HAIKU DIALOGUE – Times of Transition – The last frontier / Poems of dying and death (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 The last frontier / Poems of dying and death:

long night moon—
only the crow and I left
to dream of tomorrow

Adele Evershed
Wilton, Connecticut

 

a year later
and I still haven’t moved
his dog bed

Aidan Barger
Moscow, ID

 

last breath failing to bloom

Alan Harvey
Tacoma, WA

 

before my last breath
I will dance with each full moon
lux aeternam

Alfred Booth
Lyon, France

 

a child’s death
the scent of
unlit candles

Alvin Cruz
Philippines

 

autumn afternoon
I didn’t notice it rising–
pale parchment moon

Allison Douglas-Tourner
Victoria BC Canada

 

ultime foglie …
la voglia di volare
towards you

last leaves…
the desire to fly
towards you

Angiola Inglese
Italia

 

pallid leaf
a breath between going
and gone

Anju Kishore
India

 

at the last breath
heads bow
to things unseen

Ann Rawson
Scotland

 

autumn garden —
the splendour
of dying

Ann Sullivan
Arlington MA USA

 

graveside visit –
Grandpa sits rigid
in his camp chair

Anne Curran
Hamilton

 

moonlight
on white chrysanthemums
no need for candles

Annie Wilson
Shropshire, UK

 

one last time
through the window ajar
night jasmine

Arvinder Kaur
Chandigarh, India

 

last embers —
I could not live
the lie anymore

Aparna Pathak
Gurugram, India

 

flatline sound
the earworm
I never wanted

Baisali Chatterjee Dutt
Kolkata, India

 

shiva’s end
I am older by seven days
and a death

(Shiva is the seven-day mourning period after burial in Jewish tradition.)

Barrie Levine
Massachusetts, USA

 

my poetry
precedes me in death
tomb of the unknown

Bonnie J Scherer
Alaska USA

 

season’s end
the unpicked field
succumbs to frost

Bryan Rickert
Belleville, Illinois

 

disappearing inside grief shadows

C.X. Turner
UK

 

short notice
an undeserved
parting gift

Carol Reynolds
Australia

 

Full of life –
young squirrels play chase
amongst the gravestones

Caroline Ridley-Duff
UK

 

winter garden
leafless maple
i’ll be back

Charles Harper
Yokohama, Japan

 

setting sun
watching the last of
the western sky

Chen Xiaoou
Kunming, China

 

brushing cherry blossoms
a whiff
of my impermanence

Cristina Povero
Italy

 

post-therapy
anytime now
wilted flower

pasca terapi
kapanpun bisa
bunga layu

Christopher Calvin
Kota Mojokerto, Indonesia

 

after death
her smile
presents itself

Connie Pittman Ramsey
UK

 

last rite
the white butterfly
folds its wings

Cynthia Anderson
Yucca Valley, California

 

mourning dove
through the walls
without you

D. W. Baker
St. Petersburg, FL

 

memory’s burden
one less weight
in the grave

Damon Huss
United States

 

copy-pasting
the thank you note
condolences

Daya Bhat
India

 

last wishes
hopes and dreams
for my children

Debbie Scheving
Bremerton WA USA

 

last rites
the friend who’d said
it’ll be our turn next

Dipankar Dasgupta
India

 

finding out
old friends have passed
google searches

Eavonka Ettinger
Long Beach, CA

 

memorial candle
the flame dances
without a partner

Evan Spivack
Teaneck, NJ

 

This also happens
In the form of a cloud
Death is coming

Fatma Zohra Habis
Algeria

 

with no regret
wind felled ixora florets
dot the paved walk

Gillena Cox
St James, Trinidad

 

homecoming…
signing up
for hospice care

Grace De Sousa
Québec, Canada

 

graveyard bench
beneath our feet
all creatures great

Helen Buckingham
UK

 

smiling gratitude
our aged eyes connected

herb goldsmith
Bastrop, TX

 

