Category: issue-02 (Page 2 of 2)

1 August 2026 / aswordsfly.com / 0 Comments

school holidays
in the empty yard
flame tree blossoms

_{—Tuyet Van Do, Australia}

komorebi
the chameleon
half hidden

_{—Leon Tefft, USA}

shrinking lake
the throaty rasping
of a raven

_{—Louise Hopewell, Australia}

peach iced tea
a wasp determined
to have its fill

_{—Deborah Karl-Brandt, Germany}

summer heat i become the mirage

_{—Mona Bedi, India}

heat wave
looking for shade
a white cane

_{—Mircea Moldovan, România}

communing over the fence summer squashes

_{—Julie Schwerin, United States}

mirror pond
a water strider skates
through the sun

_—_{Deborah Karl-Brandt, Germany}

About

Tuyet Van Do lives in Melbourne, Australia. She loves poetry and writes whenever inspiration strikes. Her work has been widely published in various journals and anthologies. She was nominated for the Touchstone Award for Individual Poems (2022, 2025), and was the winner of The Irmo Cherry Blossom Festival Haiku Contest (2025).

Leon Tefft is a poet and author of Wild Orchids, Haiku Evolution and Haiku Traditions from Greenville, South Carolina. He is a member of the Haiku Society of America and the Tanka Society of America. You can see more of Leon’s work and connect with him at leontefft.com.

Louise Hopewell is an Australian poet and playwright based in Naarm/Melbourne. When not writing, Louise can be found riding her bicycle or playing ukulele.

Deborah Karl-Brandt works as an author, editor, and educator. Her poems have been published widely, and several have won awards. In 2025, she was selected as a fellow at Confluence. Her new book, Wild Rabbit Moon, was published in 2026.

Mona Bedi is a medical doctor in Delhi, India. Her haiku and senryu have been published in many journals of repute.She has received many awards.

Mircea Moldovan lives in the village of Letca, Romania. He has been writing haiku since 2021, having been published in numerous journals. He has won several international competitions, and have received mentions.

Julie Schwerin (she/her) is an associate editor at The Heron’s Nest (www.theheronsnest.com) and a member of the Red Moon Anthology Editorial team. Her first full-length collection of haiku, “fencing with the moon”, is now available through Finishing Line Press.

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1 August 2026 / aswordsfly.com / 0 Comments

heatwave
a mannequin posing
in her bathing suit

_{—Keiko Izawa,Japan}

mercury rising
an atlas moth lands
on my paper fan

_{—Jahnavi Gogoi, Canada}

dog days
the perennial river
crawls to a halt

_{—Geethanjali Rajan, India}

heatwave —
call of landing gulls
ride the breeze

_{—Sheikha A., United Arab Emirates}

summer heat
my grandsons and I build
a sandcastle

_{—Nancy Brady, US}

taste of salt—
the light melodies
of summer waves

_{—Paul Callus, Malta}

heatwave
a lobster waits
the incoming tide

_{—Steliana Cristina Voicu, Romania}

a sign warns
of drowning risk
dry lakebed

_{—Louise Hopewell, Australia}

About

Keiko Izawa lives on a hilltop in Yokohama, Japan with her husband and two cats. She enjoys watching foreign ships come in and out of port.

Jahnavi Gogoi is an Ontario based poet and writer. She dabbles in Japanese forms of poetry and identifies as a storyteller.

Geethanjali Rajan teaches Japanese and English in Chennai. She is the author of a book of haikai forms, longing for sun longing for rain (2023) and the coauthor (with Sonam Chhoki) of Unexpected Gift (2021). She edits haiku at cattails and at Café Haiku.

Sheikha A. is a Pushcart and Rhysling nominee from Pakistan and United Arab Emirates. Her poetry appears in a variety of literary venues and has been translated into 11 languages so far. More about her can be found at sheikha82.wordpress.com

Nancy Brady is a pharmacist by vocation and a haiku poet by avocation. Now retired, she volunteers her time at a nature preserve and working part-time at her local Board of Elections.

Paul Callus is a retired teacher who lives in Malta, Europe. He has been active in the literary field for around 50 years. He writes poetry, short stories, and lyrics for songs, mostly in English, Maltese, and Italian.

Steliana Cristina Voicu is a Romanian poet and writer in a variety of genres. She has published haiku, haiga, tanka, poetry, and short prose in more than 40 periodicals and anthologies. A Touchstone Award–nominated poet. She is the founder and editor of the online Enchanted Garden Haiku Journal.

Louise Hopewell is an Australian poet and playwright based in Naarm/Melbourne. When not writing, Louise can be found riding her bicycle or playing ukulele.

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1 August 2026 / aswordsfly.com / 0 Comments

A haiku Canopy of Jasmine

Yet my heart is sweet
with the memory of the first fresh jasmines
that filled my hands
when I was a child.

