they 
meet late 
by a streetlamp 

to glisten awhile 
listen a 
smile 

spreads 
ear to 
ear an aria 

—After an excerpt from Microcosmos (1996), a documentary film by
Claude Nuridsany and Marie Pérennou¹

* Publisher’s Notes:

1. Microcosmos won five César awards (the French equivalent of the Academy Awards), among them Best Cinematography and Best Original Music; this two-minute snippet at YouTube features music by Bruno Coulais, “Amour d’escargots”:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BEva0pT9ndg

2. The poetic form hay(na)ku, a name coined by Vince Gotera and pronounced “ai-na-ku,” was invented in 2003 by poet Eileen R. Tabios, although she initially called it “the Pinoy Haiku.” To learn more, see Hay(na)ku at her website, which also includes numerous links to additional resources.

3. See Issue 5 of MacQ for our first hay(na)ku, a chain by Chuck Brickley:
the way too

Chuck Brickley’s

is an American Canadian currently living in the San Francisco Bay Area. He coordinates six international contests for the Haiku Society of America. His haiku, senryu, haibun, and book reviews have been published in leading haiku journals and anthologies worldwide. His collection of haiku, earthshine (Snapshot Press, 2017, in its 4th printing), received the Touchstone Distinguished Book Award for 2017 (The Haiku Foundation), an Honorable Mention for the Haiku Society of America Merit Book Award for 2017, and an Honourable Mention for the Marianne Bluger Book Award for 2020 (Canada). One of his haibun was nominated for the Pushcart Prize (2018), and another for The Best Small Fictions 2019 (Sonder Press).

Author’s website: www.chuckbrickley.com