding
    on my shoulders through autumn–
    cooler than a Muse

    Reply
  128. Rick Johnson

    A fading gold finch
    Ravages the coneflower.
    She trusts the outcome.

    Reply
  129. Tim Huff

    Quietly peeks out
    Little creature of the night
    Shy bashful gecko
    *****
    Perfect crescent moon
    Big swing hanging in night sky
    Stars dance around it
    *****
    Top of old pine tree
    Mocking bird announces day
    Sweet song of new hope

    Reply
  130. Ravi Kiran

    long after she’s gone
    the memories mother left
    in her cabinet

    lending their fragrance
    to the wind in a desert
    notes of an old flute

    coloring the space
    between the concrete towers
    all the shades of spring

    Reply
  131. Rita Pomade

    in sweltering heat
    the sudden screech of sirens
    stilled streets jolt alive

    smiling on my walk
    a passing stranger asks me
    have we met before?

    loud gospel singing
    coming from the Baptist Church
    outside looking in

    Reply
  132. Bennett Chatigny

    Flame consumes the trees.
    Ashes leave black pocks below,
    staining the fresh snow.

    Reply
  133. Stefanie Bucifal

    the red maple leaf
    that you brought home from a walk
    I treasure it, still

    in everyone’s life
    should be a time of kissing
    under lilac trees

    to the autumn wind:
    I am yours, breathe me, turn me
    into grass and trees

    Reply
  134. Adrian Fillion

    the gray tabby cat
    curls up under the sunlight —
    a perfect circle

    Reply
  135. Timothy Wheatly

    mom’s summer cleaning
    the one time of the year where
    my clothes cannot fit

    boy helps neighbor plant
    rusted, red shovel-neighbor
    shows boy a weed’s root

    Reply
  136. Lev Hart

    pomp and circumstance
    the host hanging a fly strip
    on my arrival

    Reply
  137. Nathan Osabel

    Dog haiku

    I. Dog’s POV

    This man gives me food
    Same old shirt—rugged, dirty
    Richest man I know

    II. Man’s POV

    A heart that struggles
    Felt inside, hidden outward
    Surely this paw knows

    Passion haiku

    Plucked a shriveled rose
    markings of beauty arose
    a withered passion

    Reply
  138. Timothy Osabel

    Fireworks symbols life
    Soars, reaches a peak, gives awe
    Then slips into hush.

    Things I need to do
    Piled up incoming deadlines
    So I took a nap

    A dog is barking
    I barked back to make it stop
    Two fools at midnight

    Reply
  139. John Savoie

    #2
    pausing at the fork
    on the horse’s braided mane
    three snowflakes linger

    Reply
  140. Paulette Calasibetta

    hurtful words spoken
    slipping from an angry tongue ~
    echo eternal
    ~~~~
    luminaries rise
    circling a congregation ~
    catching falling stars
    ~~~~
    before the leaves turn gold
    before the gray frosts our hair ~
    we will remember

    Reply
  141. Caroline Burrows

    Hopeless romantics
    Sketch initials in warm sand,
    Waves wipe the beach clean.

    Reply
  142. James Jenkinson

    Blossoms drift sideways
    a scarecrow dances gently
    when no wind passes

    Cicadas crackle
    a hammock folds with laughter
    as sunlight stretches

    Footprints fade softly
    a mailbox leans in silence
    beneath silver hush

    Reply
  143. Philippa Taylor

    snowflakes are soft, yet
    the gentlest words cut like blades
    and melt in the sun

    Reply
  144. Spencer Hammar-Campbell

    Snowstorms ravaging
    along the west cars sheltered
    in snow unmoving

    Reply
  145. Robert H. Rogers (Pen Name "Sinclair")

    Hurt, Abandoned Fawn
    (Haiku)

    Hurt, abandoned fawn,
    Searching the frozen white wood…
    Does not find the dawn.

    -Sinclair-

    Reply
  146. Joydip Dutt

    cherry blossom buds
    are slowly opening up
    a new found buddy

    ***
    sipping orange juice
    the tangerine sun slips down
    the sea horizon

    Reply
    • Joydip Dutt

      Hello Judges,

      Making a small change in my first haiku. Forgot to put a hyphen in the word “new-found”.

      cherry blossom buds
      are slowly opening up
      a new-found buddy

      ***
      sipping orange juice
      the tangerine sun slips down
      the sea horizon

      Reply
  147. Katherine E Winnick

    bare branches waving
    twisting to heavens above
    – a lightening bolt strikes

    nestling amongst reeds
    ducklings finding a way through
    the shadows grow tall

    some loquat flowers…
    steeped in boiling water
    exuding fragrance

    Reply
  148. Z. S Han

    Embrace the dreamer
    Coming back through memory
    Bridges of belonging.

    Beauty in green light
    Calm flows like wind in silence
    Wonders drift through stars.

    In a perfect city
    Twilight dances on still hope
    Breathing for a chance.

