Haiku Dialogue

HAIKU DIALOGUE – Under the March Moon – Half Moon (1)

Under the March Moon with Guest Editor Carole MacRury

March (Martius) was named for Mars, the god of war, because this was the month when active military campaigns resumed after being interrupted by winter which was referred to as a ‘dead’ season. In fact, March was the first month of the year on the early Roman Calendar until around 450 BCE when January and February moved to the front putting March in third position where it remains in today’s Gregorian Calendar. Imagine how much easier it would be to make ‘resolutions’ in March with its visible signs of new beginnings and renewal, than in cold January. March comes in like a lion, goes out like a lamb. This reflects the transition from winter to spring and the changeable weather conditions particular to this month in the Northern Hemisphere. We’ll use three moon phases – Full Worm Moon, New Moon and Half Moon – to inspire our haiku. As we all write under our shared moon, feel free to use or not use the name of the moon phase in your haiku.

Below is Carole’s selection of poems on the theme of the Half Moon:

My thanks to everyone who submitted poems to my Half Moon prompt. Each week, I receive just over 300 poems of which I choose approximately 1/3 of them. This is a generous selection meant for the purpose of being as inclusive as possible in order that we might all learn from each other. You were asked to “let the details of the bright side of the moon and the mystery of the dark side of the moon inspire your haiku as it may relate to your life”. I tried to be as diverse as possible with my selections, but for some reason this prompt resulted in a lot of similar themes such as the half full/half empty concept, yin yang, and other similarities. When that happened, I put similar poems together and selected what I thought was the best of them. This prompt seemed to invite a lot of personal introspection and inner thoughts through identifying with the half moon as first line, but these were balanced by down-to-earth poems with new images that spoke to the season and the senses – from drinking a toast, to meditating, to palm reading and singing bowls, not to mention a few dogs, a cat and more. Please share your thoughts on a few of your favorites. Everyone enjoys feedback. Stay tuned for my commentary on 14 more selected poems next week. As always, my deep thanks to kj and Lori.

half moon this hunger to be whole

Bryan Rickert
Belleville, Illinois

 

in the half-dark
the path
of the badger

Ann Rawson
UK

 

these long chats
in installments
half moon

Amoolya Kamalnath
India

 

crying child…
above the refugee camp
half moon

Florin C. Ciobîcă
Romania

 

half moon
still here
for now

Susan Burch
Hagerstown, MD

 

pink cherry blossoms…
celebrating the best half
of the waxing moon

madeleine kavanagh
United States

 

half moon
a sliver of light
in our relationship

Padma Rajeswari
Mumbai, India

 

half moon
loving you
scars and all

Terri French
Everywhere, USA

 

half moon
my tank also
half full

Stephen A. Peters
Bellingham, WA

 

half moon on its own a full poem

Srini S
Rishi Valley, India

 

half moon
the continuing ring
of a distant call

Wai Mei Wong
Toronto, Canada

 

half a moon
leftovers
for the dog

Josef S.
Florida, United States

 

waxing
or waning…
half-moon meditation

Tony Williams
Scotland, UK

 

half moon walking in and out of brain fog

Subir Ningthouja
Imphal, India

 

half a moon
half a face
behind a mask

Marie Shimane
Chiba, Japan

 

urban half moon pull of the dark side

Marion Clarke
Warrenpoint, Northern Ireland

 

the side of me
that is just me
half moon

Arvinder Kaur
Chandigarh, India

 

quarter moon
her first and last
word

Samo Kreutz
Ljubljana, Slovenia

 

chrysalis moon
working quietly
on her wings

Daya Bhat
India

 

half-moon
what I mean when I say
“I’m fine”

