HAIKU DIALOGUE – Under the March Moon – Full Worm Moon (1)

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1. I had a big smile finding this wonderful short one liner by Sigrid
   shining on the surface at the top of your wonderful collection, Carole!
   (maybe the size of an early worm…!

   nightcrawler waiting for wormbeam

   Sigrid Saradunn,
   Bar Harbor, Maine

   love the invented word, and the bright
   expectancy here, that we all feel peeking out and hoping for warmth and light in our dark world.

   first worm moon
   he counts his packs of seeds
   again and again

   Wai Mei Wong
   Toronto, Canada

   This lovely description by Wai Mei tempts me to look over his shoulder and see the packets what they are, and count with hi, The exciting before– the planting. I love the “again and again” of it Deep in every culture we find the urge to celebrate what is about to happen in Spring…

   plough moon
   that tiny seed
   of haiku

   Samo Kreutz
   Ljubljana, Slovenia

   This simple acknowledgement by Samo of what the season brings to haiku and what haiku brings to us….
   planted in our minds and hearts, so essential and precious….

   plough Moon …
   stretching across the farm fields
   the front line

   Natalia Kuznetsova
   Russia

   beautifully written on this devastating topic…. highlighting that the devastation happens on the same ground used for growth and beauty… the use of the long center line and short “the front line” at the end is brilliant and so sad.

   So many more beautiful haiku here… I am rereading and discovering continuous treasures. Thank you poets and Carole for your work and sensitive reading. We read through at our poets on site meetings to savor and share. Thanks to everyone at Haiku Foundation for the gift of our Haiku Dialogues!

2. Flipping through the list once again, I noticed Nancy Orr’s haiku.
   the last
   of the apples
   worm moon
   Nancy Orr

   I can only imagine how tasty they must be…and maybe full of protein (wormy). Well done, Nancy, for that visual you created for me.

3. Such a wonderful set of Haiku. Thank you, all! I could smell the spring air and feel the awakening. Rebirth can be celebrated in so many ways…and the moon, it seems, is witness to them all.

   I wanted to give a shout out to the haiku poets celebrating spring festivals. While autumn festivals are more prevalent in my part of the world, I enjoy armchair travel and felt the excitement of spring ..the planting…the first crops…hope for abundance and even a bit of “spring fever” in these haiku.

   burgundy crow moon
   in the strawberry field
   . . . Holi sky

   Lakshmi Iyer
   India

   fifty Holi full moons
   shine on you
   sweet sixteen again

   (Holi full moon occurs every year in the Hindu month of Phalguna in March and is celebrated with colors)

   Lakshman Bulusu
   Princeton, NJ, USA

   counting days
   till Baisakhi…
   plough moon

   (The festival of Baisakhi marks the spring harvest (Rabi crops) in the northern parts of South Asia.)

   Zahra Mughis
   Lahore, Pakistan

   Holi moon
   her deep blush
   under the gulaal

   (Gulaal: brightly coloured powder of a type thrown into the air and onto others)

   Firdaus Parvez
   India

4. Sugar Moon
   hanging over
   my black coffee

   Ana Drobot
   Romania

   I enjoyed this Haiku by Ana…the idea of someone who maybe stayed up all night and the moon is still kind of there or visible at or near dawn but now it is time for a cup of coffee and of course sugar always goes well with Coffee!

5. Thanks Carole for selecting my haiku. And kudos to all others whose poets here. I enjoyed the lovely haiku as shiny as the moon.

6. Among all well-written haiku, Jerome Berglund’s

   stench
   of pig manure
   first melt

   has done what an excellent haiku should convey. It offers a step-by-step experience with the faculties of senses. Stench suggests smell, pig manure suggests sight, and melt suggests sight or touch. The transferences of the senses effectively sets up a pigsty view.

   Chen Xiaoou’s haiku

   mom’s full moon
   my little brother is
   coming soon

   is also a good one, which invites an imagination or visual association to juxtapose the roundness of the moon to pregnancy.

   1. Thanks for these wonderful comments John. As you mention, incorporating one or two of the senses can really enrich the reader’s experience.

