Welcome to the December 2016 issue of brass bell: a haiku journal.
This month showcases small poems on the theme HomePlace.
Contributors are from: Australia, Brazil, Canada, Croatia, Denmark, Ecuador, England, Ghana, India, Ireland, Japan, Poland, Singapore, Switzerland, Turkey, Wales, the U.K., and the United States
amakom, ghana
oil waste from biscuit factory
lights our lanterns at night
- Adjei Agyei-Baah
berkeley
wide park and dodgeball playground
all i thought i'd need
- Alan Bern
rio de janeiro
though born near the beach i dream
of horses and prairies
- Amauri Solon
new brunswick, new jersey
i am 10
the young men go off to korea
- Annie Wexler
new delhi, india
my hair styles change
from first crush to last
- Aparna Pathak
barrie, ontario
doing the dishes with my mother
explaining the poetry of simon & garfunkel
- Barbara Cartwright
akron, ohio
curfew broken
grounded again
- Barbara Tate
cranesville, west virginia
how my father smiled there
like no other place
- C. Robin Janning
cayutaville, new york
convertibles zoom by
too many to be a coincidence
- Caroline Gates-Lupton
stockholm
sucking the sweetness
out of a white lilac
- Caroline Skanne
syracuse, new york
a baby bird falls out of its nest
mom revives her with 2 drops of whiskey
- Chris McNamara
great neck, long island
watching out for the bully
who waits on the corner
- Christina Martin
amber mansions, singapore
where i first fell in love
with cats
- Christina Sng
yorktown heights, new york
front lawns manicured and tidy
i plant corn
- Christine Sanchirico
manila, philippines
crying over a broken necklace
made of santan flowers
- Christine L. Villa
midland, texas
stroking the soft bellies
of horny toads
- Claire Vogel Camargo
broken hill, new south wales
a malleefowl crossing
by the "beware of malleefowl" sign
- David J Kelly
rural georgia
on one grave
little toy trucks
- David Oates
saskatchewan . . .
we photograph antelope
in the gloaming
- Debbie Strange
niagara haze
maid of the mist looks
like a toy boat
- Dottie Piet
hayward fault line
clinging to my mother
since the quake of '89
- Elizabeth Alford
brooklyn
tension at the dining room table
my father carves the turkey
- Frances Helmstadter
in providence
angell street crosses benefit
and peace and plenty are parallel
- Frank Robinson
buffalo, new york
i played the violin
everyone else played football
- Gabrielle Vehar
sebastopol, california
sticky to the elbows
juice of windfall apples
- Glenn Ingersoll
virovitica, croatia
my father throws the scythe
into the barn
- Goran Gatalica
scranton, pennsylvania
hiding sandwiches
behind the radiator
- Grace Celeste
bosporus, turkey
waiting for a ferry
along with peddlers and gulls
- Guliz Mutlu
briar hill
looking over my toes in bed
i see canada across the river
- H. Fraser
mattapoisett
the stars
after my mother died
- Hannah Mahoney
south london department store
gels in distressed school uniforms
take tea
- Helen Buckingham
lima, ohio
drinking tang each morning
our prefab crackerbox home
- Jan Benson
columbus, ohio
on the front porch
shooting craps with dad
- Jennifer Hambrick
duluth, minnesota
grandma rocks me
and sings songs of ireland
- Jo Balistreri
prospect park, brooklyn
i put pretty grass
on my sandwich
- Joan McNerney
north downs, kent
i turn the chicken run
into a rock garden
- Joanna M. Weston
staten island
after 17 years we move up the hill
to fancy schmancy
- Katha Abela Wilson
san francisco days
while mom waters her roses
i read nancy drew
- Katya Sabaroff Taylor
newark, new york
i was almost chosen to be the
rose queen
- Kim Falstick
vancouver summer
collecting caterpillars
releasing butterflies
- kjmunro
ypsilanti, michigan
my best friend pammy and i give up chocolate milk
