HAIKU DIALOGUE – Music Around the World – From apprentice to master or how to walk the path of music – commentary

Music Around the World with Guest Editor Deborah Karl-Brandt

Hi guys, it’s me again. Over the next few weeks, we’ll be immersing ourselves in music together. There is a variety of instruments, rhythms and melodies to explore around the globe. Ancient Chinese music is based on a five-tone system and the guqin had an almost religious significance. Waka and later the tanka are basically songs. The mother’s steady heartbeat calms the baby in the womb and can be compared to the rhythm of a drum. Music is the language that everyone can connect with, even without understanding the meaning of the words being sung. It speaks directly to our hearts. I would like to invite everyone to explore the world of music with me in these prompts.

Below is Deborah’s commentary for From apprentice to master or how to walk the path of music:

Music: River And Clouds Flowing in My Heart (云水禅心) – Tank Drum

Elastic bands
and a cardboard box –
budding rock star

Caroline Ridley-Duff
UK

I love this poem. Completely absorbed in their activity, the child plucks at the elastic bands and enjoys the sounds, which sometimes get faster and sometimes slower. They try out different things. What happens when they pull harder or when they pull only lightly on the rubber band? Curious and fascinated, absorbed in the flow, filled with the impartiality of a beginner, creativity unfolds. Without questioning whether the notes are correct, whether it sounds beautiful, or whether what they are doing makes sense, only the child and the music exist. Perhaps the child will one day become a talented artist, perhaps not, but don’t you think that everyone who acts like this child receives a precious gift? I hope that when we write poetry, we can be like this child. Playful, absorbed, and immersed in the beauty and happiness that creative activity brings.

mother’s womb
my first drumbeat
thudding into time

Sandip Chauhan
USA

Unborn babies can hear very early on in pregnancy. The sounds of their mother’s stomach, the rush of her blood and the beating of her heart accompany the child around the clock. Although sounds are muffled by the amniotic fluid, our sense of hearing connects us to another human being and to the outside world long before we are born. Conversely, listening to an unborn child’s heartbeat through a stethoscope is an incredibly moving moment. Music is a language that all people in the world can instinctively understand and that can connect them emotionally. Perhaps this is because it accompanies us from our earliest beginnings and helps us form our earliest relationships?

ripple of water
how its music flows through me
go gentle with love

Lynda Flint
Yorkshire UK

This is a poem that evokes a feeling of yugen (mystery) in me. If the reader tries to grasp it with their mind, it eludes them. You have to feel it. Water is infinitely malleable, infinitely soft, and yet it hollows out stones and inexorably carves its way. When subjected to pressure, water changes its form, but it remains true to its nature. A haiku that you can ponder for a long time.

synesthesia
the music
touches me

Curt Linderman
Seattle

This poem makes us think about the limitations of the worlds we carry within us. Although all humans have the same sensory organs, our perception of the world is as varied as there are people in the world. ‘Synesthesia’ is a rare phenomenon that many have heard of, but few have experienced firsthand. In Germany, we often say that something has touched us, especially music and art in general, but we usually mean an emotion rather than actual physical contact. But for this lyrical “I,” it is not an empty phrase devoid of meaning, but reality. Who knows what riches and burdens lie behind synesthesia? Fortunately, we can at least share in it a little through this poem.

piano lessons
her dream
not mine

Susan Farner
USA

Six words prove to be enough to write a successful senryu. The moment of revelation is cleverly placed in the last line, and when we reach the end of the haiku, we have to reevaluate what we have just read, because the truth turns out to be something completely different from what we thought we knew. Our feelings have been played with as skillfully as this poem has been composed. Well done!

early retirement—
swapping my keyboard
for a keyboard

thomas david
United Kingdom

This senryu is a very good example of the lightness and humor that characterizes this form of poetry. The words ‘keyboard’ and ‘swapping’ create a playful atmosphere. The successful wordplay lends the poem depth despite its lightness. After working life, one can finally play to one’s heart’s content again, and what was previously a necessity now becomes an object of affection once more: the keyboard. Things change. Not only for the worse, but sometimes also for the better.

tinnitus –
the cicada’s song
all year round

acufene-
il canto di cicala
per tutto l’anno

Angiola Inglese
Italia

What is the difference between music and noise pollution? The former is good for the soul, while the latter makes us thin-skinned and puts our nerves on edge. We cannot close our ears or turn off our sense of hearing. How can we live with the fact that our bodies deceive us and make us hear crickets that are not real and whose song we can never get rid of? In the end, all that remains is to make peace with the inevitable and develop compassion for our own suffering, which only those who are affected themselves can truly understand.

invisible mic I sing my heart to myself

Padma Rajeswari
Mumbai, India

The appeal of this monoku lies in its concise form and the use of three words that refer to the lyrical “I”: ‘I,’ ‘my,’ and ‘myself.’ This creates the impression that the lyrical “I” is completely immersed in their own world. This child’s cosmos belongs to them and them alone. They are the star of a world that turns out to be much smaller than expected. This monoku perfectly captures the essence of the child’s world. Despite all the fascination, there is also a hint of sadness: the child is alone in their world. Their music, a medium through which people have always expressed their feelings, is heard by no one. We encounter an isolated self, trapped in a self-created, isolated world, and yet the impression of strength and beauty remains. The form and content of this multi-layered monoku complement each other perfectly. An outstanding poem.

school recorder
still in my closet
never bettered three blind mice

Tracy Davidson
Warwickshire, UK

This poem made me laugh. It captivates with its vivid imagery and the surprise in the last line. But it also has many different layers and hidden depths. There are so many emotions to discover in this short poem. If you look closely, you will find resignation, but also self-acceptance and a lyrical person who can look back and see the humor in their actions.

singing in the car
her first instrument
was free

Debbie Scheving
Bremerton WA USA

This poem really touched me. Perhaps the lyrical narrator is a parent looking back and reflecting on the growing needs of their child as they grow up. Did you notice that the first word is ‘singing’ and the last word is ‘free’? Between these two words, a whole story unfolds about the rich and the poor and the opportunities and possibilities open to them. The bitter truth of social inequality is mixed with a touch of humor to lighten the mood. A poem well worth the read.

Join us next week for our next prompt…

Bios:

Guest Editor Deborah Karl-Brandt lives in Sinzig, Germany, with her husband, two rabbits and numerous books. After her PhD studies in Scandinavian languages and literatures, she works as a freelance author and poet. Her poems have appeared in magazines like 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 explores Chinese and Japanese novels.

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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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.