A Sense of Place: MEADOW/FIELD – hearing

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1. so much to think about, thanks

2. 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.

   1. Hi Mark – You need to send entries to https://www.thehaikufoundation.org/contact.

      1. 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!)

3. A nice selection, and how interesting all the comments are. Thanks Katherine for inserting my haiku.

   1. thanks for submitting, Angiola – & I agree – the comments are a great addition… thanks to everyone!

4. ear witness sounds of haiku by Alan Summers
   .
   when we hear something do we, can we, place it into haiku?
   how, also, does the haiku sound in general?
   .
   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.
   .
   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.
   .
   Haiku can help make us become an ear witness, for the subtle notes of sound, not simply a loud radio, computer, smartphone, television etc…
   .
   From a sense of place we also get a sense and place of sound.
   .
   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.
   .
   .

   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)
   .

   the high grass, silence of the fox
   .
   this could make for an interesting single line even without the comma
   .
   e.g.
   the high grass silence of the fox
   .
   creaky wagon [and] still climbing on
   spring rain
   &
   a shepherd boy talks to his sheep
   .
   Even “winter hedgerow” has its sound! 🙂
   &
   crackling of twigs
   .
   the whinny of a mare (very distinctive sound of many fields for agistment etc…)
   .
   gathered in every bale the crickets’ song
   .
   punctuated by sneezing is a great line in this haiku:
   .
   wildflowers
   dot the meadow
   punctuated by sneezing
   .
   And an interesting version could be this one, where the sneezing line adds an extra pause!
   .
   .
   wildflowers
   punctuated by sneezing
   dot the meadow
   .
   .
   babbling brook
   .

   .

   1. Ah, Alan – what a great ear you have! And such imagery you express. Thank you!

      1. Thanks, it’s always interesting to read in-between, and “underneath” the lines in haiku!
         .
         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! 😉

   2. thanks again, Alan – I love the idea of a haiku poet being an ear witness… makes me think about being a witness in general…

5. An iconic sound for many!
   .
   mother’s voice [and] dinner’s ready
   .
   A mother’s voice can cross continents too!
   .
   .

   fading birdsong
   .
   shutter clicks, in itself, is a great catch of sound, and something I’m not sure I knew:
   .
   bugling elk
   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TSpGd9p17n0
   .
   .
   a medley of wings takes to the sky
   .
   .
   a catbird keeps on calling
   .
   .
   sound of a bumblebee
   .
   the lark ascending
   .
   my voice dissipates in the wind
   .
   chackerchackerchacker [and] shape-shifting song (very starling!)
   .
   .
   through the grass leaves
   .
   coveys of quail
   .
   rustle through tall grass
   .
   disturbed bees buzz
   .
   cheerful whistle of a farmer
   .
   meadowlark’s song [and] between the notes
   .
   autumn whispers
   .
   scent of silence (great line too!)
   .
   birds splash and preen
   .
   hearing grasshoppers
   .
   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)
   .
   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.
   .
   .
   popping in the field
   .
   crickets chirping
   .
   The monoku:
   shrieking through the rape field crow
   .
   Great sound and visual imagery of nature, but of all the horror, thriller, and folklore based movie scenes etc…
   .
   This sound is iconic, but one that perhaps many of us are so used to, we forget, and push it back into the background:
   .
   .
   the sound of his flip-flops
   .
   .
   Powerful and accurate:
   a line of silence in the hawk’s shadow
   .
   .
   the rustle of a snake
   .
   meadowlark’s crisp call
   .
   field of bees
   .
   children’s squeals
   .
   New term for me:
   the braceros’ voices
   .
   Great haiku on many levels by Kimberly Esser!
   .
   .
   scurrying of field mice
   .
   the warblers song
   .
   the surround sound of conversation
   Brilliant, whether outdoors or in pubs, bars, cafés, restaurants!
   .
   .
   Lullaby works for me both as a noun and verb:
   .
   crickets lullaby
   .
   .
   Great combination!
   .
   the hum of archaeologists and bees
   .
   .
   Wow!
   .
   sizzles under the advance of lashing rain
   .
   .
   And another wow!
   .
   ancestors cry in the wind
   .
   .
   secrets revealed [and] whispering grass
   .
   grass wrens’ calls spiked on spinifex
   .
   .
   tucking autumn into my socks
   .
   .
   the horse’s whinny in the wind
   .
   The wind carries many sounds of things we might not see if they are in the distance.
   .
   .
   Meadowlarks whistle
   .
   listening to the stars
   .
   band practice
   .
   voice thick with stubble
   Brilliant!
   .
   echoes through the meadow

