A Sense of Place

A Sense of Place: THE SHORE – sight

 

 

 

A Sense of Place

In his essay ‘So:ba’, given at the International Haiku Conference (SUNY Plattsburgh, NY, 2008) and published serially in Frogpond, Jim Kacian discusses the concept of ba:

“If you look up ba in any Japanese-English Dictionary you’ll find it means “place” or “site” or “occasion”. And these are all true in the most general sense—ba is a pointer to a kind of awareness that something of importance is happening in time and space.”

So here we are…

In the following weeks we will get back to haiku basics and explore specific locations with an emphasis on the senses, and with the intention of improving our own haiku practice. Ideally, participants will select an actual location that they can visit, or a location from memory that they have visited in the past. Failing that, we always have our imaginations – 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 Submit an original unpublished poem (or poems) via our Contact Form by Sunday midnight on the theme of the week, including your name as you would like it to appear, and place of residence.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:  THE SHORE – hearing

We will stay at the shore – if possible, the same actual shore as last week – but now we listen…

I look forward to reading your submissions.

 

A Sense of Place:  THE SHORE – sight

Welcome to our newest feature! I did an extensive amount of Googling this week (place names, mostly) – do keep in mind the sense theme each week – several excellent poems were not selected this week but could be re-submitted for an upcoming ‘sense’… I hope over the next few months that readers and writers alike will enjoy the poems that are shared here…

garden pond
a heron tries to out-stare
a plastic one

Andrew Shimield
UK

This poem works twice as hard – it is about sight as well as about the scene that we can see…

shoreline view
white yachts carve scimitars
in Lake Ohrid’s turquoise

Ingrid Baluchi
Macedonia

Here we have a stunning description where the word ‘scimitar’ may help to locate the poem – for those who are not familiar, Lake Ohrid straddles the mountainous border between southwestern Macedonia and eastern Albania, according to Wikipedia…

blue winter sky –
an old man and a stray dog
play on the shoreline

margherita petriccione

Such a simple, common sight that, because of the poet’s selection of descriptive words, translates into a memorable event, and a wonderful haiku…

a certain kind
of inheritance…
shells at the tideline

Michele L. Harvey

We know that the debris on the shore changes with the tide, and there is, perhaps, a randomness or synchronicity around when we choose to beachcomb, and what might be there for us to find… but to think of a found shell as an inheritance is to help the reader look at our world in a new way…

Here are the rest of my selections for this week:

littered plastic bowls –
stray children feed on
summer remains

Adjei Agyei-Baah
Kumasi, Ghana

 

the depths
of green bridges
River Avon

Alan Summers
Avon River UK

 

the world
between my toes…
sluices of sand

Amy Losak

 

wind to shore
a wave of mimosas
on the hill

il vento a riva –
sulla collina l’onda
della mimosa

Angiola Inglese

 

glory of the bank –
yellow and magenta
the wild flowers

Anna Maria Domburg-Sancristoforo

 

purple sand dollars
glide toward the waves
summer dawn

Ardelle Hollis Ray
Las Vegas, NV

 

Indian ocean –
an immersed idol
emerges on another shore

arvinder kaur
Chandigarh, India

 

river of alewives
climbs the fish ladder
silver inside silver

Bob Whitmire
Round Pond, Maine

 

morning walk
hermit crabs scamper
from beached seaweed drift

Bona Santos

 

sleepyhead poet…
full moon rising
with the ebb tide

carol jones
Wales

 

