HAIKU DIALOGUE – Simply a Daily Activity (1)

Simply with Guest Editor Craig Kittner

Simplicity is one gateway to a balanced mind.

The world sorely needs balanced minds to mitigate all this conflict.

Haiku is uniquely suited for the cultivation and dissemination of simplicity.

In this round of Haiku Dialogue I’m seeking works that invoke the simple perfection of a moment in time.

The successful haiku will be formed out of love for what is not everlasting, but impermanent.

Below is Craig’s selection of poems on the theme of simply a daily activity:

It is through the nature of our attention that we find connection with a moment.

The nature of the moment hardly matters.

The moment is haiku if you lose yourself in it.

Sometimes surprising things arise from just doing. Sometimes not surprising, but simply true.

Enlightened or not, “chopping wood and carrying water.”

playing burraco –
the spring air is filled
with little yawns

Silvia Bistocchi
Italy

 

pork roasting low and slow the morning fog

John Pappas
USA

 

light the fire
of the moka
the wait

Barbara Anna Gaiardoni
Verona – Italy

 

timed snuggle
the aroma
of bread in the oven

Maxianne Berger
Outremont, Quebec

 

halftime . . .
I wash, she dries
the dishes

Randy Brooks
Taylorville, IL, USA

 

mower stops
the smell of grass
fills the silence

Ravi Kiran
India

 

stoplight
the choices
to be made

Stephen A. Peters
Bellingham, WA

 

brushing teeth —
the only time
i smile

Lorelyn De la Cruz Arevalo
Bombon, Philippines

 

dirty dishes
rinsing the words away
of this evening

Laura Marino Trotta
Firenze – Italy

 

nocturnal pacing
even the moon sleeps
while momma rocks the babe

Linda Ludwig
Inverness, Florida

 

slurping tea
from a saucer
morning radio

Daipayan Nair
Silchar, Assam, India

 

green tea
a white-eye
watches me sip

Charles Harper
Yokohama

 

siesta–
I become a tapir
eating a dream

Teiichi Suzuki
Japan

 

glint of the tooth
that turned to gold
flossing

Mona Bedi
Delhi, India

 

daily puja-
a marigold
falls from Durga’s garland

Ram Chandran
India

 

at bedtime
my backscratcher reaching
where she could

Maurice Nevile
Canberra, Australia

 

oil sizzles
jaggery and tamarind swirl
into the family tattle

Kavita Ratna
India

 

spring drizzle
enough for two pigeons
rice in my fist

Richa Sharma
India

 

warming
food for the VIP
louder meows

Hla Yin Mon
Yangon, Myanmar

 

creasing
the origami paper
unfolding wish

Vibeke Laier
Randers, Denmark

 

two sunny side up eggs
and a banana –
his morning smile

Alvin Cruz
Philippines

 

blackbird song
my son contemplates
overcooked porridge

Sebastien Revon
Ireland

 

filling the teapot
the postman
brings another bill

Tracy Davidson
Warwickshire, UK

 

morning beach stroll
the dog and I choose
the same stick

Marion Clarke
Warrenpoint, Northern Ireland

 

shaping bread dough the song of a nightingale

Helga Stania
Switzerland

 

tea bag dips
I steep deeper
into my book

Anjali Warhadpande
Pune, India

 

drinking tea
the breeze blooms
a koel’s song

Neena Singh
India

 

dust motes
float in sunbeams–
dancing broom

Lafcadio Orlovsky
USA

 

recycling
some bounce
some shatter

Mark Gilbert
UK

 

early morning . .
taking care of my flowers
with a caress

Rosa Maria Di Salvatore
Catania, Italy

 

instant breakfast
goslings pluck
dandelion fluff

marilyn ashbaugh
edwardsburg, michigan

 

the smell of coffee
tickling my cheeks
morning exercise

Refika Dedić
Bosnia and Herzegovina

 

watching the news
and looking away
from the rubble

Eleanor Dean
Massachusetts, United States

 

first stars
laying out my clothes
for the morning

Bryan Rickert
Belleville, Illinois

 

watching clouds
slowly shift
the shape of sky

Ruth Happel
United States

 

morning walk
I follow my shadow
and my shadow’s shadow

Margaret Mahony
Australia

 

Filled bird feeders —
the flutter of waiting wings
as I walk back in

Jenny Shepherd
London, UK

 

walking to work…
the familiar faces
of late or on time

Laurie Greer
Washington, DC

 

blood in the water—
watching the sunrise
after a night shift

Adele Evershed
Wilton, Connecticut

 

morning routine
with coffee from his mug …
widowhood

Natalia Kuznetsova
Russia

 

belly rubbing
the cat to sleep
summer night

Rupa Anand
New Delhi, India

 

dish soap
the effortless glide
of my hands

Jenn Ryan-Jauregui
Tucson, Arizona USA

 

dawn walk
my daily shiver
at the dip in the road

Cynthia Anderson
Yucca Valley, California

 

red light . . .
a squeegee scrapes
my windshield

Kathleen Trocmet
New Braunfels, Texas, USA

 

hot bath
the lady vanishes
in the mirror

Chen Xiaoou
Kunming, China

 

another pill
rewinding
the old clock

Christine Goodnough
Delisle, SK, Canada

 

a morning walk
past the infants school
and the graveyard

Keith Evetts
Thames Ditton UK

 

so many
blooming trees…
I check my Facebook

Ana Drobot
Romania

 

hefting each orange
before the first cut
another sunrise

Helen Ogden
Pacific Grove, CA

 

trilling
returns to our peepul
evening walk

Arvinder Kaur
Chandigarh, India

 

buttered toast I taste my grief

C.X. Turner
United Kingdom

 

same coffee
in different cups –
guests arrival

Satyanarayana Chittaluri
Hyderabad India

 

war news
an amethyst stone
falls off the shelf

Mircea Moldovan
România

 

season drama
the growing hill
of seed shells

AJ Anwar
Jakarta, Indonesia

 

moon gazing
my one cup of tea
becomes three

Lori Kiefer
London UK

 

helping
to cook the dinner
Bob Dylan

Helene Guojah
UK

 

make-up removing –
cuddling my wrinkles
in front of the mirror

Cristina Povero
Italy

 

laundry day
our clothes
dirty dancing

Kerry J Heckman
Seattle, WA

 

toothbrush
poised in mid-air
sparrow song

Charlotte Hrenchuk
Whitehorse, Yukon, Canada

 

daily commute
the butterflies
ahead of me

Amoolya Kamalnath
India

Join us next week for Craig’s commentary on additional poems, & our next prompt…

Guest Editor Craig Kittner claims a round-earther identity as an alternative to the ones the world would impose. While their feet feel the earth, their ragpicker mind works the trash heap that’s their brain, pulling out words. Origami Poems Project, Shot Glass Journal, bottle rockets, and Acorn have recently hosted his work.

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.

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