A Sense of Place: MOUNTAIN – 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 Submit an original unpublished poem (or poems) via our Contact Form by Sunday midnight on the theme of the week, including your name as you would like it to appear, and place of residence.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:  MOUNTAIN – smell

We remain in the mountains – if possible, the same actual mountains as in previous weeks – but now we explore the sense of smell…

I look forward to reading your submissions.

A Sense of Place:  MOUNTAIN – hearing

There are many historical and geographical references this week – thank you poets – I am learning new things! A reminder to please use the Contact Form to submit, and thank you for including your place of residence (every time!) and your name as you would like it to appear…

at the summit
the song
of a skylark

Mark Gilbert

Of all birds, how appropriate that we find, at the top of the mountain, a bird that is described as one that sings as it flies high in the air…

Zabriskie Point
the hills return the
compliment

Michael Henry Lee

In this poem, the reader can complete the poem by filling in the missing information – that someone has complimented the hills, perhaps with a yodel…

high in the mountains
my footsteps
and I

Rachel Sutcliffe

Here readers may find themselves alone on a trail, with only the sound of their own feet – and do note that the actual sound that the feet are making is not mentioned in this poem…

mountain
its silence
deafening

Stephen A. Peters

Sound and the lack of sound can be equally successful in haiku… in this poem, the reader might experience the overwhelming awe that can be inspired by the natural world…

Here are the rest of my selections for this week:

first, lava eruption
the second loudest
silence

AJ Anwar
Jakarta, Indonesia

 

mountaintop
running through my spine –
the cry of an eagle

Adjei Agyei-Baah
Kumasi, Ghana

 

mountain camp
the crackling fire
between us

Adrian Bouter

 

red cliffs descend
into the rocky abyss…
an eagle’s screech

Al Gallia
Lafayette, Louisiana USA

 

Atlas foothills…
bees jostle pickers
for saffron

Alan Summers

 

brecon beacons
a hundred rivulets
trickling to a stream

andrew shimield

 

Mount Snowdon
through damp mist
the squeak of boots

Andy McLellan

 

long climb
the noisy beat
of my heart

lunga salita
il battito rumoroso
del mio cuore

Angiola Inglese

 

cabin night
with windows open
creek song

Ann Schwader

 

mountains of sorrow –
the Alpini choir sings
of  a lost love *

*The Alpini are a mountain infantry corps of the Italian Army, that distinguished itself in combat during World War I. They are also famous in Italy for their songs and choirs.

Anna Maria Domburg-Sancristoforo

 

breathing deeply the sound of nearby waterfall

Anthony Rabang

 

on the mountain
one crow calls
two crows answer

Ardelle Hollis Ray
Las Vegas, NV

 

fireflies…
the twinkle of silence
in the valley

arvinder kaur

 

mountain silence
covering a dead monarch
with a leaf

Barbara Kaufmann
NY

 

primal urge
a coyote’s cry
to the hunter’s moon

Barbara Tate
Winchester, TN

 

mountain view
a raven’s cry replays
in my mind

Blessed Ayeyame
Ughelli, Nigeria

 

soaking overheated
feet   the low murmur
of a mountain stream

Bob Whitmire
Round Pond, Maine

 

day trek
a babbling mountain brook
leads us back to the trail

Bona M. Santos
Los Angeles, CA

 

Rainier
this squall calling out
to the sound

C.R. Harper

 

a distant col
echoing the sound of
nothing

Carol Dilworth

 

heading for home
across a night black mountain…
a sheep coughs

carol jones
Wales

 

mountain peak
a hawk call
fills the gaps

cezar ciobika

 

logging trucks…
another mountain
loses its voice

Chad Lee Robinson
Pierre, SD, USA

 

Scottish Highlands
is that keening a banshee
or just bagpipes?

