HAIKU DIALOGUE – All the World’s a Stage – Trap Door– long list

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1. Hello readers,

   Due to a rule violation, a post was removed from the thread.

   Please review our Code of Conduct. https://thehaikufoundation.org/about-thf/policies/#code-of-conduct

   Thank you,
   Robin Smith

2. hello alex and everyone! i will hold your best wishes
   dear to my heart forever. i was snatched from the arms
   of death by the heroes of my local fire department, a speedy
   medivac heli crew and the hospital’s quick acting cath lab
   surgeon. so here i am at home in the best arms imaginable.

   my gurney was made to slip right into the edge of the heli’s
   hull. i felt the incredible power of her engine right through
   my half-conscious body as we lifted off–then everything else
   became a dream until the doctor returned my heart to me….

   –rob

   1. Rob, couldn’t be happier to hear the wonderful news! It’s great you are back and with a new lease on life!

   2. and thank you Alex for considering mine for the long, amongst so many worthies…

   3. Rob, glad to hear you’re back home! The arms of death are in the list of Top 3 Arms That are Best to Be Snatched Out Of: It is wonderful news that your local heroes were able to pull you away from them. Thank you for sharing both your humorous poem and your difficult journey. Long may your heart remain in your safe keeping!

   4. Dear Rob,
      I am so grateful for all those who got you to safety and recuperation!
      Sending lots of laughs and hugs your way,
      Eavonka

3. Congratulations to all the poets for such variety of haiku and senryu this week. Every time I go through the list, I find more gems. Humor and pathos exist side by side, and I, like Eavonka and Sigrid, was stuck by Colette ‘s haiku.

   Wishing Rob continued healing, and thanks to Wendy for keeping the community of poets informed. Although there are haiku poets from around the world, we are a small community. Although I may never meet most of you, I feel like we are connected.

   1. Hi Nancy,
      Lovely to hear your sweet voice again.
      So relatable….Colette ‘s haiku! i sunk into those floorboard’s with each word, too!

      Thanks for the warm, supportive vibes for Rob…i just read them to him.
      And yes, indeed, we are a close family of poets.
      let’s keep finding and making more gems!

4. i love Annie’s unique response to the prompt with a love ‘ku.
   Here, she is welcoming in…. reuniting with (a short visit) a loved one, coming through the trap door with the aid of an associated scent:

   scent of jasmine
   you’re here beside me
   for a moment

   Annie Wilson

   Thank you, Annie, for inviting me into this loving glimpse!

   1. Yes — this was one of the more beautiful submissions. The use of scent to trigger memory and realizing that memory as a presence — it’s a lovely piece.

      1. yes, scent does it for me….every time….very powerful trigger of memories and propels me to travel back in time instantly or bring events to rejoin me in the now.

5. Thank you for including one of mine, Alex! Two very touching poems…I know the feeling:

   suddenly the floor
   drops out from under us
   our child’s disability

   Colette Kern
   Southold, New York

   trap door
   falling into the darkness
   of my own heart

   Meraki K
   India

   PS: Deus ex machina? Billionaires don’t usually resolve intractable situations, except with some sudden act of charity. And as for the rise, Mars is really quite far away.

   1. “falling into the darkness / of my own heart” is a really strong phrase. Thanks for highlighting that one.

      As for John’s “deus ex machina” entry, I think he is being cheeky with that one. The way I read it is that there are some people who see this “mad billionaire” as a god in the machine who’s going to save them, which is why he is able to “rise” up in that machine in the first place. But “mad” gives the game away — his ascension isn’t going to save anybody in the end (or even get them to Mars!). Just another false idol — an “idol ex machina,” if you will.

      1. Exactly Alex. I’m not a fan of billionaires. Thanks, John

         1. Do billionaires have any (sincere) fans at all? “Deus ex machina” brings an unexpected denouement or happy ending, which in this case does not exist.

            1. Plenty of people out there who think billionaires can bring them prosperity and happiness Ivan…

6. I loved these ku! Here are some standouts:

   trap door –
   all my dreams fly
   through the attic
   Ana Drobot
   Romania

   sunglare
   an elm’s red leaves
   swallowed whole
   Maxianne Berger
   Outremont, Quebec

   final act . . .
   a sudden hush
   beneath the boards
   Nalini Shetty
   Mumbai, India

   blue lagoon
   I fall into
   his trap
   Patricia Hawkhead
   UK

   rabbit hole
   another cousin slips
   into conspiracy
   John Pappas
   USA

   daydreaming . . .
   deeper and deeper
   down the rabbit hole
   Daniela Misso
   Italy

7. Dear Alex. (and all)
   Rob Barkan had a heart attack shortly after submitting his poem(s)
   to you. i spoke with him over the phone after his first surgery…and told him he made your list….this cheered him up. He is now having more surgery…..and we need prayers.

   he made it through
   the first trap door…
   two more to-go

   1. Wendy, thank you for letting us know. I hope that Rob pulls through. They can do some pretty amazing things these days. My father had what every doctor told him should have been a life-ending heart attack back in 2017. But he had an incredible surgeon, and he’s still with us today, always out and about taking photos of nature, as he does. I hope Rob is able to get the care he needs, too, and can have many long years writing haiku and enjoying life. I really enjoyed his senryu about Mephisto. There were several submissions that mentioned the character, but Rob’s was funniest. Not only the idea of the actor missing his big entrance, but of the devil needing a bathroom break between evil deeds. I thought it was a good selection to close the out the long list. Here’s hoping the best for Rob. Hopefully his own Mephisto is still in the loo, too.

