HAIKU DIALOGUE – Mountain and River – Mountains – long list

Mountain and River with Guest Editor Lakshmi Iyer

Mountain is benchmark for patience, resilience and tolerance. Whether heat or cold, fire or melting ice, whatever may be the extreme opposites, mountain bears them all silently and effectively.
If Man has to exaggerate anything to larger proportions, it is often compared with mountains. There is a proverb “Making mountains out of molehills”. Hence, mountain is always at the highest peak whether for patience, height, size.
Mountains cannot be moved easily. They are fixed, steady and unwavering. That is why it is probably said – Prayers can move even mountains. Which implies that mountains can be conquered only through prayers and not through force.
Well, some of you may argue that mountains too get destroyed, but it may be an indirect force through Man’s negligence to maintain a balance in the surrounding physical structure or its geological strength.

River is symbolic of extending help to anyone who comes in contact with it, as it has cleansing properties. River always tries to clean up everything on the way, even rocks get cleared, and it helps them glitter. Though Man pollutes river in all possible ways, river never pollutes Man. River helps ever, hurts never.
Here again, one may point out that a river in spate can destroy whatever comes in its way, but this too may be an indirect manmade issue.
River doesn’t depend on anyone for its journey towards its destination. It finds its own way to march towards the ocean or sea or whatever. If any obstacle is found on its path, it changes directions to reach the goal.
Flow of thoughts is often compared with the flow of river. If a thought arises in someone’s mind, there are two options before him. He can visualise the thought as a river flowing and decide to plunge into the river or observe the river flowing towards its destination. If he plunges into the river, action follows, as thoughts become words and deeds. On the other hand, if he doesn’t plunge into the river, but only observes it flowing towards the ocean, no consequence follows. There is stillness of the mind, he is in a state of meditation. Thus, river and its flow can help mankind to understand the process of meditating on the Supreme Consciousness.

I shall be extremely happy if you would give me a homework to dig deep inside your poems. It can be simple and sincere, setting aside all those mind-boggling thoughts. Just be you! Just live your poems!

Below is Lakshmi’s selection of poems on the topic of Mountains:

My gratitude to all the poets around the world for honouring this prompt and giving it a name of your choice. I liked the various interpretations and perspectives from the poet’s heart, though few could have had a stronger juxta or thought. Whilst most of them were excellent celebrations of the mountain of your belief, of your journey and the culture of your country, there were yet a few who just seemed like free verses. Thank you all for giving me a good homework to read the significance of your choice and for arousing the inner and outer extension of your life’s volcanoes, glaciers, debt, grief, happiness, Gods, Goddess, kingdom, valley, summit and the thought-provoking choices therein.

devil’s peak
seeking a reprieve
for his guilt

Jahnavi Gogoi
Ajax, Ontario, Canada

 

step by step
river banks to cushion
mountain trails

Barbara Anna Gaiardoni
Verona, Italy

 

I am a giant!
these stepping stones
are mountain tops

Tony Williams
Scotland, UK

 

in front of me
this massive mountain
behind me, mole hills

Gloria Whitney
Findley Lake, New York

 

cascade mountain range
something in me
stronger than I thought

Stephen A. Peters
Bellingham, WA

 

gathering sap
between mountains
sugar moon

Marilyn Ashbaugh
USA

 

mountain home
the stillness adopts
my stray thoughts

Mike Stinson
Nebraska

 

as snow flows
from peak to river
I too wander

Alfred Booth
France

 

cold morning
unbuttons the white cloaks
over the mountains

Padmasiri Jayathilaka
Sri Lanka

 

pebble is content –
he knows he was a mountain
when time was infant

Malcolm Highfield
Tavira, Portugal

 

mountain waterfall
arcs of rainbow spray
in a salmon’s leap

John Hawkhead
United Kingdom

 

mountain path
a new day breaks
on our rocks

Patricia Hawkhead
United Kingdom

 

how silently that mountain speaks
of the place where I yearn to be

Deborah Guenther Beachboard
Adna WA United States

 

Test of endurance –
the long queue for
summit selfies

Caroline Ridley-Duff
UK

 

distant spring mountains:
if only my illness was
as far behind me

Lorraine Schein
Sunnyside, Queens, NYC

 

last to the top
my chaplain pulls me
into a dark kiss

Pris Campbell
U.S.

