Red Balloon Haiku

Against the Drowning Noise of Other Words, CCCVII: "Gazan girl's red balloon"

to Banksy

fireballs bursting into the dark a Gazan girl's red balloon

NeverEnding Story, August 30 2026

FYI: The phrase, "to Banksy," serves as a joshi (prefatory note), alluding to Banksy's iconic Girl with Balloon, an image associated with childhood, innocence, hope, and loss. For a detailed analysis of this haiku and the use of "enjambed double-take," see To the Lighthouse: The Art of the One-Liner, Mastering the "Enjambed Double-Take"

Summer Grass Haiku

summer grass

on both sides of the border

rusted helmets

Highly Commended, Wales Haiku Journal Summer Competition 2026

FYI: For a detailed analysis of this "structurally allusive" haiku (in relation to Basho's), see Poetic Musings: Summer Grass Haiku

summer grass

all that remains

of warriors’ dreams

Matsuo Bashō,  written at the Hiraizumi battlefield in 1689

Remembering

"doctor, please

the sounds, they won''t leave"

a boy mutters …

buzzing of drones, roar of jets

screams of Gazans, living and dead

For days he lies curled in a shelter bed, staring at the pockmarked wall as if it could answer him, until the sounds lodged deep inside his head finally overwhelm him.

When the razor wire outside glints with the first light of a new day, silence enters his head … and his life, five years older than the war that claimed it.

Ribbons, 22:1, 2026

War News on Mute Tanka

war news on mute …

the morning light spills

over garden beds

where herb seeds nudge the crust

seeking room to grow

Ribbons, 22:1, 2026

Between Heaven and Earth

I'm soul-tired

before this wooden Jesus ...

Time is frozen

in St. Peter's Church

with frost flowers on the windows

What is Time?

alone and calm

before a leafy riot

of garden plants ...

my old friend and Time

are of the same race

If no one asks me, I know; if I need to explain it to one who asks, I don't know.

a mile-long lineup

of trucks at the checkpoint

in smoky sunset

inch by inch Time crawls through

the Kerem Shalom Crossing

What then is Time? In the present, the past presses forward; the future leans back toward me. I stand between them—no nearer to an answer than frost on glass.

Contemporary Haibun Online 22:1, April 2026

War and Peace Haiku

leafing War and Peace

front to back, back to front

summer whiffle

NeverEnding Story, July 18 2026

Added:

hillside and valley

flecked with cloud shadows ...

smell of sunshine

Added:

farmers' market

tasting a strawberry

then her lips

Added:

the ripe tangle

of wild strawberries ...

an urge to love 

Added:

overlapping hearts

on a summer train window

our reflections

Added:

first outing

after the breakup

on the beach

I trip on a heart

made of stones

Added:

alone again

on the moonlit shore ...

my shadow

stretches closer, closer

to lapping waves

Added: No More Fairy Tales, LVI

What has been will be again

Acrid black columns choke the morning sun. Trapped in a valley of smoke, cars barrel past leaping tongues of fire. Across Northern Ontario, wildfires burn hotter, bigger, and deadlier than ever. More than one thousand miles away, their smoke casts an orange haze over New York's crawling traffic.

Meanwhile, silhouetted against smoky skies, the Premier’s mouth opens and closes for the camera lights, broadcasting word after word into the heat.

tongues of forest fire

there is no Plan[et] B, the rest

blah, blah, blah...

FYI: Canada’s climate-change-charged wildfires are becoming a horrific annual event. 

Over 800 wildfires are burning across Canada, with one entirely destroying the northern Indigenous community of Namaygoosisagagun. 

Back in 2023, Emma Paling reported that the same Indigenous communities that gave early warnings against burning fossil fuels are among the first to be permanently displaced by climate change.

The Breach, August 24, 2023: First Nations say they’re not wildfire evacuees, but climate refugees

Indigenous communities that first warned against burning fossil fuels are now facing permanent displacement caused by climate breakdown

War and Peace Tanka

Trump Empire, Inc., XCIX

written in response to The Washington Post, July 9 2026: 

Trump reopens the Iran war — and a political problem he can’t shake

firefly light on, off ...

the porch breeze leafing 

through a worn copy

of War and Peace

as Trump news is muted

NeverEnding Story, July 10 2026

FYI: Here are some of the best-known War and Peace quotes:

If everyone fought for their own convictions there would be no war.