      1. thank you Alex for your compassionate response and sharing!
         Glad to hear about your father’s quick healing recovery!
         Nurse says he made it through door #2. Even had some pasta!!!
         Resting now…..when he is up and about, i will read your reply to him.
         He was hoping someone would find some humour in it! Thankfully, you have.

         1. Sounds like good news. Here’s hoping everything continues to turn his way.

            1. Thanks, Alex!
               Both Rob and i have found this Haiku Dialogue, monitored by
               you, to be a soothing and safe place to heal…and turn to.

   2. Hi, Wendy,

      I’m glad to hear Rob is okay for now. We’re pulling for him!

      Lots of blessings and luck!

      Michelle

      1. Oh Wendy,
         I am praying for Rob’s full recovery…it’s so hopeful he made it through his first surgery. His humorous and delightful haiku gave me a chuckle…Yes, a great idea to end this marvelous list of haiku with Rob’s poem.

         1. maddy….me too! your prayers are working!
            Thanks for chiming in!

            i hope you are feeling better, now!

            BTW: we haven’t heard from John D. i wonder if he’s o.k.????

      2. thank you, Michelle, how nice of you to give such positive spirits for Rob’s recovery. He’s at home now, and doing well, and able to post to THF.

         i agree with the special appeal all of your selections have…from Alex’s long list.

8. A fantastic collection of poems!
   Thank you for including one of mine, Alex.

9. Wow! What a wonderful long list of poems! Thank you Alex Fyffe! They are all so good! Upon reading these, I wish I could have submitted two more! I had fun writing ideas for this haiku dialogue!

   1. Diana says, “Wow! What a wonderful long list of poems! Thank you Alex Fyffe! They are all so good! ”

      i agree with you! diana.

      then Diana says: ” Upon reading these, I wish I could have submitted two more! I had fun writing ideas for this haiku dialogue!”

      i know what you mean!
      This time, for me, no ideas came to mind until the submission
      time had expired!

      stage frr right!
      never made it
      to the trap door

      wendy c. bialek copyright 2-21-25

      then a thousand doors opened-up with nowhere to-go!

      wendy c. bialek copyright 2-21-25

      Diana, post them here….late! I’d love to read them!

10. old age
    I step round trap doors
    in the dark
    .
    Richard Straw
    Cary, North Carolina
    .
    This haiku could be about a person getting up in the middle of the night and
    walking around a room in the dark. Another interpretation is that this
    haiku is about what it is like to experience the difficulties that growing old
    brings to a person.

    1. Thanks, Valentina, for your perceptive comment and for your wonderful poem:

       opening night jitters . . .
       unable to escape
       through the trap door

       Valentina Ranaldi-Adams
       Fairlawn, Ohio

11. out of the night everything snow
    .
    Ranice Tara
    India
    .
    I have experienced this type of weather event many times where I live in
    the USA – falling snow at night that turns everything outside the window to white.

12. Wow, Alex, what a fantastic collection of poems in today’s long list. You have clearly inspired us all. Thank you for including mine.

    I was particularly moved by this poem:

    suddenly the floor
    drops out from under us
    our child’s disability

    Colette Kern
    Southold, New York

    1. Kern’s poem was definitely one of the most emotionally stirring entries for this prompt. Thanks for highlighting it here!

    2. I was also moved by this poem…. thank you for your comment. Highlighting these words has given me food for thought knowing that it must be the internal reaction knowing the struggles ahead.

       suddenly the floor
       drops out from under us
       our child’s disability

       Colette Kern
       Southold, New York

13. Thank you, Alex. So many great poems here and for me to be included is a fulfilling experience. If I could pick a few favorites for their newness, I would choose the following four.

    blocked exit
    hamlet’s apparition
    runs into the audience

    R. Suresh Babu
    India

    deus ex machina
    the rise of yet another
    mad billionaire

    John Hawkhead
    UK

    no spotlight here lies the water

    Pippa Phillips
    USA

    polling day
    the sudden reappearance
    of fungi
    Keith Evetts

    Thames Ditton, UK

    1. Great choices! I am very fond of Evetts’s fungi in particular.

       1. Thank you, Biswajit and Alex. An interesting crop of verses, to a challenging prompt, Colette Rivard Kern’s a gut-wrencher for me too.