 

first snow
the glen settles
into silence

John Pappas
United States

 

Kailasha
sunrise turning
snow to gold

Sonali Rasal
Pune, India

 

mountain meadow
rippling stream reflects
a budding dogwood

Tsanka Shishkova
Bulgaria

 

peak
one misstep closer to being
a dead poet

Roberta Beach Jacobson
Indianola, Iowa, USA

 

Vesuvius sparks red…
his sputtered talk
heats the room

Ann Rawson
UK

 

my sister slips
into surprise snow
Kootenay Joe

Eavonka Ettinger
Long Beach, CA

 

reaching the top –
our voices no longer
have an echo

Tomislav Maretic
Zagreb, Hrvatska

 

birdsong returns
to the mountains-
Appalachian spring

Ruth Happel
United States

 

Santoka
writes of a sixth taste
the mountain

Stephen J. DeGuire
Los Angeles, CA

 

a winding pathway
along with the mountain stream,
I trace its clear flow

Goda Virginija Bendoraitienė
Lithuania

 

deep ravines
scarring the mountain
she hides in clouds

Wanda Amos
Australia

 

raccoon mountain
retrieving a pancake
from the trash

Jerome Burgland
New Orleans, Louisiana

 

spring mountain –
slithering to the ground
its ermine cloak

Paul Callus
Malta

 

ship
looking at the mountain
his light

Ryan Carba
Olutanga Zamboanga Philippines

 

mountain of shoes
kicked off at the front door
mouse runs right on in

Cindy Putnam Guentherman
Illinois, USA

 

sacred mountain …
at each step i surrender
my fears

Priti Aisola
Hyderabad, India

 

bald eagles
name the mountains
hyper-polyglots

Caroline Giles Banks
Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA

 

Denali winter
I change my name
to Snow Raven

AJ Johnson
Stephens City, Virginia USA

 

waking up
to the sound of cowbells-
Alpine mornings

Sandra Martyres
Mumbai, India

 

stifling a sneeze
snowmelt trickles down
the mountaintop

Jackie Chou
United States

 

the color of his eyes blue mountain

Sharon Ferrante
Florida, USA

 

casting my eyes west
I am drawn to you
striated love

Jennifer Gurney
Colorado, US

 

On mountain top
searching for the spring
in river

Apsara Perera
Sri Lanka

 

the view from the top
such little enemies march
through the green valley

Urszula Marciniak
Poland

 

blue moon over Kilimanjaro
the bright eyes
of a Mohol bush baby

Seretta Martin
San Diego, CA USA

 

changing tides
in a grain of sand
the ancient mountain

Shalini Pattabiraman
United Kingdom

 

pale blue sky
the mountain flowers
soon will shine

Arrigo Bassi
Zürich, Switzerland

 

our final climb
to the mountain summit –
a winding trail

Anne Curran
New Zealand

 

lost
in frozen fog
frisco peaks

wendy c. bialek
USA

 

ides of march
fuji’s head hidden
behind his foothills

Charles Harper
Yokohama

 

mountain path …
I am but an ant
among these giants

marc brimble
Spain

 

still missed
in claustrophobic streets
my childhood mountains

Jenny Shepherd
London, United Kingdom

 

sacred mountain
prayers echo
in multiple tongues

Radhika De Silva
Sri Lanka

 

uphill…
every breath
spirals into a prayer

Kavita Ratna
India

 

mountain forest
green light
meditation

Daniela Lăcrămioara Capotă
Romania

 

where the mountain becomes sky the climb begins

Daya Bhat
India

 

