HAIKU DIALOGUE – The Haiku Mind – Favorite Meal

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1. Thank you for publishing my poem and your precious work.

   A wonderful selection and I have enjoyed reading them all. Congratulations to all the poets.

   homemade pasta-
   that ancient flavor
   of nostalgia
   —-Angela Giordano – Italy
   *
   *
   dinner alone
   where to start
   with the memories
   —–Stephen A. Peters
   *
   *
   my sugary hands
   the prize at the bottom
   of the cereal box
   —-Sari Grandstaff, Saugerties, NY
   *
   *
   waiting in shade
   the allure of
   curry rice
   —-Neelam Dadhwal, Chandigarh, India
   *
   *
   grease and salt
   on a slice of warm bread –
   mother’s smile
   –Zdenka Mlinar, Zagreb, CROATIA
   *
   *
   seafood festival—
   grandma’s tongs
   chasing the crab
   —Lori A Minor, Raleigh, NC
   *
   *
   snow tales …
   on her fingertips
   orange’s smell
   fiabe di neve … profumano d’arancia / i polpastrelli
   —- Lucia Cardillo
   *
   *
   Mama’s brownies
   missing
   her special touch
   —Margaret Walker
   *
   *
   grandparent’s house
   the fragrance of bread
   from room to room
   —Eufemia Griffo

   1. Elisabetta –

      Thank you for mentioning my haiku!

      You also listed some others I had missed – so was pleased you brought them to my attention.

      Your own “spring sunrise” – there’s nothing quite like the smell of coffee early in the morning.

   2. Thank you Elisabetta for your appreciation of my haiku.

2. Such wonderful verses and comments! Thank you for sharing everyone.

3. Many thanks Tia for selecting my poem. I hope everyone enjoyed my ” aloo prantha” . Somehow haiku takes me back again and again to my childhood. The reason behind this could perhaps be the recent loss of my mother,an event,a loss that’s hard to get over. My mother was a great cook and always made pranthas for us so lovingly. Miss those times and those meals.

   Enjoyed reading ‘family feast’ and your comments on the same. The image is so vivid and one can identify so clearly. Pat’s poem worked so well too ! Yes,the standards mama set were so high.

   ‘dementia’ ,by Sibenik,a very poignant poem . My eyes were moist, having seen my mom on the verge of it all. Enjoyed ‘dad’s waffles’ , ‘by Bryan Rickert , grandma’s tongs’by Lori,’ homemade pasta’ by Pamela.

   Congratulations to all chosen poets !

   1. I’m sorry for your loss. My own mother passed in 2013. She was a fantastic cook and I have many memories of her dishes and of cooking with her. Reading many of these haiku made me smile with those memories.

      1. Thanks Tia ! love the beauty of our shared experiences !

   2. arvinder – Thanks for mentioning my poem. I can relate to your loss – my husband died in September, and my brother died in February – my heartfelt sympathies to you.

      1. Pat, I’m joining in late this week but am sorry to just hear of your double loss. Debbie

4. Conngrats poets. Literally I was waiting to read your haikus and know the great haiku minds through your haiku dialogues on the topic of Favorite meal. Thank you Tia Madam for the wonderful selections this week. i enjoyed reading all the haikus. I have tried to interpret few of the haikus and see how well i could connect with them

   homemade pasta-
   that ancient flavor
   of nostalgia

   Angela Giordano – Italy

   Food has this special ingredient to remind you of your past, and what best can do this than the food cooked by your mom or elders in the family. When you work overseas and reach your home home after a long gap, the first thing you would want is to eat those special delicacies cooked by your mom or elders at home. you wouldn’t have eaten anything better anywhere, and the first bite of it brings wonderful memories of eating it on the table with your family and friends, and they come to your mind. Wonderful Haiku Poet

   dementia
   her first pizza
   without herself

   Aljoša Vuković, Šibenik, Croatia

   Pathos in this haiku. You have eaten so many pizzas in your life but this one seems your fist one. Imagining it give us shivers. I mean you even lose your memory of your taste. And your expressions are bland though the pizza you hold in your hand is rich in colours and spices. you have eaten it many times, but now you seem to be eating it for the first time without the excitement and nostalgia of the past. Wonderful Haiku Poet

   refugee camp…
   the lingering smell
   of desi roti

   Hifsa Ashraf, Pakistan

   Brings to your mind of not just eating your meal but sharing it with others. On my long walks in my neighborhood, i see the poor who live in tents and cook their meal in the open and eat it under the sky with their loved ones. And the fragrance of the meal invites you to share their meal. They put their best ingredient in food which is called ‘LOVE’. And they eat it after a day’s hard labour, and they relish every bite of it. Wonderful Haiku Poet

