HAIKU DIALOGUE – Going for a Walk – magnificent trees – long list

Going for a Walk with Guest Editor Deborah Karl-Brandt

The late Buddhist monk and peace activist Thich Nhat Hanh could see water in all its transformations. Water in the form of a cloud would soon become rain, a river, the sea, and it would help grow plants and trees. The trees would flourish and become paper on which the haijin would write their poetry, so that the cloud (water) would eventually be contained within the poetry itself. Nothing can exist by itself. Let’s take a walk together to follow the different paths of water and see where they will lead us.

Below is Deborah’s selection of poems on the topic of magnificent trees:

child’s play
the frog limps back
into the woods

Alex Fyffe
United States

 

ungrounded
naming all the trees
I know by heart

Allyson Whipple
St. Louis, Missouri

 

a loud roar beyond
the crocodile bark tree
dusk in the forest

Amoolya Kamalnath
India

 

green lake-
the maple whispers a lullaby
to the wandering moon

Anica Marcelić
Zaprešić, Croatia

 

a sapling then…
generations enjoy
the shade of this banyan

Anjali Warhadpande
India

 

.komorebi
all that still
……….is

Anju Kishore
India

 

a breath of pine…
entering the forest
enters me

Anne Fox
USA

 

spring sunrise …
how the oak swells
with birdsong

Annie Wilson
Shropshire, UK

 

under veil of moonlight the nakedness of cymbal

Arvinder Kaur
Chandigarh India

 

homeward bound
the tree outside my window
bursts into birdsong

Baisali Chatterjee Dutt
Kolkata, India

 

the earth moist
with leaf cover
dad’s baritone

Barrie Levine
United States

 

sparrow hawk
leaving the pine wood
scattering rain

Brian Kershaw
Yorkshire, England

 

even for the pear
tree split by the storm
blossom season

Bryan Rickert
Belleville, Illinois, USA

 

windfall fruit
the roundness
of belonging

C.X. Turner
UK

 

bark shedding
the leopard tree
changes its spots

Carol Reynolds
Australia

 

Mother maple
doula winds
deliver her seedlings

Caroline Giles Banks
Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA

 

Lone trail runner
high-fiving
the trees

Caroline Ridley-Duff
UK

 

blackberries
a brown bear
tastes first

Cezar Ciobica
Romania

 

giant tree
the sloth arrives at the top
a week behind time

Chen Xiaoou
Kunming, China

 

distant branches
tickling
the moon

Cindy Putnam Guentherman
Loves Park, IL, USA

 

sudden wholeness –
I feel blood in the roots
sap in my veins

Cristina Povero
Italy

 

in the forest
of the night
tiger PJs

Cynthia Anderson
Yucca Valley, California

 

a mouse resting in the shade of a bonsai

Dan Campbell
Virginia

 

midnight in the glade –
a stag holds between its horns
the moon

Dan C. Iulian
Romania

 

at every step
another part of me . . .
fog in the forest

Daniela Misso
Italy

 

small i in the midst of redwood trees

Daya Bhat
India

 

favorite tree
the bear satisfies
an itch

Debbie Sterling
Oregon, USA

 

after the wildfire –
first heron
in the banyan tree

Deborah A. Bennett
Illinois USA

 

a willow
drapes over the fishes & me
the river bank

Dinah Power
Haifa, Israel

 

poison oak
hugging the redwood
a mistake

Eavonka Ettinger
Long Beach, CA

 

the oak tree
with a red paint mark –
summer’s end

Eva Limbach
Germany

 

around a young tree
creeping ivy towards the sun
the fateful friend

Goda Virginija Bendoraitienė
Lithuania

 

morning fog
sound of trees dripping
on fallen leaves

Govind Joshi
Dehradun, India

 

father’s family tree –
one branch of it
points to me

vaders stamboom –
één tak ervan
wijst naar mij

Guido De Pelsmaeker
Belgium

 

wooded path
I stop to hug
another tree

Helen Ogden
Pacific Grove, CA

 

forest silence broken
the chittering
of a startled squirrel

Ingrid Baluchi
North Macedonia

 

a broken branch…
buds still growing
on it

Ivan Ivančan
Zagreb, Croatia

 

taking the long way
to my volunteer job
falling magnolias

Jackie Chou
United States

 

flame of the forest
she picks fire with
bare hands

Jahnavi Gogoi
Canada

 

