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 . . .
February 2022
Vol VII No I
Published quarterly:
February, May, August,
and November.
Haiku
with Kevin McLaughlin
Hollow Stems
A bamboo grove conveys a sense of dignity and spirituality. Bamboo, a member of the grass family, is characterized by its hollow stems. In a metaphorical sense, these hollow stems represent the non-dual nature of all phenomena. The empty stems are an insight into the primordial ground that is the inter-being that motivates those who write haiku and senryū. That emptiness traces back to the instant before the Big Bang, when all matter, energy, gravity, and time were one entity confined in an infinitely small singularity. No difference between subject and object existed.
The sound of the wind,
Hollow stems clack together —
The black bamboo grove.
Kevin McLaughlin
Purbasha Roy is a writer from Jharkand, India. Purbasha evokes a mood that stirs the imagination of a subtle reader.
Cows graze
Greeness of fields
Crows cackle near
(Ah, the greenness of the fields!)
Heron’s nest
Cradles silence
Winter tapestry
(A profound silence, complete stillness,)
Red daisies
Bloom in the garden
Red dawn of sun
Purbasha Roy
David Kehe is a former Peace Corp volunteer. He draws inspiration from living on the Pacific Northwest and from 40 years of teaching ESL. He is keenly aware of nature’s natural processes of growth and decay.
wind-scattered seeds
siblings
grown apart
forest floor
pews
of fallen logs
David Kehe
A recent University of Texas graduate, S Denny resides in San Angelo, Texas. His most recent poem appeared in Voices de la Luna.
glass-green bottle flies
buzzing ’round the scavenge mark
a silken sunshine
thunder-thumped cloud
bleeds a life-blood transparent
b‘low a daisy grows
(Superior juxtaposition of the thunder-thumped cloud and . . . a daisy.)
S Denny
Robert Beveridge makes noise and writes poetry in Akron, Ohio.
adamant
the stone wall stares out
at the storm
Robert Beveridge
DJ Tyrer produces Atlantean Publishing and edits View From Atlantis and the 5-7-5 Haiku Journal.
A fleshy cocoon
Caterpillar held within
No butterfly flight
First published in Poetry Cornwall.
Bees twitch, pollen seek
Treasure in dewy flower
Summer sun’s caress
First published in Migrating Minds.
Dark clouds blur the sun
Crack of thunder shatters still
Startled birds take flight
First published on Duane’s PoeTree.
DJ Tyrer
Leland Woodson, originally from Michigan, moved to Canada, became a Registered Psychologist, and joined the department of psychology at a regional college.
Coastal raindrops fall
Plip, plop What’s that I see,
Ah, my Winter Jasmine
(A wonderful combination of sound and color.)
Moon, old companion
Slightly growing larger now
Night and love are done
Mountain wind whistling,
New white snow on drooping trees
Button this old coat
Leland Woodson
Ram Chandran of India is a corporate lawyer and a poet. Every haikuist will feel a bit of joy at his conch shell.
songs of the sea
inside
the conch shell
train whistle —
a cuckoo
flies from the bough
Ram Chandran
Harris Coverley of the United Kingdom illustrates the difference between Western poetry and the pure, objective nature of Haiku.
the road stays silent
the trees wait against the wind
the owl calls for sleep
unknown birds clucking
the moon a handleless spoon
the zenith of spring
Harris Coverley
Kelly Sargent is a widely published modern haiku and senryū poet, often inspired by the four distinct seasons in picturesque Vermont.
a mourning dove’s coo
pausing
to remember
(Her dove’s cooing will long reverberate.)
morning dewdrops
mourning
the moon
Kelly Sargent
George Held from New York is an 11-time Pushcart nominee and has published many haiku. He catches “life as it flows.”
In the yard
a rabbit nibbles the grass —
a deer sports antlers
Downy woodpecker
pecks holes in the pergola —
tongue laps up larvae
Lammergeier soars
scoping hillside marmots
a mountain goat climbs
Kashmir sheepdogs,
giant and fierce, guard the flock —
repel wolves, bear
Snow leopard stays
undercover by day,
hunts by night
(A sacred animal with all its auspiciousness.)