   Mama’s brownies
   missing
   her special touch

   Margaret Walker

   When people age , and suffer from age related ailments, they are not able to cook as before. And what is more distressing is that they ask you again and again how their food taste, and would love to hear an appreciation or acknowledgement from us. We try to inspire them and motivate them telling this is so good and i haven’t tasted anything before like this. And i have experienced this in my life too. I could connect with this haiku so well. Thank you Madam, Wonderful Haiku

   hot tomato soup
   my mother swears it cures
   everything

   Franjo Ordanic

   We have a same kind of soup in southern part of India. we call it Rasam and also add garlic and other spices with it. Surprisingly, i have read few messages on Whatsapp that it is a cure for many virus related diseases. Whenever we suffer from cold , the first thing they give us is the hot piping rasam or the soup. I could connect with this haiku so well. Wonderful Haiku Poet.

   homemade pasta
   the smell of grandma’s
   apron

   Pamela A Babusci

   An apron is a calligraphy of fingerprints and marks of menu. You smell the apron, you know what was cooked and what is cooking. And when you wear this apron, you feel you are a perfect cook and you walk with your head held high into the kitchen and become a kitchen warrior. How nice to smell the homemade pasta on grandma’s apron. Wonderful Haiku Poet

   I have enjoyed reading all the haikus. Best wishes Poets.

   1. Thank you for your commentary and for sharing much of yourself with us. I have never heard of Rasam but tomato soup is a favorite of mine. I’ll have to look up a recipe! How interesting that on two different continents tomato soup is a comfort food (and medicinal) for those who are sick!

      1. Dear Tia, many thanks for selecting my poem. I’m so happy to learn new things…. 8-))

   2. Dear R. Suresh Babu,
      I’m so glad you like it.

   3. R. Suresh Babu –

      Thank you for mentioning my haiku. Interestingly, you also touched on one possible meaning when you commented on “refugee camp”. Love is an important component of many favorite foods – especially those made by people we cherish.

      Pris Campbell’s “Fried Green Tomatoes” is another that touches on the “love” of a favorite food from her father’s garden – and for her father. I could taste the fried green tomatoes as I read the haiku!

      Another that addresses love of a person(s) and memories is Eufemia Griffo’s “grandparents’ house”. The homes of my grandparents also smelled of freshly baked bread. I could smell it as I read the haiku – and recall the many memories of their love.

      It is wonderful that you took the time to comment on so many of the haiku here. You “see” meanings in several of the haiku that I had not yet thought about – and that is a great part of the beauty of haiku!

      I so appreciate your taking the time to do this.

      Your own haiku –

      ramadan morning…
      the aroma of biriyani
      lifting the spirit

      I smiled at a memory this evoked. As the principal of a school where many of the students celebrate Ramadan, I can only imagine how the smell of food throughout the day must make their mouth’s water in anticipation of the evening meal. The aroma of biriyani lifts my spirits at any time – it must surely be something to look forward to after a day of fasting.

      Thank you.

      1. Thank you Maam. Thank you so much for your appreciation

5. Thank you, Tia, for selecting one of my haiku this week! I really enjoy seeing everyone’s offerings at this haiku banquet, especially feeling the family love many poets associate with food.

   I especially liked, for its emotional truth and wordplay:

   visits back
   still cutting to the core
   baked apples

   Laurie Greer, Washington, DC

   and:

   seafood festival—
   grandma’s tongs
   chasing the crab

   Lori A Minor, Raleigh, NC

   There’s a humor in this one that I love, the image of grandma chasing the crab with tongs like a crab’s claw.

   1. It was quite a banquet this week indeed!

   2. Thank you for your kind words, Kristen; glad this one resonated. Baked apples are forever associated for me with my grandmother and annual visits where the tension was palpable, even to little kids. It’s a very complicated dish for me, and one I’ve never had in any other context.

6. I loved the haiku about breakfast for dinner. It was a staple in our home growing up. When my younger sister first fixed breakfast food for dinner to her new husband, he freaked. Even now, many years later, he will not eat any foods he associates with breakfast after ten a.m. in the morning. No matter, we still do.

   1. I make breakfast for dinner all the time! It’s so simple to put together and enormously comforting after a trying day (which is many when you have a 3 and 5 year old running around). Also, easy to remember on a meal plan, lol. I often forget to prep food earlier in the day. Which reminds me I need to soak my lentils for tonight!