Marina Del Rey
the spinnakers fill with sun
on the horizon

Carol Raisfeld

 

ocean mirror
guides our glances
upwards to the stars

Charles Harmon
Los Angeles by the sea

 

flee as wave rushes in
flock back as it recedes
sanderlings

Christina Chin
Kuching, Sarawak

 

river rocks
we leap over
the frogs

Christina Sng

 

grey waves and pebbles
her golden hair
in the Brighton breeze

Christine Eales
UK

 

kids cast
fishing lines from the dock
summer camp

Claire Vogel Camargo

 

seaside sunset
the orange glow
in her hair

Corine Timmer

 

receding wave
minnows chase their shadows
back to sea

Craig Kittner

 

childhood lake
a seagull dots
the final post

David Jacobs
London, UK

 

summer sunset
all along the shore
ruins of sand castles

Debbi Antebi
London, UK

 

sand castle
the wave
too soon

Deborah P Kolodji
Temple City, CA

 

diving bobbing
diving bobbing diving bobbing…
six ducklings

Dian Duchin Reed
Soquel, California, USA

 

setting sun
Tiber river
changing its colours

Eufemia Griffo

 

back to my home port
upon the rusty anchor
warm evening sun

Eva Limbach
Germany

 

picnic at Schoodic Point
rocks stuck here
with the ocean

Gary Hotham

 

full moon
slices
Montauk waves

Giedra Kregzdys
Woodhaven, NY

 

blazing sun
in the Strait of Messina
a feluca leaves the shore

(feluca is the boat used to catch the swordfishes)

Giovanna Restuccia
Italy

 

ocean view
a pitcher of
Mai Tais

Greer Woodward
Kamuela, HI

 

eyes on the shore
fishermen and gulls
far from the flow

Guliz Mutlu

 

a line
made by walking –
morning shore

Helga Stania
Switzerland

 

after flood
the bridge
of fallen trees

Hifsa Ashraf
Pakistan

 

summer holidays
the starfish
in a tidal pool

Joanne van Helvoort

 

exploring tide pools
my line in the sand
fades away

John Green

 

night shore
the ebb tide
tumbling stars

John Hawkhead

 

bald eagle soars
beside me over Crystal Lake
hunting season

Judith Hishikawa
West Burke, Vermont

 

Patagonian coast –
The seagulls fly
towards the sunset

Julia Guzmán

 

airshow finale seagulls cartwheeling into the sun

Karen Conrads Wibell

 

driftwood beach
the ocean opens
its own gallery

Kath Abela Wilson
Pasadena, California
(traveling in Portugal)

 

sea foam
kisses the coast
before retreating

Kathleen Mazurowski

 

Yorktown Beach
footprints encircle
my JAWS towel

Lamart Cooper

 

Flecked with white
crepe myrtle blossoms
the sprinkler’s fading tideline

Laurie Greer
Washington DC

 

echoing its name
mountains reflected on the lake

Lori Zajkowski

 

barefoot…
child shows the sea
her doll

a piedi nudi … la bimba mostra il mare /alla sua bambola

Lucia Cardillo

 

Sennen Cove
a boat made out of sand
fills with sea

Lucy Whitehead
Essex, UK

 

a doe rearing
for mustang grapes
Blackjack Peninsula

Lynn Edge

 

Indian Ocean
how quickly it embraces
mother’s ashes

Madhuri Pillai

 

foggy beach
Mama’s yellow slicker
in the mist

Margaret Walker

 

walking the edge
of a southern sea…
his thousand-yard stare

Marietta McGregor

 

an egret pauses
at her haiku stone…
Epworth by the Sea

(Peggy Willis Lyles’ family placed a haiku stone in the memorial gardens at Epworth by the Sea in Georgia to celebrate her life and haiku. You may see the stone by googling HSA SE  Robyn Hood Black/Peggy Willis Lyles)

Marilyn Appl Walker

 

Gulf Stream
sandpipers stitch stars
in the sand

Marilyn Ashbaugh
Edwardsburg, MI

 

at the shoreline
one cloud
chases another

Mark Gilbert
UK

 

red sunset
a boy pursues the ball
across the beach

Marta Chocilowska

 

seashore the sparkle of sun-polished pebbles

Martha Magenta
England, UK

 

fresh crawl…
two old gulls
looking for dinner

Mary Hanrahan

 

brown river
the land traveling
back to sea

(the beautiful Northern Wairoa River, New Zealand)

Maureen Sudlow

 

