Daily Verse
Week 1, August 2025
Lady of the Night
By Swati Basu Das 1st August 2025
The night sky cradles the tired Moon, taking a nap.
Darkness blinks from the depths of the ocean’s lap,
At zillion stars sprinkled like freckles of snow;
Imbuing the black visage with a flickering glow.
From the core of the Swift Tuttle,
Descends a Quail – the radiant Asteria –
Her svelte celestial feathers ablaze;
Falling upon Ortygia, unscathed and hidden;
Lolling silently, bonded to the bosom of desires,
Her fiery quills rousing Ortygian pleasures.
Blooming wishes awaken glistening cosmos,
Whistling and rambling across the Milky Way;
Then, leisurely rises the Moon, two sunsets later.
Amorously, it winks at the Lady of the Night;
Her petals – pious, downy, white and bright,
Kissed by Moon’s silver glory, she blossoms –
The adoringly elusive coy Cereus.
As the Moon fades amidst the fair blue,
Night Queen wilts with a deep sigh;
The unbloomed awaits the mellow moonlit sky.
A Sky Full of Promises
by Joanna Ashwell 4th August 2025
backs to the Earth
our longing pitched
to the arc of hope
every comet and star
showering our souls
can we really
capture this belonging
within our being
when every shimmer
is all about you
Perseid meteor
sprinkling the sky
with a dazzle of tales
this Patronus Star
weaving our dream
Cosmic Dust
By Neha Talreja 5th August 2025
Cosmic dust
falls upon us
as I walk down the aisle
in my embroidered red lehanga,
adorned with jewels--
dupatta draped,
a smile on your face
A sky full of promises,
a heart full of hopes
the air full of
murmurs and marigolds
a glint of yellow
falling on my red bangles--
a sun lit bliss
souls entangled
as we step into
our awaited forever
written long ago
in cosmic dust
Window Wanderer
By Anju Kishore 8th August 2025
A thread of dawn stole me from your arms
to keep its promise to a faraway cloud
I see the wind cup its wings to you
letting you in on my secret rendezvous
My path tinkles with bird song
the ones we've together hummed
The day breaks the tales we have spun
of runaway nights and scheming horizons
Let me ride awhile the crest of my cloud
before I rest on your cleft in the wall
Your sill is witness to how many imaginations
let me live realizations for a while
I'll return to latch you with a click of my capers
once I have traced the abscondence of the stars
I promise to return with sparks in my palms
to spangle your panes with chimerical wants
And when you enclose me
in your four-cornered confines
I'll catch you trading with the sky, collusive grins
in indulgence of this window wanderer's whims
seven sisters -
if i look at the dark sky i am not alone
Poet's Note:The pleiades are also called "the seven sisters."
Beneath the Stars
By Poonam Verma 7th August 2025
Beneath the stars, our hands align,
Two beating hearts, one shared design.
The night above, so vast and wide,
Reflects the love we hold inside.Each star a vow we’ve yet to speak,
Each breeze a blush upon your cheek.
The moonlight wraps us, soft and bright,
A silent witness through the night.Though clouds may come and shadows fall,
Your love remains my guiding call.
In every storm, in skies unsure,
It’s you who makes my world feel pure.So look above and you will see,
The sky still holds our destiny.
A thousand lights, one single true—
Each one a promise, just for you.
Biographies of Poets
Swati Basu Das lives in Oman. She is a journalist. Her articles and columns on current issues, culture, and travel are published in newspapers and magazines. Her short stories and flash fiction have appeared in FemAsia, Borderless Journal, and others. She's a post-graduate in English Literature and has obtained a master's degree in Journalism and a diploma in Public Relations. She has worked with dailies like Times of India, Hindustan Times, Statesman in India and currently writes columns and articles for newspapers and magazines in Oman. She relishes music, escapades, coffee and John Keats.
Joanna Ashwell is a short form poet (from the UK) who writes Haiku, Tanka, Haibun, Cherita and other related forms. She has published four collections of poetry. Between Moonlight a collection of haiku was published by Hub Editions in 2006. Her tanka collection ‘Every Star’ was published by KDP on Amazon in 2023. Her Cherita collection ‘River Lanterns’ was published by 1-2-3 Press on Amazon in 2023 and two further Cherita collections are available on Amazon, Moonset Song (2024) and Love’s Scriptures (2025). She currently serves on the selection team for the Canadian Tanka Journal GUSTS.
