HAIKU DIALOGUE – Opposites Attract – day/night
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 – above/below
The deadline is midnight Pacific Daylight Savings Time, Saturday September 5, 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Please submit one or two original unpublished haiku inspired by the week’s theme by clicking here: Contact Form.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 day/night:
I believe we experienced a record number of submissions this week – at least, a very high number – thank you poets! As a result, I have selected more poems to comment on, but commented a little less on each one…
sitting
with insomnia…
a hard day’s nightCarole Harrison
Jamberoo, Australia
Too often the causes of insomnia have more to do with the day than the night…
sunflower field
delaying
the nightfallcezar-florin ciobîcă
Here we have a wonderful contrast between the dark of night & rows of bright yellow flowers…
hospital window
the silhouette of ravens
darker than beforeClifford Rames
Freehold, NJ
In this poem, the setting of the hospital may help to set up a darker mood…
on the border
between night and day…
by planelungo il confine
tra la notte e il giorno…
in aereoDaniela Misso
Travel often involves borders & time zones, & it is possible to extend a sunrise or sunset depending on the route one takes…
city party
testing
the limitsDeborah Karl-Brandt
As a pandemic poem, there are many levels here – the keyword ‘testing’ – & ‘the limits’ could refer to numbers as well as how late the party continues into the night…
fire season
day and night suspended
in particulate matterLaurie Greer
Washington, DC
Anyone who has had any experience with wildfires will know how truly horrible the smoke can be. Not only can it be difficult to tell day from night in extreme conditions, but the stress of being on evacuation alert can also make it seem as though time is suspended…
winter
turns to spring
dawn chorusOlivier Schopfer
Switzerland
On second reading, winter & spring are like night & day…
after night
again a day…
a dog yawnsVijay Prasad
Is there anything more to say? – in its simplicity, this poem seems to emphasize our human hopes & fears & dreams…
& here are the rest of my selections:
winter night
the darkness flows
into her eyesAgus Maulana Sunjaya
Tangerang, Indonesia
vesper flights
the ever-falling blue
of swifts(The “ascents” of Swifts are often called vesper flights, named after the Latin vesper for evening.)
Alan Summers
Avian Yard, Chippenham
last night’s rain
drips into rainbows
the shades openingAlbert Schepers
Canada
power outage –
in the corner of the blank screen
a full moonAlex Ben Ari
birdsong chaotic dreams filtered through morning light
Alex Fyffe
Texas
counting the days…
for me and the garden
last full moonAngiola Inglese
twilight lull
silver among dark tresses
on my pillowAnitha Varma
following me into night crickets
Ann K. Schwader
Westminster, CO
day & night
in the same sky –
her winkAshish Singh
India
dawn chorus
the rustle of bed sheets
all quiet nowAstrid Egger
midday
moonrise
…skippers swirlB.A. France
the way of Venus
an evening star twinkles
at the crack of dawnBona M. Santos
Los Angeles, CA
between night and day the next breath
Brăilean Mirela
winter silence
my breath cloud eclipses
the moonBryan Rickert
whatever gets you
through the night
day drinkersCharles Harmon
sky lit
by sun and moon
summer solsticeCharlotte Hrenchuk
overlapping
shadows of trees…
high noonCherry A
Assam, India
midnight words
hanging on the return
of the sunCynthia Anderson
old age –
days wilt and the nights
grow longerDan Campbell
nightmare forgotten
when the birdsong
breaks dayDebbie Scheving
Bremerton WA
caliente days
skinny dipping
in moonlightDianne Moritz
dawn’s chorus
lulling me to sleep –
night shiftsDorothy Burrows
UK
August rain…
this sky without sunrise
and without sunsetElisa Allo
a bat nips a moth off a star
Elizabeth Moura
fading summer day
the never-ending mantra
of cicadasEva Limbach
night of the fireflies
bright as day
an egret’s featherHelga Stania
summer twilight
a flock of ravens pulls
back the nightHifsa Ashraf
Pakistan
surrendering
to the dawn chorus
night owlIngrid Baluchi
Macedonia
twilight
the darkened shapes
of strangersIsabel Caves
Auckland, New Zealand
day moon
lost innocence
of her smileIsabella Kramer
night school…
the lingering weight
of gunny sacksIshaan Singh
awoken
from oblivion of you
morning lightJackie Chou
Pico Rivera, CA USA
winter twilight
each night’s sleep
a little deeperjohn hawkhead
winter long days –
the warmth of my mother’s knitting
in my handsJulia Guzmán
as the sun rises
she dozes off…
insomniacKaren Harvey
North Wales
the coolness
of your layered passion
tiramisuKath Abela Wilson
Pasadena, California
day lilies, night jasmine
the mysteries of marriage
in the bride’s bouquetKimberly Esser
Los Angeles, CA
casino
the irrelevance
of windowsLorraine Padden
the scent
of pine needles
dawn walkLouise Hopewell
insomnia
looking worse for wear
fading day moonMadhuri Pillai
beaming
upon the LED lights…
a waxing crescent moonManoj Sharma
Kathmandu
sleeping porch…
the owl
turns his headMargaret Walker
white sea waves hit upon black mountain sharp cutting night
Maria Papatzelou
Greece
moonflower
her fragrance lights
our pathMarilyn Ashbaugh
Christiana Lake, MI
wake house…
the darkness erased
by morning(In Ireland there is a tradition of staying up all night to “wake” the deceased. Relatives often recount stories from the person’s life.)
