Monday, December 1, 2014

Winter Haiku


Welcome to the December issue of brass bell: a haiku journal. This month's theme is WINTER HAIKU.

You will find work here by 103 contributors, from Australia, Brazil, Bulgaria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Canada, Croatia, Denmark, England, France, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, New Zealand, Oman, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Scotland, Switzerland, Tunisia, and the United States

after the snow the flight of crows
- Alan Catlin

dark snow the night begins its winter
- Alan Summers

cold morning —
her hands hide 
the strawberry
- Ali Znaidi

the old oak branches
heavy with snow —
a woodpecker works
- Amauri Solon

winter time —
no more tourists
asking for ice cream
- Ana Drobot

close of the year
just one empty page
in the old diary
- Angelee Deodhar

searching for the dog
through the snow
two eyes
- Anisoara Iordache

dying fireplace
only a cat at the window
minds the snow
- Anna Mazurkiewicz  

his voice 
on the answerphone
— winter drizzle
- Anne Curran

long dark evenings
I pass the endless hours
reading George Eliot
- Annie Wexler

winter night
silent snowfall
bedtime stories
- Archana Kapoor Nagpal

first light of dawn
sparrows chanting
above new snow
- ayaz daryl nielsen

sunny porch —
a blooming hibiscus
mocking the north wind
- Barbara Kaufmann

frost flowers
an artist paints
the winter white
- Barbara Tate

snowfall . . .
even the broken fence
is beautiful
- Bill Waters

quiet winter
the deep clink of a coin
in a beggar's can
- Billy Antonio

hungry cat
gazes sadly at the sky —
fish swim under the ice
- Bozidar Skobic

ice blooms
in and all around my heart
winter sun
- C. Robin Janning

silent first snow
hides summer lawn furniture
in stillness
- Carl Scharwath

dying embers —
the missing xoxo
in her texts
- Carl Seguiban

deepest magic 
of the year — my candles glow
solstice eve
- Carole Johnston

first touch of frost a faery huddles in the late-blooming rose
- Caroline Skanne

Groundhog Day
on the clothesline
bedsheetsfrozenstiff
- Carolyn Coit Dancy

winter fog
a few steps from the house
I feel lost
- Catherine Rigutto

winter night —
one more marshmallow
in hot chocolate
- Charishma Navneet Gupta

winter solstice
I recycle my youth
in a dream
- Chen-ou Liu

last day of the year
evening arrives
little by little
- Constantin Stroe

light snow
she brushes off
my opinion
- Dave Read

winter dawn —
the seagull's shadow
drags on the grass
- David Rodrigues

winter bird
am i the only one
who knows your song
- Debbie Strange

falling temperatures
frost settles
into his beard
- Devin Harrison

first snow
a new outfit
for the old neighborhood
- Diana Petkova

mouths agape
children eating
snowflakes
- Diana Teneva

first snowflakes —
the cat shakes off
his wet whiskers
- Elena Malec

we install the car seat
for our first grandchild . . .
winter stars
- Ferris Gilli

I dig up the crocus
and tulip bulbs —
something alive to take away
- Frank Judge

basketball     hockey
endless pro football
skis     snowboards     —   winter
- Gale Owen

winter day
a kitten and a street musician
in the underpass
- Gergana Yaninska

first snowfall
the trees dissolve
into evening sky
- G.R. LeBlanc

first snow
the emptiness
of the bird feeder
- Helen Buckingham

playing guitar —
the pain in my fingers
this winter
- Jayashree Maniyil

in a patch of confusion
October pumpkins
punch through winter snow
- JenMarie Macdonald

New York winter
small dogs stroll
in shiny red boots
- Joan Corr

stopping to see
the shape of
a snowflake
- Joan McNerney

hail
out of a clear sky
angry words
- Joanna M. Weston

first frost —
the postman's
crackling footsteps
- John McDonald

getting out
my old winter
thoughts
- Julian O'Dea

this winter too
me and my old
rug
- Kanchan Chatterjee

first winter days —
again in mom's frail hands
my unfinished sweater
- Kashinath Karmakar

as if silence
could be seen
snow globe
- Kath Abella Wilson

muntingia blossoms
our scattered jokes float down
— best friend's funeral
- Ken Sawitri