to chat during nap time
- kris moon
india
under grandma's quilt
for evening story time
- Kumarendra Mallick
kiev in winter
yellow chrysanthemums
bloom in the snowy streets
- Laughing waters
a halifax night
revving our engines
at the stop light
- Lance Robertson
bareville, pennsylvania
waiting for the mailman to arrive
we call him the candy man
- Linda Keeler
queens, new york
my beautiful blue parakeet
binky
- Madeleine Cohen Oakley
jamshedpur, india
screening "woodstock" in the club
i smuggle my friends inside
- Madhuri Pillai
oswego, new york
giggling girls in red plaid skirts
late for confession, as usual
- Margaret Dennis
ottawa lake, wisconsin
too cold to swim
i dive in to drown out mom's i told you so
- Margaret Jones
brockville, ontario
the ghost playing organ music
at midnight
- Marianne Paul
warsaw cemetery
a bag of sweet chestnuts
in my pocket
- Marta Chocilowska
black mountains, wales
amid the dense rain
one red cagoule
- Martha Magenta
greensburg, kansas
astonished to discover
tonight's chicken dinner was today's bloody chore
- Marty Blue Waters
west newbury, vermont
the tyler farm
the huge white bull
- Mary Louise Church
bozeman, montana
we stay indoors at night
bears own the streets
- Michael G. Smith
city of angels
i sniff out the fresh-baked bread
half a block away
- Mimi Foyle
manlius hitchhiker
my thumb a great friend
as i try to escape myself
- MJ Richmond
highland park, illinois
morning bugle song
we live near the army base
- Nancy Osborn
the bronx
hot fudge sundaes at krum's
my reward for good report cards
- Nina Miller
geneva, switzerland
the christmas tree i wanted
to keep forever
- Olivier Schopfer
east boston
street corner whistles
for the girl behind me
- Pat Davis
union, new jersey
wet laundry freezes on the clothes line
baccalà for lunch
- Pat Geyer
ithaca, new york
david bowie cancels his concert
i go into mourning
- Paula Culver
chicago breakfast
the orange pellet changes
oleo to butter
- Phyllis Lee
pageland, south carolina
wiping lipstick off ronald's picture
before mother sees
- Pris Campbell
west hempstead, long island
smoking in the ravine with friends
accidentally burning down the driving range
- Rainbow Crow
merrick, long island
ovaltine
it's good — and it's good for you
- Rob Sullivan
wolfeboro, new hampshire
the patter of my own little feet
down the dock
- Robin White
manaus, brazil
i insist on planting rosebushes
that will never bloom
- Rosa Clement
fargo
seven tornadoes
me, safe in her womb
- Ross Haarstad
poughkeepsie, new york
sunday morning bagels, nova, danish
the new york times
- Sara Robbins
semaphore, south australia
joined by forty seagulls
for fish and chips
- Simon Hanson
choconut center
my mom in witch costume
scaring trick-or-treaters home
- Stacey Murphy
the farm in pennsylvania
on my belly inspecting clover
aha – four leaves!
- Sue Norvell
highland park, new jersey
the 1950s
canned spinach
- Sue Perlgut
jackson, mississippi
magnolias as big
as your face
- Susan Annah Currie
denton, texas
mama gazes out at the sun-baked horizon
she misses canada
- Susan Lesser
silver lake, ohio
the crooked tree in the yard
grandma told us to encourage it
- Susanna Drbal
silver spring, maryland
for halloween i am a ballerina
four times
- Theresa A. Cancro
great yarmouth . . .
a case of mistaken identity
in the house of wax
- Tim Gardiner
near bear swamp
my wife and i young walk graveyards
one now her own
- Tina Wright
ithaca hotel
and the trolley
that stopped there
- Tom Clausen
randers, denmark
empty farm
gathering stones at sunset
- Vibeke Laier
flushing, queens
mostly i stay inside
dreaming of other places
- Yvonne Fisher
bronx, new york
first dance recital
i am the plumpest carrot on stage
- Zee Zahava
