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HAIKU DIALOGUE – Poet’s Choice – artist studio

Welcome to Poet’s Choice!

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…

For this series, each poet may send one haiku on the week’s theme, and it will be included in the blog post. There is no selection process. The haiku appear in the order in which we received them.

Submit an original unpublished poem via our Contact Form by Saturday midnight on the theme of the week, including your name as you would like it to appear, and place of residence. (If you send more than one poem, only the first one will be posted.)

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.

next week’s theme:  

The deadline for this theme is midnight Pacific Time, Saturday 21 September 2019.
I look forward to reading your submissions.

Poet’s Choice:  artist studio

Here are the submissions for this week:

atelier
all colors of the oil
from cannabis

Pere Risteski

 

art class…
waiting till last
to add my voice

Robert Kingston
Chelmsford United Kingdom

 

april sky
grandchildren coloring
rainbow

Fatma Gultepe

 

crime of passion
the artist’s other brush
with authority

Alan Summers
Winsor Castle, Inkworthy, U.K.

 

artist’s palette
full of colors –
gray sky

Slobodan Pupovac
Zagreb, Croatia

 

painting project
she asks me to show her
the colour of wind

Anitha Varma

 

black and blue…
her desire to recreate life
in colour

Marion Clarke

 

water in the well…
pot-bellied watermelons
in the sun

Francesco Palladino

 

brushes and colors
fantasy
has no limits

vincenzo adamo

 

stirring a teaspoon
salt in black coffee
autumn fog

Christina Chin

 

another tube
of acrylic
palette clouds

Edward Cody Huddleston

 

windswept rainbow
mona lisa smiling

Guliz Mutlu

 

Messy. Agitated. Going up country.

joel

 

every hour
artist sending out emptied
paint boxes

Radhamani sarma

 

getting lost
in his cornfield…
Van Gogh show

Michele L. Harvey

 

with a twist
of Dalí’s mustache
a tornado is born

Roberta Beach Jacobson

 

art therapy
I pour my anxieties
onto the canvas

Christina Sng

 

that’s it –
abstraction of the painting’s palette
just needs a frame

Zdenka Mlinar

 

gray autumn –
I mix melancholy
with color dreams

Maria Teresa Sisti

 

she painted flowers
that never die
empty vase

nancy liddle

 

missing paints
my son eyes the evening sky
with suspicion

Vandana Parashar

 

a gift
for the bride
fall painting

Maria Concetta Conti

 

morning light…
all the colors of life
on a painting

Rosa Maria Di Salvatore

 

the warmth
of my studio –
painting winter

Karen Harvey

 

early fall
mother paints
on the leaves

Neni Rusliana
Indonesia

 

palette
the blush
on the young model’s cheeks

Olivier Schopfer
Switzerland

 

out of the things scattered haphazardly emerges a painting fine

Aju Mukhopadhyay

 

dried paint
in the tube
canvass of life

SD Desai

 

a rural panorama
paints itself…
warm day

Neelam Dadhwal

 

artist’s studio
paints and brushes wait in vain
the touch of life

Vishnu Kapoor

 

finding my
rainbow in
the rising colours

Lakshmi Iyer

 

messiest of arts
painting a living rainbow
a colorful life

Sherrod Taylor

 

paint on brushes on fingers sour flies

Erin Castaldi

 

sea glass…
pieces that make up
her life

Nancy Brady
Huron, Ohio

 

ready to paint
september’s butterflies
in the garden

Xenia Tran

 

at the window
trying to paint
the wind

Barbara Tate

 

autumn dawn –
I painted on my canvas
all warm colors

alba autunnale –
sulla mia tela ho dipinto
tutti i caldi colori

Angela Giordano
Italy

 

retouching
the precise tone
of this waratah

Ingrid Baluchi
Ohrid, Macedonia

 

emotional blackout the rigmarole of my imagination

Hifsa Ashraf
Pakistan

 

flew away…
on colors and dreams
angel wings

volato via … su colori e sogni / ali d’angelo

Lucia Cardillo

 

heart pools in colors
fingers tingle
finishing touch

Susan Lee Roberts
Sacramento, CA, USA

 

art show
my palette won
first prize

Paul Geiger
Sebastopol CA

 

equinox
ochre and sienna
dappled on leaves

Marilyn Ashbaugh

 

color chaos
bottle brush tube canvas
almost autumn

Christina Pecoraro

 

a break in the rain
she abandons her paints
for the garden

Debbie Scheving

 

anger
she adds more
red paint

Rehn Kovacic

 

the still life
of fresh paint pallettes
deepless sleep

C.R. Harper

 

preschool
the blank canvas
of a three-year-old

Autumn Noelle Hall

 

amalgamating diverse colours
this art studio
called life

Anjali Warhadpande

 

the painter’s deck –
not all rainbows
find the sky

Adjei Agyei-Baah
Ghana/New Zealand

 

blank canvas
counting the days
for a breakthrough

Carmen Sterba

 

autumn sunset
All colors dry up
In pallets

Sudebi Singha
Kolkata, India

 

painting class –
my daughter brings home a rainbow
on a piece of sky

arvinder kaur
Chandigarh, India

 

pitter patter
the kitten walks through my paint
spitter spatter

john hawkhead

 

invisible painter –
in a haunted house
everything is possible

Aljoša Vuković
Šibenik, Croatia

 

studio light –
trying to make sense of
his mixed messages

Sari Grandstaff

 

the flower –
painted by a child
it is not faded

Carmela Marino

 

self portrait
braiding the scattered curls
of imagination

Kumarendra Mallick

 

amid brushes
and palette
a heartbeat

Steve Tabb

 

stems in jars –
a little color
and the brushes bloom

Laurie Greer

 

brush strokes
keeping up the autumnn
lingers on

Eva Su
Indonesia

 

cadmium yellow
so sticky under
the suicide note

Roberta Beary
Co Mayo Ireland

 

learning
to be the palette
not the canvas

Peggy Hale Bilbro
Huntsville Alabama

 

so much beauty
from all this disorder –
an artist’s life

Mark Meyer

 

your hue
love in a mist
of orion’s blues

simonj
UK

 

start of spring
the blooming colors
of the painter’s palette

Rich Schilling
Webster Groves, MO

 

her palette of dreams
multicolor memories
night into day

Charles Harmon
Los Angeles, California, USA

 

blank canvas
waiting for inspiration
colors forming crust

Franjo Ordanic

 

Truth unvarnished –
in a field of flowers
she gave me the brush off.

