3 A.M. Crescent Haiku

3 a.m. crescent

in the bedroom skylight 

dust motes drift

NeverEnding Story, May 11 2026

FYI: This haiku could be read as a sequel to mine below:

again her smile fades ...

I awaken to the silence

of a hazy crescent

NeverEnding Story, April 12 2026

Added:

bed unmade

I lie down beside

the hidden self

Added:

mail on the table

I read it twice, once in mind 

a week ago

Added:

a cleaning

in the old growth

I gather

dappled sunlight

and birdsongs

Added: Politics of Distraction, X:

waking in cold sweat

from dreams of a strait blockade:

the liar arrives

to save the strangled victim

by pressing down the pillow

FYI: Trump stated on Truth Social: If Iran did not agree to a deal, the bombing starts, and it will be, sadly, at a much higher level and intensity than it was before ... (BBC News, May10)

And his tanka is a sequel to the following:

Politics of Distraction, IX:

blocking the blockade

to break the strait blockade ...

in gathering dark

a gin-soaked flight to nowhere

through the un/truth of this war

NeverEnding Story, April 18 2026

Monologue Haiku

Thanksgiving dinner

mom's back-and-forth monologue

on our migrant life

Haiku Avenue, 9, 2025

Strand of White Hair Haiku

awake to dawn's light

another strand of white hair

on my wife's pillow

Haiku Avenue, 9, 2025

Crucifix Haiku

on the rain-stained wall

where once a crucifix hung 

this night cold and dark

Haiku Avenue, 9, 2025

Weight of the Unsaid Haiku

a layer of ice

on yesterday’s street puddles

weight of the unsaid

Haiku Avenue, 9, 2025

Waning Moon Haiku

waning moon

during our silence

the drip of icicles

Charlotte Digregorio's Writer's Blog, December 12 2025

River Trail Tanka

Starlight on the Gutter of  Blossoms, IV

silver moonlight 

drips through weeping willow leaves

the river trail  reeks 

where a stray rips the throat

from a bag of rotting guts

NeverEnding Story, May 6 2026

Added: Starlight on the Gutter of  Blossoms, V

the milky way 

floats in the midlight river --

one yellow stream

arcs higher than the other

while two drunks shout and laugh

Added: Starlight on the Gutter of  Blossoms, VI

the warbler’s wail

ripples through the morning mist --

the screech of brakes

as a truck grinds to a stop

inches from the toddler

Added: Starlight on the Gutter of  Blossoms, VII

the moonlit creek

chatters over mossy rocks

the drainage pipe 

spewing vomit after vomit

of neon-blue factory sludge

Added: Starlight on the Gutter of  Blossoms, VIII

fields of wheat

rippling in morning sunshine

roadside billboards

hawk cheap loans and debt swaps

to the hollow-eyed and aged

Added: Starlight on the Gutter of  Blossoms, IX

morning mist

veiling the river’s curve ...

the bridge traffic stops

as a rusted semi-truck 

grinds a stray into pulp

Park Dump Tanka

Starlight on the Gutter of  Blossoms, I

cherry blossom rain ...

under a grey-veined sky

the park dump

with needles scattered

in mangy green

NeverEnding Story, April 4 2026

FYI: My new writing project, Starlight on the Gutter of Blossoms, applies the violent lens of the urban onihishigitei style to the modern landscape. Inspired by Christine Judd’s "neon lights" tanka, the title hijacks Oscar Wilde’s romanticism—"We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars"—and forces that celestial gaze down into the city’s filth to "slay" traditional beauty.

Added: Starlight on the Gutter of  Blossoms, II

summer stars

drip silver light on the river -- 

slick after slick

of oily black choking

the throat of a storm drain

Added: Starlight on the Gutter of  Blossoms, III

the wisteria scent

in cascading clusters --

moonlit shards

from a smashed windshield

in the asphalt's teeth

Tides of Childhood Tanka

alone again

on a seaside bench

tides of childhood

lap against memory

in the quiet of my mind

Cold Moon Journal, December 2 2025

Home, Sweet Home Haiku

home, sweet home ...

in my rear window snow geese

unzip the sunset glow

The Solitary Daisy, 64, 2025

FYI: "'Home Sweet Home" was first released in 1985 as a single from Mötley Crüe's third studio album, Theatre of Pain.

