A Sense of Place: CITY SIDEWALK – 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 Submit an original unpublished poem (or poems) via our Contact Form by Sunday midnight on the theme of the week, including your name as you would like it to appear, and place of residence.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: CITY SIDEWALK – hearing
The deadline for this theme is midnight Pacific Time, Sunday 02 December 2018.
Listen to the sounds of the city sidewalk – preferably the same one you have already had a look at – but, failing that, hear a memory or imagine…
I look forward to reading your submissions.
A Sense of Place: CITY SIDEWALK – sight
morning rush
the homeless man’s
fetal positionAmy Losak
A graphic depiction of an all-too-familiar urban scene, yet without sentimentality or judgment…
red light
I absently step off
the sidewalkChristina Sng
The reader absently follows along, until the end of the second line, where they find themselves suddenly trying to apply the brakes…
small desert town
all the sidewalks rolled up
till morningMichael Henry Lee
An unusual take on the theme…
not one
familiar face
city sidewalkRachel Sutcliffe
Here the poet uses the location of the sidewalk to contrast urban and rural – implying one experience by stating the other…
city sidewalk
beyond all the graffiti
StarbucksStephen A. Peters
In some places it does seem that there is a Starbucks on every corner…
purple unicorn
under a pink sun –
sidewalk artist unknownValentina Ranaldi-Adams
Fairlawn, Ohio USA
We often admire artwork without really knowing anything about the artist… perhaps this artist will be famous someday…
sidewalk café
all eyes glued
to the phone screensVandana Parashar
A simple observation of an occurrence that has quickly become a common sight in our society – again, the reader is not instructed on how to feel about this…
Here are the rest of my selections for this week:
winter playground hoodies hopping
Adrian Bouter
joining my walk…
fallen maple leaves
on the sidewalkAgus Maulana Sunjaya
side alley bed
a main street gleams
with ChristmasAlan Summers
Wiltshire, England
autumn wind –
only piles of leaves
on the sidewalkvento autunnale –
solo cumuli di foglie
sul marciapiedeAngela Giordano
a downpour –
the color of geraniums
on the sidewalkAngiola Inglese
evening wander –
left on the sidewalk
gray snow pilesAnna Maria Domburg-Sancristoforo
City sidewalk…
From all sides vacant eyes
Of mannequinsAnna Victoria Goluba
chiaroscuro –
hand in hand the lovers walk
on cobblestonesarvinder kaur
Chandigarh, India
new sidewalk
writing my initials
in fresh cementBarbara Tate
down the avenue
traffic lights blink yellow
November snowBob Whitmire
Round Pond, Maine
sidewalk graffiti
where there used to be
hopscotch rectanglesBona M. Santos
Los Angeles, CA
best leather shoes
another splash
from a fast carCarmen Sterba
night light
a taxi disappears
down a side streetcarol jones
circus parade
horses, giraffes, elephants
man, bucket, shovelCharles Harmon
Los Angeles, California, USA
two rivers meet
boats along
the city sidewalkChristina Chin
Kuching, Sarawak
bag lady
her toothless smile
their quickened stepChristina Pecoraro
Paris pavements
so much
poodle pooChristine Eales
black Friday
red-faced shoppers
shove each otherClaire Vogel Camargo
cracked sidewalk
red from the fallen
holly berriesCraig Kittner
a gloomy day
amazing street Mime
for random passersbyDanijela Grbelja
Sibenik, Croatia
autumn sunshine
on the sidewalk
flash of stockinged legsDavid Gale
Gloucester, UK
sidewalk traffic
making way for
a maple leafDebbi Antebi
London, UK
holiday wreath
on every lamp post
gullsDeborah P Kolodji
Temple City, California
street person
chanting the Om mantra
outside StarbucksDevin Harrison
Vancouver Island, Canada
in sequined splendor
man with baby elephant
stroll the Walk of Fame*(*Walk of Fame, on Hollywood Boulevard in Los Angeles, CA, immortalizes stars of screen and stage.)
