HAIKU DIALOGUE – Sanctuary of the Senses – Sound and/or Sight – long list

Sanctuary of the Senses with Guest Editor Carole MacRury

As haiku poets, we are familiar with being out in nature, living in the present moment awake to all sensory input, sight, sound, scent, touch, and taste. Sensory experiences can regulate the nervous system and support physical and mental health. Sensory practices and rituals can strengthen mind-body connections and regulate hormones to ease anxiety. I, myself, found ways to utilize the senses to remove debilitating anxiety attacks in my youth. Today, children identified as having sensory sensitivities receive treatment early on to help them process what can be overwhelming or underwhelming sensory responses. My own grandchild successfully underwent sensory processing treatment as a toddler.

A sanctuary is a place of refuge that offers safety and respite from the stresses of our lives, be it within our own homes, a bird sanctuary, a holy place, or at the kitchen table of a dear friend. A sanctuary is personal to each of us. We bring to these sanctuaries our senses whether it is our favorite color, a hot bath, a massage, favorite music, a cup of warm tea, or a hug from a loved one. Our ways and means are endless and unique. Our two prompts will invite you to discover the ways you create your own sanctuary of the senses to cope with the daily stresses of life and to enhance your own well-being.

Below is Carole’s selection of poems on the topic of Sound and/or Sight:

Thank you poets, for your amazing response to this final Sanctuary prompt. As you read through this list, you’ll discover the myriad ways sight and/or sound brought moments of sanctuary or respite to your daily lives. Moments of sanctuary were found in nature, in music, in prayer, in meditation, in birdsong, love song, silo song, and even throat song. Reading your haiku has enriched my life and I hope you enjoy them as much as I did. From ordinary earthly tasks to the heavens or the arms of a loved one, you’ll feel the familiar sense of sanctuary. See if you can locate the one haiku that speaks to the lack of sanctuary in a place where one should feel safe. There were many excellent poems that are not included in this list. Truly wonderful poems that wrote to the sight/sound part of the prompt but lacked the sense of sanctuary called for in this theme. I fully expect to come across them in future publications. Deep bow to everyone who contributed poems. Stay tuned for the dozen poems I’ve set aside for commentary and if your poem didn’t make it to either list, I hope you enjoyed exploring the theme. Please take the time to acknowledge a few favorites. I plan on doing so myself, especially for those poems that opened my eyes to something new.

here
then already not here
cherry blossoms

Lori Kiefer
U.K.

 

desert painting
my palette matches
the smell of sage

Peggy Hale Bilbro
Alabama

 

angler and fish
stillness
as a lure

Dejan Ivanovic
Lazarevac, Serbia

 

silo singing
prayers gathered
for the harvest

marilyn ashbaugh
usa

 

quiet enough for the sound of wings to matter

Gabrielle Higgins
Australia

 

temple on the hill
blue irises and wind chimes
along the path

Tsanka Shishkova
Sofia, Bulgaria

 

peeling potatoes
one by one
– blackbird’s song.

Nikola Đuretić
Zagreb, Croatia

 

the cat and I
sharing a window
when it rains

Debbie Feller
IL, USA

 

slow-walking the poplars to me

Barbara Anna Gaiardoni
Verona – Italy

 

relaxing into
the buzz of bumblebees
mountain onsen

Louise Hopewell
Australia

 

raking
my stone garden – the sound
of perfect circles

Morgan Ophir
Sydney, Australia

 

before the sounds
of everyday
birdsong

Billy Antonio
Laoac, Pangasinan, Philippines

 

the nurse’s red hair – another sunrise

Ivan Georgiev
Germany

 

summer dawn
the soft snoring
of horses

Eva Limbach
Germany

 

slipping in
my hearing aids
break of dawn

Margaret Tau
New Bern, NC

 

the hare feigns
invisibility
I feign blindness

Bob Zaslow
Sedro Woolley, WA

 

throat singing
the underhum
of bees

Cynthia Anderson
Yucca Valley, California

 

singing bowl
for a moment, my day
catches its breath

Minal Sarosh
Ahmedabad, India

 