Fourth of July –
kayakers on
the Cuyahoga

michael ceraolo

 

moultirie creek
a shard of silver through
the osprey’s claw

Michael Henry Lee

 

skinny dippers
sparks fly at a Malibu beach
bonfire

Michael H. Lester
Los Angeles CA USA

 

low tide…
rivulets of moonlight
on the mudflats

Michael Smeer
Haarlemmermeer, The Netherlands

 

the island
moving closer
promise of rain

Mike Gallagher
Lyreacrompane, Ireland

 

piles of debris
dot the river’s shore
abating flood

Mike Stinson

 

crowded shore
a bride disembarks
with music

Mohammad Azim Khan

 

lakeside walk
she searches
for lake glass

Nancy Brady

 

sleepless…
moonlit path across the sea
beckons home

Natalia Kuznetsova
Russia

 

noon blazing sun
in(de)finite
ocean shore

Olivier Schopfer
Geneva, Switzerland

 

Arenzano shore –
above, below the horizon
no clouds

Pasquale Asprea

 

sudden spray of surf
my watercolor becomes
abstract

Pat Davis
Pembroke, NH  USA

 

Hugging the coastline
of my suicidal ideation
an up-tempo wave

Patrick Sweeney

 

scumbling
blue into blue
lost horizon

(To scumble – a painting term for laying color down in a manner to soften or blend color or strokes)

Peggy Bilbro
Alabama, USA

 

mating season
the gator eyes me
from water’s edge

Pris Campbell

 

lake-shore breeze
the way clouds ripple
alongside me

Rachel Sutcliffe

 

seashore  stones
vedic chanting
splashes

Radhamani Sarma
Chennai, India

 

morning haze
old fisherman heaves the sun
from the lake

Radostina Dragostinova
Bulgaria

 

food wrappers blown
by the wind…
seagull droppings

Randall Herman
Victoria, TX

 

reading a mystery
to rhythm of the waves
ocean shore

Rehn Kovacic

 

sea waves…
her  shadow jumps in,
no splash

Réka Nyitrai

 

receding waves…
the shoreline wriggles
with coquinas

(Donax variabilis, a species of small clam)

Robin Smith
Wilmington, Delaware

 

beauty’s rebirth –
urban nudes frolicking
on baker beach sand

robyn brooks
usa

 

Lake Erie
gulls follow us
down the beach

Ronald K. Craig
Batavia, OH  USA

 

watching
a seagull over the water
in search of fish

Rosa Maria Di Salvatore

 

lakeshore
the green dance
of lily pads
on wavelets

Ruth Powell

 

shoreline boat cruise –
the fancy estates
hidden from the road

Sari Grandstaff
Saugerties, NY, USA

 

native shore
grains of sand crumble
inside the footprint

Serhiy Shpychenko
Kyiv, Ukraine

 

island
splits the sea
from the sky

Slobodan Pupovac
Zagreb, Croatia

 

one gold
lagoon and Doge’s Palace
San Marco at dusk

Sonam Chhoki

 

nesting time
a giant wave delivers
the turtle

Srinivasa Rao Sambangi
Hyderabad, India

 

ocean shore
some of my childhood
still there

Stephen A. Peters

 

somewhere
in all this sand
her shoes

Susan Rogers
Los Angeles, CA, USA

 

distant pond shoreline
for our hastily built raft
a crew none braver

Tim Heaney
Atlanta, Ga. USA

 

sailboats cluster
Galveston’s sheltered curves
waiting for the wind

Trilla Pando
Houston Texas

 

harvest moon –
baby turtle on its way
to the ocean

Tsanka Shishkova

 

ocean wave –
the blue
in her eyes

Valentina Ranaldi-Adams
Fairlawn, Ohio USA

 

depression
one by one the waves
break on shore

Vandana Parashar

 

barnacles
thick on a drift log
my aging arm

Victor Ortiz
Bellingham, WA

 

waves after waves
unending cycle of
coming and going

Vishnu Kapoor

 

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.