    Reply
  149. deborah jones

    through the bars of grief
    uncontained by tomorrow
    the laughter of children

    beneath the rubble
    voices of the not yet dead
    already memories

    the waiting willow
    aglow with guilty secrets
    cradles the spent sun

    Reply
  150. Raewyn Hutchinson

    Birds dart like arrows
    Shot from tree to tree to tree
    Bullets of bird fire

    Stop Mum wait keep right
    Newborn snail travelling north
    My daughters keen eye

    Venus rises bright
    Curving into the dawn sky
    Seen from a pillow

    Reply
  151. Erin Zampaglione

    avocado tree
    wide and low, heavy with fruit
    invites small climbers

    red rose petals fall
    do I mourn lost youth or love
    these child-bearing hips

    cloudless night eclipse
    stars appear and fade away
    hiding in plain sight

    Reply
  152. Deborah A. Bennett

    an autumn evening
    wild geese in the melon sky
    my only anthem

    though now past midnight
    voices of the mountain wind
    acorns falling down

    through the open door
    the beginning of autumn
    in the sweet gum tree

    Reply
  153. Twila Brase

    tiny seeds set low
    in soil furrows full of hope
    wait for water’s flow

    hands of cherries ripe
    dripping balls of red delight
    picking time is here

    full moon slips below
    no curtain call to applaud
    just the hand of God

    Reply
  154. Michaelyn L

    Night Heron perches
    Watching over GhostTown’s streets
    The summer fog lifts

    Reply
    • Margaret Coats

      Thanks for your haiku, Michaelyn. Please provide your full surname as the competition instructions request.

      Reply
  155. Coleman Davis

    The birds sharp whispers
    Lift you from your nights journey
    Bring you back to me 

    What could this mountain
    Clear, green, and cast in dawn’s light
    Have in store this day

    Pebbles smoothed by time
    live, moving on down. Clatter
    as songs in the creeks.

    Reply
  156. Kahren Morris-Denby

    Kahren Morris-Denby

    mud squelches through toes
    houses swirl through rising flood
    tears flow forever

    cumulus clouds float
    across snowy mountain tops
    immortality

    raindrop on a wing
    sunlight glimmers on puddles
    sparrow ablution

    Reply
  157. Ngo Binh Anh Khoa

    life in perspectives
    the golden hour flashing
    in a mayfly’s eyes

    still turning toward
    the light beyond the darkness
    sunflowers in bloom

    the end of summer
    a leaf moves through hopscotch squares
    at the wind’s nudging

    Reply
  158. Dan C. Iulian

    starry night silence –
    in this cosmic indulgence
    just a cricket’s song

    after summer rain
    my kiddy explores the sky
    from every puddle

    lotus flourishes –
    the remainder of the day
    becomes thinkable

    Reply
  159. Anne Curran

    the gentile hostess
    prepares tea ceremony
    weary travelers

    a flock of swallows
    emerges from drifting cloud
    a happy omen

    village revelers
    celebrate in spring sunshine
    talk of a wedding

    Reply
  160. Parker Sterling

    The sound of a frog
    Jumping into an old pond:
    The haiku is born.

    The lawn mowers and
    The leaf blowers fall silent:
    The birds sing again.

    Bright clouds at night float
    Behind the ash tree: a kiss:
    And the dreamer wakes.

    Reply
  161. Paula Rogers

    Father watches me
    The old man watches me close
    Sees who I will be

    I will be him now
    His time is done mine begins
    He thinks I will fail

    But I prove him wrong
    He smiles and nods at me
    The family is safe

    Reply
  162. Trina Layne

    1. Garden Party

    sun stretches itself
    over our grand carnival
    On withering grass

    2. Summer Pests

    citronella cream
    mosquitoes multiplying…
    voracious vampires

    3. Idols of Summer

    lips crumpling in heat
    summer wind scorching sundress
    who will seek for rain?

    Reply
  163. Sherri Ali

    When all creatures die
    Those of feather, scale, and fur,
    We’ll eat each other

    Reply
  164. Ashley Houston

    About Losing My Dearest Aunt

    A chaotic storm
    Rumbling in the distance
    Echoing our grief

    A funeral shroud
    Gathering dewy flowers
    Panicked breathing—grief

    Moonlit grief scrolling
    Digital images dance
    Flowering remembrance

    Reply
  165. Lynn CaroleBrown

    Outside my window
    the night air carries music,
    and I sing along.

    What we can not see
    does not mean it isn’t real
    faith has its own breath.

    Have you ever felt—
    that ocean of emptiness
    surrounding your shores?

    Lynn Carole Brown

    Reply
  166. Sunita Keyser

    sliver of silver
    a rill that snakes through the drift
    I pluck the grey hair

    Reply
  167. Deborah Karl-Brandt

    shaped by water
    stones emerge from the deep
    burned by the sun

    the melancholy
    of family pictures
    first days of winter

    the smell of green grass
    lingering on my dogs feet
    before I must part

    Reply
  168. Mike Rogers

    bare trees show clear moon
    my thought-moon growth gone shines white
    inside leaves still grow

    Reply
  169. Carl Bellerose

    fading wildflower
    resting in the church doorway
    unties her worn boots

    Reply
  170. Meera Rehm

    early morning mist
    rising from the undergrowth
    steam-birth of a fawn

    frost-bitten blossom —
    one by one I pack away
    the nursery room

    old age wanderlust —
    a slug stretches its eyestalks
    into summer sun

    Reply
  171. Stephen Anderson

    Amsterdam

    Anne Frank Museum
    Behind bookshelves, no one talks
    Everyone listens.

    Reply
  172. Lee Eager

    soft suburban ache
    no great shake, wait, slow words fall
    happy birthday mum

    Reply
  173. Dan Ward

    Sliding in rhythm
    Bathtub waves strike Tokyo
    Godzilla spanks hard

    Reply
  174. Dan Ward

    Snow-melt waterfalls
    Fill a crystal lake below
    Peace transcending storms

    Reply
  175. Urmi Chakravorty

    Potter’s toil and tears,
    Clay clings to clammy fingers,
    Fortune’s wheel spins lives!

