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HAIKU DIALOGUE – door to door – door prize

door to door

With a nod to ‘Haiku Windows’, a past feature from when I first began this column, & also an idea suggested a long time ago by poet Laurie Greer, for the next several weeks we will explore some concepts relating to doors. Be inspired by these prompts – I can’t wait to read where they take you – & please note that there is no requirement to include the words of the prompt in the poems… enjoy! kj

next week’s theme: doorway

The doorway is the entryway, the threshold one crosses to access another building, room, or state of mind… take another look at the photo that inspired the banner at the top of the post for inspiration (artist unknown)…

I look forward to reading your submissions.

The deadline is midnight Pacific Daylight Time, Saturday May 29, 2021.

Please use the Haiku Dialogue submission form below to enter one or two original unpublished haiku inspired by the week’s theme, and then press Submit to send your entry.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 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 door prize:

raffle
how broad his smile
cress hedgehog

Deborah Karl-Brandt
Bonn, Germany

It is unclear whether it is the hedgehog with the broad smile or whether it is the raffle winner, or perhaps it is someone else – the person selling the tickets? – a ‘gap’ left to be figured out. In any case, this reader also had a broad smile after googling ‘cress hedgehog’…

free draw
at a builder’s convention
I win the door

Karen Harvey
North Wales

Many poems this week are about the re-gifting of door prizes & the inappropriateness of many of them, often with a humorous slant. In this poem, ‘door’ could be a shortened form referring to a ‘door prize’, or it could be an actual door…

entering my
front door –
solitude the prize

Lafcadio
USA

Here is a different take on the door prize – a positive outlook that introverts will understand, & it may be something that more people will be able to appreciate after the past year…

maternity ward –
two pink bows
behind the door

Vincenzo Adamo
Sicily Italy

This is another delightful poem that takes the prompt in a new direction. The colour & the number of bows may have been a surprise, but many people would consider having even one healthy baby to be like winning the lottery…

& here are the rest of my selections:

door prize winner – 
the emcee asks
if I donate to the needy
 
Adjei Agyei-Baah 
Ghana/New Zealand
 
 
bluebell wood – 
being here
a winning ticket
 
Alan Peat
Biddulph, Staffordshire, United Kingdom
 
 
front door wide
preparation to move in
fresh air
 
Albert Schepers
Windsor, Ontario, Canada
 
 
picked-over buffet
three tickets drawn before
the door prize is claimed
 
Alex Fyffe
United States
 
 
the threshold appears
and ends a long forest trek…
sleeping beauty
 
Alfred Booth
Colombes, France
 
 
door prize – 
so many dreams
do not happen
 
Ana Drobot
Romania
 
 
an offer
for the best fireworks – 
parish party
 
Angiola Inglese
Italia
 
 
window moon
she wants that one last story
before sleep
 
Anitha Varma
Kerala, India
 
 
random draw
his numbers
ring a bell
 
Anna Yin
Ontario, Canada
 
 
last journey – 
papa’s travel voucher 
arrives just in time
 
Arvinder Kaur
Chandigarh, India
 
 
darkness
splitting open to light 
first cry
 
Bidyut prabha
India
 
 
door prize
the swallow feather falls
from the birdhouse
 
Bill Fay
Fox Island, WA, USA
 
 
trick or treat
she spends more 
than the door prize
 
Bona M. Santos
Los Angeles, CA
 
 
no 29 hopes for
another gold cup
fresh paint on the door
 
Brian Oharegreen
Devon England
 
 
door prize
the fine art
of regifting
 
Bryan Rickert
Belleville, Illinois USA
 
 
word search
the winning ticket posted
next door
 
Carol Jones
Wales
 
 
lucky star
once again my husband 
wins the door prize
 
Cynthia Anderson
Yucca Valley, California
 
 
surprise party
a guest re-gifts
the door prize
 
Deborah P Kolodji
Temple City, California
 
 
Waiting in line
in front of the mall
health at a discount
 
Dejan Ivanovic
Lazarevac, Serbia
 
 
door prize
another chance
not to win
 
Didimay D. Dimacali
USA
 
 
sunshine – 
the raffle seller’s smile
at the door
 
Dorothy Burrows
United Kingdom
 
 
end of the party – 
children’s bright eyes 
with gift bags
 
Elisa Allo 
Switzerland
 
 
next door prize 
number twenty-three
somewhere my ticket
 
Germina Melius
Saint Lucia
 
 
gratta e vinci…
la clemenza
della mia clessidra
 
scratch and win…
clemency
of my hourglass
 
Giuliana Ravaglia
Bologna, Italia
 
 
spring shower – 
my door adorned
with stars
 
Gordana Vlašić
Croatia
 
 
prize open—creak of rusted hinges
 
Guy Stephenson
Letterkenny, Ireland
 
 
a table
full of strawberry sponges
– PTA door raffle
 
Ingrid Baluchi
North Macedonia
 
 
door prize
on Open Wine Cellars Day
cheers
 
Ivica Mlinar
Croatia
 
 
sorority rush
a door prize
for the unchosen
 
Jackie Chou
Pico Rivera, CA USA
 
 
craft bazaar
last year’s door prize
recycled
 
Jenn Ryan-Jauregui
Tucson, AZ. USA
 
 
Covid raffle – 
i gift my door prize
to the janitor
 
Joe Sebastian
Chennai, India
 
 
leaving early 
I place my raffle ticket 
on the bar
 
John S Green
Bellingham, WA
 
 
arriving late
we both reach for the prize
fight
 
John Hawkhead
UK
 
 
last straw
we argue over
who gets the door prize
 
Keith Evetts
Thames Ditton, UK
 
 
gallery opening
the chance to watch artists
draw prizes
 
Laurie Greer
Washington, DC
 
 
high rise window box – 
gardening tools
re-raffled
 
Lorraine Carey
Ireland
 
 
high school reunion
the door prize
three sizes too small
 
Lorraine Padden
San Diego, California
 
 
bachelors and spinsters ball
everyone goes home
with a prize
 
Louise Hopewell
Australia
 
 
lost door prize
in my coat’s pockets
sea salt grains
 
Luisa Santoro
Rome, Italy
 
 
the door prize
ugly dull statue
a door stop
 
Lyntha Nelson
Colorado, USA
 
 
rescue raffle – 
where the prize 
didn’t matter
 
Madhuri Pillai
Australia
 
 
lonely night 
a gift voucher on the door 
lifts in the wind 
 
Manoj Sharma 
Kathmandu
 
 
door prize
for the coffee drinker – 
tea cosy
 
Margaret Mahony
Australia
 
 
door prize
regifting
a hug
 
Margaret Walker
Lincoln, NE, USA
 
 
church festival
my mother wins door prize
a man’s haircut
 
Margie Gustafson
Lombard, IL
 
 
at the entrance
to the pharaoh’s tomb…
a golden scarab beetle
 
Mark Gilbert
UK
 
 
every time she buys 
a door prize ticket…
her last time 
 
Meera Rehm
UK
 
 
high school raffle
taking home the prize
I didn’t win
 
Mike Gallagher
Ireland
 
 
door prize…
in the hillside cabin 
a dried bouquet 
 
Milan Rajkumar
Imphal, India
 
 
door prize
my ticket is stained 
with ice cream
 
Minal Sarosh
Ahmedabad, India
 
 
door prize – 
on the star map
the name of the love
 
Minko Tanev
Bulgaria
 
 
prizes 
behind door – 
bachelor party
 
Mirela Brăilean
Romania
 
 
cloudburst – 
monkey and me
share the same tree
 
Neera Kashyap
India
 
 
a buzz of bees
on the petaled threshold 
door prize
 
Orense Nicod
Paris, France
 
 
door prize already regifted
 
 
P. H. Fischer
Vancouver, Canada
 
 
a sunflower 
my son’s face
on winning the door prize
 
Padma Rajeswari
Mumbai, India
 
 
longest night
4 am aurora
insomnia’s doorprize
 
Pam Joy
Dyea, Alaska
 
 
front row tickets
a concert I’ll 
never attend
 
Pat Davis
Pembroke, NH USA
 
 
pausing for a kiss
I still believe 
I won the lottery
 
Peggy Hale Bilbro
Huntsville, AL
 
 
Mary Kay party
I win a book inscribed
to Harry Jones
 
Pris Campbell
USA
 
 
basket full 
of sweet pastries
searching glucometer
 
Ram Chandran
India
 
 
door prize another toaster
 
Rehn Kovacic
Mesa, AZ
 
 
lucky wheel
the pointer finally rests at
‘try again’
 
