HAIKU DIALOGUE – Seeing Beyond Seeing – Photo One

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1. Enjoying the feature!!! 🙂
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   Amongst many fine works, this one really showed a power to make me stop in my tracks:
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   sunlight
   fills her empty slippers –
   another winter
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   arvinder kaur, Chandigarh, India
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   It’s not easy to have two seasons in a haiku without it seeming awkward at times.
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   Here I felt ‘sunlight’ meant a Summer long gone, but actually there is no mention of Summer, it just slipped into my mind. I guess because my mother died in the month of June. I had to work in my old hometown over December, so I did live in my mother’s house, in another winter, and a last winter.
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   Wonderful poem.
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2. Thank you Carole MacRury for the breathtaking photo prompt this week. It inspired a collection of thoughtful poems. I am greatly looking forward to the next three weeks.
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   Two that followed each other I kept coming back to for their beauty in brokenness:
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   my late love –
   in a broken window
   rising sun
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   Tsanka Shishkova
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   after his passing
   the harsh beauty
   of the sunrise
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   Sari Grandstaff

   1. Thank you so much Debbie for your comments. Yes, my haiku together with Tsanka’s does have an impact I had not noticed. I appreciate you seeing that.

3. Some wonderful poems here–I think this column is off to a great start. It’s been fascinating to read each of these as both a response to the specific image and as an independent work–I keep asking myself, how would I visualize this if I just came upon it on its own?
   Anyway, just a few of the many I really enjoyed:
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   acidic sea—
   the fisherman’s shack
   in shatters

   —Corine Timmer

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   warming and acidifying oceans–one of the most serious problems out there. For now it’s the poor fisherfolk who suffer, but ultimately it will be everyone–all of civilization in “shatters”
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   broken window. . .
   my view of the world
   forever altered

   Liz Ann Winkler

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   this one seems deeply true. How can we witness radical change or destruction and not see everything differently? I like how the new perspective is left undefined: we may find hope in what remains, or realize the fragility of everything, or even get bogged down in despair. We will not be unmoved, though.
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   sunset
   one more bottle of rum
   for the old sailor

   Slobodan Pupovac
   Zagreb, Croatia
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   I love the idea of being intoxicated by the sun and/or the beauty of the spectacle it creates as it sets. while there’s some melancholy in the end of the day and in the “old,” this does not feel like a depressing moment.
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   sunlight
   fills her empty slippers –
   another winter

   arvinder kaur, Chandigarh, India

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   I love how all that jagged glass in the picture is smoothed into a slipper here–just as grief and the loss of the loved one are transformed into something warm that “fills” the new emptiness. Lovely!
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   reflections —
   torn wings
   of icarus

   Ingrid Baluchi (Macedonia)

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   the perfect myth for this image! And “reflections” is of course literal and pointing to the meditation on the story, which has to do with overstepping our bounds–as we certainly have in going too close, not to the sun, but to our own burning desires for more more more
   *

   1. Thank you for your comments, Laurie, on mine and on others. They go a long way to help me understand there is so much more to think about, both reading this genre and trying to write it.
      And thank you to Carole, for the same reason. You are opening up new avenues for me.

      I wonder if anyone else is struggling with the ‘philosophical aspects’ of writing this genre, particularly for this current series? Maybe it takes YEARS of practice. I find it very difficult to think beyond the observe/experience/then write about it ‘at face value’ type of poem…the need to ‘think outside the box’, free up the mind, like I need to with abstract art.

      It’s hard work! And with a glass or two of wine, my output becomes so obtuse, I’m the only one who gets to understand it.

      Oh well, keep trying….
      ….
      So much to take in this week, with thanks to everyone. I keep hearing your ‘wailing koalas’, Susan, and wish our world was a kinder place.

      1. Hi, Ingrid–
         I find these photo prompts maddeningly difficult! My first impulse is always to describe, but that’s exactly the wrong approach. So hard to look at an image and see something else, let alone work it out in a poem that will have meaning for others. And to stay “objective” and factual.

         Yes, I think it takes a long time to master–a kind of thinking sideways, as opposed to linearly or rationally (though it’s not irrational, either). And I seem to remember reading somewhere that haiku writers are beginners until they’ve put in a good ten years.

