Persimmon Haiku

reading alone...

the taste

of this persimmon

Asahi Haikuist Network, Dec. 20 2024

FYI: This haiku was inspired by Masaoka Shiki’s haiku

leafing through 

three thousand haiku 

two persimmons

Stick Figures Tanka

This Brave New World, CXX

spots of dried blood

in a soldier's diary:

a stick-figures sketch

shows recruits as "bait"

to shoot down a sniper drone

NeverEnding Story, January 16 2025

FYI: 

War is a defeat for humanity. 

-- Pope John Paul II

And 

War does not determine who is right - only who is left.

-- Bertrand Russell

Added: Against the Drowning Noise of Other Words, CLIX: "breaking news" 

breaking Gaza news

my friend's kin, far away

in life as in death

FYI: This is a sequel to the following entry, CXXII: "bombed schools"

a drift of olive leaves ...

my Gazan friend's kin living

in various bombed schools

NeverEnding Story, November 4 2024

France 24, Jan. 10, 2025: Gaza death toll 40 percent higher than recorded, Lancet study estimates

A study in the medical journal The Lancet estimated that 64,260 people have been killed in Gaza since the start of the Israel-Hamas war, which would mean the health ministry in the Hamas-run Gaza Strip had under-reported the number of deaths to that point by 41 percent.

And Democracy Now, Jan.16: Israel Kills at Least 70 More Palestinians in Hours After Ceasefire Deal Announced

Added: Against the Drowning Noise of Other Words, CLX: "the weight of winter rain"

pause between fireballs

the weight of winter rain

on ripped tents

Added: Against the Drowning Noise of Other Words, CLXI: "skeletal school"

silhouetted

against Gaza's ashy skies ...

a skeletal school

FYI: Democracy Now, Jan.6: American Historical Association Votes Overwhelmingly for Resolution to Oppose Scholasticide in Gaza

Father's Grave Haiku

this weight

of the words half spoken

a stone on Father's grave

folk ku, 4, 2024

Land of Milk and Honey Tanka

a lone suitcase

going round and round

on the carousel ...

I wonder what my life will be

in this land of milk and honey

folk ku, 4, 2024

Patches of Fog Haiku

happy or not

just to be as I am ...

patches of fog

Cold Moon Journal, November 25 2024

Hometown Memories Haiku

hometown memories

I still hold on to

snowflakes in the wind

Cold Moon Journal, November 25 2024

Late Night Shift Tanka

on the bench

after the late night shift

keeping to ourselves

we smoke in the freezing gaps

between shuttle buses 

Gusts, 40, Fall/Winter 2023

Valley of Smoke Tanka

No More Fairy Tales, XL

the morning sun

choked out by columns of black ...

car after car 

driving through the valley of smoke

as tongues of fire leap behind

NeverEnding Story, February 10 2025

FYI: My haiku below could be read as a sequel:

No More Fairy Tales, VI

tongues of forest fires 

there's no Plan[et] B, the rest

blah, blah, blah ...

NeverEnding Story, November 21 2022 

Added: No More Fairy Tales, XLI

morning sun barely seen street after street charred by the frames

Added: No More Fairy Tales, XLII

tongues of flame

grow longer and wilder

with raging hate and lies ...

a raven's kraa-kraa-kraa

atop the Mar-a-Lago flagpole

Added: No More Fairy Tales, XLIII

a stairway

what remains of a burned house ...

Pacific Coast sunset

FYI: The following haiku with a prefatory note could be read as a sequel: 

On my return from Tsukushi at the close of March, I found that my hut had been destroyed by fire. Looking at the ruins, I composed this verse.

violets here and there

in the ruins 

of my burnt house

Haiku Mind: 108 Poems to Cultivate Awareness and Open Your Heart

Shokyu-ni

Added:

patches of fog

shroud this orphanage ...

un/knowing the past

FYI: This haiku could be read as a sequel of my haiku below:

jigsaw puzzle:

group-home kids piece together

“American Dream”

Touch of a Moth: 2012 Haiku Canada Members' Anthology

(Note: American Dream is FX Schmid's award-winning 750-piece jigsaw puzzle)

hand-me-down dream

twilight laughter drifting

from the orphanage

Whispers, Oct. 2015

Silence upon Silence Haiku

Against the Drowning Noise of Other Words, CLVIII: "silence upon silence" 

written in response to Democracy Now, Jan.6: American Historical Association Votes Overwhelmingly for Resolution to Oppose Scholasticide in Gaza

ruins after ruins ...

these layers of silence

upon silence

NeverEnding Story, January 10 2025

FYI: Democracy Now, Jan.6:

The American Historical Association, the oldest learned society in the United States, has adopted the “Resolution to Oppose Scholasticide in Gaza,” condemning Israel’s “intentional effort to comprehensively destroy the Palestinian education system.” 

