with cherries on top

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With Cherries on TopMichael Dylan Welch, Editor


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31 Flavors from NaHaiWriMo

Press Here Sammamish, Washington


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Press Here22230 NE 28th PlaceSammamish, Washington

98074-6408 USA

ISBN 978-1-878798-34-3

Copyright 2012

by Michael Dylan Welch

All rights revert to the authors

upon publication in this book.

No part of this book may be

used or reproduced in any

manner whatsoever without

written permission from the

contributor except in the case

of brief quotations in reviews.

Design, typography, and photography by Michael Dylan Welch.

Thanks to Christina Nguyen for help with proofreading.

Poems set in 14/20 Garamond Premier Pro. Headings set in 36/40 Eras Bold ITC and18/20 Cataclysmic.

National Haiku Writing Month

www.nahaiwrimo.com or visit NaHaiWriMo on Facebook

2012-11-16-A


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Better than Ice Cream 5

Cherries on op 7

31 Flavors rom NaHaiWriMo 9

Contributors 136

Photography by Michael Dylan Welch

Contents


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Better than Ice Cream

NaHaiWriMo gets me writing every day. Johnny Baranski, Vancouver, Washington

NaHaiWriMo is an endless inspiration! Kashinath Karmakar, Durgapur, India

Tis is why I love NaHaiWriMo: challenge, inspira-

tion, community, opportunity, learning, sharing . . . Stella Pierides, Neus, Germany

Is haiku better than ice cream? Many participants inNational Haiku Writing Month probably think so. Tis

poetic eeding renzy happens every Februarythe short-est month or the shortest genre o poetryand attractsthousands o people who try writing one haiku each day

or the entire month. February may be the shortest montho the year, but maintaining a daily haiku-writing disciplineor this length o time is harder than it seems. And on Face-book, where National Haiku Writing Month is known as

NaHaiWriMo, daily writing isnt limited just to February.Writing prompts encourage more than a thousand ans towrite haiku each day o every month, all year long. A di-erent guest prompter provides the prompts or an entiremonth, supporting and inspiring a growing community ohaiku poets around the world. With all this enthusiasmand the flavors represented, haiku must be better than ice

creamand maybe NaHaiWriMo is too. As rewarding as it has been or me to work with vari-ous poets to scoop out daily prompts and post them on theFacebook page, in August o 2012 I wanted to try some-thing different, and youre now reading the results. Insteado having one person supply writing prompts or the entiremonth, I thought Id ask 31 different people to provide one

prompt each, which I then posted to the NaHaiWriMo

Facebook pagea different flavor each day, whetherFrench vanilla, pistachio, or pralines and cream, so tospeak. Participants not only had the pleasure o discoveringeach resh prompt, but o learning who each prompter was,


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and it motivated a great increase in participation and dis-cussion, at one point with a reach o nearly 17,000 people. But there was more to the plan. I also asked each daily

prompter to monitor all the poems posted on Facebook inresponse to his or her prompt, and to choose at least fiveavorite poems to send to me or an online-only book, aorm o publication thats been a growing trend in haiku

publishing. Some prompters sent just five poems exactly,occasionally with the addition o their own poem on thetheme o the day. Others sent me dozens o selections. It

was then my job to make final choices or this book, start-

ing with the poems that each daily prompter chose tobegin with. Ive sought to balance poetic quality with arepresentation o as many participants as possible, whilealso showing variety and range in the ways poets respondedto each daily writing prompt. Te prompts, o course, were

wonderully varied in themselves, but the flavors o haikuthey produced greatly exceeded my expectations. Even so,a hundred scoops certainly isnt enough.