long day
a mountain brook runs
down its trail

Srinivasan Rao Sambangi
Hyderabad, India

 

thanking the high one
for the cloudberry –
bright Denali moon

Deborah A. Bennett
Illinois, USA

 

crowded by clouds
my outstretched arms
at the summit

Jagajit Salam
Imphal, India

 

mountain range
inches away
the steep climb

Pamela Garry
Connecticut, USA

 

tallest of all
is mount ego
— at the foothills

Kalyanee Arandhara
Assam, India

 

green mile
its green runs
in each and every mountains

Dorna Hainds
Michigan, USA

 

chasing a cloud on the mountain top

Dan Campbell
Virginia

 

stepping stones
to the gates of heaven
my summit begins

Bonnie J Scherer
Alaska USA

 

receding waters
the ship shaves the top
of a mountain

Chen Xiaoou
Kunming, China

 

in the mountain
dry riverbed
silence

Zdenka Mlinar
Hrvatska

 

mountains
burned
bare

Diana Ming Jeong
Pasadena, California, USA

 

pressure
within earth–
a rising mountain

Nancy Brady
Huron, Ohio

 

shrine in the stone –
prayers shape
the mountain

Sanjana Zorinc
Bjelovar, Croatia

 

died of cancer
the mountain he hoped
to conquer

Mary Derley
Ath, Belgium

 

a chemise of cloud
Damavand’s skirt flares with
vibrant red poppies

Ingrid Baluchi
North Macedonia

 

pots banging
on the himalayan peaks
my iron-muled will

Michelle Hoover
USA

 

mountain trail
there are few worries that won’t
go away

Dejan Ivanovic
Lazarevac, Serbia

 

war-torn valley
creeping between mountains
the dispute moon

Milan Rajkumar
Imphal, India

 

slipping in late night
getting caught in a fib —
mountain yet to climb

Alan Harvey
Tacoma, WA

 

patiently waiting
for sunlight on its flanks
undersea mountain

Rob Barkan
USA

 

Pivot Mountain
reaching the decision
to at least try

Suzanne Leaf-Brock
Ames, Iowa, USA

 

camping — tooclosetosee — smoky mountains

John Zheng
Mississippi

 

on its way back
to where it came from
mountain snowmelt

Bryan Rickert
Belleville, Illinois

 

Himalayan café
I share my lemonade
with a patch of sun

Mona Bedi
Delhi, India

 

granite peaks
wrapped tight in cloud
Cradle Mountain

Louise Hopewell
Australia

 

God footprints…
on the road crossing Baiului
a river of daffodils

Steliana Cristina Voicu
Ploiesti, Romania

 

not longer able
to hike up this path
I depend on my prayers

Deborah Karl-Brandt
Sinzig, Germany

 

teeter
each valley once the mountain
totter

Curt Linderman
Seattle

 

not yet dawn
the mountain echoes
its own silence

Srini S
India

 

Mount Fuji
how dad does not talk
about his scars

Archie G. Carlos
Minnesota

 

stumbling
from one job to the next…
a mountain of debt

Baisali Chatterjee Dutt
India

 

Parkinson’s
he touches pinnacles
every day

Sheikha. A
Dubai, United Arab Emirates

 

riders saddle up
to relive the legend
Snowy Mountains

Carol Reynolds
Australia

 

summit path
if it weren’t for the
evening sun

Eva Limbasch
Deutschland

 

waste picking
the hardest mountains
to climb

Ivan Georgiev
Germany

 

mount Triglav …
their son becomes
just a word

Samo Kreutz
Ljubljana, Slovenia

 

muse mountain
a cave echoes
with mother’s name

Kathabela Wilson
California, USA

 

from the mountain summit a different moon

Fatma Zohra Habis
Algeria

 

borrowed glamor
before nightfall the summit
of Piz Bernina

Helga Stania
Switzerland

 

mountains whistling winds
triggering an avalanche—
flow of frozen grief

David Hoffmann
Ashland, Oregon USA

 

smoldering volcano
he tries to appease
her anger

Valentina Ranaldi-Adams
Fairlawn, Ohio USA

 

dawn to dusk
the mountain mom keeps
moving

Nitu Yumnam
India

 

double trekking poles…
his struggle up the slope
of the hospital hallway

Laurie Greer
Washington, DC

 

mist shrouded mountain
still sensing the silhouette
of my unborn baby…

Adele Evershed
Wilton, Connecticut

 