Richa Sharma
India
 
 
spring carnival
my chance to win
a red bike
 
Roberta Beach Jacobson
Indianola, IA, USA
 
 
divorce done 
her birth name 
the door prize 
 
Roberta Beary
County Mayo Ireland
 
 
his new trophy wife
wins the door prize – 
a complete makeover
 
Sari Grandstaff
Saugerties, New York
 
 
door prize
the victory dance takes me 
on a nice journey
 
Slobodan Pupovac
Zagreb, Croatia
 
 
the door prize
soon forgotten
wildflowers
 
Stephen A. Peters
Bellingham, Wa. USA
 
 
door prize ticket
always
one number off
 
Susan Farner
United States
 
 
surprise door prize 
at the charity auction 
I win my own book
 
Susan Rogers
Los Angeles, CA
 
 
school reunion – 
in lieu of a door prize
sanitary masks
 
Teiichi Suzuki
Japan
 
 
salvage shop 
the door prize actually
a door
 
Tom Bierovic
DeLand, FL, USA
 
 
awards dinner 
his only prize 
from the raffle 
 
Tracy Davidson
Warwickshire, UK
 
 
winning ticket
and a rose for my little girl
dancing party
 
Tsanka Shishkova
Bulgaria
 
 
raffle tickets
in my purse, mother’s
lucky brooch
 
Vandana Parashar
India
 
 
the prize out our door supermoon
 
Victor Ortiz
Bellingham, WA
 
 
another door prize
I count in the attic
coffee makers
 
Wiesław Karliński
Namysłów, Poland
 
 

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.

The Haiku Foundation reminds you that participation in our offerings assumes respectful and appropriate behavior from all parties. Please see our Code of Conduct policy.

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.

This Post Has 17 Comments

  1. So many “winners” here…with humor and realities of re-gifting prizes no one really wants. Except for those few who really wanted to win a particular door prize. Roberta Jacobson’s red bike comes to mind. All I ever wanted as a kid was a red bike (those were normally boys’ bikes, girls got blue ones) so understand her longing. Thanks to my husband, I finally have one, an e-bike on which I fell and broke my wrist shortly after receiving it…and NO, I was not using electricity at the time; I just fell off the sidewalk and over-corrected landing on top of my hand, which I used to break my fall. Also found Roberta Beary’s return to a maiden name so appropriate as well. To this day, I use my maiden name for my writing.
    Well done to all of you.

  2. Lovely collection, enjoyed reading all the poems. Thanks for including mine.

  3. Congratulations to all the poets! Many thanks to K.j. for including my poem and to Lori for the column’s administration. Another eclectic mix of thought-provoking responses. One I particularly enjoyed this week was…

    the door prize
    soon forgotten
    wildflowers

    Stephen A. Peters
    Bellingham, Wa. USA

    This poem intrigues me as it has several possible meanings. For me, it suggests that the best possible prize is having an opportunity to enjoy the natural world. Fab!

    I look forward to next week’s responses.

    1. Hi Dorthy,

      I agree with you. This one gives me the same sensation of the real prize is the outdoors:
      .
      the prize out our door supermoon
      .
      Victor Ortiz
      Bellingham, WA
      .
      And, hey, they are both from the same city—where I live—a beautiful place.

  4. Thanks so much for the nice comment, Mark. So glad that you liked work.

    Anitha Varma.

  5. Many thanks Lori and kj for including my haiku. My favourite this week has been Anitha Varma’s

    window moon
    she wants that one last story
    before sleep

    which has nice assonance and consonance. I also can see another line break after ‘one’.

    1. Just wished to add that I enjoyed your poem too. Thanks, Mark Gilbert.

      Regards, Anitha.

  6. Thank you kj for including my haiku. Great reading ! Delighted to be among these poets.

  7. An interesting selection, I enjoyed reading. Thank you for selecting my haiku.

  8. So pleased to have a haiku included in The Haiku Foundation’s-Haiku Dialogue selection. Thank you, Kj and Lori Zajkowski. Congratulations to all my friends in haiku!

  9. school reunion –
    in lieu of a door prize
    sanitary masks
    /
    Teiichi Suzuki
    Japan
    /
    Life goes on during the pandemic.

  10. A selection with many interesting and original lines. Thanks for including mine.

  11. Thank you Kathy for including my haiku here! I feel like I won a door prize. So many haiku I really love here just cannot pick favorites. I love how my haiku was preceded by this excellent one by Roberta Beary. They seem to go together:

    divorce done
    her birth name
    the door prize

    Roberta Beary
    County Mayo Ireland

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