Vandana Parashar
India

 

dry wine–
the old bowl
half filled

Helga Stania
Switzerland

 

half her life
spent in the dark…
joint custody

Adele Evershed
Wilton, Connecticut

 

half moon
in the branches
am i in or out

Anette Chaney
Harrison, Arkansas

 

meteor craters
the impact
of striking memories

Marianne Sahlin
Sweden

 

half moon —
the truths we hide
the lies we tell

Mona Bedi
Delhi, India

 

half moon surprised at being alive

Richa Sharma
India

 

half moon –
halfway between
faith and unbelief

Tomislav Maretić
Zagreb, Hrvatska

 

half moon—
the soul’s circuit into
light

Jonathan English
Washington, DC

 

half moon
i raise a glass
to my better half

Rupa Anand
New Delhi, India

 

another mass shooting–
even the moon is
at half-staff

Nancy Brady
Huron, Ohio, USA

 

waxing moon . . .
my monthly round
of growing pains

Lori Kiefer
London UK

 

summer vacation
the kids discover
The Dark Side of the Moon

Mark Scott
Hardwick, VT USA

 

half moon
the secrets we hide
from each other

Neena Singh
India

 

Half Moon –
what I was and
what I am

Ana Drobot
Romania

 

to the moon and back a toast of early moon water

Roberta Beach Jacobson
Indianola, Iowa, USA

 

seventieth birthday–
still enough light left before
entering the dark

Lorraine Schein
Queens, NYC

 

phlox
creeping over the path
pink moon

C. Jean Downer
White Rock, British Columbia

 

half moon –
the intriguing script
of shadows

Nicole Pottier
France

 

half moon
my inner sonata
fading out

Baisali Chatterjee Dutt
Kolkata, India

 

half moon setting
thinking of home
half a world away

Herbert Shippey
Tifton, Georgia

 

the dog’s head
lifts from the sofa
half moon

Mariel Herbert
California, USA

 

the welcoming curve
of home
Half Moon Bay

Ruth Holzer
Herndon VA

 

half moon rising
finding a gap
in the fate line

Herb Tate
Jersey, UK

 

half moon –
hiding my
people-pleasing façade

Cristina Povero
Italy

 

nightfall . .
drawing a curtain across
half the moon

Sue Courtney
Orewa, New Zealand

 

fine print…
the other side
of the half moon

Vidya Shankar
India

 

Half moon-
the bittersweetness
of my old age

Santhoshi Valli
India

 

moonless night
conversation with the stars
goes on and on

Nitu Yumnam
India

 

half moon
how childhood
can be

Ranice Tara
India

 

half moon
the night regards me
with a squinted eye

Rachel Smith
United States

 

half moon
in the foliage
persimmon

Satyanarayana Chittaluri
Hyderabad, India

 

half moon balancing the ocean tides

Bona M. Santos
Los Angeles, CA

 

half a moon –
not enough to build a bridge
across the river

Zelyko Funda
Hrvatska

 

half moon,
relationship at
the tipping point

Christopher Seep
Ballwin, Missouri

 

half full
half not…
midlife moon

Cynthia Anderson
Yucca Valley, California

 

Half Moon night
I bathe in
the Sea of Tranquility

Susan Farner
USA

 

spring evening—
a kintsugi of half moon
in the cracked wall

Milan Rajkumar
Imphal, India

 

complex craters
so much of me still
unknown

John Pappas
United States

 

half moon –
darker spots
on my hands

Silvia Bistocchi
Italy

 

denti da latte-
in un pianto di bimba
la mezza luna

milk teeth-
in a child’s cry
half Moon

Angiola Inglese
Italia

 

half moon
I patch up
the worn pocket of his jeans

Tracy Davidson
Warwickshire, UK

 

half moon
I’m still looking
for a better half

Bakhtiyar Amini
Germany

 

hunger moon
the shape of my howl
slowly rising

Myron Arnold
Newfoundland

 

in the labyrinth
of cowslip–
cyclothymia

Luciana Moretto
Treviso Italy

 

singing bowl moon
I circle your rim
with my makeshift wand

Kath Abela Wilson
Pasadena, California

 

