HAIKU DIALOGUE – Opposites Attract – destroy/create
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 – right/left
The deadline is midnight Pacific Daylight Savings Time, Saturday October 24, 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Please submit one or two original unpublished haiku inspired by the week’s theme by clicking here: Contact Form.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 destroy/create:
I want to thank all those who comment for maintaining the respectful tone of this column, & suggest that rather than critiquing specific poems & poets here, we instead discuss more generally the aspects of a particular poem… we are all learning here, & it is important to me that everyone feels comfortable sharing their thoughts to that end…
sand castle –
the baby cries
with each waveDennys Cambarau
Italy
By providing three key elements in this poem – the castle, the crying baby & the waves – & without describing what the waves are doing, the poet trusts that the reader will figure it out… & we do!
mowing my lawn
worker ants are rebuilding
the queen’s chamberFranjo Ordanić
Again in this poem a piece of information is missing – left for the reader to figure out – one interpretation would be that the lawn mower cut down something other than grass…
orphanage room
he makes an origami boat
with scrap paperKeiko Izawa
In what might be an emotionally-charged location, someone creates something out of a castoff – something that has the potential to float away, at least in the imagination…
collapsing house
swallows build a nest
under the roofTsanka Shishkova
Bulgaria
In this poem the poet juxtaposes one house that is in the process of decay with another that is in the process of being built – it shows a completely believable outdoor scene that may allow the reader to contemplate much larger concepts, such as the power of the natural world, the circle of life, & how one thing leads to another…
& here are the rest of my selections:
autumn –
the nakedness of trees
in their leaves of goldAdjei Agyei-Baah
creating ‘Ma’
in father’s poem…
Zen gardenAgus Maulana Sunjaya
Tangerang, Indonesia
dead sparrow
a poet
meditates on next verseAlan Harvey
Tacoma, WA
years of leaves,
the smell of humus
walkinganni di foglie,
l’odore dell’humus
camminandoAngiola Inglese
from the debris
a peepal plant
surveys the remainsAnjali Warhadpande
autumn breeze –
the branch with blossoms
naked to the bonesਪਤਝੜ ਦੀ ਹਵਾ –
ਫੁੱਲਾਂ ਲੱਦੀ ਟਾਹਣੀ
ਹੋਈ ਉੱਕਾ ਸੱਖਣੀ(Punjabi translation)
arvinder kaur
Chandigarh, India
dry gray stalks
reach to the sun
shedding seeds for springB.A. France
reach of the rake
feeding autumn
into the burn pileBarrie Levine
Wenham MA
deadheading roses
all that has happened
since they started bloomingBen Oliver
Stroud, England
changing skyline
an old landmark leaves
its imprintBona M. Santos
Los Angeles, CA
in the cracks
of the old road
poppies in bloomBrăilean Mirela
România
slow rain
workers hold umbrellas
over fresh concreteBryan Rickert
vote split
the antimatter
at handC.R. Harper
public benches
made from recycled plastic
sitting prettyCarol Jones
keeping
just one hostage…
cuckoo chickCarole Harrison
Jamberoo, Australia
The Destroyed City
two pigeons warming themselves
shaping a heart(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Destroyed_City)
cezar-florin ciobîcă
Death Star recycled
into billions of new bikes
morning gloryCharles Harmon
Los Angeles, California
evening shoes
now open-toed –
new puppyCharlotte Hrenchuk
old ruins –
after the cyclone
ocean wavesCherry A
Assam, India
re-runs
of The French Chef
fallen souffléClaire Vogel Camargo
USA
redeeming my mistakes
empties taken back
for recyclingCynthia Anderson
a sprout
from the coconut…
another lifeun germoglio
dalla noce di cocco…
un’altra vitaDaniela Misso
stormy seas
where there were once shells
cup marksDavid Gale
Gloucester, UK
the artist’s anguish
a new painting
covers the oldDebbie Scheving
Bremerton, WA
hair
plaited and loosen
same handsDeborah Karl-Brandt
An elderly mason
his house is falling apart
brick by brickDejan Ivanovic
Serbia
slicing and dicing
aroma wafting
from the kitchenDidimay D. Dimacali
Norwalk, California
in cathedral ruins
old warriors swap
phone numbersDorothy Burrows
UK
divorzio –
una rosa rossa
sul comodinodivorce –
a red rose
on the nightstandGiuliana Ravaglia
a fallen tree –
I count the bumps
on the kitchen tableGordana Vlašić