Old Love Haiku

rising alone

with the light of dawn

scent of an old love

Shadow Pond Journal, 6, 2025

Writing Gembun

The blank calendar; even thoughts paused like a frozen screen.

the cursor blinks ...

the weight of another

hazy day moon

NeverEnding Story, May 1 2026

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

hazy day moon 

alone, awake with the weight

of memory

PoemHunter, February 16, 2013

Added: a gembun, about the precarious "work-life," for May Day:

The fan oscillates, its hum a steady heartbeat in the cramped dark.

dust motes

in the slanted moonlight

life between motels

Cherry Blossom Dawn Haiku

cherry blossom dawn

my beagle and I bathed

in the scent of light

NeverEnding Story 30 2026

Added:

breezy sunshine

bumblebees stitch gold threads

among blossoms

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

bumblebee flitting

among the meadow flowers

humming to itself

Haiga Moments: Pens and Lens, 2008

Ignatius Fay

Added:

blossom rain

my son takes a selfie

I breathe deeply

Added:

lavender breeze

rippling field after field 

into purple

Added:

pick-your-own farm

my toddler’s lips and fingers

blue-stained

Added:

strawberry juice …

drip, drip from her tongue

into my mouth

Added:

garden hut

newborn kittens blink

into tulips

Added:

break of dawn

a wedge of geese honking

the northbound freight

Eyes and Minds Tanka

we walk quietly

from the doctor’s room

into an elevator

our eyes and minds escape

into panel numbers

Quail Eggs, 3, 2025

Mockingbird's Song Tanka

written for Harper Lee’s 100th birthday

I climb inside

my MAGA neighbor's head

to see his world ...

a mockingbird's song

snaps in two through half-sleep

NeverEnding Story, April 28 2026

Note: In Ls 1-3, the speaker’s attempt to “climb inside / of my MAGA neighbor’s head” mirrors Atticus Finch’s ethic of radical empathy: “You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view … Until you climb inside of his skin and walk around in it,” which the tanka re-stages as a dreamlike, unstable act of perception.

And the following remark is in contrast to Ls 1-3's allusive one:

People generally see what they look for and hear what they listen for, and they have a right to subject their children to it...

Judge Taylor, Chapter 17

Lighthouse Searchlight Haiku

360 degrees

of a lighthouse searchlight ...

this darkness (in me)

Ink Sweat & Tears, Nov. 17 2025

Starlings Haiku

this fresh morning

so much like the others ...

yet starlings shape-shift

Ink Sweat & Tears, Nov. 17 2025

Silence of Farewell Haiku

the sound of raindrops

in our silence of farewell

eviction night

Ink Sweat & Tears, Nov. 17 2025

Late Night Shift Haiku

late night shift done

a stray’s barks lengthen

the way home

NeverEnding Story, April 24 2026

Added:

thunder and lightning

what's left between us 

half-spoken

Added:

cascading clusters, 

clusters of wisteria …

scent of sunshine

Added: Against the Drowning Noise of Other Words, CCXCIII: "trapped echo"

the sound of drones 

in an armless boy's head

like a trapped echo

his mother's last scream 

drowns in the smoky dark

FYI: "Israel's oldest daily, Haaretz," which was was sanctioned by the Israeli government on Nov. 24, 2024

Opinion, April 24, 2026: Israelis' Thunderous Silence Enables Daily Atrocities in Gaza and the West Bank

In the Gaza Strip, the dead and wounded aren't "casualties," they are "collateral damage" – a dry technical term backed by artificial intelligence and legal permits. They aren't casualties, they are damage. Language itself has been recruited to cloud what happened, as if by swapping the terms, we could also swap our reality...

But the most chilling sound of all is silence. Israelis' thunderous silence was what enabled and continues to enable the atrocities we committed in Gaza and the ones we commit every day in the West Bank. 

This tanka could be read as a sequel to the following:

Against the Drowning Noise of Other Words, CCXCII: "P/Crime Minister"

written on Israel's Independence Day

behind the shroud

of "our hero warriors"

the P/Crime Minister

spills the Castro-length 

blah, blah, blah on victory

Added: Against the Drowning Noise of Other Words, CCXCIV: "fighter jets' trails"

Gazan sky tinged gray

fighter jets’ trails underline

a crescent moon

Added: Against the Drowning Noise of Other Words, CCXCV: "bullets and blasts"

a hum

thickens into a roar ...

bullets and blasts

tear through brick walls and flesh

as dust and blood fill the air

Added:

makeshift clinic

a  Beirut boy blowing

on shrapnel wounds

Frost Crystals Haiku

frost crystals

on the hospital window ...

what's half spoken

The Solitary Daisy, 63, 2025