scintilla
of self –
in a sunbeam

Tim Chamberlain
Tokyo, Japan

 

it all depends
on your mood
guitar solo

John S Green
Bellingham, Washington

 

winter lullaby ––
the call-and-response
of barred owls

Sheila Sondik
Bellingham, Washington

 

father’s library
a silverfish vanishes
between two epics

Sandip Chauhan
Great Falls, Virginia, USA

 

singing wind chimes the length of my cat’s paw

Sharon Ferrante
Daytona Beach, FL

 

observation car
her invisible disability
recognizes mine

Alan Bridges
Bellingham, Washington

 

beyond my drawn curtain –
the clarity of
tuisong

Anne Curran
Hamilton New Zealand

 

beach sunset
i carry the ocean’s sounds
back home

Baisali Chatterjee Dutt
India

 

on my cushion—
breathing
in the sun

Patricia Haddock
United States

 

world at war
burying them one by one
marigold seeds

Deborah Karl-Brandt
Sinzig, Germany

 

sacred sound
Om vibrates throughout
the body

Stephen J. DeGuire
Los Angeles, CA

 

yellow butterfly
closing; then opening
a door into sunlight

Lorraine Schein
Sunnyside, Queens, NYC

 

the deep drones
of a singing bowl
thin mist

Kanjini Devi
The Far North, Aotearoa NZ

 

almost forty years —
the soft song of our
bedtime kiss

Victor Ortiz
Bellingham, WA

 

chanting om
i rise above myself
in a city park

Jahnavi Gogoi
Ajax, Ontario, Canada

 

tinkling bells …
the smell of incense
as i settle

Ann Sullivan
Arlington MA

 

in foreign place –
window wide open
to church bells

Danijela Grbelja
Sibenik, Croatia

 

waking into Saturday mourning doves

Ann K. Schwader
Westminster, CO

 

at the summit
the sound of the ocean
in the wind

Mark Gilbert
UK

 

wildflower field
that place inside me
I know by heart

Stephen A. Peters
Bellingham, WA

 

rocking chair . . .
the soft chirping
of a cricket

Daniela Misso
Italy

 

reading by the fireside
the beat of the rain
against the window

Olivier Schopfer
Geneva, Switzerland

 

whistling wind…
a rose petal
in backlight

fischio del vento…
un petalo di rosa
in controluce

angiola inglese
Italia

 

red T-shirt
perfect for this drizzly day
its block-printed roses

Maxianne Berger
Outremont, Quebec

 

do i hear
the earth’s rotation
long night

Sumitra Kumar
India

 

the evening song
of a blackbird
the sound of home

Annie Wilson
Shropshire, UK

 

in the rhythm of a cicada’s song cankama

Arvinder Kaur
Chandigarh India

 

a rustling of leaves
my happy place
amid library shelves

Tracy Davidson
Warwickshire, UK

 

breathing green spring rains

Nancy Orr
Lewiston, Maine USA

 

coffee
by the window…two sparrows
dip in and out of sight

madeleine kavanagh
California

 

blackbird song —
we have so much
to tell each other

Tomislav Maretić
Gornje Vrapče/Croatia

 

a soft green morning
matcha turns in the bowl
becoming light

C.X. Turner
U.K.

 

rain murmur overhead a moment with mom

petro c. k.
Seattle, Washington

 

shallow stream
its clear burble washes away
my worries

Jenny Shepherd
London, UK

 

taichi on the grass –
bluebirds and thrushes
replacing spotify

Cristina Povero
Italy

 

garden afternoon
a honey bee and me
sharing the now

Gary Evans
Stanwood, Washington, USA

 

harbor dawn
following sea lion barks
into the fog

Kerry J Heckman
Seattle, WA

 

church harp—
i’m dancing in the incense
with an angel

Curt Linderman
United States

 

convalescence
winds in the cedars
and distant foghorns

Mark Meyer
Mercer Island WA USA

 

my ritual
quiet classical music
while reading a book

Gordana Kurtović
Croatia

 

no lights on –
the scent of lilac
even stronger

Ana Drobot
Romania

 

