HAIKU DIALOGUE – Intoxication – Falling in Love – long list

Intoxication with Guest Editor Deborah Karl-Brandt

It has been with us since time immemorial, and almost all of us have experienced it firsthand: intoxication. Endorphins produced in the body during exercise give us a feeling of happiness known as a “runner’s high,” and once again we are intoxicated. Intoxicants have been used to awaken our spirituality, make us forget physical hardships, or elevate our imagination to unprecedented heights. And yet intoxication has its dark side. In the coming weeks, we want to explore how legal intoxicants affect us, our brains, and our everyday lives. I invite you to join me on a journey into our everyday lives and our brains to explore intoxication.

Below is Deborah’s selection of poems on the topic of Falling in Love:

boy wants to meet girl
who pretends to read a book
plots introduction

Veronica Hosking
Avondale, AZ

 

summer of
our love
raging wildfire

Christopher Seep
USA

 

my fragile ego
that one love-letter
I kept

Tony Williams
Scotland, UK

 

single—
still waiting
for his call

Patricia Carragon
United States

 

natal homing—
my heart flutters back
to you once again

Sathya Venkatesh
Coimbatore, India

 

this morning’s sunrise:
your kind gentle voice brightens
my still cloudy sky

Lorraine Schein
New York

 

Christmas party walking home the first date bride

Robert Kingston
Chelmsford, UK

 

an old couple
fooling around on swings
as lovers do

Randy Brooks
United States

 

holding hands
the cosmos starting
to make sense

Tim Cremin
Massachusetts, USA

 

Between dates –
a forgotten T-shirt
caresses me

Caroline Ridley-Duff
UK

 

Tandav dance
in the forest
elephant in musth

Subir Ningthouja
Imphal, India

 

pillow fort
our knitted fingers
flip on the stars

Tré
Blue Ridge, USA

 

dinner for one
valentines day
just another day

Stephen A. Peters
Bellingham, WA

 

stepping out the lift
the two lovers smile
almost nothing happened

Marie Derley
Ath, Belgium

 

someone like you again
keeps appearing in the crowd –
what spell have you cast?

Goda Virginija Bendoraitienė
Lithuania

 

feather weight
her first letter par avion
to Sir, with love

Ashoka Weerakkody
Colombo, Sri Lanka

 

three of us now —
you, me
and this foolish brain

Padma Rajeswari
Hyderabad, India

 

a summer evening
he watches as she swirls
the straw in her drink

Urszula Marciniak
Poland

 

that smile
reserved
only for me

Tim Chamberlain
Tokyo, Japan

 

her light
could not break
the darkness

Charles Harper
Yokohama

 

first kiss . . .
touching the sky
with our hands

Rosa Maria Di Salvatore
Catania (Italy)

 

loves me not—
more
daisies

Patricia Haddock
United States

 

riding the wave
a hermit crab
dares both antennae

Lorraine A Padden
San Diego, California

 

spring evening
heart to heart
with a pinky promise

De Zoysa Swarna Bopali
Sri Lanka, Colombo

 

after the eclipse—
the ordinary sun
too much to bear

Sandip Chauhan
USA

 

remembering
the love I lost
dappled sunlight

Boryana Boteva
Sofia, Bulgaria

 

wedding vow
bride and groom
in tears

Ibrahim Nureni
Louisiana

 

monsoon ablaze
my heart
in a smithy

Bipasha Majumder (De)
India

 

you lilt my name
the night and I
honeysuckled

Millicent Bee
Virginia

 

wheatish complexion
the mirror announces
not to

Lakshmi Iyer
India

 

a glance
across the room —
starry night

Rashmi Buragohain
India

 

raining blossoms
the brush of his sleeve
against mine

Jackie Chou
United States

 

trying again
to fall in love with you
autumn wind

Eva Limbach
Germany

 

fifty plus years
my heart still races
at her touch

Bryan Sharpe
Louisiana, USA

 

always aflutter
when you’re near
my high-school crush

Joanna Ashwell
UK

 

short circuit —
after his text
toothpaste in the fridge

Elisabetta Castagnoli
Modena – Italia

 

new feelings
between old friends . . .
autumn meadowhawks

Barrie Levine
Massachusetts, USA

 