    ***
    Pebbled river beds –
    Trouts, tourists, shingles, selfies,
    A cairn for the dead

    ***

    Dusk rustles through pines
    Sylvan symphony unfolds
    Tempest in my heart

    Reply
  176. Adam King

    Hello there stranger
    I’ve never seen you before
    Good, now we are friends

    Reply
  177. Eddie Park

    Small leaves fall softly
    A fox emerges from his home
    Rusty clouds fading

    Bright Sunlight dances
    The tide comes over the sand
    A seagull dosing

    chilly breezes blow
    Water now turned into ice
    I put on my coat

    Reply
  178. Mia Wilkins

    My Garden blooming
    Fruit buds appearing on trees
    Air warming the day

    Thirsty sun shining
    Deep blue cool water shimmers
    Boats dancing on lakes

    Leaves float gracefully
    Branches becoming naked
    More seasons ahead

    Reply
  179. Lucia Thorne

    Crisp air cools my face
    Ice frozen over a lake
    The swoosh of my skates

    Morning dew drops down
    A leaf falls slowly into my hands
    The horn beeps, its time

    The heat makes me sweat
    I throw my body in the water
    My skin begins to cool

    Reply
  180. Ethan Zhao

    Orange leaves fall quietly
    An owl come out to hunt
    As it turns to night

    The bare trees stand tall
    The fox gently slinks around
    While others sleep

    The sun shines brightly
    Reflecting off the water
    As the children play

    Reply
  181. Alice Glover

    Smell of salt water
    White sand hot under my feet
    A shinning pink shell

    The sky is so blue
    The sun is so warm up high
    Summer is here now

    Lambs spring happily
    Through the luscious and green fields
    Now springtime is here

    Reply
  182. Darrell Lindsey

    falling plum blossoms
    a Chinese woman’s dou li
    catches most of them

    Reply
  183. Amelia Li

    Light snow drifts slowly
    Cold breaths fill the frosty air
    Soft breeze tickles me

    Vibrant falling leaves
    Floating down from the bare trees
    Autumn’s gentle touch

    Pink cherry blossoms
    Glistening in the sunshine
    Mystical landscape

    Reply
  184. Tasmin Wingfield

    Red leaves hold my hand
    As I take the path toward
    Far colder places

    Mists of cloudy breath
    Lips stung by the freezing frost
    Eyes blink away cold

    Blossoms dance with nymphs
    Pollen swirls like magic dust
    Enchanted summer

    Reply
  185. Liliana Mendes Schneebeli

    Summer’s thirsty tongues
    Clear cold raindrops start to fall
    Kissing under leaves

    Forked leafy branches
    A black widow’s rumbling fades
    Folded behind back

    Day’s sharp blade of light
    Darting voices raised in heat
    Lovers’ ties are cut

    Reply
  186. Erica Hannah

    Blood. Blood everywhere.
    On the grass. On the tree barks.
    And he sits there. Calm.

    Unfazed. Unbothered.
    Even he is surprised by this. Pretty sight, at least.

    He holds his love close. Comforts her. Reassures her.
    For now, she needs this.

    Reply
  187. Sarah Schexnayder

    What life is Spring?
    Small breaths newly awaken
    From the sleep of death.
    ~
    Bittersweet is Fall!
    Vibrant colors dance in swirls!
    Nature slowly dies.
    ~
    Quiet is Winter.
    Nature’s death is stark silence.
    Hushed, it rests in hope.

    Reply
  188. Larry W. Richardson

    cold pink-faced macaques
    soak in hot spring’s steamy mist
    cooing to their young

    a brief glow flickers
    winter firefly phantom light
    red fox prints snow path

    millions of starlings
    surging, swinging, swooping
    autumn’s fluid flight

    Reply
  189. Amitava Dasgupta

    she is light years away
    but I still smell her fragrance
    in wild spring flowers

    dipping in Ganges
    winter mist hugs equally
    both sinners and saints

    autumn sea at dusk
    dad is no longer with me
    to show infinity

    Reply
  190. Krikmöklet Egelanaard

    dying cherry tree;
    copper sundial shows time:
    dog days-spent in green

    hot winds slow the mind
    raining needles of white pine,
    grapes firm on the vine

    a peach is pulled from
    the shading branch—so grasps the
    mother’s loving hand

    Reply
  191. Martin Soudek

    Haze over green hills,
    Northern forests smouldering—
    FREE two-day shipping!

    Reply
    • Martin Soudek

      On April’s mirror,
      Whirligigs dance in the sun
      Between her teardrops.

      Reply
  192. Linda Marie Hilton

    below are my three offerings, the first was inspired
    by the painting by Hiroshige shown at the top of this
    page:

    Humans trudge upwards
    Gay water foams, rushing down,
    Fog eaten by trees.

    Swallow perches high
    Seeking swarming insects fly
    Mouth open: dinner!

    Volcanoes heat the
    Ocean deeps warming an earth
    Humans do not own.