connecting
with our fingertips
half moon

C.X.Turner
United Kingdom

 

teaching me everything is on time half moon

Eva Limbach
Deutschland

 

sea of serenity….
yet another cobweb swept
into the mesosphere

Marilyn Ward
UK

 

citrus moon
the ginger kitten
rubs my leg

Charles Harper
Yokohama

 

half moon
breath of a distance
between yes and no

Firdaus Parvez
India

 

right where
we left off
half moon

marilyn ashbaugh
edwardsburg, michigan

 

half moon
over deserted mining town
Arizona highway

Rehn Kovacic
Mesa, AZ

 

learning life
out of the rear window–
the half moon

Teiichi Suzuki
Japan

 

eighth-day moon
mother no longer
answers my questions

simonj
UK

 

half moon
what I leave out
in the open

Mirela Brailean
Romania

 

half moon –
next to me
your absence

mezzaluna –
accanto a me
la tua assenza

Maria Cezza
Italy

 

half moon
this wish to come back
just as I am arriving

Daniela Misso
Italy

 

half moon
this ebb and flow
of joy and sorrow

Govind Joshi
Dehradun, India

 

my better half
whispering softly
to the moon

Jeff Leong
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

 

final hearing
the pages I’ll sign
with my full name

Lorraine A Padden
San Diego CA

 

a gust of wind
the veiled moon
half revealed

Chen Xiaoou
Kunming, China

 

half moon
midlife crisis in
slow motion

Richard Straw
Cary, North Carolina

 

half moon –
my bright side
you

Dan C. Iulian
România

 

daybreak
in half light
a half moon

Helen Ogden
Pacific Grove, CA

 

mud mask
the bright face
of the moon

Mike Gallagher
Ballyduff, County Kerry, Ireland

 

half full or half empty
reflecting on my journey
of many moons

Liz Ann Winkler
White Rock, BC

 

a lemon jelly slice
and 5 sugar sprinkles —
planetary alignment

Sheila Sondik
Bellingham, WA

 

half moon
Monday morphs
into Tuesday

Andrew Shimield
UK

 

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

 

Guest Editor Carole MacRury resides in Point Roberts, Washington, a unique peninsula and border town that inspires her work. Her poems have won awards and been published worldwide, and her photographs have been featured on the covers of numerous poetry journals and anthologies. Her practice of contemplative photography along with an appreciation of haiku aesthetics helps deepen her awareness of the world around her. Both image and written word open her to the interconnectedness of all things, to surprise, mystery and a sense of wonder. She is the author of In the Company of Crows: Haiku and Tanka Between the Tides (Black Cat Press, 2008, 2nd Printing, 2018) and The Tang of Nasturtiums, an award-winning e-chapbook (Snapshot Press 2012).

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.

The Haiku Foundation reminds you that participation in our offerings assumes respectful and appropriate behavior from all parties. Please see our Code of Conduct policy.

Please note that all poems & images appearing in Haiku Dialogue may not be used elsewhere without express permission – copyright is retained by the creators. Please see our Copyright Policies.

This Post Has 31 Comments

  1. There really is a wealth of excellent haiku. It is difficult to make a scale by value. My quick choice would be . . .
    ***
    half moon this hunger to be whole
    Bryan Rickert

    half moon on its own a full poem
    Srini S

    half moon
    i raise a glass
    to my better half
    Rupa Anand

    half moon
    the secrets we hide
    from each other
    Neena Singh

    Half Moon –
    what I was and
    what I am
    Ana Drobot

    half moon balancing the ocean tides
    Bona M. Santos

    half a moon –
    not enough to build a bridge
    across the river
    Zelyko Funda

    half moon
    I’m still looking
    for a better half
    Bakhtiyar Amini

  2. So many excellent haiku this week, and so many I could comment upon, but this one by Adele Evershed struck me for its melancholy and poignancy. When you can only see/interact with your children half the time, the world does seem dark. Knowing you have to rise above this (and can’t speak openly about difficulties dealing with an ex), so that your children aren’t hurt any more than they already are by this separation is painful…for the parent, for the child(ren), makes for dark times.
    half her life
    spent in the dark…
    joint custody

    Adele Evershed
    Wilton, Connecticut
    Thanks Adele for expressing what many parents go through all too often. That is a powerful haiku.

