Haiku Dialogue

HAIKU DIALOGUE – opposites attract – hello/goodbye & Introduction to Connection

Opposites Attract… & Introducing Connection, with Guest Editors Tanya McDonald & Kelly Sauvage Angel:

The challenges of 2020 have taught us many things, perhaps most significantly the importance of connection—connection with others, connection with one’s self, connection with the natural world. For those who lack a strong support network, the isolation of the past several months (amid job loss, political unrest, violent crime, etc.) has proven traumatic. For others, re-crafting relationships as virtual has been to a lesser or greater degree fulfilling. Only time will reveal how successful we’ve been in nurturing our most treasured connections. We invite you to contemplate what connection means to you, how you’ve come to navigate feelings of isolation, and ways in which you might more fully tend to your relationships (including the one with yourself!) going forward.

next week’s theme: Connection with Others

The necessity of social distancing has impacted us all. Whether we’re introverts, extroverts, or a mix of both, we’ve been forced to adapt in terms of how we interact with other people. This week, please send us your haiku/senryu about how you’re connecting and/or not connecting with others.

The deadline is midnight Pacific Standard Time, Saturday November 21, 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Please submit one or two original unpublished haiku inspired by the week’s theme by clicking here: Contact Form.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.

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 kj’s commentary for hello/goodbye:

migrating geese
leaving us
the wide end of the sky

Laurie Greer
Washington, DC

In this poem, Line 2 operates as a hinge – it reads one way with Line 1, & a different way with Line 3. This is a marvelous technique to use in a haiku because meanings are multiplied without the addition of any words at all… but, like many things, it is easy to say & harder to do – try it!

another boyfriend leaves
favorite flowers
on her gravestone

M. R. Defibaugh

Word choice can draw a reader to a poem – he is not just a boyfriend, he is another boyfriend. Line breaks can be an effective way to create multiple meanings in poetry – it is possible to read Line 1 as the fragment, with ‘leaves’ as a verb referring to the boyfriend instead of the flowers, & the last 2 lines as the phrase, describing the result of this leaving…

check in…
saying goodbye
to my suitcase

Rosa Maria Di Salvatore

Those of us who have been fortunate enough to travel will know this feeling – along with the goodbyes to friends & family, & the place itself – as the luggage trundles out of sight on a conveyor belt of some sort… perhaps now this is more of a nostalgic feeling, & the reader of this poem can’t help but think that this particular goodbye might be forever…

a goodbye
……in her hello
first frost

Victor Ortiz
Bellingham, WA

Here the poet has managed to include both aspects of the opposite pair of the week, & uses a seasonal reference to indicate a potential downturn in the state of a relationship…

& here are the rest of kj’s selections:

departing for war –
the goodbye unsaid

Adjei Agyei-Baah
Kumasi, Ghana

 

taking too long
to say goodbye
Alzheimer

Agus Maulana Sunjaya
Tangerang, Indonesia

 

a tear in the greeting card return to sender

Alan Summers
Santa’s P.O. Box, North Pole

 

at each dawn
I say hello and goodbye…
stillborn twin

Alfred Booth
Colombes, France

 

Titanic –
the first hello
the last goodbye

Aljoša Vuković
Šibenik, Croatia

 

autumn geese
the longest blue
goodbye

Ann K. Schwader

 

mama’s passing –
how cool the shade
of the tree she planted

ਅੰਮੀ ਦਾ ਦੇਹਾਂਤ –
ਉਹਦੇ ਲਾਏ ਬਿਰਖ ਦੀ
ਠੰਡੀ ਮਿੱਠੀ ਛਾਂ

arvinder Kaur
Chandigarh, India

 

cloudless sky
warm greetings of
a passerby

Bakhtiyar Amini

 

tiny
kisses
feathers
floating

Barrie Levine
Wenham MA

 

pandemic gala
a parade of new hair styles
at the zoom meeting

Bona M. Santos
Los Angeles, CA

 

not looking back
as he slips from my grip
brook trout

Bryan Rickert

 

greeting
a starcraft’s wake
ceasefire

C.R. Harper

 

cradling
this little one…
white butterfly

Carol Judkins

 

this long
and bumpy road –
tarred New Year

Carole Harrison
NSW, Australia

 

three-volley salute…
so hard to say goodbye
to yesterday

cezar-florin ciobica

 

my favorite
memorial wall
because my name’s not on it

Charles Harmon
Los Angeles, California

 

autumn sunset
before leaving
dad’s ..last hug

Cherry A
Assam, India

 

I almost forget
you’re not here anymore
break of dawn

Christine L. Villa

 

adios before
broken-heart, multilingual
dictionary

Dan Campbell

 

discovering
great-grandparents’ names and dates
eroding away

Dana Rapisardi

 

fading dew…
the first light of dawn
in the forest

rugiada che svanisce…
prima luce dell’alba
nel bosco

Daniela Misso

 

sunshine
talking about the shadow
on his lungs

Deborah Karl-Brandt

 

a handshake
of hello and
goodbye

Didimay D. Dimacali
Norwalk, CA

 

pregnancy test –
not counting her chickens
this time

Dorothy Burrows
UK

 

hello sweetheart…
meet again in a dream
to say goodbye

Elisa Allo

 

Stepping aside
To let new guests enter –
A departing guest.