 

This Post Has 54 Comments

  1. THE SHORE – hearing
    .
    .
    moonless night
    from far away
    foghorns answere
    .
    .
    waiting for the tide
    the die away sighs
    of a whistle buoy

  2. Thanks Katherine Munroe for having appreciated my haiku, is an image of my Liguria at the end of winter !

  3. somewhere
    in all this sand
    her shoes
    *
    Susan Rogers

    This poem immediately draws one in to the sheer flurry of activity taking place, It comes over as completely unforced although it wouldn’t surprise me if it took a bit of work to get there. You couldn’t doubt its authenticity for a second.

  4. Thank you Kathy for including one of my verses. All of the selected poems make for great summer reading! I also enjoy reading the commentary and the spirit of encouragement.

    Thanks again!

  5. Thank you Kathy for including one of my haiku in the new sense of place feature. Many wonderful ones here. I am enjoying reading them and sensing some cohesiveness here.

  6. Thanks, Kathy, for selecting one of my poems to be part of this week’s column. Also, thanks to Alan Summers for his comment. I’ll have to look up the name Kurt Jackson! Thanks also to Ingrid Baluchi for her comment.

    1. Hi Pat! 🙂
      .
      Here’s a BBC article on Kurt Jackson. I’ve not met him but he does a lot in the South West of England, but he did like my The Thoughtful Raven haibun on twitter. 🙂
      .
      warm regards,
      Alan

  8. kj , Greetings!

    I am once again very honored that you enjoyed my poem. Like your selection ( from a previous week), the poem you chose was the first of three I submitted on this topic, I guess I need to stick with my “gut choice” in the selection process.
    Looking forward to next week’s challenge.
    Thanks again,
    Tim Heaney

  10. So many wonderful poems here!

    .
    Just a few I’ll mention:
    .
    .

    wind to shore
    a wave of mimosas
    on the hill
    .
    Angiola Inglese
    .
    .
     
    river of alewives
    climbs the fish ladder
    silver inside silver
    .
    Bob Whitmire
    Round Pond, Maine
     .
    Love the terms and last line!
     .
    .

    Marina Del Rey
    the spinnakers fill with sun
    on the horizon
    .
    Carol Raisfeld
     .
    .

     
    river rocks
    we leap over
    the frogs
    .
    Christina Sng
    .
    Love this!!!
     .
    .
    grey waves and pebbles
    her golden hair
    in the Brighton breeze
    .

    Christine Eales
    UK
    .
    I’ve mostly known Brighton as a hot Summery place but remember one of the years of a great storm, and that first line feels so spot on for non-Summer days.
    .
    .
     

     
    receding wave
    minnows chase their shadows
    back to sea
    .
    Craig Kittner
    .
    Lovely work!
    .
    .
     
    childhood lake
    a seagull dots
    the final post
    .
    David Jacobs
    London, UK
    .
    .
    There is something iconic about gulls (and sometimes crows) dotting pillars, posts etc…
    .
    .

     
    summer sunset
    all along the shore
    ruins of sand castles
    .
    Debbi Antebi
    London, UK

    .
    Reminiscent of ruined fortifications against Napoleon and Hitler etc…
    .
    .
     

     

     
    picnic at Schoodic Point
    rocks stuck here
    with the ocean
    .
    Gary Hotham
    .
    Wow, both for the haiku, and at these images:
    https://acadiamagic.com/schoodic-point.htm
    .
    And thanks for the wonderful card/letter from your good self! I must re-train myself to use snail-mail again! 🙂
    .
    .

     

     
    exploring tide pools
    my line in the sand
    fades away
    .
    John Green
    .
    .
    Wonderful!
    .
    .
     
    night shore
    the ebb tide
    tumbling stars
    .
    John Hawkhead
    .
    All lovely lines, including the great last line!

    .
    .

     

     
    driftwood beach
    the ocean opens
    its own gallery
    .
    Kath Abela Wilson
    Pasadena, California
    (traveling in Portugal)
    .
    .
    Great set of lines, enjoy your time in Portugal, and all that amazing fresh fish, and of course the horses! 🙂
    .
    .

