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The Daily Verse

To make The Wise Owl more dynamic, we have introduced The Daily Verse, a segment where we will upload poetry all  days of the week. Just send in a poem to editor@thewiseowl.art

Theme for October
Nostalgia

books on table.jpg

Thursday, 10th October, 2024

Image by Debby Hudson
Hand Drawing
sun reflected through dew drops.jpg

dew on her grave

the many eyes

of the sun

rosebush

a raindrop

on every thorn

raindrops on thorns of a yellow rosebush.jpg
an old wooden pier.jpg

the old pier groans

so many come and go

syllables of salt

About the Author

Robert Witmer has resided in Japan for the past 45 years. Now an emeritus professor, he has had the opportunity to teach courses in poetry and creative writing not only at his home university in Tokyo but also in India. His poems and prose poetry have appeared in many print and online journals and books. His first book of poetry, a collection of haiku titled Finding a Way, was published in 2016. A second book of poetry, titled Serendipity, was published earlier this year (2023). An author’s page for Robert Witmer can be found at both the Poets & Writers and AuthorsDen websites.

Wednesday, 9th October, 2024

lotus in a pool.jpg

Footsteps...

By Ketaki Mazumdar

Hand Drawing

in a constant wandering

I flow with the clouds

in moments of realisation

am the lotus

in the moonlight

at your feet

am the peacock that dances

with the sound of the rain

and the strains of the Dark One's flute

I return to You over and over again

I burn in an ecstasy

waiting for that unity

we shared every lifetime

in my soul's journey

About the Author

Ketaki Mazumdar is an educationist and a poet. She is a recipient of many awards. Her poetry reflects her excitement with the beauty of nature, emotions of grief, joy, love and also gently touches on the spirituality and mysticism of life.

Tuesday, 8th October, 2024

a quill & book.jpg

Haiku on Nostalgia

By Marguerite Doyle

​

Hand Drawing
old photos flickering on the screen in black & white.jpg

flicking through

old photographs

home movie

christening lace

on the baby

her wedding dress

a smiling baby girl during christening .jpg
dew drops on white lilies.jpg

dewdrops

on white lilies

anniversary

About the Author

Marguerite Doyle’s publication credits include Vallum, Stillpoint Literary Magazine, Reliquiae, The Galway Review, The New Welsh Reader and The Ireland Chair of Poetry Commemorative Anthology, Hold Open the Door. She has been shortlisted twice for the Anthology Award and was Winner in Category for the Trócaire / Poetry Ireland Award. Marguerite lives in Dublin, Ireland and is interested in her local environs as the poetic space.  

Monday, 7th October, 2024

Image by Jordan Whitt

Late Summer Storm

By Belinda Behne

Hand Drawing

Thunder cracks

            The sky opens

            We dance barefoot

            thru the wet grass

            Laughing

 

            Pelted with rain

            Our open mouths

            become fountains

 

            Mother whistles

            Calling us in

            with just two fingers

            between her lips

            Loud and shrill

 

            We don’t want to hear her

            but we do

            And we come

            Tracking mud and rain

            into her kitchen

 

            We are soaking wet

            and thrilled to the bone

            Still laughing, giggling, sliding

            across the slippery wet floor

 

            With mud squishing between our toes

            we are electrified

            Transformed

            by the storm

About the Author

Belinda Behne grew up in the midwest, but she has spent most of her adult life in the vibrant culture of New York City. Her first career, as a teacher of special education, led her to the love of art, literature and theatre. She has pursued her passions of acting, writing poetry and performing professional voice-overs for more than three decades. She currently lives on the edge of a salt marsh, where life continues to inspire her in new ways. Her poems can be found in LEAF Journal, The Wise Owl, Scarlet Dragonfy and Cold Moon Journal.

Friday, 4th October, 2024

waning summer.jpg

Waning Summer

By Dan Hardison

Hand Drawing

Shadows stretch longer
slanting across the landscape
as days grow shorter.

The evening sun
flaming in amazement
as it drops on the horizon.

Mornings awake
from longer nights
to a fine veil of pearly mist.

Garden blooms are fewer
as cornstalks and gourds
join rust-colored wreaths.

