A Sense of Place: MEADOW/FIELD – hearing
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 Submit an original unpublished poem (or poems) via our Contact Form by Sunday midnight on the theme of the week, including your name as you would like it to appear, and place of residence.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: MEADOW/FIELD – smell
We remain in meadows and fields – if possible, the same one as last week – but now we explore the sense of smell…
I look forward to reading your submissions.
A Sense of Place: MEADOW/FIELD – hearing
Change is afoot… more details soon about the future of this blog feature in 2019…
triple washed greens
the drone of a crop duster
over the farmlandBona M. Santos
Los Angeles, CA
A contrast between the dusting and the washing allow for many ripples of interpretation in the reading of this poem…
sunday cricket
from time to time
the field eruptsMadhuri Pillai
After reading a number of poems about the grasshopper variety, here the reader can find a refreshing take on the actual game…
red clouds –
the engine of a tractor
moving awayMargherita Petriccione
The reader can see the dust and hear the tractor as it moves further away – a picture almost complete… but is the tractor on a dirt road? or have the fields turned to dust because of drought or time of year…? The reader has more work to do to complete this poem, and, as we have seen in the blog comments in recent weeks, different readers will bring different interpretations – it is important to note that all can be valid, whether they coincide with the poet’s intent or not…
cricket song
with every careful step
a new silenceMichael Smeer
Haarlemmermeer, The Netherlands
Is the cricket quiet or quieted? Possibly a luckier grasshopper makes an appearance later in this column…
meadow’s breeze
grandma’s rosary beads
one by oneRadhamani Sarma
Chennai, India
This is another example where more is left for interpretation – here the clicking of beads may mark the passing of time, as well as a person’s thoughts, one by one…
Here are the rest of my selections for this week:
meadow…
the bellwether
chimes the valleyAdjei Agyei-Baah
Kumasi, Ghana
late summer fields
in a warm wind
the craving for rainAdrian Bouter
meadow grasses
whisper in the night breeze…
murmurs from a tentAl Gallia
Lafayette, Louisiana USA
night winds
the lions’ teeth
are chatteringAlan Summers
poppy field –
cobs leaves crunch under feetAlessandra Delle Fratte
Rome, Italy
forest clearing
the flute-song of a thrush
joins the camp fireAmy Losak
lark song
a single grass stalk
bends to the windAndy McLellan
inside the corn
our hiding place –
rustling earsAngela Giordano
autumn meadow –
between wind and leaves
lonelinessAngiola Inglese
rice paddies –
a frog croaking
against the rainAnna Maria Domburg-Sancristoforo
Lunch time
At the bottom of a flower
Busy beeAnna Goluba
a cicada’s silence
under the weeds –
undulating meadowarvinder kaur
Chandigarh, India
equinox
the overgrown field explodes
with cricketsBarbara Kaufmann
US
dawn
the soft ring of a cowbell
in the fogBarbara Tate
USA
field silence
a grasshopper flees
my footstepBlessed Ayeyame
Ughelli, Nigeria
the high grass, silence of the fox
Bob Whitmire
Round Pond, Maine
creaky wagon
still climbing on
in yearsC.R. Harper
spring rain
a shepherd boy
talks to his sheepCarmen Sterba
winter hedgerow
a dry crackling
of twigsCarol Jones
Wales
across the field
the whinny of a mare
to her foalCarol Raisfeld
haymaking
gathered in every bale
the crickets’ songcezar ciobika
wildflowers
dot the meadow
punctuated by sneezingCharles Harmon
Los Angeles, California, USA
babbling brook…
on the rock
World Peace Day art(World Peace Day, 21st September)
Christina Chin
Kuching, Sarawak
mother’s voice
from across the field
dinner’s readyChristina Sng
light morning mist
on the meadow
fading birdsongChristine Eales
UK
sounds of bugling
elk in the meadow
shutter clicksClaire Vogel Camargo
mowing the meadow…
a medley of wings
takes to the skyCorine Timmer
Faro, Portugal
shadows
beyond this sunlit patch
a catbird keeps on callingCraig Kittner
Wilmington, NC
