CASTAWAYS RESCUE OPERATION #1 (Six poems by Vipanjeet Kaur, 03/23/2024)

Welcome to the first edition of Heterodox Haiku Journal's "Castaways Rescue" program (thanks to James Penha for devising an appropriate name!) in which we publish verses accepted way back when but never published, long lingering in limbo and liminality! These particular pieces were originally slated for, may someday still appear in Fastened to the Reins, the editor & website of which at present appear to have vanished into the electronic ether. If you have a haiku, senryu, tanka, micropoem which was promised publication long ago and the journal appears to have gone defunct, point of contact is incommunicado, Heterodox may be able to share it for you here depending on circumstances! Look forward to future missions as we endeavor to leave no 'ku behind...

Vipanjeet Kaur

silk-cotton tree

its flower-crowns fall

one by one

gathering clouds:

April heatwave intense

even for rain gods

the rising sun

lifts the fog...

a winter day

onion peeling -

the layers of self

still unpeeled

traffic lights -

a beggar knocking...

closed car windows

anxiety - 

I need to think

differently

Vipanjeet Kaur is a poet from India. Her poems have been published in various international journals and anthologies including SpillWords Press, Fevers of the Mind Poetry and Art Group, and Borderless Journal. Her haiku have also been shared in numerous international journals/anthologies like Haiku Dialogue, The Poetry Pea Podcast/Journal, Under the Basho, failed Haiku, Cold Moon Journal, Scarlet Dragonfly Journal and Heterodox Haiku Journal and many more. SURREAL MORNING, her debut poetry book, has been published by Evincepub Publishing, India. She can be followed on X: https://x.com/vjpoeticmusings.