overnight snow . . .
the river
narrowed
- kris moon

winter morning
one ray of sunlight joins me
at the table
- Kristen Lindbeck

a hole in a fence —
snow is falling
into an empty bowl
- Krzysztof Kokot

fragrant path . . .
all that we have
frozen night
- Kuheli Santra

first snowfall —
the kids gather
fresh flowers
- Kumarendra Mallick

old forest —
covered by snow
only the stumps
- Laura Vaceanu

old threads
woven into a bird's nest . . .
sweater weather
- Laura Williams

hemmed in by snow —
red apples lined up
on the windowsill
- Lavana Kray

winter field
a crow pecks at
the scarecrow's pocket
- Magdalena Banaszkiewicz

every twig ice-sheathed
yet — business as usual
for the noisy crows
- Margaret Fisher Squires

winter sky —
looking for an asteroid
between the stars
- Maria Tirenescu

morning light . . .
woodsmoke painting
the silence
- Mark E. Brager

cold night
my gloveless hands
in my pockets
- Marta Chocilowska

white-cowled and drowsy —
silence descends at Compline —
pines bowed in prayer
- Mary Carter Ginn

melting ice
I am startled
by his touch
- Mary Hohlman

visiting graveyards . . .
an invisible snowflake
kisses my forehead
- Maya Lyubenova

white embroidery —
in the winter sky
one thousand stitches
- Nicole Pottier 

winter evening
even the carousel horses
stopped running
- Nikola Duretic

breaking through
monochrome winter
the red trills of a robin
- Olivier Schopfer

winter dawn i fold into your breath
- Paresh Tiwari

aching back a staring contest with two snow clouds
- Pat Geyer

snow piles up
as I wait on the corner —
darkness falls
- Patricia Prine

gliding on thin ice in her new figure skates
- Persis Parshall Vehar

sunrise
children clap their hands —
snowman without a nose
- Petruta Ionescu

winter morning
the scarecrow with
a snow cap
- Pravat Kumar Padhy

winter night
I search for more heat
in the spice rack
- Rachel Sutcliffe

going home
I look for the smoke
from the chimney
- Radka Mindova
(English translation by Maya Lyubenova)

winter dawn
a patch of clouds
blossom a bare tree
- Ramesh Anand

unhinged unfurled cruel
wet wicked winter winds wail
their banshee refrain
- Rob Sullivan

melting snow
another hope
to fall in love
- Robert Kania

the way heavy snow
bends the white birch
and mother with age
- Robert Henry Poulin

strong winter wind
my house is broken too
tiny spider
- Rosa Clement

frozen river . . .
in its grip
the loon's call
- Samar Ghose

walking into
an argument of crows
winter fog
- Sandi Pray

long winter night
gentle as falling snowflakes
your glance
- S.Eta Grubesic

young lovers 
trembling
a winter storm
- Silvestru Miclaus

winter solstice —
i chip the darkness
off my toast
- Sondra J. Byrnes

on this frosty night
we are made clean 
new in the world once again
- Stacey Murphy

nightly visitors' log
signed on fresh snow —
3 deer, one paperboy
- Sue Norvell

on the snowy railing
three dozen pigeons
all facing east, but one
- Susan Sonnen

fresh snow
on the palm of my glove
winter sky
- Theresa A. Cancro

winter morning
even the child's breath
is smoky
- Thriveni C. Mysore

chopping wood nothing prepares us for winter
- Tim Gardiner

my mother again
atop a bare branch alone
red cardinal singing
- Tish Pearlman

crowing rooster —
New Year's
first greeting
- Tomislav Maretic

shadow running
ahead of me
winter sunshine
- Tricia Knoll

vacation
snowman watches over
the school yard
- Vasile Moldovan

snow storm
japanese rose blooms
in her room
- Vessislava Savova

pearls of dewdrops
from a frozen twig
a sparrow's song
- Vibeke Laier

snow-bound path —
footprints full
of moon rays
- Virginia Popescu 

the silence
of a cooling tea pot —
winter morning
- Yesha Shah

early morning snowfall 
stepping into your footprints
who will step in mine
- Zee Zahava

Previously published:

Carl Seguiban — dying embers — FreeXpression Haiku (August 2014)

Kashinath Karmakar — first winter days — European Kukai (December 2013)

Krzysztof Kokot — a hole in a fence — Diogen Winter Contest (2014)

Maya Lyubenova —  visiting graveyards — Flecks of Blue, a bilingual haiku collection (English and Bulgarian), by Maya Lyubenova

Radka Mindova — going home — World Haiku Review (February 2012)

Robert Kania — melting snow — World Haiku Review (January 2014)