7. Moons of March

   Sky looks down on earth
   with the dark eye of a new moon,
   spring winks at the stars.

   Seeds shed winter’s shield
   roots stretch in fertile dirt-
   March howls for spring’s warmth.

   Loam stirs, breaking free-
   muddling nightcrawlers rise
   under the worm moon.

   Foretoken of spring
   Marsh marigolds in damp fields-
   Hoverflies delight.

   Terrestrial tides collide,
   rising high, but twice a year,
   sun and moon poised.

   A morrowless day
   arriving on the equinox
   perfectly balanced.

   Sugar Moon shines down-
   sweet maples release sap
   as March winds breathe change.

8. Carole, thank you for serving as guest editor. There are so many lovely poems. Here are some that stood out to me.

   worm moon
   periwinkles bloom
   in a bomb crater

   Arvinder Kaur
   Chandigarh, India

   ~ a sign of renewal and hope within the reminder of war. The surprise in the last line is very effective.

   around the pond
   wind sweeps cattail fluff
   spring cleaning

   Elizabeth Shack
   Illinois, USA

   ~ there is always so much going on in and around a pond. I love the motion in this poem and the picture of nature performing spring cleaning.

   spring rain
   in a garden full of worms
   two robins fight

   Keith Evetts
   Thames Ditton UK

   ~ this poem made me think of toddlers fighting over one toy block while the rest of the blocks lie scattered on the floor.

   1. Thanks April, for commenting on a few of your favorites. I’m sure the poets appreciate it very much. All three of these have such strong imagery and focus.

9. Thank you, Carole, for including my poem. And many thanks to the editorial team for considering. Highly appreciated!

   Congratulations to all the poets. Loved Kathleen Cain’s poem among the best ones.

   so many names
   for the spring moon
   what does she call us?

   A lot to contemplate and a lot is said in just a few words.

   1. Thanks Nitu. Yes, Kathleen’s poem invites speculation. What I loved about it most…yet it is balanced by the clear image of a seasonal full worm moon.

10. Thanks Carole for selecting my haiku. And such lovely packet of beautiful haiku of the different names of the moon.

    1. Thank you Lakshmi. I love the way your haiku incorporated the colors of a festival along with the natural colors of the moon and the strawberry fields. I enjoyed learning about and visualizing your festival as well. I did have to google it to learn more, but this is something I expect to do within our multi cultural haiku community.

11. half moon —
    tailor fit cap
    for the scarecrow

12. Many thanks, Carole for including my pancake moon in the list. Grateful also to the poets who have very kindly appreciated it. Besides the ku that have already been mentioned in the comments, the following caught my attention:

    The beginning of a horror movie, this one.
    worm moon
    a hunting owl wings
    its shadow

    Jeff Leong
    Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

    I feel the pain here and want to hold the poet’s hand. Wherever it is fought, a war is always unnecessary, always total destruction of everything we associate with life.

    plough Moon …
    stretching across the farm fields
    the front line

    Natalia Kuznetsova
    Russia

    I hear a song in this compact ku.
    first buds
    the spring
    in her voice

    Sushama Kapur
    India

    Thank you, editors for the mammoth task you all do week after week.

    1. Thanks Anju.
       Isn’t ‘wings its shadow’ a great phrase? I see owls and hawks hunt all the time where I live, and this is a perfect and unique description with connotations of impending death. Lovely commentary on all three Anju. I too, felt the beautiful but dreadful reality of Natalie’s haiku, with the steadfast moon as witness to war without taking sides.

       Love that you feel the music in Sushama’s haiku! Me too, especially as ‘spring’ has multi-meanings which enrich one’s associations with not just the season, but the sound and energy of one’s voice.

13. pancake moon
    stories the beggar feeds
    her toddler
    /
    Anju Kishore
    Chennai, India
    /
    A haiku can raise social awareness. This haiku is a reminder that many people in the world do not have enough to eat.

14. What a lovely read this morning, Carole. I loved all the places the same moon takes us. But I had to laugh when near the end I stumbled across

    stench
    of pig manure
    first melt

    Jerome Berglund
    Minneapolis, Minnesota

    Jerome conjured quite the sensory overload that, thankfully, doesn’t really happen where I live (Long Beach, CA).