Neha Talreja is a Chartered Accountant from Madhya Pradesh, India, with a deep love for poetry, especially haiku. She primarily focuses on love poems and nature-inspired verses. Her work has been published in renowned online magazines, including Prune Juice Journal, Cattails Journal, Under the Basho, The Haiku Foundation, Failed Haiku, Scarlet Dragonfly Journal, Femku Mag, and Autumn Moon Journal. Through her writing, Neha aims to celebrate life’s simple moments and connect with readers on a profound, universal level.
Anju Kishore is a Pushcart (Poetry) Prize 2022 and 2024 nominee, a Touchstone Award 2023 longlister, and an award-winning editor of numerous free-verse anthologies. Her first book of poems, ‘…and I Stop to Listen’ was published in 2018 and her second book, ‘My Conversations with God, Life, and Death’ in 2025. Her poems are part of significant anthologies like Aatish 2, The Yearbook of Indian Poetry in English 2022 and 2023(Hawakal and Pippa Rann Books, UK respectively), and Late-blooming Cherries 2024 (Haiku Poetry from India, Harper Collins). She has dabbled in online theatre and is currently exploring Japanese forms of poetry.
Poonam Verma loves reading and writing poetry and writes poetry in every spare moment she can get.
Week 2, August 2025
A Sky full of Promises
By Nivedita K 11th August 2025
A sky full of promises is stretched wide,
a canvas painted in whispers of dreams.
Here, clouds drift like thoughts, soft and unhurried,
transporting us to tales of tomorrows.
The sun breaks through these clouds like a flirtatious smile
casting its lure of golden hopes
inviting us to reach higher,
bask in the warmth,
and dance in the glow of potential.
Even the storms, pregnant with thunder and rain,
hold a promise of growth, of purification.
So, as we wander beneath this domed canvas,
let's keep our hearts and minds open
ready to soak in the light,
gather our strength,
and weave stories into the fabric
of This sky full of promises.
The Jitterbugging Stars
By Santosh Bakaya 12th August 2025
I noted that the stars in the night sky were bloated.
Coated with promise.
I send them flying kisses, naively believing
that they are caressing the cheeks of the stars.Each star duplicating the fervour with redoubled sparkle.
I have an oddly surreal feeling that the sparkling sky
is a circus. I see a lady, cruising with a deft danseuse‘s elegance,
her danglers splattering the starry light hither and thither.
I see a magician waving a magic wand. He snaps his fingers. Abracadabra!
Quaintly dressed folks wheel in gigantic Petromax lamps, queuing them up in the sky.
As I watch in pop-eyed befuddlement, the stars hold hands and start
jitterbugging, hugging each other, palming out profuse promises.The surreal tapers away, but the real remains. A promise-filled refrain.
Slowly, the lowly lamps die out, but the stars keep twinkling,
pouring sparklers at the earthlings down below, having late-night coffee
in their moon-blanched balconies. The folks gasp in delight
at the sharp glint of promise in their coffee mugs.The shimmering stars pat themselves on their silvery backs.
The moon smiles in avuncular mirth, pouring its silvery sheen on a sleepy earth.
The Sun Rose in her West
By Ritu Kamra Kumar 14th August 2025
She dreamt not soft, but skyward dreams,
Where echoes write in silent reams.
With ink and insight, dusk she braved,
Each failed attempt a star she saved.
Not riches, nor runway’s applause
But civil halls with juster laws.
She walked through whispers, jeers, and doubt,
Yet lit her lamp when hope went out.
Like Hughes, she felt the shadow fall,
A wall of "No"—too wide, too tall.
But grit, like grass, grew through the stone,
She made the dark her stepping throne.
Books bore her prayers, her silence spoke,
Each syllabus a sacred yoke.
The merit list gleamed —her name aglow
The sun had risen from below.
Not East, but West, her morning broke
Where time had tried to steal her cloak.
She flung her fears out with the mist
And kissed the sky fate once had missed.