A battle is won by him who is firmly resolved to win it.

The strongest of all warriors are these two — Time and Patience.

Added: Politics of Distraction, XX

Power on, off, on, off— a heat dome buckles the grid.

my neighbor's TV

blasting Iran War news ...

one stray outbarks the rest

FYI: The Guardian, July 13, 2026: Oil prices leap and stocks fall as Trump reinstates Hormuz blockade on Iranian shipping

Brent crude rises 5% after US president says 20% toll will be imposed on key trade route to cover  "safety and security."

Added:

war news on mute

the drawn out cry

of a cricket

Ceasefire: You Cease, I Fire

Against the Drowning Noise of Other Words, CCXCIX: "Ceasefire: You Cease, I Fire"

Ceasefire: You Cease, I Fire

Boom, boom, boom ... trailed by intermittent night-piercing screams, near and far. 

an armless boy's stare

midnight lightning links Heaven 

and smoky ruins 

hazy day moon

an orphaned girl, her world

of paper cranes

NeverEnding Story, June 28 2026

FYI: For more poems about Israel's war crimes, see Special Feature: "Selected Poems for Reflections on UN's Report on Israel Committing Genocide and Other War Crimes."

On June 18, 2026, the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry published a major report titled “The essence of childhood has been destroyed: Israel’s deliberate targeting of Palestinian children in the Occupied Palestinian Territory since 7 October 2023”. 

The paper describes the deliberate targeting and killing of Palestinian children, including post-ceasefire since the October 2025 Gaza peace plan. The Commission also examines a sharp increase in violence perpetrated by members of Israeli settlers against Palestinian children in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem.

There is no ceasefire in Gaza; the world has normalized the genocide of Palestinians.

-- Francesca Albanese, UN Special Rapporteur on Palestine and author of UN Report, "Anatomy of a Genocide"

And

There comes a time when silence is betrayal.

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

-- Martin Luther King, Jr.

Added: Against the Drowning Noise of Other Words, CCC: "one thousand cranes"

cherry blossoms

and yet Gazan children ... 

one thousand cranes

War News on Mute Haiku

war news on mute

our pot of tea steeps

dark and darker

Sense & Sensibility, January 2026

Stock Ticker Tanka

Against the Drowning Noise of Other Words, CCXCVI: "stock ticker "

a bruised girl’s hand

clutches a slice of bread

in pixels—

a stock ticker flashes past

Lockheed Martin up red-hot

NeverEnding Story May 25 2026

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

May 24 2026: Israel's Destruction of Gaza Mapped Using Digital Archive of Wartime Footage

Built from geolocated videos, photographs and social media posts, the website – called Genocide Live – compiles footage of Israeli airstrikes, military manoeuvres, and destruction from across Gaza, the West Bank and the wider regional war, including in Lebanon, Syria, Iran and Qatar.

May 25 2026: Humanitarian Conditions in Gaza Deteriorating Again, Aid Groups Warn

The groups report a resurgence in malnutrition among Gazan children, as well as deaths resulting from a failure to provide medical evacuations, collapsing sewage systems, a spike in pest infestations and a serious shortage of medical equipment, among other problems.

And Kavout, Stock Analysis: Is Global Conflict Driving a New Era for Defense Stocks

Key Takeaways

Global defense spending, now at an estimated $3 trillion, is surging due to escalating geopolitical tensions, creating a robust tailwind for defense contractors and drone technology firms.

Lockheed Martin (LMT) offers investors a stable, blue-chip play on this trend, benefiting from strong demand for its established platforms and a substantial backlog, despite its premium valuation.

Added: Against the Drowning Noise of Other Words, CCXCVII: "Eid al-Adha"

Eid al-Adha

shrouded in smoky dust

armless Gazan child

FYI: Eid al-Adha (May 26–30) is the Feast of Sacrifice, the largest of the two main Islamic festivals celebrated worldwide. It is traditionally marked by clean clothes, festive meals, and charity.

