HAIKU DIALOGUE – Poet’s Choice – Gourmet Gallery – touch
Welcome to Poet’s Choice
Let’s talk about haiku!
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Submit an original unpublished poem via our Contact Form by Saturday midnight on the theme of the week, including your name as you would like it to appear, and place of residence.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: GOURMET GALLERY – food & the sense of taste
The deadline for this theme is midnight Pacific Time, Saturday 02 November 2019.
I look forward to reading your submissions.
Poet’s Choice: Gourmet Gallery – touch
Here are the submissions for this week:
kiwi fruit…
slipping off
like a fishLakshmi Iyer
small portions –
the taste of food
without cutleryvincenzo adamo
bus stop
a paper cup of coffee
warms handsSerhiy Shpychenko
Kyiv, UA
he uses gourmet words
on his first date
she swallows without tastingAnjali Warhadpande
homecoming
the flour on mom’s hands
now on my cheeksVandana Parashar
chill in the morning hot chocolate
Debbie Scheving
hot chestnuts
and burnt tongue
a quick kissLjiljana Dobra
Sibenik Croatia
Autumn wind
That sublime touch
on the chipsVento d’autunno
Quel tocco sublime
sulle patatineDennys Cambarau
Autumn evening
Pomegranate seeds
tender and goodSera d’autunno
Chicchi di melograno
teneri e buoniAgnese Giallongo
big pear
my fingers tell me
it’s juicyGoran Radičević
puffed puri
rising up in oil – reeling
into my fingersRadhamani sarma
how many caresses –
our hands sink
in shortcrust pastryquante carezze –
le nostre mani affondano
nella pasta frollaAngela Giordano
Italy
snow on snow –
I sink my hands
into the bread doughGiovanna Restuccia
first cold day
hard to the touch
the avocado skinOlivier Schopfer
Geneva, Switzerland
chocolate pudding
on my tongue
sweet caress of velvetjoel
touched
by his flute notes
poets’ feastJackie Chou
Pico Rivera, CA USA
blobs of red
on a white bib
cold jellyChristina Chin
fruit tingle lolly
tongue tango
with teethnancy liddle
first bite
the pull of taffy
takes off her crownwendy c. bialek
prescott valley, az usa
unwrapping
the cold slippery pudding slips off my handNuky Kristijono
Indonesia
in mouth a bone…
the dog’s path
inside the nettleFrancesco Palladino
mom’s saree border
the stain of
grounded spicesR.Suresh Babu
stale Lorna Doones
crumble
in my handJudith Hishikawa
first tiff
her eating rice with hand
not hubby approved forkVishnu Kapoor
scattered shells
the taste of salt
on soft lipsAnitha Varma
a sip of nouveau –
first kiss to
fiancéTeiichi Suzuki
hot morning
a popsicle froze
my tongueSlobodan Pupovac
Zagreb, Croatia
ice cream freeze
drilling from tooth into skull
the dentist’s soft touchjohn hawkhead
cotton candy spun
into fine, blue silk cocoons
sticky fingers spreadSherrod Taylor
crème brulée
poached pear
shortbread
probes pending…Mark Gilbert
UK
the baby’s cheek
sticky from mashed bananas
rests on my shoulderSari Grandstaff
Saugerties, NY
pollen drift
October bumblebee
touches downPeggy Hale Bilbro
Huntsville, Alabama
Andrejev sejem –
nežna spojitev ustnic
s sladkorno penoAndrew’s fair –
gentle union of lips
with cotton candyIvanka Kostantino
Slovenia
after three
we pull with our pinkies
a doughnut ohsimonj
UK
a big knot
shaping dough into a loaf
family reunionEva Su
Indonesia
crispy roast
grandma’s eyes eating