The vote was a vote of 428 in favor and 88 opposed. And the resolution was written by Historians for Peace and Democracy. There were four abstentions. 

We Cannot Be Bystanders to Genocide.

-- Chen-ou Liu

Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.

-- Martin Luther King Jr. 

Tongues of Fire Tanka

tongues of fire lick

as house after house

bursts into flame ...

where has my friend been

where will my friend be

Gusts, 40, Fall/Winter 2023

Dream after Dream Tanka

awake, yet not awake ...

I struggle through dream

after dream

of crying out to Father

in the misty twilight

Gusts, 40, Fall/Winter 2023

January 6th U.S. Capitol ATTACK Haiku

the winter woods

dark and deep into my dream

January 6th

NeverEnding Story, January 6 2025

(FYI: Ls 1&2 ironically allude to the concluding staza of "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening" by Robert Frost:

The woods are lovely, dark and deep,   

But I have promises to keep,   

And miles to go before I sleep,   

And miles to go before I sleep.

Axios, Dec. 26, 2024: Trump's first day: 59 things he promised to do on "day one:" one of 59 things is "pardons for Jan. 6 rioters"

And Daily Beast, Jan.5, 2025: This is Sickening’: Trump Slammed for Jan. 6 Take at Secret Mar-a-Lago Bash)

Added: Between Heaven and Hell, XVII

Making America Trump Again

alone, soul-exiled

from Trumpland with its lies

and hush money,

I binge hour after hour...

Jan. 6th hearings

once blood-stained

the Capitol's arched portal ...

in two weeks

the Convicted Felon will take

(the oath and) the Power

51st state

the Gulf of America

buying Greenland...

with mind-punched news turned off

I stumble into the dark

the Arctic tap 

wide open to send chill after chill

as far south 

as the Gulf of "Trumperica" ...

long lineup at Mar-a-Lago

(FYI: Watch the 10-day Jan. 6th Committee Full Hearings.  and The New York Times, Jan. 5: ‘A Day of Love’: How Trump Inverted the Violent History of Jan. 6

The president-elect and his allies have spent four years reinventing the Capitol attack — spreading conspiracy theories and weaving a tale of martyrdom to their ultimate political gain)

Added: Between Heaven and Hell, XIX

Trump this, Trump that ...

with this news-punched mind

I sound-bathe in silence

Added: Between Heaven and Hell, XX

unconditional discharge ...

I walk with winter gales

into the gathering dark

Insomnia Tanka

at 3 a.m.

once again sleepless ...

I open the curtains

to let out silence

and bring in moonlight

Chrysanthemum, 33, 2024  

German Translation by Chrysanthemum Editorial Team

3 Uhr früh

wieder mal schlaflos ...

ich öffne die Vorhänge

um die Stille raus-

und Mondlicht reinzulassen

Five Shekels Tanka

Against the Drowning Noise of Other Words,  CLV: "five shekels" 

a telescope 

mounted on a hilltop ...

five shekels (FYI: 1.37 USD)

to see rubble after rubble

under Gaza's smoky skies

NeverEnding Story, January 4 2025

FYI: The Guardian, July 20,2024:Israelis gather on hillsides to watch and cheer as military drops bombs on Gaza

People drink, snack and pose for selfies against a background of explosions as Palestinian death toll mounts in ongoing offensive

And Der Spiegel, Dec. 23, 2024: "Within a Year, We Will Be Living in Gaza"

The Israeli army is systematically destroying towns in northern Gaza and expelling the population. It is laying the groundwork for a military occupation - and for the possible construction of new Jewish settlements.

There is a telescope mounted on a hilltop outside the Gaza Strip. Here, on the outskirts of the Israeli city of Sderot, you can pay five shekels to watch the war at a magnification of 25x.

Added: Against the Drowning Noise of Other Words,  CLVI: "war tourism" 

clouds of smoke and fire ....

through the telescope viewfinder

on a hilltop

Israeli tourists don't see the war

but vision a future of houses

FYI:  Der Spiegel, Dec. 23, 2024: "Within a Year, We Will Be Living in Gaza"

The Fenton family at the hilltop viewpoint near Sderot...When one detonation sends up a particularly large cloud of smoke, Fenton exults: "How beautiful! How beautiful! How beautiful! Thanks be to God!”

"The path we are being led down is one of conquest, annexation and ethnic cleansing,” warned the former Israeli general, Netanyahu’s defense minister during the 2014 Gaza War Moshe Ya’alon in an early December television interview. "There is no Beit Lahiya anymore, no Beit Hanoun, the army is intervening in Jabaliya, and in truth, the land is being cleansed of Arabs.” Israel is threatening to become a "corrupt and leprous fascist messianic state.”