yoga on the meadow –
the sound of a bumblebee
is my allyDanijela Grbelja
Sibenik, Croatia
Clear skies
the lark ascendingDavid Gale
Gloucester, UK
dandelion field
my voice dissipates
in the windDebbi Antebi
London, UK
starling cloud
chackerchackerchacker
of a shape-shifting songDeborah P Kolodji
Temple City, California
the wind
through the grass leaves
in a different tuneDejan Pavlinovic
Pula, Croatia
fiery summer
still covering the lowlands
coveys of quailDevin Harrison
autumn meadow
three pheasants rustle
through tall grassdianne moritz
freshly mowed lawn
disturbed bees buzz
in disbeliefDubravka Šcukanec
Zagreb, Croatia
mature fields
the cheerful whistle
of a farmerEufemia Griffo
a meadowlark’s song –
the silence
between the notesGary Evans
in the fields
autumn whispers
time to restGiedra Kregzdys
Woodhaven, NY
Po valley –
in the plowed field
scent of silenceGiovanna Restuccia
meadow pond
birds splash
and preenGreer Woodward
Waimea, HI
hearing
grasshoppers
corn husk dollGuliz Mutlu
playing fields morph
from leather-on-willow applause
to haka-style roarsHelen Buckingham
heatwave
popping in the field
bamboo treesHifsa Ashraf
Pakistan
harvest
after the thresher
crickets chirpingIngrid Baluchi
Macedonia
shrieking through the rape field crow
Jennifer Hambrick
running through
the meadow with his kite
the sound of his flip-flopsJohn S Green
Bellingham, Washington
crossing the meadow
a line of silence
in the hawk’s shadowJohn Hawkhead
the rustle
of a snake
through the grassJudith Hishikawa
West Burke, Vermont
wild daisies –
the meadowlark’s crisp call
across the morningJudt Shrode
field of bees
the bee in my bonnet
a little louderKath Abela Wilson
Pasadena, California
children’s squeals
running through
golden poppy fieldsKathleen Mazurowski
Chicago, IL
rising with the sun
the braceros’ voices
in the lettuce fields(Braceros are seasonal migrant workers)
Kimberly Esser
Los Angeles, CA
again the scurrying
of field mice
in the bales of copy paperLaurie Greer
Washington, DC
across the meadow
the warblers song
above the wildflowersLinda L Ludwig
Inverness, FL USA
Sheep Meadow
the surround sound
of conversation(Sheep Meadow is a 15-acre expanse of green in Central Park often used as an alternative to the beach in the summer; sheep used to graze there.)
Lori Zajkowski
New York City
suburb…
between houses and fields
crickets lullabyperiferia … ninna nanna di grilli /tra campi e case
Lucia Cardillo
midsummer field
the hum of archaeologists
and beesLucy Whitehead
Essex, UK
dry meadow foliage
sizzles under the advance
of lashing rainm. shane pruett
sacred grounds
ancestors cry
in the windMargaret Walker
in the meadow
all my secrets revealed
– whispering grassMargo Williams
Stayton, Oregon
tussocky woodland
grass wrens’ calls spiked
on spinifexMarietta McGregor
tick tick tick…
tucking autumn
into my socksMark Gilbert
UK
summer meadow
the horse’s whinny
in the windMartha Magenta
England, UK
Meadowlarks whistle
through the breeze –
grasses and blue chicoryMary Ellen Gambutti
Sarasota, FL USA
after the harvest
listening to the stars
twinkleMary Hanrahan
Football field –
band practice heard
over a mile awaymichael ceraolo
South Euclid, Ohio
meadow lark
a voice thick
with stubbleMichael Henry Lee
father’s ghost
echoes through the meadow –
he loves me notMichael H. Lester
Los Angeles CA USA
fallow field…
crickets fill
the voidMichele L. Harvey
moon shadow
long behind me now
corncrake’s callMike Gallagher
Kerry, Ireland
a meadowlark’s trill
wafts in the prairie breeze
homeland memoriesMike Stinson
Early dawn –
invisible blackbirds’
modulated songMonica Federico
On a hill slope
the whisper of wind
disturbing a meadowMuskaan Ahuja
the trill
of red-winged blackbirds
meadow grassesNancy Brady
Huron, Ohio
harvested fields…
cranes’ farewell calls
from nowhereNatalia Kuznetsova
Russia
cows munching –
the sound of cowbells
on the meadowNazarena Rampini
summer sun
the day I learned how to whistle
through a blade of grassOlivier Schopfer
Geneva, Switzerland
field clover
the buzz in my bouquet
all the way homePat Davis
Pembroke, NH USA
dusty brown paddocks