dianne moritz
from the splendor
of the city to the slums
on the same sidewalkDubravka Šcukanec
Zagreb, Croatia
crowded sidewalk:
rarefied Christmas lights
in the fogElisa Allo
Zug, Switzerland
stopping short
on the overpass
falling birch leavesErin Castaldi
deep autumn
the flight of the last leaves
on the sidewalkEufemia Griffo
Pelham Parkway House…
stuck wads of dried gum
on the sidewalkFrank J. Tassone
weeds
growing through the cracks
reach for skyGenie Jeanne Nakano
vento d’autunno:
il cappello del nonno
sul marciapiedeautumn wind:
grandpa’s hat
on the sidewalkGiuliana Ravaglia
street map
subway map
layers of ManhattanGreer Woodward
Waimea, HI
full tip box
the city lights
homewardGuliz Mutlu
sidewalk café
the skewness
of ancient gablesHelga Stania
Switzerland
the stray cat
stares at me
city sidewalkHifsa Ashraf
Pakistan
late bus home –
shop doorways
blocked by sleeping bundlesIngrid Baluchi
Macedonia
sharing a burger –
the homeless man
and his dogIsabel Caves
Queen Street (Auckland, New Zealand)
captive
behind an iron fence
sidewalk treejanice munro
Canada
T.F.
+
L.L.
wet
cementJoan Barrett
half hidden
under fallen leaves
a stumbling stone*(*The name Stolperstein in German translates into English literally as “stumbling stone”. A stumbling stone is placed in the pavement in front of the address from where Jewish citizens were deported by the Nazis. The pedestrian stumbles upon a brass plaque in the pavement and is invited to bow his head and read the name that is inscribed there. According to the Talmud, a person is only forgotten when his name is forgotten, so each stone represents a person with a name.)
Joanne van Helvoort
chalk hopscotch –
the adults
who can’t resistJudt Shrode
city sidewalk
the squirrel jumps
over the moonKath Abela Wilson
Pasadena, California
bustling crowds
stop to study
Christmas windowsKathleen Mazurowski
blustery
busking for a crowd
of pigeonsKelly Sauvage Angel
Madison, WI
faceless mannequin
I, too, look away
from the homelessKimberly Esser
Los Angeles, CA
Holiday foot traffic
Crumpled in the alley
No one sees himKimberly Spring
Lakewood, Ohio
filling with rain
wine bottle
by the church wallLaurie Greer
Washington DC
glint of a dime
in the cracked sidewalk
summer sunLesley Anne Swanson
on the sidewalk
only the tourists
looking upLori Zajkowski
New York City
black friday
the homeless man’s
empty handsLucy Whitehead
Essex, UK
on tattered blankets
an old man ponders progress
– his room with a viewm. shane pruett
Salem, OR
city side walk
spilling out of the tram
more join the swarmMadhuri Pillai
small scarecrow
lying in the street
Super Bowl Sunday*(*Annual Football Game to end all football games of the season.)
Marcyn Del Clements
Claremont, California, USA
snow
flurries
for emergency suppliesMargaret Walker
uneven pavement
the flower interrupting
the concrete parkMargo Williams
Stayton, Oregon
freezing cold –
a beggar and an empty bowl
on the sidewalkMaria Teresa Piras
frozen moon –
on the dark sidewalk
a lonely dogMaria Teresa Sisti
light rain
city lights shimmer
on the sidewalkMarilyn Ashbaugh
Edwardsburg, Michigan
closing time
the pub spills
onto the pavementMark Gilbert
UK
black friday
a crow gorges
on thrown-away friesMartha Magenta
England, UK
rainfall last night
the bombed dorm in mist
across a riverMegumi Shibuya
Japan
November sidewalk –
fallen leaves
slippery with snowmichael ceraolo
South Euclid, Ohio
shining like gold
on the city sidewalk –
a copper pennyMichael H. Lester
Los Angeles CA USA
city sidewalks
my springtime two-step
around doggy-doMichele L. Harvey
skipping along
the pavement
wagtailMike Gallagher
Kerry, Ireland
sidewalk sale…
a pink frock
for my granddaughterMohammad Azim Khan
Peshawar Pakistan
Freezing afternoon –
granddad picking up from school
his twin girlsMonica Federico
on the sidewalk
a beggar tossing
the sound of coinsMuskaan Ahuja
Chandigarh, India
black Friday
the sidewalks crowded
with shoppersNancy Brady
