rising over hills
without a population
of birds, all friends gone
Jeff Burt learned the importance of storytelling from farmers and hands at the grist mill he inhabited in summers as a method to tell a moral, a joke, or a deserving slice of life. He has contributed to many journals, including Heartwood, Kestrel, Williwaw Journal, and Red Wolf Journal.
washing the tears
from my cheeks
winter sunshower
River Shannon grew up on the prairies, and now lives with their partner Jessica on the unceded ancestral territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Səl̓ílwətaʔ (Tsleil-Watuth) and Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish) Coast Salish peoples (Vancouver, BC. River works as a public interest lawyer and educator for people who have experienced violence from an intimate partner. They have previously received an honourable mention for haiku submitted to the 2019 Vancouver Cherry Blossom Haiku Invitational.
Attic air static
Ripples across nape
Totally a ghost
Faint whisper hollers out
Go outside myself
Arthur Yeung is originally from Hong Kong and produces electronic music, soundtrack compositions, videos, apps, games and immersive experiences in Toronto. Instagram: @arthurosaur
sticky candy canes
I pick old calendar pages
off the floor
Cynthia Gallaher, a Chicago-based poet, is author of four poetry collections, many with themes, including Epicurean Ecstasy: More Poems About Food, Drink, Herbs and Spices, and three chapbooks, including Drenched. Her nonfiction/memoir/creativity guide Frugal Poets’ Guide to Life: How to Live a Poetic Life, Even If You Aren’t a Poet won a National Indie Excellence Award. Her haiku has appeared in Frogpond, Bottle Rockets and other haiku publications.
Anna’s hummingbird –
winter’s surprise visitor
brings sudden joy
Janet Kvammen is a poet, mixed media, lens-based artist and community volunteer who lives in New Westminster, BC, Canada on the traditional and unceded territories of the Qayqayt First Nation and Coast Salish. IG: @janetkvammen / @newwestrocks
the snowstorm blusters—
deep beneath the covers
lovers tasting spring
Darrell Petska is a retired communications editor, University of Wisconsin-Madison. Journals that have published his poetry include Prune Juice, Modern Haiku, Chrysanthemum, Shamrock Haiku Journal, Failed Haiku–Journal of English Senryu, Red Alder Review and others (see conservancies.wordpress.com). Forty-one years a father (nine years a grandfather), and longer as a husband, Darrell lives outside Madison, Wisconsin.
desert winter sun
a dog curves her nap
along adobe walls
Karin Hedetniemi is a nonfiction writer, haiku poet, and street photographer from Victoria, BC. Her poetry recently appears in Hedgerow, Akitsu Quarterly, World Haiku Review, Autumn Moon Haiku Journal, and elsewhere. Karin shares her creative work at AGoldenHour.com and on Twitter @karinhedet.
male goldfinches’
fading yellow
the backyard darkens
Doris Fiszer is an Ottawa poet. Her debut collection Locked in Different Alphabets (Silver Bow Publishing) was nominated for the 2021 Archibald Lampman Award. She has two published chapbooks, The Binders and Sasanka (Wild Flower). Awards include the 2017 John Newlove Award and Tree Press’s 2016 Chapbook Award for The Binders, also a nominee for the bpNichol Award.
Rain tapping windshield
Lightning everywhere now
Thunderclap applauds
A’nji E. Black is a consultant, author, singer, and poet who likes to explore the inner and outer ideas of the world in a way that as she explains: “that poetically illuminates the experience for the audience”. She is a fellow organizer for the 100 Thousand Poets for Change and has been published in What Kind of Seed Am I? Earth Poetry from the Garden (Wind Eagle Press), After the Pause Magazine, Georgia Writer’s – Exit 271 Journal and in other publications.
after our fight
laughing at the honking ducks
far overhead
Rob Taylor‘s fourth poetry collection, Strangers, was published in 2021 by Biblioasis.
Red Alder Review 