Added:

her only son's photo

as he was

Memorial Day

Added:

in breezy sunshine

tulip bulbs tucked in the earth

last autumn

begin to murmur awake ...

will our hope for peace take root?

FYI: Vision of Humanity: Highest number of countries engaged in conflict since World War II

Added:

the edge

of this dappled trail

shadow and me

Added:

gazing out

at this borderless spring sky 

thoughts pass through

Added:

kitchen secret

in the slanted moonlight

onions unpeeled

Added:

half-sleep, half-wake 

my hand across the bed

finds a hollow

Added:

sultry beach night

my body finds the spot

where hers once lay

Added:

solar eclipse

a church bell’s echo slips

into the dark

The Passion

the glow of fireballs

in a dead baby's eyes

the stone cross tilted

Silhouetted against the half collapsed and blood-splattered wall, the parish priest of Holy Family Church looks into the cellphone camera, and says in a firm voice, "nuns and I will stay and take care of elderly and wounded people, pregnant women and children."

"Are you not afraid of dying during the next Israeli strike?"

"Jesus is weak and vulnerable among people who need help and comfort, and that is exactly the way, the only way,  in which Jesus can be with us and help us."

Contemporary Haibun Online, 21:3, 2025

Whitewashed Road Sign Tanka

Against the Drowning Noise of Other Words, CCLXXXVIII: "a whitewashed road sign"

dust swirling past

"<-- Tarqumia, Jerusalem -->

peace be with you" 

under the scorching sun

a whitewashed road sign

NeverEnding Story, March 30 2026

Added: Against the Drowning Noise of Other Words, CCLXXXIX: "skeletal house"

skeletal house  

and charred pottery shards --  

grass creeps in the cracks

Added: Against the Drowning Noise of Other Words, CCXC: "between wire fences"

slate-gray sky

swarm after swarm of flies

between wire fences

Added: Against the Drowning Noise of Other Words, CCXCI: "the Death Bill"

Sde Teiman

silhouetted against desert sunset 

on the TV

passing of the Death Bill

popping of champagne 

FYI:  Sde Teiman is a scandal-plagued Israeli military detention camp in the Negev desert near the Gaza border.

And Haaretz, April 1, 2026: The Death Penalty Bill Illustrates How the Kahanist Revolution Has Taken Over Israeli Society

The evening of the vote marked not only a moral abyss, but also anointed the next right-wing leader: Itamar Ben-Gvir, who has managed to transform himself from a marginal thug into a shaper of right-wing ideology

Add:

straddled between

this war-torn world and the one

in my mind ...

I slam the blinds down

as fists crash on the street

Law Is King

Trump Empire, Inc, XC

written for No Kings protests

just a dream, and yet ...

the mountain lion roars

to grazing sheep:

once elected as your King

I'll be vegetarian

the peanut-brained man

behind the Resolute Desk

grins to cameras,

just a little excursion...

oily clouds over Tehran

how much bullshit

can come out of one ass-hole

a veteran’s refrain

cracks and booms through iron bars

at the White House gate

the Capitol fence

shadowed against the sky

in twilight chill

lineups snake at the pumps

and at food banks too

chant after chant

of eggflation, fried truth

scrambled justice ...

a mutt's neck sign: I can poop

a better president

FYI: The title alludes to the famous quote from Thomas Paine's 1776 pamphlet, Common Sense: In America, THE LAW IS KING.

NeverEnding Story, March 28 2026

Added: Trump Empire, Inc, XCI

the stacking

of KKK hood, MAGA hat

and ICE cap ...

my beagle takes a dump

it steams the same in the snow

Added:

A 22-foot golden statue of Donald Trump looms at his Florida golf resort. 

from the statue

a flicker of sunlight —

seagulls drop white

FYI: This senryu-inflected gembun is written in response to MS Now, May 11 2026: Trump celebrates unveiling of 22-foot Don Colossus statue at Miami-area golf course

“For more than a year, the golden statue has been at the center of one of the stranger moneymaking ventures of the Trump era,” the New York Times noted. “A group of cryptocurrency investors paid $300,000 to have a sculptor create it as a tribute to Mr. Trump, an outspoken crypto proponent. Then they used it to promote a memecoin called $PATRIOT.”

