HAIKU DIALOGUE – Looking Out – into our world – long list

Looking Out with Guest Editor Marietta McGregor

The phrase ‛looking out’ can mean to be on the watch in case something unexpected should happen. We shout, “Look out!” if we see danger approaching. We build physical lookouts. They may take the form of tall steel and wooden towers used as vantage points to search for forest fires, a crow’s nest high on a ship’s mast, periscopes on a submarine, or wooden clifftop decks on headlands overlooking scenic coastal vistas for travelers’ photo stops. Human lookouts are people whose job it is to warn against hazards on land and at sea. ‛Looking out’ can also mean observing our surroundings. As well as our own finely tuned senses, we use a variety of instruments to help us see more of the world. Microscopes and electron microscopes allow us to scrutinise very small things. Medicine makes use of X-rays, ultraviolet light and radio waves for scanning the body. Binoculars and telescopes help us look out beyond the planet. From our earliest existence, we look outwards to the world for a holistic view, through our parents and other family members, teachers, books, radio, TV and the internet. Space beckons us. And, of course, we look out for each other, to help in times of need or stress.

Below is Marietta’s selection of poems on the topic of Looking Out – into our world:

prime time news
an immigrant
picks up new words

Jahnavi Gogoi
Ajax, Ontario, Canada

 

serial drama
grandma demands
a spicy soup

R. Suresh Babu
India

 

the blue flicker
of suburban lives
street view

Peggy Hale Bilbro
Alabama

 

flickering
from an upstairs window
a tee vee free falls

simonj
UK

 

boundary line
just pixels between us
and Surya’s leap

Nalini Shetty
Mumbai, India

 

John and Yoko
give peace a chance
some rust some bullet holes

Stephen A. Peters
Bellingham, WA

 

suburbia
the smallest yards
the biggest screens

Mike Fainzilber
Rehovot, Israel

 

Bionic man—
we run round the lounge
in slow-motion

Caroline Ridley-Duff
United Kingdom

 

blue light dusk
blinking into the glare
of flat screen displays

John Hawkhead
UK

 

first bikini
I mimic the women
on Baywatch

Jackie Chou
United States

 

first tv movie
the wicked witch of the west
assails my safe space

Mike Stinson
Nebraska, USA

 

classical music
to underscore
a missile strike

Jerome Berglund
United States

 

the falling man flames chase him

Pris Campbell
US

 

messed up
watching adverts
fade-out

Luciana Moretto
Treviso Italy

 

my deaf father
almost hugging the television
his new engagement with the world

Ann Rawson
Scotland, UK

 

commercials on TV
I quickly check
my inbox

Dejan Ivanovic
Lazarevac, Serbia

 

black and white movies —
All those lessons
we still haven’t learned

Michael Pappafava
Belgium

 

Ricky Nelson
my pre-teen crush
gone too soon

Dianne Moritz
United States

 

childhood memories
on the roof dad’s assortment
of home-made aerials

Paul Callus
Malta

 

3D television
my kid reaches out
for a butterfly

Chen Xiaoou
Kunming, China

 

five years old
I wonder how those people
got in that small box

Cindy Putnam Guentherman
Illinois, USA

 

it was November
it was Walter Cronkite . . .
death in Dallas

Mark Meyer
Mercer Island WA USA

 

want
to see the world
press a button

Margaret Mahony
Australia

 

an image
that never fades
assassin moon

marilyn ashbaugh
usa

 

9/11
our wedding guests
lost their wings

Kathabela Wilson
USA

 

a grieving father
the anchor’s voice
finally breaks

M. R. Defibaugh
United States

 

breaking the peace breaking news

Vandana Parashar
India

 

mystic blue whales
on the smart TV . . .
my bucket list grows

Padma Priya
India

 

scenic route
spending her life
watching others’

Charles Harper
Yokohama, Japan

 

first colorcast . . .
frightened by the pro wrestler’s
blood

Keiko Izawa
Japan

 

recall a nation
united every Monday
in loving Lucy

James Penha
Bali, Indonesia

 

mysterious trip
into my brain
CT scan screen

Teiichi Suzuki
Japan

 