6. crickets fill the void
   .
   corncrake’s call
   .
   a meadowlark’s trill
   .
   invisible blackbirds’ modulated song
   So true, can’t always locate them, but potent!
   .
   wind disturbing a meadow
   Glorious!
   .
   the trill of red-winged blackbirds
   .
   cranes’ farewell calls
   .
   cows munching [and] sound of cowbells
   .
   whistle through a blade of grass
   .
   the buzz in my bouquet
   .
   a lamb cries for its mother
   .
   snorting out the errant fly
   .
   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.
   .

   lost to the chainsaw
   .
   the unexpected absence of buzz
   .
   screech owl reflecting moon
   .
   the puppy by his bark
   .
   piano concert [and]
   light drizzle over the tea fields
   .
   grandpa tunes the radio
   .
   expletive brushing a cactus
   Haven’t we all swore something out loud if caught by something stinging or thorny etc…?
   .
   poppies hear when the winds blow
   .
   predawn love song of field crickets
   .
   wildflowers go silent before the storm
   .
   my heart beats with the tree frogs
   .
   the wind on the grass
   .
   saffron sound of cowbells
   .
   field crickets pausing
   .
   meadow grasshoppers
   .
   beeves and sheep munch
   .
   entering the cornfield
   .
   at the pace of folk women’s song
   .
   moms voice
   .
   wind in the meadow
   .

   hum my own refrain
   .

   sighs above the insect drone
   .
   autumn wind [and] sway
   .
   suddenly nightingales
   .
   rattle of a cowbell
   .
   sudden rain
   .
   alarm call of a ground squirrel
   .
   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.
   .
   .
   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!

   1. Alan, your enthusiasm for the haiku form is so infectious. You inspire heartfelt delving. Thank you.

      1. Thanks Craig!
         .
         I like to show the lines within the lines, as well as subtle “extra-meanings & layers” intentionally or unintentionally present.
         .
         I really ‘shadows beyond’ and ‘keeps on calling’ which made your sunlit patch a fascinating ‘outpost’:
         .
         .
         shadows
         beyond this sunlit patch
         a catbird keeps on calling
         .
         Craig Kittner
         Wilmington, NC

      2. I second this – thanks Craig… Alan deserves a medal, & I am enjoying these comments & learning along with everyone else…

   2. Thank you Alan for acknowledging and taking the time to print all these WOW lines!

7. Lovely selection to read over and again, and so much to learn from. Thank you Kathy for including one of mine.

   1. thanks for this, Ingrid – it is my pleasure!

8. Thank-you Kathy for publishing mine. Congrats to all the poets !!

   1. thanks for submitting, Valentina!

9. 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

   1. thanks for sharing this, Lisa!

10. Thank you, Kathy 🙂

    1. thanks for submitting, Anna!

11. Thanks KJ, I would highlight these 4:-
    .
    Christina Sng’s lovely
    mother’s voice
    from across the field
    dinner’s ready
    .
    Deborah P Kolodji’s bold
    starling cloud
    chackerchackerchacker
    of a shape-shifting song
    .
    Giovanna Restuccia’s lovely use of vowels and consonants in her
    Po valley –
    in the plowed field
    scent of silence
    .
    Mary Hanrahan’s beautiful
    after the harvest
    listening to the stars
    twinkle

    1. thanks so much for sharing this, Mark!

12. Dear esteemed poet,
    Greetings! yes, I got your links :connecting

    LION’S TOOTH AND CHICORY.

    Thanks
    With regards
    S.Radhamani

    1. You can make wonderful drinks out of them too. 🙂

13. Thanks, dear KJ!I’m so glad because it’s an honor indeed to be included in this selection.

    1. my pleasure, Tsanka, thanks for this

14. 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.

