HAIKU DIALOGUE – Finding peace and contemplation… Photo Three
Finding Peace and Contemplation… in small things 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: Photo Four – tiny plant in rock crevice
In the harsh desert country of southwestern U.S.A. plants hang on as best they can. Often a rock crevice will capture a little moisture and provide shady protection against prevailing winds, and this will be enough for a single seed to germinate and put down roots. Grey-foliaged and hairy-leaved plants are well-adapted to dry conditions. The tenacity of this tiny ground cover shrub has to be admired. It has found a small niche where loose gravel and sand have accumulated, and is now big enough to cast its own afternoon shadow. You’re invited to write a haiku about what the image says to you, which may be about finding places for settling down, being nurtured and beginning to grow. Or you may like to write about toughness and resilience.
The deadline is midnight Eastern Standard Time, Saturday February 27, 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Please use the Haiku Dialogue submission form below to enter one or two original unpublished haiku inspired by the week’s theme, and then press Submit to send your entry.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 Photo Three – wind bell with monkey:
Sincere thanks to all poets who responded so creatively to this week’s prompt. You made my task as editor harder, but I’ve greatly enjoyed reading and rereading your work. It seems wind chimes may be loved or disliked for the way their sound insinuates itself into our thoughts. Wind bells ring with both happy and sad memories, reminding some poets of loss, change or times past. To others, they bring calm. Your bells could be bamboo, seashells, glass, stone, personal adornments and more, and you listened to them in many places and moments, including at the coast, at harvest time and in the snow. One impression I gained from your haiku is that the absence of a familiar sound – the moment when the wind drops – is as important to you as the sound itself.
For me as a reader, juxtaposition when used well enhances the resonance of a haiku. I also think effective word choice can strengthen a poem and the most satisfying haiku avoid clichés. For the sound of bells, I tried to look beyond the more common words. No thesaurus can provide the perfect word. Sometimes the simplest word choice is the best.
I hope you enjoy my choices for the week and encourage you to continue the dialogue by highlighting your favourites.
wind chimes—
the tinkle of her anklets
as she lights lampsPriti Aisola
Reading this poem I imagine it to be early evening in an almost silent house, quiet except for faint sounds. A woman who lives there – grandmother, mother, aunt or daughter – may be going from room to room lighting lamps, or walking around a rapidly darkening garden. If she’s in the garden, perhaps she walks quickly to banish the darkness as soon as she can, and her anklets sound like wind chimes as she moves swiftly from lamp to lamp. Here we have an implied but not overt simile, achieved by juxtaposition. It’s a warm domestic scene, with a sense of comfort and familiarity.
beneath the wind bell
this fluttering tanzaku
is set to musicCarol Judkins
Carlsbad, CA, US
I like the combination of the aural and the visual in this delicate haiku. Every July or August, Japan celebrates the seasonal festival called Tanabata. It’s customary to hang wishes inscribed on coloured paper – called tanzaku – from bamboo sticks. The tanzaku with its wish is animated by the wind twirling it, seemingly in time with the wind bell’s sound. One can enjoy the movement and wonder if a dancing wish is more likely to come true. It’s also interesting because the poet appears to use what Dr. Richard Gilbert refers to in his essay The Disjunctive Dragonfly as elemental animism, where the wind by way of the bell is somehow animistically choreographing the dance.
clanking halyards
live on in my wind chimes . . .
forever the seaPris Campbell
Readers who love everything about the ocean, especially those who ‘go down to the sea’ in boats, will recognise the sounds described in this dream-like haiku. They’re made by the ropes and fittings used to hoist the sails of a yacht. When the yacht is berthed, its halyards slap against the mast as the boat rocks at anchor, sometimes changing pitch with a wind shift. Line 1 employs assonance to convey the staccato sounds. Line 2 has a repetitive rhythm. To the poet, the wind chimes sound like being on a yacht and thus transport sailors or would-be sailors to a place which is yearned for – ‘forever the sea’. Sound, like scent, vividly recreates memories, and this haiku demonstrates that.
