HAIKU DIALOGUE – Times of Transition – Falling in love (1)

Times of Transition with Guest Editor Deborah Karl-Brandt

For the next few weeks let’s talk about Times of Transition. Arnold van Gennep and Viktor Turner explored these times of transition scientifically, because human existence is defined by them. So, together, let’s do the same – by reflecting on our lives. All of us experience periods in life when alteration takes place and we have to change too. Everything changes: the seasons, moods, the weather – there might even be times when the boundaries of right and wrong, of good and evil seem to change. We are caught in the middle of transition, becoming opaque like water in turmoil. Looking back, we hardly recognize our way up to the present; looking forward, our path seems to be foggy and uncertain. Sometimes we are challenged to let go of our former self to become someone new.

Below is Deborah’s selection of poems on the theme of Falling in love:

wine moon
the ring I left behind
on the coffee table

Adele Evershed
Wilton, Connecticut

 

blushing at your beauty –
the moon hides
behind a cloud

Alan Harvey
Tacoma, WA

 

once in a blue moon —
counting the times father said
words of love

Alfred Booth
Lyon, France

 

out of petals…
my thoughts of you
on my fan

Ana Drobot
Romania

 

he’s a cut above
the rest
tattoo parlour

Ann Smith
United Kingdom

 

autumn butterfly
left in my dreams
the first kiss

Anna Maria Domburg-Sancristoforo
Netherlands

 

lovers entwined
in the meadow …
song-flight of larks

Annie Wilson
Shropshire, UK

 

it is not
as if he was here…
widow

non è
come se lui fosse qui…
vedova

Angiola Inglese
Italy

 

moon phases …
but she’s still there
for me

Archie Carlos
Minnesota, USA

 

the music
of my beloved’s laughter
wind chimes

Arvinder Kaur
Chandigarh India

 

the beginning of love
writing for the 100th time
“Bye!”

Bakhtiyar Amini
Germany

 

our first kiss
the snow doesn’t care

Barbara Anna Gaiardoni
Verona, Italy

 

sliding off
the crescent moon
our summer romance

Barrie Levine
Massachusetts, USA

 

coffee our way
brewing love
anew each day

Bonnie J Scherer
Alaska, USA

 

like we’d been doing it forever first kiss

Bryan Rickert
Belleville, Illinois

 

September typhoon
I thought
this was done

Charles Harper
Yokohama

 

love for river
snowflakes falling
into nothing

Chen Xiaoou
Kunming, China

 

his kiss
a hungry turtle
snatches a bug

Cindy Putnam Guentherman
Illinois, USA

 

night vision
my dream lover
still a dream

Cynthia Anderson
Yucca Valley, California

 

Ancestry.com
her wildflower
DNA

Dan Campbell
Virginia

 

divorce –
I want back
my half moon

Dan C. Iulian
Romania

 

autumn butterflies –
a box of love letters
never sent

Daniela Misso
Italy

 

. . .
trusting the mimosa
one last time

Daya Bhat
India

 

in a crowded hallway
it all started
with a smile

Debbie Scheving
Bremerton WA USA

 

a boatload
of sturgeon moonshine
eloping with you

Dipankar Dasgupta
Kolkata, India

 

his words crept
into my heart, touched my soul
I never meant to . . .

Gloria Whitney
Findley Lake, NY USA

 

mixed race marriage—
it won’t last, they said
four decades ago

Ingrid Baluchi
Ohrid, North Macedonia

 

dancing the tango
the press of his rib cage
against mine

Jackie Chou
United States

 

budding love
a stirring surprised her
scared her too

Jan Stretch
Victoria, Canada

 

first school dance
a stumbling step
towards love

Jenny Shepherd
London, UK

 

i love you…
even when you left
after i said so

Jess Chua
Florida, USA

 

an old iron gate
rusted onto its hinges
my heart can still skip

John Hawkhead
United Kingdom

 

sudden storm
a tight hug
under a red umbrella

John Zheng
Mississippi, USA

 

let’s , he said
and promised to make me
laugh hard every day

Kathabela Wilson
USA

 

his postcard
after we broke up…
sticky wind

Keiko Izawa
Japan

 

down by the river
you sit shy on the swings
who wouldn’t love you

Keith Evetts
Thames Ditton, UK

 

strawberry daiquiris
we pretend
it’s not a date

Kerry J Heckman
Seattle, WA

 

falling in love
that quietude
in his empty gaze

Lakshmi Iyer
India

 

yew tree…
getting used to someone
always at my side

Laurie Greer
Washington, DC

 

budding romance
a suitor’s letter
read by father

Lorelyn De la Cruz Arevalo
Bombon, Philippines

 

first love
taking him home
to meet the cat

Lori Kiefer
London UK

 

your face a silence I love in your voice the moon speaks

Lorraine Schein
Queens, NYC

 

taking turns
to fan the embers —
dawn whitens

Luciana Moretto
Treviso, Italy

 

on the old trunk
an arrow in a heart –
stardust

sul vecchio tronco
una freccia in un cuore –
polvere di stelle

Luisa Santoro
Rome, Italy

 

spring blossom
my body on fire
when your fingers brush mine

Louise Hopewell
Australia

 

she can’t wait
until we’re married
summer meadow

M. R. Defibaugh
USA

 

dappled sunlight
I avoid eye contact
with her ex

Manoj Sharma
Kathmandu

 

grade school romance
sharing everything
even piece of gum

Margie Gustafson
Lombard, IL, USA

 

old diary –
hidden in the words
a secret love

Maria Teresa Sisti
Italy

 

writing I love you on the show…
the whistle of your departing train

Marina Bellini
Italy

 

last light of the day –
everything that appears
divided by two

Mauro Battini
Pisa, Italy

 

