The Winter of Our Discontent

Its edges browned with age, another photograph, long buried beneath piles of boxes, has come to light in recent days.

His eyes meet the camera head-on. His hand rests at the curve of a young girl’s hip.

the man, once a prince

hid behind purple curtains ...

now cuffed in cold steel

NeverEnding Story, February 19 2026

FYI: This sociopolitically conscious haibun is inspired by Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, formerly known as Prince Andrew, being arrested by UK police over Jeffrey Epstein ties.

The title, "The Winter of Our Discontent," is a famous allusion to the opening lines of William Shakespeare’s Richard III: Now is the winter of our discontent / Made glorious summer by this sun of York

For more analysis of this allusive title, see To the Lighthouse: The Impact of an Allusive Title.

See The New York Times, Feb. 19 2026: Live Updates: Former Prince Andrew Arrested in Britain Over Epstein Ties

Margin Haiku

sleepless again ...

alone at the margin

of this starry silence

Shot Glass Journal, 47 September 2025

Chinese New Year's Dream Haiku

I run with the horse

toward sunlight through storm clouds

new year's dream, yet lives

NeverEnding Story, February 17 2026

FYI: Today, the 2026 Lunar New Year welcomes the Year of the Fire Horse—a rare, high-energy convergence in the 60-year zodiac cycle, uniting the dynamic Yang Fire element with the Horse’s innate qualities of speed, independence, and fierce passion. It is a year charged with momentum and transformation, opening wide the door to bold, self-directed action. Yet such intensity carries its own cautions: the risk of burnout, volatility, and sudden upheaval.

Added:

Bloody New Year

war news on mute ...

I scream into the dark

yet the night

swallows my fury

in snow-shrouded stillness

No blue sky, no green field — only snow falling. This sound of white on white. The day goes on ...

It is the best of years; it is the worst of years; it is the age of wisdom; it is the age of foolishness; it is the epoch of belief; it is the epoch of incredulity; it is the season of light; it is the season of darkness; it is the spring of hope; it is the winter of despair. We have everything before us, and we have nothing before us. — Paraphrased from Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities

Added:

New Year noodles

slip off my chopsticks ...

eating alone,

this bittersweet taste

of hometown memories

Added:

I color-code

my New Year's to-do-list

snow on snow ...

Added:

at China Gala

robot after robot lunges

backflips, spins around

jumps, dances to Happy New Year ...

my silence, cold as steel

FYI: The Guardian, Feb. 18 2026:  China’s dancing robots: how worried should we be?

Eye-catching martial arts performance at China gala had viewers and experts wondering what else humanoids can do

Developed by several Chinese robotics firms, the robots performed a range of intricate stunts, including kung fu, comedy sketches and choreographed dance moves alongside human performers.

Clips circulating online quickly drew comparisons with last year’s lunar new year broadcast, which also featured dancing robots but with noticeably simpler movements.

Trump News on Mute Tanka

Trump news on mute ...

I look out the window

at the moths

flying around the porch light

in this false spring

Shot Glass Journal, 47 September 2025

Weight of Parting Haiku

scattered ashes ...

the weight of parting with her

a second time

Shot Glass Journal, 47 September 2025

Her Teeth and My Tongue Haiku

strawberry between her teeth the tip of my tongue

NeverEnding Story, February 14 2026

Added:

twilit orchard

one bite of an apple 

from her hand

Added:

Valentine's night  

between clouds of breath I lean 

to a stranger's kiss

Added:

clouds of breath

between roses and three words 

Valentine's night

FYI: This is a prequel to my haiku below:

those three words uttered ...

our bodies nestle, listening

to Valentine's starlight

NeverEnding Story, February 14 2025

Added:

between wind gusts

time for snowflakes and me 

to settle

Lilac Breeze Haiku

tenth year in exile…

a blossom breeze of lilac

brings me home again

5-7-5 Haiku Journal, September 30, 2025

Weight of Silence Haiku

the weight of silence

heavier than yesterday

tongues of forest fires

5-7-5 Haiku Journal, September 26, 2025

Dew-Drenched Rose Garden Haiku

dew-drenched rose garden

these shades of scarlet sunlight

still drip, drip, dripping…

5-7-5 Haiku Journal, September 23, 2025

Tribal Fear Tanka

nodding our heads

we pass each other like this 

for seven years ...

my old neighbor's tribal fear

of the Other [like me]

Haiku Page, 11, 2025

Forever Tanka

Father's breath

fades into forever ...

