HAIKU DIALOGUE – Childhood Memories – A Special Item from Childhood

Childhood Memories with Guest Editors Sherry & Zoe Grant

Childhood. We’ve all been there. No matter your age, your childhood memories are probably like mine, made of happy and sad moments. Along the way, we’ve all had to make choices. Did you turn out to be the person you’ve dreamt to be? My youngest daughter Zoe and I grew up in different countries and therefore faced different expectations and challenges. We enjoy creating arts, music and poetry together, and I often find her ideas fresh and inspiring. Our goals for the next five years will be to inspire one billion people with our music and poetry, and for families around the world to have fun creating collaboratively like we do! What was your own childhood like? What was the most memorable moment? This month, Zoe and I would like to invite you to share your treasured childhood memories.

next week’s theme: Special Occasions (When and Where?) by Sherry Grant

I have four kids and when they were little, birthdays were a big deal. It was always difficult to decide who to invite to these birthday parties and where to go, whether to hold them at home or somewhere else. Zoe wrote this haiku which seems very funny, but perhaps a little sad from a young child’s point of view:

birthday party
a bag of Doritos
only crumbs left

— Zoe Grant (NZ), Failed Haiku Issue 71, Nov 2021

I also remember taking my kids trick-or-treating since they were babies. Once I had to make a quick lion costume overnight, stitched entirely by hand, but it felt great knowing all four kids got to wear that costume over the years for different occasions including book character days.

This however changed when Covid started so Zoe wrote this haiku. Fortunately for this year (2022) Halloween was no longer cancelled!

trick-or-treat
giving out candies
on zoom

— Zoe Grant (NZ), Haiku Dialogue 2021-11-03

There were many special events I took my kids to, which they have now outgrown. I do miss the time when they were little, but I am also happy to see them growing up and becoming independent. There were many special occasions, and I was always the ‘photographer’ who tried very hard to preserve such memories.

Share with us your memory of a special occasion. It can be a festival, a carnival, or a hike with family. Anything that you really enjoyed and could remember clearly even to this day.

The deadline is midnight Eastern Standard Time, Saturday December 24, 2022.

Please use the Haiku Dialogue submission form below to enter one or two original unpublished haiku inspired by the week’s theme, and then press Submit to send your entry. (The Submit button will not be available until the Name, Email, and Place of Residence fields are filled in.) With your poem, please include any special formatting requirements & your name & residence as you would like it to appear in the column. A few haiku will be selected for commentary each week. Please note that by submitting, you agree that your work may appear in the column – neither acknowledgment nor acceptance emails will be sent. All communication about the poems that are posted in the column will be added as blog comments.

below is the commentary for a special item from childhood:

For the end of 2022, Zoe again is very generous with her selections for prompt 2 (Childhood Memories “A Special Item”) – we wish everyone a joyous holiday and hope you can tune in to our next online concert where we perform Christmas music and share seasonal haiku from around the world. Zoe and I are also planning to release the first issues of Haiku Zoo Journal and Raining Rengay in the coming weeks, which is a lot of editing ahead, but we really enjoy the process, and working together as a team. Our next big project will be to interview poets, musicians, and scholars starting from 2023. Another reminder that there is an upper limit of 2 poems per submission period and a deadline to observe, for our next two prompts!

In this week’s Haiku Dialogue, Zoe and I are very happy to see not just one, but two very young poets aged 10 and under submitting. Haiku is such an effective way of communicating and sharing ideas or emotions, we must try our best to teach it to the younger generation. As haiku poets, we stay in tune with nature and our inner selves. We hold the key to a wondrous world of imagination which in turn keeps us young at heart. Zoe and I hope you enjoy reading another bumper selection of childhood memories and encourage children around you to write and share their haiku.

Zoe’s comments:

I laugh so hard every time I read these three haiku. When I write haiku, I also enjoy sharing funny or awkward moments.

farting…
my child relocates
her doll

Adjei Agyei-Baah
Ghana

 

world atlas
crossing the seven seas
on the toilet seat

Sébastien Revon
Ireland

 

chemistry set
my stinky discoveries
fill the house

Pris Campbell
U.S.