Guy Stephenson

 

wet paint on the bench first leaves

vernice fresca sulla panchina prime foglie

Angiola Inglese

 

the flowers
already framed
two canvases waiting

Saša Slavković
Golnik, Slovenia

 

divorce papers –
he’s painting me the rainbow
in shades of grey

Cristina Angelescu

 

turpentine smell
my father’s goodnight kiss
that fall evening

Elisa Allo
Switzerland

 

mom’s new dress
even more colorful after
a baby’s hug

Dubravka Šćukanec
Zagreb, Croatia

 

An artist of color
all hairs are different
in a hairdressing studio

Ljiljana Dobra
Sibenik Croatia

 

perfection
long procedure
introspection

Mafizuddin Chowdhury

 

spring palette…
I add some more warmth
to ease the blues

Madhuri Pillai

 

aftermath
clues from masterpiece
missing canvas

Kathleen Mazurowski

 

The Con artist
Sells his old palette
As abstract art

Margie Gustafson
Lombard, IL

 

pollocking the carpet my midlife baptism

Helen Buckingham

 

disposable palette
the colors
we hide

Margaret Walker

 

the empty canvas –
looking for colors
to fill the silence

Maria Teresa Piras

 

summer lilies
the painter’s palette
takes an advance…

Adrian Bouter

 

emergence
photons blooming
from her palette

Janice Munro

 

cascade colors:
between rags of moon a clear tear

colori a cascata:
fra stracci di luna una lacrima chiara

Giuliana Ravaglia

 

colour palette
he could never take in
all my shades

Nadejda Kostadinova

 

his last studio
just as he left it –
our unfinished still life

susan rogers

 

the canvas –
space-time story
again, again, again

Lemuel Waite
Georgetown, Kentucky

 

ah….just the right sky….to hold all these blossoms

wendy c. bialek

prescott valley, az usa

 

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 122 Comments

  1. So, wow! I was going through a notebook, and I found my submission for this prompt (which I sent, but got caught up in the issues that some have been having). I decided to post it because I found it, and re-read it, and still like it, lol… (which is rare).
    .
    mania
    storm-
    ravaged rainbows
    .

  2. An amazing line up of poetry, well done to all.
    .
    sea glass…
    pieces that make up
    her life
    .
    Nancy Brady
    .
    On times life throws some lovely gems our way, not necessarily bestowing us with millions, but
    most often it is the little things in life that can bring lasting pleasure and fondest of memories.
    Lovely verse, Nancy.
    .
    at the window
    trying to paint
    the wind
    .
    Barbara Tate
    .
    This elusive element, we can hear it, feel it, but when we get to capture the effect on paper or canvas, triumph. This also reminds me of the saying – we can’t have everything in life.
    This brought to mind a painting I was viewing the other day – Ma Lin – 1220 – Listening to the wind among the pines.
    .
    preschool
    the blank canvas
    of a three-year-old
    .
    Autumn Noelle Hall
    .
    This little blank canvas can be beautifully filled with light and colour, but on occasion can be so easily muddied.
    A thought provoking verse.

  3. Some more of my notes for additional posted ” artist studio” poems

    atelier
    all colors of the oil
    from cannabis

    Pere Risteski

    the studio where the different grades/colours of oil look very much like the different shades of varnishes/turps found in this picture of an oil painter’s studio. (though I laughingly wonder if this might have been followed by a website url where it might be manufactured) I also don’t know, but feel compelled to ask if Pere,
    also had in mind….the artist, Gustave Courbet’s oil painting of
    “the atelier” where the prominent colours are also mimicked as shades of cannabis oil.
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Painter%27s_Studio

    *

    windswept rainbow
    mona lisa smiling

    Guliz Mutlu

    here the poem speaks to me about the rainbow and mona lisa’s smile….how it can be seen along the expanse of the horizon and still give the viewer the feeling that it is smiling/shining as a personal exchange for him/her. so much are they both similar in shape and effect.

    *
    art therapy
    I pour my anxieties
    onto the canvas

    Christina Sng

    yes…the act of creating is therapeutic…it allows for the lowering of symptoms as the sufferer is able to distant his/her self from the stressors of life by allowing a “middle man” the blank canvas/blank paper/etc. to displace/and or project their problems.
    I like the poet’s use of “pour” in line two.

    *

    that’s it –
    abstraction of the painting’s palette
    just needs a frame

    Zdenka Mlinar

    a problem solved! an aha moment for the person
    who studies the palette and sees it as art.

    *

    gray autumn –
    I mix melancholy
    with color dreams

    Maria Teresa Sisti

    painting is a form of dreaming/dreaming is a way to paint our lives, the ones that are owned/the ones that need improvement/ the ones that need to be escaped/ the ones that need do-overs/ the ones
    that are hidden in the day/the ones that need to be privately explored/the ones that day minds censor/the ones that never happened/ the ones that need to be peeled/the ones that need to be painted over…..the ones that need to be revisited/the ones that give comfort.
    *

    she painted flowers
    that never die
    empty vase

    nancy liddle

    ditto/from above.