Nuts and burnished leaves
are covering the ground
as the air turns cooler.

A dazzling display
of elemental colors
as autumn beckons.

About the Author

A native of Tennessee, Dan Hardison now lives in Wilmington, North Carolina where he is a writer and artist. His artwork is inspired by Japanese woodblocks and ink painting (sumi-e). As an artist and writer, he is drawn to the Japanese haiga – a combination of image and poem. Dan Hardison’s writing has appeared at The Wise Owl, The Ravens Perch, Frogpond, Cattails, Contemporary Haibun Online, Chrysanthemum, and other print and online journals. His self-published book Quietude is available from Lulu Press. His work can also be found at his website Windscape Studio and blog Some Tomorrow’s Morning.

Thursday, 3rd October, 2024

books on a table.jpg

Poems on Nostalgia

By Maurizio Brancaleoni

​

Hand Drawing
abstract in gold.jpg

voices of yore —
their warm clarity
effulgent gold

moon in the daytime —

everything returns

yet different from before

abstract in gold & silver.jpg
abstract of black & translucent.jpg

rainy night —

the tic of the clock

digs a furrow

About the Author

Maurizio Brancaleoni lives near Rome, Italy. He holds a master's degree in Language and Translation Studies from Sapienza University. His haiku and senryu have appeared in Synchronized Chaos, Dadakuku, Lothlorien Poetry Journal, Under The Basho, among others. In 2023 one of his micropoems was nominated for a Touchstone Award, while a horror ku originally featured in the Halloween-themed issue of Scarlet Dragonfly was re-published in this year's Dwarf Stars anthology.  Maurizio manages “Leisure Spot", a bilingual blog where he posts interviews, reviews and translations: 

Wednesday, 2nd Oct, 2024

profusion of flowers in flower beds with an old man tending to them.jpg

Neighbourhood Revisited

By Sonia Nicholson

Hand Drawing

old Margaret, wild white hair

flying as a veil as a flag

of another time

 

            /different or better/

 

behind her red walker

pushes on after-noon 

the street pushing daisies pushing                almost

 

Spring outside her bungalow (stucco)

1930s beauty

hidden behind the roses

 

and around the corner

the doddery man still plants

gnarled and stooped

 

against February

a row of daffodils

tulips alternating yellow and red

 

in his neat flower bed

a bloom for every season

a memory

 

tossed like seeds

 

(the flower bed, the bungalow

dug up now

 

all traces of red

under glass)

About the Author

Sonia Nicholson’s work has appeared in various publications including Inspirelle, Literary Heist, Pinhole Poetry, Heimat Review, and Rivanna Review. Her writing explores themes of identity, family, and place. A first-generation Canadian who grew up in a Portuguese immigrant household, she was born and raised in Osoyoos, British Columbia. She holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree in French and Spanish from the University of Victoria and continues to call Victoria home. Her debut novel, Provenance Unknown, was published in 2023 by Sands Press and she has signed a contract with Okanagan Publishing House to publish A Year of Summer, her second.

Monday, 30th September, 2024

books.jpg

Poems on Nostalgia

By Vijay Prasad

​

Hand Drawing
Image by Casey Horner

inside her breast-pocket  a piece of night

a lonely verb nostalgic about the active days

Image by Ricardo Gomez Angel
abstract in black & white.jpg

late night -

only the sound

of nails growing

in her digital heart my neatly arranged nights

night abstract.jpg
fossils abstract.jpg

fossils of me in her neon smiles

winter night a gaze still clings to my bones

abstract black & white.jpg

About the Author

Vijay Prasad is a poet from Patna, India. He is disappointingly interested in life. He has a passion for haiku, language, philosophy, and so on ... He is published in Bones, Under the Basho, tinywords, Failed Haiku, The Mumba Journal, Haiku Dialogue, Prune Juice, among others. 

