Sunday, June 1, 2014

Flower haiku


Welcome to the June issue of brass bell: a haiku journal . . . this month, devoted to flowers.

You will find work here by 54 contributors, from Bulgaria, Canada, Denmark, India, Israel, Japan, Poland, Romania, Singapore, Sweden, United Kingdom, United States. 

I hope you will enjoy this bouquet.
zee


the last rose
an old gardener looks
away
- Anna Mazurkiewicz

fall anemones
my nighttime worry
about mortality
- Anne Burgevin

green mayapple leaves
tenderly hide the round fruit
under a shelter
- Anne Wexler

among pink spirea
golden torch
— bold dandelion
- Antonia Matthew

summer twilight —
a waft of jasmine
from her fan
 - Asni Amin

rose flowered tea cups
offering up
steeped chamomile blooms
- Barbara Most

magnolia
holding water for bee
and butterfly
- C. Robin Janning

daffodils in the woods
someone lived here
once
- Cady Fontana

my street clotted
with apple blossoms
pale scent of stars
- Carole Johnston

summer rain …
i bathe in the scent
of wildflowers
- Caroline Skanne

long-stemmed roses
now she tells me
she's allergic
- Carolyn Coit Dancy

mother's diary —
 between two blank pages
a pressed snowdrop
- Cezar-Florin Ciobica

rose petals
in the ditch
gathering my thoughts
- Chen-ou Liu

in your Dixie cup
mother's day morning glory
turns toward the sun
- Chris Bankert-Wray

lights and shadows
in wild orchids –
preparing sumi e brushes
- Daniela Lacramioara Capota

fewer tulips than yesterday —
motionless rabbit
eyes me through the fence
- deanna tiefenthal

wisteria . . .
we step in puddles
of confetti
- Debbie Strange

an arroyo filled
with Matilija poppies . . .
your guitar
- Deborah P Kolodji

oh my peonies
dressed in your fragrant tutus
your dance much too brief
- Edna Brown

on the waterfront 
a cluster of activity
white yarrow
- G. R. LeBlanc

lilacs in bloom
some violet, some white —
who decides?
- Gabrielle Vehar

late summer flowers . . .
the joy
of a good sneeze
- Helen Buckingham

morning mist
forsythia petals
under a robin's wing
- Isabel Loverro

probably another 5 billion times pear blossoms
- johannes s. h. bjerg

cut flowers . . .
arranging the bouquet
to hide what's missing
Julie Bloss Kelsey

sweeping up after 
your birthday
cherry blossoms
- Kath Abela Wilson

light lessens itself
tulip trees drop their blossoms
soften the path home
- Kim Tedrow

in her purple hat
on the way to the bus stop
a pause for clematis
- kris moon

unknown flower . . .
just picking
our silence
- Lech Szeglowski

rhododendron buds
open: firework explosion —
very slow motion
- Margaret Fisher Squires

blue sky –
only a poppy  thread
in bloom
- Maria Tirenescu

evening primrose —
caressed by moths at sundown —
unfurl their skirts in moon glow
- Mary Carter Ginn

first yellow crocus . . .
i release
my winter heart
- Pamela A. Babusci 

early June begin
looking for elderberry
umbels in grass
- Patricia Coleman

I remember scilla
bloomed a carpet of blue twinkles —
I miss them
- Peggy Miller

thunder and crickets —
from beyond the window screen
the scent of lilacs
- Phoebe Lakin

amidst drowsy rain
just in time for the heat waves
crabapple blossoms
- Phoebe Shalloway

dusky moon —
wilted flowers
on the footpath
- Pravat Kumar Padhy

cemetery visit
the forget-me-nots
in full bloom
- Rachel Sutcliffe

neighboring balconies —
our flowers don’t speak 
to each other either
- Radka Mindova
(translated by Maya Lyubenova)

checkpoint at dawn —
the field of sunflowers
facing darkness
- Rita Odeh

ruins of a castle
wild flowers
in the ballroom
- Robert Kania

snowflakes 
on the window pane . . .
poinsettias
- Shloka Shankar

butterfly
a sunflower droops
under it's weight
- Shrikaanth Krishnamurthy

longer days
the dogwood blooms —
i release my grip
- Sondra J. Byrnes

raucous blue jay!  your
rough landing — our last magnolia
blossom shatters
- Sue Norvell

peony — your petticoats
flash in the moonlight — 
tarantella dancer
- Susan Lesser

rhododendron buds
unexpected pink surprise
like candy lipstick
- Susan Lytle

yellow roses in
bloom — a scraggly bush grandma
planted way back when
- Tina Wright

pending her return
a bunch of carnations
on the table
- Vessislava Savova

finding rose petals
in an old book . . .
wings of memory
- Vibeke Laier

mother's garden
flowering still
after her passing
- Wendy Smith

angel's trumpets
ecstatic hymn
in my father's garden
- Yvette Rubio

honeysuckle decadence
sweet like candy
almost, almost too much
- Yvonne Fisher

breezy morning
as I pass them  
pansies shake with laughter
Zee Zahava


previously published:
Helen Buckingham — late summer flowers — The Heron's Nest 11.3
Radka Mindova — neighboring balconies — World Haiku Review April 2014 
Pamela A. Babusci — first yellow crocus — Basho Haiku Festival Anthology Japan  1997
Rita Odeh — checkpoint at dawn — from her collection of haiku Buds of Dreams
Robert Kania — ruins of a castle — 42nd Caribbean Kigo Kukai May 2013