HAIKU DIALOGUE – Finding peace and contemplation… at a tea party

Finding peace and contemplation… with Guest Editor Marietta McGregor

At times in our lives, fast-moving events of our day-to-day existence may become overwhelming. Between work and family responsibilities, daily needs and doomscrolling, days rush by in a breakneck blur and we sometimes end the week with a sense of ‘where did that go?’ We’re surrounded by the wonders of our shared universe. Maybe it’s time to become immersed in the enjoyment of one aspect of this spectacular world which amazes, delights and refreshes us. We can marvel at the night sky or clouds by day, cheer a ladybug as it climbs a twig and opens its wings, dangle our feet in a cool river, rest in a tree’s benevolent shade, stroke velvety green moss, smell ozone freshness at the coast, crunch through frosty grass, listen to morning birdsong, taste a last autumn apple. Small pauses in quotidian life may be devoted to living slower, using every sense, and sharing our pleasure through poetry. Simple gifts.

Each week for the next few weeks there will be a photographic prompt on the theme of ‘Finding peace and contemplation. . .’ with images capturing moments when we might seek inspiration if the going gets tough. I look forward to reading your personal response to the moments you’ve discovered.

next week’s theme: … exercising in a park

Exercise can be as serious or as casual as you wish. Sometimes a walk around the block is enough. A friend has a mobility scooter she enjoys using to lap her neighborhood and look at gardens. On a recent visit to a local lakeside park near where I live, there were walkers of all ages with and without dogs, cyclists, runners, kayakers, and children riding scooters and skipping stones. Do you have a favourite place where you like to go to blow away the cobwebs? And a favourite exercise? We look forward to your haiku about finding peace and contemplation while exercising.

The deadline is midnight Eastern Daylight Time, Saturday October 16, 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Please use the Haiku Dialogue submission form below to enter one or two original unpublished haiku inspired by the week’s theme, and then press Submit to send your entry.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 Marietta’s commentary for… at a tea party:

Thank you for your refreshing contributions on the many ways to enjoy a tea party. I savoured the aromas of the teas you brewed up and enjoyed your settings. Some haiku were light-hearted and others serious and reflective, depicting moments when a pause over tea steeping in a familiar cup conjured up memories of times shared with family and friends. Poets relished their first get-together after lockdowns eased, or wrote of solitary moments. From childhood play dates to ceremonial rituals, poetry get-togethers and garden parties, the tang of tea added an extra dimension. And I learned what snickerdoodles are! Please keep writing and submitting, and don’t forget to share your thoughts on your favourite haiku from this week’s selection on the Haiku Dialogue blog page. Thanks again to Kathy, Lori and THF!

his last high tea
my daughter and I
pretending . . .

Anna Maria Domburg-Sancristoforo
The Hague, Netherlands

I found this a very poignant senryu. Line 1 shows us someone who has probably enjoyed high tea often, but now those times may be ending. Lines 2 and 3 set a loving scene of three people sitting together. They could be from three generations or two. The reader doesn’t know where the scene takes place. It could be at home, in a palliative care hospice, or in a favourite café. Wherever it takes place, tea and cakes are served and valiant efforts are being made to keep things everyday and light-hearted just as they have always been. Despite the shadows hinted at in the first line, all can treasure this moment and whatever time they may still have together.

autumn tea party
for the homeless
rain again . . .

Ljiljana Dobra
Croatia

The first line here begins with a kigo so we know what time of the year it is. The days are drawing in and temperatures are dropping. A tea party is being held for town vagrants. Volunteers have baked cakes and are making hot drinks. Briefly, there is the comforting sense that as people come off the street into a warm hall they will find a welcome respite from the elements. But juxtaposed with the warmth and light of the charitable centre, Line 3 comes to an unavoidably dark conclusion – the poor of the city will return to the streets, to the inevitability of cold rain.

open mind the fragrance of tea

Deborah P Kolodji
Temple City, California

The founder of chanoyo, the Japanese Way of Tea, was a Japanese Zen monk called Sen no Rikyū, who became tea master to the samurai nobleman Toyotomi Hideyoshi in 1582. Rikyū introduced a simpler, more austere form of ceremony with rustic utensils and humble settings. He’s believed to have said that the sound of tea splashing into the tea bowl is enough to wash away dust from the mind. After the matcha is poured its scent is released into silence. In the economical five words of this monoku the poet has captured a meditative moment of harmony and calm, when thoughts slow down and the mind is at peace. Everything else recedes and the poet is fully in the moment.