    *

    missing paints
    my son eyes the evening sky
    with suspicion

    Vandana Parashar

    i love that the poet….is showing…not telling the story…in line two.
    the child….by looking at the evening sky… is he trying to look like he is helping to find the missing paints in the darkness….or just diverting the truth with a smoke screen? are the child’s eyes dark as the world hidden by the night sky and did the child use the paints to paint the night sky? the poet has created a mystery for the reader to play out in any way he/she wants.

    *

  4. the haiku that caught my attention are those of Michele L. Harvey that leads us to dream and fly high with imagination along with Van Gogh

    Christina Sng who has taken on a significant aspect of painting that becomes a true therapy against anxiety and depression

    Neni Rusliana who with her painting on the leaves makes us understand that a true artist does not need the canvas but manages to express himself on any material

    Adjei Agyei-Baah has imagined that the colors on the palette represent the rainbow but not always who paints knows how to position them in the right space

    Rehn Kovacic states that red expresses the anger that lurks inside and the fire of passion

    wendy c. Bialek, which invites us to grasp the many shades of flowers that stand out under the sky and that often escape us

    this is what I perceived of these haikus

    1. wendy c. Bialek, which invites us to grasp the many shades of flowers that stand out under the sky and that often escape us

      Thank you for commenting so sensitively to my poem, Angela.

      i appreciate that you “jumped into the pond”…and commented on many poems, (haiku/senryu) posted here. you have done an amazing contribution to the haiku dialogue —“dialogue” experience.

  5. A very diverse and interesting collection of haiku, unfortunately I do not know the English language, and I help myself with google translate, so it is difficult for me to comment, but from all your comments I try to learn something. Thank you all .

  6. Great comments this week; so much to learn from, and thank you especially for yours, Marion, Autumn, Wendy and Debbie. The different interpretations of your chosen poems add significant dimension to this whole exercise, layer upon layer.
    .
    A nod to Kath Abela Wilson’s greater botanical expertise with regard to identifying the south African flower Protea rather than my Aussie Waratah….although not too different one from the other when I checked up.
    .
    Thank you Kathy (KJ) for this wonderful learning opportunity, and for the subtle nuances your photos elicit.

    1. ingrid…thank you for reading my comments and commenting on the haiku dialogue….i also am enjoying the sharing of comments as much as the poems which spur them.

    2. Thank you, Ingrid. Like wendy, I enjoy reading comments on the individual poems almost as much as the haiku itself. It’s wonderful to see how readers interpret the same ku differently.
      .
      I must admit, not been aware of exotic blooms, I did have to Google both your and Kathabela’s flowers – such beauties! I can see how they inspired.
      .
      marion

    1. You are welcome, Margie. Your senryu reminded me of an old TV ad set in an art museum in which a visitor thought a fire bucket was a piece of modern art! 🙂
      marion

    1. i think this is a submission for the next poet’s choice….please resubmit, Margaret Mahony in the form that applies to this topic….i know it can be confusing.

      1. thanks for this Wendy – yes, Margaret – please submit by clicking on the Contact Form above! kj
        ps I have received your submission this week Wendy! (we are now investigating spam filters)

        1. thanks for the update, kj.

          there is a picture of a spam filter in the book,
          “spam” by ray freed & jim tyack

          they use it to pump Meaning into the product….
          70% preservative agents
          20% advertising
          10% hog a-holes
          10% garlic

  7. Well, what a great read – thanks to KJ for curating this work. As an artist I’d love to comment on each and every component of this rainbow of haiku, and I’ll do my best to include as many as possible before I have to rush off to work!
    .
    I enjoyed the humour in many of the poems: Alan’s brush with the law made me smile, as did Roberta’s tornado-causing moustache-twirl from Dali and I loved Helen’s verb “pollacking” as her new, midlife hobby ruins the carpet! Paul’s prize-winning palette – and Margie’s con artist who tries to sell his – are wonderfully relatable to me, as I often feel like framing the mix of colours left on the palette rather than the resulting painting. 🙂 Finally I suspected a hint of something cheeky going on with Olivier’s model – one wonders what had made the young sitter blush!
    .
    Fragments I particularly enjoyed: “stracci di luna” rags or tatters of the moon is beautiful. Hifsa’s “the rigmarole of my imagination”, Maria’s “colors to fill the silence”, Nancy’s sea glass “pieces that make up her life” and Guliz’s “windswept rainbow.”
    .
    Emotions were successfully captured in many of the poems and those with babies, children and rainbows expressed great joy – even the array of cannabis oil on shelves suggests a rainbow, though a more unusual one. However, I got a sense of sadness and regret from Adjei’s rainbow that didn’t reach to the sky when combined with the image of the abandoned artist’s workspace. Robert’s haiku was interesting, the hesitation at voicing his opinion until everyone else has contributed, suggesting self-doubt, and Margaret’s disposable palette seems to go beyond mere reluctance to show her art. Joel’s frustration and eventual abandonment of the task is evident in very few words. There was a deep sense of sadness in “our unfinished still life” in Susan’s depiction of the empty artist’s studio and I loved the feeling of contentment and cosiness in Karen’s image of painting the winter from the warmth of indoors. (No sense of suffering for your art there!) If we are allowed to make suggestions, rather than “anger” in L1 of Rehn’s ku, because the addition of red paint captures this emotion well, perhaps a different first line could be used to add another layer.
    .
    Imagery is important in both art and poetry, of course, and the subjects in Anitha and Barbara’s trying to paint the wind was beautiful. Nancy’s image of the artist painting flowers that never die followed by that heart-wrenching empty vase reminded me of my grandmother who encouraged me to paint (in oils) from a very early age. Marilyn’s “equinox” jux really made me see the leaves dappled equally with yellow ochre and burnt sienna. I absolutely loved the very painterly image of Francesco’s watermelons that are “potbellied in the sun” after all that fresh well water!
    .
    Interestingly, I prefer Angela’s poem in Italian because the depth of sound in the pronunciation seems like a real celebration of the warm, autumnal colours and I might suggest that Angiola stays closer to the Italian “fresca” and use “fresh paint” rather than “wet” on the bench as a spring kigo – we all like to give our garden furniture a lick of paint ready for warmer months.
    .
    Wendy’s declaration that the sky is right to hold all the blossoms really captures that moment when you stand under a tree in full bloom and the contrast of all that pink against the blue expanse of sky makes you gasp.
    .
    No artist’s studio is complete without the smell of turps and Elises’s use of turpentine carried on a (last?) goodnight kiss from dad on “that” fall evening adds to the poignancy.
    .
    With cadmium yellow immediately bringing his sunflowers to mind (and “stickiness” making me think of blood) Helen’s suicide note could only have been written by Vincent van Gogh. It is sadly ironic that he couldn’t afford to paint with cadmium yellow very often and had to rely on chrome yellow, which is a much less stable pigment.
    .
    Oh, thanks to all who commented on my “black and blue…” haiku. It’s much appreciated. 🙂

