Haiku Dialogue

HAIKU DIALOGUE – Rain ! Rain ? – Flood – long list

Rain ! Rain ? with Co-Guest Editors Arvinder Kaur & Vandana Parashar

India is a country of diverse geographical features. In the northeast we have Cherrapunji, which receives 11,777 mm rainfall each year, making it one of the wettest places on the Earth, and in the northwest we have the Thar Desert, also known as the Great Indian Desert, which is the world’s 18th largest desert. Every year we see nature’s bounty as well as its fury.

Floods, droughts, snowstorms, cyclones, earthquakes – we see it all. For the next prompts we’ll ponder over the two extremes which make us question – “How much is enough?”

Below is Arvinder’s & Vandana’s selection of poems on the topic of Flood:

once-in-a-hundred-years
the four centimeters
that the stream lacked

Deborah Karl-Brandt
Germany

 

retreating flood waters
a deep hush
left behind

Mike Stinson
Nebraska, USA

 

flood
the washing machine bobs
against the ceiling

Cindy Putnam Guentherman
IL, USA

 

heavy flooding…
I start buying
super plus tampons

Adele Evershed
Wilton, Connecticut

 

Paper Mill lock
a bow wave ahead
of the van

Robert Kingston
Chelmsford, UK

 

without a bed . . .
a river wanders
city streets

marilyn ashbaugh
edwardsburg, michigan

 

canyon flood—
the river
carves a new bend
in the road

Carole MacRury
Point Roberts, WA

 

a flurry of arks Noah gets a redo

Vishal Prabhu
India

 

the old river
finds its way home
village flood

Carol Reynolds
Australia

 

inundation
they set up a boat stop
in front of my house

Chen Xiaoou
Kunming, China

 

flood the drains fill with commitments

John Hawkhead
UK

 

flood…
the raised snout
of a stray dog

Vladislav Hristov
Bulgaria

 

flooded village…
a cherry branch in bloom
floating to nowhere

Steliana Cristina Voicu
Ploiesti, Romania

 

late autumn
a flash flood
of oxytocin

Ravi Kiran
India

 

still heavy downpours
we start calling our ditch
the Great River

Urszula Marciniak
Poland

 

monsoon floods
year after year old clothes
running low

Hla Yin Mon
Yangon, Myanmar

 

a race
through the zen garden–
flood warning

Terri French
Huntsville, AL

 

my raft –
a floating
picnic table

Dan Campbell
Virginia

 

in the interlude
between rain and more rain
petrichor

Jenn Ryan-Jauregui
Tucson Arizona USA

 

waterlogged bookstore
all the genres flow
in the same direction

Nalini Shetty
India

 

night on the roof
nothing
but the roar of water

Helga Stania
Switzerland

 

flash flood –
on our first floor
a fish in the bird cage

stortvloed –
op onze eerste verdieping
een vis in de vogelkooi

Guido De Pelsmaeker
Belgium (Holsbeek)

 

rising water
the old family album
floats out the window

Pris Campbell
USA

 

sloshing through
our hotel lobby
monsoon

Roberta Beach Jacobson
Indianola, Iowa, USA

 

heavy rain-
the sleepy creek
fills my yard

Ruth Happel
United States

 

endless rain a tall tale of campaign debates

John Zheng
Mississippi

 

waters recede
somebody’s roof
at my door

Sharon Ferrante
Florida, USA

 

midnight deluge
the drenching
in the marriage

Mike Fainzilber
Rehovot, Israel

 

hurricane-
the doorway growth chart
measures flood water

Bette Hopper
Texas, USA

 

storm surge
the cupboard comes off
its hinges

C. Jean Downer
White Rock, BC, Canada

 

floating candle
the ocean carries it
up the stairs

Kathabela Wilson
USA

 

returning home
all the milestones
washed away

Padma Rajeswari
Mumbai, India

 

after the flood…
the highway
to nowhere

Kerry J Heckman
Seattle, WA

 

story time…
the flood of questions
from grandson

Neena Singh
India

 

flood damage
below the poverty line
river banks overflow

Sari Grandstaff
Saugerties, NY, USA

 

empty seat
memories flood
the miles

Susan Farner
USA

 

another flood warning
we start turning our shed
into an ark

Tracy Davidson
Warwickshire, UK

 

the chittering
of chickadees
flooding the morning sky

Bonnie J Scherer
Alaska USA

 

flooding light . . .
he undresses
my isolated self

Richa Sharma
India

 

drowning camel—
who am i
to complain?