Poet's Note: The title and lines 9–10 allude to Langston Hughes’ poem “As I Grew Older,” where a metaphorical wall blocks the poet’s dream “bright like a sun.” In defiance, the speaker imagines breaking through the darkness and letting the sun rise again—symbolizing long-delayed yet triumphant hope. The idea of the sun rising in the west metaphorically suggests an unexpected and poetic reversal of despair. In this poem, the protagonist’s success in a prestigious civil service exam (implied as UPSC) reflects that same victory over systemic and emotional shadows.
Celestial Magic
By Alka Kansra 15th August 2025
It is a starry winter night
Promises whispered, hearts beating side by side.
Or is it a dreamy romance .....
It is a starry winter night
Smell of jasmines blooms, peaceful and quiet
Gentle breeze carrying some secret promises .....
Of lives full of love and tender kisses
It is a starry winter night
Silent and surreal, shining and bright
Solitude embraces our peaceful nest .....
Where dreams unfurl and secrets rest
It is a starry winter night
Mystical and magical, the snowflakes dance
Conjuring some special memories, a nostalgic sigh .....
Treasured recollections, forever in the sky
A starry winter night, endless possibilities Stars twinkle bright Universe whispering, believe inyou .....
A sky full of promises, dreams come true
In this celestial magic, love will brew
Biographies of Poets
Nivedita Karthik is a graduate in Immunology from the University of Oxford and a professional Bharatanatyam dancer. Her work has been published in various online and print poetry magazines and anthologies, both nationally and internationally. She has three poetry books to her credit – She: The Reality of Womanhood, The Many Moods of Water, and Pa(i)red Poetry. Her profile showcasing her use of poetry to address pertinent issues was featured in Lifestyle Magazine (March 2025 issue).
Internationally acclaimed, Santosh Bakaya, PhD, poet, essayist, novelist, biographer, TEDx speaker, columnist, and reviewer, has written thirty books across different genres. Her ten books of poetry, themed around nature, peace, and belligerence, have been well-received, worldwide. Her two biographies, Ballad of Bapu, [Poetic Biography of Mahatma Gandhi], and Only in Darkness Can You See the Stars [Biography of Martin Luther King Jr] have won laurels. Her latest book, Din about Chins [Penprints 2025], has garnered a lot of critical acclaim. Her columns, Trigger that Creative Spark in Kashmir pen, and Morning Meanderings in learning and creativity. Com have a huge readership.
Ritu Kamra Kumar, Retd. Officiating Principal and Associate Professor of English at MLN College, Yamuna Nagar, is an acclaimed academician, poet, and writer. With over 400 contributions to leading national newspapers and magazines, she has published 70+ research papers in reputed national and international journals and edited books. A noted resource person and speaker, she has led workshops and panel discussions nationwide, including at the Delhi Book Fair 2024. Honoured by the District Administration and featured as an Empowered Woman by The Hindustan Times, she is a recipient of the Indian Woman Achiever Award and has authored eight acclaimed books.
Mona Bedi is a medical doctor in Delhi, India. She has been writing poetry since childhood but a few years back she started writing the Japanese form.. haiku. She has authored two poetry books published by the name of 'they you and me' and 'dancing moonlight.' She received the Grand Prize in the 3rd Morioka Haiku Festival, 2021 and four haiku of merit in the World Haiku Review 2021/2022 alongwith an honourable mention at the Japan Fair 2021. Her haiku, tanka haibun and Haiga has been published in various journals of repute like Presence, Modern haiku, Haiku dialogue, Haiku in Action, Triveni haikuKatha, Drifting sands, Failed haiku, Stardust, among others.
Alka Kansra is a retired from MCMDAV College for Women, Chandigarh as HOD Chemistry. A freelance writer with three Hindi poetry books and one English poetry book published. Translated one hindi poetry book into English. Articles, stories, poems and book reviews in various papers and magazines. Won a few awards recognising her Literary pursuits.
