iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Kat Lehmann @songsofkat.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

Many thanks to editor Lew Watts for including my #haibun in Frogpond 49:2!

Kat Lehmann @songsofkat.bsky.social · 06/09/2026

The new writing journal I started today. Spellchecker changed this to “writing journey.” Ah, Spellchecker, you’re a clever one.

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Kat Lehmann @songsofkat.bsky.social · 29/08/2026

It’s so nice to hear this, mark! Thank you for sharing this :)

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Kat Lehmann @songsofkat.bsky.social · 29/08/2026

Page 106 of ‘A Beloved Fire Becomes the House’ (Red Moon Press, July 2026) #haibun #braidedhaibun

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Kat Lehmann @songsofkat.bsky.social · 29/08/2026

Page 106 of ‘A Beloved Fire Becomes the House’ (Red Moon Press, July 2026) #haibun #braidedhaibun

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Kat Lehmann @songsofkat.bsky.social · 13/08/2026

Thank YOU for creating this space for invented forms and for including sudo-ku in this fun issue!

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Reposted by Kat Lehmann

Rattle Poetry @rattlepoetry.bsky.social · 13/08/2026

@songsofkat.bsky.social from Rattle 92, Summer 2026 Read the full poem here: www.rattle.com/its-not-your... #poetry

"Is it an old pond or an old frog, and what does that change about the meaning of the poem? How would the interwoven poems—which utilize the same words— resonate and speak to each other?" Kat Lehmann from "It's Not Your Beeswax

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Kat Lehmann @songsofkat.bsky.social · 13/08/2026

I’m thrilled to have a sudo-ku as today’s featured poem on the @rattlepoetry.bsky.social site! I’m so appreciative of the honor to have one of these in their Invented Forms issue! Click to hear me read it in various ways. And give it some 🪇 love! rattle.com/its-not-your...

rattle.com

It’s Not Your Beeswax by Kat Lehmann - Rattle: Poetry

the secret mosquitos my need for time alone

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Kat Lehmann @songsofkat.bsky.social · 12/08/2026

I’m sorry to hear about your very stressful situation. There was a period I didn’t speak with mine either (before I understood that she had a serious mental illness). Even after, I had to balance protecting my kids and myself with doing what I could to help her. IYKYK…Sending a hug!

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Kat Lehmann @songsofkat.bsky.social · 12/08/2026

I had grown accustomed to people physically backing away when I shared even the smallest hint of my life with my mother. Stigma creates a double life. But it is the silence itself that must burn. A braided #haibun from A BELOVED FIRE BECOMES THE HOUSE (Red Moon Press, July 2026)

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Kat Lehmann @songsofkat.bsky.social · 04/08/2026

My son has been doing photography, including some cool photos for businesses, so I set him loose on a copy of my latest book. Love what he did. 🥰 Here’s a small sample (the book is a hybrid memoir of interwoven #haibun and #haiku).

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Reposted by Kat Lehmann

Timothy Green @timothygreen.bsky.social · 23/07/2026

The rule of a train poem is that you have to keep typing at a steady pace without stopping until the poem comes to a conclusion, so that it's like a train rolling out of the tunnel of your subconscious mind. Surprising things emerge if you force that. From Poems for Katie:

A Noble Gas
everywhere I’ve ever lived is tucked inside a blue balloon loosened in a child’s hand she’s standing in her fourth grade field her classmates counting down the soccer lines look almost real beneath her feet in painted grass an unseen bee inspects a clover waiting for the shade to pass when all at once their strings let go as if the sky itself could gasp and everywhere I’ve ever lived is pressing on the inner walls and pulling up her written note and when you find it tangled in the neighbor’s fence I hope you’ll call the number and tell whoever answers where it went

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Kat Lehmann @songsofkat.bsky.social · 24/07/2026

Oh interesting. I didn’t know that’s what you meant by train poem. I’ll have to try that writing approach. I like yours! Great sounds.

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Kat Lehmann @songsofkat.bsky.social · 18/07/2026

Thank you, TBQ, for starting the weekend right 💕🌮

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Kat Lehmann @songsofkat.bsky.social · 14/07/2026

Many thanks to Haiku Society of America Merit Book Award judges Michael Henry Lee and Michele Root-Bernstein for placing “no matter how it ends a bluebird’s song” in the awards! Big congrats to everyone recognized in their category!🌸 www.hsa-haiku.org/meritbookawa...

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Kat Lehmann @songsofkat.bsky.social · 10/07/2026

Other than my first book (ofc), “A Beloved Fire Becomes the House” is my most After-y book I’ve released. It started in childhood diaries, and its release IS a release, a new era. The first couple Goodreads reviews are here! www.goodreads.com/book/show/25...

goodreads.com

A Beloved Fire Becomes the House

"A Beloved Fire Becomes the House" is dedicated to an…

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Kat Lehmann @songsofkat.bsky.social · 10/07/2026

Every book I’ve published has had a certain “before and after” feeling to it. After six books, the pattern feels familiar now. The Book Birth Day is followed by a Dead Week where the book is live but few have read it yet. Then the reader responses trickle in, which is another adrenaline wave.

