HAIKU DIALOGUE – Opposites Attract – arrive/leave
Opposites Attract
Hello – kj here – I will be taking the reins again for the next few weeks, with the theme ‘opposites attract’. The prompt each week will be a pair of opposites – feel free to be inspired by one or the other, or both! I hope this draws you towards excellent haiku – the way the compass, even in these uncertain times, will always settle on ‘North’…
quarantine
compass needle
spinning
kjmunro
next week’s theme: OPPOSITES ATTRACT – destroy/create
The deadline is midnight Pacific Daylight Savings Time, Saturday October 17, 2020.
Please submit one or two original unpublished haiku inspired by the week’s theme by clicking here: Contact Form. Please put Haiku Dialogue in the Subject box, & include your name as you would like it to appear, & your place of residence, with your poem. I look forward to reading your submissions.
A few haiku will be selected for commentary each week.
Please note that by submitting, you agree that your work may appear in the column – neither acknowledgment nor acceptance emails will be sent. All communication about the poems that are posted in the column will be added as blog comments.
Below is the commentary for arrive/leave:
art school endowment
leaving everything
to the imaginationLaurie Greer
Washington, DC
What a wonderful, hopeful celebration of generosity, expressed here in a way that is fresh & new – it has always been true, but perhaps in our current world situation it has become clearer, that money changes everything, & certainly artists who have some degree of financial security are free to concentrate more fully on their art, their imaginations…
back home
I call my mother
back homeMarisa Fazio
Where home is where we are & also where we used to be, & where someone else is…
so long universe
as I enter another –
chapter elevenMark Meyer
On first reading, the first two lines of this poem lead the reader in a particular direction, perhaps a spiritual one, & line three turns this to a completely different interpretation – that of the bankruptcy of a business – where the business may have been someone’s whole universe, & which can be viewed as a form of rebirth…
departure lounge
we compare
our life linesOlivier Schopfer
Switzerland
There is an interesting connection between the setting of this poem & the activity described – also, the reader can decide if the people involved have just met – is this an icebreaker?
& here are the rest of my selections:
the long whistle
of a flycatcher
departing trainAgus Maulana Sunjaya
Tangerang, Indonesia
ashes spread
where they met
for summer campAlan Harvey
Tacoma, WA
omnipresent cat –
the mouse comes
and goesAljoša Vuković
Šibenik, Croatia
winter evening –
traveling with the moon
east to westsera d’inverno –
in viaggio con la luna
da est a ovestAngiola Inglese
super puma
lift-off
goodbye oil rig
hello homeAnn Rawson
Scotland
isolation ward –
recognising the footsteps
that come and goarvinder kaur
Chandigarh, India
on glideslope
descending on course
remembering herB.A. France
arrival
I stop
breathingBakhtiyar Amini
company arrives –
my kids bring their kids
bring their friendsBarrie Levine
Wenham MA
furlough
first homecoming
swallowsBen Oliver
Stroud, England
empty nester
time on her hands
with a blank calendarBona Santos
daisy petals
she loves me
she loves me not…Brăilean Mirela
România
arrivals board
behind the glass window
departing geesecezar-florin ciobîcă
getting ahead
of our selves
time machineCharles Harmon
Los Angeles, California
soaking
in the first rain of spring
a clump of morelsCherry A
Assam, India
the first cry
of my baby brother…
mother’s last breathChristine L. Villa
takeoff –
a different emotion
than landingDan Campbell
goose honks overhead
either direction
dusk or dawnDana Rapisardi
fleeting glances –
sliding doors of the metrosguardi fugaci –
le porte scorrevoli del metroDaniela Misso
late spring
my winter hands
coming and goingDavid Gale
Gloucester UK
a new year
we leave the masks
in the closetDebbie Scheving
Bremerton, WA
deer
crowded at the fence
visitorsDeborah Karl-Brandt
Bonn
autumn comes –
a leaf comes off
and fly awayDennys Cambarau
Italy
appointment –
new leaves replace
the old onesDevoshruti Mandal
my mother’s house
as soon as I arrive
can’t wait to leaveDianne Moritz
Southampton, NY
tombstone
a life span
engravedDidimay D. Dimacali
Norwalk, CA
winter’s snowdrop –
days before her death
an acceptanceDorothy Burrows
UK
between arrivals
and departures flickers
“cancelled”Dubravka Šćukanec
Zabreb, Croatia
moving away
what goes and
what staysEdna Beers
another birthday
every ending is
a new beginningElisa Allo
lone autumn night
I rummage around
mother’s jewel boxEva Limbach
Germany
videochiamata –
nel trolley un fiore in bottigliavideo call –
in the trolley a flower in a bottleGiuliana Ravaglia
Clouds come floating
Dispelling gloom.