7. My Dad, from a large impoverished Scots family between the wars, used to tell us kids of how, if money was tight, they would often sit down to a meal simply of cheap ‘bread and dripping’. This memory came to mind with Zdenka’s poem, although circumstances, hopefully, were not so dire:
   …
   grease and salt
   on a slice of warm bread –
   mother’s smile

   Zdenka Mlinar, Zagreb, CROATIA
   ….
   The other poem which brought me up short was Adrian Bouter’s :
   …
   tagine
   the drooling dog
   by my chair
   …
   Oh yes! Wherever you may be, probably in an outdoor restaurant, maybe somewhere exotic like Marrakesh or even here in Macedonia where stray dogs abound, that dreadful feeling of…boy, I’m hungry, but I must keep back a token of my meal (surreptitiously wrapped in a paper napkin) for that dog – or cat – under the table, because the night is long and life is tough, even if you and it end up wishing you’d eaten a bit more. Thanks, Adrian.
   …
   And thank you, Tia, for including one of mine. It’s quite a reveal to dip into other poets’ experiences, often to find we share the same thoughts, values and emotions.

   1. You are most welcome Ingrid 🙂 Thank you for sharing how these haiku struck you. It really is revealing to see how we are more alike than not.

      1. So many great haiku especially about Italian and Indian foods! I loved them all. Thanks for including my haiku about a very special memory. Not Italian, but still special! I’ll comment later on the ones I particularly liked.

8. Thank you so much for including mine, Tia! Here are a few of my favorites:

   Valentine’s Night
   grated over squid ink pasta
   umami stars

   Helen Buckingham

   —

   arousal
   the way my husband
   rolls the gnocchi

   Terri French

   —

   breakfast for dinner
   as if we could
   just start over

   Kristen Lindquist

   —

   fried green tomatoes
   the last sizzle
   of daddy’s garden

   Pris Campbell

   —

   third try
   my lasagna passes
   the mama test

   Pat Davis, NH

   1. You’re welcome Lori! And I have to admit that Terri’s “arousal” haiku had me blushing!

9. Congratulations to all… I’m happy mine make it too.. Thanks to Lori Zajkowski and
   Tia Haynes

10. Thanks to kj and Lori, and to Tia for selecting and commenting on my simple poem. Yes – that satisfying and triumphant feeling of passing the mama test. The mama test extended into many areas – sewing, needlework, ironing, etc.!
    Some of my favorites this week:
    dementia
    her first pizza
    without herself By Aljosa Vukovic Such sadness, to see a loved one who once loved a favorite food and now not able to express enjoyment.
    snow tales…
    on her fingertips
    orange’s smell By Lucia Cardillo My Nonno placed orange peels on the wood stove so the smell would waft through the whole house. Thanks for bringing that memory up with your poem!
    seafood festival
    grandma’s tongs
    chasing the crab By Lori A. Minor I love this for the sheer fun of it – what a sight!

    1. Glad that you enjoyed the commentary 🙂 Aljosa’s haiku on dementia hits home for me having watched my grandma go through it. I think I felt a tie in some way to all of the poems this week. As Lemuel commented, food connects us all. It is a beautiful thing that our community of diverse writers can resonate with each other in this way.

    2. Thank you, Pat! I’m so glad my haiku resonated with you. I loved yours as well! It really hit home for me. I’ve always loved cooking, but I’m at a stage in my life now where mama’s recipes are some of my go-tos and I just can’t seem to make them quite like she does.

    3. Thank you, Pat for your comment …
       We have exactly the same memory !!

11. Kudos, to all you poets and dreamers, and thank-you. Your writing is tasty.
    *
    We are connected by our need for nourishment. I appreciate reading glimpses of the everyday and the every-person aspects of these ku. Your intense presence comes through quietly in your compositions. You gave us poems about food, which is life, that we all share, and you fed my soul.
    *

    homesickness…
    mom makes me
    mac and cheese
    Nancy Brady, Huron, Ohio
    *
    refugee camp…
    the lingering smell
    of desi roti
    Hifsa Ashraf, Pakistan
    *
    morning
    finding my Jekyll
    with juice
    Janice Munro
    *
    weekend fast
    enjoying the banquet
    in my head
    Charles Harmon, Los Angeles, California, USA

    1. I enjoy your commentary every week. How you describe your approach to reading and its impact on you is so thoughtful and your generosity in your uplifting comments is a delight. I too felt like my soul was fed this week.

    2. Thanks for finding something in my haiku, Lemuel. Too many times during my college days, I suffered from homesickness and would ask for someone to come get me so that I could come home for the weekend. My sister Sally usually drove over and Mom often made me what I wanted, and her homemade Mac and cheese with bacon on top was my choice. My sisters were not as enthralled with the meal, but I loved it. Yes, Kraft’s Mac and cheese was a common meal with my roommate, but it wasn’t like Mom’s.
       .
       Thanks Tia for including mine with all the tasty treats. There were so many that resonate…think I just gained ten pounds.