_{Rabindranath Tagore}

(The First Jasmines)

carpet of parijat –
orange stems
of a childhood sky

_{—Vishal Prabhu, India}

jasmine hedge
the sweet fragrance
of magpie song

_{—Louise Hopewell, Australia}

jasmine breeze
a door left open
to the night

_{—Leon Tefft, USA}

open window —
a night jasmine trails in
with the moon

_{—Rupa Anand, India}

gentle rain
a snake silvers
the jasmine vine

_—_{Geethanjali Rajan, India}

summer breeze
lingering scent of jasmine
from mother’s braid

_{—Mona Bedi, India}

flower market
i haggle over a wilted
jasmine gajra

_{—Jahnavi Gogoi, Canada}

mother’s hands
oiling my long hair…
scent of jasmine

_{—Neena Singh, India}

Come, the young violets crowd my door,
Thy earliest look to win,
And at my silent window-sill
The jessamine peeps in.

_{William Cullen Bryant}

(The Hunter’s Serenade)

*Parijat is known as night-flowering jasmine,

Harsingar, and the tree of sorrow.

About

Bombay-born, US-educated, Vishal Prabhu has since taken time off to stand and stare. He lives in the Himalayas.

Louise Hopewell is an Australian poet and playwright based in Naarm/Melbourne. When not writing, Louise can be found riding her bicycle or playing ukulele.

Rupa Anand is a spiritual seeker turned poet. She is a Pushcart Prize (haiku), Red Moon Anthology (haibun) and Touchstone Award (haiku), nominated and long-listed poet. She lives in New Delhi, finding peace in writing for and about cancer, and of course the wildlife she encounters in her environment.

Mona Bedi is a medical doctor in Delhi, India. Her haiku and senryu have been published in many journals of repute.She has received many awards.

Jahnavi Gogoi is an Ontario based poet and writer. She dabbles in Japanese forms of poetry and identifies as a storyteller.

Neena Singh is a Touchstone shortlisted poet & Editor who loves penning Japanese short forms of poetry as also haibun, tanka prose, haiga & rengay.

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1 August 2026 / aswordsfly.com / 0 Comments

Editor’s Note – Issue 2

Dear Poets and Readers,

A warm welcome to the second issue of the Bougainvillea Journal 🌸

Reading and curating this issue has reminded me that, across continents and cultures, we share so many common experiences, each colored by the unique nuance of our own lives.

At different stages of our lives as writers and poets, we are all travelers and lifelong learners, navigating this world through our words.

Encapsulating current themes—the relentless heat, the soft fragrance of jasmine, summer evenings, and the arrival of the monsoon, each poem paints beautiful, profound moments.

From the seasonal shifts to the prose of being lost in music and nostalgia, together, these poems have brought this issue to life. Every little moment is so precious.

I am also delighted to introduce and welcome our talented artist, Haripriya, whose paintings mark her beautiful debut into the world of poetry.

My heartfelt gratitude goes to every contributor for sharing their work and to our readers for the encouragement and kindness you continue to bestow upon the journal.

May this issue be a sanctuary of words that warms the soul and elevates your leisure.

Happy reading

—Bhawana Rathore

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31 July 2026 / aswordsfly.com / 0 Comments

bassinet
basking in basil . . .
balmy breeze

_{—Monica Kakkar, India and}_USA

laundry day
slow-moving piles
of clouds

_{—Julie Schwerin, United States}

improvising cuff links summer fluke

_{—Jerome Berglund, USA}

lakeside camping
we skim stone after stone
into the stars

_{—Chen-ou Liu, Canada}

blooming an ocean apart African violet

_{—Biswajit Mishra, Canada}

sowing rice
a mother sings to the child
on her back

_{—Jahnavi Gogoi, Canada}

sunlit rain
unceasing trill
from a far off hedge

_{—Tim Dwyer, Northern Ireland/USA}

About

Monica Kakkar (she/her/hers) values her freedom and peace. Two of her haiku have been nominated for The Haiku Foundation’s 2025 Touchstone Award for Individual Poems. A haiku suite has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize 2026.

Jerome Berglund has published haiku, haiga, haibun, most recently in bottle rockets, Frogpond, Presence. His collections Bathtub Poems, Funny Pages and Eleusinian Solutions were released by Setu, Meat For Tea and Mōtus Audāx press, a chapbook showcasing his fine art photography is available now from Fevers of the Mind.

Chen-ou Liu is the author of five books, including Following the Moon to the Maple Land (First Prize, 2011 Haiku Pix Chapbook Contest) and A Life in Transition and Translation (Honorable Mention, 2014 Turtle Light Press Biennial Haiku Chapbook Competition). His tanka and haiku have been honored with many awards.

Biswajit Mishra is a bilingual poet writing mostly in English and occasionally in Odia. His poems have been published internationally in magazines. Born in India and having spent a few years in Kenya, Biswajit and his wife Bharati currently live in Calgary, Canada

Jahnavi Gogoi is an Ontario based poet and writer. She dabbles in Japanese forms of poetry and identifies as a storyteller.

Tim Dwyer’s Accepting The Call (templarpoetry.com), won the Straid Collection Award. In 2025 he was among the Europe Top 100 Haiku Authors. His poetry appears in Irish, UK and international journals. Originally from Brooklyn, NY, he lives in Bangor, Northern Ireland.

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