writeALONG 13 January 2026

A TUESDAY FEATURE

hosts: Padma Rajeswari, K. Ramesh

guest editor: Andrew Shimield

Only the unpublished poems (that are never published on any social media platform/journals/anthologies) posted here for each prompt will be considered for Triveni Haikai India's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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American poet, Gary Snyder, begins one of his poems:

‘I can’t look out over cities without thinking of carpenters, plumbers, hod-carriers, cement-mixer truck drivers, plasterers’*

This gives us our theme for this week. Up the workers! Those often unnoticed people who drive our buses, serve us in shops, fix our leaky roofs etc. Take a look at something you perhaps don’t often pay much attention to, and see what you can find.

shift over

the bus driver fist bumps

his replacement

back of the Savoy

the pot-wash boys

out for a smoke

in a swirl of blossom

the dustmen

fill their cart

* From ‘The Back Country’  7: V11

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ars_Poetica_(Archibald_MacLeish)