Welcome to the May 2016 issue of brass bell: a haiku journal.
This month's theme is Small Things.
Contributors are from: Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Croatia, Denmark, England, Ghana, India, Ireland, Japan, Philippines, Poland, Romania, Scotland, Switzerland, Tunisia, Ukraine, and the United States
first sail
inside his paper boat
the weight of water
- Adjei Agyei-Baah
years ago born on a short street
- Alan Bern
the teddy bear
and a change of clothes
I plan a journey
- Alan Summers
crashing waves . . .
a small crab still having fun
beside the pebbles
- Ali Znaidi
rusty fishhooks —
I still carry with me
dad's wooden box
- Amauri Solon
new born's cry full moon
- Ana Drobot
finally together . . .
family reunion
in dollhouse
- Anna Goluba
thinking about you
I crack open
a walnut
- Anna Mazurkiewicz
the ecstasy
of butterflies
upon milkweed
- ayaz daryl nielsen
earthquake swarm —
cherry blossoms and others
tremble
- Barbara Hay
pointillism — I follow the dots
- Barbara Tate
square by square
by square, the beetle
scaling the screen
- Bill Waters
hometown visit father's untrimmed bonsai
- Billy Antonio
making wishes
the first star tonight
and dandelion fluff
- Brenda Roberts
mermaid tooth!
child holds up
a seashell piece
- Caroline Skanne
tiny mice
nibblers and chewers
of new parsley
- Chandler Hennessy Scott-Smith
bacon sizzling . . .
I whisper those three words
in her right ear
- Chen-ou Liu
marching beside
the boy scouts . . .
a line of ants
- Cliff "kawazu" Roberts
every morning —
my cat shows me
the way to the kitchen
- Daniela Lăcrămioara Capotă
spiderweb
I brush aside her
little traps
- Dave Read
white berries
by the picket fence
freshly painted
- David J. Kelly
dust motes
drift between sunbeams
your last letter
- Debbie Strange
rolled-up sleeves
button holes shrink
with age
- Dottie Piet
unfinished patchwork
my eye cannot see
the eye of a needle
- Đurđa Vukelić Rožić
a hummingbird nest —
hibiscus leaves conceal
two eggs
- Elena Malec
the morning’s promise:
every day is new
every day is the same
- Frank Robinson
black-and-white memory
the bridge of my first
kiss
- Gergana Yaninska
the huge black bee
comes back in the window
I didn't close
- Glenn Ingersoll
undulating
underthestairs
flyingants
- Helen Buckingham
in blue
small things bloom . . .
forget-me-not
- Hideo Suzuki
cold water on an african violet ghosts bloom
- Jan Benson
sparks
from the bonfire . . .
cicada song
- Jo Balistreri
amazing how many stars fit inside my windowpane
- Joan McNerney
pine trees a layer of used needles
- Joann Grisetti
bite my lips in the car a wasp
- Joanna M. Weston
one candle —
the beginning
of understanding
- Karen O'Leary
hemlock and cedar
needles soften each footfall:
stealth in the forest
- Karla Linn Merrifield
awake all night
the flower
in my hair
- Kath Abela Wilson
invisible mystery the perfume of the sea
- Katherine May
one tiny green shoot
bathed by a drizzly sky
cucumber to be
- Katya Sabaroff Taylor
engagement ring —
opening and closing
the little box
- Krzysztof Kokot
narrow passage —
moon squeezes
between the clouds
- Kumarendra Mallick
scattered showers
i too jump around
the puddles
- Lovette Carter
last year's nest
I'll never
know
- Margaret Jones
first day of school —
the girl hides her doll
in a satchel
- Maria Tirenescu
fruit flies
circling the peach
soft bruises
- Marianne Paul
damselfly . . .
this rain puddle
your universe
- Mark E. Brager
old wardrobe
in grandma's purse
casino chip
- Marta Chocilowska
preschool graduation
a yellow monarch
flies ahead of us
- Mary Hohlman
bell flowers —
silence deep
inside
- Mary Kendall
counting syllables
I haven’t heard a word
you’ve said
- Miriam Sagan
snowglobe hopefully I can dance tonight
- Nicholas Klacsanzky
a dent in the pillow — memory
- Nina Kovačić
last blackbird song
before nightfall
over-steeping tea
- Olivier Schopfer
fast whir as if the drone of a didgeridoo tiny hummingbird
- Pat Geyer
these are things I need:
cat food, carrots, cream, coffee
things that start with "C"
- Patti Witten
two wasps
in the pet shop window
are they for sale?
- philip d noble
overnight
six edible mushrooms
break ground
- Phyllis Lee
meditation hall —
the falling nail reveals
deep silence
- Pravat Kumar Padhy
pins on a map
that long shadow
of memory
- Raamesh Gowri Raghavan
old notebook
only the shadow
of a poem
- Rachel Sutcliffe
today the bud
at the end of the gray twig
whispers red maple
- Ron Scully
broken mirror
my face carefully
collected
- Rosa Clement
it ends
with a ladybug
moonlit poem
- Sandi Pray
eucalypt seed
the forest
held in my hand
- Simon Hanson
her gossip
how the dust motes
rise and resettle
- Sondra Byrnes
on this page
green blood —
crushed gnat wing
- Stephen Page
pomegranate seed
on the tip of my tongue
an apology
- Theresa A. Cancro
river riffles
a tiny bullhead
goes with the flow
- Tim Gardiner
setting sun
geese rising from
the still lake
- Vibeke Laier
lilies of the valley gather in their cups morning dew
- Virginia Popescu
stretching my ears
I listen for your breath
coming from upstairs
- Zee Zahava
With thanks to Yu Chang, whose haiku collection "Small Things Make Me Laugh" provided inspiration for this month's theme.