    Reply
  193. George Hubbard

    The gracious oak tree
    Standing on carpet of leaves
    Making an angel

    Warmth is with us now
    Daffodils now watching us
    Lambs in the field

    Snow everywhere
    Squirrels scutter round the streets
    Christmas trees inside

    Reply
  194. Ernesto Santiago

    alone in his thoughts –
    the water curls around rocks –
    a welcome escape

    where a river bends
    little eddies of water
    misplaced fantasy

    wedding butterfly
    why would I need a motive
    when I have power

    Ernesto Santiago

    Reply
  195. K. F. Gruta

    Agua de Mayo
    children splash in the puddles…
    sunken paper boats
    _
    Autumn night busking
    the singer’s fedora falls —
    a whole rest symbol
    _
    Phosphorescent stars
    each on the ceiling outshines
    all of my neck pain

    Reply
  196. Laura Nicola

    First shy rays of light
    The old relentless river
    Guides my way to work

    Early spring cleaning
    Old items packed in boxes
    Your memory too

    A blanket of stars
    The whispering sleepless waves
    Bow under the moon

    Reply
  197. Lily Malcolm

    Handfuls of blossoms
    Floating on the riverbank
    Taking precious time

    The sun beaming bright
    On the bright green, glistening leaves
    It feels like summer

    I’m a little fox
    Camouflaging in the snow
    Im brave as can be

    Reply
  198. Amelia Yu

    Snow collapsing
    Covering up the ground
    Stroking my cat’s ears

    Cherry petals fly
    Spreading pollen around bees
    The smell of grass

    Waves crash around
    Hitting my brother’s sandcastle
    Beach balls everywhere

    Reply
  199. Shannon Jade

    sunbeams, soft, golden,
    fracture midnight’s starry skies,
    glowing hope of dawn.

    ***

    impossible things:
    the heavy weight of mudbanks,
    wildflowers blooming.

    ***

    summer is the sound
    of waves whoosh, crashing to shore,
    you laughing at me

    Reply
  200. Helena Shinn

    Cicadas wail fire—
    child’s laughter breaks through the storm,
    hope drenched in warm rain.
    ***
    Frost veils the cold night,
    candle’s trembling breath reaches—
    loneliness in light.

    Reply
  201. Jan Hadfield

    a frosty morning
    in the song of the blackbird
    my husband Martin

    blossom in the square
    bells ring from the Cathedral
    the Godwits return

    early morning fog
    a man appears from nowhere
    then disappears

    Reply
  202. Denisa Hanšutová

    old cemetery
    on loudest days the sound of
    dead leaves whispering

    squirrel in the park
    burying and looking for
    my scattering thoughts

    post-spring mountain creek
    letting my quickening thoughts
    meandre freely

    Reply
  203. Leila Northcross Wakely

    Lela Northcross Wakely

    Stillness over pond
    Phlox gives its last perfume-sigh
    No one to notice

    Silence and singing?
    Young bamboo shelters frogs while
    Buddha meditates.

    Strawberry moon tryst
    Love nips skinny dippers- NO
    Watch out for those Carp!

    Reply
    • Leila Northcross Wakely

      May I please withdraw the last haiku about the “Strawberry moon tryst/” I am concerned it is more a Senryu than an actual Haiku. I will submit another one in its place. Thank you.

      Reply
  204. Leila Northcross Wakely

    Snowbound solitude
    Evergreen bough holds…surprise!
    One blooming sunrise

    Reply
  205. Andy Moody

    The Spring breeze whispers,
    Such deep stillness in the trees –
    The Creator speaks.

    The river flows full,
    Two Grebes ritually dance –
    Creation’s beauty.

    In the high azure,
    Courting Buzzards are circling-
    Wings touching heaven.

    Reply
  206. Jacob Schultz

    The July sun crowns
    Tops of regal tulip trees –
    Passing clouds douse fire.

    Autumn leaves sweep way
    Those windy tokens of love.
    I watch alone still.

    Poppies and tulips
    Peek out from their gray foxholes –
    Winter sends them back.

    Reply
  207. Tammy Iralu

    snapdragons explode
    kimonos strung on a line–
    swallowtail sails on

    morning foragers
    skunk tracks among strawberries–
    my fingers stained pink

    quail young traverse road
    reach shoulder fast as wildfire–
    foot eases off brake

    Reply
  208. Eduard TARA

    one by one falling
    the chestnut leaves making room
    for the milky way

    Reply
  209. Catherine Bittle

    Between, stands the gate.
    Green vines twine round man’s estate.
    Hands reach through to bait.

    Strangers’ sleeves brush past.
    Autumn leaves fall in the breeze.
    Someone leaves too fast.

    Blizzard blows around.
    Footprints show on snowy ground
    Found, heart starts to glow. |

    Reply
  210. R. Bremner

    Chilly was the morn
    I kissed the lips of the sun
    afternoon smoldered

    Autumn fog teases,
    kisses me in dawn’s shadow,
    steals my heart away.

    An omen of light
    snuggles in the breast of night
    before dawn wakes her.

    Reply
  211. Simar Sodhi

    Night swallows the light
    Stars whisper secrets untold
    Each unique and gold

    The fire departs
    But still a lone flame remains
    Bringing hope in pain

    Sleep slowly dances
    On a frosty windowsill
    Inviting the night

    Reply
  212. MarthaMaggie Miller

    pregnant pouring rain
    music on a metal roof
    flowers’ wakeup call

    arid waterhole
    under an African sky
    hungry lioness

    sweetly singing birds
    on an early Spring morning
    funeral chorale

    Reply
  213. Sebastian Chrobak

    first family trip
    walk along a narrow path
    ducklings with their mom

    Reply
  214. Eduard TARA

    one by one falling
    the chestnut leaves making way
    for the shooting stars

    Reply
  215. Eduard TARA

    one by one falling
    the chestnut leaves making room
    for more emptiness

    Reply
  216. Laila Amado

    A quiet morning
    In the garden, young kitten
    Catches butterflies

    Walks by the river
    Old man with an Irish hound
    Geese call for winter

    Wind rolls red petals
    In the shade of a temple wall
    Old robots tell tales