dawn breeze
rustling through swampgrass
bellbirdsLouise Hopewell
Being Australian, I can’t help loving this. One of Australia’s most beloved classical poems is “Bellbirds” by Henry Kendall, written in 1867. At school we learnt it by heart. Kendall wrote of mountain valleys and knee-deep grasses, steep gorges and rushing creeks. I read the poet’s haiku as a tribute to Kendall’s work. The photo brings to mind birds not human-made bells. The haiku is a shasei (sketch from nature). Bellbirds, also called bell miners, are colonial honeyeaters endemic to southeastern Australian Eucalyptus forests. They live and feed communally near the tops of gum trees and converse with each other nonstop from daylight to dusk with loud ringing ‘tink tink’ calls. Line 2 of the haiku uses sibilants to evoke the sound of wind in a valley’s grasses. Kendall’s poem also uses repetition and assonance. Line 3 of the haiku swings the camera lens up to the treetops and a different sight/sound, for me linking two distinct soundscapes – wind through a swamp and birds calling in the high canopy. I enjoyed the contrast!
below are the rest of the selections:
wind chimes
how calm becomes
visibleDeborah Karl-Brandt
Bonn, Germany
jingling the rhythm
in my monkey mind
stifling chimesLakshmi Iyer
India
dawn darkness . . .
temple bells fleeting
in the mistNisha Raviprasad
light breeze
remembering my mother
the sound of furinAngiola Inglese
wind bell
the way her hands
weave a storyMarilyn Ashbaugh
pensive hour
distant church bells
answering one anotherOlivier Schopfer
Switzerland
silencing
my shakuhachi—
a bamboo wind chimeMilan Rajkumar
Imphal, India
evening calm—
shadow of wind bell
quiveringTeiichi Suzuki
Japan
coming storm
the wind’s alarm
crescendoOrense Nicod
Paris, France
awakening
just as the sun topped the ridge
a single chimeJudt Shrode
Tacoma WA, US
twilight hush . . .
a cow’s bell keeps
the herd on trackHifsa Ashraf
Rawalpindi, Pakistan
homecoming
the sound of the wind bell
under the roofTsanka Shishkova
summer noon
a sleepy butterfly
on the wind bellMirela Brăilean
România
quarantine morning
only the song of wind chimes
fills our empty nestSari Grandstaff
my thoughts
in the wind bell’s silence
iron monkeymartin gottlieb cohen
second dose
getting the monkey
off my backPeggy Hale Bilbro
Huntsville, Alabama, US
no need to ask
for whom it tolls—
our neighbor’s wind chimeSheila Sondik
Bellingham, WA, US
winter storm
the wind chime tangles
untanglesVandana Parashar
isolating in stillness only the wind speaks
Ingrid Baluchi
school bell—
another bullying story
for the diaryHassane Zemmouri
Algiers, Algeria
sudden chimes
a whiff
of the parijatMeera Rehm
sweet tinkling
the sound of rain
on honeysucklesEufemia Griffo
no breeze—
smacking the wind chimes
with a broomDan Campbell
the windchime shedding leaves
Adjei Agyei-Baah
Kumasi, Ghana
nothing
but the chimes
frozen sunriseBryan Rickert
rice offering
evil spirits
flee the jangleSusan Farner
midnight chimes beside your summer seat I await a sign
Marion Clarke
Warrenpoint, Northern Ireland
bright wind chimes—
round and round the garden
grandchildrenDorothy Burrows
closing the cottage
screen door clatter
silenced by the eye-hookBarrie Levine
Wenham MA
memories . . .
among seashells of the furin
another summerricordi . . .
tra le conchiglie del furin
un’altra estateLucia Cardillo
Rodi G.co (FG) Italy
full moon night
the wakefulness
of wind chimesKath Abela Wilson
US
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 24 Comments
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What a lovely sensory experience to read these haiku. Cow bells, wind chimes, anklet chimes, rain. So very rich! There are too many wonderful ones to pick out just a couple kudos to all!
Thank you so much, Peggy. So pleased you’re enjoying the prompts! Best wishes, Marietta
Dear Editor Marietta McGregor:
Thank you for reading my work and your consideration.