Week 3, August 2025
The Weeping Bridge
By Neelam Saxena 19th August 2025
the howrah bridge beckons, I carefully run on its bosom
full of voids, at midnight. It’s hurt. it weeps beneath the skin.
it makes me feel the fractured contours damaged by the
boisterous vehicles that ply, its strings of relationships
display raw fragility – it has passed through moments
of extreme detachment, no one can feel its pulse.
it makes me peep below – the water is turbid, tumultuous.
mankind has polluted it. it can’t breathe –
air is choked with whispers of smoke
surprisingly, what I see is the lights dancing rhythmically in the waters –
trembling, yet unafraid of the despairing dark.
there must be some hope, somewhere…
i look at the serene sky, the moon light pirouetting -
i start counting the silvery stars - are they promising something?
i catch a falling star, put it on the back of my palm
as if hope had a shape. i look at the sky full of promises –
light enters the wounds of the bridge and my delicate heart.
yes, there shall be happiness…someday!
Poems
By Vijay Prasad 18th August 2025
and she stirs the entire sky with a tea spoon
the sky 𝘵𝘪𝘭𝘵𝘴 with the weight of a promise
in my skull m_i_l_e_s of g.r.e.y sky
Appetition
By Sanjeev Sethi 21st August 2026
Through which loupe do I see
a lineup of oddments,
seriocomic at one level,
unbelievable at another?
In the laundered streets
of the sky, there are no alternate
routes or ragamuffins.
Essentialities stir the urge.
Paphian calls alter the fretwork.
There is no greater ego-buster
or booster.
The latter post ne plus ultra.
Poems
By Giuliana Ravaglia 20th August 2025
shooting stars -
where the shadow is a dark crowd
I gather seeds of light
shooting star -
the smallest eternal moment
happiness
Milky Way -
in the infinite silence
glimmers of hope
Biographies of Poets
Neelam Saxena Chandra is a prolific bilingual author, writing in both English and Hindi. She has published 7 novels, 9 short story collections, 49 poetry collections, and 16 children’s books. Her literary achievements include holding three records in the Limca Book of Records. Neelam has received several prestigious awards, including the Sohanlal Dwivedi Puraskar for children’s literature (2018) by the Maharashtra State Hindi Sahitya Akademi, the Premchand Award by the Ministry of Railways, and the Rabindranath Tagore International Poetry Award. She has also been honored with the Freedom Award by Radio City for lyrics, an award from the American Embassy presented by Gulzar Sahab, the Setu International Award for Excellence (2024), and the Reuel International Lifetime Achievement Award, among others.
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.
Sanjeev Sethi is an award-winning poet who has authored eight books of poetry. His poems have been published in over thirty-five countries and appear in more than 500 journals and anthologies. He is the joint winner of the Full Fat Collection Competition-Deux, organized by Hedgehog Poetry Press, UK. Sethi is among the top 10 finalists for the 2021 Erbacce Prize in the UK. He is the recipient of the 2022 Ethos Literary Award. In 2023, he won the First Prize in a Poetry Competition by the National Defence Academy, Pune. He was conferred the 2023 Setu Award, USA, for poetic excellence. He lives in Mumbai.
Steliana Cristina Voicu lives in Ploieşti, Romania and loves painting, poetry, Japanese culture, photography and astronomy. Her haiku, tanka, haiga, poetry, short-prose have been published worldwide, including The Wise Owl-The Daily Verse, Spillwords, Asahi Haikuist Network, The Mainichi, Under the Bashō, cattails, Chrysanthemum and others. She is founder and editor of Enchanted Garden Haiku Journal-Romania.
