HAIKU DIALOGUE – Paradigm Shift – the travels of rain
Paradigm Shift with Guest Editor Craig Kittner
“Learn about pines from the pine,” Bashō advised.
Why do you think he said that?
Animism is a birthright of haiku.
However, western culture, despite all its scientific knowledge, tends to put human experience on some rarefied plane, separate and above all the other beings and forces of the universe. An ego-laden, anthropocentric attitude that would write off learning from the pine as anthropomorphism and personification.
How does this impact your writing?
Can you shift your perspective away from the human and dress yourself in the consciousness of another form?
next week’s theme: the discourse of birds
The blue jay mimics the call of the hawk, and the hawk responds. The bird feeder is a veritable Tower of Babel. Negotiations flying back and forth. What’s it mean, all this raucous calling?
The deadline is midnight Eastern Daylight Time, Saturday June 12, 2021.
Please use the Haiku Dialogue submission form below to enter one or two original unpublished haiku inspired by the week’s theme, and then press Submit to send your entry. (The Submit button will not be available until the Name, Email, and Place of Residence fields are filled in.) With your poem, please include any special formatting requirements & your name as you would like it to appear in the column. 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 Craig’s commentary for the travels of rain:
rising
the river
of mistBryan Rickert
Belleville, Illinois USA
The simplicity here captures the thingness of mist, while leaving room for interpretation as to the relationship between mist and river and who all is rising.
raindrops
sired by stardust,
searching for homePris Campbell
USA
All raindrops have dust at their core, and their fall is the start of a journey, which will eventually return them to the sky. But where is home for the rain? Can it be said to have just one? Or is the journey itself its true home? All of this can also be said of the stuff that forms us. But the poet is wise enough not to say it.
rambling heat
the ocean disappears
into dark cloudsWillie Bongcaron
Manila, Philippines
This haiku evokes the awesome power of the hurricane to me. Simultaneously, I visualize how the sea and the horizon blend into one as a storm sweeps in.
hemlock grove
a migrating warbler
swallows me wholeJoshua Gage
Cleveland, OH, USA
A few writers opted to personify the rain into a first-person expression for this prompt. Given our context, the vision of a bird snatching a raindrop is clear. Yet this piece also works as an expression of losing one’s ego to nature.
crossing borders
how fluent the cadence
of rainLamart Cooper
Virginia, USA
All over the world the rain falls with the same voice, declaring the futility of our divisions.
after the rain
the forest
still rainingAlan Peat
Biddulph, United Kingdom
When does rain cease being rain to become something else? How our language carves up and compartmentalizes experience.
drenched to the core
I stop near his heart…
before slidingArvinder Kaur
Chandigarh, India
With an appealing musicality, this haiku conjures a presence that’s both enigmatic and intimate.
purple reflux
crying in the rain
the lost waveMircea Moldovan
Romania
Here is a mystery filled with mythic yearning. My mind keeps wanting to play with it.
& here are the rest of the selections:
distant thunder:
in monsoon season,
outrunning rainJeff Leong
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
rain drops
from something
to nothingTeji Sethi
India
monsoon river . . .
the silent taps of raindrops
in the flowMilan Rajkumar
Imphal, India
last night’s rain
rising
with the sunPam Joy
Dyea, Alaska
what could have been the sound of rain
Tiffany Shaw-Diaz
USA
summer rain –
blooming all at once
the rainbowsMirela Brăilean
Romania
a long drop
I race my sisters
down the windowpaneTracy Davidson
Warwickshire, UK
circling the pond
each raindrop
a different sizeChristopher Jupp
United Kingdom
raindrops
the pond astir
with ringsRicha Sharma
India
constant eavesdrops
a deep hole in the
stair stoneXiaoou Chen
Kunming, China
rhododendron bells
morning monarchs drink
in the dewBill Fay
Fox Island, WA, USA
soft summer shower
a crimson fuschia grows
into a chandelierJohn Hawkhead
UK
ascending
from a kettle spout
a raindropRavi Kiran
Hyderabad, India
world traveler
known to have extreme mood swings
tantrums in mid-airConnie Ramsey
United States
leafy mesh
its brief hold
on morning mistPat Davis
Pembroke, NH USA
all the rain
returning to the air
the rapturePippa Phillips
United States
rain fall. . .