    1. Thank you for the comment on my ku…just wanted to let you know that I hugely enjoyed yours…
      Regards, Anitha.

    2. Thanks Marion for your comment, you’re right about the paint on the bench, it had just been repainted
      Angiola

    3. Marion,
      Thank you for commenting on my “disposable palette” and for “hearing” the deeper meaning.

      There are so many hear about which I would like to comment – but with houseguests at the moment just don’t have the time. However, your “black and blue” clearly has multiple interpretations. It is one that stood out for me immediately.

      1. You are welcome, Bob. I see from your earlier comment that this was about patience – I can see that now on rereading. 🙂
        marion

    4. thank you Marion for appreciating my haiku and for having grasped her true essence and also your haiku is very beautiful and invites us to accept more the beauty that life offers us and not to resign ourselves to darkness

      Angela

    5. thank you marion for jumping in with your painterly comments on the poems that inspired you to do so. i am glad my poem allowed you to have a beautiful visualization and thank you for sharing that image.

      1. You are welcome, wendy- It brought me right back to the garden of an artist friend who has since moved to France. My daughter Taryn was cat-sitting for her and I remember her standing with Gizzy in her arms under the cherry tree and me being blown away by the pink and blue universe overhead! 🙂

        1. marion…i knew it brought you to a place of “awesome”…..perhaps that recollection can be the subject of a soon to be oil painting…to display?

    6. Thank you so very much for your response to my haiku
      Marion!
      Your were able to connect and feel the sadness in the unfinished still life…

  8. What an art gallery we have here! Palettes of red, blue, and all of the other rainbow hues. So many thoughtful, eye catching pictures are painted with a few words. So many artists represented, too. Van Gogh, Jackson Pollock, Dali, to name but a few. And novices who also are side by side with the Grand Masters…there is so much to appreciate in this art gallery. I am proud to hang out with this crowd. Well done all. Thanks to KJ for all your hard work early week.

  9. Wendy,

    Thank you for your comment. I didn’t think about it that way. I geus that proves that you’re right. All art is in the eye of the beholder.

    1. i’m just trying to get people to think out of the box….now let me do some more….
      if shiki wrote his last dying ku on a tissue next to his bed after a deep coughing spell would it not be valued, read, and perhaps treasured…as much as any on rice paper or whatever was more customary at the time?

      So i ask does it matter what the art is placed on????
      also:
      i can’t see any logic…in anyone being “conned” by something they can see, and judge ahead of time, with their own eyes. it wasn’t hidden from the buyer. if the buyer was attracted to the non-objective art in the first place….enough to to buy it….then how can the buyer feel cheated, conned, or any justifiable remorse?
      is there something i am not seeing here…and if so please tell?

      is there anything that can save this hasty senryu?

      here is another story:
      i believe it was Picasso…who endorsed his check with a simple stick figure…in lieu of a name….don’t believe it was ever cashed by bank or banker….but i do think somewhere in a special auction house it’s new owner’s paid a lot more than the original face value of the check.

      here’s another story….just to confuse the flow.

      back in the eighties, i submitted several fine art photographs into a gallery competition in NY…
      one which was a montage/collage was returned, rejected/not eligible because i used corrugated card board to mount the picture sections ….the reasoning here…was that it was not
      acid-free archival paper, mat materials, and framing supplies.

      okay…it was not entered…and with my tail between my legs i walked it back home and i learned my lesson here.

      now…if you are referring to ” lignin” from a wood palette contaminating the painting on the palette…then that is a different story.

  10. So many excellent pieces here. I have just a moment but wanted to say that the one that really made me smile was Alan Summers’
    “crime of passion”. The second line is brilliant!