In its first two years, NaHaiWriMo has become aninviting and energizing community, a sharing space orboth poems and poets. Perhaps its not too different roma corner ice cream shop, although a lot bigger, where a

community enjoys hanging out together. NaHaiWriMocertainly has that celebratory mood that we so ofen as-sociate with ice creamand at NaHaiWriMo, every day isa special occasion worth celebrating. Tis collection by 79contributors o 31 writing prompts and 190 haiku and sen-ryu, all posted to the NaHaiWriMo page on Facebook inAugust 2012, is a taste o 31 flavors o haiku rom aroundthe worldwith cherries on top. My thanks to each o thedaily prompters, to all monthly prompters in prior months,and o course to all the poets or sharing their haiku andthe flavors o their lives. As participant Merrill Gonzalez

once commented, NaHaiWriMo is like a conversationamong riends. Welcome to the ice cream shop, and wel-come to the conversation.

Michael Dylan Welch

NaHaiWriMo Founder and Proprietor

Sammamish, Washington


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Cherries on Top

August 1 Kat Creighton

August 2 Judith Gorgone

August 3 Vincent Hoarau

August 4 John Carley

August 5 Michael Nickels-Wisdom

August 6 Johnny Baranski August 7 Linda Papanicolaou

August 8 Sheila Windsor

August 9 Patti Hardin

August 10 Melissa Allen

August 11 Stella Pierides

August 12 Annie Juhl

August 13 Gillena Cox August 14 Carlos Coln

August 15 Paul David Mena

August 16 Christina Nguyen

August 17 Alegria Imperial

August 18 Alison Williams

August 19 Susan Delphine Delaney

August 20 Christine L. Villa

August 21 Kathabela Wilson

August 22 Alan Summers

August 23 Pris Campbell August 24 Susan Murata

August 25 Cara Holman

August 26 Jessica Tremblay

August 27 Johannes S. H. Bjerg

August 28 Pamela Cooper

August 29 Dave Serjeant

August 30 Terri L. French August 31 Alex Benedict

Gratitude to each o the daily NaHaiWriMo prompters in August 2012 or their stimulating prompts and their initial selection

o poems, thereby helping to make this book a reality.


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Heart

Kat Creighton

August 1


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in my griepity or the earthwormwith ten hearts

Terri L. French

a broken heart

the sick mans gardenslowly chokes on weeds

John Carley

deserted beachthe warmth o a stoneshaped like a heart

Michele Harvey

pluie douce

un peu de tendresse au coeur

de la bambouseraie

sof rain

in the heart o the bamboo grovea little tenderness

Vincent Hoarau


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summer lovebeneath the moon bridgemy logic afloat

Kat Creighton

the song

o its little heartwinterbird

Terry OConnor


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Full moon

Judith Gorgone

August 2


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ull moonwhat I really wanted to saythat night

Stevie Strang

milk moonhe asks her to believeone is enough

Susan Murata

green corn moonthis sudden silencebetween cricket songs

Beki Reese


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between meand the dog moonall my secrets

Kat Creighton

ull moona long gameo disc gol

Christina Nguyen

moonbridgethe darknessbetween lily pads

Linda Papanicolaou


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SandVincent Hoarau

August 3


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laundry day . . .when did my eetlast touch the sand

Kirsten Cliff

sand in my shoesthe phone callI never made

Jayashree Maniyil

what remainso the mountainsand between my toes

Annette Makino


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beach readingthe sandcrabs eyes and mine

meet

Terri L. French

divorce decreethe remains o a castle

taken by the tide

Michele Harvey

afer the black catfills the sand tray

silence

Violette Rose-Jones


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Karumi

John Carley

August 4


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horsetail cloudsan old man bendsto his pruning

Belinda Broughton


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sun dancenot touching the groundnot touching each other

Stevie Strang

another Monday a snails back heavy with dew

Kathy Uyen Nguyen

la petite sur

et la grande sur

herbes olles de lt

the little sisterand the big sister

wild summer grasses

Vincent Hoarau

dappled sunlightdragonflies lingerover his grave

Pris Campbell


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E l ti


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Exploration

Michael Nickels-Wisdom August 5


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eyes shutsearching the universeon my knees