Kathmandu spring
loving my name
in his German accent

Meera Rehm
UK

 

tongue tied in knots
a cloud of butterflies
overwhelm me

Melissa Dennison
UK

 

leaving one
for another
hurting both

Mike Fainzilber
Rehovot, Israel

 

withering lily …
at those deep eyes
my farewell glance

Milan Rajkumar
Imphal, India

 

digits…the flowered dresses of the math teacher

Mircea Moldovan
România

 

he says
we are just friends
false spring

Mona Bedi
Delhi, India

 

solitary swan
stillness of our summer pond
do you miss us too?

Monica Kakkar
India & USA

 

mayflies
on opposite side of a window
–unrequited love

Nancy Brady
Huron, Ohio

 

morning dew
on the baby blue eyes …
first love blues

Natalia Kuznetsova
Russia

 

long-distance love—
the postman passes by
with a smile

Neena Singh
India

 

playground kiss chase
always running slowly
when she was ‘it’

Nick T
Frome, Somerset, England

 

fresh smell of rain his body scent

Nitu Yumnam
India

 

dead leaves falling in and out of love

Olivier Schopfer
Geneva, Switzerland

 

forbidden love
a sudden turbulence
where the river meets the sea

Padma Rajeswari
Mumbai, India

 

displaced wings
outside the vet’s clinic
he cries for his mate

Padmini Krishnan
United Arab Emirates

 

ocean’s edge sinking deeper into love

Patricia Hawkhead
Bradford on Avon, UK

 

on my way home
walking on air –
her answer ‘yes’

Paul Callus
Malta

 

she laid both hands
on my shoulders
it was then I knew

Penny Lowery
Devon, UK

 

early autumn
I realize we are
more than friends

Ravi Kiran
India

 

lost love
poem written in pencil
on a old letter

Rehn Kovacic
Mesa, AZ

 

newlyweds
starting off broke
the price of rice

Richard Bailly
Fargo, North Dakota, USA

 

blind spot…even now
the cloud of chemistry
two decades later

Richard L Matta
San Diego, California USA

 

the rolling ocean
a smiling couple’s
cabin door clicks

Richard Straw
Cary, North Carolina

 

twin flames in the air
our hands move
the way of the Tao

Rita Melissano
Illinois, USA

 

red carp scatter
in the garden pond-
a lover’s broken heart

Ritu Rath
Mumbai, India

 

why kiss a frog
if you don’t believe
in magic

Roberta Beach Jacobson
Indianola, IA, USA

 

“blue moon” . . .
remembering
our song

Rosa Maria Di Salvatore
Catania, Italy

 

loving you
—over—
hurting me

Ruth H. Hermosa
Gloria, Oriental Mindoro, Philippines

 

bright spark
of fireflies-
first kiss

Ruth Happel
United States

 

from stranger
to lover–
a heartbeat

Ruth Holzer
Herndon, VA

 

evening park
where the lily’s scent was
an old couple

Samo Kreutz
Ljubljana, Slovenia

 

The sweet nectar of
My first love…
Lord Krishna

Santhoshi Valli
India

 

playground love
she keeps on smiling
a lifetime

Sébastien Revon
Ireland

 

first love
it hurts falling
for freckles

Sharon Ferrante
Florida, USA

 

his flight fades in the sky –
the pomegranate tree from him
bears the first fruit

Steliana Cristina Voicu
Ploiesti, Romania

 

spring breeze
with her another
story begins

Stephen A. Peters
Bellingham, WA

 

railway station –
my heart is beating madly
before the train stops

Stoianka Boianova
Bulgaria

 

Things said and said again
in place of things unsaid
Love’s faltering steps

Sudha Devi Nayak
Bhubaneswar India

 

heartbroken
my soulmate stays
with his wife

Susan Burch
Hagerstown, MD

 

tender kiss
on crowded dance floor
a new murmur

Susan Lee Roberts
Montesano, WA

 

the local cats
all love him—
the boy who prefers dogs

Tony Williams
Scotland, UK

 

love letters
in my school locker
unsigned and unsent

Tracy Davidson
Warwickshire, UK

 

the cuddling
of Rosy-Faced Lovebirds –
engaged couple

Valentina Ranaldi-Adams
Fairlawn, Ohio USA

 

soft drizzle
I tip my head up
to kiss him

Vandana Parashar
India

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

Guest Editor Deborah Karl-Brandt lives in Bonn, Germany, with her husband, two rabbits and numerous books. After her PhD studies in Scandinavian languages and literatures, she now works as a freelance author and poet. One of her poems won 2nd place in the 2021 Pula Film Festival Haiku Contest. Her poems have most recently appeared in Prune Juice, Kingfisher, First Frost, Frogpond, Failed Haiku and Tsuridoro. If she is not outside for a long stroll or to do some birdwatching, she is an avid reader who is currently exploring Chinese Xianxia Webnovels.

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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