  11. Thank you so much for putting this wonderful collection together Kathy and for including mine. I especially enjoyed:
    .
    at the window
    trying to paint
    the wind
    .
    Barbara Tate

  12. Thank you to all for your contributions this week, and to K.J. Munro for providing an inspiring image and curating all the responses.
    *
    As an amateur photographer who has used my work to create and publish many a haiga/tankart piece, my perspective on which poems succeed best is slightly different. I most value the work that goes beyond simply describing aspects of the image. When a poet can respond with a haiku/senryu that carries me beyond the photograph while also working in tandem with the photograph to tell a larger story, I am most captivated.
    *
    To that end, here are the poems I felt would make the most intriguing haiga in tandem with the photograph:

    crime of passion
    the artist’s other brush
    with authority
    *
    Alan Summers
    Winsor Castle, Inkworthy, U.K.
    *
    All we need now is a strip of yellow police tape. As a huge fan of BBC detective dramas (long live Endeavor), I really loved this one! It made me smile while simultaneously setting me on the trail of a mystery.
    *
    black and blue…
    her desire to recreate life
    in colour
    *
    Marion Clarke
    *
    Simultaneously painful and beautiful—a visceral poem. The word desire is particularly potent here.
    *
    with a twist
    of Dalí’s mustache
    a tornado is born
    *
    Roberta Beach Jacobson
    *
    Such a creative take, and so fun to watch the connected events in motion, like a film!
    *
    emotional blackout the rigmarole of my imagination
    *
    Hifsa Ashraf
    Pakistan
    *
    I enjoyed the chaos of this poem—very apt capture of both emotion and imagination.
    *
    art show
    my palette won
    first prize
    *
    Paul Geiger
    Sebastopol CA
    *
    While there is an incorporative description involved here, the humorous leap takes us to an unexpected event. I might suggest “wins” in place of “won” just to land us presently in the art show venue.
    *
    cadmium yellow
    so sticky under
    the suicide note
    *
    Roberta Beary
    Co Mayo Ireland
    *
    A devastating poem rendered in a fittingly sickly color. I feel progressively ill reading this senryu, especially as I can relate it to having experienced the suicide attempts of immediate family members. Very courageous to put this one on paper.

    turpentine smell
    my father’s goodnight kiss
    that fall evening
    *
    Elisa Allo
    Switzerland
    *
    A palpable puzzle, especially as the word “fall” could suggest something other than the season. Is this a welcome kiss…? The strong smell makes me wonder. And wondering is a good thing in a haiga.
    *
    mom’s new dress
    even more colorful after
    a baby’s hug
    *
    Dubravka Šćukanec
    Zagreb, Croatia
    *
    This delightful poem made me simultaneously laugh and gag a little. I immediately remembered back to taking a jacket out of the closet that I hadn’t realized sported a rivulet of my baby’s spit-up—down the back! Ugh, but oh so relatable. I might consider dropping the “a” in the last line, in order to perfectly parallel “mom’s” in the first line. mom’s new dress/baby’s hug.
    *
    the canvas –
    space-time story
    again, again, again
    *
    Lemuel Waite
    Georgetown, Kentucky
    *
    I like the quantum feel of this one—a linear capture of the circular nature of time. I can also hear Captain Kirk delivering these lines in his characteristic halting style. I always find it interesting when a haiku on the page conjures an audible voice.

    1. Thanks so much for your very comprehensive comments, Autumn. I’m very pleased you saw my haiku as painful and beautiful at once. And yes, the word “desire” is important; I was thinking of the potentially devastating effects abuse can have on a victim’s confidence, as well as physical harm.

    2. Autumn Noelle Hall,

      I enjoy reactions to what I write. It’s what makes a ku work, I feel, when a response grows from it as did your story.

      Kindest wishes,

      Lemuel

    3. Thanks for the comment to my lines, Autumn.
      My father paints and the image has awakened a memory of my adolescence.
      Elisa

  13. thank you very much to katherine for including my haiku and thanks to Wendy for commenting and appreciating it

  14. Just a quick post as I’m snowed under with a big project, delightfully of course! 🙂
    .
    .
    Thank you KJMunro aka Kathy, and for Craig, for all the hard behind-the-scenes work, which I know is a lot, and your patience with all of us haiku people! 🙂
    .
    Great set of work, been reading them through again. What an amazing but huge task it would be to decide on an anthology of haiku dialogue. It would need an Arts Grant etc… 🙂
    .
    Deep bow to Kathy and Craig, and fellow haiku poets! 🙂

  15. kjmunro, thank you and congratulations for your work. All the haiku I read are very beautiful. Those that impressed me the most:

    at the window
    trying to paint
    the wind (Barbara Tate)

    turpentine smell
    my father’s goodnight kiss
    that fall evening (Elisa Allo)

    painting project
    she asks me to show her
    the colour of wind (Anitha Varma)

      1. the empty canvas –
        looking for colors
        to fill the silence

        Maria Teresa Piras

        I loved the synesthesia in yours…👍🏻

  16. third page of notes:

    The Con artist
    Sells his old palette
    As abstract art

    Margie Gustafson
    Lombard, IL

    if it is art, in the eyes of the beholder….then there is no con…I would respectfully disagree.

    *

    pollocking the carpet my midlife baptism

    Helen Buckingham

    making of a jackson pollock-like painting…..spilling. and splattering paint on large canvas that often laid on floors….until it dried….but is a midlife baptism on a carpet…..paint?????

    *

    disposable palette
    the colors
    we hide

    Margaret Walker

    the palette is where experimentation occurs….who wants to share the rejects of our life with others? (When we have the convenience of tear-off pads of palettes?)

    *

    the empty canvas –
    looking for colors
    to fill the silence

    Maria Teresa Piras

    again the use of synesthesia sound=colour

    *
    cascade colors:
    between rags of moon a clear tear

    colori a cascata:
    fra stracci di luna una lacrima chiara

    Giuliana Ravaglia

    this sounds like a textured painting or use of rag to make textures.

    *

    colour palette
    he could never take in
    all my shades

    Nadejda Kostadinova

    I really like this one……colour/shades=moods/multifacets/ innuendos?

    *

    his last studio
    just as he left it –
    our unfinished still life

    susan rogers

    preserving memories as they are left.
    and a comment in the form of a snapshot on how life is without the partner.

    1. Wendy, Thank you for commenting on my “disposable palette”! Your interpretation had a slightly different twist – and I like it!