  3. half moon –
    halfway between
    faith and unbelief

    Tomislav Maretić
    Zagreb, Hrvatska

    Tom’s haiku like others I chose are what I call philosophical haiku. These haiku invite us in to a poet’s musing and the half-moon that inspired these musings. I could relate to the conundrum of being caught between faith and unbelief while gazing at a moon that was only showing half of itself. We all ponder these mysteries, and this haiku brought it home for me. Haiku connects us to each other in many ways. I’m amazed at thrilled at the diversity of all your submissions.

  4. Another engaging week. 300 poems is a lot to sort, Carole!

    Looking for more classic detachment from I, my and we in image + poet’s thought poems, I particularly liked:

    in the half-dark
    the path
    of the badger

    Ann Rawson

    (room for another image perhaps?)
    —

    the dog’s head
    lifts from the sofa
    half moon

    Mariel Herbert

    —

    and the haunting visuals evoked by:

    half moon
    over deserted mining town
    Arizona highway

    Rehn Kovacic

    —

    then, Haikai humour:

    summer vacation
    the kids discover
    The Dark Side of the Moon

    Mark Scott

    —

    and the strangely charming:

    half moon
    Monday morphs
    into Tuesday

    Andrew Shimield

    ah, the suburban poet’s calm acceptance of the everyday. Right up my street! Love it.

    2. Keith, I’m with you on looking for detachment from the I, we, me poems, especially the odd ‘you or your’ which really distances me from a haiku as they seem addressed to someone other than the reader. As always though, there are exceptions and sometimes ‘our’, or ‘I work for me without too much distraction. I think you might appreciate my upcoming thoughts to be posted Wednesday. I do address the rising number of pronouns in haiku.
      Be sure to tune in. 🙂

      1. half moon
        loving you
        scars and all

        Terri French
        Everywhere, USA

        Although I’m not fond of ‘you/your’ in haiku, I made an exception for Terri’s haiku. It can be read as loving the moon scars and all. Or, of course be addressed to someone we don’t know. But….the reason this haiku sticks with me is because I often find myself moon gazing, and feeling a bit distressed that we have left so much of our litter on the moon that it’s hard to romanticize it anymore. I look to the stars, the moon with questions about the universe and my place in it. Terri’s haiku touched me, because despite the pockmarks on the moon and the debris we’ve left behind, I still am in awe of the place the moon holds within our earthly existence.

      2. Carole: There are always exceptions! (And I think there are no absolute rules) We’ve all written the pronoun poems, and respond to them, me included. They can be an easy way to trigger or show emotions. Maybe that’s the way the genre is going?

        1. I’s rather see it as an exception Keith…rather than a trend. It’s too easy to turn out haiku that resemble tanka once you start writing about angst filled relationships.

  5. Ho apprezzato molto questo haiku per il suo realismo:

    mezza luna –
    macchie più scure
    sulle mie mani

    Silvia Bistocchi
    Italia

    Jhon Varder

  6. Thanks much, Carole for including my haiku on the theme of Half Moon.
    A sterling selection.

    I particularly liked

    half moon this hunger to be whole

    Bryan Rickert
    Belleville, Illinois

    Everyone’s goal, I guess.

    Half Moon –
    what I was and
    what I am

    Ana Drobot
    Romania

    how we change with age

    complex craters
    so much of me still
    unknown

    John Pappas
    United States

    And we expect to be understood by others.

    And

    half moon
    this wish to come back
    just as I am arriving

    Daniela Misso
    Italy

    The tug of emotions and/or gut.