British high tea
the politics
of scones

Christopher Peys
Los Angeles, CA

British (and Australian) scones are round, light crumbly cakes which are split in half, often when warm from the oven, and served with lashings of clotted cream and jam. The transatlantic equivalent, US biscuits, are made with up to three times more butter and may be denser and more flaky than their fluffy British counterparts. This amusing senryu can be read in several ways. I imagine rival cooks squaring up over whose scone recipe is best and lightest, where the best cream tea in England can be had, or whether jam or cream should be added first. In another reading, with recent concerns about supply chain problems being in the news because of both the pandemic and Brexit, the poem may hint that it’s hard to avoid politics in conversation, even at an innocuous afternoon tea gathering.

& here are the rest of the selections:

tea party
the mad hatter
my child and me

Stephen A. Peters
Bellingham, Wa. USA

 

tea for one
letting the oolong
linger longer

Jackie Chou
Pico Rivera, CA USA

 

riverside tea . . .
the muddy flow
of conversations

Jeff Leong
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

 

tea party—
lacquered on the cup
a red maple leaf

Dennys Cambarau
Sardinia, Italy

 

marbled tea bowl—
under the flower pattern
the shape of his hands

Nicole Pottier
France

 

breakfast—
I sing Do Re Mi Fa
So La Tea Do

Aljoša Vuković
Croatia, Šibenik

 

every afternoon
titas gather on zoom
spilling tea

Lorelyn Arevalo
Bombon, Camarines Sur, Philippines

 

oolong tea
talk stretches
into darkness

Alan Peat
Biddulph, United Kingdom

 

tea ceremony
moon an arm’s length
from the tree top

Anitha Varma
Kerala, India

 

long rainy afternoon
snickerdoodles
and tea

Kathleen Vasek Trocmet
Texas USA

 

last page
last sip
lingering taste

Ram Chandran
India

 

tea ceremony
cautiously filtering
my words

Anthony Rabang
Philippines

 

pretend cup
i sip, alone
my pretend tea

Connie Pittman Ramsey
Irving, Texas USA

 

tea party
in and out
aroma of jasmine

Anna Yin
Ontario, Canada

 

remembering
all those parties . . .
pandemic

Deborah Karl-Brandt
Bonn, Germany

 

her 21st
we use the tea set
we never use

Maurice Nevile
Australia

 

licking cream
from our fingers
cumulus clouds

Louise Hopewell
Australia

 

two cups of tea
shared miles apart
FaceTime

Rehn Kovacic
Mesa, AZ

 

tea party
my granddaughter shows how
I must crook my pinky

Gary Evans
Stanwood, Washington

 

tea party . . .
in my cup a mint leaf
smells of spring

Rosa Maria Di Salvatore
Catania Italy

 

mount kanchenjunga
in darjeeling tea steam
a golden shimmer

Subir Ningthouja
Imphal, India

 

a hint of the flavour
in the poet’s renku
spring moon

Lakshmi Iyer
Kerala, India

 

drizzling rain—
in the tea arbor
smell of utensils

Teiichi Suzuki
Japan

 

leaf fall—
a few sips
of green tea

Helga Stania
Switzerland

 

mountain view. . .
tea and one flower
in a cracked vase

Ronald Degler
Harbor City, California

 

tiny tea party
in a tiny cottage
an old couple

Xiaoou Chen
Kunming, China

 

lockdown over . . .
our smaller family
at first tea party

Natalia Kuznetsova
Russia

 

masala chai
half a cup
of dreams

Ravi Kiran
India

 

savoring sips . . .
the time of tea
before mugs

Pat Davis
Pembroke, NH USA

 

early autumn chill
I cradle my cup of tea
in the nursery

Sari Grandstaff
Saugerties, NY

 