      You “ah Just the right sky to hold all these blossoms” Is enhanced by the “ah” and it leaves the reader wondering which sky, the one on the palette or the one through the windows. “all these blossoms – so many on the page.

      1. margaret the way i see it that a person covers black and blues up…with make-up, dabbing with a disposable palette….they become an experiment on living on the edge of life…or a page
        they are not just trying at keeping secrets….they are keeping the abuser to themselves and prolonging the status quo….

        i am glad, my poem allowed you to wonder.

  17. more notes:

    sea glass…
    pieces that make up
    her life

    Nancy Brady
    Huron, Ohio

    painting in stained glass using found supplies where ever beaches are.
    *

    at the window
    trying to paint
    the wind

    Barbara Tate

    again I hear donovan.

    *
    autumn dawn –
    I painted on my canvas
    all warm colors

    alba autunnale –
    sulla mia tela ho dipinto
    tutti i caldi colori

    Angela Giordano
    Italy

    those are the colours of autumn that nature provides as the temperature gets colder….and the sunlight shorter.

    *

    art show
    my palette won
    first prize

    Paul Geiger
    Sebastopol CA

    thinking outside of the box, i encourage this!

    *

    a break in the rain
    she abandons her paints
    for the garden

    Debbie Scheving

    the garden is where the passion begins.

    *

    anger
    she adds more
    red paint

    Rehn Kovacic

    red is the feeling of anger….it gets immediate attention and release with the paint application.

    *

    cadmium yellow
    so sticky under
    the suicide note

    Roberta Beary
    Co Mayo Ireland

    cadmium yellow in the pale yellow shades…had a suspicious history for not being quite light proof…so placing this pigment with both the colour of sticky notes….and the stickiness of suicide shows perfect artistic judgement and word smithery. This is, I believe the month of suicide awareness…so appropriate topic timing, too…for bringing out a subject that most people want to hide under the rug.

    *
    wet paint on the bench first leaves

    vernice fresca sulla panchina prime foglie

    Angiola Inglese

    are they real or faux?

    *

    the flowers
    already framed
    two canvases waiting

    Saša Slavkovic
    Golnik, Slovenia

    precognition….the artist/photographer sees looking through “framed” eyes…for a perfect composition. Maybe a fence frames it or larger trees, mountains, rocks etc.

    *

    An artist of color
    all hairs are different
    in a hairdressing studio

    Ljiljana Dobra
    Sibenik Croatia

    i can totally relate to this one. I earned all my college education tuition by working as a hair-colourist/cutter/and designer.

    *

    spring palette…
    I add some more warmth
    to ease the blues

    Madhuri Pillai

    colours have a strong pull on emotions.

    *

    aftermath
    clues from masterpiece
    missing canvas

    Kathleen Mazurowski

    yes, sometimes if it is worth stealing it may be a masterpiece.
    I would like to think so as I have had several pieces of sculptures and paintings taken while on exhibitions and private walls.

      1. i like how you know how to solve things yourself….yes, the self-reliance in your poem.
        Madhuri…you are welcomed.

    1. I thank you for having appreciated and also commented on my Wendy haiku, beautiful also yours

      Angela

  18. here is a partial lists of my notes:

    art class…
    waiting till last
    to add my voice

    Robert Kingston
    Chelmsford United Kingdom

    interesting, shows vulnerability….perhaps timidity…a contrast…when art class can represent freedom of expression.

    *

    april sky
    grandchildren coloring
    rainbow

    Fatma Gultepe

    lovely, a joint pastime, innocent children feel happy, protected and secure with grandma.

    *

    crime of passion
    the artist’s other brush
    with authority

    Alan Summers
    Winsor Castle, Inkworthy, U.K.

    the black, queen charlotte? Softening the images?

    *

    artist’s palette
    full of colors –
    gray sky

    Slobodan Pupovac
    Zagreb, Croatia

    painting from feelings…. though nature provides the full spectrum of colours …to pick gray…. shows a certain sadness, loneliness/and isolation/perhaps winter? season/time

    *

    painting project
    she asks me to show her
    the colour of wind

    Anitha Varma

    “try to catch the wind” by Scottish, country/folk singer from the sixties…..Donovan

    *

    black and blue…
    her desire to recreate life
    in colour

    Marion Clarke

    the life being recreated is one of physical abuse,
    the layers of paint are thick as they are passed down….
    But at least the desire to express is not suppressed here.

    *

    water in the well…
    pot-bellied watermelons
    in the sun

    Francesco Palladino

    a painting showing the abundance of life flowing?

    *

    brushes and colors
    fantasy
    has no limits

    vincenzo adamo

    yes….this is the freedom of art and expression captured in a poem

    *

    stirring a teaspoon
    salt in black coffee
    autumn fog

    Christina Chin

    is this a form of “painter’s block”?

    *

    another tube
    of acrylic
    palette clouds

    Edward Cody Huddleston

    I have made these kind of paintings, so structural, that they have almost 3D clouds, requiring lots of white paint to make them fluffy, using a palette knife, swirling, as you would put icing on a cake
    *

    Messy. Agitated. Going up country.

    Joel

    does the person looking at this photo…seeing it too disorganized….that they must go elsewhere to feel peace and serenity?

    *

    every hour
    artist sending out emptied
    paint boxes

    Radhamani sarma

    Reminiscent of Vermeer? Needing his female assistant to hand mix custom oil colours????

    *

    getting lost
    in his cornfield…
    Van Gogh show

    Michele L. Harvey

    an exhibit experience…put so aptly in a poem

    *

    with a twist
    of Dalí’s mustache
    a tornado is born

    Roberta Beach Jacobson

    the master/father of surrealism….Dali tribute…rendered
    as a magician in a whimsical, delightful poem. i have a small book
    just on Dali’s mustache….somewhere.

