skip to Main Content

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 Submit an original unpublished poem (or poems) via our Contact Form by Sunday midnight on the theme of the week, including your name as you would like it to appear, and place of residence.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

We remain at the shore – if possible, the same actual shore as last week, be that ocean or lake or river or pond – but now we explore the sense of smell…

I look forward to reading your submissions.

 

A Sense of Place:  THE SHORE – hearing

 

driftwood
a sizzle of marshmallows
at midnight

Barbara Tate

A complete scene in very few words, as usual in this column, with just enough of a gap for the reader to warm themselves by…

 

deserted beach
the sound of the sun
going down

Mark Gilbert
UK

Silence is explored in a number of poems this week, usually in contrast to a sound of some sort, but the absence of sound, in this case, makes for an effective sound…

 

shoreline caves
my voice tests
the darkness

Rachel Sutcliffe

Caves have been in the news lately, and this poem captures the hesitation that many of us might feel when faced with them in real life…

 

splosh…
we are not alone
at night swimming

Slobodan Pupovac
Zagreb, Croatia

Ogopogo, the fish that got away, or another skinny dipper – the reader here can decide how far to take this, and in what direction…

 

Here are the rest of my selections for this week:

 

sea wind
the gulls floating
on their calls

Adjei Agyei-Baah
Kumasi, Ghana

 

in between the river denizens hurtling notes around

Alan Summers
Wiltshire, U.K.

 

in the silence
of the sands
my beating heart

Amy Losak

 

Isle of Wight festival
a gull surfs
the sound waves

Andrew Shimield
UK

 

radio off –
the music of the sea
again and again

radio spenta –
la musica del mare
ancora e ancora

Angiola Inglese

 

out-screaming
even this sunset
Oregon coast gull

Ann Schwader

 

Night sea storm
Through the roar of waves
Silence

Anna Goluba

 

the wash of the waves
on the shore –
an ancient litany

Anna Maria Domburg-Sancristoforo

 

a barking dog
on the sandy shore
sea foam

Anthony Rabang

 

triple dolphin song
whistles and clicks
near the shore

Ardelle Hollis Ray
Las Vegas, NV

 

how silently
the shores listen –
roaring waves

Arvinder Kaur

 

seagull cry
a woman calls
her lost child

Barbara Kaufmann
NY

 

gull cry
the sea unmoors
its voice

Betty Shropshire
Texas

 

the sound
of his last words…
receding wave

Billy Antonio
Laoac, Philippines

 

a night at the shore
I give my ear
to the insects

Blessed Ayeyame
Ughelli, Nigeria

 

just past new, the moon
peers through veils of mist
murmur of the river

Bob Whitmire
Round Pond, Maine

 

still afternoon
a weathered boat
slowly chugs upriver

Bona M. Santos
Los Angeles, CA

 

waves…
just listen to us
bye and bye

C.R. Harper

 

surfers
cutting the waves…
seagulls cry

carol jones
Wales

 

Marina Del Rey
all the rigging rattling
in the rain

Carol Raisfeld

 

homeless guy drags
enormous bag of empties
along the shore

Charles Harmon
La La Land by-the-shore

 

no fishing
within two nautical miles
the seagulls laugh

Christina Chin
Kuching, Sarawak

 

meditation app
the sound of the waves
lulls me to sleep

Christina Sng

 

twilight lullaby
as waves and voices fade
a seagull’s cry

Christine Eales
UK

 

the crunch of seashells
beneath running feet
riptide warnings

Claire Vogel Camargo

 

the rustling of palm leaves
– seaside honeymoon

Corine Timmer

 

above dark water
the silence
of dragonfly wings

Craig Kittner
Wilmington, NC

 

the shore boardwalk –
crack! sizzle!
of the funnel cake

D.A. Xiaolin Spires

 

my home is
a seashore morning…
the cry of the gull

Damir Damir

 

childhood lake
the sound of the fair
from the other side

David Jacobs
London, UK

 

solitary walk
the swish of waves
silencing my thoughts

Debbi Antebi

 

crashing waves
the mute inhabitants
of tidepools

Deborah P Kolodji
Temple City, California

 