Buddha’s light
all that I have to make it through
the last mountain

Hla Yin Mon
Yangon, Myanmar

 

out of time . . .
all those questions
i could have asked them

Ingrid Baluchi
North Macedonia

 

in death I shall feed
the banyan tree I lie
beneath today

James Penha
Bali, Indonesia

 

yes Virginia even starlight dies

Jan Stretch
Victoria, BC, Canada

 

outliving her my roundness flattening

Jenn Ryan-Jauregui
Tucson, Arizona USA

 

grief is a snowflake
silently falling on me
blanketing in loss

Jennifer Gurney
United States

 

the endless wait
for the next heartbeat
he is gone

Jenny Shepherd
London, UK

 

see the world old gray stump

Jerome Berglund
United States

 

never again
will I eat her apple pie
I can taste the loss

Joel Irusta
Archdale, North Carolina, USA

 

black tie event
introducing ourselves
to a shadow

John Hawkhead
United Kingdom

 

the cracks of dawn this extinct glacier

John S Green
Bethlehem, Palestine

 

dry leaves on a branch
celebrating the first
birthday without you

Jovana Dragojlovic
Belgrade, Serbia

 

we have
such great times together
mom’s last words

Kathabela Wilson
USA

 

up in the graveyard
so many whispered stories
enliven the air

Kathleen Cain
Arvada, CO

 

open window . . .
she slips out
to join the stars

Kathleeen Trocmet
Texas, USA

 

chatter silenced
in the long pause
the lift off

Kavita Ratna
India

 

reincarnation —
wishing to be
a songbird

Keiko Izawa
Japan

 

the unplanned paths
wildflowers

Kimberly Kuchar
Austin, Texas

 

your shopping list still having it

Kiti Saarinen
Finland

 

ocean ripples
carrying to distant corners
marigold and ashes

Krishna Palle
Chennai, India

 

autumn stillness–
we scatter your ashes
in the river

Lafcadio
USA

 

origami husk —
the dying cat’s
rickety purr

Lisa Anne Johnson
Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA

 

between this world
and the other
a dandelion puff

Lori Kiefer
London UK

 

her ashes
we each hold a thimble
of god weight

Lorraine A Padden
San Diego, CA USA

 

still listening
for her golden oldies
nan’s rose garden

Louise Hopewell
Australia

 

entering death
open eyes…
forget me nots

Luciana Moretto
Treviso, Italy

 

lonely street corner
after midnight
prayer candles

Luke Brannon
Pacific Northwest

 

when I die
don’t assume
I’m the butterfly

M. R. Defibaugh
United States

 

tomorrow
I begin my best life…I promise
no more regrets

madeleine kavanagh
United States

 

palliative care
Dad tells me
I’m his favourite

Margaret Mahony
Australia

 

ebb tide
giving mother’s ashes
back to ocean

Margie Gustafson
Lombard, IL USA

 

the death of the butterfly
on the fingers of the child

la morte della farfalla
sulle dita del bambino

Maria Cezza
Italy

 

umpteenth attempt
at my death poem…
practice makes perfect

Mark Meyer
Mercer Island, WA USA

 

last frost
leaving the front door
unlocked

Mariel Herbert
California, USA

 

deep sea dive
a new widow
emerges

marilyn ashbaugh
edwardsburg, michigan

 

the last hill
will anyone be waiting
for me

Maxianne Berger
Outremont, Quebec

 

his old watch
no longer
telling time

Mike Fainzilber
Rehovot, Israel

 

final breaths
lingering everywhere
winter breeze

Minal Sarosh
Ahmedabad, India

 

from under the dead leaves a few shoots

Mirela Brailean
Romania

 

thinking
of the life beyond —
cicada husk

Mona Bedi
Delhi, India

 

silence
of the falling snow
–last rites

Nancy Brady
Huron, Ohio

 

a woman’s face
in the hospice window …
falling darkness

Natalia Kuznetsova
Russia

 

Autumn garden
I am accepting
to fly away

Nazarena Rampini
Italy

 

holding onto
the wilted blossom
… a dewdrop

Neena Singh
India

 

breath stops
for us both
only mine continues

Nicky Moxey
United Kingdom

 

at lifeline’s edge
curiosity for
expiry date

Nitu Yumnam
India

 