    1. Just realized I wasn’t clear. While we have pig manure, we never have a frozen winter that hides the scents under layers of ice and snow until that first melt. I applaud, Jerome, for not going with the awakening of senses that usually comes to mind with the beginning of spring.

    2. Eavonka, so happy you chose to comment on Jerome’s poem! I laughed too, but along with my laugh was a really good dose of reality. I have on occasion been required to drive by a pig farm. When the weather begins to warm up, it can really produce a noxious smell! I have to drive by it and find it’s worse at night! I think they must open the doors to the sties or something. 🙂 But definitely Jerome’s poem hinted that as the snow melts away, many things are revealed, not always pleasant things. 😉

15. Thank you, Carole and congratulations to all contributing to this lovely selection. Some that really tickled my fancy include:

    Maurizio Bancelioni’s image of the falling feather, the “piccolo piuma”. I loved the sound of the poem in the Italian, so thanks for giving us both;

    Colette Kern’s poets “gazing at the moon”. Hard not to relate to and smile at that image;

    Helen Ogden’s “softness of catkins” which also took me to my childhood home, conjuring up the image of the one that got stuck up my nose;

    Natalia Kuznetsova’s plough moon with its sobering “front line” taking us from an idyllic farming landscape to the harsh realities of war;

    Anju Kishore’s “pancake moon” also a very moving social reality beautifully revealed.

    What a beautiful morning read. Thanks for the tag, Ed.

    1. Thanks so much for your thoughtful comments Liz. . I’m sure the poets will appreciate knowing their poems resonated with you.

16. so many names
    for the spring moon
    what does she call us?

    Kathleen Cain
    Arvada CO USA

    I liked Kathleen’s haiku because it had me questioning the moon’s gender. The realities of the moon, of course, now that we’ve walked and driven dune-buggies over part of its surface, is that of mountains, craters and lots of dust and rock. Scientists refer to the moon as ‘it’. In this prompt many of the moon names come from Native American mythology. Here is one fascinating fact I discovered: The Inuit sun and moon defies what could be thought of as the norm, and in their culture the moon is male, the sun female, with an interesting myth behind it. So, thanks Kathleen! Your haiku sent me on an interesting journey! In the German language, the moon Is male, but perhaps just linguistically. I’m curious now as to learning more about cultural myths and gender assignments given the moon.

17. Some really interesting selections Carole. I have selected this one for a second look:

    pancake moon
    stories the beggar feeds
    her toddler

    Anju Kishore
    Chennai, India

    I think this haiku/senryu is handled particularly well with a beggar’s child being fed stories to stave off hunger. A keen eye on a harsh reality under a flat impassive moon. Nice work.

    1. Thanks for offering comments John. Yes, I agree with you and when it comes to all the names of the moon given by various cultures, this mother makes up a name that speaks to her and her child’s situation.

       ‘

18. So many lovely spring haiku. Milan Rajkumar’s caught my eye – the frog looking out of the flower pot, as if wondering if it’s warm outside.

    1. a frog peeks out
       from the flower pot –
       worm moon

       Milan Rajkumar
       Imphal, India

       thanks for offering comments Elizabeth. I agree, this cute image sits well against ‘worm moon’. Perhaps time to look for a snack too! 🙂

19. Carole, thanks for choosing my haiku. Congrats to all the other poets who were chosen. Thanks to Kathy, Lori, and the Haiku Foundation.

    1. Thanks Valentina, and yes, my thanks too for Lori and KJ, who work so diligently behind the scenes.

       1. thanks Carole & everyone! as I have said many times, this wouldn’t be much of a column without all of you! cheers, kj

20. Thank you so much for including my haiku!

    1. You are welcome, Maurizio. Your haiku resonated with me because we have so many crows, and every spring, they steal songbird babies. I know it’s nature, but always sad to see those little feather’s spiral down. Of course, maybe it’s a baby crow feather, but I tend to see the other view.

       dopo il corvo
       cala in lento giostrare
       piccola piuma

       after the crow
       slowly merry-go-rounding
       little feather

       Maurizio Brancaleoni
       Italy

       1. Well, your interpretation certainly adds a layer of meaning and a special significance to it. I think I might even like it more in light of your associations. Thank you for sharing your unique viewpoint, I’m always interested in how people interpret something, be it an image, a poem or even a single sentence/line.