walking by the bay
a cast of fiddler crabs
scuttle in beach grass

Dianne Moritz

 

steps on the shore
continued on – a disappointed girl
listen to next ones

Dubravka Šcukanec
Zagreb, Croatia

 

coupons on sand
a man cuts out the sound
of the waves

Engin Gülez
Ankara, Turkey

 

low tide
a goldfinch chirps
on the shore

Eufemia Griffo

 

stormy sea
I cling to
a gull’s call

Eva Limbach
Germany

 

lions on the shore
the faraway roar
of the reef

Garry Eaton

 

shrill whistle
startles swimmers –
swells crash

Giedra Kregzdys
Woodhaven, NY

 

Strait of Messina –
on the shore a fisherman
recites a litany

Giovanna Restuccia
Italy

 

lava sizzles into the sea
birth song of
a new island

Greer Woodward
Kamuela, HI

 

along with the gulls
fishermen whistling
close to the shore

Guliz Mutlu

 

****** Birling!
I and/or the stingray scream
as my leg turns purple

Helen Buckingham

 

gentle swell
nothing but the whispers
of pebbles

Helga Stania
Switzerland

 

beach debris
striking the rock
a rolling can

Hifsa Ashraf
Pakistan

 

lakeside cafés
Turkish coffee
and the sound of tumbling dice

Ingrid Baluchi
Ohrid, Macedonia

 

distant highway
rush-hour traffic
roars high tide

Jennifer Hambrick
Columbus, Ohio, USA

 

leaning my ear
deeper into the wind
seal rock

Jessica Malone Latham

 

waiting for the tide
the die away sighs
of a whistle buoy

Joanne van Helvoort

 

surf ribbons
the random flutterings
of the red flag

John Hawkhead

 

Evening in the shore
The shrieking seagulls
among the waves

Jorge Giallorenzi

 

late evening
the murmur of settling ducks
in the outlet reeds

Judith Hishikawa

 

Valdez Peninsula –
The cry of the sea wolves
calling their mates

Julia Guzmán

 

young love
the rustle of sea oats
in the dunes

Karen Conrads Wibell

 

gull’s cry
louder than the sea
high tide

Kath Abela Wilson
Pasadena, California
(traveling in Singapore)

 

pounding surf
the pitter-patter
of sandpipers

Ken Olson
Yakima WA US

 

seashells to their ears
the ocean swirls
around the children’s feet

Kimberly Esser
Los Angeles

 

beach stroll
her flip-flops click
insync with mine

Lamart Cooper

 

Shouting
over pounding surf
voices running away to sea

Laurie Greer
Washington, DC

 

razor edge
of a seagull’s cry
the lace-trimmed ocean

Lisa Cherrett
Wiltshire, England

 

on the shore
the rhythmic lapping
of the waves

Lori Zajkowski

 

sea in winter…
in the roar of the waves
the shore shuts up

mare in burrasca … nel fragore delle onde /tace la riva

Lucia Cardillo

 

white noise
waves thrash the cliffs
at the Crown Mines

Lucy Whitehead
Southend-on-Sea, Essex, UK

 

A wailing girl points
at cookies strewn on the sand
Laughing gulls circle

m. shane pruett

 

screeching sea gulls
the pull of the leash
more intense

Madhuri Pillai

 

roaring waves
the unheard cries
of children

Margaret Walker

 

closed eyes –
of sea and gulls
full the wind

Margherita Petriccione

 

shore-to-shore
a shudder in my chest
foghorns

Marietta McGregor

 

garden by the sea
only a dove’s
wing whisper

Marilyn Appl Walker

 

to and fro
to and fro
lakeshore lullaby

Marilyn Ashbaugh
Edwardsburg, MI

 

gust of wind
the jingle of the sailing masts
in Grado Marina

Marina Bellini

 

midday sun
the slap of waves
under the pier

Marion Clarke

 

night storm
in the seaside guesthouse
bang of shutters

Marta Chocilowska

 

susurrus of surf
my birth mother’s name
in a seashell

Martha Magenta
England, UK

 