My brother collects penguin toys and I collect unicorns. These poems made me sad, and it’s hard to imagine having to leave a favourite toy behind or losing it.

the stuffed penguin
we never finished
saying goodbye

Pippa Phillips
United States

 

hand luggage
having to leave behind
one of the twin dolls

Ingrid Baluchi
North Macedonia

 

lost Hot Wheel
retracing my steps
in the park

Yasashī Tora
Joplin, MO

Sherry’s comments:

I was a bookworm back in my school days and went as far as reading in showers, which resulted in several mishaps when my books fell into water. I had post-it notes stuck to every wall with quotes and new English vocabulary, and I recall my favourite books were those of poetry and philosophy. I particularly miss rainy days or when I was sick in bed, as those were the happy days when I could read all day, and I’ll always treasure the wonderful company I find only in books while reading in solitude.

bookworm
. . . all the toys
I never wanted

Firdaus Parvez
India

 

Flashlight on
back to Narnia
past bedtime

Rebecca Kolstad
Rochester, NY

Some poems really make me smile. I can feel the frustration of those having to put up with young aspiring musicians while they struggle to play instruments, having brought up four little musicians myself and coached many more. I can also relate to the great comfort a soft toy brings. I love how much we can show without telling in haiku!

drummer boy
even the neighbor’s dog
disapproves

Ravi Kiran
India

 

soft toy turtle
the comfort from
chewing its legs off

Maurice Nevile
Canberra, Australia

Sometimes the simple delights in daily life are all the motivation we need to rise early in the morning. I look forward to the day when our kids become less attached to electronic devices and rediscover these nice little surprises. Modern technology brings us convenience but at the same time takes away our abilities to entertain ourselves or even make up new inventions.

morning rays
I open the new cereal box
and search for the toy

John S Green
Bellingham, Washington USA

 

crystal radio
sans crystal-clear sounds and yet
DIY magic

James Penha
Bali, Indonesia

and here are the rest of the selections:

honeysuckle breeze
I miss my hugs
from grandma

Tony Williams
Scotland, UK

 

up in flames
too old mother thought
for stuffed animals

Rehn Kovacic
Mesa, AZ

 

even to bed
I wear my new jacket—
mid-summer night

Michael Lester
United States

 

first playmate
trading my Barbie doll
for her jade Buddha

Jackie Chou
United States

 

lockdown
son’s imagination brings
home Legoland

Nitu Yumnam
India

 

stained and trunkless
an elephant
only i could love

Charles Harper
Yokohama

 

jackstone
a long time ago
we picked up stars

Alvin Cruz
Philippines

 

my toy from grandma
dede the name of the teddy bear
anywhere with me

Nani Mariani
Australia

 

inside the locker
a tiny driftwood stick
my make-up kit

Curt Linderman
Seattle

 

school jacket
pa’s pats
still warm

Subir Ningthouja
Imphal, India

 

sand roll
firing back to the enemy
with a toy gun

Joevit Prado
Malay, Aklan, Philippines

 

off-white blankie
grandma’s touch in
each thread

Surashree Joshi
Pune, India

 

unfinished tree fort with no platform still we climb

Jerome Berglund
Minneapolis, Minnesota

 

a yellowed album-
fixing me from a picture
a girl with a doll

Mihaela Babusanu
Romania

 

upside down . . .
the champak tree stands bare
without the swing

Kavitha Sreeraj
India

 

childhood sweatheart
our sunhade was red
with white dots

Eva Limbach
Germany

 

old radio
singing yesterday
once more

Jeff Leong
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

 

rain and cold . . .
my little doll sleeping
on my knees

Rosa Maria Di Salvatore
Catania (Italy)

 

christmas shopping . . .
I buy a doll father

Bipasha Majumder (De)
West Bengal, India

 

worn as a pendant
my teddy’s small green dog charm
his threadbare neck

Diana Webb
UK

 

between
winter and spring
a basket of lost toys

Vladislav Hristov
Bulgaria

 

christmas time bus…
hiding my disney watch
from a naughty boy

Keiko Izawa
Japan

 

attic storage
releasing my childhood
friends

wanda amos
Old Bar, Australia

 

new kitchen set —
I ask mama to ask
for a cup of tea

Muskaan Ahuja
Chandigarh, India

 

cowgirl boots
I giddy-up
a hay bale

marilyn ashbaugh
edwardsburg, michigan usa

 

old horse
out to pasture
rockers peeling in the sun

Mike Fainzilber
Rehovot, Israel

 

satin jacket
I imagine myself
belonging

Jenn Ryan-Jauregui
Tucson, Arizona USA

 

