HAIKU DIALOGUE – Dreams – Future and Past – long list

Dreams with Co-Guest Editors Sherry & Zoe Grant

Dreams. Where do they come from? Can we foresee the future? Are our conscious thoughts during the day reflected in dreams at night? So many questions yet no definite answers. Dreams can be vivid, or half forgotten; they can be spun into beautiful poems or analysed and studied using Freudian techniques. Some dreams can be soothing, while nightmares are mostly disturbing. Dreams have EVERYTHING to do with our mental health and well-being. Dreams can be abstract or measurable, they can also be the start of something great, for as soon as you dream of something, you send out a message to the universe and the universe might just respond for your wishes to come true. It remains Zoe’s and my dream to inspire at least one billion people with what we create together: perhaps dreaming something up is rather like setting a tangible goal…Zoe and I promote haiku and rengay through editing our own poetry journals, chalk on the walk haiku and monoku, hosting workshops and our own online radio station because we strongly believe that our joint efforts can lead us all to the Next Golden Age. We have been gathering up our own “army” to combat commercialism in an age of depression, in the hopes to heal the world with the power of arts and creativity. Zoe and I would like to bring back kindness and gratitude through building networks and global communities, so nobody will have to feel alone or left out. In November 2025 Zoe and I will host our 5th online international music, poetry & arts festival to celebrate my favourite composer Alexander Scriabin’s (Russia, 1872-1915) 110th as well as haiku poet Fukuda Chiyo-ni’s (Japan, 1703-1775) 250th anniversaries since death. We would like to now leave you with Chiyo-ni’s beautiful haiku about dreams, translated to English by Marco Fraticelli in his book A Thousand Years: The Haiku and Love Letters of Chiyo-ni. Come dream with us!

dream fragment
a butterfly
through wildflowers

– Chiyo-ni

Below is Sherry’s & Zoe’s selection of poems on the topic of Future and Past:

shopping mall
in my dream the parking lot
full of trees

Stephen A. Peters
Bellingham, WA

 

wingbeat
with the v of ibises
to another world

Daya Bhat
India

 

dreamt of lawyering
that didn’t quite work out
still arguing

Kathleen Cain
Arvada, CO USA

 

paper crown —
the whole of Christmas Day
a king

Alan Peat
Biddulph, United Kingdom

 

my childhood photo
the yellow returns
to a sunflower

Vladislav Hristov
Bulgaria

 

a dream
to see all the ones we like again
not the ones we don’t

Ann Rawson
Scotland, UK

 

future plans
sometimes dull – often epic
past adventures

Rick Runner
Churchton, Maryland

 

lighthouse dreams –
guiding others
safely to shore

Dan Campbell
Virginia

 

sounds of dreams
almost disappeared
floating Sakura

Dorna Hainds
Michigan, USA

 

dream paralysis
my mother darning
socks on the couch

Jahnavi Gogoi
Canada

 

first dream –
it is already lost
in my thoughts

Ana Drobot
Romania

 

a long night
I repeat the prayers
of childhood

Richard Straw
Cary, North Carolina

 

seeing her again
the distraction of flowers
thru my compound eyes

simonj
UK

 

afternoon nap
I feed the crows
then fly off with them

Cindy Putnam Guentherman
Illinois, USA

 

quantum dream
I am a wave of waves
of waves

Orense Nicod
Paris, France

 

four-year-old dreams
princess, ballerina, teacher
dreams really do come true

Jennifer Gurney
United States

 

I dream of the past
my parents still alive there–
I wake with child’s tears

Lorraine Schein
Sunnyside, Queens, NYC

 

new year’s dawn
and everyone’s birthday –
wild chrysanthemums

Deborah A. Bennett
Illinois, USA

 

wishing on
unnamed constellations
of starfish

Roberta Beach Jacobson
Indianola, Iowa, USA

 

our satchel
full of dreams — I carry them
to the finish line

Jenn Ryan-Jauregui
Tucson, Arizona USA

 

Joseph, please, explain
These dreams for Pharoah and bring
To light their meaning

Ellen Levitt
Brooklyn NY

 

unfolding designs
the dreams of a dragon
that never took off

Richard L. Matta
San Diego, California

 

interstellar dream
she prefers venus
without him

R. Suresh Babu
India

 

new war images –
I fetch the old dream catcher
from the closet

Nikola Đuretić
Zagreb, Croatia

 

where they often sat…
fresh color
on the riverside bench

Helga Stania
Switzerland

 

neighborly small talk —
seeing something far off
in the clouds

Michael Pappafava
Belgium

 

once upon a past,
he was the man of my dreams…
now, our 25th wedding day

Santhoshi Valli
India

 

old castle
among broken stone walls
fresh greens –

Teiichi Suzuki
Japan

 

broken dream
flock of birds disperse
to realign

Angelo Ancheta
Philippines

 

old tree
getting my new sprig
in my body

Ryan Carba
Olutanga Zamboanga Sibugay Philippines

 

an expert swordswoman
I swashbuckle my way
through the washing-up

Tracy Davidson
Warwickshire, UK

 

lady doctor
living her dream
burn marks

Govind Joshi
Dehradun, India

 

on the high seas
yearning for a bunch of beach grass
awake wet in sweat

op volle zee
smachtend naar een bosje helmgras
nat in ’t zweet wakker

Guido De Pelsmaeker
Belgium (Holsbeek)

