HAIKU DIALOGUE – Finding peace and contemplation… in quiet spaces… in a gallery
Finding peace and contemplation… in quiet spaces 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: … in a cloister
In medieval monasteries cloisters were covered walks which linked holy areas with living and working spaces. They provided areas for exercise, meditation and communication. The word ‘cloistered’ has entered the English language, meaning to be kept apart, sequestered or sheltered from the outside world. For a while, Vincent Van Gogh found peace and relief from his demons in the scented gardens of a cloistered courtyard near Saint-Rémy de Provence, where he painted some of his greatest works. Do you have a quiet retreat? I look forward to your haiku inspired by cloisters.
The deadline is midnight Eastern Daylight Time, Saturday March 19, 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Please use the Haiku Dialogue submission form below to enter one or two original unpublished haiku inspired by the week’s theme, and then press Submit to send your entry.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 Marietta’s commentary for in a gallery:
My deep bow to everyone for the delightful images you conjured from this week’s prompt. Favorite artists and works popped up in many haiku. You wrote about personal spaces for reflection and artistic inspiration at home, in galleries and in museums. Sadness at the direction of current world events permeated a number of poems. Projection, transformation and transmutation also featured as you connected with works on a personal level. I’ve written short notes on a few more than usual. I hope you enjoy the selection. Please do add your own thoughts.
hospital corridors
splatter paintings
strangely soothingIngrid Baluchi
North Macedonia
I picture what the poet refers to – those generic paintings or prints with which decorators love to ‛pretty up’ blank wall space or match the decor. In a hospital where so much happens that’s confronting, the choice of anodyne art could be deliberate, appealing to a broad cross-section of people. It may even be more calming in a fraught situation to let one’s attention stray into a splashy color field rather than a figurative work. The poet makes an interesting word choice with ‛splatter’, which not only brings to mind covers of penny dreadfuls, but also resonates with a hospital setting. The smooth assonance in L2 and L3 manages to calm down that lurid impression.
at the helm
the Temeraire’s slow move
into darknessRobert Kingston
Chelmsford, United Kingdom
A fighting ship from the Battle of Trafalgar is on her final voyage, being towed up the River Thames to scrapyards. Going deep into Turner’s iconic painting, the poet writes as if observing the scene from a vantage point aboard the great ship itself, which in the painting appears ghost-like against a clouded background. The haiku uses a measured rhythm, its muted tone suggesting the ship’s gradual fade into history.
handprint painting
from the cave wall
to the fridge doorJohn Hawkhead
UK
Hand stencil paintings in caves located in Australia’s Kimberley region are believed to date back to 40,000 years BCE, although this has not been confirmed by radiocarbon dating. Certainly there is clear evidence that people have created art since prehistoric times. A preschooler’s artwork of handprints on butcher’s paper proudly clipped under fridge door magnets represents a nicely visual link between modern humanity and our ancestors.
in the gilded gallery
I let my hair down
Pre-RaphaeliteMargaret Tau
New Bern, North Carolina
In this haiku, “Pre-Raphaelite” conjures knights in shining armour, caparisoned palfreys, beauties with flowing auburn tresses and the Lady of Shalott on her doomed voyage to Camelot. Many paintings from this period portrayed determined women with strong features, a contrast to more delicate earlier depictions of femininity. The poet’s instinctive reaction to these lush paintings could be literal, or visceral.
winter
at the art gallery
a monochrome exhibitOlivier Schopfer
Geneva, Switzerland
This haiku recalls a late January visit I made to MoMA, in New York City. It had snowed the night before. While the art on show was brilliantly colorful, I happened to glance out into the gallery’s courtyard, where leafless trees and sculptural furniture created an outdoor scene in black and white, an exhibit worthy of a fine art photograph. The poet has used the device of a pivot line, enabling L2 to be read with either L1 or L3.
the girl’s watercolors
in all rooms
my museumMircea Moldovan
România
I was drawn to this gentle haiku – yesterday my young granddaughter made me a gift of one of her paintings. This haiku encapsulates the loving bond between generations. The poet is surrounded in their own home by works of art they love. No need for art in galleries, the joys are in every room.