    1. thanks for your kind words, Barbara

15. Dear Kathy,
    warm greetings! eagerly awaited Wednesday full of wonderful writes.

    Going through each, amazing. I am delighted to be included here. Many thanks.

    1. Well done,

       Mark

    2. my pleasure! thanks as always for submitting!

16. Thanks for including me in another great set, Katherine…..congratulations everyone…..I especially love Deborah’s ‘starling cloud’!

    1. thanks for this Helen!

17. Hi Polona,
    .
    I guess you might not be the first to call my haiku suspect. 😉

    1. lol! 🙂

       honestly, sometimes they do make me scratch me noggin 😉

       1. I’m lucky that my wife Karen Hoy is a naturalist and has been a wildlife documentary film maker.
          .
          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.
          .
          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.
          .
          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.

          1. 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.
             .
             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…

             1. Same for a robin, it’s a Christmas/Winter seasonal reference in Britain but a Spring reference (and a different bird) in the USA. 🙂
                .
                But we are on this planet to learn or go dark I guess. 😉

             2. 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…

             3. For accuracy regarding birds in Britain, there was an anthology that published:
                http://www.wingbeats.co.uk
                .
                And I know Gene Murtha, a bird expert, very much wanted to bring out a similarly accurate book about birds in America.

             4. 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…

             5. sorry, it was Matthew Paul not Matrin Lucas…

             6. 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
                .
                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.
                .

             7. thank you Alan & Polona – this bird name thread is fascinating to me! “separated by the common language” indeed!

18. A fabulous collection of sounds, such a marvellous line up, Kathy, Well done to all.
    Thanks for including mine 🙂

    1. thanks for submitting, carol, & for sharing this

19. Thank you so much for featuring my little ku this week, Katherine!

    1. thanks for submitting, Michael!

20. 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

    1. my pleasure, Margherita! thanks for your kind words

21. 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

    1. thanks for sharing this, Charles!

22. 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!

    1. wonderful to hear this, Margo – thanks for submitting & sharing this!

23. Thanks a lot for including me in this great selection, Katherine!
    I loved the one from Margherita Petriccione.

    1. Thanks Monica! You know that deep in my heart I’m a country girl. I love your
       invisible blackbirds

    2. thanks for this, Monica!

24. 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

    1. Thanks for your appreciation, Corine!

       I enjoyed reading yours too 🙂

    2. thanks for the heads up, Corine, and i can see all those insects fleeing from the mower (birds would have already left) 🙂

    3. Thanks for the mention

    4. thanks for submitting, Corine! & for sharing your favourites

25. What a collection for sensory overload of sounds…from the chirp of crickets to brass bands. Thanks for including one of mine.

    1. thanks for submitting Nancy!

26. There are two dandelion haiku, can you find the second one? 🙂
    .
    dandelion field
    my voice dissipates
    in the wind
    .
    Debbi Antebi
    London, UK
    .
    .
    The once loved dandelion wilfully and wrongfully despised is a wonderful denizen of Planet Earth, or Planet Meadow. 🙂
    .
    Debbie chooses a wonderfully strong verb that really makes this haiku zing!
    .
    .
    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!

    1. The first haiku? triple washed greens?

       1. 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.

          1. 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” 😉

             1. Hi Olivier,
                .
                Ah, yes, all French speakers would get this one! 🙂
                .
                .
                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! 🙂
                .
                Here’s a link:
                .
                DANDELION: LION’S TOOTH
                http://sweetflagherbs.com/writing/2017/5/16/dandelion-lions-tooth

             2. And another link:
                .
                .
                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/

             3. 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

          2. 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
             .
             .
             We certainly over-chemicalize things and people in life hence so many autoimmune diseases etc…

    2. i suspected the second one would be yours, Alan, and Olivier’s post confirmed my thoughts 🙂

       1. Hi Polona,
          .
          I guess you might not be the first to call my haiku suspect. 😉

    3. 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

       1. 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:
          .
          .
          night winds
          the lions’ teeth
          are chattering
          .
          Alan Summers
          .
          .
          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/

          1. 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

             1. Thank you! 🙂

    4. what a wonderful thread, Alan – thanks to all for the comments!

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