Charles Harmon
Los Angeles, California, USA

 

Zermatt night
the boom of footsteps
on wooden floor

Christina Chin

 

carrying
my warning away
mountain wind

Christina Sng

 

alone
on the mountain
singing Wagner

Christine Eales
UK

 

skiers whoosh
down snowy slopes
around me

Claire Vogel Camargo

 

last ski run –
the glacier
cracks and growls

Corine Timmer

 

old cabin window
slowly waking to the sound
of the mountain spring

Craig Kittner
Wilmington, NC

 

mountain power –
my scream and echo
self-healing

Danijela Grbelja
Sibenik, Croatia

 

climbing the mountain pass
a dog barking
an echo barking

David Gale
Gloucester, UK

 

carrying my voice
to the other side
mountain wind

Debbi Antebi
London, UK

 

our decision
at the tree-line
distant thunder

Deborah P Kolodji
Temple City, California
(inspired by Great Basin National Park, Nevada)

 

thunder clouds
mountain in half-light
fills up with wind

Devin Harrison

 

Maroon Bells
mirrored in Maroon Lake
cool waters ripple

dianne moritz

 

mountaintop –
silence
of a new dawn

Engin Gülez
Ankara, Turkey

 

summer solstice
the call of a buzzard
on Amiata mount

Mount Amiata is located about 20 km northwest of Lake Bolsena in the southern Tuscany region of Italy.

Eufemia Griffo

 

heavy breathing
before the summit
rustled leaves

Frank J. Tassone

 

intruder!
mountain marmots
talking about me

Garry Eaton

 

the twang of
lovesick heart strings –
mountaintop bar

Giedra Kregzdys
Woodhaven, NY

 

the waterfall
beyond  the curve
he whispers

Giovanna Restuccia
Italy

 

the conversation
of a double-tiered
waterfall

Greer Woodward
Waimea, Hawaii

 

eagle’s cry
trembling shadows
of the mount

Guliz Mutlu
Mount Nimrod, Turkey

 

alpine pasture
nothing but the sound
of a scythe

Helga Stania

 

wind chimes the cascading waterfall

Hifsa Ashraf
Pakistan

 

mountain dawn
practicing his doodle-doo
novice village rooster

Ingrid Baluchi

 

mountain peaks
a tourist shouts
into the silence

(Blue Mountains, NSW, Australia)

Isabel Caves
Auckland, New Zealand

 

mountain road
the artist who works
with dynamite

Jean LeBlanc
Newton, New Jersey, USA

 

mountain stream
the eternal squeaks
of a prayer wheel

Joanne van Helvoort

 

we stand silent
on the mountainside –
the raven’s mating call

John S Green
Bellingham, WA

 

mountain pass
the echoes
of nobody

John Hawkhead

 

clear bright air
the mountain
says everything twice

Kath Abela Wilson
Pasadena, California

 

mountain bluebird
chirrup chirrup
greets sunrise

Kathleen Mazurowski
Chicago, IL

 

a hoot owl joins
our a capella group
campfire songs

Kimberly Esser
Los Angeles, CA

 

Blue Ridge
hearing an owl
call its name

Laurie Greer
Washington, D.C.

 

alpine meadow
the wind’s song measured
by my heartbeat

Liz Ann Winkler

 

hearing myself
in the silence
of the mountains

Lori Zajkowski

 

endless space…
the mountain answers
to our voices

spazio infinito … la montagna risponde /alle nostre voci

Lucia Cardillo

 

mountain monastery
mantras meet me
on the wind

Lucy Whitehead
Essex, UK

 

babbling voices
laughter in the valley
a distant waterfall

m. shane pruett

 

mountain temple
pine trees bend
to the sound of OM

Madhuri Pillai

 

the soughing of wind
in the pines reminds me
of Mount Fuji

Marcyn Clements

 

“S” curve
a car horn
in the fog

Margaret Walker
Lincoln, NE, USA

 

rock church
the refreshing ticking
of a small source

Margherita Petriccione

 

surrounded by
the roar of wildfire
the trees at full attention

Margo Williams
Stayton, Oregon

 

mountaintop storm
crackles of static
in our hair

Marietta McGregor

 

afternoon mist
the bleating of the herd
as we climb down

Marina Bellini

 

sunlit stream tumbling into foothill laughter

Marion Clarke
Warrenpoint (Mourne Mountains, Northern Ireland)

 

Aberfan
the silent cries
of children

Note: In memory of Aberfan – the site of a disaster in S. Wales where colliery slag tipped on a mountain collapsed killing 116 children and 28 adults.