Farmers till the soil.Goutam Dutta
Kolkata, India
November afternoon
poll workers finish
the urn of coffeeGreer Woodward
Waimea, HI
coming and going
the waves
everpresentHelen Ogden
leaving my garden
red leaves fall
on neighbor’s lawnHelga Stania
summer’s end
at the hospice window
hazy moonHifsa Ashraf
Pakistan
shaft exit
night shift’s high fives
with the morning crewIngrid Baluchi
Ohrid, North Macedonia
seasons changing
the coming and going
of fair weather friendsJackie Chou
Pico Rivera, CA USA
fleeting autumn
frost tinges
each leafJanice Munro
Canada
First tooth
(re)places my head
Under a pillowJerry French
winter solstice
a new bud before
the last leaf fallsJoanne van Helvoort
first chill in my bones
the sound of trumpeters
overheadJohn S Green
Bellingham, WA
shooting star
explaining to the child
where I will gojohn hawkhead
entrance of infected people –
sad eyes in spring…Jorge Alberto Giallorenzi
coming back home –
grandpa’s open arms
behind the glass doorJulia Guzman
the first kiss
also our last…
departing trainKanjini Devi
arrivals and departures catered for
florist shopKaren Harvey
North Wales
the first frost,
rabbit tracks –
dissolveLemuel Waite
Georgetown, Kentucky
train station
always in the same place
trains are passingLjiljana Dobra
Croatia
hurrying the elevator
to reach
her last breathLorraine A. Padden
San Diego, CA
elbow bump
an avenue
of bare elmsLouise Hopewell
apple blossoms…
my dreams too leave
one by oneMadhuri Pillai
winter sun…
absconding
the light of BuddhaManoj Sharma
Kathmandu, Nepal
first to arrive
last to leave
her ex husbandMargaret Mahony
dream house ghosts in every room
Margaret Walker
to return
to the starting point
upwindritornare
al punto di partenza
controventoMaria Teresa Piras
a virtual coffee break
watching my colleagues
arrive and leaveMaya Daneva
The Netherlands
baby’s teeth
coming together and moving apart
my face tattoosMelanie Vance
Texas
airport runway
between takeoffs and landings
well fed chicksMichele L. Harvey
our broken
wedding vows
spring snow on rosesMichelle Beyers
dawn chorus…
at last a haiku
of migrating birdsMilan Rajkumar
Imphal, India
baby bump
grandma’s knitting needles
click with joyMinal Sarosh
Ahmedabad, India
bicycle bell
my father’s silhouette
passes the horizonMinko Tanev
economic migrant…
happy arrival
short livedMohammad Azim Khan
Peshawar Pakistan
such a long time…
only his words arrive at meMona Iordan
discovering his death
she sends her ex
a friend requestnancy liddle
australia
autumn…
how easy it is
to let goNeena Singh
Chandigarh, India
migrating –
at border crossings
to-and-fro murmurNicole Pottier
France
two pink lines
become one
yet motherhood lingersPadma Srinivasan
her eyes
glancing past me…
my friendPalle Krishna Rao
Chennai India
our last lunch shadows creep into the pudding
Pris Campbell
her last breath
when he arrives
into this earthRadhamani sarma
return ticket
virus modifies
my itineraryRajeshwari Srinivasan
India
first light
when the door closes
she doesn’t cryRehn Kovacic
leave a message
the next time you call
wait till I’m in SpainRon Scully
suppertime
a great horned owl
drops in for take outRonald K. Craig
leaving for college
a red leaf flies off the car
lands in the drivewaySari Grandstaff
Saugerties, NY
sashes wide
a starling enters
by the chimneysimonj
UK
faded moon –
surrounded by red
sunriseSlobodan Pupovac
Zagreb, Croatia
from the city
lost leaves from the tree
hometown visitStephen A. Peters
the dog is waiting
at the lonely station
the moon arrivesStoianka Boianova
November’s hope
delivered to my mailbox
a mail-in ballotSusan Rogers
Los Angeles
new leaves
… the spring
in my stepSushama Kapur
still visitor
from the next door –
morning gloryTeiichi Suzuki
Japan
migratory birds
taking home
a piece of skyप्रवासी पक्षी
एक टुकड़ा आसमान
घर ले चले(Hindi translation)
Teji Sethi
India
wondering
if people can change
half-packed suitcaseTom Bierovic
DeLand, FL, USA
Milky Way –
the crickets’ song
from one side to the otherTomislav Maretić
packed bags
still I don’t know
if I’m coming or goingTracy Davidson
United Kingdom
storks fly south
on the old chimney
empty nestTsanka Shishkova
garden party
the butterfly appears
all in a flutterValentina Ranaldi-Adams
Fairlawn, Ohio USA
covid ward
every vacant bed taken
within minutesVandana Parashar
arrivals
and departures…
reaching nowhereVijay Prasad
time to migrate –
the traveler stops
at the innVincenzo adamo
moon
vacates the pond
onrushing cloudsVishnu Kapoor
arrival of autumn –
memory of grandfathers
departuredolazak jeseni –
sjećanje na djedov
odlazakZdenka Mlinar
Zagreb, Croatia
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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