HAIKU DIALOGUE – paper dress
Welcome to Haiku Dialogue
Let’s talk about haiku! You are invited to respond to photographs – I will share a photo each week as a prompt for your writing…
Submit an original unpublished poem via our Contact Form by Saturday midnight on the theme of the week, including your name as you would like it to appear, and place of residence.
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.
Poems will be selected based on the potential to generate discussion – these poems will be the best to talk about…
next week’s theme:
The deadline for this theme is midnight Pacific Time, Saturday 13 July 2019.
I look forward to reading your submissions.
HAIKU DIALOGUE: paper dress
Here are my selections for this week:
the iridescent
of butterfly wings
haute coutureAgus Maulana Sunjaya
Tangerang, Banten
designer dress –
no human outlines
for a long timeAljoša Vuković
yellow moon
the cat woman in me
scents adventureAnitha Varma
paper couture
models
make headlinesAnjali Warhadpande
after
spring rains
papier mâchéAnn Rawson
Scotland, U.K.
Paper gown…
How wide and long is
This path from the caveAnna Goluba
paper couture –
she wears my love letter
close to her heartarvinder kaur
Chandigarh, India
paper wasps –
another hive abuzz
for my nest eggB Shropshire
Texas
haute couture
recycled grocery bags
do not touchBarbara Tate
cutting out
the dresses and suits
playdateC.R. Harper
hot couture
her firebrand persona
Miss DemeanorCharles Harmon
Los Angeles (Shakeopolis), California, USA
I refuse to try on
the evening gown
knobby treesChristina Sng
paper couture
he shreds her confidence
with a glanceClaire Vogel Camargo
USA
mom alive… she, me
and tissue paper patterns
simplicityclysta seney
northern California
cutting doll sized patterns
from paper bags
he dreams of Project RunwayDebbie Scheving
Bremerton WA
high fashion
little girl sewing on the floor
surrounded with dollsDubravka Šćukanec
Zagreb, Croatia
sales time –
a boy is mirrored
in the showcaseEzio Infantino
papier coquette
hangs folded
on a rackGiedra Kregzdys
Woodhaven, New York
brown paper gown
origami boutonnière
first anniversary partyGreer Woodward
Kamuela, HI
pure paper prom dresses [no plastic bling] these are a few ill-affordable things
Helen Buckingham
evening chill…
a refugee girl’s doll
in the paper gownHifsa Ashraf
Pakistan
Betsy McCall paper dolls –
dressing up fun
before hugging treesIngrid Baluchi
Ohrid, Macedonia
belladonna
her champagne dress
in small sipsIsabel Caves
Auckland, New Zealand
the phantom
hovering under the stage lights
a vintage gownJanice Munro
Canada
hands off
the origami dress
a fragile dreamJo El
North Carolina
dressing room
she smooths the creases
in her frownjohn hawkhead
origami sari
rapt in my unfolding
bookKath Abela Wilson
Pasadena, California, USA
paper dress
at the bridal shower
discussing her poor choiceKristen Lindquist
cloth store –
trials and
tribulationsLakshmi Iyer
diagnosis…
going out in a gown
of couture paperLaurie Greer
Washington DC
origami orchid
another layer
to our fairy taleLucy Whitehead
Essex, UK
mall closing –
the mannequin and me
exchange a hurried lookManoj Nair
summer evening –
on the paper dress
salt sprayMaria Teresa Piras
coloring
outside the curves
paper dressMarilyn Ashbaugh
my party dress
the vibrato in mamma’s voice
as she sewsMarisa Fazio
paper whispers
a wordless cacophony
in the backgroundMark Gilbert
all over her dress
it’s the same old news –
yesterday’s paperMark Meyer
pareidolia
this fear
of my stepmotherMartha Magenta
paper dress
she hears the rustle of leaves
with every stepMinal Sarosh
campbell’s soup
the dress she never
woreNancy Brady
Huron, Ohio
hungry woman
struts a gold dress
towards the buffetnancy liddle
broken hill, Australia
paper couture
a little boy stares at pencil
in his handNeni Rusliana
Indonesia
potential problem
how to make stockings
stay upPaul Geiger
Sebastopol CA
dressing her paper doll
in dreams
of silkPeggy Hale Bilbro
Alabama, USA
