thinkALONG! 11 November 2025

A TUESDAY FEATURE

hosts: Padma Rajeswari, K. Ramesh

guest editor: C.X. Turner  

Only the unpublished poems (that are never published on any social media platform/journals/anthologies) posted here for each prompt will be considered for Triveni Haikai India's monthly journal -- haikuKATHA, each month.

Poets are requested to post poems (haiku/senryu) that adhere to the prompts/exercises given.

Only 1 poem to be posted in 24 hours. Total 2 poems per poet are allowed each week (numbered 1,2). So, revise your poems till 'words obey your call'.

If a poet wants feedback, then the poet must mention 'feedback welcome' below each poem that is being posted.

Responses are usually a mixture of grain and chaff. The poet has to be discerning about what to take for the final version of the poem or the unedited version will be picked up for the journal.

The final version should be on top of the original version for selection.

Poetry is a serious business. Give you best attempt to feature in haikuKATHA !!

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purple butterflies

fly at night through my dreams.

Butterflies, tell me,

have you seen in my village

the falling flowers of the wisteria?

— Yosano Akiko

This dreamlike tanka carries a message into the night. The butterflies are asked to bridge the space between the dreamer and a far-off place. Akiko often entwined sensory beauty with longing, moving between the tangible and the imagined.

"Were it not for shadows, there would be no beauty." — Jun’ichirō Tanizaki

Prompt: Write a haiku or senryu in which a living thing carries a question, a message, or a thought across distance. That distance may be of place, time, or emotion.