sculpture gallery
the innumerable moods
of a stoneMona Bedi
Delhi, India
Sculptors choose to work with many different kinds of stone, from marble to sandstone, granite, porphyry, rhyolite, chalcedony, jasper, alabaster and others. Artists exploit inherent qualities such as color, venation, hardness and grain for their special characteristics. As the poet writes, stone can convey expressive variety, from the relaxed tranquillity of Canova’s marble “Pauline” to the contorted agonies of the “Laocoön”. This haiku also brings to mind how sculptors ‛read’ stone. In Florence’s Accademia Gallery looking at the “Prigioni” (Prisoners), an art historian once told me how Michelangelo could see figures in the stone he was about to carve. He is reputed to have said, “I saw the angel in the marble and carved until I set him free”.
into the depths
of O’Keeffe’s flowers
I am a beePat Davis
NH USA
So easy to disappear into the monumental, close-focus flowers of Georgia O’Keeffe. Here the poet is drawn into a corolla’s throat, assuming another form of being in the mythological sense. Transformation and transmutation have often been the subject of haiku and poetry in general. In this haiku there is the sense of the poet becoming one with the flower, and one with the painting and artist – a calm separation from self which will last as long as the poet wishes.
& here are the rest of the selections:
online gallery . . .
the magnification scope
not big enoughDeborah Karl-Brandt
Bonn, Germany
gallery empty
an art museum guard
studies the ceilingRichard Straw
Cary, North Carolina
spring collections
touring Chelsea in my knock-offs
to people watchAsh Lippert
South Carolina, USA
minimalists’ hall
listening to dead artists
whisperm shane pruett
Salem, OR, USA
pipe exhibition—
am I feeling the smell of
the tobacco smoke?ljoša Vuković
Croatia, Šibenik
my gaze turns
to a moving portrait
framed by the doorJ E Jeanie Armstrong
Canterbury UK
paisley pattern . . .
grandpa always had
a blue handkerchiefRonald Degler
United States
vanitas—
the fruit i met as a boy
untouchedAlan Peat
Biddulph, United Kingdom
impressionist painting
am I part of the picture
or is it a part of meStephen A. Peters
Bellingham, WA
walls laden with enigma Mona Lisa
Teji Sethi
India
I look into
the painting, and only
see myselfSarah Davies
Bedford, UK
silent gallery . . .
Rembrandt’s portrait smiles
at a squeaky shoeMarilyn Ward
Lincolnshire UK
hidden
in the depths of his shadow
aquarelle haikuRoberta Beach Jacobson
Indianola, Iowa, USA
the old pond—
Renoir’s brushstrokes
on water liliesil vecchio stagno—
le pennellate di Renoir
sulle ninfeeDennys Cambarau
Sardinia, Italy
in the gallery
Mona Lisa’s eyes
lock with my eyesAnita Bacha
Mauritius
art gallery tour
I linger longer
in the Blue Boy’s gazeJackie Chou
Pico Rivera California USA
blown glass our fragile world
marilyn ashbaugh
Gulf Stream, Florida
a docent
details finer points
of SeuratStephen J. DeGuire
Los Angeles, CA
Gogh display
i walk a lost night
in the old bootsSubir Ningthouja
Imphal, India
Marilyn Monroe
in Warhol’s silkscreen
a pink sighTeiichi Suzuki
Japan
not a Van Gogh
still, sunflower seeds
take root in my heartGloria Whitney
Findley Lake, NY USA
a blue dot
centred on a blank canvas . . .
thought blotterNeera Kashyap
India
gallery visit
at ballerina’s painting a girl
in wheelchairMirela Brăilean
Romania
quiet museum—
the air fills with cries
of waterlooHla Yin Mon
Yangin, Myanmar
spring photo
the scent of her
over my shoulderChittaluri Satyanarayana
Hyderabad, India
Van Gogh—
my gaze plunges into
the big blueSlobodan Pupovac
Zagreb, Croatia
my feelings for her—
hanging on the wall
abstract artRavi Kiran
India
equine therapy
I wrap myself
in WhistlejacketTracy Davidson
Warwickshire, UK
as if a breeze
touched my skin—
Water LiliesHelga Stania
Switzerland
childhood memories
retrieved from long ago—
Norman RockwellPenny Harter
Mays Landing, NJ
all over the gallery
hanging
ekphrastic haikuRam Chandran
India
deep contemplation
at the Guggenheim
alone with a RothkoRehn Kovacic
Arizona
loosening brush strokes still life in the vase
Lorraine A Padden
San Diego, CA USA
practising in front of Cézanne’s ‘Dish of Apples’ my own still life
Amanda White
Morvah, Cornwall, UK
portraits
of women disfigured by war . . .