chemotherapy
she wants
a new dressPere Risteski
a sorting out…
fashion magazines stacked
in the atticPris Campbell
couture
paper sari in multi folds
hidingRadhamani sarma
wedding dress…
she draws herself
another Phoenix tattooRadostina Dragostinova
Bulgaria
misstep
paper gown becomes
a cocktail dressRehn Kovacic
mall walkers
the rustling
of origami dressesRich Schilling
Webster Groves, MO
paper dress
the golden wish
to be in focusRicha Sharma
spun straw
a row breaks out
in the king’s stableRobert Kingston
Essex, UK
first light –
sun spun gold dress awaits
a chariotrobyn brooks
usa
from doll clothes
to paper couture
the child in us all(dedicated to Joan Son)
Ronald K. Craig
Batavia, OH USA
zipper
stuck in paper
teary eyesSD Desai
trick or treat
her newspaper gown sewn
with tomorrow’s warsSanela Pliško
wrapped on her wiry frame
refugee’s paper-thin dress
has no borderSari Grandstaff
Saugerties, NY
desire
wrapped in paper –
read between the linesSaša Slavković
Golnik, Slovenia
the freedom
in a paper gown
bailed to returnsimonj
UK
the art gallery
feeding my creative side
with paper coutureSusan Bonk Plumridge
London, Canada
Christmas fair…
matching my wife’s gown
with a dummyTaofeek Ayeyemi (Aswagaawy)
Port Harcourt, Nigeria
past bedtime…
cutting a gown
for her paper dollTheresa A. Cancro
Wilmington, Delaware, USA
tossed aside
brown paper bags
dream of CinderellaTim Heaney
Johns Creek, Ga.
prom night –
environmentalist’s
stiff dancingTomislav Sjekloća
Cetinje, Montenegro
rain…
my yellow washi
umbrellaTsanka Shishkova
haute couture
it’s just a matter of how long
I can hold my breathVandana Parashar
dawn
i prepare new clothes
for my origami dollsVessislava Savova
my vernal age
twiggy pop art
recycledVicki Miko
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).
This Post Has 50 Comments
Comments are closed.
Thank you for including my haiku in the paper couture collection!
Thank you very much, Vicki Miko, for your kind words about my haiku. 😌
Your haiku is so subtle yet powerful!
And using the word “vernal” just sets it off. Beautiful!
my vernal age
twiggy pop art
recycled
Vicki Miko
Thank you for including my haiku. Great community of talented writers.
Yep, that’s exactly where I was going. My sister had one if them and never wore it. Several years ago on Antiques Road show(PBS), someone had a never worn dress like it. Worth thousands. Thanks for mentioning my haiku.
Wow, should have saved those twiggy paper dresses 🙂
on the internet, i just caught a quick glimpse of Diane Keaton, (actress), as a paper doll…with those\ slanty/ tabs coming out from the top of her shoulders. She is wearing black and white clothes. Did anyone here see it too?
Thank you kjmunro!
the phantom
hovering under the stage lights
a vintage gown
Janice Munro
Canada
Janice Munro’s poem is my favorite! “the phantom” . . . that headless, bodyless “vintage gown” “hovering”.
—
paper couture –
she wears my love letter
close to her heart
arvinder kaur
Chandigarh, India
arvinder kaur’s poem is a beautiful version of the image. It’s very musical!
—
belladonna
her champagne dress
in small sips
Isabel Caves
Auckland, New Zealand
Mysterious . . . maybe Isabel Caves’ poem prompts Shakespeare’s tale of Romeo and Juliet.
—
paper dress
she hears the rustle of leaves
with every step
Minal Sarosh
Minal Sarosh’s poem is wonderfully simple, “she hears the rustle of leaves”. Seems to send a poignant awareness, I love that.
—
campbell’s soup
the dress she never
wore
Nancy Brady
Huron, Ohio
Not certain, but for me, Nancy Brady’s poem seems likened to my memories of the paper dress fad. I had a couple paper dresses in the Twiggy era.
—
dressing her paper doll
in dreams
of silk
Peggy Hale Bilbro
Alabama, USA
Peggy Hale Bilbro’s poem is like a wistful little girl’s picture book!
—
couture
paper sari in multi folds
hiding
Radhamani sarma
Radhamani’s last word is perfect! The “multi folds / hiding” maybe more than just any perceived body flaws.