TV-free childhood
just a weekly English film
at the local shop

Jenny Shepherd
London, UK

 

after the news
he turns the thing off
talks to his cat

Barry Smith
Hamilton, New Zealand

 

free repair—
loose cathode ray tube
gets a smack

Stephen J. DeGuire
Los Angeles, CA

 

one channel tv
the family gathers
for dessert

Debbie Sterling
Oregon, USA

 

royal wedding
back when we thought
they were in love

Tracy Davidson
Warwickshire, UK

 

nursing home
behind closed doors
canned laughter

John Pappas
United States

 

she said he said
split screen
double-talk

Caroline Giles Banks
Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA

 

and Oscar goes to . . .
walking in mom’s shoes
with high heels

Jovana Dragojlovic
Serbia

 

leftovers from
TV dinner—news
hard to swallow

Ivan Georgiev
Germany

 

waiting room
the news channel
on mute

Ravi Kiran
India

 

oddle-poddle—
flower pot men are on
more than a little weed

Ann Smith
Wales UK

 

duck blind
the plopping
of sunning turtles

Lorraine Pester
Rio Grande Valley, Texas

 

the mother
we didn’t know enough . . .
her favourites on tv

Daya Bhat
India

 

the missing remote
in the folds somewhere
we are lost

Ron Scully
Burien WA

 

election 2000
watching reruns
for months

Ruth Happel
United States

 

somedays I’m Wile E.
other days I am the . . .
meep, meep

Lafcadio Orlovsky
USA

 

no more tv . . .
suddenly crows
and butterflies

Sharon Ferrante
Florida, USA

 

first antenna
a new world
in our farmhouse

Susan Farner
USA

 

too many choices
pressing the OFF button
I choose a book

wanda amos
Australia

 

zoomed google map
a swimming pool covers
grandpa’s farm pond

Al Gallia
Louisiana USA

 

getting closed captioning —
Friends
open up to me

Kelly Sargent
Vermont, USA

 

Live moments
caught and bowled
on home turf

Sudha Devi Nayak
Bhubaneswar India

 

cliffhanger
we’re forced to wait
another week

Roberta Beach Jacobson
Indianola, IA, USA

 

summer at its best—
new color TV flashes
Flo-Jo’s fingernails

Monica Kakkar
India

 

without TV the world instead

Sébastien Revon
Ireland

 

screenless times
the tranquility of just
biking

Hla Yin Mon
Yangon, Myanmar

 

the tennis player
hits a slow ball to the net—
server down

Sreenath G
India

 

lauding
the courage of
paralympians

Ingrid Baluchi
North Macedonia

 

dust cloud
over manhattan
it must be a movie

Melissa Dennison
UK

 

eyes wide open
eyes wide shut
eyes wide open
reality ER

Nick T
Frome, Somerset, England

 

i looked forward
to living like the jetsons
not the twilight zone

Curt Linderman
Seattle

 

trade test transmission . . .
how we know
we’re old

Adele Evershed
Wilton, Connecticut

 

family dinners . . .
anchored
by the nightly news

Laurie Greer
Washington, DC

 

she learned English
watching Sesame Street—
my beloved esposa

Dan Campbell
Virginia

 

observing . . .
life playing out
in miniature

Katherine E Winnick
Brighton UK

 

Color TV
I still remember
skater dresses

Mihovila Čeperić-Biljan
Rijeka, Croatia

 

john-john salutes
his father’s funeral cortège
river of heaven

J Daleiden
Phoenix, Arizona USA

 

television
the entire world
stuffed into a box

Margie Gustafson
Lombard, IL USA

 

storm gathers
the pitches of voices
on the tv screen

Maya Daneva
Netherlands

 

terrible date—
returning to my roommates
and Mary Tyler Moore

Colette Kern
Southold, NY

 

the cat asleep
next to the new TV
morning sun

John S Green
Bellingham, Washington

 