Euclid Creek –
the plop of a fishing lure
hitting the water

michael ceraolo

 

kingfishers
somewhere i have
not yet seen

Michael Henry Lee

 

tide pool –
she listens to the ocean
through a conch

Michael H. Lester
Los Angeles CA USA

 

patchwork sky
across the tidal plains
a curlew’s call

Michael Smeer
Haarlemmermeer, The Netherlands

 

children squealing
as the sea fills the moat…
sandcastle day

Michele L. Harvey

 

buckets and spades
creating sandcastle
laughter

Mike Gallagher
Ireland

 

village pond
frogs welcome
the monsoon

Mohammad Azim Khan

 

nor’easter
the waves slap
the shore

Nancy Brady
Huron, Ohio

 

deserted seashore…
a lone woman singing
in her native tongue

Natalia Kuznetsova
Russia

 

screaming gulls –
the child laughs
at every wave

Nazarena Rampini
Italy

 

screeching seagulls
children raise their voices
above the waves

Nicole Tilde
Shady Dale, Ga.

 

the ocean shore
blanketed in fog
soft lapping waves

Olivier Schopfer
Geneva, Switzerland

 

seaside concert
the shamisen player
and the surf

Pat Davis
Pembroke, NH

 

crash of waves
how does the conch
hear it

Paul Geiger

 

Crashes in
But whispers out
Stone by stone

Paul Manning

 

Phuket, Thailand
the sound of screaming
at the shore

Pauline O’Carolan
Sydney, Australia

 

evening tide
between the waves
almost silence

Peggy Bilbro
USA

 

stolen kiss
one wave after another
slaps the shore

Pris Campbell

 

shore’s ripples
cygnets  crouch
fear  ringing

Radhamani Sarma

 

first raindrop
onto the lake
the monks’ prayer gong

Radostina Dragostinova,
Bulgaria

 

fading footprints
the children laughter
still remains

Ramlawt Dinpuia

 

the screech of
the unseen gull…
waves ebb and flow

Randall Herman

 

home a week…
still I hear the waves
breaking

Randy Brooks

 

stray pieces
of conversations
stroll on the beach

Rehn Kovacic

 

lightning…
seagull’s shriek blows
the sky apart

Réka Nyitrai

 

kee! kee! kee!
snowbirds call down
the gulls

(snowbirds is a North American term for people who migrate south for the winter)

Robin Smith
Wilmington, DE

 

one sea lion barks
slightly off-key –
baker beach shore

robyn brooks
usa

 

the old fisherman
on his final journey home
hears the mermaid’s song

Ron C. Moss
Tasmania, Australia

 

Moonstone Beach
at my mud feet
the oceans whimper

ron scully

 

St. Pete beach
waves thunder
under clear skies

Ronald K. Craig
Batavia, OH USA

 

sunrise by the sea –
the breaking of the waves
in the silence

Rosa Maria Di Salvatore

 

melancholy lake
a loon’s call answered
by the night train

Ruth Powell

 

the next beach blanket
listening to the ball game
the crowd does the wave

Sari Grandstaff
Saugerties, NY, USA

 

last breath
the conch shell still speaks
of waves

Skaidrite Stelzer
Toledo, Ohio

 

crossing the rope bridge
to the gorge shrine
a hill partridge wails in the fog

Sonam Chhoki

 

the wave comes and goes
… with it the sound
of your breath

Srinivasa Rao Sambangi,
Hyderabad, India

 

ocean surf
some of her words
inside me

Stephen A. Peters

 

strumming chords
to the sun dappled water
…lone guitarist

Susan Rogers
Los Angeles, CA, USA

 

sunrise
ocean waves
shushing seagulls

Terri French

 

calm sea…
but for the small slap of waves
against beach stones

Tomislav Maretic

 

rocky coast –
in the air sound of percussions
tuned by the sea

Tsanka Shishkova

 

conch shell –
the giggling
of children

Valentina Ranaldi-Adams
Fairlawn, Ohio USA

 

overtime
I pick up a conch shell
to hear the sea

Vandana Parashar

 

screaming teens
the nearby squirt
of a clam

Victor Ortiz
Bellingham, WA

 

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 74 Comments

  1. Thank you again for providing this forum, kj. It is seriously inspiring me to get out there and open up all my senses in places I don’t often frequent.