         1. Laurie and Ingrid, Here’s more to think about. I remember reading that Basho said one only writes 10 haiku in a lifetime! I take that to mean 10 memorable haiku! I don’t know what others make of Basho’s statement.

            1. What a wonderful discussion. Thanks ladies! So happy to see you choose favorites. I simply don’t have the time to talk up more than 4 poems, but I sure wanted too. And yes, I realize how difficult this challenge can be as the tendency is to write the image. describe it, instead of take the image and look inward to what it says to you and your experiences. This is where metaphor comes in handy. Take for instance, what one might list from this image, broken, torn curtains, sunset, glass, and any one of those words can be taken into your own experience that has nothing to do with the image. So far, as difficult as it may seem to some, the poems have been amazing and moved beyond the image as is evidenced in Laurie’s favorites.

      2. Yes yes yes!!!
         I couldn’t agree with you more
         Ingrid! I pray for a kinder, more welcoming world.
         Thank you for connecting with the haiku. And may your New Year be bright.

4. Susan,
   we see the koalas and kangaroos in the news, and it is such a saddening thing. I like the way you have expressed emotion through your poem

   1. Thank you so much Pratima!
      I struggled with this one because my feelings were so strong about all the suffering brought on by the wildfires. I was tempted to add more to it…but in the end I thought that less was more.

5. Thanks so much for publishing my ku, Kathy – and I very much agree with a couple of your star choices – Kath Abela Wilson’s:
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   kintsugi
   how the sun breaks
   through my world
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   has a wonderfully positive feel without being twee (one of the hardest things to achieve in any kind of poetry) and strikes a massive chord with me in that for years I’ve had, poised for action, the paint, the shards…..but as yet, no cigar.
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   And Alijosa Vukovic’s:
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   broken window
   a grasshopper jumping
   into the sun
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   Lovely image – I’m with you, Kathy, re ‘jumping’ as opposed to ‘jump’. I don’t share the haikuists’ traditional antipathy towards the present continuous – for the most part, it’s true, the present tense is a more effective tool with which to skewer the moment, but sometimes the p. continuous simply works better within the context and structure of a particular ku, and Alijosa’s is a case in point.
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   Congratulations everyone on another very enjoyable set.

   1. Thanks for the lovely comments on these two choices, Helen. However, I’ve noticed a few are confused as to who is choosing the poems. I’m your guest editor this month, so I have to take responsibility for choosing them. 🙂

      1. Oh gosh, really sorry, Carole…..force of habit!

         1. No problem Helen. You aren’t the first…many of the haiku submitted that I read were to the past editor. The editors change frequently, but KJ Munro and Lori are in the background always as coordinator and webmistress. 🙂

6. a blast from the past
   she remembers her wedding
   and forgets his name

   Pratima Balabhadrapathruni.

   i think this one is about someone who may have early Alzheimer’s.
   and if it is….i like the way pratima describes what can be a very painful event it in a playful way…it shows understanding and acceptance. wonderfully written….i can imagine someone hearing a song from the past and singing along with it…yet unable to remember her husband’s name…..maybe the blast from the past is, “remem…..mem….mem….ber when”?

   1. I too found this one from Pratima very effective, Wendy.
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      marion

7. I love the photo prompt theme this month. Many good haiku came from it.

8. Had time to read and digest the, wonderful images of hope, loss, political, environmental…
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   the world’s beauty. . .
   some need shock therapy
   to look and see
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   Natalia Kuznetsova
   Yes, and sooner the better. So much is said, and debated, and very little is being done.
   Only yesterday I was reading about the HS2 plan, again,, and the proposed damage to ancient woodlands for the sake of a few more minutes to get from A to B. One rule for some another for others. Great verse, Natalia.
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   broken again
   I wonder about the price
   of hope
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   Marion Clarke
   A dual meaning of, hope, I feel, with this one. It has a political and environmental edge. Lovely words, Marion.
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   where just one word
   can spark a feud. . .
   wildfire season
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   Michele L. Harvey
   Seems all through history we’ve had these ‘wildfire’s’ even in this space-age world, on they go. I often wonder what would happen if a planet was found and it had inhabitants, but so few that mankind would worm itself in, maybe similar to the invasion of other islands and continents, in the so called ‘good old days’. . .
   Thought provoking words, Michele.