November sky
how heavy
the lifeless beagle

Padma Rajeswari
Mumbai, India

 

melting candle
I try to sustain
the last spark

Padmini Krishnan
United Arab Emirates

 

decomposing
the bird that was
not a haiku

Pamela Garry
Connecticut USA

 

dried flowers paper-thin hands making arrangements

Pamela Jeanne
Yukon, Canada

 

on her deathbed
missing from the family
her aborted child

Paul Callus
Malta

 

why
just now
do the words finally flow

Peggy Hale Bilbro
Alabama

 

eighty now
another friend’s ashes
dust the wildflowers

Pris Campbell
USA

 

between me
and the moon
a few more chemo cycles

Ram Chandran
India

 

fearing death
they danced all night
toasting the moon

Rehn Kovacic
Mesa, AZ

 

old scarecrow
like you, I never did anything
wrong

Richa Sharma
India

 

columbarium
some stone painted names
just fade away

Richard L. Matta
San Diego, California

 

sundown chill
shadows follow
the glow

Richard Straw
Cary, North Carolina

 

riding our breath the alchemy of time

Rita Melissano
Illinois – USA

 

between two worlds
the grass really greener
on the other side

Rob Barkan
Arizona USA

 

newborn baby
the cries
of a mother

Ruth H. Hermosa
Gloria, Oriental Mindoro, Philippines

 

no more journeys
after this one
cliff edge

Ruth Holzer
Herndon, VA

 

moving clouds …
wrapped in a baby’s cry
the cemetery

Samo Kreutz
Ljubljana, Slovenia

 

pyre sparks rise …
fireflies
escape the jar

Sangita Kalarickal
United States

 

winter night
a skeleton tree
holds the moon

Sarah Paris
Santa Rosa, CA

 

mission accomplished . . .
the slow dying of
matches

Satyanarayana Chittaluri
Hyderabad, LB Nagar, India

 

tired and heavy
I write my name in water
float on the sea

Sharon Ferrante
Florida, USA

 

our old neighbors ––
finding their names now
engraved in granite

Sheila Sondik
Bellingham, WA

 

cemetery on the hill
people from yesterday’s city
resettled here

Stoianka Boianova
Bulgaria

 

ready
or not
autumn leaves

Stephen A. Peters
Bellingham, WA

 

one last glance
from the riverside—
red spider lilies

Stephen J. DeGuire
Los Angeles, CA

 

Lease of life expires
he leaves
without a backward glance

Sudha Devi Nayak
Bhubaneswar India

 

raking the path
after weekend . . .
a new gardener

Suraj Nanu
India

 

lightning bolt how brief my time here

Susan Burch
Hagerstown, MD

 

a solitary
morning glory
gone by dusk

Susan Farner
USA

 

brother passes—
bright-white-light
glows on the peace lily

Susan Lee Roberts
Montesano, WA, USA

 

snowflakes
melting
in the hugs of the river

Swarma Bopali de Zoysa
Sri Lanka

 

born with nothing on
die without regrets
the harvest moon

Teiichi Suzuki
Japan

 

moonless night –
will the light within us
light the way

Tomislav Maretić
Zagreb, Croatia

 

rainy night
imagining
my funeral

Tomislav Sjekloća
Cetinje, Montenegro

 

slipping into winter…
one apple left
from a bag of eight

Tony Williams
Scotland, UK

 

last post
the funeral plan leaflet
she should have read

Tracy Davidson
Warwickshire, UK

 

end of life
in the pot
a drooping plant

Tuyet Van Do
Australia

 

nearing end
all those books I didn’t
read or write

Vandana Parashar
India

 

becoming history
to a set of four digits
a set of four digits

Vishnu Kapoor
Chennai, India

 

coiled tendrils–
the seeping quietude
of morphine

wanda amos
Australia

 

on the last edit
the i undotted

Wendy C. Bialek
az, us

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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