HAIKUsutradhar : 6th February 2026

A FRIDAY FEATURE

Host: Gauri Dixit Mentor: Kanjini Devi

Prompter for February : Patricia J. Machmiller

OUR MISSION

1. To provide a new poetry workshop each Friday, along with a prompt.

2. To select haiku, senryu, and haiga each month for the journal, haikuKATHA. Each issue will select poems that were posted in this forum from the 3rd of the previous month to the 2nd of the current month.

FEEDBACK GUIDELINES ( Included as a guideline, please do not be constrained by these while proving feedback )

Let the feedback be specific and constructive. Don’t be vague. Here are some helpful lines you could use to give feedback.

What is working for me :

1. The seasonal reference is good.

2. The image is very clear.

3. I love the internal rhythm.

4. When read aloud, the poem flows well.

5. The 'cut' which is so important in haiku is effectively done here.

6. I like the format ...it's short,long, short. Nice

7. I love the indent you have given

Points that aren't working for me:

1. The image is abstract

2. The lines are long.

3. Some words are redundant and can be safely removed.

4. The lightness of haiku isn't here.

5. Abstract words take away the haiku's charm

6. There is no 'cut' (kire) in this haiku.

7. There are two kigo (seasonal words) in this ku.

8. This is reading more like free verse.

9. This ku is reading as three separate lines. There is no connect.

SUBMISSION GUIDELINES

1. Post a maximum of two verses per week, from Friday to Friday, numbered 1 & 2. Post only one haiku in a day, in 24 hours.

2. Only post unpublished verses --- nothing that has appeared in peer-reviewed or edited journals, anthologies, your webpage, social media, etc.

3. Only post original verses.

4. For each poem you post, comment on one other person’s poem.

5. Give feedback only to those poets who have requested it.

6. Do not post a variety of drafts, along with a request for readers to choose which they like most. Only one poem is to appear in each original post.

7. Post each revision, if you have any, above the original. The top version will be your submission to haikuKATHA. Do not delete the original post.

8. Do not submit found poetry or split sequences.

9. Do not post photos, except for haiga.

10. haikuKATHA will only consider haiga that showcase original artwork or photos. Post details re: the source of the visual image. If you team up with an artist or photographer, make sure that it’s their original work and that they are not restricted by other publications to share it. We won't be responsible for any copyright issues.

11. Put your name, followed by your country, below each poem, even after revisions.

12. Notification about all selected poems for each issue will be posted on CELEBRATION -on 10th of each month.

Poems that do not follow the guidelines may be deleted.

Founder/Managing Editor of haikuKATHA Monthly Journal: Kala Ramesh

Associate Editors: Ashish Narain Firdaus Parvez Priti Aisola Sanjuktaa Asopa Shalini Pattabiraman Suraja Menon Roychowdhury Vandana Parashar Vidya Shankar

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PROMPT:

6th February

Patricia J. Machmiller

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Week 1

The first prompt is a quote by one of the most revered American writers and the winner of the 1949 Nobel Prize for Literature, William Faulkner:

"The past is never dead. It’s not even past.”   

Faulkner was deeply immersed in the culture of the American South. His novels are haunted by the past. He created memorable characters who were steeped in southern traditionsand as such were enmeshed in dilemmas created by the South’s slave-holding past. Through his work he illustrated how we can never escape the past. Today’s moment is forever linked to what has come before.

Here are some haiku that show this truth:

    his ashes

at the back of the closet 

decemberfirst 

                 Barbara Moore

    early morning light

    my mother’s presence lingers

    by the long-armed chair

                 Bona Santos

                 A Sonic Boom of Stars, Southern California Haiku Study Group Anthology, 2020

    all the people

    in this face

    I know

                Beverly Momoi

                 Modern Haiku, Fall 2025

    places pop took me—  

        water under the bridge 

            at the tea garden

                 Nathanael Tico

                 Nowhere Else, 2025 HNA Conference Anthology, 2025

I invite you as you write to reflect on how the experiences you’ve had in life and how the larger culture you are immersed in shape and color your present moment.

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Looking forward to reading your haiku. Poems outside the prompt can also be posted.

Write on! Gauri