Welcome to the March 2022 issue of brass bell: a haiku journal
Contributing poets are from Australia, Canada, Denmark, Ecuador, India, Italy, Malaysia, Malta, New Zealand, Pakistan, Poland, Romania, Singapore, Spain, the United Kingdom, and the United States
mother staying up
all night
when i was ill
ai li
around my wife a bright corona of burnt orange sunset
Alan Bern
grey hair and tie dye
fending off the present
with her fondue fork
Alan Peat
in dialect
grandma speaks to
her peonies
Alexis Rotella
a few days in May
the scent of roses —
I think of my mother
Angiola Inglese
carolina jasmine climbing a fence my mother’s gift
Ann Carter
water baby
my daughter runs toward
her first view of ocean waves
Antonia Matthew
spring equinox
my granddaughter and I
start our seeds
Barbara Kaufmann
perfectly seasoned
cabbage soup –
mom’s wooden spoon
Barbara Sabol
rose and jasmine
the scent of my aunts
in their names
Barrie Levine
hunkered in the sand
my granddaughter builds castles
for hermit crabs
Bryan Cook
polio survivor
mother says covid
won’t get her either
Bryan Rickert
writing together
twelve women calling on
the muses
Carole Johnston
granddaughter . . .
like mom and myself
sleeping in silk
Carole MacRury
sunlit lake
my niece jumps into the sound
of laughter
Chen-ou Liu
first lipstick
afraid to lick
my lips
Christina Chin
grandma chuckles
over the worm in the lettuce —
more protein
Christina Martin
beach day
my daughter picks
a seashell for me
Christina Sng
discovering my
poetry muse in the shower
midlife rescue
Claire Vogel Camargo
first kiss —
she tells me about
global warming
Dan Iulian
ice road
I weave blue ribbons
through mom’s hair
Debbie Strange
deep freeze —
nana warms my small face
with her hands
Deborah Burke Henderson
my teenage mother
the year she delivered mail
by horseback
Deborah P Kolodji
ice skating
our friendship bonded
with broken bones
Elena Calvo
spring fever
my mother puts on
a green dress
Florin C. Ciobica
backyard ballerina . . .
I’m Margot Fonteyn
showered with petals
Helen Buckingham
white peony
the subtlety
of my self-image
Hifsa Ashraf
sisters in pajamas
reading a fairy tale
— missing our mom
Janice Doppler
in 10th grade
the quiet teacher shares
haiku and Thoreau
Jill Lange
mom’s junk mail protest
postage-paid return envelopes
ten pounds of rice
Jim Mazza
hands of twenty women
palming drumskins for Ukraine
our shared heartbeats
Jo Balistreri
grandmother’s coats
now a quilt
protects me against the cold
Joan Leotta
believing
in my own magic . . .
drumming
Joanna Ashwell
a doll house a stage
she glues grass for her toy deer
makes its habitat
Joel Savishinsky
VFW post
its new commander stands tall
on her prosthetic legs
John J. Dunphy
Sunday services —
my daughter’s pink plastic ring
in the offertory
Julie Bloss Kelsey
a shoulder to cry on
wishing she were my mom . . .
aunty Jean
Karen Harvey
her wish for peace
my mother’s letters
to world leaders
Kath Abela Wilson
proud grandma
flexes her biceps
big as grandpap’s
Kathleen Kramer
all my ancestors
women birthing more women
an unbroken chain
Katya Sabaroff Taylor
independence day
my tween niece signs her name
with a sparkler
Kristen Lindquist
family album
great-grandmother
in a pink nightgown
Lakshmi Iyer
our playground
baseball star
my teacher nun
Laurinda Lind
RBG
the outspoken pattern
of a lace collar
Lorraine Padden
the sky is the limit . . .
I repeat mother’s words
to my daughter
Madhuri Pillai
breakfast
with my favorite aunt
Coke in glass bottles
Marcie Wessels
grandmama’s feedsack apron pockets of love
Margaret Walker
white handkerchiefs
the mothers and grandmothers
who never give up
Marianne Paul
the steadiness
of mother’s hand
first carousel ride
Marietta McGregor
riverside amble . . .
teaching my daughter
which herbs to pick
Marilyn Humbert
mom’s cookbook
the stained pages
take me back
Marta Chocilowska
snapshots
between eighteen and seventy
her constant smile
Michael Flanagan
first born —
we name our daughter
Rani, the queen
Milan Rajkumar
my grown-up daughter
fearless and vulnerable
as a wildflower
Mimi Foyle
turning 60 . . .
i feel more like ten
six-year-olds
Mirela Brailean
mother-in-law
the gap in her teeth
filled with light
Neena Singh
homemade dress
mama called it
custom-fit
Pat Davis
tending tomatoes
Gran relives her mill town youth
a lass on a loom
Paul Beech
Wilma Rudolph
the wind recalls in awe
her dash to fame
Paul Callus
never any gossip
or unkind words
my friend’s funeral
Pris Campbell
scenting the day
her scribbled notes
in my lunch box
Richard L. Matta
85th birthday —
almost all Mom’s potted plants
still in bloom
Robert Epstein
reminding me
of my femininity
Georgia O’Keeffe
Roberta Beach Jacobson
shooing the toddler
out of the abandoned mine —
halo of her hair
Ruth Yarrow
my old teacher
her death
a cello string snaps
Sherry Grant
my no cancer trophy a mammogrammy
Susan Burch
her hands create words
my sister unites
the deaf and the hearing world
Teresa Bakota Yatsko
warm meteorite . . .
grandma pockets
a star
Theresa A. Cancro
itself enough for
a family party
sister sally’s lasagna
Tina Wright
ninety years
each of Granny’s cocker spaniels
named “Honey”
Tom Clausen
sisters resting under
a cherry blossom tree
no need for words
Vibeke Laier
echo of Mother’s voice
in the kitchen
singing Back in the Hills
Wilda Morris
my sweetheart places
each flower in the vase
another act of love
Zee Zahava