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Reposted by Kat Lehmann

Timothy Green @timothygreen.bsky.social · 02/07/2026

If you haven't seen it, check out The Poetry Shop—a curated online bookstore just for contemporary poetry with the browsable shelves you wish your local had. They feature a weekly poet interview with book recs. This week it was me and Poems for Katie:

thepoetryshop.com

Poetry Shop 5: Timothy Green, author of Poems for Katie

Say the name Timothy Green and the literary journal Rattle comes to mind. If you write poetry (and submit it) you've likely received Green’s kind-hearted rejection, and maybe even the thrilling email ...

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Kat Lehmann @songsofkat.bsky.social · 07/07/2026

What a thrill…Stacy Nigliazzo and I won First Place in the Haiku Society of America Rengay competition! Congratulations to everyone recognized. Thanks to the judges, Sarah Paris for coordinating the awards, and of course Garry Gay who invented this inspiring form! #rengay

Reflection

alpine lake
a single acorn
blurs its tree

blue sun
my mother's eyes

contrail
we move through
the what ifs

beak of breath
I don’t know how
to begin

the quiet rustle
of hours and worms

cymbal splash
resurfacing
wet wings

Kat Lehmann: 1,3,5
Stacy Nigliazzo: 2,4,6

Reflection rewards rereading in a way that few rengay do. Its associative linking moves effortlessly between the outer world and inner experience, each verse opening intuitively into the next. The progression is so seamless that the collaboration reads with the ease of a single poetic voice. Memorable images, such as “the quiet rustle of hours and worms”, continue to reveal fresh resonances. Together, these qualities set Reflection apart as our first-place winner.

https://www.hsa-haiku.org/rengayawards/2026-rengay-judges.htm

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Kat Lehmann @songsofkat.bsky.social · 01/07/2026

I’ve been writing it for as long as I can remember, from childhood diaries, to a 175p memoir, to chapbooks, all unpublished. I wrote “around” it in my first three books, ruminating on happiness after loss. Released today from Red Moon Press! 🔥 #haibun #haiku redmoonpress.com/product/a-be...

I’ve been writing it for as long as I can remember, from childhood diaries, to a 175 pagememoir, to chapbooks, all unpublished. I wrote “around” it in my first three books, ruminating on happiness after loss. Released today from Red Moon Press!

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Kat Lehmann @songsofkat.bsky.social · 28/06/2026

I’m thrilled to share that my haibun “Body Work” was chosen as the favorite haibun of Modern Haiku 57.1! Many thanks to editor Roberta Beary for curating it and to editor Paul Miller and the anonymous selector! What an honor to receive this wonderful surprise recognition for a favorite #haibun 🎉

"Body Work

I am a table. This woman loves the table. Her octopus hands. She ensures that nothing heavy is placed on me. Every knot is polished into yes with the scent of a ripe orange grove. The initials of old lovers wilt like a willow no one owns.

resting pulse a thicket of swaying sea grass

Her tentacles bend and shape me into something new. Curved ribs. Scrolled neck. Arched back. No longer a table, I pluck what I learned of her water sounds. And float in her ink cloud as the tides pull me under.

trigger points loosening a lower octave of violin"

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Kat Lehmann @songsofkat.bsky.social · 11/06/2026

There’s a free mini-chapbook download of these, published with Ghost City Press last summer ghostcitypress.com/2025-summer-.... No need to donate. I requested that this get changed to an environmental charity, but I’m not sure that happened before they went on hiatus. Feel free to enjoy!

ghostcitypress.com

to wade through the wind as a night — Ghost City Press

to wade through the wind as a night by Kat Lehmann Published June 24, 2025 PDF Micro-Chapbook 14 Pages

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Kat Lehmann @songsofkat.bsky.social · 11/06/2026

A new sudo-ku arm/is/tice…and the first time in Heliosparrow heliosparrow.com/2026/05/9560. I have another sudo-ku in the latest issue of Rattle…their Invented Forms issue! 🎉 I will share that one after it’s published on their site so I can link to it. #sudo-ku

heliosparrow.com

Kat Lehmann

arm/is/tice (sudo-ku)

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Kat Lehmann @songsofkat.bsky.social · 23/05/2026

It was a really nice rejection, thank you! All the best with TBQ8!

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Kat Lehmann @songsofkat.bsky.social · 21/05/2026

Funny—in science, bifurcate is a completely normal word! 😂Always interesting to see what words are normal or weird to different groups. Hard to know this sometimes when writing.

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Kat Lehmann @songsofkat.bsky.social · 10/05/2026

I’m deeply grateful to my kids for making me a mother and changing the meaning of Mothers’ Day, which was a day I dreaded for most of my life. Gentle landings to all who struggle on this day. another mother's day band aid for the exit wound -Kat Lehmann ONE ART Haiku Anthology, 2024 #onelinehaiku

another mother's day band aid for the exit wound

-Kat Lehmann
ONE ART Haiku Anthology, 2024

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Kat Lehmann @songsofkat.bsky.social · 06/05/2026

Haha… or waking up from an unplanned manuscript nap

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Kat Lehmann @songsofkat.bsky.social · 06/05/2026

How are people skipping the whole “lay the pages of the manuscript all over the bed” stage?

