The Sweetest Thing

Haiku by Nancy Brady, Vaishnavi Ramaswamy, Deborah A. Bennett, Rupa Anand, and Janet Ruth

ice cream stand
fresh raspberries
on my hot fudge sundae

Nancy Brady
Huron, Ohio, USA

ice apple —
grandpa swallows
the consonants

Vaishnavi Ramaswamy
Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India

for a dime
no child now asks me
ice cream truck song

Deborah A. Bennett
Carbondale, Illinois, USA

May day —
a mango milkshake
moustaches me

Rupa Anand
New Delhi, India

magic jingle
conjures kids from the house
ice cream truck

Janet Ruth
Corrales, New Mexico, USA

Editor Bio: Allyson Whipple is the founding editor of Haiku Girl Summer. Her second haiku chapbook, Lunch Poems, is forthcoming from Brooks Books in 2026. She is on track to finish the manuscript of A Culinary Saijiki this year.

Tip Jar

Haiku Girl Summer will always be a free publication. If you want to make a financial contribution, please visit Allyson Whipple’s Buy Me a Coffee page. Mention Haiku Girl Summer in the comment box and your donation will go into a pool that will be divided among the guest editors at the end of the 2026 editorial run.

Merch

If you want to even more ways to share the summer love, you can check out the Haiku Girl Summer merch shop. We have T-shirts and tank tops along with hats, mugs, buttons, and a spiral notebook. Email me if there are other items you’d like to see!