Billy Howell-Sinnard

hospice vigila gulls cry carriesrom the ar shore

Mark E. Brager

sel inquirythe water shapedby the glass

Michele Harvey


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the probe arrives,an extension o thoughts

vast and cool

Michael Nickels-Wisdom

Columbus statuenear where I livea huge sword in his belt

Fred Masarani

rom canyon depthsa petroglyph

points to the stars

Terri L. French


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HopeJohnny Baranski

August 6


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hope:morning birdsong

within a cage

Michele Harvey

remission . . .her hal empty glassis hal ull again

Susan E. Buffington

amidstthehope

amidstthehope

amidworldhope

amidpeacehope

amidstthehope

amidstthehope

Haiku Elis

(Carlos Coln)


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summertime greyit takes raw aithto hang the washing out

John Carley

roaring traffica street kid combs her hairor school

Stella Pierides

so ragilethis waitor tomorrow

Patty Hardin

wings oldedhawks and dovesshare the sunset

Carol Raiseld


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Star MythsLinda Papanicolaou

August 7


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summer rivera swans wings spreadin starlight

Linda Papanicolaou


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well into a third cup o sake big dipper

Johnny Baranski

cassiopeiais the red moon still beautiulupside-down?

Angie Werren

rising venusover the wine we strip awayan old myth

Annie Juhl

under ripening figshe pours mea cup o stars

Kathabela Wilson


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Spider

Sheila Windsor

August 8


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moving inwhich corner do you preerlittle spider

Annie Juhl

this winterdarkness spins webs

within me

Hansha Teki

zip-linea spider swaysin ront o my ace

Carole MacRury


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this spider and Ihave been here beore . . .

my morning shower

Andrew O. Dugas (Haiku Andy)

snaredby a spiders webthe harvest moon

Mark E. Brager


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Tide pool

Patty Hardin

August 9


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tide pool


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pa gull plucks a starfishalong with my dream

Christine L. Villa

tide pool . . . all the sea in the palm o her hand

Kat Creighton

tide poolfinding you againand yet again

Sanjuktaa Asopa

tide pool clumps o mussels sipping starlight on the rocks

Kathy Uyen Nguyen

tide poolmy heartbeatsettles

Jayashree Maniyil


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Grass

Melissa Allen

August 10


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whistling through a blade o grass poems I might write

Stella Pierides

m

o

w


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w

e

d

l

a w

n

mypushbroomandthe

mockingbirdssong

Haiku Elis (Carlos Coln)

un homme trs sage

un brin dherbes olles

dans les cheveux

a very wise man

a bit o wild grassin his hair

Vincent Hoarau

unmown grassthe dog whistle

we cant hear

Christina Nguyen

her kisses . . .

through the kikuyua winter sunset

Violette Rose-Jones


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Watermelon

Stella Pierides

August 11

summers grin last slice


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summer s grinthe melon rindear to ear

Elizabeth-Ann Winkler

chicken coopwatermelonpecked to the rind

Linda Papanicolaou

lakesidespitting black seedsinto the moon

Merrill Ann Gonzales

last slicemistaking the sweetnessor your lips

Hi-Young Kim

watermelon moonshe brings me her jaro flireflies

Susan Delphine Delaney

watermelon moon watermelon


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watermelon moonstill one bite shyo having enough

Pris Campbell

watermelon moonour burdens lighterthan we thought

Alegria Imperial

a thousand times on the lips watermelon

Stella Pierides

watermelon . . .the childs smile twiceas wide as her ace

Sheila Windsor


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Holiday activities

Annie Juhl

August 12


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soleil

vertical

remplissant

lescases

des

mots

croiss

sundown

fillingthesquaresothecrosswords

Vincent Hoarau


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turn-down service . . .a strangers seashellon my pillow