—
first light –
sun spun gold dress awaits
a chariot
robyn brooks
usa
robyn brooks’ poem is music out loud!
Thank you for your comment on my poem Vicki, and thanks kj for including me in your paper couture collection! I loved all the different responses to this simple prompt.
Peggy
Thank you, Vicki. I find headless, limbless mannequins quite spooky.
Yep, that’s exactly where I was going. My sister had one if them and never wore it. Several years ago on Antiques Road show(PBS), someone had a never worn dress like it. Worth thousands. Thanks for mentioning my haiku.
Very happy to have my haiku included here. Thank you, Kathy !! Congrats to all poets !
Minal Sarosh
There are so many interesting stories in our collection of few words this week. One that I appreciated the use of lyrical words is:
.
hands off
the origami dress
a fragile dream
.
Jo El
.
For the readers that don’t follow the television show Project Runway, my nod to the show was inspired by the partially hidden Zac Posen storefront sign. He was a designer judge on the show.
Thank you!
I am very glad that my poem was included in the selection. Thank you, KJ
Anitha Varma.
Thank you Ingrid, Helen and Kathy.
My mother made a paper dress for me when I was three years old.
It was for an on-stage tap dance. When played with later, outside, in the rain, we soon discovered how rapidly the dye in crêpe paper runs and my fingers were covered in red.
Ah! Red crêpe paper chains at Christmas and how my sister and I got told off colouring our lips on the quiet!
Thank you KJ for including mine. I particularly admired John Hawkhead’s clever ‘dressing room / she smooths the creases / in her frown’, and the poignant image in Hifsa Ashraf’s haiku of the girl dressing her doll in a dress made of paper.
Thanks Mark – always great to see constructive appreciation.
*
I’m really enjoying this set of challenges kj – it seems to trigger new thinking for me.
*
I really like this from Isabel Caves:
*
belladonna
her champagne dress
in small sips
Thank you Kathy for including mine. Such a varied compilation.
Congratulations to all poets.
This one took me back to my daughters ever lengthening schooldays
.
past bedtime…
cutting a gown
for her paper doll
Theresa A. Cancro
Wilmington, Delaware, USA
.
Thank you, Robert, for picking out my haiku. I’m pleased that it brought back memories for you.
Best,
Theresa
Congrats to all haikus
Kj,
Thankyou very much for selecting my contribution to this week’s theme.
After months of writer’s blue’s (a veritable watesland) you have reignited my desire to write, seeing the every day around me. I hope all poets take the time to take deep breath…and compose…
Thanks Tim Heaney
tossed aside
brown paper bags
dream of Cinderella
.
Tim Heaney
Johns Creek, Ga.
.
.
Wonderfully powerful.
thanks Kathy for including mine – the hungry woman – I am enjoying your prompts very much – a lovely opportunity to practise haiku in a gentle talented community <3
Dear Kathy,
Greetings. Profusely thanking you for including mine among the featured ones. Delighted to go through all the
haiku around on the couture ; how many designs and fritters ;
My favorite this week given below;
how wonderfully between the whispers and cacophony!
paper whispers
a wordless cacophony
in the background
Mark Gilbert
Thank you Radhamani Sarma – these dresses and saris must be so noisy to wear!
Dear Mark Gilbert,
– yes, the frittering sounds -!
catchy.
thanks to all who have commented so far… how we move from an actual paper dress to paper dolls & fairy tales, to the hospital… a wonderful commentary on fashion & the environment… a truly remarkable group of writers!
thank you, kj
Thanks to you for providing us with the visual prompt! It seems to have struck a chord with many of us.
Thank you kj munro for including my haiku in this amazingly creative collection. Congratulations to all of the poets! Well done!
Thank you Kathy for including my haiku in this Pulp Fashion collection.
Great collection of haiku. Congratulations to all the poets. Loved Ingrid’s Betsy McCall, reminding me of my sister and me fighting over the magazine and hoping for an ad on the obverse page. Without an ad, we had to wait until Mom okayed it. It was her magazine after all.
Serious, poignant, and more. Clysta’s reference to simplicity patterns another childhood memory. Paper mache from the rain…classic!
Thanks Kathy for including mine along with the others.
Thank you, Nancy! Glad mine brought back some good memories. Innocent times.
coloring
outside the curves
paper dress
.