          As to ‘fungi’ —it’s hard to write about anything else, indeed quite difficult to write at all, as the house of cards is brought crashing down. I wonder what Plato would think about it all.
          We have:
          deus ex machina
          the rise of yet another
          mad billionaire
          —John Hawkhead

          trapdoor election
          the criminal
          now king
          John S Green

          and even:
          fox hole—
          the thrill
          of never knowing
          —Tony Williams
          which I thought was one of the more enduring insights for naturalists, infantrymen, hunters and all of us whose excitement is aroused by imagination and uncertainty; by possibility.

          I also liked Samo Kreutz’s
          trap door …
          once again his
          smoker’s cough
          … darkly humorous, in the context of the prompt.

14. Thanks for taking mine Alex, there are some wonderful ‘ku this week. It seems the whole world is
    falling
    into
    a
    trap

    1. deus ex machina
       the rise of yet another
       mad billionaire

       John Hawkhead

       Perhaps the world has always been a trap. Samsara, spinning wheel, round and round we go. I was recently rereading Langston Hughes’s “Let America Be America Again” (first published 1936), in which he writes (in small part):

       Let America be the dream the dreamers dreamed–
       Let it be that great strong land of love
       Where never kings connive or tyrants scheme
       That any man be crushed by one above.

       . . .

       O, let my land be a land where Liberty
       is crowned with no false patriotic wreath,
       But opportunity is real, and life is free,
       Equality is in the air we breathe.

       . . .

       I am the immigrant clutching the hope I seek–
       And finding only the same old stupid plan
       Of dog eat dog, of mighty crush the weak.

       I am the young man, full of strength and hope,
       Tangled in the ancient endless chain
       Of profit, power, gain, of grab the land!
       Of grab the gold! Of grab the ways of satisfying need!
       Of work the men! Of take the pay!
       Of owning everything for one’s own greed!

       . . .

       Who said free? Not me?
       Surely not me? The millions on relief today?
       The millions shot down when we strike?
       The millions who have nothing for our pay?
       For all the dreams we’ve dreamed
       And all the songs we’ve sung
       And all the hopes we’ve held
       And all the flags we’ve hung,
       The millions who have nothing for our pay–
       Except the dream that’s almost dead today.

       * * *

       Reading poems like this one remind me that “there is nothing new under the sun.” Ninety years later, and so much of this could have easily been written today.

       So maybe the world is always falling into traps, over and over again. It’s good to resist corruption, but it’s also helpful to remember that people have been resisting it for a long, long time.

       1. Thanks for that one, Alex.

          And Marcus Aurelius, who would have been a great haikuist had haiku been invented by the year 180:
          “To bear in mind constantly that all of this has happened before. And will happen again—the same plot from beginning to end, the identical staging.” —Meditations 10.27
          Also, now for voters, his;
          “you shouldn’t be surprised that a fig tree produces figs”

          And then there’s the poet sage Du Fu 712-770
          The country is ruined:
          yet mountains and rivers remain.
          It’s spring in the walled town,
          the grass growing wild.

          included in the Zenrinkushū.

          Take heart!

          1. Thank you for sharing the ancient wisdom. I’ve been intrigued by Stoicism since studying Buddhism and Taoism, as there is a surprising(?) amount of overlap between them. Even so, it’s hard not to get swept up in the everyday horrors of a world that seems increasingly out of control. Which is why it’s so important to embrace the things we can control and find joy and goodness in the communities we cherish.

          2. And the last entry Marcus Aurelius made to himself in his Meditations (12.36) ends with more imagery from the stage:

             You’ve lived as a citizen in a great city. Five years or a hundred—what’s the difference? The laws make no distinction.

             And to be sent away from it, not by a tyrant or a dishonest judge, but by Nature, who first invited you in—why is that so terrible?

             Like the impresario ringing down the curtain on an actor:

             “But I’ve only gotten through three acts …!”

             Yes. This will be a drama in three acts, the length fixed by the power that directed your creation, and now directs your dissolution. Neither was yours to determine.

             So make your exit with grace—the same grace shown to you.

             [translated by Gregory Hays, Modern Library, 2003]

15. What a joy to read this morning! Congratulations to all the poets. Bravo to Alex Fyffe for a wonderfully curated long list!

    1. ”
       ditto
       C. Jean

16. Thank-you to the director Alex Fyffe for allowing my haiku to appear in
    today’s performance. Congrats to all the others who are also
    appearing in today’s performance. Thank-you to the Haiku
    Foundation and their hard-working staff for providing this lovely venue
    in which to perform.

    1. opening night jitters . . .
       unable to escape
       through the trap door

       Valentina Ranaldi-Adams

       My British Literature students recited their memorized Romantic Era poems in front of their peers today, and there were certainly a lot of “jitters” and desires to “escape / through [a] trap door.” At least one student did manage to skip the event, only for the principal to march him in at the end, completely unprepared. Most students braved the stage, though, despite looking like prey staring down the wolf’s throat.

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