Hopping
The hopscotch
Zumba lifestyle

Rashmi Buragohain
India

 

a kitten is coming
summer departures

Barbara Gaiardoni
Verona (Italy)

 

treasure chest;
inside the matchbox
a lizard’s skull

Jonathan Aylett
Liverpool, UK

 

proudly driving
my new red car home…
atop my pushchair

Tony Harvey
Pwllheli, Wales

 

Hidden away,
the smallest nesting doll
keeping my secrets

Caroline Ridley-Duff
England

 

end of school day
walking home
bike stolen

Tuyet Van Do
Australia

 

my favourite doll
loses half a leg…
teething puppy

Tracy Davidson
Warwickshire, UK

 

kids bed
a thousand ways
to disappear

Samo Kreutz
Ljubljana, Slovenia

 

toys
on a knitted doll
grandma’s smell

Zdenka Mlinar
Croatia

 

Barbie’s cousin Francie
at first frankly rejected
plays the long game . . .

Helen Buckingham
United Kingdom

 

fixed smile
on the inflatable seal
my wild youth

John Pappas
United States

 

fresh roll of caps
jaw set
Lone Ranger mask

Christopher Seep
USA

 

white toy bunny …
entering the hospital
she ask for company

Deborah Karl-Brandt
Bonn, Germany

 

like a great artist
coloring the heather with
my purple marker

Guido De Pelsmaeker
België (Holsbeek)

 

my chemistry set
open on grandma’s table
smell of burnt sulphur

Al Gallia
Louisiana USA

 

overturned canoe
my lucky hat lost
to the river

Bryan Rickert
Belleville, Illinois USA

 

after all these years
my old Barbie doll
still naturally blond

Terri French
US

 

Piggy Bank —
belly bursts open
with broken bangles

Lakshmi Iyer
India

 

spring breeze
with my child among the toys
the urge to fly still there

Stephen A. Peters
Bellingham WA

 

stuffed dog named Tuffy
big enough to sleep on
a father’s rare gift

Kathleen Cain
Arvada, CO United States

 

laughing
I scare the rooster
to chase my mother

Sharon Ferrante
Daytona Beach, FL USA

 

old sneakers
children’s dreams
wandering in the dark

Dejan Ivanovic
Lazarevac, Serbia

 

a pressed flower in my old school book still wafts her scent

Ram Chandran
India

 

easy-bake oven
no need for the toy
mama taught me well

Bonnie J Scherer
Alaska, USA

 

my teddy red rabbit –
at sixty six
I repainted her cloth face

Julia Guzmán
Córdoba Argentina

 

before surgery
Curious George
by his side

Richard Straw
Cary, North Carolina

 

birthday wobbles…
little legs pedal
a man’s bike

Marilyn Ward
Lincolnshire UK

 

hankerchief
to hide his broken neck
Raggedy Andy

Eavonka Ettinger
Long Beach, CA

 

gray rabbit
you served me well
small comforts

Eleanor Dean
Massachusetts, United States

 

My dolls house
handed down before I’m gone –
I live there still

Sarah Davies
Bedford

 

Christmas morning
the toddler plays
in the trike’s box

Nika
Calgary, Alberta, Canada

 

admiring watch faces
in jeweller’s window
the little girl can’t tell time

Luciana Moretto
Treviso Italy

 

spinning round and round
my forever young lady
in the music box

Wai Mei Wong
Canada

 

moving day—
snow falls on the garbage bin
full of stuffed animals

Nicholas Klacsanzky
Burien, WA, USA

 

granny’s hand
in mummy’s sewing
puppet show

Herb Tate
UK

 

being a pain
but always there
little brother

Robert Kingston
Chelmsford, Essex

 

In silent attic
Echoes of tiny voices
Haunt dusty dollhouse

Ruth Happel
Tennessee USA

 

spinning
with jewelry box ballerina
. . . she wins

Roberta Beach Jacobson
Indianola, Iowa

 

at the bottom
of the box of cereal
a bonus trinket

Keitha Keyes
Sydney, Australia

 

years of neglect
the Charmander with
little stuffing left

M. R. Defibaugh
United States

 

spring cleaning . . .
still in hibernation
the old teddy bear

Chittaluri Satyanarayana
India

 

junk drawer
my whistle whittled
by grandpa’s hands

Susan Farner
USA

 

a tattered towel-
my Superman
cape

Dan Campbell
Virginia

 

with a flaw
like a sailing ship
chalk country flint

Alice Wanderer
Frankston, Victoria, Australia

 

pelican crossing-
fingers held tight as we launched,
the throng of steel

David Cox
Beijing, China

 