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Kat Lehmann @songsofkat.bsky.social · 01/05/2026

Haha I was horrified at that too!

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Kat Lehmann @songsofkat.bsky.social · 01/05/2026

@stiles.io Nice to meet another Hampster, but what a sad time to do so…

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Kat Lehmann @songsofkat.bsky.social · 30/04/2026

People were heartbroken but motivated in a very Hampshire way. It was good to see that.

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Kat Lehmann @songsofkat.bsky.social · 30/04/2026

Yes, people would need to follow up on pledges, likely sooner than that. It’s all happening quickly. That site has been up for less than a day. It sounds like saving HC in its current formation is impossible. The goal is to save the land then continue the legacy. They might share the slides on FB?

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Kat Lehmann @songsofkat.bsky.social · 30/04/2026

Hey Ethan, I just got off the alum zoom. They’re taking *pledges* (not actual donations at this point) in an effort to buy the land. The goal is $10 million in pledges in two weeks. Not sure if you saw Jen’s email this evening. www.hampshirenext.org. Just spreading the word :)

hampshirenext.org

Hampshire Next — Pledge to keep the mission alive

An independent community campaign to put a viable alternative on the table before the May 16 Board vote. Pledge your support.

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Kat Lehmann @songsofkat.bsky.social · 29/04/2026

Received a moment ago from the current #HampshireCollege president: “…the Hampshire campus as we know it will not endure in its current form. It will need to become something different for the College to meet its obligations.” 😭 Oh, my heart…a special home lost that we keep losing 💔

My Hampshire ID… I am 87F. We received these stickers each semester to pile up to show we were a current student. I guess the rest fell off (the pile became rather piley by the time we graduated).

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Kat Lehmann @songsofkat.bsky.social · 29/04/2026

You too :) I guess one positive (the only positive) is the alums are reconnecting

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Kat Lehmann @songsofkat.bsky.social · 29/04/2026

Here’s some excerpts from The Haiku Foundation Touchstone Distinguished Books Award commentary. Heartfelt gratitude to the Panel, coordinator, and THF! Full commentary at thehaikufoundation.org/kat-lehmann-...

Commentary from the Panel:

Kat Lehmann’s no matter how it ends a bluebird’s song has already garnered accolades from the poetry world having received the 2025 Rattle Chapbook Prize. It’s easy to see why this collection deserves notice and praise. Lehmann explores the terrain of illness, loss, grief and recovery, subjects that have been written about across genres for generations. In lesser hands, the depiction of these human experiences risks becoming sentimental, cliché or redundant. Lehmann avoids these pitfalls through her skillful attention to the elements of poetry: sound, rhythm, word choice, imagery.

This haiku memoir travels the path from illness to recovery. Lehmann deftly pairs the natural world with life-changing experiences.

two

days

after

the

first

dose

the

world

falls

into

starlings

trapped in a body the star a sky wanders

The pairings are unexpected, often startling, and accomplish what all good poetry accomplishes: the images give the reader an intellectual, physical, and emotional experience, a moment the reader can reside in and wonder what it is like to be trapped in a body while the surrounding universe continues to spin.

Nuance and beauty abound in these pages alongside heart wrenching moments.

beyond the bed

a lilt of voices live

my former life

This poem invites us to read it out loud and fully appreciate its sound. The masterful use of rhythm, assonance and alliteration becomes its own pairing against the devastating losses and isolation of illness. Lehmann’s haiku and monoku are wonderfully understated. The reader is never told how to feel or what to think. Throughout, we’re kept interested in Lehmann’s journey through unusual yet meaningful juxtapositions.

ICD

codes

the

taxonomy

of

raptors

(Continued)

river cloud

the X of this body

unsolvable

One of the many strengths of this collection is that it offers no answers about life, pain, illness or loss. The narrative dwells in uncertainty. Even hope and the future are held lightly. This perspective is particularly refreshing, courageous and brings a universality to each poem.

is it ok to hope an ocean road

but what if it all works out cherry blossoms

Recovery is presented as open-ended, another journey to embark upon. no matter how it ends a bluebird’s song is compelling and rife with original images that do not soothe or instruct. Instead, we’re offered the present moment exactly as it is.

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Kat Lehmann @songsofkat.bsky.social · 17/04/2026

Thanks so much and for giving the chapbook a home! :)

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Kat Lehmann @songsofkat.bsky.social · 17/04/2026

Sincere gratitude to @rattlepoetry.bsky.social for selecting Bluebird in the 2024 Rattle Chapbook Prize and being wonderful to work with on publication in 2025! Thanks for including contemporary haiku in the literary conversation! The newest winners of the were just announced; excited to read these.

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