Margaret Dornaus

labor day picnic worker ants

Johnny Baranski

holiday mooncatching up on allthe sleep

Jayashree Maniyil

long ride home . . .the last o the lake airescapes my lungs

Kat Creighton


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Love

Gillena Cox

August 13

summer nightmy daughter asks how long


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my daughter asks how longI might live

Dawn Apanius

a sparrows songcolors the breeze . . .having you near

Asni Amin

the curveo his old chairits warmth


hospital bedthe way his eyes light up

when he sees me

Christine L. Villa

shooting starsthe gap in our ages

just too big

Sheila Windsor

la luna

in his eyes I orgetmy own name

Annie Juhl

last petal . . .

encore et encore

dans la glace aux famboises

une cuiller pour deux


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this part o mewho loved you so

Hlne Duc

the night dressed in starslooking in the windowat our newborn child

Dnall Dempsey

bedtimea sip o warm milkrom his cup

Jayashree Maniyil

p

again and againin the raspberry ice-cream

a spoon or two

Vincent Hoarau

sleeping alone nowbreathing inhis pillows scent

Elizabeth Fanto

this silence held

between us . . .whispering rain

Mark E. Brager


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Enlightenment

Carlos Colon

August 14

afernoon storm a part o us merging into tealight


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afernoon storm a part o us merging into tealight

Kathy Uyen Nguyen

meteor showeror a split secondI know

Annie Juhl

moon and starsjust enough lightto sofen the dark

Alison Williams

first one


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first onethen another and anotherhummingbirds

Daphne Purpus

enough lumberto build a housethe beam in my eye

Haiku Elis

(Carlos Coln)

sunrise sunset enlightenment eludes me again

Cameron Mount


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Chili pepper

Paul David Mena

August 15


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leaving home

my first tasteo chili peppers

Cara Holman


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Birth

Christina Nguyen

August 16


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growing dusk . . .the stillborn calis taken away

Kirsten Cliff

just past midnighthow you waited

to share my birthday

Christina Nguyen

little daughterborn so ast . . .

your to-do list

Kathabela Wilson

childless


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childlesswe paddle careullythrough rog eggs

Jessica Tremblay

spark in the grassa filly rises and nudgesthe mare

Lisa Cihlar


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Li


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Lion

Alegria Imperial

August 17

the mighty lionsae and sound


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under babys blanket

Paul David Mena

circus lionhis yawn biggerthan his roar

Sanjuktaa Asopa

election speech . . .his leonine hairshifs in the wind

Elizabeth Fanto


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Boats


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my kayakopens and closesthe glass lake


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the glassy lake

Carole MacRury

island hoppinga baby turtle ripplesaside the pirogue


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cockpit dreamsthe golden sun setsin a single malt

Annie Juhl

the silenceo the kayakstill waters


sailing through

uncharted waterspaper boat

Bruno Coelho

psychiatrists officethe painting o a boathung off-centre

Kirsten Cliff

aside the pirogue

Gillena Cox

dockside barall the shipsIve never sailed

Paul David Mena


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heatwaveon his chest a spotshaped like a heart

Jessica Tremblay


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humid nightI too am a weaving


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humid day

all my haiku drafsunold

Susan Delphine Delaney

winding the old clock

the slow endo a summers day

Mark E. Brager

go water

Johannes S. H. Bjerg

sultry eveninga whiff o jasminerom my an

Asni Amin

sultry nightthe cat rolls outo its sunspot

Carole MacRury


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Surrender

Christine L. Villa

August 20

whereverthe morning takes me . . .