the mountain’s chiseled face
slowly softensLiz Ann Winkler
White Rock, Canada
eons of moon tears
now form your rainbow mist …
born without saltAlfred Booth
Colombes, France
rain water
in a pothole
broken journeyMeera Rehm
UK
drop of rain
in the big city
the comfort of a puddleLaurie Greer
Washington, DC
raindrops
taking away
the smell of the linden treeMirjana Blašković
Metzingen, Germany
the rain
now almost an idea …
parched earthVijay Prasad
Patna(India)
memories
carried by rivers …
the rain falls againSubir Ningthouja
Imphal, India
raining
downstream from bogland
a dun currentMike Gallagher
Ireland
travel
to the unknown world
pattering rainAgus Maulana Sunjaya
Tangerang, Banten, Indonesia
summer rain
our way to the ocean
still so longEva Limbach
Deutschland
a longing
from the wasteland
streams in the dessertLisbeth Ho
Salatiga, Indonesia
desert alchemist—
cloudburst turns
dry wash to riverCynthia Anderson
Yucca Valley, California
the world reflected
in one drop
spring rainSeretta Martin
United States
summer rain..
blue song under the oaksGiuliana Ravaglia
Bologna Italia
monsoon drizzle..
under the mango tree
a newly born calfMohammad Azim Khan
Peshawar, Pakistan
soil is just
a slower sky
spring rainAnn K. Schwader
Westminster, CO
falling
into darkness
the rain drownsBarrie Levine
Wenham, MA USA
Craig Kittner has lived a lot of places. Fourteen at last count. He was reared, for a while, in Illinois. Then North Carolina. Providence saw the start of some interesting things that DC helped solidify. Now he lives kind of near the sea and is compelled to ramble and write.
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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This Post Has 11 Comments
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Congratulations to all the poets featured in this week’s column! As usual, the commentary and collection were a joy to read. This week, I particularly enjoyed these two poems that so beautifully capture what it is like to walk after summer rain in the UK.
after the rain
the forest
still raining
Alan Peat
Biddulph, United Kingdom
soft summer shower
a crimson fuschia grows
into a chandelier
John Hawkhead
UK
I look forward to reading next week’s selection!
Not just because I come from England, as I’ve experienced rain in its many forms in many European countries, Darwin, Northern Territory, and Brisbane/Ipswich/Harrisville, Queensland, New Delhi, Sri Lanka, probably somewhere in the USA, I forget, and other places too, but that rain is a many varied splendour and tour-de-force!
Two haiku that caught my eye, amongst many, oddly come from the U.K.
a long drop
I race my sisters
down the windowpane
Tracy Davidson
Warwickshire, UK
A simple game and pleasure that have captivated very young children is the window rain race, be it home or train, bus or coach!
And circling the pond, just as snowflakes (another form of ‘rain’ perhaps) are different, so are raindrops!
circling the pond
each raindrop
a different size
Christopher Jupp
United Kingdom
Besides the winner by Bryan Rickett the one below was stunning personally
last night’s rain
rising
with the sun
Pam Joy
Dyea, Alaska
Thank you, Ravi, for your kind words.
hemlock grove
a migrating warbler
swallows me whole
/
Joshua Gage
Cleveland, OH, USA
/
The image that came to my mind when I read this haiku was of a bird swallowing a worm and not an image that had anything to do with water. Exaggeration is a strong element of this haiku.
Thank you Craig, Lori and kjmunro.
Milan
A new Haiku Dialogue Paradigm Shift – the travels of rain from Craig Kittner with a very interesting prompt. Thank you so much for all your great commentaries. I have enjoyed every challenge and learned a great deal by reading your thoughts on selected poems. Thanks also to Kj and Lori for organizing this inspirational column. It’s another great selection and reading everyone’s work is both enjoyable and educational. I am thrilled to have been included in this lineup. Some poems poem I particularly enjoyed this week was:
rising
the river
of mist
Bryan Rickert
.
ascending
from a kettle spout
a raindrop
Ravi Kiran
Hyderabad, India
.
travel
to the unknown world
pattering rain
Agus Maulana Sunjaya
.
Congratulations to all featured poets! 🙂
Thank you for your kind words Mirela…
Wonderful – the water cycle in poetic form. I enjoyed the highlighted poems as well as the commentary on each. I also loved the following three: soft summer shower by John Hawkhead, what could have been… Tiffany Shaw-Diaz’s monoku, and after the rain by Alan Peat. Great selection to reread! Very happy to have my poem included.
Thank you Pat!!
I very much enjoyed the contributions this week Craig – thank you. I’d like to give a particular round of applause to this one that you also singled out:
after the rain
the forest
still raining
Alan Peat
Biddulph, United Kingdom