the childrenAlfred Booth
Colombes, France
stained glass Ukraine
free spaces filling
with crimson fritRichard Matta
San Diego, California
a horse neighs
without a sound
picture gallery参观美术馆
人语马嘶无声响
只因在画上can guan mei shu guan
ren yu ma si wu sheng xiang
zhi yin zai hua shangXiaoou Chen
Kunming, China
Vincent
see what they did
to SunflowersKeith Evetts
Thames Ditton UK
asked to leave the gallery darkling thrush
simonj
UK
painted mazes—
losing your train
of thoughtShrehya Taneja
Delhi, India
art gallery
the rush of dopamine
as I walk inNeena Singh
Chandigarh, India
art gallery
the curve of her neck
against the windowArvinder Kaur
Chandigarh, India
coloring
the grey side of me
gallerymewarnai
sisi kelabuku
galeriChristopher Calvin
Kota Mojokerto, Indonesia
meditation i whisper the artist’s whispering
Devoshruti Mandal
India
cosy landscapes
until I notice a cloud
shaped like a tankSheila Barksdale
Gotherington, England, U.K.
renovation work—
among master paintings
smell of wet paintNicole Pottier
France
in the gallery
a trace of pain in the pictures
Frida KahloGordana Kurtović
Croatia
watching
backs of heads look
at the mona lisaPaul Millar
UK
Victory Boogie Woogie—
feeling the rhythm
through my eyes(painting by Piet Mondriaan, Kunstmusem, The Hague)
Anna Maria Domburg-Sancristoforo
The Hague, Netherlands
nude
in the background
museum selfieBryan Rickert
Belleville, Illinois USA
the whisper of footsteps from
the gallery’s polished floors . . .
ars longaLaurie Greer
Washington, DC
the piercing silence
of The Scream
storm outside galleryMeera Rehm
UK
storm clouds—
sheltering with Renoir
by The UmbrellasDorothy Burrows
United Kingdom
my first—
Rédon sweeps me
into his heartPris Campbell
US
Picasso’s Guernica
all the colours of life
in black and whiteVandana Parashar
India
still life
away from war
still lifeFirdaus Parvez
India
museum visit
waiting for her beside
the ceramics exitAlex Fyffe
Texas, USA
alone
at the window
in a Hopper paintingNazarena Rampini
Italia
fifth solo show—
there I am again
hiding in the backMark Meyer
Mercer Island, WA USA
sumi-e brush strokes—
the herons fly
on rice paperJulia Guzmán
Córdoba, Argentina
gallery opening
the pictures watch us
sample wine and cheeseLorraine Schein
Queens, NYC
cherry blossom
the new Picasso exhibit
of his rose periodMarianne Sahlin
Sweden
mixed border . . .
in a bag of seeds
Monet’s gardenAngiola Inglese
Italia
after hours
the Rembrandt steps out
from the canvasCynthia Anderson
Yucca Valley, California
their muse
on canvas
for generationsMargaret Mahony
Australia
washrooms?
Ma’am, turn left after
the dinosaur’s tailMaxianne Berger
Outremont, Quebec
“Monet in Chicago”
shelter from the
COVID stormSusan Farner
USA
landscape painting
what’s at the end
of the roadCarol Reynolds
Australia
self portrait
my reflection
among the irisesBona M. Santos
Los Angeles, CA
Klimt
I tilt my head
to the rightPeggy Hale Bilbro
Alabama
looking at you
from every angle
in the galleryPippa Phillips
Kansas City, MO
gallery silence
I take a closer look
at the birdsMinal Sarosh
Ahmedabad, India
the oneness of us all bush gallery
Madhuri Pillai
Australia
another empty page
in my sketchbook
still lifeLouise Hopewell
Australia
moth
in the museum
closing timeRon Scully
Burien WA
pointillism
making sense of the world
dot by dotJonathan Roman
United States
gallery wall
three queens hang
askewMariel Herbert
California, USA
Turbine Hall—
ghosts of machines
in silent aweJenny Shepherd
London
crowds
blocking the Mona Lisa
yet she smiles at meGreer Woodward
Waimea, HI
stealing
from the art gallery . . .
inspirationC.X. Turner
United Kingdom
empty space
on a gallery wall
framing my lossPatricia Hawkhead
Bradford on Avon, UK
the cracks
in Monet’s clouds
indoor voicesTim Cremin
Massachusetts
gallery garden
the new installation
of a paper waspJames Gaskin
Fukushima, Japan
modern art
a sunray falls upon
the dead flyEva Limbach
Germany
art gallery—
the war stays out
for a momentGalleria d’arte—
la guerra resta fuori
per un istanteMaria Teresa Piras
Serrenti – Italy
gallery ginko . . .
