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EarthRise Rolling Collaborative Haiku 2017

 

Welcome to the largest collaborative poem on the internet. The United Nations has designated 2017 as the Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development. We didn’t think this is a particularly apt theme for EarthRise, and so, in this time of political animus, we’ve selected Reconciliation as our topic. Plan to share one poem or many in the world’s largest collaborative poem. Please add your poem(s) in the Comment box below, ideally at dawn at your location, but any time that you are able. The timeline for this begins at 12:01 A.M. on April 17 on the International Date Line (which is why it seems to have started the day before, for many of us). Your poem(s) can respond to the “seed” poem:

perfuming the man
who broke its branch —
plum blossoms
     — Chiyo-Ni (1701 – 1775)

or to any of the poems posted in the Comment box, or you can even start a new thread. You may participate as often as you like. All we ask is that you respond to the theme of reconciliation.

Enjoy!

This Post Has 377 Comments

  1.   

    white swan & sable
    necks caressed in the shape
    of the heart
     

    the human condition
    in the shape
    of the heart
     
     
     
    **

    Michael (MV)

     
     
     

  2.  
    His presence beyond strong
    with just the need for Him

                                  healed & back home free
     
     
     
     
    **
    Michael (MV)
     
     
     
     

  3. night by the sea. . .
    lights of the bridge and stars
    touching each other

      1. village pond
        guava blossoms drift
        as foam

        A Hundred Gourds 5:3 June 2016, haibun titled, “Fool Moon.”

    1.  
      Luka Tomic,

      Thanks, “invisible heights” led me to compose:
       
       

      from wuthering
      to invisible heights
                Heaven

       
       
       

      **

      Michael (MV)
       
       
       

    1. after chemo
      glimpsing the full moon
      in the first crescent
      Under the Basho Autumn 2013

    2. an old mill upstream
      with its ever groaning wheel,
      storks’ nest on the roof

  4. slavery no more –
    African-American
    Museum opens

    — My Haiku Pond, September 2016 – 100,000 Poets for Change

    in position
    he pulls the trigger
    trophy room

    — My Haiku Pond, September 2016 – 100,000 Poets for Change

    debate
    bare-knuckle
    words

    — Failed Haiku, November 2016

    spreading towels
    on the rug and sofa
    muddy paws

    —- Brass Bell, January 2017

  5.  
    a TGIRF*   diptych
     

    trees stand                     crucIfIed
    crucified                             to a
    upside down                        t
     
     
     
    *** Thank God it’s Righteous Friday
     
    Michael (MV)
     
     
     
     
     
     

    1. Ha, a zero gravity reconciliation!
      Turning the topic onto itself, Like That Steve.
      Jan

    2.  
      Yes, Steve Smolak, I related to this one –
      the poet(the heart) & the philosopher(the head)
      cannot occupy the same space at the same time (Keatsean)
       

      and, too, I hear “a man cannot serve two masters”
       

      Easter dawn
      the philosopher sleeps in
      the poet rises
       
       
      and I add one from my portfolio:
       
      from the start
      the heart already
      by-passing the headstone
       

       
       
      **

      Michael (MV)
       
       
       

      1. asleep
        on a torn prayer flag
        a stray puppy
        Kikakuza Haibun Contest 2011, Za Prize haibun, titled Last Journey

        1. a homeless drunk
          talking to a stray dog
          cold moon above
          ***
          sounds of autumn
          outside the homeless shelter…
          an old dog waiting

    1. reading
      Ensui’s Girls’ Day haiku
      I mourn the child we lost

      Asahi 16 March 2012

    1. lighting butter lamps, butter lamps light up tears

      Kikakuza Haibun Contest 2011, Za Prize haibun, titled Last Journey

  6. Spring in North West Texas

    Fire, unquenching rain,
    thunder, twister, lightning, hail,
    carpets of wild blooms.

    Bluebonnet carpets
    reflecting sky. Pink evening
    primrose. Are clouds green?