white butterfly

Cl i E


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Claire Everett

treatment endsthe sky yieldsa burst o rain

Cameron Elliot

heavy clouds . . .where do we meethalway

Angelo Ancheta

as i I werea dragonfly . . .changing wind


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Sandi Pray

the last leaparts rom its stemmy athers breath

Belinda Broughton


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DriftwoodKathabela Wilson

August 21

drifwood . . .neither o us says

thi


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a thing

Dick Whyte

drifwood moon . . .still this yearningto belong

lost at seawhere would I have drifedwithout you


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Claire Everett

clouds dispersingthe splinters o a cottagereturn to shore

Michele Harvey

drifwood chairdays when watercarried me everywhere

Pris Campbell

Kathabela Wilson


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Forgotten things

Alan Summers

August 22


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downpoura woman runs or the bus

with a garbage bag


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Tore Sverredal

alone in a new houseI remember an old dream

with the same blinds

Cristina-Monica Moldoeanu

morning glory our quarrel last night orgotten

Johnny Baranski


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99Pris Campbell August 23

Heat

beads o sweatI lose mysel inthe copulation o flies

Alan Summers


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the way he looks

at me again . . .August heat

Nan Bagwell Payne

Pole Starthe lingering heat

o the cobblestones

Mark E. Brager


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heat lightning the way your hand rests on mine

Margaret Dornaus

limp sails sweating into our colas

Pris Campbell

candlelit tablethe heatbetween us

Carole MacRury


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Seam

Susan Murata

August 24


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lawn daisya worrying sound rom the backo my trousers

Tore Sverredal

gale warningthe sea and skyseamless

Mark E. Brager

between the meadowand conier oresta seam o elk

Deborah Barbour Lundy

dating a seam bowlerall the waysthis night could end

Sanjuktaa Asopa


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Sanjuktaa Asopa

my palmson the seams o her jeanslast dance

Violette Rose-Jones

rayed seamso his old blue jeanshis disconnected stories

Elizabeth-Ann Winkler

anglinga rainbow waitsat the seam

Susan Murata


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Childhood in summer


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Cara Holman

August 25


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childhood homea trace o a hollow

where the swing was

Sheila Windsor

arm pondkneedeepkneedeepin rogs

sunshine!


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Susan Murata

summer breakwe race the cloudsacross the fields

Dawn Apanius

no one is holding upmy bike!

Merrill Ann Gonzalez

cotton-candy clouds

days when I amone o the butterflies

Christine L. Villa


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Time


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111Jessica Tremblay August 26

shiva callthe steady sweepo the second hand

Mark E. Brager


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the way time fliesthe way it doesnt . . .dandelion moon


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Claire Everett

buying timewe eed the meter

another coin

Cara Holman

no visitors . . .he draws a watch

on his cast

Jessica Tremblay

stone sundialthe crows shadow

covers the hour

Carole MacRury


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Beatles song


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Johannes S. H. Bjerg

August 27


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morning moonmaking a sad songbetter

Susan Murata

here comes the sun . . .a list o seedsto plant

Dawn Apanius

busy morninga araway guitar

weeps gently

Tore Sverredal

Father McKenziewriting the words o a haikuthat no one will read


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Marion Clarke

too tight the last dance his hey jude off key

Sheila Windsor

spiderin the kitchenlet it be

Terri L. French

Yesterday,the scratch in the recordstill where it was

Michele Harvey


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Wishes or dreamsPamela Cooper

August 28

glints o silvera pond koi glidesover my wish

Carole MacRury


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y

dreamingin black and white . . .summers end

Mark E. Brager

wishbonethe loss o innocenceor both o us

Cristina-Monica Moldoeanu

capparis blossomsthe wall teeming

with paper wishes

Pamela Cooper


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blowing bubblesshe wishes or one moreday o childhood

Marion Clarke

chilly nightpatiently waitingor a star to all

Tore Sverredal


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HealthcareDave Serjeant

August 29

everyonewith a different quietchemo lounge

Edgar Hopper


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afer surgerya flower on the windowsillaces the sunlight

Alice Obaniana Cuenca

cotton-candy cloudsa young girl meets the worldbraceless

Annie Juhl

christmas as usualunder his sweaterhospital gown

Jessica Tremblay


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second opinion . . .the glare o sunlighton the hospital windows

Dave Serjeant


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Fence

F h


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Terri L. French

August 30

setting sail . . .a world

without ences

Elizabeth Fanto


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neighbors encenot quite high enoughnaked moon