Goutam Dutta
Kolkata, India

 

January thaw
the snowman’s
last smile

Greer Woodward
Waimea, HI

 

standing stone
NO STANDING

Helen Buckingham

 

frequent apéros
at our balcony planter
hummingbird hawk-moth

Ingrid Baluchi
North Macedonia

 

coming and going
of migrating swallows
this romance

Jackie Chou
Pico Rivera, CA USA

 

meeting point
a stranger’s cell phone
says Hello

Joanne van Helvoort

 

sharing an umbrella –
at the end of the cherry trees
a goodbye

Jorge Alberto Giallorenzi

 

divorce –
the iris start blooming

Julia Guzmán

 

sunrise –
a skein of pink footed geese
across the clouds

Juliet Wilson

 

midnight…
my dog taking
his last breath

Kanjini Devi

 

home sweet home
a hummingbird’s
brief visit

Kath Abela Wilson
Pasadena, Ca USA

 

handshakes
replaced by
Namaste

Kathleen Mazurowski

 

hill in amalfi
the passing local boy says
konnichiwa to me

Keiko Izawa

 

sledding hill
I wave to myself
gallant in her youth

Kelli Lage

 

snakes slithering
slipping off old skin
a new day

Lakshmi Iyer

 

train depot
this urge to wave
at strangers

Lamart Cooper

 

rainy day
one tea cup…
the quiet kitchen

Lemuel Waite
Georgetown, Kentucky

 

calling my mother
to say goodbye
again

Lorraine A. Padden
San Diego, CA

 

last visit
to grandad
his hand in mine

Margaret Mahony

 

left unsaid words too loud

Margaret Walker

 

New relationship?
Aloha means hello and
Also goodbye

Margie Gustafson

 

the aching sadness
of our last farewells…
winter flowers

Mark Meyer

 

a lockdown morning
mom waves at me
through an i-pad

Maya Daneva
The Netherlands

 

Aloha Leis
in the funeral store
final goodbye

Melanie Vance

 

blue moon…
her first great grandbaby born
on her death day

Michele L. Harvey

 

Curiosity
a long distance travelling
with the moons of Mars

Minko Tanev

 

hello goodbye pandemic dating

Mirela Brăilean
România

 

a dewdrop
on the leaf’s edge…
her last wish

Neena Singh
Chandigarh, India

 

when we used
to kiss
our goodbye

Olivier Schopfer
Switzerland

 

stillborn child –
I say hello and goodbye
together

Padma Srinivasan
Dundee, Scotland

 

her grimoire
handed to me
without a goodbye

Pat Davis
NH

 

tipping my hat
as she whizzes by
skateboarder

Paul Geiger

 

wall lizard
that still pause
before vanishing

Rajeshwari Srinivasan
India

 

mindfulness
saying hello
to everything

Rehn Kovacic

 

rattling cans
towed behind
a wedding car

Robert Kingston

 

wedding day
– he unties the knot
of his black tie

Roberta Beach Jacobson
USA

 

Hello Kitty
in the rear car window
full speed ahead

Ron Scully

 

leaving the White House
a half-hearted goodbye wave
from the motorcade

Sari Grandstaff
Saugerties, NY

 

summer noon
the butterfly flies away
from the dandelion

Slobodan Pupovac
Zagreb, Croatia

 

birthday party –
I greet death like
no other

Surashree Joshi

 

winter chill…
the last leaf falls
silently

Sushama Kapur

 

trembling
before the final act –
a red leaf

Taylor Wray
Rochester, NY

 

borderless sky –
birds of passage
come and go

Teiichi Suzuki
Japan

 

crossing borders –
what I leave behind
is my home

सरहद पार
जो पीछे छोड़ा
वह घर था मेरा

(Hindi translation below)

Teji Sethi
India

 

cicada’s song
slowing as I approach
swelling as I pass

Tomislav Maretić

 

tearful farewell
that long walk
from the vet’s office

Tracy Davidson
United Kingdom

 

stories
of goodbye and hello
time travel

Tsanka Shishkova
Bulgaria

 

only strangers are present
at the end…
isolation ward

Valentina Ranaldi-Adams
Fairlawn, Ohio USA

 

reunion
all around
the half-hugs

Vandana Parashar

 

obituary
before my greetings
on New Year

Vishnu Kapoor

 

Ballet music
young girl dancing
In her wheelchair

Zana Coven

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.