first movie date
an old ticket stub
in the keep sake box

Keiko Izawa
Japan

 

the thing
I never thought I’d miss
garlic breath

thomas david
United Kingdom

 

empty pillow
now I understand
country music

Morgan Ophir
Sydney, Australia

 

mackerel sky our flickering exchange of gazes

Sheikha A
Dubai, United Arab Emirates

 

blossom breeze
inhaling the breath
of the flautist’s lips

John Hawkhead
UK

 

email lovebirds
dizzy with the turn
of a phrase

Adele Gallogly
Canada

 

vulnerable –
this languorous melody
in each other’s arms

Paul Callus
Malta

 

pheromones –
the Blue Morpho
circles his mate

Katherine E Winnick
United Kingdom

 

remembering
my girlish ways
autumn romance

Terri L. French
Huntsville, AL

 

first rendezvous
crossing the rope bridge
in the wind

Sonam Chhoki
Bhutan

 

the air trembles
with the call of turtledoves—
first love

Minko Tanev
Bulgaria

 

a snowy morning
the unexpected warmth
of burning love letters

Ivan Georgiev
Germany

 

first crush —
the scent of oudh
in my prayer

Vaishnavi Ramaswamy
India

 

old love
still the last piece
for one another

Nitu Yumnam
UAE

 

what the actual stuck together snow woman

simonj
UK

 

dopamine rush
the breeze whispering
a new language

Arvinder Kaur
Chandigarh, India

 

together…
on the dark side
of his smile

Stephanie Bauer
Chelmsford, MA

 

first love…
scrolling through Instagram photos
to delete

Maya Daneva
The Netherlands

 

in love again
poplar fluff
floating through the air

Olivier Schopfer
Geneva, Switzerland

 

love nest
calla lilies twine
with birds of paradise

Cynthia Anderson
Yucca Valley, California

 

the comfort
in your strong arms
a slow simmer

Eavonka Ettinger
Long Beach, CA

 

yellowing letters –
she knows the words
by heart

Daniela Lăcrămioara Capotă
Romania

 

that head over heels feeling
still a mystery
to me

Tracy Davidson
Warwickshire, UK

 

acting cool
the heat
of a handshake

Anne Fox
Broomes Island, MD USA

 

meeting
after three decades
the same shaky voice

Milan Rajkumar
Imphal, India

 

first glance —
a breeze from the future
runs through me

Stoianka Boianova
Bulgaria

 

moonstruck
beyond the sky door
re-reading the letter

Steve Black
UK

 

cut grass
on a familiar path
hand in hand

Refika Dedić
Bosnia and Herzegovina

 

a new heart
on the school wall —
falling leaves

Nazarena Rampini
Italy

 

unmoored —
the dizzying pull
of your shore

Melissa Dennison
UK

 

before the night jasmine blossoms pinkies touch promise

Biswajit Mishra
Canada

 

half moon—
my pulse quickens
without cause

Nalini Shetty
Mumbai, India

 

departing darkness . . .
between the sheets
a hint of heat

Monica Kakkar
India

 

closing her eyes
to hold that song
long way home

Zahra Mughis
Lahore, Pakistan

 

the deep sea quakes
a tsunami begins
so with you and I

Greer Woodward
Kamuela, Hawaii

 

afterglow
I bury myself
in his chest

Jenn Ryan-Jauregui
Tucson, Arizona USA

 

coffee date —
the heavy fragrance
of rising steam

Lori Kiefer
London, UK

 

looking back
at the younger me
what did I know

Margaret Mahony
Australia

 

first date –
mom breaks the coffee cup
she read me in

Mircea Moldovan
Romania

 

meeting him
at the bus stop
thunderstorm

Mariangela Canzi
Italy

 

first love . . .
all her rotis
heart shaped

Sangita Kalarickal
United States

 

river fog
fondling the course of us

Liza Linder
United States

 

solar eclipse
even your shadow
sets my pulse racing

Annie Wilson
Shropshire, UK

 

blue dawn light
I’m laughing and aching
to find you gone

Damon Huss
Santa Monica, CA

 

karaoke night
in one corner
a yearning heart

Anthony Rabang
Philippines

 

on your lips
a hint of Cold Duck
first kiss

Ruth Holzer
Potomac Falls, VA

 