 

snowy dreams
waiting for Santa
in Florida

Diane Funston
Marysville, California

 

I played like Django
When I woke up, someone had
turned off the radio

Tomislav Maretic
Zagreb, Croatia

 

night terror
I throw back the covers
yes… you are there

Marilyn Ward
Lincolnshire UK

 

giving away
my pottery kiln
giving away dreams

Nancy Orr
Lewiston, Maine USA

 

a Heidi life . . .
fresh bread and milk
from the farm

Barbara Anna Gaiardoni
Verona – Italy

 

my dreams
stand the time test
demented …

Ashoka Weerakkody
Colombo, Sri Lanka

 

in the barnyard
hens feed first
pecking order

rachel cooke
United States

 

the language
of dolphins and chimpanzees
—beyond words

Maxianne Berger
Outremont, Quebec

 

collecting
lake heather
leftover wishes

Sarah Mahina Calvello
San Francisco

 

first dream of the year –
mom’s kiss
on my cheek

Daniela Lăcrămioara Capotă
Romania

 

unreachable star
the performer finally
picks up a pen

Eavonka Ettinger
Long Beach, CA

 

letting in blue
daybreak…
care of little things

Luciana Moretto
Treviso Italy

 

dreams borne
of the back of a mirror
distorted present

Claire Cayson
United States

 

you go away
faster than a dream
shooting star

te ne vai via
più veloce d’un sogno
stella cadente

Angiola Inglese
Italia

 

in dream…
wandering the outback
trails with you

Marilyn Humbert
Sydney, Australia

 

your dreams
my dreams
on the same pillow

Refika Dedić
Bosnia and Herzegovina

 

I am a dreamer
golden light flows through my eyes
new day awakens

Sonja Maria Teufel-Schmarsli
Germany

 

real-life hero…
I hope you arrive
in time

Tony Williams
Scotland, UK

 

joy
the first art exhibitions
an amateur’s dream

Zdenka Mlinar
Hrvatska

 

dream a ray of light
open my eyes
to a rainbow

Sudha Devi Nayak
Bhubaneswar India

 

dreams sift
through my mind
falling leaves

Peggy Hale Bilbro
Alabama

 

overjoyed
to see you still alive —
then i wake up

Lev Hart
Calgary, Canada

 

singing
to a spellbound crowd
everything is possible
in a dream…

Padma Rajeswari
India

 

alarm ringing
the abrupt end of my
birth-house revisit

Chen Xiaoou
Kunming, China

 

in boyhood dreams
I used to fly
before the bird flu

Keith Evetts
Thames Ditton UK

 

a dream
lost on my salty pillow —
her memories

Milan Rajkumar
Imphal, India

 

station lunchroom
dreams of travel
without travel

Marie Derley
Ath, Belgium

 

the golden years
still some time
to fulfil dreams

Carol Reynolds
Australia

 

mother’s stilettos
how hard to slip into
her footprints

Arvinder Kaur
Chandigarh India

 

mountain sunrise
Grandpa’s dreams
too much like mine

Hynek Koziol
Czech Republic

 

sunk in lazy chair—
a jam-packed lazy Susan
welcoming the sun

(Mid-spring season word, kigo 季語: welcoming the sun, hi mukae, himukae 日迎え / ひむかえ. Seasonless topic, muki 無季: chair, chairs, isu 椅子 / いす. A lazy Susan is a revolving tray used for serving food, condiments, or relishes.)