a lamb cries for its mother
as the crow circlesPauline O’Carolan
Sydney, Australia
pasture horses
snorting out
the errant flyPeter Jastermsky
family album
another grove
lost to the chainsawPhilip Whitley
South Carolina, USA
blooming buckwheat
the unexpected absence
of buzzPolona Oblak
Ljubljana, Slovenia
screech owl reflecting moon over yellowed prairie grass
pru marshall
Cheyenne, WY
long grass
finding the puppy
by his barkRachel Sutcliffe
piano concert
light drizzle
over the tea fieldsRadostina Dragostinova
Bulgaria
winter wheat
grandpa tunes the radio to
a fortune tellerRandy Brooks
expletive
brushing a cactus while
hiking across desert fieldRehn Kovacic
mackerel sky –
what do poppies hear
when the winds blowRéka Nyitrai
old plantation –
the predawn love song
of field cricketsrobyn brooks
usa
indigo rain…
wildflowers go silent
before the stormRon C. Moss
Tasmania, Australia
nature center night walk
my heart beats
with the tree frogs(the Cincinnati Nature Center in Milford, Ohio, USA)
Ronald K. Craig
Batavia, OH USA
eyes closed –
the voice of the wind
on the grassRosa Maria Di Salvatore
twilit meadow
the saffron sound
of cowbellsSanjuktaa Asopa
after a long night
field crickets pausing
for the dawnSari Grandstaff
Saugerties, NY, USA
autumn moon
meadow grasshoppers
sound quieterSerhiy Shpychenko
Kyiv, UA
beeves and sheep
munch the sward
above an airbussimonj
UK
late summer –
entering the cornfield
the bird’s wingsSlobodan Pupovac
Zagreb, Croatia
rice harvesting
sickles run at the pace
of folk women’s songSrinivasa Rao Sambangi
Hyderabad, India
field of forget me nots
moms voice
with me stillStephen A. Peters
your voice
or just the wind
in the meadowSusan Rogers
Los Angeles, CA, USA
sunflowers
I hum my own
refrainTia Haynes
Lakewood, Ohio
four walls of wheat grass
sounds of your sighs
above the insect droneTim Heaney
Atlanta, Ga.
autumn wind
golden ears sway
shining rice fieldsTomoko Nakata
strawberry field…
suddenly
nightingalesTsanka Shishkova
grassy meadow –
rattle of a cowbell opens
the farmers’ marketValentina Ranaldi-Adams
Fairlawn, Ohio USA
sudden rain
flooding the field
a warbler’s callVandana Parashar
the alarm call
of a ground squirrel
far awayVictor Ortiz
Bellingham, WA
vast meadow –
keeps the flock together
barking of sheep dogVishnu 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.
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so much to think about, thanks
Please consider:
Spring breezes carry
the scent of purple lilacs
and small white lilies.
The Spring breezes lift
up the scents of white lilies
and purple lilacs.
Hi Mark – You need to send entries to https://www.thehaikufoundation.org/contact.
thanks for your help here, Pat – glad to see that Mark did find the contact form! (I was celebrating Culture Days here in Whitehorse this weekend… so I’m late getting to these!)
A nice selection, and how interesting all the comments are. Thanks Katherine for inserting my haiku.
thanks for submitting, Angiola – & I agree – the comments are a great addition… thanks to everyone!
ear witness sounds of haiku by Alan Summers
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when we hear something do we, can we, place it into haiku?
how, also, does the haiku sound in general?
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As much as we can overlook the daily things we see from our house windows, to our car, bus, or train windows, to café windows, to work windows, to coming home windows, we also can overlook rather than overhear sounds.
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The most obvious sound might be birdsong which we might choose to ignore if we are in a hurry and possible in a bad mood as well. Something that could be uplifting is pushed aside in our rush to get to somewhere we might not even like.
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Haiku can help make us become an ear witness, for the subtle notes of sound, not simply a loud radio, computer, smartphone, television etc…
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From a sense of place we also get a sense and place of sound.