Friday, 27th September, 2024

books strewn on the table.jpg

Haiku on Nostalgia

By Giuliana Ravaglia 

​

Hand Drawing
yellow flower.jpg

roots...
a yellow flower
before leaving

doorstep -
rhythm of the waves
so far away

beach with waves.jpg
red maple.jpg

red maple -
slides on the water
the light of sunset

About the Author

Giuliana Ravaglia was born in the province of Bologna (Italy), is a former primary school teacher and has a great love for poetry, especially haiku. His poems have been published on websites and online magazines: Otata, Troutswirl, ESUJ-H, Asahi Haikuist Network, The Mainichi, Scarlet Dragonfly Journal, Haikuuniverse, Cold Moon Journal, Akita International Haiku Network, The Bamboo Hut, Take 5ive, Haiku Corner, Memoirs of a Geisha, HaikuNetra, Haiku World, Failed Haiku among others. he received Honorable mention in Haiku EuroTop 100.

Thursday, 26th September, 2024

Image by Laura Chouette

Poems on Nostalgia

By Kavita Ratna

​

Hand Drawing
eyes of a child.jpg

aftertaste of

peppermint candy

eyes look for appa

ruby-red

the wedding ring

leaves a mark

a ruby ring lying on a table.jpg
names written on a steamy mirror .jpg

names

on a steamy mirror

vanishing act

About the Author

Kavita Ratna is a children's rights activist, poet and a theatre enthusiast. Sea Glass is her anthology of poems published by Red River. Her poems have appeared in The Kali Project: Invoking the Goddess within, A little book of serendipity, Muse India, The Wise Owl, Triveni Hakai India, Haiku in Action, the Scarlet Dragonfly, the Cold Moon Journal, Five Fleas Itchy poetry, the Haiku Dialogue, Stardust Haiku, Leaf (Journal of The Daily Haiku), and many others. She was on the Haiku panel at the Glass House Poetry Festival, Bangalore, 2024. She is also a Pushcart Prize nominee, 2024.

Wednesday, 25th September, 2024

books.jpg

Haiku on Nostalgia

By Deborah Bennett

​

Hand Drawing
child's tin soldier on top of an an old decrepit garden wall.jpg

child's tin soldier

still on the garden wall  -

autumn dawn 

cricket in the palm

of a five year old  -

orange setting sun 

orange ball of setting sun.jpg
a middle-aged woman lighting a yule log.jpg

day after day

Christmas gone

i light the yule log

About the Author

Deborah A. Bennett is an American poet whose poetic work consists mostly of haiku and senryu. Her poems have most recently appeared in Acorn Haiku, Fresh Out Magazine and The Mamba, Journal of the Africa Haiku Network.

Tuesday, 25th September, 2024

books strewn on a table.jpg

Poems on Nostalgia

By Sandip Chauhan

​

Hand Drawing
bullock cart on a dirt road in India.jpg

bullock cart creaks

on the dirt road

fading murals

speak of bygone tales

under evening stars

crow perches

on the old station

his final wave drifts

with the distant rumble

of trains long departed

crow perched on the roof of a train station in india.jpg
a broken lantern swaying in the balcony of a deceript haveli.jpg

a broken lantern

dangles from the balcony

missed arrivals

trail the fleeting arcs

of comets in the dark

About the Author

Born into a literary family in Punjab, India, Sandip Chauhan holds a PhD in Punjabi literature. Currently residing in Northern Virginia, USA, she pursues a career as a bank regulator in the federal government. Chauhan has contributed to three haiku anthologies: "In One Breath: A Haiku Moment," co-edited by her; "Kokil Anmb Sunhavi Bole" (The Sweet Song of Koel Bird from the Mango Tree); and "Beyond the Fields," a trilingual haiku collection in English, Punjabi, and Hindi. Additionally, she authored "Sprouting Grass," a haiku poetry collection. With a deep passion for Japanese haiku, Chauhan finds joy in expressing herself through writing poetry in her mother tongue, Punjabi.

Monday, 23rd September, 2024

books.jpg

Micro Poems

By Al Gallia

​

Hand Drawing
rusty plough in a field.jpg

overgrown pond…

ancient oak trees over-shade 

granddad’s rusty plow

rural road…

hanging on the rusty gate

a decayed horse collar

a horse collar resting on a rusty gate.jpg
old man dozes with a photo on his lap.jpg

her worn photo

resting on his lap robe

the old man dozes

About the Author

Al Gallia is a poet from Lafayette, Louisiana USA. He loves writing poetry in every moment he can spare. 

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