Monica Kakkar
India

 

talking to animals
in my dreams
how they all slink away

Ingrid Baluchi
North Macedonia

 

a boundless sky…
my childhood dream
grows wings

Neena Singh
India

 

summer solstice
my daydreams turn
into an epic

Mona Iordan
Bucharest, Romania

 

i am a noted poet
woke up
just a dream

Linda Schwab
United States

 

war zone
his daughter weaves
a magic carpet

Ivan Georgiev
Germany

 

dreams come true very often
than you think –
spring roses

Ram Chandran
India

 

the dream i dreamt dreams me back

Vijay Prasad
Patna, India

 

first telescope…
my dreams
over the moon

Laurie Greer
Washington, DC

 

que sera sera
letting go of
her childhood dream

Minal Sarosh
Ahmedabad, India

 

I dream of peace
walking in Dad’s footsteps
wartime refugee

Vivien Eliades
Brighton, UK

 

storage room
gently wiping cobwebs
from dad’s old hat

Al Gallia
Lafayette, Louisiana

 

full moon
paper cranes come alive
in his dreams

Rehn Kovacic
Mesa, AZ

 

the hanging basket
dreams the grip of its roots
in soil

J E Jeanie Armstrong
Canterbury UK

 

almost sixty years old
and I still don’t know what
I will do when I grow up

Maria Tosti
Perugia, Italy

 

his ginger paw
on my shoulder
tiger dreams

Lori Kiefer
United Kingdom

 

share my dream
with the chimpanzee-
bananas

Ruth Happel
United States

 

wild flowers in the yard
a fragment of his dream
about a happy home

Sanjana Zorinc
Bjelovar, Croatia

 

landing gear rattles
opening my eyes
to dream land

A Setthuramiah
Bangalore, India

 

childhood dreams
in my fist
a little bean

Nazarena Rampini
Italy

 

childhood dreams locked away
in a box

Baisali Chatterjee Dutton
India

 

it takes me
on board a spaceship
winter moon

Fatma Zohra Habis
Algeria

 

scented dreams
touch of a rainbow
garden fountain

Bidyut Prabha Gantayat
Bhubaneswar, Bharat

 

distant mountains
the someday
of their summit

Bryan Rickert
Belleville, Illinois

 

to bring the world closer, then
an airline executive now
the sfumato of my dreams

Lakshman Bulusu
Princeton, NJ, USA

 

great expectations the seed that didn’t sprout

Cynthia Anderson
Yucca Valley, California

 

dreams come true
yet, green wild plums in grass

Harold Hanson
Moorhead MN

 

between pools of light
for crowds out in the darkness
isolation tanks

Pamela Klem
Wilton CT

 

within the ocean
a great adventure grows
my future boat

Pris Campbell
U.S.

 

every penstroke
a new dream
blossoms

Elizabeth Shack
Illinois, USA

 

suburb station
a wave to the little boy
driving the train

Herb Tate
Jersey, UK

 

childhood dream
still to climb
Everest

Meera Rehm
UK

 

that dream. . .
red flamenco shoes
stretching time

Carole Harrison
Australia

 

checking off
my bucket list—
a published author

Ruth H. Hermosa
Oriental Mindoro, Philippines

 

walking along
my favorite river
memories float by

John S Green
Bellingham, Washington

 

in a restless sleep
I dreamt you dreaming of me
in which world to wake?

Matt Robison
Bellbrook, Ohio USA

 

dream time returns the present our forever

Rita Melissano
Illinois, USA

 

winter years
all her dreams
leaving together

wanda amos
Australia

 

doors of sleep
where we came from
we will not return

Stoianka Boianova
Bulgaria

 

cyclopean walls –
memories from the future
in mythology

Minko Tanev
Bulgaria

 

reaching down
a female astronaut
touches martian soil

Melissa Dennison
UK

 

evergreen
Palawan hornbills
building nest

Anthony Rabang
Philippines

 

winter solitude
where we planned the future
a frozen blossom

Eva Limbach
Deutschland

 

same wounds
as the years goes by
a fireman

John Francis Alto
Naga City, Camarines Sur, Philippines

 

it came in a dream come true

Marjolein Rotsteeg
The Netherlands

 

winter white —
who was she
supposed to be

Zahra Mughis
Lahore, Pakistan

 

ciottolo d’aria –
piu’ leggero il passo
senza dolore

pebble of air –
lighter the step
without pain

Giuliana Ravaglia
Bologna (Italia)

 

peat bog
yesterday’s dreams
stuck in the mud

Adele Evershed
Wilton, Connecticut

 

flying high
the child now tethered
growing up

Tracey Foster
UK

 

my memoir
every page
is blank

Valentina Ranaldi-Adams
Fairlawn, Ohio USA

 

transcendent longing
tethering forgotten dreams
reawakening

David Hoffmann
Ashland, Oregon USA

 

winter whiteout
a snowy owl preens
in my dream

Ann Sullivan
Massachusetts USA

 

half-built sandcastle
the tide rearranges
our plans

Nalini Shetty
Mumbai,India

 

simple joy
uncomplicated
appreciation

Kathleen Mazurowski
Chicago, IL

 

nightmares of bombs
hitting my home–
peace the dream

Nancy Brady
Huron, Ohio

 

still foraging
the small joys of life
winter mushrooms

Rashmi VeSa
Bengaluru, India

 

