Haiku Windows: hospital window

Haiku Windows

In the book Haiku: The Art of the Short Poem, editors Yamaguchi and Brooks quote David Lanoue:  “A haiku is a window”…

In the following weeks we will look at (or through?) the many possibilities raised by this thought – and you’re invited to join in the fun! Submit an original unpublished poem (or poems) via our Contact Form by Sunday midnight on the theme of the week, including your name as you would like it to appear, and place of residence. I will select from these for the column, and add commentary.

next week’s theme:  window seat

Some bay windows or other windows with a view come complete with a seat and cushions for your viewing comfort. A window seat can also refer to the seat on a train, plane or restaurant nearest to the window…

I look forward to reading your submissions.

Haiku Windows:  hospital window

perched outside
the hospital window
a bird with all its limbs

Christina Sng

By emphasizing that the bird has all its limbs, we naturally begin to think about someone who does not have, or may no longer have, all their limbs… this is how the reader can participate in the completion of a haiku…

hospital room
looking out the window
my child asks if it will hurt

Stephen A. Peters

Once again an example of how less is more – here, we do not know who the child is asking about – is it themselves? or someone they are visiting? a sibling or parent? In any case, we feel the concern in this situation… we feel the hurt…

hospital window
I look
without seeing

Tia Haynes
Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, USA

We have the setting, and we are given one statement – but anyone who has experienced grief, or the shock of sudden news, even, knows this feeling…

Here are the rest of my selections for this week:

bedridden –
the comfort of going places
with passing clouds

Adjei Agyei-Baah

 

waving to the leaves
waving at me –
hospital window

Amy Losak

 

hospital window
left on the sill
an unfinished book

Andrew Shimield
UK

 

hospital window
why the wind vane
points nowhere

Angelo B. Ancheta

 

hospital window –
somewhere, out,
the moon

Angiola Inglese

 

stopping CPR –
outside the window
spring

Anna Maria Domburg-Sancristoforo

 

ER window
glimpsing
a covered gurney

Ardelle Hollis Ray
Las Vegas, NV

 

all that is unsaid
in mother’s stare –
hospital window

arvinder kaur
Chandigarh, India

 

third week
cards and photographs line
the hospital windowsill

Beverly Acuff Momoi

 

iv drip
outside
the
window
slow
rain

Billy Antonio

 

hospital window
an upgoing bouquet
of balloons

Carmen Sterba

 

Tet, ’68, Hue
daylight outside MASH windows
mixed blessings, going home

Charles Harmon
Los Angeles, California, USA

 

hospital window
the clouds move
s l o w l y

Christina Chin
Kuching, Sarawak, Borneo

 

outside the hospital window
my dog wagging
his tail

Christine Eales
UK

 

mom dozes
by dad’s hospital bed
a sunbeam

Claire Vogel Camargo

 

open window
in my hospital room
a sudden chill

Debbi Antebi
London, UK

 

hospital window
the view of more
hospital windows

Deborah P Kolodji
Temple City, California

 

ICU window
green view to the horizon
I plot my escape

Dianne Moritz

 

hospital windows
reflecting the day’s last light
river on the urn

Engin Gulez
Ankara, Turkey

 

hospital window
a woman sings
a lullaby for her child

Eufemia Griffo

 

full moon
through hospital window
carbolic scent

Eva Soe

 

open door
doctor stares
at the horizon

Giovanna Restuccia
Italy

 

how many windows
the distance
between our lifelines

Guliz Mutlu

 

Outpatients window
a fledgling bullfinch
learns the hard way

Helen Buckingham

 

labor ward window
the unfolding leaves
of an acer tree

Helga Stania
Switzerland

 

surgery day
through the hospital window
distant thunder

Hifsa Ashraf
Pakistan

 

in remission –
at the hospital window
his smile from ear to ear

Ingrid Baluchi

 

black dahlia
from ICU the view
of a nurse lighting up

Jennifer Hambrick
Columbus, Ohio, USA

 

in the window
legs and arms and heads and eyes
doll hospital

Joanne van Helvoort

 

by her window
in the hospital
the drip of the catheter

John Green

 

remission –
through the hospital window
blackbirds sing in dusk

John Hawkhead

 

Seeing the moon
through the ward window –
heavenly pull.