mother’s love of woods
beyond any description ~
sacred legacy

Jean Tubridy
Tramore, Co. Waterford, Ireland

 

your tiny leaves
fan the flames of my heart–
gingko love

Jennifer Gurney
US

 

stray sparks
the aspen billows
in wind

Jerome Berglund
Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States

 

forest the breeze of shadows bathing

John S Green
Amman, Jordan

 

council cutbacks
the town’s oldest cherry tree
felled for firewood

John Hawkhead
United Kingdom

 

class play
the tall girl typecast
as the oak

John Pappas
USA

 

wind after rain petrichor through heart and soul

John Zheng
Mississippi

 

misty forest
whispering trees
show me the way

Jovana Dragojlovic
Belgrade, Serbia

 

one hand pressed
against the oldest oak
mother’s last pulse

Kathabela Wilson
USA

 

growing up —
the different seasons
in an almond tree

Kavitha Sreeraj
Hyderabad, India

 

bamboo grove path
regular footsteps
of the monk

Keiko Izawa
Japan

 

our old tree
bowed with apples
its unseen heart-rot

Keith Evetts
Thames Ditton UK

 

light touches the forest floor . . .
I remember to breathe

Kimberly Kuchar
Austin, Texas

 

an old oak
during the full moon–
last photo

Krzysztof Kokot
Poland

 

forest bathing
we inhale and exhale
the sounds of earth

Lakshmi Iyer
India

 

orb web
the heart of a snag oak
still beating

Laurie Greer
Washington DC

 

alone in the woods
swarmed by a gang
of turkeys

Lev Hart
Calgary, Canada

 

forest walk
I learn to be
more tree

Lori Kiefer
UK

 

rainforest
a crimson heath climbs
to the light

Lorraine Haig
Tasmania, Australia

 

gnarled roots
the view from
a bedroom window

Lorraine A Padden
San Diego, CA

 

hiding high in a tangle
of lilypilly branches
children’s laughter

Louise Hopewell
Australia

 

eye-opener in the grove
fiddlehead fern…
her mournful April

Luciana Moretto
Treviso Italy

 

childhood game
our home base
always an oak tree

Madeleine Kavanagh
United States

 

that one idea
growing into a forest
banyan tree

Madhavi Karri
India

 

miles away
the pull of a river red gum —
i smell its breath

Madhuri Pillai
Australia

 

first school play
my daughter is a
magnificent tree

Margie Gustafson
Lombard, IL USA

 

evening wind
willows are revealing
their secrets

Marianne Sahlin
Sweden

 

understory
the birch
speaks first

marilyn ashbaugh
edwardsburg, michigan

 

stumped
trying to write haiku
I go to the pine

Marion Clarke
Warrenpoint, Northern Ireland

 

Texas heatwave
under the shade of a live oak
my parents’ grave

Mark Meyer
Mercer Island WA USA

 

60th reunion
the cottonwoods
still whispering

Maxianne Berger
Outremont, QC

 

last maple leaf
i catch it
in my haiku

Meera Rehm
UK

 

Judas trees in flower
the promise
of winter’s end

Mike Fainzilber
Rehovot, Israel

 

deep in the forest
my monkey mind
takes a seat

Mike Stinson
Nebraska, USA

 

autumn’s showcase—
the forest filled with
glowing embers

Milan Rajkumar
Imphal, India

 

gusting wind
a neem tree bursts
into parrots

Mona Bedi
Delhi, India

 

mountain trek —
wherever I look
sound of the waterfall

Muskaan Ahuja
Chandigarh, India

 

wintry skies…
deer walk out of the forest
to feed

Nancy Brady
Huron, Ohio

 

the silent song
of moss-draped trees…
forest trail

Neena Singh
India

 

adoreboretum

Nick T.
Somerset, England

 

sheltering generations
in its embrace
old banyan

Nitu Yumnam
India

 

for a drop of stolen sap
under the shade
of a date palm tree

Padmini Krishnan
United Arab Emirates

 

light breeze
a willow weeps
with me

Patricia Hawkhead
United Kingdom

 

standing below
redwood trees I contemplate
possibilities

Paul Callus
Malta, Europe

 

sizzling sun…
that cool curl of air
beneath tall pines

Pris Campbell
USA

 

temple banyan
the black ants circumambulating
at brahma muhurta

R. Suresh Babu
India

 

backyard mango tree –
chirping sparrow
answers rustling leaves

Ram Chandran
India

 

pine forest
all the furniture
that wasn’t made

Ravi Kiran
India

 