    Birds fly north to nest.
    The dry wind sends good reports
    Of fireflies and worms

    Drab, green goldfinches
    turn bright. South wind Sunlight pours
    On unfurling grass.

    Black butterflies
    swarm redbud blooms
    Hill Country spring

    Published Small Canyons 7, 2012

  7. mom’s hair
    tied in a chignon…
    candles lit
    for refugees
    *
    *
    Jan Benson
    Path to Peace Anthology, September 2016

  8. fat tuesday wears
    a masque of feathers
    wednesday wears ash
    *
    *
    Jan Benson
    Small Canyon 7 Anthology, 2012, Page 14
    Blue Planet Enterprises

  9. cello moon
    son’s first christmas card
    from prison
    *
    *
    Waco WordFest Anthology
    October 2016

  10. removing the fitbit
    today she walks
    in memory of mom
    *
    *
    100 Thousand Poet’s for Change 2016

  11. her palms
    bruising cardamom seeds
    the subtleties of chai
    *
    *
    Blithe Spirit, 26.4, Page 7

  12. thanksgiving dinner
    half-measures of dna
    at the table
    *
    *
    Sonic Boom Issue 7
    December 2016

  13. fragrant blossoms
    we whisper under cones
    of moon light
    *
    *
    British Haiku Society
    2016 Member’s Anthology

      1. Thanks, Steve

        Married the moves of a race track with change bells.
        Glad it works for you.
        Jan

  14. stazione centrale –
    sul braccio della ragazza
    il Grande Carro

    central station –
    on the girl’s arm
    the Big Dipper

    published on the fb group “gendai haiku”

    1.  
      Stella Pierides,
       

      Beautiful!
       

      and admirable the skillful synecdoche in haiku synecdoche
       

      Recalls to me 3 that I’m sharing from the archive of my portfolio:
       

      a few weeks old
      and too new to know
      sun from moon
       

      a bubble bath
      in the sink
      for baby
       
       

      dandelion &
      baby breath:
      new dentures
       
       
       
      ***’

      Michael (MV)
       
       
       

        1.  
          how can one return
          when one never really
          departs from life
           
           

          Michael (MV)
          just visiting the earth
          vacationing before vacating 

          “to Thy kingdom come”
           
           
           
           

  15.  
    ars haiku-poetica

    haiku
    not sweet 16
       suite 17

     
     
    Michael (MV)
     

     
      
     
     

  16. turn in the weather…
    a house sparrow sings
    like buddha

    .
    Alan Summers
    ‘Amaravati Poetic Prism 2016’, an International Multilingual Poetry Anthology published by the Cultural Centre of Vijayawada and Amaravati (CCVA – a CSR arm of the Malaxmi Group)

      1. Thanks Jan!
        .
        The word ‘like’ can often close a haiku down, and can similes in any short length poetry. I wanted to show that it can work on occasion. And after all, using the general term of buddha, aren’t we all buddha, all the animal species, and all the non-animal species too?
        .
        Alan

    1. Love this Alan. It brings to mind E. Dickinson’s A Certain Slant Of Light-
      the two poems different of course. This poem is so telling in the showing. Thanks for being a haiku poet 😁

      1. Thanks Steve!
        .
        Emily Dickinson certainly influenced me over the years and with my book Does Fish-God Know. My hometown of Bristol (England) showed a lot of bomb damage during my childhood, and that church is now a permanent memorial to WWII.
        .
        There’s a certain Slant of light
        https://www.poets.org/poetsorg/poem/theres-certain-slant-light-258
        .
        Churches and cathedrals and other religious places can be symbols of both war and survival, and reconciliation:
        .
        I was born in London but moved to Bristol at the age of 11 months (with help from adoptive parents):

        other names for rain
        the birth city of London
        grips a cathedral
        .
        Alan Summers
        Publication Credit: Hedgerow #99 December 9, 2016
        Homecomings sequence
        https://hedgerowpoems.wordpress.com/2016/12/09/99/
        .
        And
        .
        the low slant
        of winter light
        cathedrals
        .
        Alan Summers
        Award Credit: Semi-Finalist, Shambhala Times First Annual Midwinter Haiku Contest 2014

        Delighted this one did so well and selected by Guest Judge Patricia Donegan!
        .

