Better Than Starbucks
Poetry and Fiction Journal
. . . if you love diversity and creative writing in any and every form, then you’re in the right place . . .
August 2021
Vol VI No III
Published quarterly:
February, May, August,
and November.
Haiku
with Kevin McLaughlin
A Berry Drops
Buddhism’s Pure Land sect postulates a heaven realm filled with jeweled trees, each leaf and blossom producing a different color from the jewel with which it is made. Gold and purple-gold lights fill the sky, and lotus blossoms open with flower filled palaces. Mythical realm. No haikuist could be satisfied writing poetry in such a “perfect realm.”
Note this Buddhist heaven is considered a metaphor. Christianity, Islam, Judaism, and thousands of pagan belief systems have also generated heavens that might not satisfy a writer of haiku.
Haiku is the realm of mysterious simplicity. No need for a heaven realm. Eternity exists in the most ordinary. With our minds, we perform the miracle of seeing the thing-in-itself. The haikuist hears the sound of a berry dropping in the water; they have heard the greatest of truths.
The cottonmouth swims,
Then ascends the riverbank:
Moss grows on oak limbs.
Kevin McLaughlin
Bakhtiyar Amini of Tajikistan and Germany provides three lines of deep humanity and a Zen-filled teacher who milks her cow.
early spring
an infertile woman
singing a lullaby
the interval
the village teacher goes
to milk her cow
Bakhtiyar Amini
Laurie Rosen is a lifelong New Englander whose poems have appeared in a wide variety of magazines and journals.
Lenticular Clouds
float above winter mountains.
Shadows play on snow.
(Such a beautiful description of clouds! Lenticular being biconvex.)
An austere ashram.
A stark and leaf-bare landscape,
liberating, calm.
(Stillness and calm…ah!)
Laurie Rosen
Shakti Pada Mukhopadhyay is a first-time contributor who has heard the cuckoo’s plaintive cry.
The clouds pelted rains.
The frog croaked for the mate, but
the snake ruined his fate.
(The true Way of all nature.)
Summer days turn the
lands grey, but the cuckoo sings
songs for his heyday.
Shadows of the hills
and the azure sky rippled
on the dancing lake.
Rains pelted on the leaves,
drenching the sheaves and bathed the
Rose to bloom again.
Shakti Pada Mukhopadhyay
Hermann Eberl is a professor in the Department of Mathematics and Statistics at the University of Guelph, Ontario, Canada. Mathematicians have access to a Universe few of us can enter.
Fog covered darkness
ambulance howls at midnight
coyotes respond
By the back window
a Eurasian collared dove
one time visitor
A kestrel swoops in
robs the bird house in my driveway
a faulty design
Street lights throw at night
a white blanket on the ground
coyotes play catch
Where once it had a heart
a hole is in a starling’s chest
the snow red, the hawk gone
Against summer’s sky
redwinged black birds chase a hawk
lorries race along
(Beautiful juxtaposition and an aviary of poignant haiku.)
Hermann Eberl
Riham El-Ashry offers a melodic, enigmatic haiku. She is an Egyptian poet and an English teacher. She writes, “It is the simple yet profound aspect of haiku that attracts her to this art.”
near the bridge
horsehair bowing strings
in moonlight tunes
Riham El-Ashry
Patricia Hawkhead, United Kingdom, weaves tranquility, clarity, and frogs.
slipping into sleep
the creaking springs
of my lovelorn frog
evening bath
plop!
a plastic frog drops in
(How Basho would have loved this poem! We all heard that frog plop.)
Patricia Hawkhead
Samo Kreutz lives in Ljubljana, Slovenia. His old trees are more beautiful than a tree in any of the heaven realms.
new morning
closest to the sun
me and the old trees
proud father
by a baby in a pram
glittering dawn
(That third line is a portrait of paradise.)
Samo Kreutz
Thomas R. Thomas need only have written this one poem to have established his art.
fragile leaves
paint sidewalk
after rain
Thomas R. Thomas
Yi Jung Chen, who is a teacher at Dounan Elementary School in Taiwan, continues this theme with her vision of paradise.
a morning dewdrop
falling petals on the ponds
back into the dust
(This is a classic haiku. Each reader needs to envision those falling petals. Juxtaposition and perfect 5-7-5 form.)
on the fluffy clouds
a bite by a crocodile
shockingly awake
Yi Jung Chen
Joan C. Fingon from Ventura, California, enjoys reading poetry to her cat in their back garden. BTS is always grateful to receive some of Joan’s work.
grazing
in the warm summer light
mother and colt
(So peaceful.)
one polar bear
lopes along the ice floe
deep footprints
Joan C. Fingon
Kate Williams lives in the peaceful countryside of Wales.