I gaze out 

his hospice window

at the moon, its fullness

Haiku Page, 11, 2025

reprinted in Charlotte Digregorio's Writer's Blog, February 12 2026

Gazan Child's Stare Haiku

Against the Drowning Noise of Other Words, CCLXXXI: "smoky gray and child's stare"

part of winter sky

where pale white turns smoky gray

a Gazan child's stare

NeverEnding Story, February 8 2026

Added: Against the Drowning Noise of Other Words, CCLXXXII": "Zeitoun, Gaza’s largest neighbourhood, flattened"

Cooking smoke hangs on with sea air, where wartime memories snag like rusted fishhooks.

first bombless night

with eyes closed, the ones he loves

drift beyond reach

Added:

one glass, then two ...

this winter night darkens

as distant sirens wail

Added:

ten hours of winter

tick-tock still stretching

in the ER clock

FYI: This is a sequel to my haiku below:

waitingroom  t h e  s   t   r   e   t   c   h  o f  t e n  h o u r s

A Hundred Gourds, 5:3, June 2016

Added:

three-week cold snap ...

my heart and mind stretched

by this longing

for blooming snowdrops

and red-winged blackbirds

Added:

squeak, squeaking

of an empty porch swing

the bank notice flips

Red Bikini Haiku

a red bikini

pinned to the noticeboard...

sunlit waves lapping

Asahi Haikuist Network, December 5 2025

Groundhog Day loop Gembun

Against the Drowning Noise of Other Words, CCLXXVII: "Groundhog Day loop"

Phase two of the Gaza ceasefire plan rolls on the news ticker. 

fireball by fireball

day and night, night and day:

Groundhog Day loop

NeverEnding Story, February 6 2026

FYI: "Groundhog Day Loop:" a plot in which the character is caught in a time loop, doomed to repeat a period of time (often exactly one day) over and over..." Watch the time loop scene from 1993 Groundhog Day.

Added: Against the Drowning Noise of Other Words, CCLXXVIII: "cart of bodies"

Drones buzzing against Gaza's sky tinged orange-red.

a fork in the road

lined with smoky rubble ...

a cart of bodies

Added: Against the Drowning Noise of Other Words, CCLXXIX: "outstretched hands"

A crowd of kids with outstretched hands, metal bowls gleaming in the dust.

a girl's empty stare 

grains scraped from the cracked pot

tumble past the bowl 

Added: Against the Drowning Noise of Other Words, CCLXXX: "wall of fire"

In four minutes, a farmhouse in the West Bank village enveloped in a wall of fire.

blood-stained olive leaves

cinder through the smoky air

laughter greets laughter

The Question Not Asked Yet

for Albert Camus

charred remains 

of a woman and baby

the sky, tinged with red

Is it barbaric to write poetry during the genocide? But what else remains? A gray-haired poet mutters to himself in the flickering candlelight. 

He turns his gaze away from a piece of wrinkled paper, then stares out his cracked window at smoky ruins after smoky ruins ...

Drifting Sands, 33, 2025

Gold Mountain Diner Tanka

harvest moon

over Gold Mountain Diner --

a migrant and I

eat and chat around the edges

of our lost dreams

Onions in Moonlight: TSA Members' Anthology, 2025

Sound of White Smols

Arctic snap, sound of white

Smols, January 21, 2026

Note: For more about a haiku-inspired genre, see To the Lighthouse: Smols , A Haiku Inspired Form"

Added:

hands starfished 

against windows

flicker

Added:

roof icicle

dripping dawnlight

cascade 

Added:

chain-link

  life after 

MAGA Dream

Added:

White House entrance

         No Parking 

Winter Stars Haiku

half awake, alone ...

winter stars upon stars 

upon stars

NeverEnding Story, February 2 2026

FYI: This haiku could be read as a prequel to the following:

more darkness

more stars

moving on

Frogpond, 34:2, Spring/Summer 2011

Sandra Mooney-Ellerbeck

Added:

the river

curves through winter mist

a man at its edge

Added:

the sound

of screeching tires

twilight chill

Added:

hilltop cross ...

the shape

of this misty night

Blinking Cursor Tanka

to Thomas Mann who claimed, A writer is somebody for whom writing is more difficult than it is for other people.

coffee gone cold

as the cursor blinks

all night long

I stare out at snowflakes

that never settle

NeverEnding Story, January 30 2026

Added:

to Richard Bach who claims, A professional writer is an amateur who didn’t quit. 

coffee ring on ring ...

I type five lines, five lines

then delete all

start again as robins sing

sing up the morning sun

FYI: Hot News: New Milestone, 3 M Pageviews and Call for Submissions

Every time a poem is written, every time a short story is written, it is written not by cunning, but by belief. The beauty, the something, the little charm of the thing to be, is more felt than known.

-- Robert Frost

Look forward to reading your poetry

Calligraphy of Swifts Haiku

blank screen glow...

the calligraphy of swifts

in a paper-white sky

Honorable Mention, the Irish Haiku Society International Haiku Competition 2025