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 

Climate Change and Garden Snail Tanka

eve of a deadline                             

for the climate change report ...

from this blank page

I gaze out at a garden snail

who sets its own pace

Honorable Mention, Tanka, 2025 San Francisco International Competition

​

Judge's Commentary: Once again, a tanka that shifts seamlessly from the human world to nature. The specificities of “climate change report,” “blank page” and “its own pace” heighten the effect. We, too, have the stress of deadlines to control and change the damage we have done to the environment. Nature, represented by the snail, moves at its own pace. This observation of the humble snail will perhaps inspire the writer to move forward.

Flash Flooding Haiku

flash flooding ...

this trail of grief and yet

mud-stained marigolds 

 

The Solitary Daisy, 57, 2025

Farewell Promise Haiku

her farewell promise

a starling murmuration

shape-shifting

tsuri-dōrō, 29, Sept/Oct. 2025

Thoughts Racing Gembun

Another night of shifting, flipping the pillow, and counting sheep …

my thoughts pacing 

in moonlit dark, one stray 

outbarks the rest

NeverEnding Story, January 27 2026

Added: This Brave New World, CXXVII

round after round

pink slips slide across desks—

warehouse aisles hum

as robots pick and place parcels

on time, 24/7

FYI: CBC News, Jan. 28 2026: 

Amazon is slashing about 16,000 corporate jobs — the second round of mass layoffs for the e-commerce company in three months...The latest reductions follow a round of job cuts in October, when Amazon said it was laying off 14,000 workers. 

Added: Against the Drowning Noise of Other Words, CCLXXV: "New Gaza"

New Gaza: a coastal strip, replete with high-rises and resorts.

newsfeed scroll:

ripped tents after ripped tents

in freezing rain

FYI: The Nation, January 30 2026: Jared Kushner’s “Plan” for Gaza Is an Abomination

Kushner is pitching a “new,” gleaming resort hub. But scratch the surface, and you find nothing less than a blueprint for ethnic cleansing.

And this is a sequel to my gembun below:

Against the Drowning Noise of Other Words, CCLXXI: "Phase Two"

The ink barely dry on the paper, and Phase Two of the ceasefire plan announced to the clicking of cameras.

these dark blue lips

as frost thickens on cracked panes

Gazan sky tinged red

NeverEnding Story, January 19 2026

Added: Against the Drowning Noise of Other Words, CCLXXV: "skeletal houses"

raven by raven

skeletal houses in Gaza

darkening

Added: Against the Drowning Noise of Other Words, CCLXXVI: "Rafah refugee camp"

tents go dark

in Rafah refugee camp

moon-filled puddles

Added: Trump Empire, Inc, LXXIV

written in response to The Daily show, Jan. 30 2026: the best bribe disguised as a documentary goes to... "Melania"

in the near-dark room

less than a dozen viewers

glance back and forth …

Melania Trump’s mouth

rarely opens on screen

Added: Trump Empire, Inc, LXXV

on silver screen

Melania walking, walking

to nowhere ...

viewers awake when the light's on

all give ¼ star

FYI: The Nation Magazine, Feb. 2 2026: The Melania in Melania Likes Her Gilded Cage Just Fine

The $45 million advertorial abounds in unintended ironies.

Melania, this documentary makes perfectly clear, likes her gilded cage just fine. After all, it lets her produce this movie starring her clothes, her hair, her shoes, and her complexion, and how many women can say the same?

And The New Yorker, Feb. 2 2026: 

In the film, the First Lady comes across as brittle and materialistic; her interactions with her son and husband are stiff. Instead of baby photos or family mementos, viewers get so many shots of Melania in high heels that it starts to feel “like an OnlyFans account crossed with that meme of Kim Jong Un visiting factories,” Caroline Mimbs Nyce writes in her delightfully cutting review, The Melania Documentary Is “Exceedingly Mid"

West Bank Town Gembun

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

Jan. 27: Settlers Rampage Through South Hebron Villages, Torch Homes and Steal Livestock.

Jan. 27: The Israeli Ethnic Cleansing Militias in the West Bank Have Suceeded Once Again

Jan. 27: "Ordinary, Decent Israelis" Still Think That What Happens in the West Bank Stays in the West Bank

FYI: Jan. 27: Netanyahu Government Ban on Haaretz Is Unlawful, Attorney General Tells Israel's Top Court)

Against the Drowning Noise of Other Words, CCLXXIII: "Saharan desert warbler"

written in response to "Israel's oldest daily, Haaretz," which was was sanctioned by the Israeli government on Nov. 24, 2024

 Jan. 25 2026: A West Bank Bus Trip Through 'the Best Documented Ethnic Cleansing in History'

A Saharan desert warbler spotted in Haifa, only the second ever to be seen in Israel.