    1. Dear Wendy
      Thank you for spending some time with mine.
      You added a few more layers for which I’m grateful.
      I’d hoped to convey “patience”
      Artists like writers can find themselves in a cul-de-sac if a plan is not thought through. Obviously easy to contend with in abstract. Not so in the master piece.
      I will give thought to how I can make it more clear.
      Thank you
      Rob

      1. robert, not suggesting any edits needed with your poem….

        perhaps you can teach me more about patience….that’s my most difficult mountain to climb.

        i’m very strong on spontaneity, and flex·i·bil·i·ty .

        cul-de-sacs
        the places you build and stay in
        ’til you find your way out

        (c) 9/22/2019 by wendy c. bialek

        “plans” are okay but the artist must be able to place them secondary to the “birth” of art…they must not be used as roadblocks…just as stepping stones. the artist knows when to turn his/her back on them and find better directives…when the plans don’t deliver the proper goods.

        i can go on an on….Robert….this is what i am filled with.

        1. Dear Wendy
          Thank you for your further comment.
          For me, to see is to feel. KJ’s picture spoke to us all differently. I’m sure if I were a younger man I would have not been so patient.
          Best regards
          Rob

          1. Robert,
            you said: “For me, to see is to feel. KJ’s picture spoke to us all differently”.

            yes, i totally agree that responses are going to be different, even though we are all presented with the same photo prompt…..as the collective approaches to seeing is different since they are framed by and altered by personal experiences from each member’s history…be it culture, religion, education, rearing, spiritual upbringing, traumas, physical/mental health, environmenl, intellectual bias, etc.

            And i would add, these same influences factor in upon evaluation of the resulting haiku. That the depth and enjoyment of haiku involves the reader’s “finishing touch” There is no right and wrong interpretation.

            The poet has no control over the ku/senryu…once written and posted…it is surrendered into the eye of the beholder…who will be crying/smiling/laughing/believing/not believing…etc. based on their feelings “du jour”
            So to feel you may have failed or fallen short in your goal to say you wanted to convey “patience”….to me is fruitless… to beat yourself up without reason….no more to condemn the reader for not getting it ”
            there has to be room made for the transitions that are bound to be made on this “baby” you “birthed”…it will grow in the minds of the readers in ways that you may never recognize as your “child”.

            yes…patience….or more precisely “contemplative”….crossed my mind in the first read of your poem….but it wasn’t the prominent feeling i wanted to go with…(based on my experiences/observations with students in my classrooms)

            as i associate someone who waits to the end….before responding….as a person who may be unsure of his own opinion, fearful of going out on a limb, afraid of failure, afraid of standing out of the crowd, a follower…who wants to hear everyone’s answers to be able to shape his own….also someone who does not want to hear much feedback…or knows he won’t be there to receive feedback.

            There is a very thin line between procrastination/ hesitation/manipulation/contemplation/and patience….different shades of the same verb.

            Robert…you said,” if I were a younger man I would have not been so patient”

            that is interesting, are you saying that “age” has something to do with “spontaneity”?

  19. for KJMUNRO and team
    if your theory is valid, all you would need are two people who are on different devices to have a post ready to go on the page form and for each one to press send at the same time….and if both come through then you can dump that theory easily….if only one comes thru….then maybe you are on to something. this should not have to take much time at all. Please let me know if your theory pans out.

  20. Another fine set…..I love Roberta Beach Jacobson’s:
    .
    with a twist
    of Dali’s mustache
    a tornado is born
    .
    …..’the butterfly effect’ meets wabi-sabi, with a good dollop of surrealist wit thrown in that Dali himself would be proud of. Excellent ku.
    .
    The other two that really do it for me are, Maria Concetta Conti’s chilling:
    .
    a gift
    for the bride
    fall painting
    .
    and Elisa Allo’s very moving:
    .
    turpentine smell
    my father’s goodnight kiss
    that fall evening
    .
    Thanks to all for some great bedtime reading!

  21. I was inspired by most of the contributions this week. In an effort to not be too wordy will only comment on a few, out of the 89!
    *
    spring palette…
    I add some more warmth
    to ease the blues
    *
    Madhuri Pillai
    *
    Double meaning of blues, and palette can also be used for wardrobe colors.
    *
    turpentine smell
    my father’s goodnight kiss
    that fall evening
    *
    Elisa Allo
    *
    We are given a glimpse of a story here.
    *
    your hue
    love in a mist
    of orion’s blues
    *
    simonj
    *
    I was immediately drawn in by my favorite color, blue, thought of blue love in a mist flowers, and the stars in a dark sky. But with the ambiguity of “your hue” I could be totally off! I love the brevity of this also, and hue and blues together.
    *
    pitter patter
    the kitten walks through my paint
    spitter spatter
    *
    john hawkhead
    *
    The image and the clever turn of words made me smile.
    *
    amalgamating diverse colours
    this art studio
    called life
    *
    Anjali Warhadpande
    *
    A creative experiment oftentimes, this life.
    *
    the warmth
    of my studio –
    painting winter
    *
    Karen Harvey
    *
    A simple contrast on first read, it picked up meaning for me on the re-reads.

    1. your hue
      love in a mist
      of orion’s blues
      *
      simonj
      *
      I was immediately drawn in by my favorite color, blue, thought of blue love in a mist flowers, and the stars in a dark sky. But with the ambiguity of “your hue” I could be totally off! I love the brevity of this also, and hue and blues together.
      **
      My reply… You are correct as to the concrete elements of love-in-a-mist (nigella) and Orion (constellation), but both of these can be read alternatively, literally or figuratively.
      The stories are for the reader to discover, or create,… and juxtapose.