     

     
    Yorktown Beach
    footprints encircle
    my JAWS towel
    .
    Lamart Cooper
     .
    Most famous still for the Jaws movie (but other things too):
    http://www.tusk2.com/2014/07/03/jaws-and-america/
    .
    Great use of sense of place!!!
    .
    .

     
    Sennen Cove
    a boat made out of sand
    fills with sea
    .
    Lucy Whitehead
    Essex, UK
    .
    Wonderful!
    .
    .
     
    a doe rearing
    for mustang grapes
    Blackjack Peninsula
    .

    Lynn Edge
    .
    Great lines!
    .
    .
     
    Indian Ocean
    how quickly it embraces
    mother’s ashes
    .
    Madhuri Pillai
     .
    Poignant and beautiful.
    .
    .

     
    an egret pauses
    at her haiku stone…
    Epworth by the Sea
    .
    (Peggy Willis Lyles’ family placed a haiku stone in the memorial gardens at Epworth by the Sea in Georgia to celebrate her life and haiku. You may see the stone by googling HSA SE  Robyn Hood Black/Peggy Willis Lyles)
    .
    Marilyn Appl Walker
    .
    Wonderful memorial haiku for Peggy.
    .
    Here’s the commemoration, wonderful!
    https://www.authorsguild.net/services/shared/attachments/sbx/content_images/44459f9ec7b7cabdb928db4b3f4a8301b48afc7e.jpg?1522267069
     .
    .
    Gulf Stream
    sandpipers stitch stars
    in the sand
    .
    Marilyn Ashbaugh
    Edwardsburg, MI
    .
    Love that middle line!!!
    .
    .
     

     
    Fourth of July –
    kayakers on
    the Cuyahoga
    .
    michael ceraolo
    .
    Great!
    .
    .
     
    moultirie creek
    a shard of silver through
    the osprey’s claw
    .
    Michael Henry Lee
    .
    My top favorite of banging in a sense of place! 🙂
    .
    .
     

     
    low tide…
    rivulets of moonlight
    on the mudflats
    .
    Michael Smeer
    Haarlemmermeer, The Netherlands
    .
    .
    Incredibly atmospheric!
    .
    .
     
     
    lakeside walk
    she searches
    for lake glass
    .

    Nancy Brady
     .
    Quietly wonderful.
    .
    .
     
    noon blazing sun
    in(de)finite
    ocean shore
    .
    Olivier Schopfer
    Geneva, Switzerland
    .
    Delightfully innovative! 🙂
    .
    .

     
     
    sudden spray of surf
    my watercolor becomes
    abstract
    .
    Pat Davis
    Pembroke, NH  USA
    .

    Very Kurt Jackson! Great!
    .
    .

    lake-shore breeze
    the way clouds ripple
    alongside me
    .
    Rachel Sutcliffe

    .
    Beautiful beautiful lines.
    .
    .
     
    seashore stones
    vedic chanting
    splashes
    .
    Radhamani Sarma
    Chennai, India
    .
    Lovely!
    .
    .

     
    morning haze
    old fisherman heaves the sun
    from the lake
    .
    Radostina Dragostinova
    Bulgaria
    .

    Wow! And love that use of a verb (heaves), brilliant!
    .
    .

     

     
    receding waves…
    the shoreline wriggles
    with coquinas
    .
    (Donax variabilis, a species of small clam)
    Robin Smith
    Wilmington, Delaware
     .
    Always great when a specific name from nature is used!
    .
    Note: The coquina is edible, and is used to make broth. Some people collect the colorful shells to use for crafts. (Wikipedia) So I can imagine a number of locals being very interested for various reasons.
    .
    .

    nesting time
    a giant wave delivers
    the turtle
    .
    Srinivasa Rao Sambangi
    Hyderabad, India

    .
    Lovely!
    .
    .

     
    sailboats cluster
    Galveston’s sheltered curves
    waiting for the wind
    .
    Trilla Pando
    Houston Texas
    .
    Great feeling of place and atmosphere!
    .