West Bank town fenced in ...

a rifle silhouette

against the boundless sky

NeverEnding Story, January 26 2026

Added: Against the Drowning Noise of Other Words, CCLXXIV: "the Nakba"

The Nakba pictures in black and white; now this week in the color of smoky red.

fire's mouth

consumes the last farmhouse ...

settlers' roaring

First Return Journey Tanka

first return journey

to this punk-haired younger self

in my mind's window

I murmur, did you ever

find where your heart could rest

Ribbons, 21:2, Autumn/Winter  2025

Wall of Time Tanka

I'm fine, I'm fine

I repeat to myself

in the mirror ...

these scratching and gnawing

sounds inside the wall of Time

Ribbons, 21:2, Autumn/Winter  2025

Child Refugee Haiku

cherry blossoms

hand

her

out

stretching

refugee

a child

Haiku Avenue, 7, 2025

Orchid Blossom Rain Haiku

orchid blossom rain ...

the children we dream about

but cannot conceive

Haiku Avenue, 7, 2025

Not at the table, Then on the Menu Gembun

Trump Empire, Inc, LXXI: 

a gembun written in response to Mark Carney's Davos speech on the first anniversary of the Convicted Felon sitting behind Resolute Desk:

Clapping of hands and thumping of feet to the claim: "If we're not at the table, we're on the menu."

my black cat returns

with a bloodied bird in mouth

drums of a trade war

NeverEnding Story, January 21 2026

For more poems about Trump's one year in office, see "To the Lighthouse: One Year in Poems: Trumperica, Revisited"

Added: Trump Empire, Inc, LXXII

Canada lives

because of the US, Trump claims 

fart on fart in Davos

Added: Trump Empire, Inc, LXXIII

In the end, we have only whistles and the ICE agents have guns.

freezing cold ...

snapped from school to trap parents

five-year-old as bait

Mountain Sunrise Haiku

mountain sunrise

I forget for a moment

this fleeting life

NeverEnding Story, January 20 2026

FYI: It might be interesting to do a thematic comparison reading of my haiku below:

Grand Canyon sunrise ...

learning to love

here and now

Cafe Haiku, March 10, 2025

Added:

war news on mute

a gnat’s smudge

on my forearm

reprinted in Haikuniverse, January 25, 2026

Added:

snow on snow ...

my footprints deep and deeper

under the slate-gray sky

Added: 

dawnlit sky

a canvas

of birdsongs

Phase Two Gembun

Against the Drowning Noise of Other Words, CCLXXI: "Phase Two"

The ink barely dry on the paper, and Phase Two of the ceasefire plan announced to the clicking of cameras.

these dark blue lips

as frost thickens on cracked panes

Gazan sky tinged red

NeverEnding Story, January 19 2026

FYI: Haaretz, Analysis, January 18, 2026: Beneath the Bombast, Trump's Cease-fire Plan in Gaza Is on the Rocks

Jan. 19, 2026: Trump Invites Putin to Board of Peace, EU States to Decline Invitation, Diplomats Say

Jan. 19, 2026: 'Gaza Is Ours': Israel's far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich Calls to Cancel Trump's Board of Peace, Israel to Resettle Gaza

And Jan. 20 2026: Trump: If France Doesn't Join Board of Peace, 'I'll Put 200% Tariff on Wine and Champagne'

Added: Against the Drowning Noise of Other Words, CCLXXII: "Gazan newborn"

a young woman

gazing long at her newborn

but his eyes

never open to the light—

Gaza's morning frost thickens

FYI: Haaretz, Opinion, Jan. 19 2026: What Is Happening to Mothers and Babies in Gaza Should Leave Us Deeply, Collectively Ashamed

As maternal mortality surges in post-war Gaza, and newborns face cold, infection and malnutrition, pregnancy and childbirth are daily fights for survival. Women and their babies, universally noncombatants, are suffering disproportionately – and serve as a measure of our moral failure

Dove and Heart Haiku

a dove and a heart

painted on his cracked helmet ...

a dead aid worker

Haiku Avenue, 7, 2025

Taste of Mooncakes Haiku

this taste of mooncakes ...

Father sighed, the foreign moon

rounder and brighter

Haiku Avenue, 7, 2025

FYI:Mooncake is the most popular and important food eaten during the Chinese Moon Festival.

Trump Again Senryu

the clink, clink, clinking

of my neighbor's rusted gate

Trump Again tilted 

Haiku Avenue, 7, 2025