Marion Clarke
cop copter hovering
an artificial star
over backstreet lightMark Gilbert
UK
night shift
the morning coffee
before heading homeMaya Daneva
The Netherlands
outlasting
the graveyard shift
day moonMichele L. Harvey
longest night…
a single candle lights up
the empty bedroomMilan Rajkumar
Imphal, India
morning breeze
fireflies from the sunrise
recognize usMinko Tanev
night-watchman
longing
for the daylightMohammad Azim Khan
Peshawar Pakistan
solar eclipse…
crescent moon shadows
on the pavementNancy Brady
harsh daylight
demands flight
but then the night…nancy liddle
moon and sun…
two true friends
never say helloNani Mariani
night magic in waking eyes
Neena Singh
Chandigarh, India
awoken by
the delivery van’s stereo –
morning chorusNick T
UK
web surfing –
daylight hours go on
into the nightNicole Pottier
France
all day rain
all night rain
i turn out the lightsPamela A. Babusci
Rochester, NY USA
morning mizzle
the caress of moss
between my toesPat Davis
NH
midnight thunderclap bright as day found my keys
Paul Geiger
we leave
the porch light off
slowing timePeggy Hale Bilbro
2am boozy tweets…day erases night
Peter Adair
Northern Ireland
Television sunrise
faintly reflected
on a star-bright window.Pippa Phillips
darkness creeps
over downed power lines
the world as it wasPris Campbell
solar eclipse…
her fingers read
The Story of My LifeR.Suresh Babu
India
straws of dry grass
in her red braid
harvest moonRadostina Dragostinova
dawn
sparrow song
wakes the sunRehn Kovacic
hoot of owls
last sack of today’s
olive harvestRoberta Beach Jacobson
daylight ebbs
i turn the deadbolt
in cat pajamasRoberta Beary
County Mayo Ireland
one day at a time
bronze token on the horizon
one night awayRon Scully
night shift
my phone
on silent modeRonald K. Craig
Batavia, Ohio USA
cloudy day…
putting a little blush
on my cheeksRosa Maria Di Salvatore
elastic shudder
the bats swoop out in shadow
between day and nightSari Grandstaff
Saugerties, NY
split sky –
the world painted
in two shadesShalini Pattabiraman
“Moon River” –
the harsh light
of the morning afterSheila Sondik
Bellingham, WA
unreposed
the sun returns
the dawssimonj
UK
morning sun
the darkness of the room flees
under my bedSlobodan Pupovac
Zagreb, Croatia
night into day
between us
cherry blossomsStephen A. Peters
night train
travels towards the morning
grandmother and grandchildStoianka Boianova
daybreak –
I still see the moon
in her eyesSurashree Joshi
high noon –
a swallowtail stealing
into its shadowTeiichi Suzuki
Japan
laundry to lullabies
a young mother
on her toesTeji Sethi
morning fog
mistaking the sun
for moonTim Cremin
silent night
before morning bells
birdsongTsanka Shishkova
moon magic
the invisible thread
suspends a starValentina Ranaldi-Adams
Fairlawn, Ohio USA
overstaying
its welcome
…day moonVandana Parashar
owl eyes
a daytime cloud
darkens the skyvincenzo adamo
night and day
brevity of togetherness
twilightVishnu Kapoor
encounter of
day and night insects
artificial lightZdenka Mlinar
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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