Added: Against the Drowning Noise of Other Words,  CLVII: "Palestine sunbirds" 

the pause between fireballs ...

a burst of colors

Palestine sunbirds in flight 

FYI: The Palestine sunbird is the national bird of Palestine, a symbol of Palestinian resistance and freedom

Added:

Chinese fried dough

crumbled into black coffee ...

home away from home

Self-Love Tanka

my friend gone too soon ...

a piece of paper falls

from her diary

with words in red bold font:

I've had enough of self-love

 

Haiku Canada Review, 18:2, October 2024

Courthouse Hallway Haiku

courthouse hallway

this rapid staccato 

of my ex's high heels

Haiku Canada Review, 18:2, October 2024

Word-Bombs and Lie-Mines Tanka

Against the Drowning Noise of Other Words,  CLIII: "Jimmy Carter"

in memory of Jimmy Carter, a bluntly honest man of Faith who follow[ed] the Prince of Peace in the New Testament (The New Yorker, Dec.29, 2024)

these worn pages

of Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid

in snowlight

Carter's word-bombs bunker-bust

IDF's tunnel-deep lie-mines

NeverEnding Story, January 1 2025

Added: Against the Drowning Noise of Other Words,  CLIV: "new year of the same fate"

A New Year of the Same Fate

alone, lost

in the calm between fireballs

this Gazan boy's gaze

a two-thousand-yard stare

at the Great Beyond ...

with lifeless eyes

cast to Gaza's ashy skies

this girl's face

summons a grief 

as old as Time

FYI: The New Yorker, Dec.29, 2024: Remembering a Visit to Jimmy Carter in Plains, Georgia

Jimmy Carter, Anwar Sadat, and Menachem Begin spent thirteen days secluded near Maryland’s Catoctin Mountain and produced a peace treaty that has endured for forty years. It was Jimmy Carter’s signature accomplishment and one that has never been matched in the region, despite decades of strenuous attempts.

...on his first day in the Oval Office, in January, 1977, he stunned his Vice-President, Walter Mondale, by saying that his first priority was to bring peace to the Middle East. Carter later told me that he believed God had put him into the Presidency for that very reason.

...So why do you think God wants peace in the Holy Land?” I asked. “Because we follow the Prince of Peace in the New Testament,” he responded.

In retrospect, Carter’s priorities in the White House—the environment, energy conservation, peace, health care—were remarkably prescient, and certainly his personal qualities offer a dismaying contrast to so much of the present state of American politics. Perhaps his piety soured the American public on him. Other qualities—his doggedness, earnestness, sincerity, blunt honesty—were in sharp contrast to those of Reagan, who proved irresistible to the public.

New Year's Eve Poems

written in response to Angelo B. Ancheta's new year's eve tanka:

the column of sparks 

from the fountain rises 

on New Year's eve 

how do I start this time 

with an end

NeverEnding Story, December 31, 2024

Angelo B. Ancheta

Here are my "reflections" on this dying disaster/war-plagued year, 2024:

Personal:

shock after shock

until the end of this year

soul-exiled

from this over-eventful world

with eyes closed, I see myself

Socio-cultural:

However, most of us are just celebrating/singing...

auld lang syne ...

white lie after white lie

as we toast the days

ECG Beeping Haiku

ECG beeping ...

her heart once beat 

against my chest

NeverEnding Story, December 29 2024

Added:

false dawn

in dreams I see her turn back

... not turn back

Added:

a shooting star 

the night we slept together

like a dream, and yet ...

Bloodied Man in a Press Vest Haiku

Against the Drowning Noise of Other Words, CL: "first casualty of war"

written in response to Democracy Now, Dec.26: Israeli Strikes on Gaza Kill Dozens, Including Five Journalists; Three Babies Freeze to Death

                 the

           bloodied

              man

nailed to a  wooden cross

                in

                 a

              press

               vest

NeverEnding Story, December 28 2024

FYI: This is a sequel to the following haiku: 

written in response to Democracy Now, DECEMBER. 20, 2023: [NewYork-based, American NGO] Committee to Protect Journalists: Israel Is Killing Media Workers at Unprecedented Pace

smoky rubble

a bullet-riddled helmet

marked PRESS

NeverEnding Story, December 22 2023 

Reprinted on My Haiku Pond, Nov. 23 2024

Added: Against the Drowning Noise of Other Words, CLI: "keffiyeh-draped youth"

snow on snow ...

the keffiyeh-draped youth

pump their fists

locked in a staring contest

with a phalanx in dark blue

Added: Against the Drowning Noise of Other Words, CLII: "the Great Beyond"

alone, lost

in the calm between fireballs

this Gazan girl's gaze

a two-thousand-yard stare

at the Great Beyond ...