Welcome to the September issue of brass bell: a haiku journal. This month there is no particular theme but each poem is just one line in length — there is great beauty and depth in this deceptively simple form.
You will find work here by 76 contributors, from Australia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Canada, Denmark, England, France, India, Poland, Romania, Scotland, Spain, and The United States.
Ajaya Mahala
shifting of sand dunes noise in moonlight
fainter and fainter bicycle riders and moon distancing
no love moisture-proof cell phone kiss
Alan Catlin
in dream garden sand falling instead of rain
sleeping on straw mats wind riffles rice paper walls
faded plastic grave side flowers artificial grief
between snow storms moon shadows layers of lost light
Alan Summers
after rain midnight dreams a hedgehog
Gare du Nord shifting art deco snow
lonely stars pushing the envelope for a trace of moon
blues change the colour rain
An Mayou
how to start a river a sigh without an end
a shower of giggles her curly hair
thunder moon over open road the same song over again
Anisoara Iordache
eating melons on the road no matter who passes by
Angelee Deodhar
citronella candle still the distant buzz of mosquitoes
walking on clouds rain pools become the sky
prom night waiting wanting waiting
Angelo B. Ancheta
super moon face to face with my fears
monsoon moon finding meaning in between
Anna Goluba
waiting room becomes our whole world
raining my watch still says the same hour
hesitation another train leaves without me
between one incarnation and another the little butterfly
Antonia Matthew
despite white dogwood blossoms my heart is grey
empty cicada shell still clings to sedum stalk
too busy to see what I miss
grey day I draw the Fool
Archana Kapoor Nagpal
falling rain still my paper boat sails over the moon
Arvinder Kaur
among thousands of leaves my loneliness
showing through glass splinters a bit of me
selfie opting for the fade option
ayaz daryl nielsen
autumn hovers summer's grey hair
fireflies! a forgotten dream
embarrassed our hammock gossips
quickg'mornin'smooch
Barbara Kaufmann
as if the sky fell the blue in his eyes
big bang pink cosmos opening
lavender scented garden my grandmother's arms
noisy blackbird flying into an afternoon nap
Barbara Tate
a snail with no shell my broken toe
drought the only sound a cottonwood crying
laugh lines I trace a map to the past
act three I can't always be who I am
Ben Mitchell
lilacs the color of twilight
warm tea my hands fold around her face
Bozidar Skobic
internet connects distant people but not the neighbors
this physical work is my relaxation a new haiku
Candi Cooper-Towler
working late crescent moon balancing Mars on her head
windswept beach voices escape the smell of seaweed
old photos that horse is gone but I still have the saddle
silver rain a moment's sun on this stormy day
Carl Seguiban
red leaves rein in the blues autumn sky
Carole Johnston
into morning mist dog and I
blue butterfly hovers above her shadow our last day
moonbops upstreet neighborhood bluesband
Carolyn Coit Dancy
talking a blue streak runningtheredlight
through the screen door a cat's meow and lilacs
all the way to city limits tiger lilies
amorphous clouds coloring outside the lines
Catherine Rigutto
prisoner of the wind the old paper seeks freedom
sea breeze the beach umbrella fights for dignity
Cezar-Florin Ciobica
spring rain her ring loose
all that I need a fragrant wind
cherryblossomscherryblossoms
Charles Trumbull
she slips off her shift pears in bloom
the quiet of cows in the rain
not-quite-full moon this night of yearning
Chen-ou Liu
summer moonlight on my cheek a lock of her hair
nightingale song flowing down the river thoughts of my ex
hercat mydog resting side by side herbackmyback
Daniela Lacramioara Capota
early morning on the same way we’re sharing the silence
after storm full moon hanging in the cactus flower
Debbie Strange
deserted beach a fading bouquet of rental canoes
i make a wish for one more summer thistledown
the sea sets the sun adrift into darkness
Mt. Everest the way your bones shoulder sky
Diana Petkova
how low is the mountain after a night of snow
the dreams between sunset and sunrise
a small world surrounded by mountains
Diana Teneva
mist only children’s voices in the park
arm in arm even in their sleep chestnut morning
first kiss the world is not the same
Frank Judge
the dates on Dad's gravestone what matters is the hyphen
meeting in Paris after months apart your kisses taste different
Gergana Yaninska
full moon the wolf pack rehearsing
a quarrel the turkeys are hungry
Helen Buckingham
dawn the long step from my desk to my bed
goths mouth Keats among the bulldozers
sheep sheep security light
a t l a s t h e s u n
Isabella Loverro
a bucket full of wildflowers at my door
cooing morning doves brighten my day
crickets find their song in the stillness of night
Jayashree Maniyil
scent of jasmine weaves through my false hair
one by one the cygnets land rippling the sky
the train behind the light behind the morning mist
Jennifer Groff
possibility dwells in the sliver of day before light breaks
perched on shifting sand a one-legged gull waiting for the right wind
restless night lit up with the big fat crying baby moon
Jim Kacian
somewhere becoming rain becoming somewhere
my hometown still in the small hours
the wide west mile after mile of wavelength
the crickets stop chirping that much dawn
Joan McNerney
at road’s end the sun waits for us
rain spills like long black ink stains
March quietly turns emerald green
reading the calligraphy of oceans
Joann Grisetti
muddy blues the high notes drift upriver
stars their impact on the river
drowning in Tuesday sunshine a bee on the daisy
round trip the same bird chatter
Johannes S. H. Bjerg
among other dust motes I flutter in your wind
back home where the rain falls half a moon
where I remember the Seine was the Seine on a photo
John Kinory
insomnia I develop an allergy to middle C
in the junkshop bin a photo of someone I knew
seawall the wind presses us together
John McDonald
goslings pass by in their feather boats
March winds bending the old man
heron hunched in a net of shadows
John McManus
stalking through the forest my grandfather's last words
untouched the hills begin a new song
rain and more rain I slide my hand beneath her shirt
away from it all the river becomes a flock of birds
Julian O'Dea
the scents of the flower bed came in on warm fur
looking in the mirror for that face that always hides
some of the breezes bring memories too
shop girl neatly wrapped
Kanchan Chatterjee
prayerwheels a parrot flies away
night sky which star are you Granny?