Hand-me-down clothes in
A brown paper sack from my
Beloved cousin

Jennifer Gurney
United States

 

Ponytail
grandma tied on my hair
my first Christmas gift

Aine Losauro a.k.a Ligaw Makata
City of Passi, Iloilo Philippines

 

science class
swooping fast the teacher
a paper plane

Loreta Bande
The Philippines

 

mum’s impartial love –
a pair of baby booties
in the trunk

Daipayan Nair
Silchar, India

 

moving day
my old dollhouse
free to good home

Louise Hopewell
Australia

 

my son’s
old teddy bear
I can’t throw away

Margaret Mahony
Australia

 

clockwork mouse
the toy
he adored

Govind Joshi
Dehradun, India

 

in old age
hugging his childhood
winnie-the-pooh

Krishna Palle
Chennai

 

Charm bracelet:
the meaning of the French word
for “to remember”

Jenny Shepherd
London, UK

 

broken cord
that flying kite in the sky
where to ?

Teiichi Suzuki
Japan

 

harmattan deepens . . .
bathing the teddy bear
bathing my feet

Taofeek Ayeyemi
Abeokuta, Nigeria

 

life lessons …
my jealous dog rips up
the new teddy

Natalia Kuznetsova
Russia

 

cloth doll
sewn by grandma
my first toy

Stoianka Boianova
Bulgaria

 

rooster and dog –
friendly communication
in grandfather’s yard

Minko Tanev
Bulgaria

 

coin box
terracotta holding
my richness

Aparna Pathak
Gurugram, India

 

after
her outbursts
cuddles

Karen Harvey
Pwllheli, Wales

 

Golliwog left behind
in Repulse Bay, Hong Kong flat;
Colonial griefs

Vivienne Tregenza
Penzance

 

the first teddy bear
quarrel of brothers
whose is it

Dubravka Šćukanec
Hrvatska

 

gifts exchange —
the carved animals
of noah’s ark

Christina Chin
Malaysia

 

rainy day
the flight cancelled
paper kite

Chen Xiaoou
Kunming, China

 

my child
looking for the QR code
of my old piggy bank

Dan Iulian
România

 

a wooden train
holding one service only –
back to my childhood

Zelyko Funda
Hrvatska

 

childhood nightmare
the comfort of
a warm paw

Lori Kiefer
London UK

 

the book of dreams:
to be D’Artagnan
and save the queen

il libro dei sogni:
esser D’Artagnan
e salvare la regina

Anna Maria Domburg-Sancristoforo
The Netherlands

 

combing the tails of my little ponies a rainbow

pettinando le code dei miei mini pony un arcobaleno

Daniela Misso
Italia

 

empty nest
still the teddy bear
keeps watch

Roberta Beary
USA / Ireland

 

basketball sun
my labrador triples
happiness

Richa Sharma
India

 

purple crayon…
turning the evening light
into a story

Laurie Greer
Washington DC

 

still at war
after the truce
toy soldiers

tetap berperang
sesudah gencatan senjata
tentara mainan

Agus Maulana Sunjaya
Tangerang, Banten, Indonesia

 

playing cards
clipped to bike spokes
song cycles

Caroline Giles Banks
Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA

 

Roro
still lives in the attic
my alien friend

Tsanka Shishkova
Bulgaria

 

home relocation
my ragged teddy and I share
a last cuddle under the bed

Padmini krishnan
United Arab Emirates

 

grandfather’s clay pipe –
unlike my fresh memories
slightly chipped

Paul Callus
Malta

 

the moves
to outwit my opponent
my magnetic chess

Sreenath
India

 

backyard swing
finding my lost brother
among the stars

sanjuktaa asopa
Belgaum, India

 

eleventh Barbie
yet
another…

Jharna Sanyal
India

 

in the Cinderella glass slipper
the watch
I never got

Ann Rawson
U.K.