Marilyn Ashbaugh
.
Very good. Short and full of content. Taking an idiom, mixing it up, and the reveal makes sense of it all.
Simonj,
Thank you so much for your comments on my ku!
Kathy,
Thank you for the fun prompt! And the great selection. Kudos to all poets!
Marilyn
Kathy, Thank you for including my haiku. It is such a broad selection. I enjoyed them all. Two that especially stayed with me were Greer’s about gift categories for anniversaries (I envisioned two handmade paper ornaments atop a cake) and Hifsa’s evocative image of a child and her doll:
brown paper gown
origami boutonnière
first anniversary party
Greer Woodward
Kamuela, HI
evening chill…
a refugee girl’s doll
in the paper gown
Hifsa Ashraf
Pakistan
I like Marilyn Ashbaugh’ “coloring” for its clever slyness, Isabel Caves’s “belladonna” for its rhythm and implied deadliness (femme fatale?), and Sanela Pliško’s “trick or treat” for its sobering use of double entendre. Well done everyone!
There are some wonderful haiku in this week’s series. These are my favorites:
.
.
yellow moon
the cat woman in me
scents adventure
Anitha Varma
.
.
evening chill…
a refugee girl’s doll
in the paper gown
Hifsa Ashraf, Pakistan
.
.
hands off
the origami dress
a fragile dream
Jo El, North Carolina, USA
.
.
paper dress
at the bridal shower
discussing her poor choice
Kristen Lindquist
.
.
paper couture
a little boy stares at pencil
in his hand
Neni Rusliana, Indonesia
(Might need an article between at and pencil though)
.
.
from doll clothes
to paper couture
the child in us all
(dedicated to Joan Son)
Ronald K. Craig, Batavia, OH USA
.
.
past bedtime…
cutting a gown
for her paper doll
Theresa A. Cancro
Wilmington, Delaware, USA
.
.
Congrats to all poets!
Thank you, Michael.
Ron
Thank you so much for the appreciation…so glad you liked my contribution.
Anitha Varma.
Thank you, Michael! I’m very touched by your note.
–Theresa
paper couture –
she wears my love letter
close to her heart
arvinder kaur
Chandigarh, India
this certainly made me melt!
All the many posts that spoke of paperdoll clothing…i can totally relate….as a three year-old, and older, when there was a rainy day, or i was sick home in bed….i liked nothing better than to have my dog on one side and my scissors in hand cutting out paperdoll dresses with the slanty tabs.
Thanks Wendy for your kind comments. Very heartening. Warm regards, Arvinder
What a riot of fun this week, and who doesn’t laugh at the impractical silliness of stuff on the catwalk? Among the many to giggle at:
.
Ann Rawson’s take on a disastrous evening out in Scottish weather:
.
after
spring rain
papier mâché
.
Barbara Tate’s poke at environmental concern:
.
haute couture
recycled grocery bags
do not touch
.
and even more poignantly, Helen Buckingham’s play on The Sound of Music:
.
pure paper prom dresses [no plastic bling] these are a few of ill-affordable things
.
Lots more to talk about and to enjoy. Thank you Kathy for including my rather more sober take on a fascinating photo.
…..and simply laugh out loud:
.
my party dress
the vibrato in mamma’s voice
as she sews
Marisa Fazio
.
potential problem
how to make stockings
stay up
Paul Geiger
.
misstep
paper gown becomes
a cocktail dress
Rehn Kovacic
.
prom night –
environmentalist’s
stiff dancing
Tomislav Sjekloća
.
haute couture
it’s just a matter of how long
I can hold my breath
Vandana Parashar
.
There are, of course, some serious takes, among them my fellow Ohrid resident I’ve still to meet:
.
chemotherapy
she wants
a new dress
Pere Risteski
.
Thank you everyone for this entertaining, thought-provoking output. So looking forward to comments this week, as usual.
Thank you, Ingrid for your kind appreciation and a big thanks to Kathy for including mine among a such lovely collection.
Thoroughly enjoyed the poems!
Thanks Ingrid. Thanks Kathy. Great light and shade in this collection.
Thank you, Ingrid, for enjoying my poem.
Thanks so much, Ingrid – and to Kathy, of course, for selecting my ku. Anne Rawson’s brought the biggest smile to my face – says it all!
Thank you Ingrid. This was so much fun.