    3. Thank you, Lemuel. Your words resonate with me. Reading the poems and all the commentaries and personal selections this morning inspired a crescendo of feelings within me.

12. Some delectable ku here; just a few that struck me, for various reasons:

    *

    my sugary hands
    the prize at the bottom
    of the cereal box

    Sari Grandstaff, Saugerties, NY
    *
    My hands were sticky like this many times growing up! While sound isn’t specified, I can hear the dry contents shifting and settling as the hands rumage in the cardboard
    *

    merciless
    salmon and its eggs
    at the sushi bar

    Teiichi Suzuki. Japan
    *
    a devastating picture…I will never be a sushi fan
    *
    incomplete
    without sundown
    balcony supper

    Richa Sharma
    *
    this reminded me of trips where I had a balcony…one in Greece, especially; the sundown was definitely part of the gustatory experience
    *
    *
    breakfast for dinner
    as if we could
    just start over

    Kristen Lindquist
    *
    I was trying to do something similar, based on memories of pancake dinners when my father was out of town. This is so much better than anything I came up with! Thanks for showing me how to do it
    *
    homemade pasta
    the smell of grandma’s
    apron

    Pamela A Babusci
    *
    I had to think about this for a minute–why the apron? But little kids would have their faces at about apron height, and so would get the scents of it. Very nice!
    *
    ramadan morning…
    the aroma of biriyani
    lifting the spirit

    R. Suresh Babu, india
    *
    I love the intertwining of physical and spiritual here. The whole point of religious ritual
    *
    pot luck
    after the funeral
    the quandary of fresh peach pie

    Greer Woodward, Waimea, HI
    *
    here, too–the physical experience and an emotional one are close–almost too close for comfort, you could say. How enjoy life in the wake of a tragedy? Yet life must go on…
    *
    Thank you, everyone. And thanks to Tia for including one of mine.

    1. You’re welcome and I also enjoyed that there were poems that touched on the spiritual or the difficult. Even current events such as Hifsa’s about refugee camps. Seeing what is closest to a poet’s heart is eye-opening to me. Your “baked apples” haiku brought up for me my own complicated relationship with my mother who I would cook and bake with when I came back home before she passed.

    2. Thank you for your kind words on my haiku!

    3. Thank you Laurie for your kind comments! I don’t think the breakfast cereal companies put prizes in the bottom of kids’ cereal anymore? The younger haiku readers/writers won’t have this association. But I have the same fond memory of the sound of of the crinkly inner bag in the cereal box and the dry cereal being rummaged through!

    4. Thank you so much Tia !! And thank you for your perceptive commentary!! All the haiku are fabulous !! Lovely light and shade in the selection. Well done to all !!

    5. Thank you, Laurie, for commenting on my poem.

       pot luck
       after the funeral
       the quandary of fresh peach pie

       It’s very helpful to know how others analyze your work. The pie moment happened to me and I remember how awkward it felt, though I doubt anyone was paying attention to what I was putting on my plate. But I am an example of frail humanity when it comes to desserts. I took a slice. It was delicious.

    6. Thank you so much for your kind words

13. Thank you Tia for including one of my haiku here among so many wonderful morsels! I particularly love these two haiku with their powerful subtleties:

    breakfast for dinner
    as if we could
    just start over

    Kristen Lindquist

    easy over egg
    that elusive one
    after all these years

    Edna Beers

    1. You are very welcome Sari! And aren’t those two haiku simply divine? It feels like they flowed out of Kristen and Edna with such immediacy and ease. Your “sugary hands” haiku had me chuckling. I love it so much!

       1. Thank you Tia. You picked up on the lightheartedness of my haiku!

14. Wow that’s made me hungry! Thanks for including mine again this week, Tia, and congratulations to all those posted.
    .
    My dish of the day is Teiichi Suzuki’s:
    .
    merciless
    salmon and its eggs
    at the sushi bar

    1. You’re welcome Helen! Telichi’s haiku had me cringe a bit in its subject matter and is so well done. As a vegan I have to say it was an interesting week of selecting haiku!

       1. Thanks Tia for picking up my sushi dish bravely.

          1. It is a delightful haiku! Happy to have picked it up 🙂

    2. Thanks Helen !
       To be honest, I like squid ink pasta rather than sushi.

15. I’m happy… Thank you very much, dear Lori Zajkowski!
    Congratulations to all!!!

16. a fantastic smorgasbord of food memories….thank you poets and poets in charge of serving the dishes.

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