Martha Magenta
England, UK

 

snowy peaks
ringing silence
we scatter ashes

Meg Arnot
London, UK

 

whispers of romance –
pop of a champagne bottle
on the mountaintop

Michael H. Lester
Los Angeles CA USA

 

distant thunder
the mountain stream
takes a fall

Michael Smeer
Haarlemmermeer, The Netherlands

 

unfazed
by the roar of the wind
mountain cascade

Michele L. Harvey

 

reverberating
into silence
a dislodged rock

Mike Gallagher
Ireland

 

mountain breeze
the sound of
swaying pines

Mohammad Azim Khan
Pakistan

 

mountain mist
the plop of drops
through the canopy

Nancy Brady
Huron, Ohio, USA

 

alpine pastures
cowbells’ distant toll…
nothing else

Natalia Kuznetsova
Russia

 

precipice
a marmot’s
piercing whistle

Olivier Schopfer
Geneva, Switzerland

 

mountaintops
I catch myself talking
to creation

Pat Davis
Pembroke, NH USA

 

high mountains
the clamour of bells
on the Nakasendo Way

Pauline O’Carolan

 

late August storm
hung up on the mountain top
rumbles of complaint

Peggy Bilbro

 

mountain burial
an echo of vultures
snapping the bones

Peter Jastermsky

 

across the valley –
a whippoorwill calls
to its own echo

Philip Whitley

 

marmot whistle
a ripple runs
through alpine grass

Polona Oblak
Ljubljana, Slovenia

 

last climb silence seeps through rustling pines

Pris Campbell

 

mountain top
oaken flutes
all  melody

Radhamani sarma
Chennai

 

mountain echo
the dungeon
of my ego

Radostina Dragostinova
Bulgaria

 

a temple bell
sounds through the pines
dark-eyed junco

Randall Herman
Victoria, TX

 

mountain top view
the only sound
my heart

Randy Brooks

 

her words lost
in the breeze
mountain hike

Rehn Kovacic

 

mountain pond –
in her cupped hands
yesterday’s raindrops burbling

Réka Nyitrai

 

sacred mountain
drivers argue over
the last spot

Roberta Beary
County Mayo Ireland

 

a steam trumpet’s wail
ahead of the train –
swiss alps at dusk

robyn brooks
usa

 

sky cabin
the creak of snow
about to move

Ron C. Moss
Tasmania, Australia

 

Black Hills climb
far ahead
a mountain goat bleats

Ronald K. Craig
Batavia, OH  USA

 

like music –
the rustling of the wind
in the leaves

Rosa Maria Di Salvatore

 

waking
to the rumble
of an avalanche

Ruth Powell

 

thunderstorms echo
across the Catskill Mountains
Rip Van Winkle wakes

Sari Grandstaff
Saugerties, NY, USA

 

coastal cliff
twilight absorbs
the noise of waves

Serhiy Shpychenko
Kyiv, Ukraine

 

via ferrata
the sound of the empire
striking back

simonj
UK

 

morning walk
across a mountain pasture
moo…

Slobodan Pupovac
Zagreb, Croatia

 

eastern ghat
a long train splits
the silence

Srinivasa Rao Sambangi
Hyderabad, India

 

temple bell
ears tensely upright
valley gazing cow

Sudebi Singha
India

 

twilight hush
from somewhere on the mountain
the sound of a flute

Susan Rogers
Los Angeles, CA, USA

 

mountainside picnic
I struggle to understand
her accent

Tia Haynes
Lakewood, Ohio, USA

 

mountaintop
all I hear
is your breath

Tiffany Shaw-Diaz

 

holly mountain –
my voice comes back
after a pause

Tomislav Maretic

 

Click clack clack click
cog railroad ascends at last
Pikes Peak

Trilla Pando

 

alpine hut…
after urban noise
starry silence

Tsanka Shishkova

 

mountain hike –
tales of Sasquatch
growing taller

Valentina Ranaldi-Adams
Fairlawn, Ohio USA

 

trekking
my heart beat louder
than the howling winds

Vandana Parashar

 

the pop, pop, pause
rhythm of a Harley
mountain pass

Victor Ortiz
Bellingham, WA

 

serene summits
wanton wind stirs
the silence

Vishnu Kapoor

 

mountain trail
the soothing waterfall
streams nearby

Wilfredo 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.