A pebble beneath
fast waters is my cloud-swept
moon: uncatchable.
Kate Williams
S. Denny resides in San Angelo, Texas. He holds a B.A. in Liberal Arts from the University of Texas.
singing waterfall
echoes from a canyon wall;
salmon hear her call
(This haiku conveys a vivid word picture. The reader will long to hear that waterfall’s call.)
embers fall and flame
splashing flashing flambeau rain
as I watch in awe
golden eagle flies —
ever searching from the sky;
just a hare-bane flight
S. Denny
James Babbs of Stanford, Illinois, sees deeply into winter’s essence in a way reminiscent of the old Japanese masters.
winter sunset
a loose piece of tin
banging in the wind
(That piece of tin is a call to our Higher Natures.)
cold winter morning
all the tiny paw prints
left behind in the snow
below zero
smoke turning to shapes
in the morning sky
James Babbs
Richard L. Matta attended Notre Dame and worked as a forensic scientist. He writes with precision and certainty.
seaweed dangles
from fishing dock
discarded tea bag
the swimming bird dives
the wake opens up
into two lines
(Pelicans, osprey . . . all diving birds create artwork with their wakes.)
a petal flurry
of wind-blown jacaranda
sound of distant train
Richard L. Matta
Suraj Nanu of Western Ghats, India, has been widely published.
oblation —
on his cupped hands
a liquid moon
Gardener’s grave . . .
weeds offering the best
of the season
the spider retreats . . .
how cold and calm
her dreamy smile
(A unique piece which explains spider nature.)
Suraj Nanu
Milorad sin Nade Tesla Ivanković is from Verschez, Serbia.
autumn quietude
distant bell from mountain
goat's neck
(Great effect of quietude and that distant bell.)
First published by The Cicada’s Cry.
Milorad Ivanković
Sarah Mahina Calvello whispers of a garden’s secrets. Ms. Calvello writes with steady mindfulness.
Outside the window
The garden lies in disarray
With its mismatched secrets
Sarah Mahina Calvello
Gopal Lahiri of India is a bilingual poet, critic, editor, and translator.
beneath
the retreating stars
blooming chrysanthemum
(Retreating stars! A unique poetic image illuminates this haiku.)
momentary pause
day breaks into
morning raga
Gopal Lahiri
Abundio Noel is a native of Bohol, Philippines. He is an advocate of organic farming and of the development of local languages.
The sun bids goodbye,
As darkness covers the sky,
Yet here come the stars.
The wind blows from north,
Where a lady tends her goat,
Feeling it so smooth.
Abundio Noel
Shelly Reed Thieman writes to connect the wounded in their myriad stages of damage.
blood-orange cat orbits
the farm pond for cricket frogs
lunar eclipse swells
First published in Lyrical Iowa.
Shelly Reed Thieman
Julie Allyn Johnson of Norwalk, Iowa, enjoys long walks in the woods with her husband and hiking the Rocky Mountains.
Elk bugles to mates
Harem scatters the moraine
Dominant male rules
Julie Allyn Johnson
David Watts of Mill Valley, California, is an MD, poet, author, musician, and retired radio and television personality.
in the corner
of my eye the smear
of a darting sparrow
(A flash of enlightenment in the form of a sparrow!)
David Watts
Nicholas Gentile is retired and lives in York, South Carolina. His poems have appeared in World Haiku Review and BTS.
wind extracting leaves
almost naked trees
autumn
(Such a unique, poetic description of trees being de-leafed.)
Nicholas Gentile
Padmini Krishnan was raised in India and now resides in Singapore. Her works have appeared in The Stardust Haiku, Ariel Chart, and The Heron’s Nest. Welcome to BTS. This poet has penetrated deeply into winter’s essence. Her haiku are the equal of the ancient Japanese masters; her haiku would be admired on that Pacific Island.
winter chill
the shape of the breeze
in mulberry leaves
winter drought
the silence of
cracked leaves
winter mist
a baby sparrow’s
soft chirp
mid-winter
the scent of
frozen breeze
Padmini Krishnan
As a writer of haiku passes through life, they leave indelible marks behind them.
Kevin McLaughlin
Yet once more I encourage all haiku writers to share their work, their insights into the nature of all things, with fellow poets and BTS readers.
For those interested in haiku, I recommend you cast back into the BTS archives and reference the September 2016 column. It provides a pretty thorough explanation of the basic format.
—Kevin Mclaughlin
Haiku Archive
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