Croatia
castle
after castle after castle
that one spot on the beachGreer Woodward
Waimea, HI
shattered wide open a whole new life ahead
Helen Buckingham
Somerset, UK
erosion
moon tide
devouring castlesIngrid Baluchi
North Macedonia
redemption
of my shattered life
wall mosaicJackie Chou
Pico Rivera, CA USA
lakeview homes
a razed expanse
waits for sodJanice Munro
Canada
Roe v. Wade
the pro-life father
spanks his daughterJohn S Green
Bellingham, WA
jumping into
the splash
four againjohn hawkhead
candy paper –
with the tea aroma
a new craneJorge Alberto Giallorenzi
finger prints
on the clay vase –
waning moonJulia Guzmán
hours of work
his mischievous swat
and lego laughterKath Abela Wilson
Pasadena California
overnight rain –
an indoor fern catches
two leaksLamart Cooper
rainbow flags
from a flood of protests
a new covenantLaurie Greer
Washington, DC
holes
rainbow threads
pull togetherLemuel Waite
Georgetown, Kentucky
post-conflict
resettlement
his kintsugi bowlLorraine A. Padden
San Diego, CA
another child’s sandcastle
washes away
TuvaluLouise Hopewell
grandma’s portrait
the removalist leaves
his signatureMadhuri Pillai
the family
dividing
a holiday mealMargaret Walker
hailstorm –
the swallows on the roof
without a roofgrandinata –
le rondini sul tetto
senza un tettoMaria Teresa Piras
Halloween mask
the pandemic
creeps alongMarilyn Ashbaugh
USA
left on the table
in a large gift-wrapped box
all my burned bridgesMark Meyer
an anthropocene
once flourished here –
fields of wildflowersMaxianne Berger
flying flakes
a block of stone
becomes a statueMichele L. Harvey
after painting
leaves of four seasons…
crumpled rice papersMilan Rajkumar
Imphal, India
breeze from Colchis
the coastline
recreates heroesMinko Tanev
cosmic love…
the dance
of ShivaMohammad Azim Khan
Peshawar Pakistan
stardust…
astronomer discovers
the new galaxyNancy Brady
Huron, Ohio
the crumpled letter
glued as background
in a scrapbooknancy liddle
australia
seaside
build sand castles
waves crashingNani Mariani
Melbourne
half-awakened dream in and out of sandcastles
Neena Singh
Chandigarh, India
castle ruins –
so many blades of grass
crushed by touristsNicole Pottier
France
windy night
I restore a deleted file
from the recycle binOlivier Schopfer
Switzerland
an empty conch
echos of the life
at seaPaul Geiger
new mother
dreams of fame
abandonedPeggy Hale Bilbro
Alabama, USA
Poppies –
feeding on the dreams
of soldiers.(I feel the need to note this is an obvious allusion to the Basho poem.)
Pippa Phillips
delete and write
same key board – her haiku
faces challengeRadhamani sarma
refugee camp
the kids enact
a family playRajeshwari Srinivasan
India
cat walks away
floor strewn
with fake mouse partsRehn Kovacic
eyes dimly lit
dreams manifest
dawn brightRekha Mathews
calling his name
again and again
a dream brokenRicha Sharma
all the women run –
dog catches and eats
the bouquetRoberta Beach Jacobson
Indianola, IA, USA
first jack-o-lantern
carving out a new life
in the old neighborhoodSari Grandstaff
Saugerties, NY
a driftwood pallisade
left by the ebb
autumn equinoxsimonj
UK
plum tree
the nestling pierces the shell
of its eggSlobodan Pupovac
Zagreb, Croatia
planting a seed
in the magic show
tragedy comedyStephen A. Peters
house in ruins
in the abandoned yard
roses are bloomingStoianka Boianova
what feels the potter –
when he breaks
his unshapely potsSubir Ningthouja
Imphal, Manipur, India
in the ash
of the wildfire
seeds of the poppySusan Rogers
cutting loose
she relocates…
new moonSushama Kapur
castle ruin –
hunter’s moon resting
on the moatTeiichi Suzuki
Japan
drought
even the corners
of a farmer’s eye
dryसूखा
आँसू भी भाप बन उड़ गया
किसान काTeji Sethi
India
day four
detecting a possible heartbeat
under the rubbleTim Cremin
Andover, Massachusetts
blowing out the candle
on the villa’s terrace –
starry skyTomislav Maretić
my rescue pup
creates new havoc…
ruined manuscriptTracy Davidson
Warwickshire, UK
sandcastles
so many dreams at the mercy
of wavesVandana Parashar
sail in the pond
pages of school note books
paper boatsVishnu Kapoor
angels
in dresses made from
a lace tableclothanđeli
u haljinama od
čipkanog stolnjakaZdenka Mlinar
Zagreb, Croatia
on the declaration
on product freshness
date of slaughterna deklaraciji
o svježini proizvoda
datum klanjaZrinko Šimunić
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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