    Reply
  217. Jane McCarthy

    park bench in shadow
    a boy sings to a sparrow
    braiding sun through leaves

    first frost on the stoop
    a girl with torn shoelaces
    waits for the school bus

    spring rain on gravestones
    a man rereads the same note
    until it blurs ink

    Reply
  218. Parisa Majumdar

    Why it hurts this bad
    I wish we could just re-start
    As strangers in school
    ——
    Close your eyes and dream
    A world filled with happiness
    And good memories
    ——
    A doubtful mother
    Tries having faith in her child
    Is that much to ask

    Reply
  219. Aureus Nova Solis

    Wintergreen upon
    A crimson spilled abandon
    Reclaiming blossoms

    Vermillion shards
    Overcast the mountainside
    Amongst the Moon’s tears

    Fields of petals lie
    O’er my tired body now
    Never two allowed

    Reply
  220. Jennifer Doherty

    Tempest arguments
    Dad firm, mum with deluge cheeks
    Children’s howling screech.

    Reply
  221. Anthony Shannon

    Fingers trace my spine.
    “I’m in Arcadia, too,”
    Death whispers, hollow-eyed.

    photographing ghosts
    as they drift by unnoticed
    carefree of life once lived

    two doors, but one choice:
    above, blissful ignorance;
    below, truth and strife.

    Reply
  222. Vishal Prabhu

    peeling back the year
    every step on the mountain
    autumn wind and I

    accompanying me
    one last time down the mountain
    farewell autumn winds

    not the autumn wind
    that wound me up to the lake
    breathless campsite night

    Reply
  223. Maria Tellez-Vazquez

    Leaves flutter around
    In the dewy spring morning
    For another day

    Reply
  224. Nancy Brady

    night sky fill with stars…
    a silent predator flies
    with prey in talons

    at a florist shop
    she practices ikebana
    –an orchid corsage

    a complaining crow
    at the top of an ash tree
    –rainy afternoon

    Reply
  225. Harper Lewis

    Metaphor for death:
    One soul abandoned in a
    Vacant furnished room

    Jealous verdigris
    thoughts enter my brain and play
    in my dead effigy

    Synopsis of faith:
    I believe in the unseen
    and things I can’t feel.

    My dad made nectar,
    fermented for hummingbirds
    to buzz when they fly

    An iris opens
    Frilly white edges surround
    the deep purple base

    The gossip of priests
    is deliciously naughty,
    delectable sin

    The establishment
    Insists that you refrain from
    Showing compassion

    Reply
    • Margaret Coats

      Harper, thanks for these haiku! Please let us know which THREE of them you would like as your entries in the competition. That’s easy to do; you can reply here.

      Reply
  226. Delaney Shiono

    Amber orbs aglow
    Beneath frostbitten fingers
    Playing with fire

    Summer sunlight shines
    Upon sky blue waves of change
    Paradise on earth

    Crystal shards conceal
    My deepest, darkest secrets
    For your eyes only

    Reply
  227. Jessica Allyson

    out before sunrise
    the stars keep me company
    until their bedtime

    worn-down path outlined
    by lilies-of-the-valley
    poet’s grave marker

    birches intertwined
    creaking, clinging together
    against winter winds

    Reply
  228. John Savoie

    #3

    who can remember
    when the stars first sang for joy?
    the sound still carries

    Reply
  229. Lloyd Jacobs

    The yellow leaves were
    dervishes at my window
    till the rain started

    Footpaths and tire
    tracks obliterated by
    parachuting flakes

    Snowmelt discloses
    a winterkilled fawn still in
    geometric spots

    Reply
  230. Monika Cooper

    parade floats idle
    in stopped traffic—clusters of
    crab apples pinken

    .

    crystal interlock
    of water’s piscine quills: each
    little wave, a leap

    .

    sun on the surface:
    silent Roman candles in
    rapid explosion

    Reply
  231. Emory D. Jones

    Here is my submission–

    Yellow butterflies
    Flitting above green meadows
    Like dancing sunshine.

    Reply
  232. Maria Panayi

    you’re not a body
    with a soul, you’re a soul in
    a sacred garden

    Reply
    • Maria Panayi

      haiku 2

      homeless hermit crab
      takes shelter in empty shell,
      gulls squawk overhead

      Reply
      • Maria Panayi

        haiku 3

        wistful willow tree
        unique forgotten fortress
        weeps with gratitude

  233. Rebecca Trifari

    1) Halfway, then again
    she chases what flees the mind,
    dust rising in spring.

    2) Snow melts as she runs.
    Each step closer is farther,
    the world holds its breath.

    3) All race toward stillness.
    He counts motion with a blade—
    leaves fall, unmeasured.

    Reply
  234. Martina Matijević

    july thunderstorm
    her funeral procession
    finishes faster

    watering roses
    they slowly lower their heads
    unrequited love

    the smell of caught fish
    a hungry cat creeps closer
    mom scares off burglar

    Reply
  235. Sheri Knauth

    Three submissions read separately or together:

    To be read shelf.
    Infinite years divide books.
    Will I finish them?

    Words comfort my years
    Shelter in safe hard cover
    Writer and reader

    Find grace in pages.
    Solace with pens and journals.
    Heartache soothed silently.

    Reply
  236. Joanna Ashwell

    these spring showers again
    with the softness of blossom
    edging our footsteps

    the musk of a deer
    already belonging back
    in the forest’s crisp ochre

    rowanberry dusk
    where the deepest clouds drift by
    with every lost dream

    Reply
  237. Daril B. Bentley

    Yellow crab spider
    on a beach of greenery–
    mayflies the seagulls.