tea at the Ritz
reassuring Grandma
her scones are ritzier

Tracy Davidson
Warwickshire, UK

 

the smell of autumn
at a garden birthday party
rose tea

Zdenka Mlinar
Hrvatska

 

green tea
drinking
in the samurai pose

Slobodan Pupovac
Zagreb, Croatia

 

chairs moving in sync . . .
the old man shares his tea
with his wife

Al W Gallia
Lafayette, Louisiana USA

 

moonlight tea
the way the body
changes to silk

Vibeke Laier
Randers Denmark

 

family reunion . . .
mother’s secret recipe
for the best sweet tea

Ed Bremson
USA

 

evening high tea—
eager haikai guests flip
dog-eared notebooks

Milan Rajkumar
Imphal, India

 

toothless grandma
butter tea served in
chipped unmatched cups

(Bhutan trek – the generosity of strangers)

JL Huffman
Blue Ridge Mountains of NC, USA

 

on vintage plates
dad’s favourite meringues—
tea-time wake

Dorothy Burrows
United Kingdom

 

roadside cafe
a little boy balances
a pyramid of teacups

Richa Sharma
India

 

family reunion—
three more empty chairs
this year

Dan Campbell
Virginia

 

fall evening
reading tea leaves
alone

Mariel Herbert
California, USA

 

granddaughter’s
tea party
I eat the pretend cupcake

Margaret Mahony
Australia

 

dawn ritual . . .
brewing prayers
in lopchu

(lopchu – orange pekoe tea – word derived from Lepcha, inhabitants of hilly areas of Darjeeling)

Neena Singh
Chandigarh, India

 

Berlin tea room
decades later
I still say adieu

Alfred Booth
Colombes, France

 

aromatic candle
the green tea
ritually glows

Minko Tanev
Bulgaria

 

child’s play
make believe guests
and pretend tea

Carol Reynolds
Australia

 

daisy petals
decorate a mud pie cake
dolls’ tea set party

Ingrid Baluchi
North Macedonia

 

tea times . . .
the afternoons
we sipped away together

Laurie Greer
Washington, DC

 

drinking tea alone
the weight
of each sip

Hifsa Ashraf
Rawalpindi, Pakistan

 

miles apart
the scent of mother’s cardamom
in my tea

Padmini Krishnan
Singapore

 

lapsang souchong
the smoky aroma
of times long ago

Mark Meyer
Mercer Island WA USA

 

tea time
grandma adds a little
from her flask

Bryan Rickert
Belleville, Illinois USA

 

garden tea party
a jasmine blossom
falls in my cup

Mona Iordan
Romania

 

afternoon tea
I raise my cup
to the hummingbirds

Bona M. Santos
Los Angeles, CA

 

a damselfly floats
through the garden gate
four o’clock tea

Margaret Tau
New Bern, NC

 

family gathering
I hold the teapot
how his mother did

Meera Rehm
UK

 

friends reunited—
from the butterfly teapot
the scent of ginger

Cynthia Anderson
Yucca Valley, California

 

the crack
in my teacup
fingernail moon

Sue Courtney
Orewa, New Zealand

 

tea-party for one—
I fill our red ceramic teapot,
choose the cups we used

Penny Harter
Mays Landing, NJ

 

garden guests
the wallaby
and her joey

Kanjini Devi
The Far North, Aotearoa NZ

 

tea . . .
on the queen’s terrace
scent of jasmine

Robert Kingston
Essex, UK

 

Boston tea party
leaves oversteeped
in salt water

Caroline Giles Banks
Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA

 

