Once Upon a Time
Michael Dylan Welch and Scott Mason, editors. Last part of Fire in the Treetops: Celebrating Twenty-Five Years of Haiku North America, which collects poems from all previous HNA anthologies (the following poems are selections from the 2015 section). Press Here, Sammamish, Washington, 2015, 418 pages, ISBN 978-1-878798-37-4. This section: 94 poets (one poem each). See the Press Here page for this book for ordering information and links to the introduction and contributor list.
The 2015 Haiku North America conference took place 14–18 October 2015, amid autumn colours at Union College in Schenectady, New York. The 2015 anthology collected poems from all previous HNA conference anthologies, encompassing more than one thousand poems, with a new section featuring poems by 2015 attendees. From this new section’s introduction: “Haiku North America celebrates its twenty-fifth year with a focus on haiku in education. Perhaps we who write haiku are always perpetual learners, our eyes always wide with wonder at the world around us, at what we can record and share through haiku poetry. And perhaps every haiku is a way of starting a story . . . once upon a time.”
All excuses spent,
I tell my wife
about my alien abduction.
Alan Pizzarelli
Bloomfield, New Jersey
rooftop restaurant
a crow drinks up clouds
from an empty table
Angelee Deodhar
Chandigarh, India
anniversary
the entomologist buys the roses
with aphids
Anita Krumins
Toronto, Ontario
cherry blossoms
she tries on her first
wedding ring
Aubrie Cox
Knoxville, Tennessee
slow dancing
I pretend
I remember
Bill Kenney
Whitestone, New York
I think I’ll build a hut
right here
with these words
Bill Porter / Red Pine
Port Townsend, Washington
f(ailing)s
Bruce H. Feingold
Berkeley, California
going rogue
I count
my syllables
Carlos Colón
Shreveport, Louisiana
秋風に浮世の塵を払けり
akikaze ni ukiyo no chiri o haraikeri
Tagami Kikusha
dust of an uncertain world
brushed away
by the autumn wind
Cheryl Crowley, translator
Atlanta, Georgia
taps . . .
all we could say
now said
Deborah P Kolodji
Temple City, California
sound of a stream
in the wind
poplar leaves
Hilary Tann
Schuylerville, New York
tall window
of a ruined church—
the glory of lichens
Ion Codrescu
Constanta, Romania
rivergum walk
magpies warble
at morning recess
Jennifer Sutherland
Viewbank, Australia
the vast west
railroad cars decouple
in the dark
Jim Kacian
Winchester, Virginia
sleepless
a summer night
dabbling in rain
John Stevenson
Nassau, New York
a nun’s collection
of nesting glass hens
late-autumn sun
Joyce Clement
Bristol, Connecticut
temple redone
Kali’s tongue
not so red
Kala Ramesh
Pune, India
Hiroshima Day
shakuhachi cracks
at every node
Kath Abela Wilson
Pasadena, California
Valentine’s Day
park pigeons settle on
LO
VE
Kathe L. Palka
Flemington, New Jersey
the one I love
sitting out back
with the feral cats
Lee Gurga
Lincoln, Illinois
polished wood shelf
the book collection
doubled
Leena Luther
Albany, New York
crunching
spring cabbages
hippopotamus
Makoto Nakanishi
Matsuyama, Japan
depression
each snowflake
apparently different
Marco Fraticelli
Pointe Claire, Québec
positive . . .
magnolia buds
browned by frost
Marietta Jane McGregor
Canberra, Australia
abandoned quarry
standing at the bottom
an inukshuk
Maxianne Berger
Outremont, Québec
autumn dusk
the Van Gogh
in the sunflowers
Meik Blöttenberger
Hanover, Pennsylvania
first frost
a retelling
of the fable
Melissa Allen
Madison, Wisconsin
pumpkin weigh-in . . .
the judge’s motion
to lift off hands
Michael Dylan Welch
Sammamish, Washington
big shot
three olives
in his martini
Michael Ketchek
Rochester, New York
trail map
you are here
and now
Michele Root-Bernstein
East Lansing, Michigan
supermoon—
they abandon
their selfie sticks
Pamela Cooper
Montréal, Québec
iced tea with lemon
an undeclared contest
for best grandmother
Patrick Gallagher
Pacific Grove, California
a coyote disappears
down the deer track
burst milkweed pods
paul m.
Bristol, Rhode Island
mother’s pastry brush—
stiff bristles bending
more each year
Penny Harter
Mays Landing, New Jersey
morning walk
how the gulls have grown
to ignore me
Peter Newton
Winchendon, Massachusetts
winter’s bone the smell of sushi
Philip Rowland
Tokyo, Japan
kayak conversation
the blue heron
hears enough
Randy M. Brooks
Taylorville, Illinois
autumn arrives
cool breeze stretches
the harbor’s mooring lines
Richard Schnell
Keeseville, New York
at the top
of the ferris wheel
mary jane
Roberta Beary
Bethesda, Maryland
home early
I explain my lay-off
to the dog
Robert Forsythe
Annandale, Virginia
shoes off, coat in tray
belt removed, pockets emptied
I feel so secure
Robert Lundy
Del Mar, California
conch to my ear sonic boom
Scott Mason
Chappaqua, New York
tangled lives—
i square the placemat
with the table
Sondra Byrnes
Santa Fe, New Mexico
Year of the Sheep—
another month
wanders off
Stanford M. Forrester
Windsor, Connecticut
late apology—
the parted beak
of a carved bird
Susan Antolin
Walnut Creek, California
mall Santa—
when I sit on his lap
he ho ho ho’s
Susan Burch
Hagerstown, Maryland
old poet’s reading
each book dedicated
to a new woman
Terry Ann Carter
Victoria, British Columbia
once upon a time
on grandma’s porch
the world
Tom Clausen
Ithaca, New York
morning meditation
hummingbird visits
the prayer flags
Zoanne Schnell
Keeseville, New York