  2. I am pleased to be present in such a rich selection. My thanks to Katherine

    1. thanks for submitting, Margherita! As I have said many times, I couldn’t do it without all you fabulous poets!

  3. I love this collection of shore sound haiku. Kudos to all the poets and to kjmunro for editing this wonderful feature.

  4. Thanks so much, once again, Katherine…..and well done everyone.

    ***

    Alan, your knowledge of the English coastline is obviously lacking! Birling Gap, East Sussex.
    I’m sure you’ll have got the reference to George V’s infamous last words: “Bugger Bognor”.

  5. Thanks, Kathy. This week has been especially fun. Invoking a dimension that lends itself so well to haiku.

    Capturing the sounds of the shore, especially the seashore, will inevitably include sounds that we only think we hear – and just as clearly as the huge poundings, the piercing screeches, and the foghorn blasts!

  6. .
    Lots to enjoy in this important journey into our senses around the theme of place, and our individual sense, and personal identification, of and with place. I wish I could comment on every single poem, here’s just a tip of the iceberg from me, without web links this time. 🙂
    .
    Alan
    .
    .
    I really liked the use of the verb and its accuracy regarding gulls, and other birds:
    .
    .
    sea wind
    the gulls floating
    on their calls
    .
    Adjei Agyei-Baah
    Kumasi, Ghana
     .
    .
    What and how do gulls sense certain human activities, especially during the Summer festivals regarding music?
    .
    .
     
    Isle of Wight festival
    a gull surfs
    the sound waves
    .
    Andrew Shimield
    UK
    .
    .
    I loved this striking take between silence and the rest, between the shorelines and their neighbours:
    .
    .
     
    how silently
    the shores listen –
    roaring waves
    .
    Arvinder Kaur
     
    .
    .
    Deeply poignant. Sometimes gulls, and other birds such as crows, sound as if they are in anguish, and truly, research shows they do not always fully understand about death:
    .
    .
    seagull cry
    a woman calls
    her lost child
    .
    Barbara Kaufmann
    NY
    .
    .
    Another example of using a verb, and enhancing the haiku:
    .
    .
    gull cry
    the sea unmoors
    its voice
    .
    Betty Shropshire
    Texas
     
    .
    .
    The shore is a wonderful and amazing reservoir of sights and sounds, which this author takes advantage of wonderfully:
    .

    a night at the shore
    I give my ear
    to the insects
    .
    Blessed Ayeyame
    Ughelli, Nigeria
    .
    .
    A beautiful elegiac image:
    .
     
    just past new, the moon
    peers through veils of mist
    murmur of the river
    .
    Bob Whitmire
    Round Pond, Maine
    .
    .
    A lullaby at twilight and the fadingness of the gull’s territory that it somehow brings with it, even in the middle of a metropolis:
    .
    .
    twilight lullaby
    as waves and voices fade
    a seagull’s cry
    .
    Christine Eales
    UK
    .
    .
     
    A man with the oceans running in his veins:
     
    .
    .
    my home is
    a seashore morning…
    the cry of the gull
    .
    Damir Damir
    .
    .
    There is always something melancholy about a fair ever since a savage incident in my hometown of Bristol. Setting that aside, and I did love the amazing Hull Fair, one of Europe’s largest travelling funfairs, famously known for its pomegranates. The use of ‘childhood’ along with ‘the sound of…” immediately feels like those bittersweet memories that are conjured up at unexpected moments in our lives. The use of part of the now common phrase ‘see you on the other side’. This probably just means the physical ‘other side’ of the lake, the side opposite, but I can’t help adding the other meaning of the term used by people in battle, as well as a lighthearted attempt at wishing a person good luck dealing with a personal issue or other type of ordeal: That they will indeed survive, and get through it:
    .
    .
    childhood lake
    the sound of the fair
    from the other side
    .
    David Jacobs
    London, UK
     