Snowdon’s peak
leaving my prayer
within the stones

Johanna Ashwell
UK

 

night in the hills…
the moon and I share
some of the silence

Muskaan Ahuja
Chandigarh, India

 

up over the hill
and through the dale
grandma’s back to work

Diane Funston
Marysville, California

 

the bull elk’s call
returned
by the mountain

Michelle LaBella
Wayne, Pennsylvania, USA

 

broom hedges
on the black lava . . .
Mount Etna

r Di Salvatore
Catania

 

Pamir twilight
a snow leopard’s tracks
fade under sunlight

Sandip Chauhan
USA

 

high up
a pink peony
I can’t forget it

Luciana Moretto
Italy

 

at the peak of the rise the falls

Anne Fox
Broomes Island, MD USA

 

cho oyu ~
sherpas help an altitan
to fulfil his holy grail

Guido De Pelsmaeker
Belgium (Holsbeek)

 

driving back home . . .
the snowy mountain
turns pink

Daniela Misso
Italy

 

oolong sip . . .
I close my eyes
to taste Kanchenjunga

Meera Rehm
UK

 

post cancer
accepting a new start
on the mountain path

Robert Kingston
Chelmsford, United Kingdom

 

sunset
the mountains and I
share secrets

Margaret Mahony
Australia

 

a mountain
of unsold pumpkins –
frost moon

Cynthia Anderson
Yucca Valley, California

 

Table mountain
far below me
sheep in fog

Ruth Holzer
Potomac Falls, Virginia

 

reaching the summit but yet the moon

John S Green
Bellingham, Washington

 

mountain top –
is it wind or breath
of God

Krzysztof Kokot
Poland

 

tell it
on the mountain
I told it to Him

Madeline Kavanagh
United States

 

hatred
how you bury me
under the mountain

Susan Burch
Hagerstown, MD

 

Texas plains
my mountain becomes
a plateau

C.K. Crawford
USA

 

boulders of Hampi
hanging on edge
our entwined fingers

Raji Vijayaraghavan
Bangalore, India

 

mountain top
boat by boat the mist
unearths light

Amoolya Kamalnath
India

 

passing by a hill of stars temple trek

Arvinder Kaur
Chandigarh, India

 

afraid of heights –
grasping the folds
in her mother’s skirt

Barrie Levine
Massachusetts, USA

 

bald mountains
unseen barrier
stops the trees

Susan Farner
USA

 

a line of women
with wicker baskets on backs
sunset mountain trail

Subir Ningthouja
Imphal, India

 

ghostly fog
covers the mountain
a world without contours

Stoianka Boianova
Bulgaria

 

watching over
the village and its people
mountain goddess

Lori Keifer
United Kingdom

 

descending the ridge
he takes one last glance back –
Venus poised

Barry Smith
New Zealand

 

partly cloudy
the shadows drifting
on the mountain

Govind Joshi
Dehradun, India

 

midlife
the mountain i climb
is myself

Nalini Shetty
Mumbai, India

 

holy mountain
I circumambulate
my fears

Priya Narayanan
Ahmedabad, India

 