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Let’s look at how poets have been an ear witness with A Sense of Place: MEADOW/FIELD – hearing, and at the magic of their lines hinting, suggesting, capturing sound and hearing in their inspirational ways. Feel the sound(s) both in the foreground, but hidden in the background, even when they are not mentioned directly.
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the drone of a crop duster
time to time the field erupts
a tractor moving away
cricket song [and] a new silence
meadow’s breeze [and] rosary beads
bellwether (great noun/sound!): the leading sheep of a flock, with a bell on its neck
warm wind
whisper [and] murmurs
chattering
crunch
flute-song
lark song [and] bends to the wind
rustling ears
wind and leaves
croaking against the rain
Busy bee
cicada’s silence [and] undulating
the overgrown field explodes with crickets
the soft ring of a cowbell
a grasshopper flees my footstep (subtle, quiet yet distinct)
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the high grass, silence of the fox
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this could make for an interesting single line even without the comma
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e.g.
the high grass silence of the fox
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creaky wagon [and] still climbing on
spring rain
&
a shepherd boy talks to his sheep
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Even “winter hedgerow” has its sound! 🙂
&
crackling of twigs
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the whinny of a mare (very distinctive sound of many fields for agistment etc…)
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gathered in every bale the crickets’ song
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punctuated by sneezing is a great line in this haiku:
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wildflowers
dot the meadow
punctuated by sneezing
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And an interesting version could be this one, where the sneezing line adds an extra pause!
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wildflowers
punctuated by sneezing
dot the meadow
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babbling brook
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Ah, Alan – what a great ear you have! And such imagery you express. Thank you!
Thanks, it’s always interesting to read in-between, and “underneath” the lines in haiku!
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p.s.
It was great meeting Jacquie Pearce in person, along with Lynne Jambor, and of course Holburne Museum was a must for bringing up trains! 😉
thanks again, Alan – I love the idea of a haiku poet being an ear witness… makes me think about being a witness in general…
An iconic sound for many!
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mother’s voice [and] dinner’s ready
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A mother’s voice can cross continents too!
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fading birdsong
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shutter clicks, in itself, is a great catch of sound, and something I’m not sure I knew:
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bugling elk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TSpGd9p17n0
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a medley of wings takes to the sky
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a catbird keeps on calling
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sound of a bumblebee
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the lark ascending
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my voice dissipates in the wind
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chackerchackerchacker [and] shape-shifting song (very starling!)
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through the grass leaves
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coveys of quail
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rustle through tall grass
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disturbed bees buzz
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cheerful whistle of a farmer
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meadowlark’s song [and] between the notes
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autumn whispers
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scent of silence (great line too!)
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birds splash and preen
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hearing grasshoppers
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leather-on-willow applause
(my father was a cricketer so this conjures up only the directly mentioned sound, but tea and sandwiches being prepared by mostly wives and daughters)
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haka-style roars
The All-Blacks (New Zealand rugby team both feared, adored, and beloved by the British) created a sensation that the public and even celebrities would copy.
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popping in the field
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crickets chirping
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The monoku:
shrieking through the rape field crow
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Great sound and visual imagery of nature, but of all the horror, thriller, and folklore based movie scenes etc…
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This sound is iconic, but one that perhaps many of us are so used to, we forget, and push it back into the background:
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the sound of his flip-flops
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Powerful and accurate:
a line of silence in the hawk’s shadow
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the rustle of a snake
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meadowlark’s crisp call
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field of bees
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children’s squeals
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New term for me:
the braceros’ voices
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Great haiku on many levels by Kimberly Esser!
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scurrying of field mice
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the warblers song
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the surround sound of conversation
Brilliant, whether outdoors or in pubs, bars, cafés, restaurants!
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Lullaby works for me both as a noun and verb:
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crickets lullaby
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Great combination!
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the hum of archaeologists and bees
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Wow!
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sizzles under the advance of lashing rain
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And another wow!
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ancestors cry in the wind
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secrets revealed [and] whispering grass
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grass wrens’ calls spiked on spinifex
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tucking autumn into my socks
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the horse’s whinny in the wind
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The wind carries many sounds of things we might not see if they are in the distance.
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Meadowlarks whistle
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listening to the stars
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band practice
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voice thick with stubble
Brilliant!
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echoes through the meadow
crickets fill the void
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corncrake’s call
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a meadowlark’s trill
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invisible blackbirds’ modulated song
So true, can’t always locate them, but potent!