    .
    .
    I love the phrase ‘mute inhabitants’ as both literal, but also as perceived by us, the humans, as well as those non-human co-species being denied a voice in wider circumstances:
    .
    .
    crashing waves
    the mute inhabitants
    of tidepools
    .
    Deborah P Kolodji
    Temple City, California
     .
    .
    I enjoyed the alliteration of ‘cast’ and ‘crabs’ and the part-invisible extra “c” sound in ‘scuttle’ echoing the sound of these wonderful creatures:
    .
    .
    walking by the bay
    a cast of fiddler crabs
    scuttle in beach grass
    .
    Dianne Moritz
     
    .
    .
    You didn’t know that lions exist in Canada!?
    The BC Lions are a professional Canadian football team competing in the West Division of the Canadian Football League (CFL). Based in Vancouver, British Columbia (Canada):
    .
    .
     
    lions on the shore
    the faraway roar
    of the reef
    .
    Garry Eaton
    .
    .
    Great atmosphere of sounds, and the gulls and fishermen both making their own distinctive calls. I wonder which part of Turkey this was? I still remember eating freshly caught and cooked fish (sardines I recall) straight off the Golden Horn!
    .
    .
    along with the gulls
    fishermen whistling
    close to the shore
    .
    Guliz Mutlu
    .
    .
    Is this a game of skill, perhaps first started by lumberjacks, where people try to keep upright on a log on water e.g. logrolling? There’s a great song about lumberjacks, and perhaps one about logs on the water too? There is also an awful character from J. B. Priestley’s “An Inspector Calls” by the name of Mr. Birling, but I won’t go there except to say it might be about time we had another visit from Inspector Goole.
    .
    .
     
    ****** Birling!
    I and/or the stingray scream
    as my leg turns purple
    .
    Helen Buckingham
    .
    .
    Love ‘the whispers of pebbles’:
    .
     
    gentle swell
    nothing but the whispers
    of pebbles
    .
    Helga Stania
    Switzerland
    .
    .
    The sound of pollution, a fascinating idea, in all of its consequences:
    .
    .
     
    beach debris
    striking the rock
    a rolling can
    .
    Hifsa Ashraf
    Pakistan
     
    .
    .
    Great play on sounds far and near, along with the idea of “rush-traffic” either or both meaning motor vehicles, or the rushing of the waves. Wonderfully undulating in its play on sounds and which ones:
     .
    .
    distant highway
    rush-hour traffic
    roars high tide
    .
    Jennifer Hambrick
    Columbus, Ohio, USA
     .
    .
    Another great use of a verb, and right from the start! Love both of the first two lines, and ‘seal rock’ makes them resonate further. Great haiku!!!
    .
    .
    leaning my ear
    deeper into the wind
    seal rock
    .
    Jessica Malone Latham
    .
    .
    All are fine lines, but the middle line helps to further enhance lines one and two. Wonderful and evocative!
    .
    .
     
    waiting for the tide
    the die away sighs
    of a whistle buoy
    .
    Joanne van Helvoort
     
    .
    .
    Thinking of you John, and must try to meet up sometime soon. I really like the way this haiku sounds on my tongue, both silently and gently spoken in a half-full hotel coffee lounge. Was this deliberately evoking the “Round the rugged rock, the ragged rascal ran” tongue twister? I also like the addition of hidden alliteration, can you spot the extra ones?
    .
    .
    surf ribbons
    the random flutterings
    of the red flag
    .
    John Hawkhead
    .
    .
     
    The unusual term, to me, of ‘outlet reeds’ made me pause amongst those murmuring of ducks settling (great image!).
    .
    .
     
    late evening
    the murmur of settling ducks
    in the outlet reeds
    .
    Judith Hishikawa
    .
    .
     
    I absolutely love new names cropping up in haiku, it’s education, and with internet searches less than two seconds away, I can learn something new, and very quickly!
    .
    Look up about Sea Wolves, and Valdez Peninsula, you will not be disappointed.
    .
    A really great ‘sense of place’ haiku! Thank you Julia Guzmán, deep bow:
    .
    .
    Valdez Peninsula –
    The cry of the sea wolves
    calling their mates
    .
    Julia Guzmán
     
    .
    .
    Wonderfully evocative, from young love and sea oats rustling!
    .
    .
    young love
    the rustle of sea oats
    in the dunes
    .
    Karen Conrads Wibell
    .
    .
     