 

sunset
stirring mam’s magic pudding
with my magic spoon

Ann Smith
United Kingdom

 

the joy
of cartwheeling amongst
four leaf clovers

Katherine E Winnick
Brighton United Kingdom

 

made by mother
from a rag and a clothespin–
my favorite doll

Ruth Holzer
Herndon, Virginia

 

my rag doll
with a big mouth
grandma’s laughter

Meera Rehm
UK / Nepal

 

yellow tea set
my sister and I learn
to raise our pinkies

Bona M. Santos
Los Angeles, CA

 

red tricycle
getting everywhere
faster than before

Susan Burch
Hagerstown, MD

 

summer fun
green furry lumpy stuff
falls from roof

(This is the first haiku I have ever written.)

Millie Mignonne Cox, age 10
Warwickshire, United Kingdom

 

showcased
Belgian cut glass
scent of mom

Bidyut Prabha Gantayat
Bhubaneswar, INDIA

 

cheek to fur
pink chocolate
sweet dreams melt

Bittor Duce Zubillaga
Basque Country

 

abracadabra
a real baby sister
for my eight birthday

Hla Yin Mon
Yangon, Myanmar

 

dreams …
the first secret diary
under the pillow

Maria Teresa Piras
Serrenti – Italy

 

songs without words. . .
learning to nurture
a poetic soul

Alfred Booth
Lyon, France

 

a slalom
of farmyard animals
the diecast 240Z

simonj
UK

 

learning to ride
my shiny new bicycle
pesky hedgerow

Richard Bailly
Fargo, North Dakota, USA

 

hungry
for the popcorned tree —
not our christmas

Jonathan Epstein
USA

 

late for school –
the new kitten is sleeping
in my lap

Marianne Sahlin
Sweden

 

snapdragon snap
sends me back
fifty-five years

Alan Harvey
Tacoma, WA

 

baking soda submarine–
surfacing in the sink
unnoticed by the toothbrushes

Allison Douglas-Tourner
Victoria, BC Canada

 

toe shoes
spinning her dreams
into pink

Barrie Levine
Massachusetts, USA

 

childhood Easter
a stuffed bunny with legs
as tall as me

Cynthia Anderson
Yucca Valley, California

 

first biscuits –
for my ninth birthday
a cookbook

Maria Tosti
Perugia, Italy

 

little woman….
in mom’s heels
in front of the mirror

piccola donna….
con i tacchi di mamma
davanti allo specchio

Giuliana Ravaglia
Bologna (Italy)

 

laundry day
child’s pockets full
of acorns

AJ Wentz
United States

 

grandma’s hug
anywhere I go
old sweater

Pelukan nenek
Kemanapun kupergi
Sweater tua

Christopher Calvin
Kota Mojokerto, Indonesia

 

from steel to clay to plastic . . .
growing up
on roller skates

Julie Bloss Kelsey
Germantown, Maryland, USA

 

throwing rice
on the empty church steps –
playing wedding day

Colette Kern
Southold NY, US

 

that thumb sucking
chimpanzee called Jojo—
pillow companion

Rupa Anand
New Delhi, India

 

long after bedtime
our secret talks
on string telephone

Vandana Parashar
India

 

cold winter night
three cats under the covers
with me

Tom Clausen
United States

 

bunny boo
tattered and torn
turns 40 today

Jan Stretch
Victoria Canada

 

cheap, first guitar
a present from dad
who doesn’t play

AJ. Anwar
Jakarta, Indonesia

 

sunshine days
I find a golden lace
for my doll’s dress

Minal Sarosh
Ahmedabad, India

 

demolition –
the stuffed rabbit
surviving

Adrian Bouter
The Netherlands

 

old Barbie doll
the clothes my mother sewed her
still more beautiful

Lorraine Schein
Queens, NYC

 

monsters hunt
under the covers
a flashlight

Mariel Herbert
California, USA

 

One eyed fluffy bear-
The perfect piggy bank
Of all my secrets.