“timberrrr!”
beavers chew
a logger’s next meal

Rhoda Tripp
Allegan, MI, USA

 

picking up
the mystic’s words
tree nuts

Richa Sharma
India

 

a small tent
the sound of wind
in tall trees

Richard Straw
Cary, North Carolina

 

prayers
reaching for the sky
ancient oaks

Rita Melissano
USA

 

weeping willow
intertwined with
my irish twin

Roberta Beary
County Mayo, Ireland

 

the long arms
of an ancient banyan
holding me

Rupa Anand
New Delhi, India

 

spotted fawn
in dappled forest-
invisible

Ruth Happel
United States

 

on the taiga
stunted spruce trees
north wind

Ruth Holzer
Herndon, VA

 

his drunken stumble
up a stairway
dryad’s saddle

Sangita Kalarickal
United States

 

sacred stump
in the old growth forest
we follow the signs

Sari Grandstaff
Saugerties, NY, USA

 

huge tree
twittering his identity
a small bird

Satyanarayana Chittaluri
Kalwakurthy, Telangana, India

 

magickal pine
I gift my cloak
to the forest floor

Sharon Ferrante
Florida, USA

 

giant baobab
telling stories about
mother

Shruti Patel
Switzerland

 

looking beyond
the willow 彼方 so much light
inside the coffin

simonj
UK

 

the carpet
I can’t step on …
jacaranda flowers

Sreenath G.
India

 

autumn forest –
instead of photographs
I take fir-trees cones

Steliana Cristina Voicu
Ploiesti, Romania

 

saving lives
from perches on high
tree sitters

Stephen J. DeGuire
Los Angeles, CA

 

wind bells
whisper of lovers
under tangerine tree

Stoianka Boianova
Bulgaria

 

cicadas stop
wrens taking over
summer bush walk

Subhashini Jayatilake
Sydney, Australia

 

Pando
a whale’s belly quivers
on the beach sand

Subir Ningthouja
Imphal, Manipur, India

 

magnificent tree
bows down in prayer
on an unvisited tomb

Sudha Devi Nayak
Bhubaneswar India

 

sweetgum trees
beauty lost
in the beasts

Susan Farner
USA

 

stone Buddha
under gigantic cedar trees
in meditation

Teiichi Suzuki
Japan

 

heart of the woods
the hedgehog we rescued
returns home

Tracy Davidson
Warwickshire, UK

 

The silence of
a fir forest,
only fungi sigh

Tracey Foster
United Kingdom

 

crisp cold morning
neighbor’s mulberry tree
littering my back yard

Tuyet Van Do
Australia

 

instead of that tree
knowing our June secrets
now a diary

Urszula Marciniak
Poland

 

dense forest . . .
home to the legend
of bigfoot

Valentina Ranaldi-Adams
Fairlawn, Ohio USA

 

summer rain
a few stray branches burst
free from the topiary

Vandana Parashar
India

 

dancing
wind caresses her body
tree shadow

Vicki Vogt
Watertown, MA USA

 

strong winds
the conformed symmetry
of rain trees

Vidya Premkumar
Kerala, India

 

forest walk
i pick myself
from a fallen leaf

Vijay Prasad
Patna, India

 

mango tree
cuckoo’s song deepens
its shade

Vipanjeet Kaur
Chandigarh, India

 

desert palm
missing cool shadow
of banyan

Vishnu Kapoor
Chennai, India

 

campfire sparks flying
falling into the eucalypts
a star

wanda amos
Australia

Join us next week for Deborah’s commentary on additional poems…

Guest Editor Deborah Karl-Brandt lives in Bonn, Germany, with her husband, two rabbits and numerous books. After her PhD studies in Scandinavian languages and literatures, she now works as a freelance author and poet. One of her poems won 2nd place in the 2021 Pula Film Festival Haiku Contest. Her poems have most recently appeared in Prune Juice, Kingfisher, First Frost, Frogpond, Failed Haiku and Tsuridoro. If she is not outside for a long stroll or to do some birdwatching, she is an avid reader who is currently exploring Chinese Xianxia Webnovels.

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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Banner photo credit: Andreas Brandt

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.