John Noonan
Dundalk Ireland

 

hospital window
the therapy dog
peeks out

Kath Abela Wilson
Pasadena, California

 

aspens
mention a breeze
hospital window

Ken Olson
Yakima WA

 

hospital windowsill
wilting flowers
hang their heads

Liz Ann Winkler
White Rock, BC Canada

 

hospice veranda
the old salt scans the sky
for her

LPConvey
Brisbane, Australia

 

hospital room…
with a finger she draws flowers
on the window glass

in ospedale… con un dito disegna / fiori sui vetri

Lucia Cardillo

 

baby shower…
at the hospital window
pink camellias

Lucia Fontana

 

hospital stay
no window
in her corridor

Lucy Whitehead
Essex, UK

 

past hospital
I wave at the window
of her room

Madhuri Pillai

 

hospital window
his smile to our daughter
for the first time

Marilyn Appl Walker
georgia, usa

 

Children’s Day
through the hospital window
Spider-Man climbs in

Marta Chocilowska

 

hospital gown…
dancing with my reflection
in the window

Mary Hanrahan

 

children’s ward
no one at any
of the windows

Michael Henry Lee

 

get well soon cards
taped to the hospital window
empty bed

Michael H. Lester
Los Angeles CA USA

 

waving
a fond farewell
hospital window

Mike Gallagher
Achill Island, Ireland

 

hospital window…
the room
without a view

Mohammad Azim Khan

 

just enough time
to see the falling rain…
hospital window

Muskaan Ahuja
Chandigarh, India

 

air conditioning units
on the roof
hospital room view

Nancy Brady
Huron, Ohio, USA

 

springtime frolicking
behind hospital windows
smile on her still face

Natalia Kuznetsova
Russia

 

hospital stay
no memory
of the window

Nicole Tilde
Shady Dale, Ga.

 

hospital window
losing track
of another snowflake

Peter Jastermsky

 

hospital window
someone’s lipstick kiss
left on the pane

Pris Campbell

 

in hospital
outside my window
life goes on

Rachel Sutcliffe

 

hospital window
peonies fill in the room
with sunset

Radostina Dragostinova
Bulgaria

 

a wide-eyed child
sees swooping bluebirds
hospital scrubs

Randall Hermn

 

one bundled twin
in the neonatal window
now two

Randy Brooks

 

reflected
in his window
flowers and tubes

Rehn Kovacic

 

twelve o’clock –
the coming of night lurks behind
the hospital window

Reka Nyitrai

 

hospital window –
my shifting view
of mortality

Roberta Beary
County Mayo, Ireland

 

shared hospital room…
resting on the sunny side
of a closed curtain

Robin Smith
Wilmington, DE

 

from her hospital bed
she spies a deer darting
past the window

Robyn Brooks

 

a child’s soft toy
in the hospital window
going home

Ron C. Moss
Tasmania, Australia

 

hospital window
between African Violets
and smell of spring rain

Ron Scully

 

window washer
at the ICU floor
life hangs by a thread

Ronald K. Craig

 

hospital window –
a full moon lights up
a sleepless night

Rosa Maria Di Salvatore

 

room with a view
outside the ER
some smokers

Ruth Powell

 

stick figures
in the hospital window
pediatric ward

Sari Grandstaff
Saugerties, NY, U.S.A.

 

maternity ward
chicks tweet in the nest
in front of the window

Serhiy Shpychenko
Kyiv, Ukraine

 

big sister
excitedly waves at baby
through hospital window

Sharon Lynne Yee
Torrance, CA 90502

 

baby grandson
caressed by sunbeams
cardiac care unit

Sheila Sondik

 

outside
his hospital window
life goes on

Shirley Brooks

 

hospital window
on every corner
fast food outlets

Simon Hanson
Queensland, Australia

 

children’s ward
the window overlooks
a robin’s nest

Skaidrite Stelzer
Toledo, Ohio

 

spring nightfall
concerned face of my reflection
on the hospital window

Slobodan Pupovac
Zagreb, Croatia

 

blood stains on curtain
red shades
in hospital window

Somayajulu Musunuri

 

hospice window
a narrow slit lets in
the morning sun

Srinivasa Rao Sambangi

 

lipstick tic tac toe
on the hospital window
I let her win

Susan Rogers
Los Angeles, CA, USA

 

feeding my hospital food
to the pigeon
on the window sill

Tammie Baluchi
Uganda

 

sickbed window
a hawk
powers into flight

Timothy J. Dickey

 

hospital window –
a child looks at raindrops
in a puddle

Tomislav Maretic

 

hospital window
a parking lot replacing
the park

Valentina Ranaldi-Adams
Fairlawn, Ohio USA

 

hospital window
he wonders if he’ll be
a star soon

Vandana Parashar

 

last stage cancer
waning moon deepens darkness
hospital window

Vishnu Kapoor

 

hospital window –
on a maple tree
a green leaf

Zuzanna Truchlewska

 

 

Katherine Munro lives in Whitehorse, Yukon Territory, and publishes under the name kjmunro. She is Membership Secretary for Haiku Canada and an Associate Member of the League of Canadian Poets. She recently co-edited an anthology of crime-themed haiku called Body of Evidence: a collection of killer ’ku.