    Reply
  238. Morrison Handley-Schachler

    Calm in her stony
    Hermitage, the mason bee
    Mocks the rowdy swarm.

    Dreaming of nine days’
    Majesty, the dragonfly
    Bides three years his time.

    Butterfly’s shadow,
    Borne away on morning’s wings,
    But so beautiful.

    Reply
  239. Patricia Carragon

    from a leafless limb
    the empty swing remembers
    the long, hot summer
    ~Patricia Carragon

    after the tempest
    the silence of fallen trees
    roots severed from hope
    ~Patricia Carragon

    storm clouds overhead
    hurricane winds travel north
    no relief in sight
    ~Patricia Carragon

    as temperatures soar
    slumber shuts the feral’s eyes
    solace from the sun
    ~Patricia Carragon

    with eyes half open
    the cat curls up for a nap
    feet and tail at ease
    ~Patricia Carragon

    Reply
    • Patricia Carragon

      Please disregard my earlier comment. I’m submitting these three here:

      from a leafless limb
      the empty swing remembers
      the long, hot summer
      ~Patricia Carragon

      as temperatures soar
      slumber shuts the feral’s eyes
      solace from the sun
      ~Patricia Carragon

      after the tempest
      the silence of fallen trees
      roots severed from hope
      ~Patricia Carragon

      Reply
  240. Patricia Carragon

    Please disregard my earlier comment. I’m submitting these three here:

    from a leafless limb
    the empty swing remembers
    the long, hot summer
    ~Patricia Carragon

    as temperatures soar
    slumber shuts the feral’s eyes
    solace from the sun
    ~Patricia Carragon

    after the tempest
    the silence of fallen trees
    roots severed from hope
    ~Patricia Carragon

    Reply
  241. Meliana Alejandro

    The new era starts
    No hugs, kisses behind masks,
    Six feet difference please!

    Empty streets, doors shut,
    chaos over empty shelves,
    Unease filled the air

    Big nation big mess,
    Long lines, thin change, days await,
    I awe how it ends

    COVID-19 yes,
    Once it starts it never leave,
    Leaving scars for sure

    Reply
    • Margaret Coats

      Appreciate your contributions, Meliana, but please choose only THREE haiku as your contest entries. It’s simple to do by telling me which one of your four to leave out. Thanks!

      Reply
  242. Wania Sajjad

    Name: Wania Sajjad
    Country: Pakistan

    Unpicked Flower
    I tore myself open for your hands—
    but you walked past like I was dirt.
    Still,
    I bloomed into the silence
    you left behind.

    Petal Ghost
    You grazed me like wind—
    no blood,
    but every inch of me
    feels haunted.

    False Spring
    You arrived like a false thaw—
    all heat-laced breath and lying light.
    I cracked open,
    thinking you’d stay
    through the storm.

    But you were winter
    in a stolen spring disguise.
    You kissed me with frost,
    and I shattered.

    Reply
  243. Nolo Segundo

    reluctant leaves fall
    from the old tree showering
    the old man walking

    old cemetery
    abandoned by the living
    waits eternity

    alone, the young deer
    ate the holly tree’s berries
    soon dying under its leaves

    Reply
  244. Madeline Nugent

    firefly dance and burn
    jive resolutely down paths!
    lead me homeward bound

    far out open sea
    tender faces stranger now—-
    gentle crash of wave

    bugs bite tender flesh
    red blooms and swells a garden—-
    blackbird song soothing

    Reply
  245. Jerry A. Kirk

    Water is shapeless
    So how can it be defined
    A frog dreams of air

    Reply
  246. Asha Bajaj

    striped pollinator
    rave, roam, romp, be(e) rife, don’t sting
    don’t waste what is sweet

    Reply
  247. Asha Bajaj

    O radiant sky
    are you wounded or merely
    temperamental?

    blanket of snow, erase this
    paved landscape, then erase yourself
    melt into nothing

    Reply
  248. Asha Bajaj

    Apologies, updated version of #2
    snow blanket, erase
    paved landscape, erase yourself
    melt into nothing

    Reply
  249. Tyler Oldershaw

    Just like Icarus,
    And so we fall, endlessly;
    Freedom tastes like wind.

    The wounds of the sky
    Open. Today, tomorrow.
    Bloodlike life rains down.

    So alienated
    In this body; distorted.
    Trapped briefly in skin.

    Reply
  250. Chinmay Khare

    Crimson maple sighs,
    its branches bare to the dusk—
    One flame drifting down

    Reply
  251. brett brady

    how shallow the shoals . . .
    alone, upon reflection
    we’re both pelican

    midnight snow flurries,
    a raindeer fawn’s long lashes
    gathering stardust

    oak tree canopy–
    that old tattered fedora
    atop her coffin

    Reply
  252. Eshini Hasithri Meegaskumbura

    Hi, these are my three entries for the haiku competition.

    1
    Summer never wanes
    In the glowing Pearl of the
    Indian Ocean

    2
    The snow falls gently
    Mimicking the glow of the
    Twinkling stars above

    3
    Warm summer rain of
    Dancing love soon lost in the
    Slow fall of autumn

    Reply
  253. Thompson Emate

    Showers of first rain
    The aroma of coffee
    Papa’s favourite

    Alone on the porch
    Forlorn wind heralds deadness
    My muse awakens

    Summer homecoming
    Children play in the river
    Childhood memories

    Reply
  254. andrew shimield

    at 7.00am
    the bees in the lavender
    already at work

    bank holiday beach
    barely room for flesh to tan
    between the tattoos

    Reply
  255. Justin Tipton

    The Earth wears a coat
    The snow and ice pack her wounds
    She rests safe and warm

    Reply
  256. Ava Mitchell

    The rain sings and sings
    The thunder replies, screaming
    Never satisfied

    Kind mornings, soft nights,
    They are whole with your smile
    Comfortably happy

    Gray fog blankets the
    Deep valleys and green forests
    Stunning opposites

    Reply
  257. Beauregard Tuck

    Leaves lull light’s looming;
    shadows shower sundered souls.
    Winter wakes what waned.