    2. Wangdiphodrang dzong –*
      the full moon fills holes
      in the charred walls

      *Wangdiphodrang dzong (Pron. ZONG) is a monastery-fort built in 1638 by the founder of Bhutan, Zhabdrung Ngawang Namgyel (1594-1651). It was burnt down on 24-25th June 2012.

      A Hundred Gourds: 2:1 December 2012

  17.  
    Following other “Easter Monday” haiku-poems
    composed for this annual thread – a reunion of my brothers & sisters of haiku poetry – Creativity –
     

    the class
    of creativity
    united forever
     
      

    Easter Monday lunch
    eating cabbage
    the rabbits didn’t munch
     

     
     *** 

    Michael (MV)  
     
    still she asks me
    be my brother
    of the moon
     

     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     

    1. spring chill —
      queue at the noodle bar
      goes round the bend

      A Hundred Gourds:1:3 June 2012

    1.  
      sharp wind
      scatters the V
      of geese
       
       
      Michael (MV) in response to John Hawk’s haiku-poem
       

       
        

       

    2. sharp wound
      the V of geese
      drops one
      *
      *
      Jan Benson
      Unpublished

      In response to the thread of
      John Hawk, Michael Virga

    1. a fly on the pane on the bobbing bamboo

      Haibun Today, in Haibun titled “Mapping”, Volume 4, Number 4, December 2010

    1. Bravo, Michael Stinson!
       

      strong, very strong

      viva the human consciousness that is alive in these 3 lines

      viva the haiku

       
      ***

      Michael (MV(
       
       
       
       
       

      1. Thank you, Michael Virga!

        I think I may edit it to:

        a missing ladder
        I question
        what is mine

  18. Belfast campus blast
    I sift through the remains
    of my neutrality

    Second Place in Guest Judge Selection: “History, Story, Narrative”
    IAFOR Vladimir Devidé Haiku Award 2017

    1. I like this one Alan,
      Having just celebrated Pesach, where horseradish has its own function.
      Timely.

      Jan Benson

      1. Hi Jan,
        .
        I thought I should write a few haiku on the day, and release them, though often they rest for days, sometimes months or even years.
        .
        I celebrated original Ostara which entails eggs, hares, and the goddess of dawn. 🙂
        .
        For me birdsong lends promise to a better world, were we do not have to reconcile ourselves to the venality of politicians and their war mongering puppet masters:
        .
        .
        war moon
        the flickering of humans
        at birdsong
        .
        Alan Summers
        .
        .
        Publication Credit: Asahi Shimbun (Japan 2015)
        the blood moon issue, Oct 2 for the eclipse of 9/28
        .
        .
        Anthology Credits: Heart Breaths: Book of Contemporary Haiku ed. Jean LeBlanc
        ISBN: 9789385945038
        .
        .
        Under the Basho Poets’ Personal Best (November 2015)
        http://underthebasho.com/2015-issue/poets-personal-best/1595-alan-summers.html
        .
        .
        Anthology Credit: Heart Breaths: Book of Contemporary Haiku ed. Jean LeBlanc
        ISBN: 9789385945038
        .
        .
        And as science fiction is often an allegory for past, current, and future transgressions, this haiku appeared as the last haiku in the Nova Normandy 3044 haibun published in the Prune Juice : Journal of Senryu, Kyoka, Haibun & Haiga Scifaiku feature Issue 21: March, 2017 ed. Steve Hodge
        https://prunejuice.files.wordpress.com/2017/04/pj-21-revised.pdf
        .
        .
        I like to think everything is reconciled, that there is global reconciliation every dawn, every birdsong, every new start of a day.
        .
        Alan

      2. And of course ‘radish’ and pointing was a deliberate allusion to Issa’s haikai verse written in 1814:
        .
        .

        .大根引大根で道を教へけり
        .
        daiko hiki daikon de michi wo oshie keri
        .
        .

        the man pulling radishes
        points the way
        with a radish

        Issa
        .
        trans. Robert Hass
        .
        .