Huron, Ohio
street lights
the glitter of smiles
under masksNeni Rusliana
Indonesia
moonlight
lady of the red high heels leans on the lamppostNuky Kristijono
city stroll
a face
in the crowdOlivier Schopfer
Geneva, Switzerland
bus stop
the sidewalk clears
for sparrowsPat Davis
Pembroke, NH USA
on his knees
with supplicating hands
fake beggarPauline O’Carolan
cheap wine in his cup a few small coins
Philip Whitley
SC, USA
early morning street
a jogger startles pigeons
into flightPolona Oblak
Hare Krishna…
do they have cancer, too
the bald boy asksPris Campbell
her dream
planting all roses
sidewalkRadhamani sarma
glassy eyes of
a broken doll
the sidewalk at duskRadostina Dragostinova
Bulgaria
red light…
wisps of snow cross
the pedestrian walkRandy Brooks
city sidewalk –
the tired eyes of a hawker
louder than his criesRashmi Vesa
footprints
on the snowy sidewalk
covered soon by snowRehn Kovacic
autumn wind
playing around –
deserted terrace cafeRéka Nyitrai
city sidewalk
the one-way flow
of frownsRoberta Beary
County Mayo, Ireland
berkeley urban forest –
city tree roots split
the pathrobyn brooks
usa
downtown sidewalks
shovelled and sanded
tis pratfall seasonron scully
sidewalk soothsayer
I see the path
out of townRonald K. Craig
Batavia, OH USA
moonlight –
the shadow of a butterfly
on the sidewalkRosa Maria Di Salvatore
city sidewalk vendor
his fingerless gloves frayed
like the neighborhoodSari Grandstaff
Saugerties, NY, USA
old city
time does not move
on the clock towerSerhiy Shpychenko
Kyiv, UA
Sunday morning…
the leaves drift past
a hard-hat signSidney Bending
Victoria, BC Canada
one solution
for a four colour problem
london planesimonj
UK
after rain
a glittering glow from
the sidewalkSlobodan Pupovac
Zagreb, Croatia
double bagged
would have been better –
sidewalk scrambled eggssusan rogers
Los Angeles, CA, USA
street musician
coins tossed into
an open guitar caseTerri French
a boot polisher
calls me by wagging his
shoeshiner brushTomislav Maretic
morning cityscape
falling ginkgo leaves
on a sidewalkTomoko Nakata
Kanagawa, Japan
first snow…
on the pedestrian path
minisnowmanTsanka Shishkova
downpour
among black umbrellas a pink one
on knee level walkVishnu Kapoor
sidewalk cafe
a wind-soaked stray cat
begs for attentionWillie Bongcaron
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 42 Comments
Comments are closed.
I was very drawn to Christina Sng’s:
.
red light
I absently step off
the sidewalk
.
Christina Sng
.
Walking gives me clarity, so when I want to think about things, I like to walk. But, deep thought can be distracting. I can so see this scene happening and the break after red light works because, the reader stops for the read light but then realizes the author of the haiku does not. The choice of “absently” in the second line gives a false sense of calmness and then the third line gives the reader a jolt of alarm for the safety of the author.
thanks for sharing this, Deb!
Nancy, Judt, Sanjuktaa, Ingrid, Rashmi, S.Radhamani, Carol, Mark, Christina, Anna, Pat, Kathy, Valentina, Sari, John, Joan, Margo, Marietta, Tsanka, simonj, Arvinder, & Craig:
thanks to each of you for submitting your work, & sharing your comments here – this is exactly what I am hoping to see…
in the New Year, the editor’s comments will also be found here…
Thank you for including me in the city sights Kathy! Congratulations to all the haiku poets here. Loved Rachel Sutcliffe’s and Christina Sng’s haiku that you commented on.
Good to be back with a ku this week. Thanks, kj.
A couple spoke strongly to me this week.
Martha Magenta’s: black friday/ a crow gorges / on thrown-away fries. Strong imagery and I love the double meaning of “black friday.”
Mike Gallagher’s: skipping along / the pavement / wagtail. Delightful! The whole thing bounces with joy.
‘Til next time.
Thank you, Craig; I am always amazed by the wagtails’ ability to dodge the footfall all around them.
I liked your seasonal ku, too.