    Love the idea that whole oceans can revolve, and safely, around the feet of children:
    .
    .
     
    seashells to their ears
    the ocean swirls
    around the children’s feet
    .
    Kimberly Esser
    Los Angeles
     
    .
    .
    As a fellow Wiltshire (England) poet I could not let this go without acknowledging it:
    .
    As someone who was relieved to move away from Bristol (I’m old enough to remember hardly hearing gulls, as they used to be sea birds only, before ‘fast food’ brought them in their masses. Thankfully in Chippenham I don’t hear more than two gulls, now and then, at a time.
    .
    Wonderful description in that first line, very accurate too!
    .
    And the white froth of the ocean being delivered to the shore, with razor bills in contrast to the delicate nature of lace:
    .
    .
    razor edge
    of a seagull’s cry
    the lace-trimmed ocean
    .
    Lisa Cherrett
    Wiltshire, England
    .
    .
     
    Great middle line that might mean walking a dog along a cliff perhaps, but powerfully used making the first line conjure up hundreds upon hundreds of gulls, and the pull of their sea voices, like Sirens!
    .
    .
     
    screeching sea gulls
    the pull of the leash
    more intense
    .
    Madhuri Pillai
     
    .
    .
    Both a truly innocent verse, but I can’t help thinking of the plight of children around the world, and not only of refugees and immigrants, but how some adults treat our little ones:
    .
    .
    roaring waves
    the unheard cries
    of children
    .
    Margaret Walker
     
    .
    .
    The high noon of a place near a body of water has its own nature, and sense of place and light. Here the reflections and glint are made aural beyond just their expected ‘noise’:
     
    .
    .
    midday sun
    the slap of waves
    under the pier
    .
    Marion Clarke
     
    .
    .
    Ah, night storm! I’m reminded of literally being marooned in a place called Maroon (Queensland). An unusual and strange experience. I love all the different sounds of the seaside guesthouse:
    .
    .
    night storm
    in the seaside guesthouse
    bang of shutters
    .
    Marta Chocilowska
    .
    .
    I can’t associate either of my two mothers with coasts although both were born and died near large bodies of water. I never had the chance of seaside memories with my bio-mom, but my adoptive mom shared a (rain) umbrella with my father, in the early 1960s, before Brits knew how to be less formal in beaches overseas.
    .
    Great last two lines, original and evocative:
    .
    .
    susurrus of surf
    my birth mother’s name
    in a seashell
    .
    Martha Magenta
    England, UK
     
    .
    .
    I like the opening line, whether we know the actual names of clouds or not, but perhaps a view that includes several types at once. And I’ve seen that illusion that tidal plains seem to have their own sky separate to that over the other and main landmasses:
    .
    .
     
    patchwork sky
    across the tidal plains
    a curlew’s call
    .
    Michael Smeer
    Haarlemmermeer, The Netherlands
     
    .
    .
    Very simple, but subtly complex. We know the shore cannot be deserted, but is the author the lone woman, or reminded by the song of a woman strolling or working along the border between land and the mermaid’s territory. Mesmerisingly beautiful, evocative, and poignant:
    .
    .
    deserted seashore…
    a lone woman singing
    in her native tongue
    .
    Natalia Kuznetsova
    Russia
     
    .
    .
    Great play on screaming, which too often is done in play, so we no longer know if someone is in danger. Here we have an innocent verse where gulls and a child are letting themselves be lost in sheer enjoyment:
    .
    .
    screaming gulls –
    the child laughs
    at every wave
    .
    Nazarena Rampini
    Italy
     
    .
    .
    Ah, great opening line, full of innocence, or something opportune, for good or not reasons. The middle line is enhanced by the first line, and the use of the verb ‘slaps’ makes me wonder if one person was being seriously or playfully chastised or not. Both a simple and complex poem all in one, and I’ve enjoyed both ‘versions’:
    .
    .
     