wonky denturesFranjo Ordanic
midnight pantry raid –
I feel my way
to the cookie jarMichele L. Harvey
her half-swallowed shriek –
red beets
touching white potatoesLaurie Greer
just enough give
through the leathery skin
ripe avocadoKathleen Mazurowski
sweet and sticky
cinnamon rolls
eagerly licked fingersLinda Ludwig
USA – Florida
greasy fingers
dipping french fries
one by oneRehn Kovacic
glass of beer –
the foam in his fingers
for a momentbicchiere di birra –
la schiuma fra le dita
per un istanteAngiola Inglese
fresh jalebis
the only way to end
the talksNeelam Dadhwal
India
my disabled stray –
how it picks up chunks of meat
from claws to mouthIngrid Baluchi
Ohrid, Macedonia
back home
the warmth
of desi rotiHifsa Ashraf
Pakistan
mudpie –
a warm rain cleans
my fingersPris Campbell
christmas eve
cookie crumbs
stuck to my feetRich Schilling
Webster Groves, MO
p e a c h
Adrian Bouter
hot chocolate
maybe they will be quiet
for some timeDubravka Šćukanec
Zagreb, Croatia
soft fog…
children’s fingerprints
on risen doughElisa Allo
old ‘Gold Rush’ campsite
kids crumbling biscuits, testing
if weevils are fakeSheila Barksdale
soggy baklava
I lick the syrup
down my handMadhuri Pillai
ice drips
from the stick –
sweet orange tasteil ghiaccio cola
dal bastoncino –
dolce gusto d’aranciaMaria Teresa Piras
sushi bar…
the salmon
slips awaySteve Tabb
grilled sanma
a tiny bone stuck
in my throatTomoko Nakata
the empty cup:
still thirsty for his handsla tazza vuota:
ancora sete delle sue maniGiuliana Ravaglia
autumn
hollowing the pumpkin
we save the seedsBarbara Tate
late autumn
tasting from the ladle
smooth pumpkin soupJanice Munro
Canada
kiwi such a soft touch
Marilyn Ashbaugh
The food of the heart
and a seanse of touch
on the riverbank.Refika Dedić
Bosna I Hercegovina
turmeric –
mother’s fingerprints
on the cookbookarvinder kaur
Chandigarh, India
When I was little
I was afraid of jello
Moved when I touched itMargie Gustafson
finger’s food…
back
to the originsRosa Maria Di Salvatore
lines for free samples
I pick my teeth
with toothpicksJohn S Green
Bellingham, WA
naked in the bathtub
with a ripe mango
mama’s childhoodKath Abela Wilson
Pasadena, California
second thoughts –
reaching out to gut the fish
I touch a rainbowSusan Rogers
tongue strokes soft meat off
every bone – red cooked oxtail
swims in unctuous sauceGuy Stephenson
formal dinner…
aaargh! these damned poppy seeds
stuck in my teethMark Meyer
satisfaction
dipping toast soldiers into
uncapped soft boiled eggPaul Geiger
healthy bread
from the mother’s hands –
soft as a soulZdenka Mlinar
Croatia
touching their warm food
before tasting
mosquitoesCharles Harmon
Los Angeles, California
fingerpainting
mustard stain dessert sunset
server keeps her placeRon Scully
alphabet soup
your name
so hotcezar ciobîcă
tongue touches the sweet
sweetness melts in the mouth –
deliciousAju Mukhopadhyay
Pondicherry, India
morning muffins
our bodies pressing
on a hotel bedAnthony Rabang
Lori Zajkowski is the Post Manager for Haiku Dialogue. A novice haiku poet, she lives in New York City.
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 48 Comments
Comments are closed.
not just very sentimental ….but the layers between the words….to me show how generation’s pass on….. transfer non-verbally… behaviors, customs and ways of showing warmth and care.