hazy moon…
the thrilling call
to a line of chats

Raji Vijayaraghavan
Bangalore

 

he presents
his better version –
first date

Valentina Ranaldi-Adams
Fairlawn, Ohio USA

 

racing
for the phone…
my heart

Sharon Ferrante
Daytona Beach, FL

 

sparks on our lips
with winter kisses
static electricity

Maxianne Berger
Outremont, Quebec

 

bookstore alcove
we pause for a kiss
then move on to mysteries

Sari Grandstaff
Saugerties, NY, USA

 

new love
he memorizes
her coffee order

Kerry J Heckman
Seattle, WA

 

in the balcony
during “Georgy Girl”
too awkward to kiss

Richard Straw
Cary, North Carolina

 

giddy laughaway look in his eyes i do too

Kathabela Wilson
USA

 

not sure what love means wilting roses

Mona Bedi
Delhi, India

 

the popping bubbles
in our champagne flute…
smack of another wet kiss

Laurie Greer
Washington, DC

 

no fireworks
love potion switched out
for friend zone

Stephen J. DeGuire
Los Angeles, CA

 

your voice
echoing in every cell
restless hummingbird

Cristina Povero
Italy

 

that fortune cookie
seriously underestimated
where the night went

Ron Scully
Burien WA

 

over a dream
of new love…
losing sleep

Debbie Scheving
Bremerton WA USA

 

third date at a bar —
I drink in everything
about the night

Baisali Chatterjee Dutt
India

 

first sound of a cricket in the fragrant breeze

madeleine kavanagh
California, USA

 

In the office elevator;
shy smile and in love
until the eighth floor.

Herwig Stas
Meldert, Belgium

 

his voice note another glass of midnight

C.X. Turner
U.K.

 

a glimpse of shoulder
even after all these years
it doesn’t take much

Peggy Hale Bilbro
Alabama

 

Autumn Joy
in my hand
…our first blush

(Autumn Joy – the flower sedum that blooms in Fall)

Lakshman Bulusu
Princeton, NJ, USA

 

first attraction
rock music plays
summer hits

Kathleen Mazurowski
Chicago, IL

 

a kiss just outside the underpass full moon

Daniela Misso
Italy

 

a wind in the reeds
chasing
us

M. R. Defibaugh
USA

 

his gaze
and her fluttering heart
a short story

Sumitra Kumar
India

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

Bios

Guest Editor Deborah Karl-Brandt lives in Sinzig, Germany, with her husband, two rabbits, and a sizable collection of books. After completing her PhD in Scandinavian languages and literatures, she works as a freelance writer. Her works have appeared in numerous haiku and short poetry magazines and have earned her several honorable mentions, second place in the haiku competition at the 2021 Pula Film Festival, and the 6th Star Haiku Contest Overseas Grand Prize in 2025. Also in 2025, she was selected as a fellow for confluence. She has also served as a guest editor for Haiku Dialogue since 2023. Her new book, Wild Rabbit Moon, was published in 2026.

Assistant Editor Lafcadio, a former teacher, now works from home writing, editing and proofreading study guides for nursing textbooks. She lives in Tennessee. She has written poetry for a long time but a couple of years ago fell in love with Japanese micropoetry and hasn’t looked back. Lafcadio has been published in a number of journals and anthologies. She writes under the nom de plume of Lafcadio because nom de plume is so fun to say. You can read her poems on Twitter (X) @lafcadiopoetry or BlueSky @lafcadiobsky.

Assistant Editor Vandana Parashar is an associate editor of haikuKATHA and one of the editors of Poetry Pea and #FemkuMag. Her debut e-chapbook, I Am, was published by Title IX Press (now Moth Orchid Press) in 2019 and her second chapbook Alone, I Am Not, was published by Velvet Dusk Publishing in April 2022.

Lori Zajkowski is the Post Manager for Haiku Dialogue. She lives in New York City and enjoys reading and writing haiku.

Managing Editor Katherine Munro lives in Whitehorse, Yukon Territory, and publishes under the name kjmunro. She served as Membership Secretary for Haiku Canada for ten years, and her debut poetry collection is contractions (Red Moon Press, 2019). Find her at: kjmunro1560.wordpress.com.

Portrait by Laurel Parry

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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. Read past Haiku Dialogue posts here.