    Reply
  258. Thomas J Strong

    recess doors open
    a gust of schoolyard children
    swirling autumn leaves

    heard without thinking
    understood without saying
    a walk through the woods

    the bud that seeks the
    bloom doesn’t need to search the
    garden to find it

    Reply
  259. Michael Chaplin

    Michael Chaplin

    As I wash my clothes
    My Yiddish momma still sings
    Songs of Yahweh’s praise

    Death in the river
    Souls coffined inside of mud
    The LORD my Shepherd

    In my green garden
    Surrounded by its beauty
    I hear sounds of war

    Reply
  260. Alex McBean

    atop lilac blooms
    butterflies rest in the sun
    Jupiter’s faeries

    pork chop fat sizzles
    ripe millet sway in the breeze
    its all gravy now

    summers juicy yield
    bathed in the kitchens warm light
    the frog and I feast

    Reply
  261. Addison Clem

    Laugh; stitch in my side
    Trap springs in hippocampus
    Splayed game on snow— you.

    Reply
  262. Bipasha Dutt

    breathing in the soft
    smell of night-blooming jasmine
    moonlight sonata

    Reply
  263. Amanda Robinson

    the water is still
    the mind is racing constant
    flow is the challenge

    is it possible
    to love, to eat, to birth him
    my husband’s logic

    there is a shadow
    light’s brightness is a falsehood
    dark blots infiltrate

    Reply
  264. Bipasha Dutt

    view of white landscape
    evergreens are lacking hue
    on a new year’s day

    Reply
  265. Venessa Lee-Estevez

    fragrant whispers
    gently cascade from branches
    carpet of blossoms

    ruby red hibiscus
    sweet pistil tongue emerges
    hummingbird kisses

    gossamer storm clouds
    weave a cape for Apollo
    Helios’ revenge

    Reply
  266. Leslie Hendrickson-Baral

    Hands held through the storm
    Unite in diversity
    Winning with purpose

    Turning to Nature
    Baby bunnies, ducks and goats
    Earth holds the best Tails

    Each posture holds peace
    Matching breath with intentions
    Paid ticket to this moment

    Reply
  267. Katherine Davies

    Title: Wash Away

    The waves rise and fall
    Cleansing souls who entrust it
    Yet my worries stay.

    Reply
  268. Sreeja Mohandas

    Wrapped in pashmina
    Half awake yet half asleep
    A hungover dawn

    Sparkling fiery eyes
    Trapped in a dying embrace
    Should have let you go.

    A sharp stilleto,
    Into my soul your words carve
    A crimson ravine.

    Reply
  269. Prashant Rawal

    Spring river unwinds—
    two hands, interlaced, drift on.
    Nothing holds or halts.

    Autumn wind pulls loose—
    layers of masks on my face
    scatter with the leaves.

    Spring rain on still pond—
    ripples rise and disappear.
    A frog waits beneath.

    Reply
  270. Garima Obrah

    Dear Society of Classical Poets

    Please find below my 3 entries for the 2025 Haiku Competition

    Entry 1

    Old stone retaining wall—
    a line of ants carries off
    the morning glory.

    Entry 2

    The scent of cut grass.
    A yellow kite is tangled
    in the power lines.

    Entry 3

    The password reset
    asks for my first pet’s name.
    I close the laptop.

    Reply
  271. Bipasha Dutt

    Hello judges,

    This is my 3rd and final submission –

    spirit animals
    drifting clouds shift forms in an
    autumn afternoon

    Reply
  272. Nuala Carr

    Lord! I’ll pursue you
    as the swift wave does the shore
    breaking as I go

    Reply
  273. Leah Hong

    Galloping horses
    leaving icy hoofprints
    the coldest is me

    Summer ocean
    a huge container ship
    blows my rocking mind

    In the wind
    my puppy happily
    runs to Mt Fuji

    Reply
  274. Kuldeep Singh Bisht

    The sun briefly peeks
    From behind the cloud curtains—
    It will rain again.

    Pink reflections dance
    as the flamingoes wade through
    the quiet waters.

    The reflection of
    the arched bridge on the still lake
    makes a full circle

    Reply
  275. Maria Tosti

    Sorry, this is the second time I publish my comment. Last night there may have been problems.

    1. 
    a lotus flower
    always searching for the sky –
    that is what i am

    2.
    pink cherry blossoms 
    painted on her baby bump – 
    just a new springtime 

    3.
    still shining roses – 
    the white brocade dress my mom
    could never finished 

    Reply
  276. Cheryl Corey

    tuft of cumulus
    running rills and daffodils
    Spring, springing on us

    high tide moving out
    an empty shell washed ashore
    someone picks it up

    at the water’s edge
    polliwogs among the weeds
    children swinging pails

    Reply
  277. Robert Fawcett

    Merganser mother
    guides her flock:sisters,brothers
    Fewer swim today.

    Reply
  278. Gordan Lovrić

    Flag waves in the wind,
    may tomorrow shine brighter,
    homeland glows with pride.

    Stone house stands calmly,
    Siveric calls out softly,
    wind carries the voice.