Steaming cuppa
making the rounds
amidst poetry

Rashmi Buragohain
India

 

veranda breezes
we sip iced tea
and catch up

Claire Vogel Camargo
USA

 

zoom tea party
each with our own china
and only stories to share

Helen Ogden
Pacific Grove

 

confessional
another cup of chamomile
in the cast iron pot

Lorraine A Padden
San Diego, CA USA

 

grandpa’s tea glass
three sugar cubes
reach the bottom

Barrie Levine
Wenham MA USA

 

late marigold—
things we talk about at tea
and see in leaves

Keith Evetts
Thames Ditton UK

 

garden tea party
even the crow is enjoying
our company

Minal Sarosh
Ahmedabad, India

 

teatime
I brew the memories
of the days gone by

Priti Khullar
India

 

gathering storm
we share potato crisps
with the wind

Neera Kashyap
India

 

cut and thrust
of the cake fork
tea time gossip

Helene Guojah
UK

 

golden anniversary
sipping tea
in her favourite cup

Padma Rajeswari
Mumbai, India

 

missed deadline
my freshly brewed tea
bittersweet

Eva Limbach
Deutschland

 

tea with my dolls
too hot for Baby Bear
too cold for Barbie

Greer Woodward
Waimea, HI

 

children’s tea party
the tiny cups full
of lemonade

Mona Bedi
Delhi, India

 

old neighbour’s birthday
tea for two
with dollops of laughter

Madhuri Pillai
Australia

 

obituary
the kettle whistling
over a blue flame

Tim Cremin
Massachusetts

 

tea in the patio—
at the same time the hummingbird

Julia Guzmán
Córdoba Argentina

 

scent of luck
evaporates from the fine cups
tea pai ceremony

(tea pai is the ritual of serving tea to older family members in Chinese weddings)

Lisbeth Ho
Salatiga, Indonesia

 

dieting
her gaze lingers long
at the samosa

ਡਾਈਟਿਂਗ
ਦੇਰ ਤੱਕ ਟਿਕੀ
ਸਮੋਸੇ ਤੇ ਨਜ਼ਰ

Arvinder Kaur
Chandigarh, India

 

Mothering Sunday
we take it in turns
to pour

Helen Buckingham
Wells, Somerset, UK

 

outdoor buffet—
fallen crumbs a party
for birds

buffet all’aperto—
le briciole una festa
per gli uccelli

Luisa Santoro
Rome, Italy

 

starry sky—
the aroma of tea
still in the room

Maria Teresa Piras
Serrenti, Italia

 

tea cups painted
with roses in full bloom . . .
bone-thin fingers

Priti Aisola
India

 

empty teacup—
what mornings
used to taste like

Pippa Phillips
United States

 

everyone resembles
the garden Buddha . . .
after first sip

Melanie Vance
USA

 

finger sandwiches . . .
for a moment life
stops galloping

B.A. France
Annapolis, MD, USA

 

high tea
stirring scrap of the moon
anticlockwise

Florin C. Ciobica
Romania

 

afternoon tea
dusk filling the cups
to the brim

Cristina Apetrei
Romania

 

son’s tea party
Grandpa and Spiderman
honored guests

Carol Judkins
Carlsbad, CA USA

 

baby shower
she selects the cookie
with pink icing

Valentina Ranaldi-Adams
USA

 

feeling at home—
hard feelings melt
in my cup of tea

Cristina Povero
Italy

 

family album—
the scent of jasmine increases
her absence

Elena Zouain
France

 

too late for coffee
too early for wine
tea time

Charles Harmon
Los Angeles, California, USA

 

bone china—
the way her pinky points
to the sky

P. H. Fischer
Vancouver, Canada

 

afternoon delight
autumn leaves
as we sip the flowers

Didimay D. Dimacali
USA

 

time travel
. . . up the Faraway Tree
into the land of parties

Sushama Kapur
Pune, India

 

amber sunset
the sound of bells
in our wedding tea

Kathabela Wilson
United States

 

serendipi(tea)
behind my mother’s kettle
one last honey stick

Susan Rogers
Los Angeles

Guest editor Marietta McGregor is a fourth-generation Tasmanian who has made her home between Australia’s national capital Canberra and the scenic south coast of New South Wales for over four decades. A lover of the natural world since childhood, she went on to study botany and zoology, and has worked as palynologist, garden designer, science journalist, editor, university tutor, education manager, and grants developer for the national wildlife collection. A photography and travel enthusiast since retiring, she enjoys capturing fine detail of fleeting moments. She came late to haiku, which appealed for its close observation and poetic expression of ephemeral experience. Her haiku, haibun and haiga have been widely published, have won awards and appear in anthologies.

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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