Nitu Yumnam
India

 

an inbox flooded
with emails
how many types of rain…

Melissa Dennison
UK

 

swollen stream
old trash washing out
new trash washing in

Bryan Rickert
Belleville, Illinois

 

firstborn
her questions fill
the overnight train

Biswajit Mishra
Canada

 

wading home
roads one
with the sea

Sangita Kalarickal
USA

 

submerged in spring mourning

C.X. Turner
UK

 

desert wash
dry until the flash
flood arrives

Cynthia Anderson
Yucca Valley, California

 

raging water
pulls me from a dream
… burst pipe

Jan Stretch
Canada

 

water here
and not there
climate change

Valentina Ranaldi-Adams
Fairlawn, Ohio USA

 

over-seeding
rain clouds
tweaking algorithms

Caroline Giles Banks
Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA

 

lashing rain
the pigeon and I
in the same balcony

Minal Sarosh
Ahmedabad, India

 

world TV
all the floods
in my living room

Lori Kiefer
UK

 

polar icemelt
Canute runs
for president

Keith Evetts
Thames Ditton UK

 

rising waters
the girl releases her bird
from the cage

Keiko Izawa
Japan

 

steaming sump pump and i spring rain

Sarah E. Metzler
Marion Center, PA

 

summer deluge
it was good
while it lasted

Susan Burch
Hagerstown, MD

 

flooded grassland
the final version of my
to-do list

Eva Limbach
Deutschland

 

positiv test
a flood of questions
flows through me

Mircea Moldovan
Romania

 

sunrise
a rubber duck floats
on the street

Neha Talreja
India

 

suburban nature
the drone of a lawnmower
flooding the cool air

Richard Straw
Cary, North Carolina

 

Join us next week for Arvinder’s & Vandana’s commentary on additional poems…

 

Guest Editor Arvinder Kaur, author, translator and an award-winning poet, specializes in English literature and Media Studies. She was one of the founding editors of the bilingual haiku journal Wah. She has been a guest editor at Triveni, Failed Haiku and recently at The Haiku Foundation’s Haiku Dialogue. Her haiku have appeared in several national and international journals. She is the author of four books of micropoetry, two of which are bilingual where she has translated her own work into vernacular. Her books have been very well received in India and abroad. She lives in Chandigarh, India with her family.

Guest Editor Vandana Parashar is a postgraduate in Microbiology, an educator and a haiku poet. Her haiku, senryu and tanka have been published in many national and international journals of repute and have won her many prizes and accolades. Her haiku was also shortlisted for the prestigious Touchstone Award 2020. She is an associate editor of haikuKATHA and one of the editors of Poetry Pea and #FemkuMag. Her debut e-chapbook, I Am, was published by Title IX Press (now Moth Orchid Press) in 2019 and her second chapbook, Alone, I Am Not, was published by Velvet Dusk Publishing in 2022.

Lori Zajkowski is the Post Manager for Haiku Dialogue. A novice haiku poet, she lives in New York City.

Managing Editor Katherine Munro lives in Whitehorse, Yukon Territory, and publishes under the name kjmunro. She is Membership Secretary for Haiku Canada, and her debut poetry collection is contractions (Red Moon Press, 2019). Find her at: kjmunro1560.wordpress.com.

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

Please note that all poems & images appearing in Haiku Dialogue may not be used elsewhere without express permission – copyright is retained by the creators. Please see our Copyright Policies.

Photo Credits:

Banner photo credit: Unsplash

Prompt photo credit:  prompt photo one – Flood – Ravi Singh

Haiku Dialogue offers a triweekly prompt for practicing your haiku. Posts appear each Wednesday with a prompt or a selection of poems from a previous week.

kjmunro

Comments (39)

  1. Congratulations to all the poets for the outstanding haiku. I am slowly reading through them, but was particularly struck by Melissa Dennison’s
    an inbox flooded
    with emails
    how many types of rain…
    I dread opening my inbox because of the volume of emails and the time it takes to read, answer, and/or delete them. In the process, more appear bringing more bailing out, more time away from real life.

    Congrats to my fellow Ohioan, Valentina. Your climate crisis haiku hits us all, as we all being affected.

  2. Thank you very much for selected my haiku!
    It’s fascinating when someone shares our emotions.
    Congratulations to everyone featured!

  3. Such a treat this selection. I submission did not make the cut – I can see why :) A treasure trove! I will keep coming to may of these — the sleepy creek and the to all the genre floating in one direction:)

  5. Thanks, Arvinder and Vandana, for this overflow of riches. I especially connect with the following poem, even though since retiring the flood of messages in my inbox has been reduced to a trickle.

    an inbox flooded
    with emails
    how many types of rain…

    Melissa Dennison
    UK

  7. Grateful to be included today in Haiku Dialogue, with many thanks to guest editors Arvinder Kaur & Vandana Parashar! Congratulations to all the longlisted poets! Fingers crossed for the Poets to be shortlisted♥! Among the many flood haiku, the following two vivid images caught in my mind’s eyes, as they resonate with what we witness during our annual monsoons : –

    Sharon Ferrant, Florida, USA who alwats writes with a cheeky sense of humour:-

    wsters recede
    somebody’s roof
    at my door

    &

    Roberta Beach Jacobson
    Indianola, Iowa, USA

    sloshing through
    our hotel lobby
    monsoon

    Looking foward eagerly to read the upckming shortisted haiku with the commentaries.