  19. bright breeze
    a sighted person fingers
    the statue’s eyes
    .
    Alan Summers
    tinywords (2007); Moonset Vol. 3 Issue 2 (Moonset Literary newspaper llc. 2007)
    Anthology: City: Bristol Today in Poems and Pictures (Paralalia 2004)
    ISBN 10: 0954811704 ISBN 13: 9780954811709

  20. all my mistakes
    each click of the pen
    the robin moves

    .
    Alan Summers
    Earlier version Presence #24 (2004)
    Anthology: “D’un ciel a l’autre” Anthologie de haiku de l’Union Europeenne
    (Edition de l’Association francaise de haiku 2006)

    1.  
      Hi Terri French, 
       
      on the porch steps
      an apology
      in a basket of berries
       
        

      Michael Virga, in Birmingham
       
       
       
       

      1. Thank you! 🙂
        .
        It was after the horrific disasters where Devon became separated from England due to the storms and the rail connection being destroyed. So many broken boats and yet the birds make them homes, and beautiful once again. It’s the same with snow when it covers the ugliness of a city.
        .
        Alan
        .
        Dawlish, Devon:
        UK storms destroy railway line and leave thousands without power
        http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-26062712
        http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/storm-frank-train-battered-giant-7092152
        .
        Devon and Cornwall storm causes ‘devastation’
        http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-26044323
        .
        Karen and myself went to St Ives, even though it was a bitterly cold Winter, to stay in the resort and give our tourist dollars to the region.
        .
        Alan

  21. a teaspoon of spice
    crows bottle the wind in caws
    and then release it
    .
    Alan Summers
    8th Yamadera Bashō Memorial Museum English Haiku Contest Selected Haiku Collection
    July 2016

  22. those who stop —
    ducks taking colour
    from the river
    .
    Alan Summers
    Publication credit: brass bell: a haiku journal curated by Zee Zahava (January 2017)

    1. anniversary . . .
      the perfidious joy
      of field flowers

      Contemporary Haibun Online, July 2014, vol 10 no. 2

      1. Yes, I went through a long tract of self-reconciliation not realising that I had inherited the black dog from my birth mother. It was great to finally find her and meet her and put her mind at rest that she had done no wrong. 🙂

  23. answers to prayers
    I did not know to pray
    verses of Psalms

    *
    strength for the iris
    while waiting to bloom
    daylily

    *
    heart peace
    and mind at rest
    clear night sky

    *
    sun reaches trees
    also old pine wood
    in the house

    *
    family daffodils
    bloom once more
    reconciled to loss . . .

    *
    silk peonies for the graves in another place

    *

    colorful tulips
    on a cold day
    unconditional love

    1. colorful tulips
      on a cold day
      unconditional love

      another cold spell
      still, the Wind Horse prayer flags
      winging blessings

      1.  
        chiming in with Marina, and Olivier:
          

        sun light
        touching petals
         
        nothing like the real thing
         

         

         
         
         
         
         

        Michael (MV)

         
         
         
         
         

      1.  
        in UniSon with Anthony, and Olivier:
         

        the real celebration
        waiting for us all
         
                                                   Heaven

         
         
         
        Michael (MV)

         
         
         
         

    1. ten yellow roses…
      the unspoken question
      in the florist’s eyes
      .
      (A Hundred Gourds 1.2)

    1. it takes time
      to figure out
      what really happened
      rain on the windowpane
      .
      Englyn #2 April 2016

      1.  
        only real
        really occurs
        sans figuring
         
         
        Michael (MV) responding to Mark Gilbert’s haiku-poem
         
         
         
         

  24. echolocation . . .
    the loves we have lost
    and found

    Zatsuei Haiku of Merit, Vanguard
    World Haiku Review, January 2017

    ***
    mending fences
    the scent of sagebrush
    on your fingers

    Hon. Mention, Shintai
    World Haiku Review, June 2016

    Debbie Strange (Canada)
    Shine on!