Hi guys ! What an enjoyable read. Thanks Katherine. Thank you Carol Jones for your kind comments. I enjoyed reading yours too. Also, Amy Losak ,’fetal position’ ‘ vacant eyes’ by Anna Victoria,’ Color of geraniums’ by Angiola Inglese, ‘hopscotch rectangles’ by Bona M. Santos. ‘ sound of coin’ by Muskaan Ahuja. Congratulations and many thanks !
Thanks, Arvinder 🙂
The everyday turned into an event. Departures, arrivals, and professional gleaners (not beggars).
.
bus stop
the sidewalk clears
for sparrows
.
Pat Davis
Thanks, Simonj, for your comments. I especially like your reference to comings and goings. Pat
Thanks for including mine, KJ. One I would highlight is Michael H. Lester’s expertly done
*
shining like gold
on the city sidewalk –
a copper penny
closing time
the pub spills
onto the pavement
.
Mark Gilbert
.
I think these two together look good.
.
I wonder who would notice that solitary ‘copper penny’ 🙂
.
Thank you, dear KJ, for selecting my haiku. There are so many wonderful haiku here, so diverse and so much to think about …
What a great array this week! I missed the deadline (again), but anyway here from me is a previously-published contribution. Cheers to all, and thanks for the good reading! — Marietta
.
Tokyo metro
the ebb and flow
of frowns
— tinywords, Issue #17.2, October 2017 (Originally published in Asahi Haikuist Network, 6/16/17)
Thank you Kathy! Enjoyed reading the varied insights and your thought provoking words.Great learning experience…..
Some of the verses that impacted me were-
captive
behind an iron fence
sidewalk tree
janice munro
a fairly commonplace sight in all cities, the overwhelming necessity to find space for greens in the midst of our greed for space, captured so well in seven words
Hare Krishna…
do they have cancer, too
the bald boy asks
Pris Campbell
again a common sight, elevated by the profoundness and pathos couched in the observation.
Thank you for including mine. I have briefly glanced at the lot but can’t wait to spend more time on them. I am grateful to be in the company of these fine poets.
Such talented writers! Thank you for including my haiku with theirs.
Joan, I liked your poem a lot –
*
T.F.
+
L.L.
wet
cement
*
Do you regard this as a vertical haiku?
This week (thank you, Kathy) my own “bag lady” with her “toothless smile” found herself in the company of
.
Amy Losak’s “homeless man” in a “fetal position”
.
Devin Harrison’s “street person/ chanting…/outside Starbucks”
.
Maria Teresa Piras’s “beggar” with “an empty bowl”
.
while Isabel Caves’ “homeless man / and his dog” “share a burger.”
.
Kimberly Esser’s “faceless mannequin” who like so many of us “look(s) away” from seemingly faceless others
.
Muskaan Ahuja’s “beggar tossing/ the sound of coins”
.
Sari Grandstaff’s “vendor” with “his fingerless gloves frayed/like the neighborhood
.
Each of them, so sparsely, wonderfully drawn and especially Ingrid Baluchi’s “sleeping bundles” blocking “shop doorways”
.
reminded me of these powerful lines of Thomas Merton, inviting me to ponder them further:
.
A vagrant, a destitute wanderer with dusty feet…
A homeless God, lost in the night, without papers,
without identification,
without even a number, a frail expendable exile
lies down in desolation under the sweet stars of the world
and entrusts Himself to sleep.
.
— from “Hagia Sophia” IV
Am so sorry. In my original commentary meant also to include
.
m. shane pruett‘s “old man” “on tattered blankets” with his unique “room with a view”
.
Kimberly Spring’s unseen “him” “Crumpled in the alley”
.
and Laurie’s Greer’s unnamed someone whose “wine bottle / by the church wall” is “filling with rain.”
.
They too, I believe, mirror Merton’s vagrant.
What about:
.
side alley bed
a main street gleams
with Christmas
.
Alan Summers
Wiltshire, England
.
How could I have missed it?
Am embarrassed to admit I misread Alan’s tell-tale first line.
His “side alley bed”, wonderfullly wrought and juxtaposed with a Christmas-gleaming main street is powerful.
Thanks so very much, John.
And Alan too.
.
By the way, I toyed with including Pauline O’Carolan’s “fake beggar,” and probably should have. Pathetic, yet so sad.
.
And surely should not have passed over Philip Whitley’s one liner—“cheap wine in his cup a few small coins.” Which is potent and poignant.
Thanks again.
