Life Cycle of a Summer Fling
Haiku by Marilyn Humbert, Mary McCormack, Joanna Ashwell, and Boryana Boteva
soft seagrass
between the dunes
first love
Marilyn Humbert
Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
river bathing
the bar of soap
shared between us
Mary McCormack
La Grange Park, Illinois, USA
campfire
toasting marshmallows
between each whisper
Joanna Ashwell
United Kingdom
colorful zinnias
reading slowly
your letter
Boryana Boteva
Sofia, Bulgaria
Editor Bio: Kathryn P. Haydon is a Midwestern poet who is grateful that she was led to haiku by favorite longer-form poets such as William Carlos Williams and Jane Hirshfield. She went from publishing fairly short poems in her collection Unsalted Blue Sunrise: Poems of Lake Michigan to writing one-breath haiku. Kathryn is the poet-in-residence at Brushwood Center at Ryerson Woods in Illinois. Her seventh book, A Love Letter to Deep Souls, was released and is available on her Deep Soul Strengths Substack.
https://deepsoulstrengths.substack.com
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!