Santhoshi Valli
India

 

worn out Major Tom
somehow rescued from the bin
doll’s day in Japan

David McMurray
Japan

 

handsewn doll
the secrets she kept
all these years

Lorelyn De la Cruz Arevalo
Bombon, Philippines

 

first day—
I discover
a 65th color

petro c. k.
Seattle, Washington

 

class photo—
still eyeing the red watch
on some other kid

Sankara Jayanth Sudanagunta
Hyderabad, India

 

shy child-
confessing all my feelings
to Barbie mirror

Priti Khullar
Noida, India

 

Mr. Wiggles listened always,
absorbed my tears, danced with my joys

Joan Leotta
North Carolina, USA

 

bitter winter
hugging my beggar bear
to keep it warm

Neena Singh
India

 

my new cowboy gun
swapped
for a sixpenny glider

Keith Evetts
Thames Ditton UK

 

my best friend
my bike called Tiger
I don’t remember why

Mark Gilbert
UK

 

Christmas gift
with new clothes
my old doll

Mirela Brailean
Romania

 

scrap book
the penciled sketches
of pre television days

Madhuri Pillai
Australia

 

Leo coffee mug
the lingering taste
of friendship

Daya Bhat
India

 

crumpled scribbles
mom asks if a tornado
hit my bedroom

Andrew Markowski
San Antonio, TX

 

Golden Sun
woke me up daily
for my homework

Sudha Devi Nayak
India

 

Christmas tradition
retelling the story of
my first hockey stick

Mark Scott
Hardwick, VT

 

basement
the rusty wheels
of an old tricycle

Slobodan Pupovac
Zagreb, Croatia

 

coconut shell spoon
the rice gruel
that quenched our hunger

R. Suresh babu
India

 

garage cleaning
He-Man’s plastic muscles
tan against my palm

Alex Fyffe
Houston, TX

 

finger puppets–
my toys become bigger
with age

mona bedi
India

 

side walk –
the unforgettable races
with plastic cars

Jorge Alberto Giallorenzi
Chivilcoy, Buenos Aires, Argentina

 

first period
the unexpected gift
of a unicorn

Sarah E. Metzler
USA

 

one woman show—
I perform swan lake
in fuzzy felts

Adele Evershed
Wilton, Connecticut

 

anytime hugs
a large stuffed pink pig
on my bed

Claire Vogel Camargo
United States

 

frosty the snowman
childhood dreams come to life
in my 30s

C.X.Turner
United Kingdom

 

bigger on the inside Matchbox cars

Tim Cremin
Massachusetts

 

rainbow crayons
tracing mom’s
swirly signature

Kath Abela Wilson
Pasadena, California, USA

 

black fishtail gown
Barbie and me
dress for the party

Susan Beth Furst
United States

 

love
at first sight
red scooter

Reid Hepworth
Sidney, British Columbia

 

old rag doll
my Nana made for me
out of a spare sock

Margie Gustafson
Lombard, IL USA

 

dusting—
dad’s broken guitar
and him

Devoshruti Mandal
Varanasi, India

 

On my bed pillow –
the one-eyed plush lion –
I cover my eye

Małgorzata Borzeszkowska
Poland

 

launched into space
for 10,000 missions
my own basketball

Mike Stinson
Nebraska USA

 

a piece of sky
lying on the grass…
my first found object

Ella Aboutboul
West Sussex, UK

 

listen now
my shoebox buried bird
still sings

Alan Peat
Biddulph, United Kingdom

 

the pen dances across the page
in my young hands

Herb Goldsmith
Bastrop TX

 

broomstick cowgirls giddy up

Ann Sullivan
Massachusetts, USA

 

rainy morning . . .
paper dolls
sharing outfits

Kathleen Trocmet
Texas, USA

 

flying so high
on the squeaky swing
my budding wings

Annie Wilson
Shropshire, UK

 

In my brothers hands
Tiny pink plastic pony
Mine no more. Broken

Jacqueline wagner
Montgomery, IL, United States

 

mother’s cascet
along with the jewels
my baby teeth

Bakhtiyar Amini
Germany

 

stacking memory
over memory
seven stones

Sangita Kalarickal
United States

 

keeping
my oldest secrets
blue bear toy

Tomislav Sjekloća
Cetinje, Montenegro

 

the doll house
she imagines
a different family

Kerry J Heckman
Seattle, WA

 

walking down the stairs
faster than me
slinky

Margaret Tau
New Bern, NC

 

once upon a time-
too many panties were sacrificed
to win a slingshot war

Franjo Ordanić
Croatia

 

Chickee and Bumpie
a stuffed animal befriends
the throw pillow

Valentina Ranaldi-Adams
Fairlawn, Ohio USA

 

bag gnawed by a dormouse –
unusable
my baby’s soother

Luisa Santoro
Rome, Italy

 

coloured pencils
all those sunny flowers
grown on paper

Mona Iordan
Romania

 