    Zagorje mornings,
    cattle graze so peacefully,
    earth softly births new dreams.

    Reply
  279. Joshua Kepfer

    In Maslow’s thesis
    The hierarchy of needs
    Safety’s above love

    I don’t think Maslow
    Was ever really in love
    Or knew who we were

    Reply
  280. Joseph Karr

    Are they who they say
    They are not there, they’re their own.
    We are what we do

    Reply
  281. Joshua Kepfer

    Are they who they say
    They are not there, they’re their own.
    We are what we do

    Never who they are
    Always who they want to be
    Wonderful liars

    Stars in the water
    Algae is green in the sky
    Reflections in streams

    Reply
  282. Carter Quintero

    Made myself a hell
    With no blueprints for Heaven
    And a lust to build

    My mind hurts itself
    It’s always fighting the same
    Demons they invite

    Parents with binkies
    Try to cope with the hands of
    Clocks doing cartwheels

    Reply
  283. Silma Pamela Smith

    For haiku contest:

    lichen mosaic
    rivulet of waterfall…
    which is lovelier?

    Reply
  284. Thomas Hamil

    Good afternoon. Thank you for your consideration. Below are my three Haiku.

    1.)
    A drink sits idly
    The whiteness gasps on the page
    Autumn burns away

    2.)
    A tortoise plods on
    Summer asphalt shifts below
    Noon traffic backs up

    3.)
    Egyptian sun glows
    Into deep-sanded oranges
    Summer gold, squeezed out

    Reply
  285. Annabelle Hadfield-Madl

    Spring Whispers
    whispers in spring air
    maple leaves begin to bud,
    secrets bloom in light.

    maple leaves whisper,
    soft murmurs in the hot breeze,
    summer hums alive..

    ice on the maple branches,
    Breathless light shining through the unspoken trees,
    Silence quakes in the endless wood

    Reply
    • Annabelle Hadfield-Madl

      Sorry first line wasn’t meant to be there this is how it is meant to be:

      whispers in spring air
      maple leaves begin to bud,
      secrets bloom in light.

      maple leaves whisper,
      soft murmurs in the hot breeze,
      summer hums alive..

      ice on the maple branches,
      Breathless light shining through the unspoken trees,
      Silence quakes in the endless wood

      Reply
  286. Sienna Mcmillan

    Golden sand
    Smell of salty water
    Sandy sea shells

    Leaves dancing
    Green to red orange yellow
    One by one falling to the ground

    Snow falls
    Every snowflake different to another
    Sun shimmering reflecting

    Reply
  287. David Quinn

    The first breath of spring
    A leaf can still fall away
    Not only in fall

    Reply
  288. Mia Zhang

    geese soar above clouds
    flying to a warmer home
    where the lilacs sing

    ————-

    early spring morning
    the fantail in the bird bath
    her sweet song lingers

    ————-

    a grasshopper sings
    her newest composition
    blossoms twirl in time

    Reply
  289. Loriana Apahidean

    1.
    Petals falling down,
    Death in reverse, life in bloom,
    Cycle without end.

    2.
    Winter freezes thoughts,
    Ice words crawl out of my mouth,
    Fragile proof of self.

    3.
    August heat clutching,
    Suffocating memories,
    Sticky grief clinging.

    Reply
  290. Sara Kate Egan

    chartreuse grass rustles
    August height hides maybe beast
    cinnamon bunny

    muggy midsummer
    murky dusk, mellow meadow
    flashing fireflies float

    twisted forest stirs
    secrets; coldest, darkest depths
    grand ghouls glow golden

    Reply
  291. Paul Lobo Portugés

    we open the window
    and the wind blowing voices
    of children fly in

    scrubbing ma’s gravestone
    black with soot from L.A’s air
    and winter’s regret

    when a child dies
    it’s something you keep inside
    you heart like a bomb

    Reply
  292. Theresa Andrews

    apple crisp morning
    smatterings of orange, red, browns
    falling quietly

    early morning chill
    shimmering icy waters
    reminiscent blues

    peonies blossom
    delicate fragrant pedals
    sweet heaven on earth

    Reply
  293. Teresa Padilla

    From dark spring slumber
    Awake, sobbing – not knowing
    Bulbs burst underground

    ——————–

    Winter, sun – sets free
    Deep, dazzling drifts of jewels
    Wealth of common men

    ———————

    Summer sky’s mirror
    Blinding – shining stretch of mud
    Tale of the glacier

    Reply
  294. Scott Ennis

    Fallen leaves whisper
    not an end, but painted breath
    waiting for the spring.

    Steam curls from my cup
    words rise like birds in cold light,
    morning warms their flight.

    Footsteps fall in sync
    two hearts pacing time and road,
    parting, still they run.

    Reply
  295. Chizorom Ifezie

    Fleeting; haunting is
    the silence stained in crimson
    autumn’s moonlight weeps

    The shadows lengthen
    leaves succumb to gravity
    crisp air on my skin

    Reply
  296. Kristy Marett

    Blossoms dangle down.
    Warm breeze makes them dance and sway.
    Now comes yellow bee!

    Sparkling snowflakes
    Suddenly turn into rain.
    Raindrops sparkle too!

    Leaf drifts slowly down.
    Butterfly, shadows entwine!
    Now, which one is which?

    Reply
  297. MEERA S NAIR

    Falls a drop unknown,
    On the silent sands of earth.
    quenching the soul’s thirst.

    Reply
  298. David Quinn

    frost stills every blade
    the snow, a final white veil
    spring comes now too late

    Reply

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