Thank you Christina. I too was moved by the number of moments related to homelessness. For the first time I now live in a place where it is astoundingly too common and though the city is always ‘working on it’ I’m just not sure we’re close to finding real answer yet. If only our few words could make an actual difference to those in need.
As always, so moved by this forum and the broadly scattered voices brought together here.
thanks for this!
Thank you Christina
You’re welcome, Sari.
I really love the poetry and pathos in
.
his fingerless gloves frayed
like the neighborhood
Thank you Kathy for including one of my haiku this week!! Enjoying reading these city sidewalk sights!
I was quite surprised to see my haiku selected for commentary. Thank-you Kathy. Congrats to all the poets !!
Great collection, thankyou for including mine.
What a way to see the city! I am struck by the strong images, heightened by contrasts in these two poems:
Amy Losak’s “morning rush” and Alan Summers’ “side alley bed”,
Thanks, Kathy, for including my poem.
Thank you, Kathy, for including my poem into this beautiful collection 🙂
Thank you, Kathy for this mid-week wonder. I look forward to reading the posts every week, a great learning curve.
These are the ones that caught my imagination this week—
.
chiaroscuro—
hand in hand the lovers walk
on cobblestones
.
Avinder Kaur
That word, chiaroscuro, light coming out of darkness, here we have two people walking into the light ‘could this be enlightenment’? but there’s the unsteadiness of the ‘cobblestones’. So much can be read into this one.
.
frozen moon—
on the sidewalk
a lonely dog
.
Maria Teresa Sisti
This certainly tugs at my heart strings, and brings to mind the words ‘a dog is for life not just for Christmas. Lovely verse.
.
Hare Krishna…
do they have cancer, too
the bald boy asks
.
Pris Campbell
One of those verses that hits you between the eyes.
.
morning cityscape
falling ginko leaves
on the sidewalk
.
Tomoko Nakata
I see here a busy modern bustling city and amongst it all this ancient Ginko Biloba tree also know as maidenhair fern. The contrast within this verse, here, for me is broad and amazing.
.
Many thanks for including one of mine, Kathy 🙂
Insightful commentary, Carol. Thanks.
I too am “hit between the eyes” by
.
Hare Krishna…
do they have cancer, too
the bald boy asks
.
Pris Campbell
Thank you, Christina.
.
I enjoyed reading the words of Thomas Merton you have included in your post. In this instance, very sad affair.
Carol, I loved your
*
night light
a taxi disappears
down a side street
*
with its loneliness and kinetic quality – an already tiny light getting smaller and smaller ….
Thank you, Mark, I’m happy you see my thought with this one. Busy streets can be the loneliest of places.
Dear Kathy,
what a variety of records of observations and comments by so many writers, a deep insight into their experiences. Thanks for including mine,
city sidewalk –
the tired eyes of a hawker
louder than his cries
Rashmi Vesa
verily true! well observed.
with regards
S.Radhamani
Thank you Radhamani _/\_
Michele Harvey’s doggy-do and Christine Eales’ poodle poo – how true, and Frank J. Tassone’s observation of ‘stuck wads of dried gum’ is a reminder of litter not just in the centre of the Bronx, but worldwide, although in certain Eastern countries, it’s more likely to be red betelnut juice (Areca nut) and just as disgusting.
.
The two which caught my imagination were Janice Munro’s
.
captive
behind an iron fence
sidewalk tree
for its humour, as if a tree could run away, and pathos that we need to protect our city trees from vandalism;
.
and Roberta Beary’s
.
city sidewalk
the one-way flow
of frowns
.
Give me the countryside any time!
Thank you, Kathy, for again including one of mine and making this such an interesting experience.
A great batch of verses again! One of my favourites here is this one!
mall desert town
all the sidewalks rolled up
till morning
Michael Henry Lee
What a wonderful observation.
Loved this one too.
chalk hopscotch –
the adults
who can’t resist
Judt Shrode
Congrats to everybody!
Thanks, Sanjuktaa 😄
Great collection of sidewalk observations from cities great and small, Kathy. Thanks for all you do each week to put together this column.
I smiled at Valentina Rinaldi’s purple unicorn and empathized with Willie Bongcaron’s cat. I, too, have a “beggar cat” despite her staying dry.
Thanks for including one of mine, too.