The Haiku Foundation reminds you that participation in our offerings assumes respectful and appropriate behavior from all parties. Please see our Code of Conduct policy.

This Post Has 44 Comments

  1. Congratulations to all the poets for these wonderful haiku and to editor kjmunro
    for creating and nurturing this enlightening dialogue. I have learned so much
    about haiku and life. It was wonderful meeting you virtually at the zoom meeting
    of southern california haiku study group last weekend.

    1. thank you, Charles – it was wonderful to be a part of the meeting! I enjoyed all the poems, & especially putting faces to names that have become so familiar to me through this column…
      cheers, kj

  3. Thank you for including my haiku. Is is an honor to be published among all these great poems.

  4. Thank you so much, KJ, for including my haiku and for all your hard work throughout the recent moths. It was a pleasure for me to get to know a fellow Canadian who is also an inspiring haiku writer. It has been a pleasure to be published among all these wonderful poets.
    I wish you to stay safe and health in these uncertain times!

    1. thanks for this, Maya D. – & thanks also to all the poets who take the time to comment here, & for the kind words every week! As I have often said, I couldn’t do this without you! cheers, kj

  5. A huge thanks you to Kj and Lori for all your work on the column. I have really enjoyed the recent series of challenges and I have loved reading the responses. Kj’s commentaries have been so helpful too – as someone who does not specialise in writing haiku or poetry, it is wonderful to have this opportunity to read, write and learn.

    With regards to this week’s great selection, one in particular caught my eye.
    *
    sunrise –
    a skein of pink footed geese
    across the clouds
    *
    Juliet Wilson
    *
    This brought back many memories of watching geese flying over marshland. Their formations in flight are a joy to behold so I think the association with ‘sunrise’ works beautifully – especially as they are pink footed geese. A lovely image. I enjoyed all the ‘s’ sounds too!

  6. only strangers are present
    at the end…
    isolation ward
    .
    Valentina Ranaldi-Adams
    *
    This one hit home with me. I just lost my mother, and because of covid precautions at the facility, she hadn’t been allowed visitors for three weeks.

    5. I am sorry for your loss. We have a frail “grandfather-in-law” who is suffering greatly and I hope it gets sorted. He’s far too important to our wonderful 12 year old nephew.
      .
      Please think of the silliest funniest moment you ever had with your mother, and hold it tight.
      .
      my deepest condolences,
      Alan

    8. Debbie –
      I am so very sorry. I find that by holding on to happy memories, my parents are always with me. May you find solace in remembering.

  7. Thank you KJ for including my haiku and for all your hard work. It has been a pleasure to be published among all these wonderful poets.

    1. I never met any of my four groups of grandparents (I’m adopted) but as a professional Santa in the past I met literally thousands of amazing grandparents. Also my 12 year nephew’s surviving granddad who has survived multiple injuries and operations is in a lot of pain right now.
      .
      .
      So your haikai verse really moved me and all the grandparents lost to Covid too:
      .
      .
      last visit
      to grandad
      his hand in mine
      .
      Margaret Mahony
      .
      .
      A deeply moving poem.

  8. Thank you Kj and Lori for including my haiku. There were several moving poems this week and among them, these three: big congrats to Alan who continue to surprise me, with his style…
    .

    a tear in the greeting card return to sender

    Alan Summers
    Santa’s P.O. Box, North Pole
    .
    divorce –
    the iris start blooming

    Julia Guzmán
    .
    calling my mother
    to say goodbye
    again

    Lorraine A. Padden
    San Diego, CA

    1. Dear Mirela Brăilean,
      Thank you so much for your kind words!
      .
      I’d love to comment a lot but the haiku journal I’ve just started has really hit the road or sidewalk or both, running!
      .
      I love the care that is put into the Haiku Dialogue feature by both the hosts and the poets who send in wonderful and themed work!

  9. Thanks dear kj for publishing my haiku. Also a big thank-you for all the efforts on the entire Opposites Attract series. Wednesday became a red letter day during these days of lockdown & social distancing.
    Thanks also to Lori, the Post Manager.
    Congrats to all the featured poets. Au revoir kj and a warm welcome to Tanya and Kelly, editors of the new series Connections.

  10. Thanks for including me in this, the last of a really good series, kj. Congratulations on a job well done! And to everyone published here.