Mount Abu
what the quiet mist hides
at sunset point

Minal Sarosh
Ahmedabad, India

 

cloud theatre
behind parted curtains
the mountain

Jenn Ryan-Jauregui
Tucson, Arizona, USA

 

through the Beaver porthole
snow-speckled slopes
I can touch

Rupa Anand
New Delhi, India

 

distant mountains
my teenager measures his height
yet again

Nisha Raviprasad
India

 

raised in the flatlands –
must be why
I’m so impatient

Elizabeth Shack
Illinois, USA

 

the long years
on a mountain ridge
a lonely pine

Richard Straw
Cary, North California

 

melting glacier…
papa’s stories fade
with each summer

Neena Singh
India

 

an offering
to the mountain gods
song of snowfinch

Tracy Davidson
Warwickshire, UK

 

forest in the clouds –
lost cities
with our ancestors

Minko Tanev
Bulgaria

 

just a glimpse
of the giant squirrel
spring mountain

Sumitra Kumar
India

 

dark winter sky
the snow-covered mountain
reveals itself

Mark Meyer
Mercer Island, WA USA

 

Welsh mountain path
tracing the songlines
of my father

Annie Wilson
Shropshire, UK

 

fireflies spilling
from the milky way …
mountain path

Florin C. Ciobica
Romania

 

mountain pass
a shepherd conducts
the cumulus clouds

Flory Untanu
Romania

 

mountain summit
the journey to find my peace
in one piece

Madhavi Karri
India

 

rock by rock
the roar of the mountain…
lifting fog

Cristina Pietraru
Romania

 

in the middle
of nowhere
a mountain stands tall

Zahra Mughis
Lahore, Pakistan

 

no more snow
on Grey mountain
the spring in my step

Pamela Jeanne
Yukon, Canada

 

smörgåsbord of teas . . .
astir with Nilgiri tahr
first mist of the year

Monica Kakkar
India

 

leaving aside
the need for control
mountain path

Mirela Brailean
Lasi, Romania

 

mountain tunnel
the deep dig to forgive
a solar plexus punch

Richard L. Matta
San Diego, California

 

breathing
the taste of heaven…
top of the mountain

Angiola Inglese
Italia

 

cloud break
Everest hangs
in the distance

C.X. Turner
UK

 

insurmountable
the dangers in my heart
falling for you

Joseph Chiang
Canada

 

how I wish I could
still hike to the overlook —
mountain waterfall

Penny Harter
Southern NJ, USA, shore area

 

Mount Viso –
his Mona Lisa’s gaze
still on my life

Cristina Povero
Italy

 

even my dog
feels the need to howl
mountain overlook

Margaret Tau
New Bern, North Carolina

 

Merrimack’s rush
to get away from itself
the dam’s roar

Ron Scully
Burien WA

 

prayer flags at base camp
the wind
the wind

Lee Hudspeth
United States

 

The Matterhorn
only way I’ll conquer it
is at Disneyland

Margie Gustafson
Lombard, IL, USA

 

mountain climb –
towards the sky
my old dreams

Ana Drobot
Romania

 

counting bears
from the ski lift
Whistler spring

Debbie Scheving
Bremerton WA USA

 

a new season
on the mountain
we agree to settle down

Ann Sullivan
Massachusetts, USA

 

susquehanna
i miss her power and grace
carving to the bay

Herb Goldsmith
Texas

 

teen’s mountain
on tip of his nose
plans cancelled

Sigrid Sarahunn
Bar Harbor, Maine

 

kurma avatar
staying afloat
upon stormy waves
……………………………..of grief

(In Hindu mythology, the mountain Mandara, which is used as the churning rod, begins to sink. Vishnu assumes the form of a tortoise – Kurma to act as support for the mountain.)

Vidya Shankar
Chennai, India

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

Bios:

Guest Editor Lakshmi Iyer lives in her world bound with duties to her mother and grand twins. Her voluntary services to under-middle-class girls nurturing their needs remain in the good books of the families. Her haikai journey has seen the worst of rejections and the best of acceptances. Her poems have found their own homes, and she profusely thanks the editors. Her dream to publish a book remains in her heart, soul and mind.

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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Photo Credits:

Banner photo credit: by Lalitha & Gnaneswar

Prompt photo credit:
prompt photo one – Mountains – by Lalitha & Gnaneswar

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.