    1. Thank you for trusting us with your work. It was a pleasure reading so many beautiful poems.

  8. Thank you Arvinder and Vandana for including one of mine on this lovely long list. I enjoyed all the poems, especially the varied takes on ‘flood’. Here are just a few that popped out for me for their brevity, use of language and openness to interpretation. As always thanks to kj and Lori for their work behind the scenes.

    without a bed . . .
    a river wanders
    city streets

    marilyn ashbaugh
    edwardsburg, Michigan

    empty seat
    memories flood
    the miles

    Susan Farner
    USA

    submerged in spring mourning

    C.X. Turner
    UK

    water here
    and not there
    climate change

    Valentina Ranaldi-Adams
    Fairlawn, Ohio USA

    steaming sump pump and i spring rain

    Sarah E. Metzler
    Marion Center, PA

    summer deluge
    it was good
    while it lasted

    Susan Burch
    Hagerstown, MD

    heavy rain-
    the sleepy creek
    fills my yard

    Ruth Happel
    United States

    I enjoyed the effectiveness of the adjective in Ruth’s haiku. It showed how a normally “sleepy” stream can overwhelm property under the right circumstances.

    1. Thanks so much for your kind words, Carole, and for trusting us with your poems.
      Every poem is special in its own way. We were amazed by so many different takes on the theme and the masterful way in which the poets narrated their experiences.
      It was a very enriching experience.

    2. Thank-you Carole for including my haiku on your list of haiku that stood out for you this week.

  9. Thank you Arvinder and Vandana for your fantastic selections. There were so many that resonated, but I loved the surrealness of this one:

    flash flood –
    on our first floor
    a fish in the bird cage

    stortvloed –
    op onze eerste verdieping
    een vis in de vogelkooi

    Guido De Pelsmaeker
    Belgium (Holsbeek)

  10. Thank you, Vandana and Arvinder, for including me in the selection. Many thanks also to Lori and Kathy for your dedicated work on this column.

    Each poem included is truly wonderful. If I had to pick a few favourites, these come to mind first:

    in the interlude
    between rain and more rain
    petrichor

    Jenn Ryan-Jauregui
    Tucson Arizona USA

    waterlogged bookstore
    all the genres flow
    in the same direction

    Nalini Shetty
    India

    returning home
    all the milestones
    washed away

    Padma Rajeswari
    Mumbai, India

    Congratulations to everyone featured!

    1. Thank you Nitu for identifying mine as one of your favorites. I am glad it resonated with you. My favorite selection of the group is Nalini’s waterlogged bookstore. It paints such a perfect moment in time and I also enjoyed the cleverly played third line.

  11. Thank you Arvinder and Vandana for including me in this selection. There are such a good lot of great poems, that it’s hard to pick one as my favorite. However, if I had to, I would pick Deborah Karl-Brandt’s, the first one on the list, for its layered meanings inside the simple lines which also takes into its ambit (I hope it does) the issue of global warming.

    once-in-a-hundred-years
    the four centimeters
    that the stream lacked

    Deborah Karl-Brandt
    Germany

  12. Thank you Arvinder and Vandana to have included mine. Absolutely ecstatic.Long list is flooded with such beautiful ku.I dont know how mine floated in. My favourites

    world TV
    all the floods
    in my living room

    Lori Kiefer
    UK

    drowning camel—
    who am i
    to complain?

    Nitu Yumnam
    India

    returning home
    all the milestones
    washed away

    Padma Rajeswari
    Mumbai, India

    1. Thanks for the mention, Nalini! Glad it resonated with you. Loved your poem- beautifully crafted.

  14. As a librarian, I especially connected to this haiku:
    waterlogged bookstore
    all the genres flow
    in the same direction

    Nalini Shetty
    India

  15. Thank-you Arvinder and Vandana for including my haiku. Congrats to all the other poets.

  16. Thank-you to Carole MacRury for her efforts on the Migration series. Thank-you also to
    the Haiku Foundation, Lori, and Kathy for making this column possible. Welcome to Arvinder and Vandana.

  17. Thanks, Arvinder and Vandana. I particularly liked Marilyn Ashbaugh’s homeless river:
    without a bed . . .
    a river wanders
    city streets

    marilyn ashbaugh

  18. Thank you Arvinder and Vandana for guest editing and including my haiku in this week’s Haiku Dialogue. Also many thanks to Kathy and Lori for keeping the Haiku Dialogue going. Congratulations to all the poets here! These two haiku really stood out for me. As a school librarian and book lover I appreciate this one:

    waterlogged bookstore
    all the genres flow
    in the same direction

    Nalini Shetty
    India

    And this is a climate chaos haiku that is relatable. We all are affected:

    world TV
    all the floods
    in my living room

    Lori Kiefer
    UK

Comments are closed.

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