          1. This is the challenge when writing commentary. One brings their own experiences to the reading and interpretation of a poem and it may not be the poets! 🙂 I find feedback incredibly helpful to my own haiku to find out whether my poem communicated what I wanted it to. I’m glad you felt another layer had been added. I love the term ‘merry-go-round’, as to me it suggested a feather floating down from up high in a circular pattern. I see this as well with a leaf in autumn. Please feel free to share your own thoughts about your haiku that I may have missed.

21. Congratulations to all the poets. So many fantastic haiku here, but three caught my eye with my first read through. Kathleen Cain’s
    so many names
    for the spring moon
    what does she call us?
    Great question, Kathleen, and makes me wonder.

    John S. Greene’s monoku linking Pi Day with moon pies. A bit of humor added to what has become a special day at school especially for math teachers.

    Nitu Yumnam ‘s haiku
    a rabbit
    on the full moon
    pareidolia

    I recently learned that instead of a man in the moon as I was taught that in Australia and probably India the face of the moon has a rabbit on it. I wouldn’t have caught the reference without Norah,a writer friend of mine from Australia. She opened my eyes to it.

    Thanks Carole for selecting my box turtle haiku for inclusion. I wasn’t sure if would make sense to any one other than me.

    1. Nan, thanks for offering comments and like you I spent time pondering the gender of the moon and all that surrounds these names in the way of myths. I certainly enjoyed a pleasurable hour delving into the subject. Do read my comments on the poem to see what I discovered.

       Loved your haiku for spring Nancy. While box turtles don’t hibernate but rather go into a torpor in winter, the ‘wiggling meal’, spoke to me of this turtles emerging at last from this torpor to begin to eat. A what better hint as to his first meal?

       a box turtle’s pleasure
       in his wiggling meal
       –worm moon

       Nancy Brady
       Huron, Ohio, USA

       1. Nancy, sorry for the “Nan”, I meant to say Nancy! 🙂

          1. Carole,
             My reason to apologize at all. Although my name is technically Nancy, I prefer to be called Nan. Some, if not most of my writer, friends call me Nan, and I often sign off posts with that.

             Congrats on having the haiku of the day today!

             1. Thanks Nan!

22. Thank you Carole for including my haiku and congratulations to all the poets here! I especially love this haiku. In my mind, the heaviness of winter blankets equates to the heavy, wet snow in March which I was writing about (and attempting to shovel a few days ago). Liz’s haiku is very moving and captures the seasonal transition perfectly in my heart and mind. I also appreciate learning these other names for the March moon, some of which are new to me.

    too heavy to lift
    the weight of winter blankets
    Sap Moon

    Liz Ann Winkler
    White Rock, Canada

    1. casting shadows
       on the heavy wet snow
       full worm moon

       Sari Grandstaff
       Saugerties, NY, USA

       Thanks for commenting on Elizabeth’s haiku Sari. I can see why it resonated with you. Your own haiku address the mood of ‘weight’ as well, even if not spoken directly.. I mentioned in my blurb for poets to look at the haiku using sap, which Elizabeth has used so very well in her haiku. While sap may be considered a fluid, as well as a name for the moon in regards to trees giving up their sap, this haiku has extra connotations that work directly with feeling the weight of winter. Sap also suggests a loss of energy, to weaken. Love the English language and its multiple meanings.

    2. Thank you, Sari – I’m glad my poem resonated with you. I love your image of moon shadows on wet snow. There is a real sparkle to the scene in my mind. The heaviness of a snow blanket is something I can certainly relate to in your poem as I live on the west coast, often called the Wet Coast. Fortunately snow doesn’t often last long and we just wait for the rains to do the snow removal while we stay tucked in bed!

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