the Zen garden painting
my go-to museJoe Sebastian
Bangalore, India
art gallery—
trying to avoid
more scenes of warHelen Ogden
Pacific Grove, CA
at the door
of the dream I spin
the colour wheelGeetha Ravichandran
India
pioneer women—
a gallery
of hard linesChad Lee Robinson
South Dakota, USA
galleria d’arte . . .
sulla mia tela vuota
mille girasoliart gallery . . .
on my empty canvas
a thousand sunflowersGiuliana Ravaglia
Bologna Italia
leaving The Met—
Gertrude Stein
hanging on my shoulderAdele Evershed
Wilton, United States
revisiting
Sheher in the City
annual expo(The older part of Lahore, or Old Lahore, is colloquially known as the Sheher to us locals. Sheher is actually the Urdu word for “City”.)
Zahra Mughis
Lahore, Pakistan
art museum date
the water lilies
make quite an impressionSari Grandstaff
Saugerties, NY, USA
masters’ paintings—
in every brushwork
points of escapequadri d’autore—
in ogni pennellata
punti di fugaLuisa Santoro
Rome, Italy
twelve lines
in the Matisse nude
did he count them?(“nu assis, jambes croisées II,” 1941-42)
Barrie Levine
Massachusetts, United States
another girl
with a pearl earring
—shadows in lightSushama Kapur
Pune, India
winged horses soar
in sugar plum clouds . . .
refrigerator artValentina Ranaldi-Adams
Fairlawn, Ohio USA
art gallery
among masterpieces
a cobwebFlorin C. Ciobica
Romania
back street gallery . . .
afternoon sun spotlights
a faded portraitAl Gallia
Lafayette, Louisiana USA
Moulin de la Galette—
I drop my heavy heart
and join the danceCristina Povero
Italy
solo exhibition—
gazing at the work
gazing at the priceKeiko Izawa
Japan
a painting
getting the last word
gallery silenceAnn K. Schwader
Westminster, CO
locked in
the scream
the scream . . .Anna Yin
Ontario, Canada
opening night
they came to be seen
instead of seeingGenie Nakano
Gardena, CA
an hour lost
finding myself in O’Keeffe’s
“Rust Red Hills”Sharon Martina
Warrenville, IL USA
museum basement—
the laughing buddha makes room
for a bog bodyAlex Lubman
Morgantown, WV USA
artist reception
subject and object
switch placesJenn Ryan-Jauregui
Tucson, Arizona USA
each brushstroke
on the canvas—
a window half openLafcadio Orlovsky
USA
museum round
touching the snowman
that never meltsSandra St-Laurent
Yukon, Canada
poets’ audio tour
my rooftop lion roars
from its glass caseKath Abela Wilson
Pasadena, California
humbled
in this hushed hall I bow low
Yukei Teshima(Shosho, a contemporary form of Japanese calligraphy was developed in the 1950s by the master calligrapher, Yukei Teshima. A gallery in The Hikaru Memorial Museum in Takayama, Japan is dedicated to his art.)
Susan Rogers
Los Angeles, California
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.
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 34 Comments
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I’m no longer certɑin the place you’re getting your informatіon, however
good topiⅽ. I must spend a while learning more
or figuring out more. Ꭲhanks for excellent info I used to be on the lookout for this info for my mission.
Beautiful haiku and very interesting your comments. Happy with the selection of my haiku. Thanks, Marietta
I agree. I very much enjoyed the selection of this week’s haiku. Thank you Marietta for including mine as well.
Thanks for including my poem among this week’s selection, Marietta.
I especially appreciated Alan Peats’
vanitas–
the fruit i met as a boy
untouched
which made me think about the passage of time, and our ability to create works of art that outlast us and speak to humanity through generations (I loved the subtle sensuality and how the speakers’ grappling with their mortality is highlighted in the use of the lowercase ‘i’)
and marilyn ashbaugh’s
blown glass our fragile world
which was beautifully light and ephemeral, and made me think about the environmental impact of glass blowing.
Thank you for the prompts and all your work putting these issues together!
A lovely selection of haiku in response to another enjoyable challenge. I was delighted to have a poem included. Many thanks, Marietta, for your insightful commentary and to Kj and Lori for all your input. Congratulations to all the poets featured. Of the many I admired, I particularly enjoyed the humour in…
silent gallery . . .
Rembrandt’s portrait smiles
at a squeaky shoe
Marilyn Ward
Lincolnshire UK
I loved the theatricality of this poem. Fab!