Added: Politics of Distraction, IV:

An Elegy

Silhouetted against twilight, the façade reads:

"The Donald J. Trump and John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts"

across slabs of vein-streaked marble.

will the past be past?

redbud petals curl inward

this spring equinox

FYI: L1 of the haiku alludes to a famous assertion by William Faulkner:

The past is never dead. It's not even past.

This line, from Requiem for a Nun, resonates with historical context: Faulkner’s work was deeply admired by President John F. Kennedy, who, following Faulkner’s death in 1962, led national tributes stating, "Since Henry James, no writer has left behind such a vast and enduring monument to the strength of American literature."

In the haibun, the literary ghost/Faulkner reference in L1 functions as a structural haunting, bridging the weight of prose with the delicacy of haiku.

In literature, ghosts rarely just haunt—they speak. A "literary ghost" is one such spirit: a text, a phrase, or an idea from the past that refuses to stay buried. Unlike a simple allusion, which nods at another work, a literary ghost inhabits a new piece, creating a spectral presence that shapes meaning, mood, and memory.

Where an allusion informs, a literary ghost haunts. It can transform names, places, or words into conduits of history and memory, making the familiar feel strange, uncanny, and alive.

For more about the use of literary ghosts, see To the Lighthouse: Literary Ghost, A "Specific and Powerful Type of Allusion"

Trade War News Haiku

yellowing leaves 

astir in the night wind ...

trade war news

Fireflies' Light, 32, October 2025

An Immigrant Poet's Reflection on Writing the Suffering of Others

"Merely to say, to see and say, things 
as they are,” grows loud ... and louder in a corner of my mind as moonlight slants through the study window.

[decades-long

inhuman occupation compressed]

to one-day attacks

reponding with the red glow

of missiles in Gaza's night sky

this endless loop:

October 7, October 7 ...

[and yet

the decades BEFORE

and the day AFTER] bloodshedding

each bombed-out house:

an album with no photos

but with people

living, wounded and dead

pressed between its pages

anything new

under Gaza's smeared sun?

smoky rubble

beyond smoky rubble, and yet

again smoky rubble

I etch each pain with a borrowed tongue, then every word becomes a betrayal; but all the silence will turn into a heart wound. Turning my gaze from writing, then looking out the window at the moon, its fullness, I mutter, "what is the use of useless poetry when it cannot stop the killing?"

Cattails, October 2025

Yawp of "USA!" Tanka

a lament for Walt Whitman's America

to cameras

no, more wars! the chant

echoes, echoing

around the Congress chamber

swelled with the yawp of USA!

NeverEnding Story, March 11 2026

FYI: The joshi (prefatory note), “a lament for Walt Whitman's America,” serves as the thematic anchor of the tanka. By invoking the “barbaric yawp” from Song of Myself by Walt Whitman, the tanka establishes a pointed irony: what Whitman envisioned as a raw, soulful cry of individual liberation and democratic vitality has here been transformed into a partisan, nationalistic roar.

And For more about the use of "joshi," see "To the Lighthouse" post, "Joshi (Prefatory Note) as a Poetic Device."

Breaking the Fast Tanka

Against the Drowning Noise of Other Words, CCLXXXVI: "breaking the fast"

buzzing of drones

over a bomb-scarred alley

a family 

breaks their fast with a cracked pot

of lentils and rice,  and dirt

NeverEnding Story, March 5 2026

FYI: In line 5, the comma acts as a terminal caesura and serves multiple purposes:

Final Blow Effect: The comma isolates “and dirt”, forcing the reader to pause after the domestic imagery of food. This sudden intrusion mirrors how war penetrates even the most private, intimate spaces.

Rhythmic Disruption: It acts as a metrical “cut,” breaking the expected flow of the meal. This mirrors the brokenness already evoked by the “cracked pot” and the “bomb-scarred alley.”

Slowing the Pace: The pause allows the shocking image to sink in. The reader cannot skim past “dirt”; instead, its weight—the ultimate tragedy of the scene—is fully felt.