Vandana Parashar’s
homecoming
the flour on mom’s hands
now on my cheeks
in my mind……included in the sense of touch….is also texture…and feeling, hot….cold, and everything in between, etc. ..that it is not limited to hand/ contact….
anything making contact with another thing
slimy
gritty
glossy
soggy
slippery
e n d l e s s textures
Not all of this week’s haiku cover what I would call touch … here are three that did that I liked –
.
big pear
my fingers tell me
it’s juicy
– Goran Radičević
.
how many caresses –
our hands sink
in shortcrust pastry
– Angela Giordano
.
midnight pantry raid –
I feel my way
to the cookie jar
– Michele L. Harvey
A visual representation of mine can be found here -https://twitter.com/MarkgZero/status/1190665257779441667?s=20
Hi Mark. I was able to get your visual link to work before, but not this week. Tried again today with no luck. But I caught your Per Diem, congrats.
touching their warm food
before tasting
mosquitoes
Charles Harmon
Los Angeles, California
*
This one is a different slant as it approaches the theme of touch
using insects.
However, Charles….i believe the poem itself would be stronger if
it were written about only one hungry insect . A tighter macro lens.
mom’s saree border
the stain of
grounded spices
R.Suresh Babu
love this, the feel of the texture of fabric trim…could be embroidered silk trim….being stained with the grounded spice…
shows the intensity and focus on the preparation of the dish to be simmered/sauteed….i see the stain, i smell the stain, i am brought into, lured into this image, in this place of creating the dish
fun, yes, Debbie Sheving.
in ref. to:
he uses gourmet words
on his first date
she swallows without tasting
Anjali Warhadpande
i add this….
i would say, it’s deeper than food appreciation…..for me this shows a total story of contrast of personality textures of the soul… and though the characters are on opposite sides of the scale, who knows it could be the first of many dates…and the stimulating gel that attracts them for life.
he could be hung up…in his head with practiced, shallow words….and she just might be the courageous “frog” who jumps into the deep water of an unknown pond.
Thanks so much for your comments, much appreciated.
Unable to comment on all, Alan where are you?, a few that I enjoyed the image as well as sentiment were:
*
homecoming
the flour on mom’s hands
now on my cheeks
.
Vandana Parashar
*
mom’s saree border
the stain of
grounded spices
.
R. Suresh Babu
*
second thoughts –
reaching out to gut the fish
I touch a rainbow
.
Susan Rogers
*
hot chestnuts
and burnt tongue
a quick kiss
.
Ljiljana Dobra
*
Representing wintery days to me after the gentler warmth of summer:
*
first cold day
hard to the touch
the avocado skin
.
Olivier Schopfer
*
Fun use of slippery Ss:
*
sushi bar…
the salmon
slips away
.
Steve Tabb
*
Thank you, Debbie, for commenting on my poem!
This one is great!
the empty cup:
still thirsty for his hands
la tazza vuota:
ancora sete delle sue mani
Giuliana Ravaglia
a big knot
shaping dough into a loaf
family reunion
.
Eva Su
.
Notes…
I always hope for more juxtaposition – the knot and the family are a great analogue.
Breadmaking is an enoyable experience, but the family reunion seems more significant, so might be better placed as the first line, although shaping dough/into a knotted loaf works as an opening as it pulls the ku into two parts instead of what reads like three.
In terms of haiku brevity, dough and loaf are tautological, but the extra word is worth the assonance.
This one stood out to me as well so thought I would add on here instead. I imagined the gathering around the bread shaping, but the knot in the first line set me up for maybe a complicated family reunion. But then most are.
Will leave comments after work but wanted to correct my monoku that should have been all lower case so first and last words are the same. I was apparently in a rush to leave town for a much needed holiday.
*
chill in the morning hot chocolate
.
Debbie Scheving
done – safe travels, Debbie!
Trip was last week but thank you!
Andrew’s fair –
gentle union of lips
with cotton candy
Ivanka Kostantino
The raucous energy of a crowd at the fair hovers around this delightful observation of silently appreciative lips discovering the unique texture of cotton candy. Mmmm!
he uses gourmet words
on his first date
she swallows without tasting
Anjali Warhadpande
love the character contrast he’s smooth and she’s rough and raw.