Every week I am so inspired by this community of world wide poets. It’s exciting to share my love of haiku with so many talented individuals. Your prompts are wonderful, Marietta, as is your commentary. Thank you, thank you.
Beautiful haiku. Thank you for including mine 🙂
Marietta, thank-you for publishing my haiku. It is always a pleasure to have a haiku selected. Congratulations to everyone!
Delighted to read the beautiful collection of haiku on the prompt. Thanks Marietta for including my dopamine rush! Your commentary on the selected haiku is interesting and educative. I am going back again and again to read it. Congratulations to all poets whose haiku are featured.
Thank you. Marietta, for publishing my poem. I was tickled to see it as it is one of my favorites that I’ve written so far. I’m rather new and it gives me the encouragement to keep writing. 😊
A couple caught my attention with their repetition:
still life
away from war
still life
Firdaus Parvez
India
This is so good– the repetition semantically displaces the fragment and makes you reassign its meaning, super cool.
locked in
the scream
the scream . . .
Anna Yin
Ontario, Canada
Another case where repetition makes you reconsider the meaning of the fragment– here, from picture to what is depicted.
Really interesting!
Thank you Pippa 🙂
Thank you Pippa for your comments. Cheers!
Also thank Marietta for the prompt and selecting mine. Congrats to all of us!
stealing
from the art gallery . . .
inspiration
/
C.X. Turner
United Kingdom
/
I often steal inspiration from different places for the haiku I write. Kudos to C. X. Turner for a well-written haiku.
Thank you, Valentina
A real bumper crop of inspired work this week – thanks Marietta for the prompt and selecting mine for comment.
I really like this clever play on words:
stealing
from the art gallery . . .
inspiration
C.X. Turner
United Kingdom
Thank you so much, John
Thank you so much, Marietta, for your lovely comments! And congratulations to all!
Honoured and delighted to have my poem selected for commentary with my thanks to you, Marietta!
As it happens, this past fortnight for me has been filled with hospital visits, and the “splatter” paintings I mention are real and individual works of art, which have helped to draw the mind away from concerns – both of personal health and the current state of the wider-world.
I recall a time when hospitals, for reasons of hygiene, were painted plain shades of pastel, usually two-tone, where only the rubbings of backs of waiting chairs provided a source of imagination and mental stimulation. Perception has moved on since then, in a positive direction.
Wonderful!
So many interesting references!
A real best of museums, I should say! Now I want to visit them all!
Thank you- merci- for including my never-melting snowman in your selection! It’s a fresh discovery from le Musée des beaux-arts de Québec! I really enjoyed your selection! What a tour!
A rich crop of thoughtful and thought-provoking poems; and excellent commentary. I’ve read ’em twice already. Thanks for all the work you and the team do, Marietta.
I too am so thrilled to have my haiku included here this week. Congratulations to all the poets. Thank you Marietta! I was excited to have a haiku prompt of a place I have actually visited (The Clark). I was there for a Monet exhibit many years ago and that inspired my haiku. I very much appreciated these two haiku:
another girl
with a pearl earring
—shadows in light
Sushama Kapur
the cracks
in Monet’s clouds
indoor voices
Tim Cremin
Massachusetts
Pune, India
Thank you, Sari Grandstaff!
Thank you Marietta for selecting mine and providing a succinct commentary. Turner did so much for painting such scenes as light, fog and quality sea faring in watercolour and oils.
I have stood in front of this one several times, each time seeing different perspectives.
Congratulations to all poets, it’s always a pleasure to read your poems.
As always a big thank you to KJ and Lori for the work they do in keeping the thread alive.
Thank you Marietta, so pleased to be included, loved the prompt this week.
Congratulations to all poets.
Marietta, thank-you for publishing my haiku. It is always a pleasure to have a haiku selected. Thank-you to both the poets who were selected and those who were not for your efforts.
Double space before darkling please.
thanks for letting us know – hope it looks the way you intended now! cheers, kj
TY. Is it the entry form or a transcription error?
I believe it is a single space on the form – a lot of the formatting doesn’t come through – perhaps this was an auto-correct? In any case, feel free to include a note with any poem that has special formatting & we will do our best… & we can make corrections later, as well… thanks, kj
Happy to have a poem included. Thank you, Marietta!
Thank you Marietta, for including my poem this week. Your reviews are simply superb.
Congratulations to everyone – I loved this week’s prompt and am very happy to see my poem in the Comments Section – Thank you, Marietta!
Thrilled to have a poem included. Thank you, Marietta!