For more about terminal caesura, see  "To the Lighthouse: Terminal Caesura"

"No, More Wars" Senryu

Trump Empire, Inc, LXXX

the man's meaty smile

behind his Resolute Desk

no, more wars: I ran

NeverEnding Story, March 4 2026

FYI: This could be read as a prequel to my senbun below:

Peace Is War

The butcher pushes more red meat through steel teeth. The wall-mounted TV blares “Operation Epic Fury” between discount ads. 

war after war ...

a white-haired man's gaunt face

in the window glare

The New Verse News, March 1 2026

And my tanka below could be read as the sequel to the haibun above:

a MAGA pin

on this old man's breast pocket ...

his patience 

stretched to the limit

by a breadline blocks ahead

NeverEnding Story, July 13 2023

FYI: University of California, Riverside/UCR study, April 17, 2023: [Cumulative] Poverty is the 4th greatest cause of U.S. deaths: Only heart disease, cancer, and smoking were associated with a greater number of deaths.

Added: Trump Empire, Inc, LXXXI

written in response to Secretary of State Marco Rubio's statement about Isreal's war plans

Op. Epstein Fury:

Israel yanking the leash

of the Trump bulldog

FYI: The official name is "Operation Epic Fury." L1 works both a deliberate satirical jab at the administration's past associations and a mockery of Trump's "political distraction strategy."

Al Jazeera: February 26, 2026: Epstein and the politics of distraction

Scandal individualises corruption, creating a spectacle that redirects anger away from structural power.

March 4, 2026: Analyst says interest in Epstein files plummeted after war on Iran launched

And Democracy Now, March 3 2026: Secretary of State Marco Rubio Says Israel’s War Plans Compelled U.S. to Join Assault on Iran

Secretary of State Marco Rubio: “The president made the very wise decision. We knew that there was going to be an Israeli action. We knew that that would precipitate an attack against American forces. And we knew that if we didn’t preemptively go after them before they launched those attacks, we would suffer higher casualties.”

Added: Trump Empire, Inc, LXXXII

No, More Wars

     dripping

     oil

reprinted in smols, March 7 2026

FYI: This is a prequel to my smols below:

White House entrance

         No Parking 

NeverEnding Story, February 3, 2026

Added: Trump Empire, Inc, LXXXIII

            Netanyahu

fireballs     on       Iran

                  

              Trump

Added: Trump Empire, Inc, LXXXIV

   White House

oiled with blood

Added: Trump Empire, Inc, LXXXV

War Is Peace Is War

a visual 3-smol sequence

             No, More Wars

                 dripping

                 oil

          Netanyahu

fireballs    on     Iran

             Trump

           White House

        oiled with blood

Added: Against the Drowning Noise of Other Words, CCLXXXVII: "sniper's gun"

headlines on Iran --

sun glints on the sniper’s gun

aimed at a Gazan

Added:

rain to sleet to snow

at last sunlight through clouds

war in early March

Added:

this morning sky

tinged with layers of gray ...

that's the question

to get up to work or not

as ticker headlines flash red

Peace Is War

The butcher pushes more red meat through steel teeth. The wall-mounted TV blares “Operation Epic Fury” between discount ads. 

war after war ...

a white-haired man's gaunt face

in the window glare

The New Verse News, March 1 2026

Grinding on ...

the wind moans

through snow-laden branches

shadows on their cheeks

white-haired Ukrainians peer

behind shelter windows

in the cold snap

a neon-lit billboard

above Kursk's mall:

men in work suits hold AKs

framed against tricolors

NeverEnding Story, February 24 2026

FYI: Kursk is a city in southwestern Russia near the Ukrainian border. For more about poems on Russia's invasion of Ukraine, see "Special Feature: Selected Poems for Reflections on the Fourth Anniversary of Russia's Invasion of Ukraine"

And my tanka below could be read as its sequel:

the butcher

throwing more meat

into his grinder 

the wall-mounted TV blasts

war after war ...

Ribbons, 20:1, Winter 2024

Added:

Journey, Not Here and Now

Donbas teen's gaze

at a row of church spires ...

sunrise tinged gray

Behind him, the roofline sinks lower with each step, until only the cross atop the church shows above the trees. Ahead, the road bends where he cannot see.

what ifs …

beneath shadowed skies

the border pass

FYI: The vast majority of the Ukrainian region, the Donbas, is now occupied by Russia