    1.  
      Hi Debbie Strange,
       

      I love what you & your haiku have created with echo-location
        

      Thanks for sharing
       

      Michael (MV)

       
       
       
       

    2. Echolocation !

      ———-

      mending fences… Great haiku prosody!
      Alliteration that does not trip on itself. . .

      Jan

  25. first blossoms—
    the carpenter bee and I
    work out our differences

    (Haiku Invitational, 2015)

    1.  
      Hi Nancy,

      and Thanks

      your excellent haiku-poem
      reminds me of my visit to the cemetery yesterday,
      and prompts me to compose:

       
      cemetery
      alien land
      to me

      “don’t seek the living among the dead”
       
       
       
      Michael (MV) son of Virginia Ruth
      on earth as it is in Heaven
      I find her expecting me There, too
      in the nursery of Our Father
        

       
       
       
       
       
       

  26. Brooklyn Navy Yard
    the sounds from a playground
    across the river

    tinywords 16 October 2002

  27. mountain lake
    the night air fills the loon’s call
    .

    Tinywords 27 August 2007

  28. wet path
    in my shadow
    spring fragrance

    Shamrock Issue 34, 2016

  29. almost spring
    the neighbour’s ball still
    in the garden

    British haiku 1st place 2016

    1. “in lens of dew” is inspired!

      The fly too wants a good rebirth.

      prayers at dawn
      a fly traces the letters
      of the Heart Sutra

      World Haiku Review August 2013

  30. a haiku-diptych  Easter 2017: 
     

    trees stand                        He is risen
    crucified                             so we never
    upside down                    lie again

     
     
     
    ***
     
    Michael (MV)

     
     
     
     
     

      1.  
        only Truth
        is believable
        and priceless

         
        not a bargain; a reality
        no magic; just miracles
         
         
         
        ever notice Truth
        is created
        with r u t h
         

         

        How can son be ruthless
        Mother was given
        the middle name Ruth

         

        Michael Virga

         
         
         
         
         

  31. an intercessory prayer to endless blue string
    .
    Alan Summers
    Publication credit: Blithe Spirit 26.3 haibun: Growing Pains Of The Fairy Tale Train

  32. dry village pond …
    the baked earth
    smells of fish

    Under the Basho, 2016 Issue

  33. perfuming the man
    who broke its branch —
    plum blossoms
    — Chiyo-Ni (1701 – 1775)

    sheltering
    the Rufous-bellied woodpecker –
    old cedar

    1. fireflies perfumed 
      in the wet scent
      of cut grass

      *

      Michael (MV) responding/adding to those by Chiyo-Ni & Alan Summers

       
       

      1. Michael (MV) with another another olfactory response:
          

        Stevie Nicks:
        perfumed in costumes
        as colorful as Colette

        all for the warmth of an unending love afftair
          

         
         
         
         
         

        1. Michael (MV) with another another olfactory response:
            

          Stevie Nicks:
          perfumed in costumes
          as colorful as Colette
           

          all for the warmth of an unending love afftair
            

           
           
           
           
           

  34. sprinkled sage, whispered prayer
    Tachi Yokut tears of regret…relief
    a cradleboard returned

    1.  
      responding to Billy’s – serendipitous – recalling to me one I wrote last Friday (the 7th) while attending a discussion in the Asian gallery at the museum:

      hatching from the shell

      of muddy water

      the lotus blossom

      * * *

      Michael (MV)
       
       
       
       

       

    1.  
      Garry Eaton,

      a topical-ku
      a topiku
      a photo-journalistic -ku
       

      a docu-ku

       
      *
       
      Michael (MV)
       

       
       
       
       

    1.  
      Mr. Gilbert

       
      just right to find this golden egg this Easter afternoon

       

      Thanks
        

      Michael (MV)
       
       
       
       
       

      1.  
        Thanks, Olivier,
         
        your haiku-poem prompts me to celebrate the marriage of my parents:
         
        opposites do attract
        mixed parents (but not mixed up)
        make me
         
         

         ***
         
        Michael (MV)

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