    2. Thanks for the comment Debbie, although I have to admit this was a bit of a flippant haiku – but I couldn’t resist it! Thanks to kj for this stimulating splash of colour.

  22. This one made me…

    at the window
    trying to paint
    the wind

    Barbara Tate

    …lean back in my seat and smile at the sky outside the window. Wonderful moment.

    1. Thank you Dean so much for the comment. I was studying art at the Studio of Jack Richard in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio when he taught me to paint the wind.

    1. John,
      Thanks so much for posting your missing poem here in the comments… I think that is going to be the solution to this problem, in the short term at least, moving forward… unless or until I learn that there is an actual solution…
      To hopefully add further evidence to support my current theory – please reply with the date & time from your initial contact form response… if you have that! thanks, kj

      1. snowed in
        the protean palette
        of our dreams

        Kath Abela Wilson

        (Posted Saturday noon)

        I loved seeing the Protea flower in the picture …symbol of change and transformation inherent in the artistic process. Outside the window …snow like a canvas or blank page… …noting but white…and knowing where kj lives…snowed in seemed perfect …all the colors dreams and blooms inside.

          1. Dear Robert
            Thank you for noticing. You are always so generous!
            Your poem as to being the last … there

            is a sense of quiet and expectancy– and the waiting as if not yet spoken– in the image and in your haiku –so I understand the patience…

            waiting till things are right, till the time is right.

            Love being here with you, thalnks for all you do.

            Love, Kath Abela

    2. John __ vivid visually –I can see it happen.
      Bourbon for paint– I love the painting!
      Exciting.

      Thank you for posting!

  23. Dear Kathy Munro,
    Greetings. Delighted to be chosen by you, to be featured here.

    Among so many artworks, one of my favorites this week,

    black and blue…
    her desire to recreate life
    in colour

    Marion Clarke

  24. cadmium yellow
    so sticky under
    the suicide note
    .
    Roberta Beary
    .
    The words flow, the senses are aroused, the emotions clash…

  25. I am fully enjoying the variety of takes on the photo prompts. I enjoy re-reading other people’s favourites so here are three of mine (there are more):
    .
    painting project
    she asks me to show her
    the colour of wind
    .
    Anitha Varma
    .
    turpentine smell
    my father’s goodnight kiss
    that fall evening
    .
    Elisa Allo
    Switzerland
    .
    colour palette
    he could never take in
    all my shades
    .
    Nadejda Kostadinova
    .
    Thank you everyone!

  26. mom’s new dress
    even more colorful after
    a baby’s hug

    Dubravka Šćukanec
    Zagreb, Croatia

    this haiku uses the switching of senses, synesthesia….love/hug from a baby….becomes more colour on a mother’s, already colourful, new dress.

  27. mom’s new dress
    even more colorful after
    a baby’s hug

    Dubravka Šćukanec
    Zagreb, Croatia

    i enjoy this so much, because it brings out a philosophy which i share….that art can be found anywhere….not limited to a canvas, a paper, a studio or a studied artist. it can be unintended, by the transferring of food, maybe colourful icing from a cupcake on a baby’s face to a mother’s dress. Art is the recognition of art. And i love playing with food.

  28. I see so many colours of poetry. For me :

    painting project by Anita Varma
    black and blue by Marion Clarke
    getting lost by Michele Harvey
    gray autumn by Maria Sisti
    the painter’s deck by Adjei Agyei Baah
    self portrait by Kumarendra Mallick
    learning by Peggy Bilbro
    wet paint by Angiola
    divorce papers by Cristina
    turpentine smell by Elisa Allo
    disposable palette by Margaret Walker
    colour palette by Nadejda Kostadinova
    his last studio by Susan rogers

    1. Thank you for noticing mine Arvinder.
      Your “painting class” made me smile. The palette did remind me of the glorious masterpieces created by young children.

  29. ah just the right sky to hold all these blossoms

    wendy c. bialek
    prescott valley, az usa

    please place mine up with the list KJ Munro

    hope the formating is right this time….there is space between “ah” and “just” and another space between “sky” and “to”

    sent thurs. sept 12, 2019 at 4:43 pm to haiku dialogue
    . sept 12, 2019 at 4:43 pm to haiku dialogue

    1. Wendy – thanks so much for posting your poem here – I will get it added to the post later today…
      more importantly, I think, may be the other details – I did not receive your poem; I did, however, receive someone else’s poem at exactly the date & time of your ‘proper response’, & I will launch a further investigation with my support team – but I am thinking that the system might be having difficulty when it receives more than one at the exact same moment? Thanks for your perseverance & understanding – I hope to get to the bottom of this!! kj

      1. glad you will be looking into the bottom of this problem. i do hope that you and your team are able to come up with a solution….in the meanwhile…..for the now….i thank you in advance for your responding to posting of my poem in a sensitive and timely manner…while discussions are active….so i have a feeling of being included….and not placed on hold. Thank you in advance for being responsive to today’s concerns while you are trying to find remedies for next week.

  30. kjmunro….i don’t see my submission that i sent in and did get the proper response from the form after i sent it in.

    Don’t know if you are finished posting all the results yet but here is my poem:

    ah just the right sky to hold all these blossoms

    wendy c. bialek prescott valley, az usa

    sent thurs. sept 12, 2019 at 4:43 pm to haiku dialogue

      1. Babs,
        Please do post your poem here in the comments if you want to – & if you have the date & time from the contact form response – that might be helpful… it seems to me, that this problem may have been happening all along – but because only a selection of the poems were being posted in the column, nobody knew!
        I do hope to find out what is going on here…
        thanks for your patience! kj

        1. Thanks. I’ll have to try to find it again. It was about mania but at the moment I can’t remember exactly how I worded it…

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