moonshadow the things I never say
Katha Abela Wilson
blue marble the sky down stone stairs one by one
wondering about the moon when I am not watching
over and over mouthing the same word golden koi
Lance R. Robertson
a desire surfaces for pictureless walls
letting the phone ring I could be out
old man limps the dog
in the shed my rubber boot filled with butter nuts
Laura Williams
artistic liberty I fill in an unclouded sky
watching a new wave grow old flock of seagulls
couched in parentheses (I become an afterthought)
seventy times seven the push and pull of the tide
Lavana Kray
my broken glasses cause me to hear things I never saw
your scent seeks me through the open door
moving my grassy pillow with the cloud's shadow
Lee Wagner
jealous clouds bright memories wait for noon
chrysalis a baby remembers the future
Linda Keeler
zinnia my heart flutters with the swallowtail
little yellow leaves sweeping away summer
Luciana Vladimir
little flower's bell doesn't sound like a brass bell
Magdalena Banaszkiewicz
fast train at another station autumn too
holding a thread of gossamer distant sound of rain
Mark E. Brager
steady spring rain the first time you left me
the old roof overnight restored snowfall
in tangled sheets breathing hyacinth and moonlight
torn rice paper the ragged edge of dawn
Mary Hohlman
the way my thoughts cry into the night coyote moon
handful of flowers how sweet her morning song
song sparrow I struggle to find the right words
holding you back from me morning mist
Max Babi
room mostly black listening to the blues
thin gruel supports thin wishes
Nancy Wells
morning glory song twice heard before dawn
Neal Whitman
ebb tide my brother's last letter
calling in late night radio a low note
sharpening my garden shears lovers' quarrel
Pamela A. Babusci
birdless sky i turn and face the kite marathon
carrying chrysanthemums to the grave before the morning star
lonely tonight i drink all the moonbeams
i climb the mountain with my eyes never ending snow
Paresh Tiwari
teach me fig the zen of a fallen leaf
midnight wolf the howl of the last free moon
my sky the colour of five wild kites
Pat Geyer
painting a river i drop in a waterfall
waiting to scare up some morning i yawn
arms of the dragon tree bleed pulsing life
Patricia Prine
thick fog nervous headlights pierce the gloom
tick tock listening to the hours slip away
cluster of leaves curl against the fence keeping warm
Peter Newton
the river when I need to just go with it
anniversary of her death just as sudden
the way the water shimmers my belief in mermaids
whatever I was thinking the cardinal's red
Petruta Ionescu
mulling it over the phases of the moon
Pilar Fernandez-Canadas Greenwood
each drop followed by another drop crescendo of summer rain
Pravat Kumar Padhy
winter cloud so close to me
along with my haiku winter solstice
Radka Mindova
full moon the final escape of my cat
snowflakes i remember the words of a prayer
fanfares the white lilacs bloom
Ramesh Anand
beach sunset the lightness of children at a distance
autumn waterfall listening deep to my inner voice
a wild petal backstroking over the rippling moon
almost warm the sight of petals around the seed
Rob Sullivan
rain makes sisters and brothers of all
one centered step follows another thought
precious bubble surfaces on pond's accepting face
Robert Henry Poulin
weeding I save those with flowers
awaken Buddha mind half awake is half asleep
streaking star we wished on once
neighbor's wood pile lost is the memory but for his ax
Samar Ghose
kookaburra laughing the silence louder at dusk
in the distance heat lightning I can't hear
spelling bee spellbound the illiterate father watches his son
driftwood silent lapping water
Sandi Pray
long walk down an empty beach halfway to nowhere
even as my pencil breaks lightning
the shape of our laughter old friends
trail's end the sky continues on
Shloka Shankar
studying my curves together graphology
in my head a tete-a-tete with myself
quicksand you kiss me goodbye
a deafening lull hinders my muse
Sondra J. Byrnes
up until now everything
love letter the synapses misfire
if I should break loose consider the shards
late spring we worry up the tulips
Stacey Murphy
waves retreat with the worries i send to sea
Vessislava Savova
lady a hat hidden in a box
dew falls on the grass i look for four-leaf clovers
an old piano some cobwebs between my fingers
Vibeke Laier
summer morning nameless little flower by the riverside
moonlight the way the body changes to silk
in the street a path of tiny lanterns harvest moon
night fall the last drop of sunlight caught in a puddle
Zee Zahava
snowflakes unwrinkle me
daydreaming about a garden i can daydream in
muddy day happy day
late afternoon curled into a nap beside you