    .
    Now can’t wait to see what everyone delivers for the next sense! 🙂
    .
    .
    warm regards,
    Alan
     

    1. Thanks Alan Summer for having enjoyed my haiku, is an image of my Liguria at the end of winter !!

    3. thanks so much, as always, Alan! who knew this column would turn into a world-wide geography lesson – I have learned so much

  12. Happy to appear in such a fine collection of haiku. Thank you, kj. Eager to return to Kure Beach with my ears wide open. Be well, all.

  13. Thank you so much, kj, for choosing one of mine to comment on. I’m delighted and greatly honored.

    Memorable and lovely images in this week’s selection — in particular, for me, Marilyn Ashbaugh’s sandpipers’ stitched stars, Martha’s sun-polished pebbles, and the fun of Pat Davis’s accidental abstract watercolour. Michelle Harvey’s tideline shells had an unexpected poignancy to lift thoughts away from beached whales, and from the usual litter of plastic we humans leave others to inherit.

    This new venture will be an interesting challenge to tease out poems from all angles, and I look forward to what you have in store for us.

  14. So many poems to love in this week’s selection. Thanks for choosing one of mine, Kathy. It’s hard to select favourites as I like so many but here goes . . .

    wind to shore
    a wave of mimosas
    on the hill

    il vento a riva –
    sulla collina l’onda
    della mimosa

    Angiola Inglese

    nesting time
    a giant wave delivers
    the turtle

    Srinivasa Rao Sambrangi

    river rocks
    we leap over
    the frogs

    Christina Sng

    brown river
    the land traveling
    back to sea

    (the beautiful Northern Wairoa River, New Zealand)

    Maureen Sudlow

    low tide…
    rivulets of moonlight
    on the mudflats
    .
    — Michael Smeer

    1. Thanks Corine Timmer for having appreciated my haiku, is an image of my Liguria at the end of winter !

  15. Dear Catherine Munro,
    Greetings! Delighted to go through this wonderful creative platform
    and proud to be one selected. Thank you so much , In a way, a very constructive way of
    encouraging writers.
    with regards
    S.Radhamani

  16. So many wonderful haiku (I sense we are on firmer ground this week than some of the Haiku Windows themes) but I will mention Kath Abela Wilson’s delicious stillness, Réka Nyitrai’s Basho homage, and Michele Harvey’s, which made me think of the human race in a totally different way ….
    Thanks KJ

  17. I love all the visuals in these…evocative of the shore for sure, from beauty to humor and back again. Thanks for including one of mine in the mix.

  18. My heartfelt thanks Katherine for having selected and commented my poem with great sensitivity

  19. First I’d like to thank Katherine Munro for compiling this lovely extensive collection. I am humbled to have my first submission to one of these THF series included among so many Pondies, and haiku friends. I guess the author’s notes were not included to keep the page from becoming too long. For anyone who is interested I have exended them a bit and I’ll add them below:
    .
    low tide…
    rivulets of moonlight
    on the mudflats
    .
    — Michael Smeer
    .
    Author’s Notes: Remembering walking the ‘Wad’ during a primary school summer camp: The ‘Wadden’ are mudflats at the ‘Wadden Sea’ in the Southern part of the North Sea (North of the mainland of The Netherlands, -Germany and part of Denmark. At low tide, the sea falls almost completely dry. In some area’s, such as between the North of Friesland and the Island of Ameland (The Netherlands) you can actually walk all the way across. If you have the opportunity do visit the Wadden Sea and try to take a guided tour to walk the ‘Wad’ (preferably at night when the moon is full!) The Wadden Sea is on the Unesco World Heritage List: whc.unesco.org/en/list/1314

  20. A wonderful line up to start the ‘sense of place’
    Congratulations to all poets.
    Thank you Kathy for including my verse.
    *
    These are the ones that I like as a sequence —
    *
    nesting time
    a giant wave delivers
    the turtle
    Srinivasa Rao Sambrangi
    *
    somewhere
    in all this sand
    her shoes
    Susan Rogers
    *
    harvest moon
    baby turtle on its way
    to the ocean
    Tsanka Shishkova
    *
    waves after waves
    unending cycle of
    coming and going
    Vishnu Kapoor
    *

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