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wind disturbing a meadow
Glorious!
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the trill of red-winged blackbirds
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cranes’ farewell calls
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cows munching [and] sound of cowbells
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whistle through a blade of grass
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the buzz in my bouquet
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a lamb cries for its mother
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snorting out the errant fly
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A strong sound/image regarding horses, but also when we, as fellow animals, have to do it too! It’s another iconic sound if you are involved in horse agistment, or riding trips.
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lost to the chainsaw
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the unexpected absence of buzz
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screech owl reflecting moon
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the puppy by his bark
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piano concert [and]
light drizzle over the tea fields
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grandpa tunes the radio
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expletive brushing a cactus
Haven’t we all swore something out loud if caught by something stinging or thorny etc…?
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poppies hear when the winds blow
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predawn love song of field crickets
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wildflowers go silent before the storm
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my heart beats with the tree frogs
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the wind on the grass
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saffron sound of cowbells
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field crickets pausing
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meadow grasshoppers
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beeves and sheep munch
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entering the cornfield
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at the pace of folk women’s song
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moms voice
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wind in the meadow
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hum my own refrain
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sighs above the insect drone
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autumn wind [and] sway
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suddenly nightingales
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rattle of a cowbell
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sudden rain
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alarm call of a ground squirrel
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the flock together barking of sheep dog
I love this as a whole line, as you see a flock of sheep and hear the barking, but it’s the sheep dog, not the sheep. Yet, the sound together with the sheep feels as if they are barking as one guided by the dog. It really captures sheep herding by a sheep dog, usually a collie.
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Every single line or word together makes those fields and meadows vibrate with sound and often iconic sounds, yet forgotten until we write them down for a prompt. Thanks Kathy!
Alan, your enthusiasm for the haiku form is so infectious. You inspire heartfelt delving. Thank you.
Thanks Craig!
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I like to show the lines within the lines, as well as subtle “extra-meanings & layers” intentionally or unintentionally present.
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I really ‘shadows beyond’ and ‘keeps on calling’ which made your sunlit patch a fascinating ‘outpost’:
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shadows
beyond this sunlit patch
a catbird keeps on calling
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Craig Kittner
Wilmington, NC
I second this – thanks Craig… Alan deserves a medal, & I am enjoying these comments & learning along with everyone else…
Thank you Alan for acknowledging and taking the time to print all these WOW lines!
Lovely selection to read over and again, and so much to learn from. Thank you Kathy for including one of mine.
thanks for this, Ingrid – it is my pleasure!
Thank-you Kathy for publishing mine. Congrats to all the poets !!
thanks for submitting, Valentina!
Lots of lovely sounds. My favourites this week:
—
summer sun
the day I learned how to whistle
through a blade of grass
—
Olivier Schopfer
Geneva, Switzerland
—
long grass
finding the puppy
by his bark
—
Rachel Sutcliffe
thanks for sharing this, Lisa!
Thank you, Kathy 🙂
thanks for submitting, Anna!
Thanks KJ, I would highlight these 4:-
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Christina Sng’s lovely
mother’s voice
from across the field
dinner’s ready
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Deborah P Kolodji’s bold
starling cloud
chackerchackerchacker
of a shape-shifting song
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Giovanna Restuccia’s lovely use of vowels and consonants in her
Po valley –
in the plowed field
scent of silence
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Mary Hanrahan’s beautiful
after the harvest
listening to the stars
twinkle
thanks so much for sharing this, Mark!
Dear esteemed poet,
Greetings! yes, I got your links :connecting
LION’S TOOTH AND CHICORY.
Thanks
With regards
S.Radhamani
You can make wonderful drinks out of them too. 🙂
Thanks, dear KJ!I’m so glad because it’s an honor indeed to be included in this selection.
my pleasure, Tsanka, thanks for this
What a colorful array of sounds. Wonderful collection–I feel honored to be a part of this. It’s pouring down rain here today–I’ve printed this out and will spend a peaceful afternoon enjoying each and every poem. Thank you everyone.
thanks for your kind words, Barbara
Dear Kathy,
warm greetings! eagerly awaited Wednesday full of wonderful writes.
Going through each, amazing. I am delighted to be included here. Many thanks.
Well done,
Mark
my pleasure! thanks as always for submitting!