Sincerely,
Charles Harmon
Los Angeles, California, USA
making do
with whatever
palo verde
standing tall
waiting for rain
saguaro
Hello Charles! I’m so glad you’re enjoying the posts. I’m delighted to include your haiku. Enjoy reading and please keep submitting. Regards, Marietta.
A lovely selection this week – congratulation to all the poets. Many thanks to Kj and Lori for the administration and to Marietta for a great prompt and for including one of my poems . I have re-read this week’s dialogue more than once and have found so much to admire. One that I particularly enjoyed was…
wind bell
the way her hands
weave a story
Marilyn Ashbaugh
I liked the surprise of this comparison. It beautifully captures the skill with which a good storyteller will use every gesture to great effect. It also reminds us of how most of us use our hands to emphasise a point.
I look forward to reading next week’s column.
Hello Dorothy, so glad you are enjoying the posts! Best wishes, Marietta
twilight hush . . .
a cow’s bell keeps
the herd on track
Hifsa Ashraf
Rawalpindi, Pakistan
Hifsa’s haiku awakens memories in my whole being. Forty years ago I lived in rural south-east Iowa. We were surrounded by fields of soy beans and corn. Occasionally, an old time farmer also kept cows, a small herd of 5 or 10 creatures who supplied a small quantity of milk to local people. As children we were fascinated by Bess, the herd leader and sole bell wearer. When we heard this bell sound in the late afternoon, we knew the other cows would follow her to the barn where Grampa and Grandma would milk them. As often as possible we too rushed to the milk parlor. This poem evokes many sounds when spoken out loud.
The soft sounds produced by tongue and lips flow from the start through the end of the poem portraying a powerful sound and image of the line of cows heading from the pasture to the barn.
Thank you, John for your perceptive commentary. Glad you’re enjoying the posts! Cheers, Marietta
Thank you for selecting my haiku, and congratulations to all other haijins for amazing takes on the prompt.
I especially liked the visual approach in this one, and how the sound is still there.
evening calm—
shadow of wind bell
quivering
Teiichi Suzuki
Japan
Loved your comment, thank you, from Marietta.
I loved all the haikus, but this one really touched me!
wind chimes
how calm becomes
visible
Deborah Karl-Brandt
Bonn, Germany
night
slicing days
into old and new
again… if this is a submission, please use our new submission form above – we don’t accept submissions any other way… & don’t forget to fill in all the fields! thanks, kj
memories . . .
among seashells of the furin
another summer
ricordi . . .
tra le conchiglie del furin
un’altra estate
Lucia Cardillo
Rodi G.co (FG) Italy
Carefree summers seem so long ago now for many of us. Lucia’s poem writes poignantly of happier times which, hopefully, will return in due course as more than just memories.
…
full moon night
the wakefulness
of wind chimes
Kath Abela Wilson
US
I like the touch of anthropomorphism here. Why shouldn’t the wind, or wind chimes celebrate a full moon?
Many to ponder and enjoy this week, and thank you, Marietta, for your comments on those you highlighted.
Thank you for the lovely words, Kath Abela. All the best from Marietta.
Sorry, Ingrid, I should have written ‘about Kath Abela’s poem’. Thank you for commenting. Best wishes, Marietta
a swatch of grey
among desert rocks
tiny leaves
Marilyn – if this is a submission, please use the submission form above! kj
Many thanks to the editors and poets, I look forward to each weekly session.
Hello Dan, and we look forward to to your submission! Thank you very much, Marietta.
Congrats to all poets – this is such a satisfying variety of sounds and images! The commentary with featured poems is a pleasure to read – adding depth and new perspectives. I had to research a few of the foreign terms, but that’s something I enjoy doing. Thanks to all!
Hello Pat! I’m so glad you’re enjoying the dialogue! Thanks, Marietta
Many thanks to guest editor Marietta McGregor for selecting my haiku. Thanks also to Kathy Zajkowski and Managing Editor Katherine Munro for their continuing efforts. Congrats to all the poets.
Thank you for the kind words, Mirela!