    stolen kiss
    one wave after another
    slaps the shore
    .
    Pris Campbell
     
    .
    .
    A mysterious haiku perhaps? The opening line works well with the unusual last two lines. Why? There is an extra space between ‘cygnets’ and ‘crouch’ and ‘fear’ and ‘ringing’ that makes me fill in those gaps with extra words of meaning. A great technique, showing negative space / white space:
    .
    .
    shore’s ripples
    cygnets  crouch
    fear  ringing
    .
    Radhamani Sarma
     
    .
    .
    Delightful. Showing alliteration can work successfully in haiku, and love ‘still remains’ regarding the laughter of children:
    .

    fading footprints
    the children laughter
    still remains
    .
    Ramlawt Dinpuia
     
    .
    .
    When someone lives and works on or near the ocean they can often take it with them, even to landlocked places:
    .
    .
     
    home a week…
    still I hear the waves
    breaking
    .
    Randy Brooks
     
    .
    .
    The season word of humans using a term that makes them sound like avians! “Snowbirds” is a very strong seasonal reference for a regional saijiki in the USA.
    .
    .
     
    kee! kee! kee!
    snowbirds call down
    the gulls
    .
    .
    (snowbirds is a North American term for people who migrate south for the winter)
    .
    Robin Smith
    Wilmington, DE
     
    .
    .
    After watching the tv drama Siren (combining mermaids with the Greek myth) I can imagine most fisherfolk intertwined with fact and belief:
    .
    .
     
    the old fisherman
    on his final journey home
    hears the mermaid’s song
    .
    Ron C. Moss
    Tasmania, Australia
    .
    .
     
    Well, I am a sucker for haiku about trains, and night trains too! Now combine that with melancholy lakes and the call of a loon, and we have a powerful haiku:
    .
    .
    melancholy lake
    a loon’s call answered
    by the night train
    .
    Ruth Powell
     
    .
    .
    Rope bridges leading to shrines, fog, and the sound of a bird calling out aloud, is highly atmospheric:
    .
    .
    crossing the rope bridge
    to the gorge shrine
    a hill partridge wails in the fog
    .
    Sonam Chhoki
     
    .
    .
    Wonderful! Is it only the surf, or a romance unable to be completed, or perhaps reminiscent of the most famous shore/beach scene ever in a film:
    Burt Lancaster and Deborah Kerr in the Oscar-winning movie “From Here to Eternity.”
    .
    This haiku by Stephen A. Peters could easily slip by us as readers, so please return, as that concluding phrase is brilliant, evocative, and everything about love:
    .
    .
     
    ocean surf
    some of her words
    inside me
    .
    Stephen A. Peters
    .
    .
    And about time, those gulls sure can be noisy!
    .
    .
     
    sunrise
    ocean waves
    shushing seagulls
    .
    Terri French
    .
    .
    I love the play on words with ‘squirt’ both literally as a verb, but also the term for a annoying person. I love the almost-rhyme of the two leading words, and the observational humour of the concluding phrase:
    .
    .
    screaming teens
    the nearby squirt
    of a clam
    .
    Victor Ortiz
    Bellingham, WA
    .
    .
    .
     
    As a bit of fun here’s a gull haiku, as they proved so popular in this week’s theme of sounds by the shore!
    .
    .
    down side streets –
    gulls turning the sky
    in and out
    .
    Alan Summers
    Haiku in English: The First Hundred Years.
    ed. Jim Kacian, Allan Burns & Philip Rowland (W. W. Norton & Company 2013)
    .
    .

    1. Wow – just wow, Alan… I’m sure I speak for everyone involved when I say a most emphatic Thank You!
      I think it may have been a combination of the links & the length of this post that sent the original to the pending file… & I was in the process of sorting that – & here it is! Shorter posts with links might work (for future reference) – sorry for the delay in getting to this! kj

      1. Thanks Kathy! 🙂
        .
        Yes, I could have broken up the post, and should have done, just got on a roll, and two hours later, when I should have been working on my own poetry submissions, I was in the zone, and just posted. 🙂
        .
        warm regards,
        Alan

        1. Alan, I love this beautifully written commentary and love it as one very long post, as long as it wasn’t too much trouble for Kathy, it was worth waiting for!