Fun to read the different views. My first read was she was too nervous to really enjoy the gourmet meal. If it was a huge difference in food appreciation this date may be their last!
Thanks so much for your comments. Really appreciate it.
Thanks so much for your comments. Truly appreciate it.
you are welcome…Anjali!
just enough give
through the leathery skin
ripe avocado
Kathleen Mazurowski
yes! shopping by touch! why i must do it myself.
ready for guac!
Thanks,
welcomed, Kathleen
christmas eve
cookie crumbs
stuck to my feet
Rich Schilling
Webster Groves, MO
Good follow for theme….and the answer to: Why does Santa wear boots?
Thanks!
welcomed, rich
soggy baklava
I lick the syrup
down my hand
Madhuri Pillai
I relate well to your “baklava” experience.
every baklava i have ever devoured …was capable of dripping its syrup (citrusy honey) down my hand… and my arms.
So….i question the “soggy” need to be there.
yes…in other cultures they may make it dry and crispy….but then there is nothing to drip at all.
Thanks Wendy for your comment, my perfect baklava should retain its crispness, without the pastry getting soggy with too much syrup. Well, in the end, each to her own taste.
we are on the same page, Madhuri…..the crispy is in the filo/ phyllo dough layers
i add the syrup to top layer only, after baking. this way the dough doesn’t absorb it….but it can still drip off from the top….without the inside getting soggy. if your portion is soggy perhaps too much oil or butter/ghee was used to bake the dough.
what i was trying to say, is that there are two sensory items in your poem….and that the sticky drip is enough for me….and that is the one i associate with this pastry delight. focusing one to me make it more powerful.
The food of the heart
and a seanse of touch
on the riverbank.
Refika Dedić
Bosna I Hercegovina
*
romantic and mysteriously intriguing
turmeric –
mother’s fingerprints
on the cookbook
arvinder kaur
Chandigarh, India
tenderly touching me softly!
Thanks Wendy!
always….arvinder
second thoughts –
reaching out to gut the fish
I touch a rainbow
Susan Rogers
love the image here, Susan….
love it even more with just the to last lines:
reaching out
to gut the fish
i touch a rainbow
“two” not to.
talking about two…..
shortly after i submitted this week’s poem for the theme of touch,,,,
i got two emails from amazon….with ads for salt water t – – – y….
my poem was not protected by using microsoft explorer browser to enter the haiku foundation’s form. this never happened when i used mozzilla firefox! Has anyone experienced this as well?
great idea!
thank you wendy for your thoughtful suggestion!
you are welcome, Susan!
Dear Lori Zajkovisky and Kathrine Munro,
Many thanks for including mine. Privileged indeed. One of my favorites, the following, takes us into many a read into the haiku.
finger’s food…
back
to the origins
Rosa Maria Di Salvatore
Many good ones here, but I liked Arvinder Kaur’s ‘mother’s fingerprints’ the most…
Anitha.
Thanks Anitha
Thanks for your appreciation Pat ! Really value.
Sacred bread, almost universal in importance. There were several poems this week about the feel of dough, and I liked Vandana Parashar’s especially, setting the scene in the first line, and the following two for the warmth of greeting through touch, feeling and love.
.
homecoming
the flour on mom’s hands
now on my cheeks
Thanks, Ingrid, for appreciation.
A wonderful selection of poems as usual. Absolutely loved Arvinder’s turmeric marks.
So many great ones! I’ll focus on my three favorites:
midnight pantry raid
I feel my way
to the cookie jar Michelle L. Harvey Great image, I can see this happening
mudpie-
a warm rain cleans
my fingers Pris Campbell This one just feels so good!
turmeric-
mother’s fingerprints
on the cookbook arvinder kaur A very loving touch on a well-used cookbook. I still have my mother’s favorite old cookbook…
Thanks Pat for your comments. Really appreciate.