  12. The entire series has been cathartic during these uneasy times and Wednesdays have helped distract some of us from negative world news. Thank you for this, and for all your hard work, KJ, Lori and others behind the team, as well as all the contributing poets.

    There were several moving poems this week, and among them this one:

    calling my mother
    to say goodbye
    again

    Lorraine A. Padden
    San Diego, CA

    The single word ‘again’ on the last line shows the depth of love and feeling daughter has for her mother, whatever the circumstances which brought about this farewell. As the recipient, especially as a mother, I would have been quietly delighted by such warmth and caring.

  13. Wednesday is my favorite day of the week when Haiku Dialogue appears. I learned about it in the middle of the opposites attract series, a phenomenal set of prompts that was amply rewarded.
    It has been a joy getting to know all the haiku poets and kJ and Lori. I am honored to have my four-liner (well, four words actually) accepted.
    My best wishes to the new editors.

  14. Thank you Kathy for including my haiku here in hello/goodbye. The opposites attract has been wonderful and I look forward to the guest editors coming on board now. Many excellent haiku and these two especially got to me:

    I almost forget
    you’re not here anymore
    break of dawn

    Christine L. Villa

    a lockdown morning
    mom waves at me
    through an i-pad

    Maya Daneva
    The Netherlands

  15. Fabulous verses, everyone.
    .
    These are the ones that touched me in a personal way-
    .
    midnight…
    my dog taking
    his last breath
    -Kanjini Devi
    .
    tearful farewell
    that long walk
    from the vet’s office
    -Tracy Davidson
    .
    a tear in the greeting card return to sender
    -Alan Summers
    I think the address provided makes the verse all the more poignant.
    Well done.

    1. Thanks Carol! 🙂
      .
      Have hardly drawn breath today with lovely workshopping.
      .
      Very poignant haiku about dogs. I remember taking our last family dog to the vet. Not sure how much they cared. We took him away, and I buried him in our back garden so he’d still be at home.
      .
      .
      family home
      my goodbye 
      to the god
      of its garden
      .
      Alan Summers
      Yanty’s Butterfly ed. Jacob Salzer & Nook Editorial Staff (March, 2016)
      https://jsalzer.wixsite.com/yantysbutterfly
      .

      1. A marvellous book, Alan, one I have read and dip into now and again.
        .
        family home
        my goodbye
        to the god
        of its garden
        —Alan Summers
        That is one, heartfelt haiku, and hits a spot just so.
        .
        The garden is definitely the best place for beloved pets, I too wouldn’t have them anywhere else.
        .
        Just reading some of that workshopping 🙂

  16. her grimoire
    handed to me
    without a goodbye
    .
    Pat Davis
    .
    Back story and fore story beyond the moment. And a laugh.

  17. Thank you Lori and congrats to all of the poets. Robert Kingston’s rattling cans was one of my favorites.

  18. Thank you , Katherine for publishing my haiku with your commentary.
    Thanks also to Lori… congrats to all the poets!

  19. I have only skimmed a few of the haiku here, but Alan Summers’ haiku caught my eye. Mainly for the multiple meanings of tear. Crying or ripped, it can go either way.
    ..
    Will check out others throughout the week but congrats to all. Also kudos to Lori and KJ for this series of opposites. This column is a highlight for me especially during this pandemic which has caused too many good byes.
    .
    Looking forward to the new change being presented. Good luck to all participants and the new editors.

  20. I have not yet read every haiku, but this one immediately caught my attention. Regardless of how I read it, it brings tears to my eyes.

    a tear in the greeting card return to sender

    Alan Summers
    Santa’s P.O. Box, North Pole

    1. Thanks Margaret. I’m pleased you catch the anguish and pain, whether tear stained or ripped or both. I often fold an underlay of poignancy, though I can do cheerful too! 🙂

      1. .
        left unsaid words too loud
        .
        Margaret Walker
        .
        .
        I love how this one line haiku can be read as:
        .
        .
        left unsaid // words too loud
        .
        or
        .
        left unsaid words // too loud
        .
        As in “left behind words” or “words left behind, said or unsaid”
        .
        .
        So much in five words on a single line of poetic tension.

        1. Alan, your comments (and suggestions) are always appreciated.

          I am often a bit concerned that too few words don’t convey enough meaning (too much negative space). I appreciate that you can find the multiple meanings.

  21. Thank-you Kathy for publishing my haiku. Also thank-you for all the efforts on the entire Opposites Attract series. Thank-you also to Lori, the Post Manager. Congrats to all the poets. Welcome to Tanya and Kelly, editors of the new series Connections.

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