          1. Thanks Kathy! And thanks Deborah! 🙂
            .
            It’s because I got carried away with web links, five in total, that it went into automatic pending. 🙂
            .
            warm regards,
            Alan

    2. Thank you Alan! After writing this and reading it again, I realized it could be interpreted 3 ways – but you expressed here my primary thoughts as I wrote. As always, I appreciate your comments! Loved reading them for each haiku – as always, learning from each of your comments!

      1. Thanks Margaret!
        .
        Much appreciated, and glad I could show how deep your haiku is, when we give that little extra reading, which I love to do. 🙂
        .
        warmest regards, and deep bow,
        Alan

    3. Thank you, Alan, for your comments on so many poems. They enhanced my second reading. And of course, thank you for your kind comment on mine. I am glad you enjoyed it.

      1. Thanks John, that is very kind of you! I do enjoy getting into the zone, and ‘inhabiting’ the haiku as living entities, and explaining as best I can, from ‘inside the poem’.
        .
        warm regards,
        Alan

  7. Wonderful read this week. Thanks for including one of mine. Looking forward to next week.

  8. The one I would highlight would be Carol Raisfeld’s
    .
    Marina Del Ray
    all the rigging rattling
    in the rain
    .
    … a proper name, ‘R’ sounds galore and a nice structural twist in the L2/3 transition

  9. Thank you Kathy! I truly appreciate your commentaries and having one of mine among these. And I especially liked the haiku by Greer Woodward from Hawaii. That haiku was such a beautiful and unique take on the volcano that has been erupting on the Big Island there.

    1. Hi Sari,

      I’m delighted you like the poem! I haven’t been to where it’s happening. More people would intensify the confusion. Years ago I did see a small lava flow reach the sea. There’s plenty to observe, especially the steam that goes along with it. It’s a hot walk though,
      and you feel a little nervous on the lava.

      Thanks again! And to you too, Kathy, for including my work!

      Greer

      1. Sari & Greer – thanks to you both for your kind words, & for sharing this – fascinating!

  10. Thank you so much for inclusion! I love your forum and hope to become an active participant. So many amazing poets.

  11. A wonderful collection of poems, congratulations to all poets.
    Thank you for including one of mine, Kathy.
    *
    Love this-
    a night at the shore
    I give my ear
    to the insects
    *
    Blessed Ayeyame
    *
    This is a saddening vision and sound which is happening all to often-
    beach debris
    striking the rock
    a rolling can
    *
    Hifsa Ashraf
    *
    An uplifting memory of younger days 🙂 lovely work-
    young love
    the rustle of sea oats
    in the dunes
    *
    Karen Conrads Wibell

    1. Thanks, Carol – Reading your work and that of the other poets is both rewarding and instructive.

      1. Many Thanks, Karen. Yes, I agree there is so much pleasure and learning from reading other peoples work. takes us to places forgotten or have never been.

  12. I always look forward to your incisive comments on the four poems of the week you have chosen, Kathy. Lovely work from everyone again this time.
    Thank you for choosing one of mine. It’s such a privilege.

  13. It is such a pleasure to read the selection each week. Here are five of my favorites 🙂 Thank you for choosing one of mine, Kathy.

    screeching sea gulls
    the pull of the leash
    more intense

    Madhuri Pillai

    beach stroll
    her flip-flops click
    insync with mine

    Lamart Cooper

    gentle swell
    nothing but the whispers
    of pebbles

    Helga Stania
    Switzerland

    driftwood
    a sizzle of marshmallows
    at midnight

    Barbara Tate

    childhood lake
    the sound of the fair
    from the other side

    David Jacobs
    London, UK

    1. Dear Corine–Thank you for choosing one of mine as one of your five favorites. You’ll never know how much that means to me.

  14. Thanks Kathy for choosing mine and for your comments – seeing it in black and white (well, grey and white) has helped me to see several more aspects to it.

  15. Kathy, it always gives me pleasure when one of my haiku is published. Thank-you !!

Comments are closed.

Back To Top