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
Week 4, August 2025
Haiku
By Kavita Ratna, Kama, 25th August 2025
a ray of gold
pierces the dark wet shroud
a startling
reminder of
the ever present sun
sema ceremony
whirling up to the sky
beyond borders
the sparkle of
bhrama kamalas
star companions
HAI KU
by Sarah Calvello 26th August 2025
Plum blossoms
Savor good memories
Unmasking the moon
Bumblebee buzzes
By the blackberry brambles
Landscape of your skin
Hawk of four corners
Appreciates the free air
Direction unknown
Haikue
By Lee on Teft, 27th August 2025
silent wind
I speak instead
to the stars
coruscant stars
one koan appearing
after another
weary of living
in darkness
morning glory
TANKA
By Nalini Shetty, 28th August 2025
not asking
if I’ve seen it too
my son
points again
to the blank night sky
your shoulder
close but not touching
we both
look up
for different reasons
the night unfurls
like amma’s cotton saree
creased with stars
and stitched in silence
where the past still breathes
Biographies of Poets
Kavita Ratna is a children's rights activist, poet and a theatre enthusiast. 'Sea Glass' and 'Every peck a rainbow' are her two poetry collections, both published by Red River. Her poems have appeared in The Kali Project: Invoking the Goddess within, Presence, Asahi Shimbun, Under the Basho, Muse India, The Wise Owl, haikuKATHA, Haiku in Action, the Mamba -Journal of Africa Haiku Network, Black and white haiga, the Cold Moon Journal, Five Fleas Itchy poetry, the Haiku Dialogue, Stardust Haiku, LEAF (Journal of The Daily Haiku), and several others. She was on the Haiku panel at the Glass House Poetry Festival, Bangalore, 2024 and the Mysore Literature Festival, 2024. She is also a Pushcart Prize nominee, 2023 and a Touchstone Award nominee, 2024.
Sarah Mahina Calvello loves reading and writing haiku and other forms of Japanese poetry.
Leon Tefft is a haiku poet based in Greenville, South Carolina, USA
Nalini Shetty is a poet and writer based in India who explores themes of memory, nature, and emotional nuance through short-form poetry. Her work often draws from quiet, everyday moments and the subtle shifts of light and feeling that move through them. She writes in various poetic forms, including haiku,haibun, tanka, and tanka prose. When not writing, she finds inspiration in birdsong, changing skies, and the gentle rituals of domestic life.
Jahnavi Gogoi’s poetry has been published in Haiku Corner by The Japan Society, Shadow Pond Journal, The Leaf Journal, haikuNetra, Scarlet Dragonfly Journal, among others. She won the first prize in the poetry writing competition organised by the Chandigarh Literary Society in the year 2022 for her poem ‘If this isn’t love’. She writes a lot about her native state of Assam, India, having spent her early childhood years in the shadow of the Patkai hills in northeast India. Jahnavi now lives in the beautiful town of Ajax in Ontario, Canada with her husband and daughter.
Last Week, July 2025
Poems on War & Peace
by Rupa Anand 28th July 2025
constant hum of war
on the idiot box
summer day
peace rally —
those dusty banners
blowing in the wind
oranges & lemons
pockmarked with shells
midsummer
Haiku
by Barbara Anna Gaiardani 30th July 2025
the plopping
of the ice cubes
hidden message
trip companion
background noise
from the fan
a wilderness
of empty rooms
it's so hot
Yes
By Snigdha Agrawal 29th July, 2025
Yes…
I have bought myself peace.
With the humble count of my prayer beads.
What other balm can still the storm
That thunders deep within?
Yes…
The blinkers are drawn tight.
Rearward thoughts cloaked and veiled.
The windows of the mind, shuttered.
Fore and aft, girded in iron resolve.
Yes…
I am a hopeless coward.
One who is faint of heartAt the sight of blood spills
caused by the edge of fury
Yes…The tidings of nukes rattled.
Of the threats posed to nations
This old, tempered heart shattered.
Turning to prayers for comfort.
Yes…
Let these prayer beads of mine
triumph over the bullet.
This is my coping mechanism.In a world ill-ridden
War & Peace
by Nivedita Karthik 19th July 0225
Somewhere just beyond, sirens take to the skies like birds, fading into the distance. An auto driver hums a song that was all the rage on radios in peacetime. A chai stall bhaiya stirs cardamom into the air. How can it smell so warm when all around is this cold? I tighten my dupatta around my chest. It does little to shield me. My phone screen blurs with images of yet another child lost in the pixelated grey smoke. The breeze around me carries no retorts of gunfire, just the remnants of a newspaper once tucked under someone's arm: Tensions escalate.
just a break
between the many wars
Peace
Poet's Note: This poem was written during the time when tensions escalated between India and Pakistan in 2025, and this was the reality on the ground that many of us faced. I have tried to juxtapose how normalcy was seen in short bursts even as the terrors of war always cast a shadow over many of these.
Biographies of Poets