parent child beloved pet
dream many twilight moments
smiling together

Herb Goldsmith
Bastrop TX

 

starlight
catching our dreams
with open eyes

Jonathan English
Washington, DC

 

moonrise
up up
and away

Susan Farner
USA

 

first grandchild Sammy
born on January third-
a dream come true

Marius Alexandru
Chicago, Illinois, USA

 

counting
the rings of a tree
adolescence

Mason Asakura
California, USA

 

from a stepping stone
to another
to reach the moon

Cristina Povero
Italy

 

yearning
to circle the moon
kindergarten astronaut

Colette Kern
Southold NY

 

dreams of glory…
table #5
needs more salt

Margie Gustafson
Lombard, IL USA

 

last sunset…
the universe
rolls in

Pippa Phillips
United States

 

time loop
two wands
from a silver hand

Aja Rhianna
United States

 

cherry on the cake
donning the stethoscope
just like dad

Amoolya Kamalnath
India

 

cherry blossom dream
I wake up
to stalled peace talks

Archie G. Carlos
Minnesota

 

holding my son
letting go
of my twenties

Kimberly Kuchar
Austin, Texas

 

new beginning
shedding the past
babbling brook

Sigrid Saradunn
Bar Harbor Maine

 

waiting for
the movie to start…
closed eyelids

Stephen J. DeGuire
Los Angeles, CA

 

this time
i butter my bagel
on the right side

wendy c. bialek
usa

 

ebb tide —
the fine line between
dreaming & reality

kris moon kondo
Kiyokawa Village Kanagawa Japan

 

daydreamer
inside an old box
notebooks of poems

Lorelyn Arevalo
Bombon, Philippines

 

outdoor rink
turning darkness
into dreams

Morag Elizabeth Humble
Ottawa, Canada

Join us next week for Sherry’s & Zoe’s commentary on additional poems…

Bios:

Guest Editor Zoe Grant, a well-published 10-year-old haiku poet from New Zealand, is the co-author and illustrator of Bat Girl (2020) at the age of 6, and illustrator for Being Katherine (2023) at the age of 9. Her haiku “snowy night” 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, crafts, singing, playing the flute, ballet and writing poetry. She co-hosts the International Rengay Gatherings (https://www.artsinfinitypress.com/irg) 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 read 250 haiku and other short form poems during the 2022 International Scriabin 150 Festival, and was the judge for two haiku competitions, the 2023 Sri Lankan Haiku Contest and 2023 KM100NZ Haiku Competition (junior category). Zoe is the host of “Haiku Journey”, where she interviews haiku poets and journal editors from around the globe since January 2023. Follow Zoe’s projects at www.linktr.ee/zoe.grant and listen to her interviews at Sherry’s Next Golden Age Radio (https://www.artsinfinitypress.com/13point10).

Guest Editor Sherry Grant is a Taiwan-born New Zealand classical concert pianist, cellist, poet, author, translator, radio broadcaster and festival organiser. Her own poetry writing journey started in June 2020, with her youngest daughter Zoe. Since 2021 this mother-daughter duo has been promoting short form poetry by co-editing several journals, presenting at haiku conferences (2020 Haiku Society of America conference and 2022 Haiku Down Under conference) and organising poetry workshops. As a musician, Sherry plays multimedia concert tours around the world (2022 USA/Canada, 2023 Thailand/HK/Taiwan/NZ, 2024 Brazil/Argentina/Chile). 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 has organised many international music/arts/poetry festivals including the 2022 International Scriabin 150 Festival, the 2023 KM100NZ Festival for Katherine Mansfield’s centenary and is planning the International Scriabin 2025 Festival and the 2026 International Dialogues Down Under Festival to curate New Zealand and Australian Culture. In July 2024 Sherry started her own online radio station “Next Golden Age” curating world literature, arts, poetry, haiku and music weekly, sometimes including interviews from her “Creative Hub” and “Finding Scriabin” interview series. Find the radio programme schedule at https://www.artsinfinitypress.com/13point10 and subscribe to listen at https://nextgoldenage.substack.com/ Visit www.linktr.ee/sherrygrant for updates on Sherry’s projects and concert tours. Sherry’s upcoming 2025-2026 concert tours are planned for USA, Taiwan, Australia and Europe, including her own solo piano + haiku lecture-recitals and Vio-Latino (https://www.artsinfinitypress.com/vio-latino) with Dutch violist Emlyn Stam.

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.

Photo Credits:

Banner photo credit: Sherry Grant

Prompt photo credit: by Regina from Pixabay

Haiku Dialogue offers a triweekly prompt for practicing your haiku. Posts appear each Wednesday with a prompt or a selection of poems from a previous week.