Stevie Strang

three thousand sheepthe hands o the clockstill encing

Bruno Coelho

unexpected guestsi borrow some onionsover the ence


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Jayashree Maniyil

clearcut mountainsidea split-rail ence

seams the spacesTerri L. French

apples dropon the other side o the ence

new all moon

Angie Werren


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Moonviewing

Ale Be edi t


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Alex Benedict

August 31

moonlightingthe moonin the morning sky

Haiku Elis (Carlos Coln)


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blue moonpoem cards flutterin the bamboo

Alex Benedict

blue duskshe lifs her veil a littleto view the moon

Sanjuktaa Asopa

blue moona smilerom a stranger

Paul David Mena

house-viewing . . .in this roomthe moon

Claire Everett


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blue moonthe answers he keepsto himsel

Nan Bagwell Payne

blue moona hal-remembered storyrom long ago

Cara Holman

Claire Everett

watching the moonin a pondstill being the moon

Violette Rose-Jones


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Scott Abeles, Washington, DC, 44Melissa Allen, Madison, Wisconsin, 47

Asni Amin, Singapore, 60, 85A l A h t t Phili i 88

Contributors

Pamela Cooper, Montral, ubec, 119, 121Gillena Cox, Port o Spain, rinidad and obago, 59, 81

Kat Creighton, Point Pleasant, New Jersey, 11, 13, 17, 45, 57Ali Ob i C C l Alb t 124


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g pAngelo Ancheta, aytay, Philippines, 88Dawn Apanius, Hudson, Ohio, 60, 109, 116Sanjuktaa Asopa, Belgaum, India, 45, 69, 76, 96, 105, 132

Johnny Baranski, Vancouver, Washington, 31, 37, 57, 97Alex Benedict, Kensington, Caliornia, 131, 132

Johannes S. H. Bjerg, Hjby, Denmark, 85, 115Mark E. Brager, Columbia, Maryland, 28, 41, 61, 77, 85,

100, 104, 112, 120Belinda Broughton, Adelaide, Australia, 24, 89Susan E. Buffington, New Hartord, New York, 32Pris Campbell, Lake Worth, Florida, 25, 53, 93, 99, 101

John Carley, Rossendale, England, 12, 23, 33Lisa Cihlar, Brodhead, Wisconsin, 73Marion Clarke, Warrenpoint, Northern Ireland, 117, 121Kirsten Cliff, Matamata, New Zealand, 20, 72, 77, 81Bruno Coelho, vora, Portugal, 81, 128Carlos Coln, Shreveport, Louisiana, 32, 49, 63, 65, 132

g J yAlice Obaniana Cuenca, Calgary, Alberta, 124Susan Delphine Delaney, Plano, exas, 52, 83, 85Dnall Dempsey, Guildord, England, 61Margaret Dornaus, Ozark, Arkansas, 57, 69, 101Hlne Duc, Chauny, France, 61Andrew O. Dugas, San Francisco, Caliornia, 41Cameron Elliot, Matamata, New Zealand, 88

Claire Everett, Northallerton, England, 69, 88, 93, 113, 133Elizabeth Fanto, imonium, Maryland, 61, 76, 128erri L. French, Huntsville, Alabama, 12, 21, 29, 77, 117, 127, 129Merrill Ann Gonzales, Dayville, Connecticut, 52, 60, 81, 109

Judith Gorgone, West Newton, Massachusetts, 15Haiku Andy (Andrew O. Dugas), San Francisco, Caliornia, 41Haiku Elvis (Carlos Coln), Shreveport, Louisiana, 32, 49, 63, 65, 132Patty Hardin, Long Beach, Washington, 33, 43Michele Harvey, Hamilton, New York, 12, 21, 28, 32, 69, 93, 117Vincent Hoarau, Lyon, France, 12, 19, 25, 49, 56, 61


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