Dora vignette
made with candy wrappers
red and yellow leaves

Lakshman Bulusu
Princeton, NJ, USA

 

emergency room ….
my doll too
she has her arm in a sling

pronto soccorso ….
anche la mia bambola
ha il braccio fasciato

Angiola Inglese
Italy

 

at the building site
slats, stone and screw
for a new sword

na gradilištu
letvica, kamen i vijak
za novi mač

Zrinko Šimunić
Croatia

 

dangling teddy bear
in the arcade claw machine
moon before Yule

Sari Grandstaff
Saugerties, NY, USA

 

outstretched hand
of a homeless man…
I gave him my butterfly

Mircea Moldovan
România

 

that red firetruck
I was the siren
my five alarm boyhood

ron scully
Burien WA

 

sharing the pillow
my watchful wolf
scares my fears

Cristina Povero
Italy

 

summer afternoon
all the kids love me
for my sandbox

Lev Hart
Calgary, Canada

 

binoculars
all that stand between
me and the stars

Elizabeth Shack
Illinois, USA

 

Belle with twelve hair bows
one for each time
we moved

C.F. Tash
Washington, DC, USA

 

toy sailboat
the secret paths through
deep bath bubbles

Richard L. Matta
San Diego, California, USA

 

the gift
a toy pistol
in my sister’s crib

Anette Chaney
Harrison, Arkansas

 

grandfather’s house –
echoes of brothers’ laughing
amid dusty toys

Milan Rajkumar
Imphal, India

 

Christmas party…
choosing the gift
of a stuffed monkey

Nancy Brady
Huron, Ohio

 

snowflakes –
i jump into
the ball pool

Nairithi Konduru, age 7
India

 

playing for keeps
losing
all my marbles

Sharon Martina
Warrenville, IL

 

morning walks—
grandma and grandpa’s
hands hold mine

Stephen J. DeGuire
Los Angeles, CA

 

daughters
and now grandchildren
herding my plastic ponies

Sheila Sondik
Bellingham, WA USA

 

passing clouds
the journey to unknown lands
on my bicycle

Amoolya Kamalnath
India

 

tiny works of art
my grandmother’s tatting
in my treasure chest

Sigrid Saradunn
Bar Harbor, Maine, USA

Guest Editor Sherry Grant is a Taiwanese-born New Zealand classical concert pianist, cellist, poet, author, translator and festival organiser. Since 2021 she and her youngest daughter Zoe have been promoting short form poetry by co-editing several journals, presenting at haiku conferences and organising poetry workshops. As a musician, Sherry plays online concerts regularly and in her recent North American concert tour she also shared her poems during recitals. Sherry is a well published haiku/cherita/rengay poet. Her rengay written with Alan Peat (UK) won the first prize at the 2021 Otoroshi Rengay Contest. Sherry also enjoys writing longer rhymed poems and plans to publish several poetry books and chapbooks in the near future, including 300 love poems written for her favourite composer Alexander Scriabin, in 3 volumes.
Visit www.linktr.ee/sherrygrant for updates.

Guest Editor Zoe Grant, a well-published 8-year-old haiku poet from New Zealand, is the co-author and illustrator of Bat Girl, written in 2020 when she was 6 years old. Her haiku won the first prize at the 2021 NZPS International Haiku Competition (School/Junior) and she is the co-editor of Chalk on the Walk Haiku, Chalk on the Walk Monoku, Haiku Zoo Journal and Raining Rengay. Zoe enjoys drawing, singing, ballet and writing poetry. She co-hosts the International Rengay Gatherings with her mother Sherry Grant twice a year. This daughter-mother duo plans to go on concert tours to share their poetry and music with the world. Zoe shared 250 short form poems by 250 poets at the 3-day online International Scriabin 150 Festival in November 2022. She plans to do poetry podcasts in the near future. Follow Zoe’s projects at www.linktr.ee/zoe.grant.

Lori Zajkowski is the Post Manager for Haiku Dialogue. A novice haiku poet, she lives in New York City.

Managing Editor Katherine Munro lives in Whitehorse, Yukon Territory, and publishes under the name kjmunro. She is Membership Secretary for Haiku Canada, and her debut poetry collection is contractions (Red Moon Press, 2019). Find her at: kjmunro1560.wordpress.com.

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Please note that all poems & images appearing in Haiku Dialogue may not be used elsewhere without express permission – copyright is retained by the creators. Please see our Copyright Policies.