All night the rattle
at the iron gate
the color of winter

Published by

Sylvia Forges-Ryan

Sylvia Forges-Ryan is a former Editor of Frogpond, the international journal of the Haiku Society of America. Her poems have been published in many countries and in six continents. Writing in various Japanese forms, she has won many international prizes, including the Harold G. Henderson Award from the Haiku Society of America, the R.H. Blyth Award from the World Haiku Association, the Grand Prix from the Kyoto Museum for World Peace, the Azsacra Poetry Award from the Taj Mahal Review in India, and First Prizes in the Mainichi Times Contest in Tokyo, the California Ukiah Festival, and the Key West Robert Frost Haiku Competition. She has published three books: Take a Deep Breath, the Haiku Way to Inner Peace, co-authored with her husband, Edward R. Ryan, PhD, was cited by poet, editor, and translator Jane Reichhold as “the perfect haiku book,” and was given an Honorable Mention from the World Haiku Review. What Light There Is was described by Susumu Takiguchi, World Haiku Editor, as “One of the best books of haiku ever produced in English, a treasure.” In addition, the book was awarded a Distinguished Touchstone Award HM from the Haiku Foundation and has a Russian edition. Both books, along with her third book, Side by Side< Poems Prints, have been selected for permanent inclusion in the American Literature Collection of the Beinecke Rare Book Library at Yale University.

8 thoughts on “”

  1. __ You've enticed my imagination into this instant senryu, an echo to your apposite haiku; sleep awakened… those squeaky, rustful hinges. _m

    moonlight steps
    to latch the fence gate
    rusty hinge

  2. Lovely! …so wonderful how you've used synesthesia with 'the color of winter' to bring us color, sound, and for me taste as well when I envision a cold winter night.

  3. Colour and sound… The synesthesia employed very well is interesting..enjoyed this.

  4. Beautiful ku.

    coalfield fire–
    the winter morning
    thickens its colour

    Pravat Kumar Padhy
    Publication Credit: Autumn Moon Haiku Journal, Vol. 1:1, Fall-Winter 2017

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