returning home
the susurrus of rain
in mother’s guava tree

Sonam Chhoki
Bhutan

 

her climbing rose
pats my window
mom’s last lullaby

Tré
Blue Ridge, USA

 

spring bird song
how often I want
to know their names

Christa Pandey
Austin, TX, USA

 

my hometown —
horse chestnut blossoms
everywhere

Sanjana Zorinc
Croatia

 

a deep breath
in the day
falling Sakura

Subir Ningthouja
Imphal, India

 

gusting wind
loblolly needles
rain on my tent

AJ Johnson
Stephens City, VA USA

 

catching sunrise —
the racing sliver through
a window crack

Sangita Kalarickal
United States

 

the hundredth candle
on the birthday cake-
the same waterfall’s sound

Anica Marcelic
Croatia

 

dreamless night –
a tawny owl somewhere
in the hills

Hynek Koziol
Czechia

 

moonlit night—
an evening gathering
of delicate songs

Fatma Zohra Habis
Algeria

 

teacup clicks
into the saucer
my oldest friend

Taryn Greenfield
Tacoma, WA

 

lunch break
the lullaby
of an old peepal

(The Peepal [Ficus religiosa], commonly known as the Sacred Fig or Bodhi tree is a spiritually significant tree native to the Indian subcontinent. The leaves due to their unique shape produce a calming rustle even at the slightest breeze.)

Anju Kishore
Bengaluru, India

 

flat wick lamp
my shadow ticks
like a clock

Stacy R. Nigliazzo
Houston TX (USA)

 

kitchen window
a swaying crystal creates
rainbows on the wall

Eavonka Ettinger
Long Beach, CA

 

breathing –
the trolley bell
clangs

Alan Harvey
Tacoma, WA

 

morning music
the fascinating rhythm
of birdsong

Carol Reynolds
Australia

 

mowed grass
with morning freshness
clear mind

Refika Dedić
Bosnia and Herzegovina

 

alone now
I hear my children’s voices
in my dreams

Margaret Mahony
Australia

 

eucalyptus leaves
rustling in evening’s breeze
I find my way home

Damon Huss
Santa Monica, CA

 

school bell
back to being
bullied

Margie Gustafson
Lombard, IL USA

 

a drift of azaleas awash in blooms…full stop

Margaret Anderson
Vancouver BC

 

his sensitivity
to the pitch of tones
the old drummer

Boryana Boteva
Sofia, Bulgaria

 

lotus pond . . .
from the waterfall
a lullaby

Valentina Ranaldi-Adams
Fairlawn, Ohio USA

 

garden chimes
deepen the gold
of my sunflowers

Vera Kochanowsky
Falls Church, Virginia

Join us next week for Carole’s commentary on additional poems…

Bios:

Guest Editor Carole MacRury resides in Point Roberts, Washington, a unique peninsula and border town that inspires her work. Her poems have won awards and been published worldwide, and her photographs have been featured on the covers of numerous poetry journals and anthologies. Her practice of contemplative photography along with an appreciation of haiku aesthetics helps deepen her awareness of the world around her. Both image and written word open her to the interconnectedness of all things, to surprise, mystery and a sense of wonder. She is the author of In the Company of Crows: Haiku and Tanka Between the Tides (Black Cat Press, 2008, 2nd Printing, 2018) and The Tang of Nasturtiums, an award-winning e-chapbook (Snapshot Press 2012).

Assistant Editor Lafcadio, a former teacher, now works from home writing, editing and proofreading study guides for nursing textbooks. She lives in Tennessee. She has written poetry for a long time but a couple of years ago fell in love with Japanese micropoetry and hasn’t looked back. Lafcadio has been published in a number of journals and anthologies. She writes under the nom de plume of Lafcadio because nom de plume is so fun to say. You can read her poems on Twitter (X) @lafcadiopoetry or BlueSky @lafcadiobsky.

Assistant Editor Vandana Parashar 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 April 2022.

Lori Zajkowski is the Post Manager for Haiku Dialogue. She lives in New York City and enjoys reading and writing haiku.

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

Portrait by Laurel Parry

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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.  Read past Haiku Dialogue posts here.