Thanks for including me in another great set, Katherine…..congratulations everyone…..I especially love Deborah’s ‘starling cloud’!
thanks for this Helen!
Hi Polona,
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I guess you might not be the first to call my haiku suspect. 😉
lol! 🙂
honestly, sometimes they do make me scratch me noggin 😉
I’m lucky that my wife Karen Hoy is a naturalist and has been a wildlife documentary film maker.
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On this particular renga I’d mentioned, and on a ginko at another event, we had a poet who was a botanist awarded the prestigious H. H. Bloomer medal by the Linnean Society for her contribution to natural history.
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It was also incredible to have her on a ginko, where I was Bristol Zoo haiku poet-in-residence, alongside another expert on the Avon Gorge.
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I think bringing in the various common names, as well as folklore names, for plants and other flora, as well as fauna enriches haiku. I would love to have another nature expert who knows both the common names and folklore, alongside the science side of things.
for me finding english names for certain flora and fauna can present a challenge and latin names are often the only bypass. in addition there’s the issue of Europeans and Americans being separated by the common language.
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when i still maintained my blog i was stunned that someone would call a buzzard featuring in one of my haiku (or shahai, not sure which) “a bloody vulture” or something to that effect. then i learned that a buzzard in N America (indeed a vulture) is something completely different from what we know in Europe (the raptor similar to a red-tailed hawk)
and there’s more of the stuff like this…
Same for a robin, it’s a Christmas/Winter seasonal reference in Britain but a Spring reference (and a different bird) in the USA. 🙂
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But we are on this planet to learn or go dark I guess. 😉
goldfinch and blackbird are also a different bird on each side of the pond. and, as opposed to our magpies (clever though they are), the australian namesakes can sing and imitate voices. and so on…
For accuracy regarding birds in Britain, there was an anthology that published:
http://www.wingbeats.co.uk
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And I know Gene Murtha, a bird expert, very much wanted to bring out a similarly accurate book about birds in America.
i’ve got a copy of wingbeats. excellent stuff, an anthology and a field guide yet so much more than that. John and Martin did a great job.
too bad Gene didn’t have the time to make his book happen…
sorry, it was Matthew Paul not Matrin Lucas…
Yes, my wife Karen Hoy and myself helped launch Wing Beats over three packed out events in two cities. Karen was the MC too: http://area17.blogspot.com/2008/08/wing-beats-british-birds-in-haiku-bath.html
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Martin Lucas contributed so much to the book, and always had a special aura about him in person. He is unbearably missed by so many of us.
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thank you Alan & Polona – this bird name thread is fascinating to me! “separated by the common language” indeed!
A fabulous collection of sounds, such a marvellous line up, Kathy, Well done to all.
Thanks for including mine 🙂
thanks for submitting, carol, & for sharing this
Thank you so much for featuring my little ku this week, Katherine!
thanks for submitting, Michael!
I’m really happy to be in your selection K J , and I’m extremely grateful for the comment. As beautiful as ever all the works in your selection
my pleasure, Margherita! thanks for your kind words
Another movable (in the wind) feast! So much imagination and creativity from this palette of talented poets! Thanks for comments on my son Erick’s first haiku (“giant tentacle” in Shore/touch)!
And thanks for kind words on my “fields of Normandy.” Thanks most of all to editor kj and the contributors who make this such a delightful feature.
Charles Harmon
Los Angeles, California, USA
thanks for sharing this, Charles!
Thank you for selecting mine to be part of this lovely group!. Wednesday’s have become a treat for me to read everyone’s lovely ku!
wonderful to hear this, Margo – thanks for submitting & sharing this!
Thanks a lot for including me in this great selection, Katherine!
I loved the one from Margherita Petriccione.
Thanks Monica! You know that deep in my heart I’m a country girl. I love your
invisible blackbirds
thanks for this, Monica!
It’s always a pleasure to read the selection. Thanks for including one of mine, Kathy. Here are 6 of my favourite poems.
sunday cricket
from time to time
the field erupts
Madhuri Pillai
tick tick tick…
tucking autumn
into my socks
Mark Gilbert
UK
long grass
finding the puppy
by his bark
Rachel Sutcliffe
blooming buckwheat
the unexpected absence
of buzz
Polona Oblak
Ljubljana, Slovenia
sudden rain
flooding the field
a warbler’s call
Vandana Parashar
cricket song
with every careful step
a new silence
Michael Smeer
Haarlemmermeer, The Netherlands
Thanks for your appreciation, Corine!
