7 Senryu & 1 Haiku Sequence by Dr. Randy Brooks

 

7 Senryu & 1 Haiku Sequence by Randy Brooks

 

 

barn doors shut

the milk cow warms up

my meditation

 

•

 

fallen white oak

honeysuckle worships

the open sky

 

•

 

detasseling crew 


goosebumps of coolness

before the storm

 

•

 

crawfish landing port

a high rise

mud pie

 

•

 

all clear

the roly-poly bug

legs back out

 

•

 

ghost town railroad tracks

            the weeds

at home

 

•

 

junk drawer of odds & ends

a World War II calendar girl

under it all

 

The Watch Tower

 

spring showers

a couple noses

through the ivy

 

nesting ground

two daddies joust

for the inlet

 

speaking in tongues

the urgency of flapping

back to the lake

 

home school

baby geese between

mom &&& dad

 

circle of stones

two goose feathers stand

as a watch tower

 

migrating pelicans

the geese no longer

big shots

 

autumn chill

the geese try another

flight alignment

 

longest night

sitting on the puffed up

downy butts

 

 

 

Dr. Randy Brooks is Professor of English Emeritus at Millikin University in Decatur, Illinois, where he teaches courses on haiku, tanka, and Japanese poetics. He and his wife, Shirley Brooks, are publishers of Brooks Books and co-editors of Mayfly haiku magazine. His most recent books include Walking the Fence: Selected Tanka and The Art of Reading and Writing Haiku: A Reader Response Approach.

Ten Haiku/Senryu/Scifaiku/Monoku Poems by Sheikha A

 

Ten Haiku/Senryu/Scifaiku/Monoku Poems

raven grief 

a tearing dusk 

this damp night

 

uprooted

resown in a cosmos

full of future

hummingbird

perched on artillery — 

outlier canvas

midwinter dream

goldfinch on blackthorn

glistening

lake mist a heron tucks in her wings

 

mohua—singing caution to the wind

  

one glitch in turn of solstice north wind-fire

abstraction

Orion in a moon-sleigh

shooting stars

waltzing to moon’s melody frost flowers

Orion’s sword

in the murmur of night

— half moon

Sheikha A. is a Pushcart and Rhysling nominee from Pakistan and United Arab Emirates. Her poetry appears in a variety of literary venues, both print and online, including several anthologies by different presses. Her poetry has been translated into 11 languages so far. More about her can be found at sheikha82.wordpress.com 

Five Haiku/Senryu by Thomas L. Vaultonburg

 

Five Haiku/Senryu

 

morning fog—
the lighthouse bell
inside the gulls

mountain mist—
the waterfall going on
without the cliff

viaduct—
someone feeding pigeons
wedding cake

airport security—
the magician
without his rabbits

tattoo convention—
a priest
waiting for coffee

Thomas L. Vaultonburg is a haiku poet, editor, and co-founder of Wolf Twin Books. His work has appeared in journals including The Heron’s Nest, Modern Haiku, Presence, Wales Haiku Journal, and The Asahi Shimbun. He is the author of Small Songs for Weary Travelers and lives in Rock River, Illinois.

  

Nine Senryu Poems by Patrick Sweeney

 

Nine Senryu Poems

Scattered beads of mercury on my grandfather's cellar floor;

the weight of Nessun Dorma on the floorboards above

flashing membrane of the raptor's eye

and children joining hands in the dark

hailstones through the wings of butterflies,

and the windshields of excommunicated saints

microphones hung over Beijing.

and two Neogene box turtles in Pete's bomb shelter

when they tell you stars don't fall,

remember the heartthrob, Troy Donahue

cupping his birthmark,

my father's infinite sea

the dust of ciphers on the habits of Catholic nuns

and the long division of body and soul

stepping back from the gassed lemons,

and the open-faced fans in the windows of screaming cats

the Zero-G of three beers in, 

and the numerology of sparrows on the sagging wire

Patrick Sweeney is a short-form poet and devotee of the public library.

Eight Senryu Poems by Patrick Sweeney

 

Eight Senryu Poems

'Shot by Wyatt Earp,' was how he explained

the hole in his neck

Wipers on high...

the 5th time through

'Wind the Bobbin Up'

Same-Day Delivery

Fritz Lang's

at the front door

He's going on about Pangaea, 

with his trousers down around his ankles

Shirt off, Hemingway killing something

(not pictured)

He keeps turning left because of something he read

No one home to delete the repeated word 

It had to do with time-dilation:

wearing a long white beard, listening to Mantovani

and mowing the lawn on the diagonal

Patrick Sweeney is a short form poet and a devotee of the public library.