WHR Spring 2023
Vanguard Haiku, page 3
spring rainbow…
only screams at the ends
of missile trajectories
Richard L. Matta
Eastern front –
still in the palm of the hand
the wife’s picture
Cristian Matei
One fleeting moment
A war so endlessly bleak
Tears of rushing fear
Nina Martinez
mid-winter…
tank tracks stain the snow
of stolen ground
Rob McKinnon
Some people hope for
The end of war or maybe
The world reborn
Cristina-Teodora Mirevut
Birds and drones
in free fall –
war in Ukraine
Vasile Moldovan
spring conscription
a man slaps his son
across the face
Tim Murphy
amidst the shining stars
I fought in the greatest battle
now I tend my garden
Alex Gurevich
war photo
the toothbrush next to
a blurred body
John J. Han
the poor boy misses
the banquets before the war
and his dead brothers
Sakari Happonen
skylarks singing
climbing disappearing
roar of fighter jets
Christer Hansson
fast rolling clouds
behind tall pines —
news of war
Karin Hedetniemi
dawn skirmish
the pianist improvises
a tourniquet
Jonathan Humphrey
war debris
she will never gather
herself
Jonathan Humphrey
A mother’s tears fall
Soon the white blessed moon will come
Death will take her child
Sheena Hussain
Ukraine
a lone child crawls
in the makeshift cabin
Lakshmi Iyer
New Year’s fireworks
the blackout curtains
of the refugee home
Kristina Todorova Kaneva
losing ground
to moss and lichens—
the soldier’s death date
Julie Bloss Kelsey
after
the air-raid siren
pregnant silence
Ravi Kiran
spring song
only a breeze creaks
on the half-burnt swing
Anju Kishore
chasing butterflies
on a minefield
charred limbs
Anju Kishore
Bomb Shelter in Vilnius
I feel your hair
sweeping over
my corpse
Kerry Keys
sunken skies
over the soldiers’ graves …
unborn children
Natalia Kuznetsova
silent tears …
a girl at the bombed-out house
comforting her doll
Natalia Kuznetsova
war siren –
only her teddy bear
with open eyes
Capotă Daniela Lăcrămioara
gray-white plumage
puffed with self-importance
guarding the driftwood
Jenna Le
Mind alone creates
War
And all its children
Hunter Liguore
bombs fall like rain
scars left on earth and hearts
hope buried in rubble
Michael Nyanumba
war-torn village
silent screams echo in air
nature reclaims peace
Michael Nyanumba
soldiers march on
echoes of mothers’ tears
war takes its toll
Michael Nyanumba
After the war
you won’t believe this was
a neighborhood once full of kids
Chiwenite Onyekwelu
Continued on page 4
World Haiku Review 