Welcome to the September 2022 issue of brass bell: a haiku journal.
The theme of this month’s collection is “homeplace”
Contributing poets are from Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Denmark, Ecuador, India, Ireland, Italy, Malaysia, Malta, Pakistan, Poland, Romania, Singapore, Spain, the United Kingdom, the United States, and Wales
old malaya
the only way back
is to dream
ai li
dallas, texas
tarzan matinee starting
all bike racks filled
Al Gallia
berkeley everything expected begins again
Alan Bern
bowburn, england
putting granddad back
in the garden
Alan Peat
cairnbrook, pennsylvania
first grade photo
my bangs crooked
Alexis Rotella
bucharest, romania
not visible when I
spin the globe
Ana Drobot
avigliano, italy
mother teaches me
to knit
Angela Giordano
camogli, italy
the wind tastes of salt
and fried fish
Angiola Inglese
northern appalachia
the abandoned quarry
our riviera
Barbara Sabol
akron, ohio
planting a row of catnip
for the kittens
Barbara Tate Sayre
linden, new jersey
hungry in Hebrew school
for five years
Barrie Levine
greensburg, kansas
chasing crows
down rows of cornstalks
Blue Waters
banstead, england
watching the cricket game
from high in a may tree
Bryan D. Cook
belleville, illinois
the geese that pass through
twice a year
Bryan Rickert
dayton, ohio
stars and clouds all know my name . . .
autumn insects hum
C. Robin Janning
pearl harbor
the oval roof
of our quonset hut
Carol Judkins
santa fe trail
beneath the wind-bent grass
the ruts of ages
Charles Trumball
fuzhou, fujian
carrying water home
in buckets
Chen Xiaoou
old map of taipei . . .
lost again in the backstreets
of my mind
Chen-ou Liu
borneo
bamboo longhouses
i worry about fire
Christina Chin
great neck, long island
the old house
fireflies
Christina Martin
penang road, singapore
sitting like a boss
poking through dad’s desk
Christina Sng
christmas in manila
the sound of tambourines
made of bottle caps
Christine L. Villa
new mexico desert
dad lays out
mom’s japanese garden
Christine Wenk-Harrison
midland, texas
crouched under my first-grade desk
nuclear bomb drill
Claire Vogel Camargo
saskatchewan plain(s)ongs meadowlarks on my mind
Debbie Strange
reading, massachusetts
her ghost stories keep me
wide-eyed until dawn
Deborah Burke Henderson
northern spain
pink foggy breath
awakens the river
Elena Calvo
somewhere in bucharest
the apricot tree
my childhood hideout
Elena Malec
unteni, romania —
the scarecrow still wears
my school uniform
Florin C. Ciobica
thibodaux, louisiana
swimming in the bayou
until caught
Geoff Pope
rawalpindi, pakistan
exchanging little secrets
roof to roof
Hifsa Ashraf
a bronx apartment
aunts, uncles, and grandparents
a poor kid’s kingdom
Jack Goldman
taipei, taiwan
oyster omelets sizzle
in the night market
Jackie Chou
philadelphia
mustard on warm soft pretzels
dense and chewy
Janice Doppler
edina, minnesota
my scraped knee skin cells
still mixed with the asphalt
Jenna Le
pennsylvania avenue —
our front lawn generous
with four-leaf clovers
Jill Lange
ithaca, new york
pulled by my hair
swimming-hole rescue
Jim Mazza
pittsburgh, pennsylvania
making my own soda
in dad’s drugstore
Joan Leotta
the pennine hills
curlew cries
through the mist
Joanna Ashwell
bronx apartment
a stool by the stove
watching babeh make kugel
Joel Savishinsky
alton, illinois
we rotate potted plants beneath
our leaky roof
John J. Dunphy
north adams, massachusetts
my father picked berries
for school clothes money
John Pappas
chivilcoy, argentina
home from school
my smock stained with red berries
Jorge Giallorenzi
new freedom, pennsylvania
picking wildflowers
between the train tracks
Joshua St. Claire
cordoba, argentina
the sound of bells
among the raindrops
Julia Guzman
bountiful, utah
still in the backyard
eating sour plums
Julie Bloss Kelsey
staten island
my bedroom nightlight
was manhattan
Kath Abela Wilson
curwensville, pennsylvania
tannery whistle
seven, noon, and five
Kathy Kramer
san francisco fog
only the golden gate bridge
says where we still are
Katya Sabaroll Taylor
kerala, india
grandpa sings stories
of the temple elephants
Lakshmi Iyer
black lake, new york
daily chore
raking up dead fish
Laurinda Lind
wisconsin farm land
the cows
in our driveway
Lorraine A Padden
mansfield, ohio
engines from the sports car course start
the summer heat
Marcie Wessels
arlington, virginia
pretending to paint the house
with real mud
Margaret Fisher Squires
pawleys island, south carolina
flip flops
in the pluff mud
Margaret Walker
charleston lake, canada
breaking through the thin ice
with our canoes
Marianne Paul
calivil, victoria
moving the cattle herd
lost in dust
Marilyn Humbert
old Warsaw ruins
a crate of mossy wine bottles
in the cellar
Marta Chocilowska
buffalo, new york
our childhoods shaped
by snow & more snow
Mary Kendall
buffalo, new york
home of the buffalo bills
i love the t-shirts
Masha M.
auburn, new york
hitching to my first job
running the merry-go-round
Michael Flanagan
rahway, new jersey
oil refineries upwind
pool covered in soot
Michael G. Smith
achill islanders
forever facing out to sea
living and dead
Mike Gallagher
manipur, india
grandpa says
“we gave the world the game of polo”
Milan Rajkumar
hyde park library
fortnightly destination
ten books, one doughnut
Mimi Foyle
bucovina, romania
on my grandparents’ porch
just an old cricket
Mirela Brailean
crossing the george washington bridge lower level we call her martha
Miriam Sagan
lucknow, india
wishing upon the star
mom became
Neena Singh
east boston
the front stoop
where everything was shared
Pat Davis
lancashire mill town
with my thruppence
I buy sherbet lemons
Paul Beech
hal safi, malta
struggling up the ladder
the old lantern lighter
Paul Callus
pageland, south carolina
posed on watermelons
for tv news
Pris Campbell
new york’s hudson valley
summers finding fossils
on the hillside
Richard L. Matta
saddle brook, new jersey
sweat pouring down our faces
stoop ball
Robert Epstein
rural ohio
enough poison sumac
for everybody
Roberta Beach Jacobson
all rhode island
my arms and legs
your harbors
Ron Scully
manaus, brazil
the river showed my face
and I bowed to it
Rosa Clement
frederick, maryland
begging for a quarter
for the vending machines
Susan Burch
silver spring, maryland . . .
raising baby bunnies
in the playhouse
Theresa A. Cancro
moravia, new york
home revealed to me reading
winesburg, ohio
Tina Wright
ithaca, new york
every time i leave
i have returned
Tom Clausen
ambala cantt, india
a squirrel and I race
for the last guava
Vandana Parashar
randers, denmark
shadow of the old oak tree
all my sleeping dolls
Vibeke Laier
iowa city
walking home on the frozen creek —
in trouble again
Wilda Morris
bronx, new york
we put olives on our fingers
and call them puppets
Zee Zahava