    1. Thanks for sharing your favorites Govind and enjoyed your comments. This prompt inspired quite a few personal reflections. Understandable when we consider our relationship with the moon and the mysteries of the universe. We have a tendency to turn to self when pondering our small place in the universe.

  7. Truly a galaxy of thoughts in these haiku. I was especially impressed with Srini S’s submission which, to me, expresses what a haiku so simply does.

    half moon on its own a full poem

    1. Yes Marie, I so agree with your thoughts about Srini’s poems. Simply stated and yet as a monoku it has added layers depending on where one chooses to pause. ‘half moon on its own’….’on its own a full poem’.

  8. This amazing poem by Nancy Brady stopped me in my tracks:

    another mass shooting–
    even the moon is
    at half-staff

    Nancy Brady
    Huron, Ohio, USA

    She really gets to the heartbreaking reality of life in the USA and the intensity of grief many of us are feeling.

    1. Thanks, Eavonka. I appreciate your words, and yes, it is heartbreaking to see all the loss of life day after day. I hate even turning on the news some mornings. ~nan

      Thanks Carole for selecting this haiku for inclusion in this week’s column because there are so many fantastic haiku here, and I know how difficult it is to cull the number down.

      1. Nancy, thank you. I know you understand the intensity of selecting haiku and usually within a fairly short time. A rest for my eyes is not far away! Such an honor though to swim among such lovely work.

    2. The personification of the moon added to the sadness to Nancy’s poem. It sends a cry out to the universe….

  9. Una selezione splendida, ringrazio di cuore Carole per aver incluso anche il mio.
    Trovo molto interessante questo, per il tema delicato toccato:

    un’altra sparatoria di massa –
    anche la luna è
    a metà pentagramma
    /
    Nancy Brady
    Huron, Ohio, USA

    1. Silvia,
      Sono d’accordo. È stata un’ottima selezione di haiku. Grazie per aver menzionato il mio. È apprezzato.

      I agree. It was a great selection of haiku. Thank you for mentioning mine. It’s appreciated. ~nan

  10. another mass shooting–
    even the moon is
    at half-staff
    /
    Nancy Brady
    Huron, Ohio, USA
    /
    This well-written haiku touches on a troubling issue that the nation is dealing with at this time.

    1. Thanks, Valentina. I am so and tired of seeing the flag at half-staff because of mass shootings. So many have occurred this year (more than the number of days in the year so far), and yet…no change has come about.

  11. I came too late for the submission… but still had fun to try.

    half moon
    waking up
    I search for the other half

    I want to thank Carole MacRury for her wonderful guide that share a great deal of moon information!

    Always enjoyed! Thanks.

    1. Thanks Anna. The moon, in all its phases will never fail to inspire us. Lovely haiku, and I’m sorry you missed the deadline of midnight Saturday, pacific time. Next time! 🙂

  12. Congratulations to all featured haikuists. And to the Guest Editor Ms. Carole Mac Rury for the great work on the selection of such a wonderful batch on “half moon”. I found the haiku by Bakhtiyar Amini to resonate with me as the one I wanted to submit but missed the deadline. (I hope you won’t mind me including it here:-
    wondering
    how my soul mate would have been like –
    half moon)

    half moon
    I’m still looking
    for a better half

    Bakhtiyar Amini
    Germany

    1. Thanks for your haiku response to Bakhtiyar’s haiku, Hai Yin! Saturday midnight pacific coast time is the deadline. Next time! 🙂

  13. the standout authentic-driven one for me in this batch is Vandana Parashar’s
    half-moon
    what I mean when I say
    “I’m fine’

  14. Loved this stunner by terri French

    half moon
    loving you
    scars and all

    And the one that blew my mind away was this one by Milan Rajkumar…

    spring evening—
    a kintsugi of half moon
    in the cracked wall

    1. Thanks for offering a few of your favorites Ravi. Milan’s image is incredible…that little slice of gold or silver showing through.

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