Colorful Haiku

Welcome to the February 2021 issue of brass bell: a haiku journal

Poems arrived from Australia, Brazil, Canada, Denmark, Ecuador, Ghana, India, Italy, New Zealand, the Philippines, Poland, Singapore, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and the United States


cherry blossom
carpets the neighborhood
the street sweeper hesitates
    Adjei Agyei-Baah

egg yolks
my
winter sun
    ai li

kelp line
near the edge where sea colors
change blues
    Alan Bern

dried persimmons
we scare away tigers
who come for tea
    Alan Summers

pastel pond
the iris of her eyes
staring back at me
    Amy Losak

new dye —
the orange of the sunset
on my hair
    Angela Giordano

winter oak leaves
brown talons grasp
falling snow
    Antonia Matthew

all aflutter
planning the next trip
yellow butterfly
    Barbara Kaufmann

fog
wrapped in shades of gray
I’m alone
    Barbara Tate

winter rain
pooling
on pewter-colored ice
    Bill Waters

first fairy tale
my daughter refuses
the red apple
    Billy Antonio

red fleece vest
blue shirt beneath
i feel quite purple
    Blue Waters

pitch black
something croaks
in the Florida night
    Brad Bennett

pots of green moss
punctuate the garden . . .
wicked winter wind
    C. Robin Janning

cherry pink
sunrise bites a chunk
out of grey
    Carole Johnston

roses a deeper crimson melting frost
    Caroline Skanne

a red butterfly
from blossom to blossom
her scent lingers
    Chen-ou Liu

grey skies
shouts of fishermen
in orange
    Christina Martin

spider silk
strands of silver
on my skin
    Christina Sng

you are my sunshine
my only sunshine . . . smiling
in mom’s gold chair
    Claire Vogel Camargo

persimmons
golden crowns fill
with snow
    Debbie Strange

raging snowstorm —
framed against the window
a white amaryllis
    Deborah Burke Henderson

expecting a black cat
I see a mouse . . .
the day my luck changed
    Deborah P Kolodji

red onion
sliced into rings
of light
    Donna Fleischer

the long red-earth road
a water buffalo
jangles homeward
    Hannah Mahoney

blackout
in motion
flying ants
    Helen Buckingham

snowflakes are falling
the garden is bare
red tulips asleep
    Isabel Loverro

indigo rain
the blue scribbles
of my life story
    Jackie Chou

burgundy fields
we make a toast
to our golden years
    Jay Friedenberg

istanbul street vendors
sell scarlet pomegranate juice
to sunburned tourists
    Jim Mazza

rusty door springs red-winged blackbirds
    Jo Balistreri

small red boots
splashing
big puddles
    Joan McNerney

in winter’s grasp —
two more inches
of grey hair
    Julie Bloss Kelsey

lavender lipstick
my smile the mix
of mother and daughter
    Kath Abela Wilson

on the deck railing
an orange half & an oriole . . .
suddenly, one flies away!
    Kathleen Kramer

red geranium
green watering can, you are
so sure of yourselves
    Katya Sabaroff Taylor

brindle . . .
the dog becomes
one with the bush
    Madhuri Pillai

dinosaur prints
the little one paints
her hands green
    Marianne Paul

rising out
of the wet subway steps
a red umbrella
    Mark Miller

frosty sunup
chimneys send pink puffs
each to the other
    Marta Chocilowska

viridian hue
sweetgrass
waves from the canvas
    Melissa Hamilton

sun-saturated
balls of magenta orchids
punctuate rock cliffs
    Mimi Foyle

glossy black chicken
tow-headed toddler
eye to eye
    Miriam Sagan

winter morning
on the kitchen table
a bowl full of oranges
    Olivier Schopfer

a forest dreaming
in the language of crows
her mauve shawl
    Pragya Vishnoi

wee green snake
my first grade sweetheart
offers his heart
    Pris Campbell

strawberries for sale
their redness vanishes
along the road
    Rosa Clement

rush hour sunset
flower vendor swings red glads
in a slow circle
    Ruth Yarrow

the red kayak
could be anywhere
evening mist
    Sandi Pray

red roses
she feeds to the bin
Valentine’s Day
    Sherry Grant

town fountain
some of the passers-by
in rainbow mist
    Simon Hanson

pink, lavender, orange dahlias
in the snowy mailbox
garden catalog’s cover
    Sue Norvell

skipping stones . . .
remembering the blue
in dad’s eyes
    Theresa A. Cancro

fuchsia twilight
sometimes i
forget to breathe
    Tiffany Shaw-Diaz

her shadow on the
white wall not as black as my
cat lapping water
    Tina Wright

black-eyed pigs
with silver wings —
art deco socks
    Valentina Ranaldi-Adams

water painting
enough color for
the pink roses
    Vibeke Laier

I dream in color
hugs, no masks
blue water all around
    Yvonne Fisher

green light  
holding hands
mother and i skip across the street
    Zee Zahava