HAIKU DIALOGUE – Mountain and River – Rivers – commentary

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 commentary for Rivers:

Thank you Haiku Dialogue team at The Haiku Foundation for giving me an opportunity to serve as a Guest Editor, which I never ever imagined I could do. Thank you for the guidance and support! It was a learning experience and I thank my stars for the time schedule. With deepest gratitude to all the poets around who have joined me to cross the mountains and rivers of their choice and give it a name. Thank you!

river-gush
ripple-static in her
hearing aids

Sheikha A
Dubai, United Arab Emirates

The first time I met my 83-year-old aunt, she somehow managed to sense my words and actions to reply. That’s when I prompted her to facilitate a hearing aid which she already had and found it boring to wear…
Friends, it’s the need of the hour to help people overcome the fear of the loss of hearing. It’s not a burden, nor a boredom!
I loved the poet’s choice of words of river gushing and the ‘ripple-static’; well, two extreme reflections of sounds. One prominent and the other promising. One can’t be without the other. An out-of-the-blue perspective of the river ripples gaining weight in the static ripples’ wavelength of the hearing aid. So deep and intense and yet so much said in a few simple words. The silence is predominant. The technology is unavoidable. Can she listen to the gushing river? Yes, if she wants to and No, if she feels so.
Thank you Sheikha!

dementia –
the aridness of old age
slows the water’s flow

Paul Callus
Ħal Safi, Malta

Water is the elixir of life!
70% of our body is filled with water. The silent water ripples through our organs and that’s why the doctors prescribe to drink at least 3 litres of water every day to keep the digestive and endocrine fluids moving and withstand our changing dietary habits.
Dementia is a common name used these days for just a brief second of forgetfulness. Well, there are extreme cases with old age and as the poet puts it ‘the aridness of old age’ which ‘slows the water’s flow’.
What is this aridness of old age? The neglect of interest and imagination, the over burden of physical and emotional stress, the loss of near and dear ones, medical ailments are a few of the contestants ready to take over and disturb the pattern of the human system. Chronic stress releases unwanted hormones disturbing the physiological balance. The chain continues and affects the flow of water. The brain is fogged and wiring goes haywire. The tendency of dementia sets in. That’s why we believe in drinking water when we are angry or under any emotional stress. We are blessed to have the medical kit of being in the genre of pure haikai forms that helps in internal healing.
Thank you Paul for attempting this side of the river and sending an SOS to all concerned.

murky waters
the half-dead river
of my childhood

Cynthia Anderson
Yucca Valley, California

The history of a civilization speaks volumes of the rivers that run through and when the river has no life, the living is ‘half-dead’.
I had the experience of visiting my ancestral house every summer holiday with the fatherhood of the Western Ghats and motherhood of Bharatapuzha in Palakkad, Kerala. The temple’s ponds overflow with kids’ giggles and ladies’ gossip. The banyan tree stands witness to birth and death as this place holds meetings every weekend. The chariot festival is colourful. Everyone has loads of experiences from a ninety-year-old to a two-year-old. And so I can relate when Cynthia talks of ‘the half-dead river of my childhood’ with ‘murky waters’.
The footnote by Cynthia: (Farmington River, Connecticut. In the last 50 years, restoration efforts have helped this river.)
Thank you to the authorities for having restored the river of your life and I can feel the mental block that you still hold for more than 50 years, I believe, of being unable to enjoy the little joys of childhood on the shores of rivers, streams and puddles. I can feel the pain of the ‘murky waters’, the unquestionable and complicated situations where there are no answers or guidance and just the gloominess around. It must have been quite tough to patiently wait for hours, for days and for years and when finally it’s done…very few around to experience the joy! Time waits for none and our childhood memories are just void of everything we dream it to be when things don’t turn up the way we want them to. Hopefully, there’s room for more pastures for you now.
Thank you Cynthia!

riverwalk the blindman’s stick taps down the sun

John Zheng
Mississippi

Who doesn’t love to have a riverwalk? And such a visual treat of the blindman tapping down the sunset. Being in association with the scribe – reading for the blind, it brought back memories; listening to that tapping sound of the stick whilst crossing the road, in busy markets, climbing the stairs and lo! Tapping ‘down the sun’ – well, conveying to the readers that “I too can do the impossible so what if I’m blind! Hey Sun, look here, it’s time to go home!” Putting myself in his shoes, I wonder the thoughts running in his mind and the comfort he experiences tapping down…Isn’t it true that we all share the same sun, the moon and stars, the rivers and mountains, the beaches and groundnuts, the sunrise and sunsets. Even the crow and the dog, the horses and camels have the right to do the things they wish to.
This poem will stay with me forever. Thank you John!

Join us next week for our next prompt…

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 two – Rivers – 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.