Fireflies' Light, Issue 23

First time in Fireflies' LIght! I have a bunch of haiku, senryu, tanka, cherita, and haiga included in the current issue. These are my haiga created by playing with alcohol ink, gel prints, and doodlng. If you want to read the full issue, here it is. Missouri Baptist University (mobap.edu)

NHK World Haiku Master of the Week

Haiku Master of the Week1

To watch the video and to read the comment

of Kazuko Nishimura & Kit Pancoast Nagamura, click here.

I copied and pasted the comments here just in case I cannot accept the link in the future. 

Kazuko Nishimura:

Monday mornings often feel quite melancholy. Yet with just the sound of a bird singing, the narrator is filled with positivity and is ready to take on the week ahead. The image of a flower basking in the sunlight pairs wonderfully with the idea of an internal light growing brighter, pushing one towards positivity. This work allows the audience to imagine listening to a songbird while staring at a bright blue sky.

Kit Pancoast Nagamura:

In this haiku, a finch’s song stretches out into the morning air, perhaps erasing the gloom associated with the beginning of a workweek. But the poem’s third line, combined with the photo of an open water lily, shifts gears and moves into a more spiritual realm, one in which the author’s inner light is summoned. A symbol of enlightenment and rebirth, the lily rises above the mud from below and a finch’s voice freely travels the air; both call a poet to work that has little to do with Monday mornings, but more to do with timeless, essential interconnections. Without heavy-handed words or overly-explanatory expressions, this poem achieves depth and resonance.

World Haiku Association (151st Haiga Contest)

Kuniharu Shimizu selected 28 out of 47.

World Haiku Association

(151st Haiga Contest, March 2017)

Wild Voices: an anthology of short poetry & art

     Perfect timing! I received my copy of "Wild Voices: an anthology of short poetry & art by woman" a week before International Woman's Day. I am taking my time savoring each page and celebrating all these female experiences expressed in poetry and art. Kudos to all the contributors and most especially, editor Caroline Skanne!

Here are three of my poems included in this anthology.

cajun moon . . .

when all it takes
is just one look

where petals unfurl
into subtle shades
like clouds in the sky
I am a birdsong waiting
to be heard

roaring waterfall—
within me the will
to carry on