   1. Thank you, Carol. I see you picked on three with an environmental subject. I think there is so much about the world that is broken at the minute and a lot of blame being passed around, rather than action being taken. I fear time is running out and wondered about the cost of simply hoping instead of doing…we need leaders who will make a difference and direct us properly.

      1. Thank you so much, Marion, for your reading of the verses I have chosen, seems when I talk to others in my community there’s just not that connection with what is actually happening with regards to what is being relayed by the government.
         I have seen many changes having been born and bred in a mining valley, and to see scars reappearing on reclaimed slagheaps vis dirt bikes, one of my pet hates, and fly-tipping. After many year of taking notes and pictures of how nature has so wonderfully reclaimed her territory under such adverse conditions, my sword has been well and truly drawn 🙂
         Token gestures have been made, but the bottom line is all about putting money in the coffers.

9. Congratulations to all who were chosen for this week. I am deeply moved by your skill, and your imagination, and your heart. But, mostly your heart.
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   I sense a juxtaposition of the inner (remembrance) and the outward or natural (turn of the day). So, the poet does simultaneous feats, as a meditation perhaps without a resolution. Bravo and respect for the missing word “like” in the second position in this poem.

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   evenfall all your broken promises
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   Olivier Schopfer
   Switzerland

10. first, i would like to the thank thf for providing wonderful programs such as haiku dialogue to be there to encourage
    participation of poets from around the world to be able to share their talented views in haiku/senryu format.
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    secondly, I am grateful to carole for exposing her wonderful photographs to inspire the exceptional poems I am reading here, and her sensitive, and special guiding framework to help birth them.
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    carole’s commentary is superb…..bringing my enjoyment of this experience to yet another level.
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    Now to the chosen submissions…..wow! to me…..this is some of the best poetry I have read, inspired by one prompt!

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    to the all the poets…..kudos! well done!

    1. Thank you Wendy. I was delighted to see how many poets responded to the image through their own inner worlds. I could have commented on so many, but prefer to read commentary from all the poets. The more the better as different perspectives can open up the poems even more.

11. Thank you Carole for including one of mine.
    As already said, a very emotional trip, covering many diverse subjects.
    Congratulations to all.
    If a tonic exists, for me it is Kathabella Wilson’s
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    kintsugi
    how the sun breaks
    through my world

    Kath Abela Wilson
    Pasadena, California

12. Wow, some pretty powerful poems. Poignant, sad, colorful, just to name a few of the emotions they stir in me.
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    Thanks for including one of mine to this week’s collection.

13. So much said in so few words. A marvellous collection, Kathy.
    Well done to all poets.

14. So much to think about in five words. Marks of a good haiku, and thanks for sharing the tradition of breaking glass you felt in this one.

    1. Thank you, Carole, it is always insightful to read the work of others and the comments made.
       I am slowly finding a more delicate touch when it comes to expressing my thoughts and views within this type of poetry.
       Looking forward to the next session.
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       Always a good thing to know who’s doing what, my apologies.

15. Thank you for including my haiku here! Many interpretations speak to me. I do particularly love the association of this haiku. At the end of Jewish wedding ceremonies the groom traditionally stomps on a glass and breaks it (for good luck) so the shattered glass association with the wedding here was strong for me. And then the horizon feeling of the honeymoon and starting the couple’s journey together. And of course that whole dynamic of being at a family wedding and having to explain to a “plus one” guest perhaps all the familial relationships, groom’s side, bride’s side, long lost cousins, black sheep, family feuds, etc. Great haiku!

    family wedding…
    piecing together
    relationships

    Madhuri Pillai

    1. so interesting sari
       I too thought of the stomping on glass at a Jewish wedding and also the honeymoon cruise reprised after a lifetime of broken glass..the little conflicts or big ones. I did not use this haiku because my heart has been breaking for the koalas in Australia, but it was the first one I thought about:

       honoring their vows
       after a lifetime of broken glass
       sunset’s kiss

    2. Yes Sari, I too like Madhuri’s poem

       1. Thank you Pratima.

    3. Thank you Sari for commenting on my poem, and that’s exactly what happened on my recent visit to India where I was invited to few family weddings. Wonderful feeling of belonging.

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