George Held
Emily Jo Scalzo holds an MFA in fiction and is currently an assistant teaching professor at Ball State University in Indiana.
insomnia
centipede on my ceiling
its ghost haunting me
forty-foot crater
a scar on the landscape
from the falling sky
Emily Jo Scalzo
Padmini Krishnan exhibits intense perception. In these haiku she has pure awareness.
under the roots
of ancient oak
buried childhood dreams
First published in Mad Swirl.
brief stopover
the wind spreads its body
on the neem branches
baby turtle
on the sunny sand
dreams of the dark coral
Padmini Krishnan
Richard Rose’s haiku were inspired by a trip to the Holy Island of Lindisfarne, where he visited the monastery founded by Saint Aidan.
The cold sea surrounds
Bitter winds cut from the north
Seagulls dance in clouds.
Above the shingled strand
Castle walls ascend from rocks
Hear the jackdaw’s caw.
(Fortunate are those who have heard the birds that nest in stone walls.)
Paths where pilgrims trod
A thousand years of footprints
Cross the grassy ridges.
Listen to the voices
Carried on the North Sea wind
Echoes across centuries.
Tides come in and steal
The only way to mainland
Silence must return.
Richard Rose
Anthony Watkins is a well-known poet. It has been said, “Wherever Anthony goes, there is poetry.”
Brown needles gather
On forest floor before baling
Under green cathedral
(A true reverence for that interconnectedness of nature.)
Anthony Watkins
Germina L. Melius is a genealogical assistant from the Caribbean Island of St. Lucia. Her haiku have a distinct metaphysical elegance.
solvent heart like wax
where in nature’s home it hides
a candle fainting
flowers their beauty
hypnotising bees’ dull eyes,
mellowness is good
watching a rooster
grey finch in a tall mango tree
neither will be caught
oceans arm dreadful one
hearts in the soul of water
death is counting bones
(The third line would be superior in any poetry format and is perfect for haiku.)
All four haiku first published in Ginyu Magazine.
Germina L. Melius
Andre P. Audette is a political scientist at Monmouth College.
lilacs in bloom
bee flies off with spray of pollen
stings with fascination
(Complete insight into bee nature.)
moon-shines on the porch
there I am
drinking it in
Andre P. Audette
Rhonda Brown’s educational degrees include an MA in School Counseling and a BS in Family Life/Social Work from LSU. Note Rhonda adheres to the classic 5-7-5 form.
Winter folds a tree —
into a counterfeit death
— gray, bony, lifeless.
(Stark, powerful, and tied to the four seasons.)
Rhonda Brown
Steve Harvester of Westfield, Massachusetts, is a retired United Methodist pastor.
stone saint francis
sits by the garden fountain
pardon for birds
mom’s flight home
rock salt urn in my lap
Iowa soil
Steve Harvester
TM has written haiku that all relate indirectly to time . . . and maybe to the pandemic.
Floors won’t stop tilting.
Every step on my tightrope
spotlights easy prey.
Sitting is best now,
or sleep — like a dead pharaoh’s,
hands crossing my heart.
TM
Laurie Kuntz has published two poetry collections and two chapbooks.
Whisper of a dead mother's voice:
the stillness of trees
before a burst of fruit
Caught between the angry
conversation of sea and shore
shells remain silent
The wind talks
a solitary leaf falls
from the red maple
Laurie Kuntz
Diane Webster of Delta, Colorado, presents a dazzling tour of the Seasons.
Behind beaver dam
skim of ice glimmers
April sunshine
Sizzling summer
dove strolls along the sidewalk
under lawn sprinklers
Morning encounter
ghost jaywalks across the street
priest in white robes
(Read this one twice to appreciate the spirituality.)
Golden aspen leaves
fall in place on forest paths
cobblestone streets
Among desert stones
stump reaches skyward
cactus imitates sun
(Stumps and cactus; their true nature captured.)
Sunflower brightens stump . . .
stump curves over flowers
togetherness in the forest
Diane Webster
We sense the true nature of entities through our five senses. Many haikuists can also use their minds to capture the true essence of reality.
Kevin McLaughlin
Featured
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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