I enjoyed reading yours too 🙂
thanks for the heads up, Corine, and i can see all those insects fleeing from the mower (birds would have already left) 🙂
Thanks for the mention
thanks for submitting, Corine! & for sharing your favourites
What a collection for sensory overload of sounds…from the chirp of crickets to brass bands. Thanks for including one of mine.
thanks for submitting Nancy!
There are two dandelion haiku, can you find the second one? 🙂
.
dandelion field
my voice dissipates
in the wind
.
Debbi Antebi
London, UK
.
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The once loved dandelion wilfully and wrongfully despised is a wonderful denizen of Planet Earth, or Planet Meadow. 🙂
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Debbie chooses a wonderfully strong verb that really makes this haiku zing!
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Did you know there are 400 species of dandelion? It helps to have an award-winning botanist when creating a renga party, and getting some natural history verses too!
The first haiku? triple washed greens?
That sounds like kale! 😉
.
They are something very common in the USA as well, but it might be something the French, British or Irish might guess first. 😉 The common name is taken from Norman French.
Chicory, “chicorée” in French, a plant from the dandelion family. By the way, Alan, “dandelion” also comes from French: “dent-de-lion”, literally “lion’s tooth”. In French we use both the words “dent-de-lion” and “pissenlit”, the latter meaning literally “pisse au lit”, “piss in bed” 😉
Hi Olivier,
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Ah, yes, all French speakers would get this one! 🙂
.
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Yes, dandelion is that naughty English-language habit of creating a newish type of word out of an old term.
.
And of course the clue about lions is in the word ‘dandelion’ itself as well! 🙂
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Here’s a link:
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DANDELION: LION’S TOOTH
http://sweetflagherbs.com/writing/2017/5/16/dandelion-lions-tooth
And another link:
.
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The Teeth of the Lion: The Story of the Beloved and Despised Dandelion
http://anitasanchez.com/the-teeth-of-the-lion-the-story-of-the-beloved-and-despised-dandelion/
And both dandelion (generic) and chicory/chicorée both make excellent coffee etc…!
.
Here’s What Chicory Is, And Why It’s In Your Coffee
https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/this-is-what-chicory-is-and-why-it-sometimes-shows-up-in-coffee_us_55918228e4b081449b4c95ff
Dear Nancy,
.
I looked up triple washed greens and found this alarming report:
.
Here’s the truth about triple-washed salad
http://uk.businessinsider.com/washing-bagged-salad-produce-triple-washed-2016-7?r=US&IR=T
.
.
triple washed greens
the drone of a crop duster
over the farmland
.
Bona M. Santos
Los Angeles, CA
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We certainly over-chemicalize things and people in life hence so many autoimmune diseases etc…
i suspected the second one would be yours, Alan, and Olivier’s post confirmed my thoughts 🙂
Hi Polona,
.
I guess you might not be the first to call my haiku suspect. 😉
Dear esteemed poet,
warm greetings!
Your question-
There are two dandelion haiku, can you find the second one? 🙂
second one-
.
wild daisies?
“wild daisies –
the meadowlark’s crisp call
across the morning”
Judt Shrode
Dear Radhamani sarma,
.
.
wild daisies –
the meadowlark’s crisp call
across the morning
.
Judt Shrode
.
.
A fantastic haiku!!!
.
.
The second dandelion haiku is this one:
.
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night winds
the lions’ teeth
are chattering
.
Alan Summers
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This book tells how the dandelion, which is edible and medicinal, and incredibly helpful, became disliked:
.
.
The Teeth of the Lion: The Story of the Beloved and Despised Dandelion
http://anitasanchez.com/the-teeth-of-the-lion-the-story-of-the-beloved-and-despised-dandelion/
Dear esteemed poet,
Warm greetings! I went through the link, how interesting is the story,
quoting the title, how much of source of info we get, Amazing! how best we can strive to
redeem them, in total, off springs of Nature,from total extinction.is the immediacy.
with regards
S.Radhamani
Thank you! 🙂
what a wonderful thread, Alan – thanks to all for the comments!