Grizzly Adams
my brother cries
for a dead crow

Kanjini Devi
The Far North, Aotearoa NZ

 

my dying dad . . .
his friends crowd around
the new TV

Sue Courtney
Orewa, New Zealand

 

daily M*A*S*H reruns—
the laugh track
of my childhood

Julie Bloss Kelsey
Germantown, Maryland USA

 

the scent
of wild thyme . . .
war reporter

il profumo
del timo selvatico . . .
reporter di guerra

Angiola Inglese
Italia

 

best seats
in the house
Eurovision party

C.X. Turner
UK

 

Challenger explosion
on the television
a bright blue sky

Bryan Rickert
Belleville, Illinois USA

 

heartland rows of corn
standing straight and tall
“That’s my dad!”

Bruce Feingold
Berkeley, CA USA

 

black and white tv
a world
less complicated

Kendall Lott
Bloomington, Indiana, USA

 

star glow
this side of the spacecraft
mosquitoes whine

Arvinder Kaur
Chandigarh India

 

hospital window
the northern lights
on TV

Archie G. Carlos
Minnesota

 

loneliness . . .
a digital eye’s
constant gaze

Vijay Prasad
Patna, India

 

world news
learning other kids lived
under the rubble

Lorelyn De la Cruz Arevalo
Bombon, Philippines

 

London Big Ben
calling from the screen—
first trip abroad

Mariangela Canzi
Italy

 

outdoor cinema—
for a moment the flash
of a shooting star

Dan C. Iulian
Romania

 

round the world trip—
I get to know life
through television

Stoianka Boianova
Bulgaria

 

mosquito buzz
the newsfeed
short of updates

Srinivasa Rao Sambangi
Hyderabad, India

 

on every window
a flickering TV—
twilight walk

Madhuri Pillai
Australia

 

Marilyn Monroe
I master the art of wearing
a red lipstick

Mona Bedi
Delhi, India

 

the rants
of a televangelist
Sunday alone

Richard Straw
Cary, North Carolina

 

evening stroll
in every window
the same shade of blue

Helen Ogden
Pacific Grove, CA

 

my first window
black and white
in a corner

Satyanarayana Chittaluri
Hyderabad, India

 

magic box
old growth redwoods
loom in my living room

Madhavi Karri
Vizag, Andhra Pradesh, India

 

heavy cloud
watching the night stars
on TV

Lori Kiefer
United Kingdom

 

daily news
our living room wall
explodes again

Anju Kishore
India

 

flickering images
the spray of agent orange
before the cancers

Debbie Scheving
Bremerton WA USA

 

Elvis’s pelvis
gyrating
Sunday night tv sin

Ann Sullivan
United States

 

waiting room—
eyes glued to cell phones
and not the TV

Valentina Ranaldi-Adams
Fairlawn, Ohio

 

missing child
the news turns
the day grey

Nitu Yumnam
India

 

that first thrill
of ’60s rock and roll
teenage sea change

Annie Wilson
Shropshire, UK

 

Mars colony
tonight’s ultra high-def show
the night sky

Lee Hudspeth
California, USA

 

wide open widow
viewing everyday life
through a microscope

Kathleen Mazurowski
Chicago, IL

(note – we think “widow” might have supposed to have been “window” but thought this was also interesting… kj)

Cartoon Network—
the first time my dreams
came true

Ana Drobot
Romania

 

the box banned
just our laughter and words
at the kitchen table

Cristina Povero
Italy

 

remembering
the place we used to live
Sesame Street

Barrie Levine
Massachusetts, USA

 

bewitched
wish
I could wriggle my nose

madeleine kavanagh
United States

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

Guest editor Marietta McGregor is a retired Tasmanian botanist and journalist who has made her home between 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 natural sciences, and has worked as palynologist, garden designer, science journalist, editor, university tutor, education manager, and grants developer for the national wildlife collection. 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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Photo Credits:

Banner photo credit: Marietta McGregor

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.