Haiku Dialogue: What’s at Hand Finale & photo prompts with kjmunro

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1. Many thanks to Craig for a great job editing this year, and especially for comments on his selection process. A hearty welcome back to kjmunro! I was reflecting on how we might have a “souvenir” (memory) of a souvenir that we did not get, that got away or got lost or was thrown out. I bought a toy balalaika in Russia because I didn’t want to buy a playable one, knew I hadn’t time to learn it. Still reminds me of the Beatles, “let me hear your balalaika’s ringing out,” and I remember singing and playing that on guitar for friends over there “back in the [former] USSR.” Memories of experiences are what we remember and write about and why we acquire kitschy souvenirs. Jackie Chou remembers the souvenir and its memories, although she no longer possesses the object and is no longer in that relationship.

   my souvenir mug
   still in his cupboard
   old college crush
   Jackie Chou

   a new channel
   in the Colorado River
   cracked Grand Canyon mug
   Edward Cody Huddleston

   I like this one, reminding us that even an old and cracked souvenir can remind of important memories. The Liberty Bell comes to mind.

   Even moved out and on her own, a refrigerator magnet recalls family and so much more.

   magnet stuck
   on a secondhand fridge
   dad’s laugh
   Constance Bourg

   We just saw “Toy Story 4,” so this rang the bells. Impulse prizes that end up in the junk store.

   the mark
   rewarded at the midway
   kewpie doll
   Ronald K. Craig

   I don’t know if there is such a thing as a light-up Eiffel Tower souvenir, but there should be. But the “city of lights” certainly inspires many of us, and lights up many minds and memories.

2. craig
   i have enjoyed these many weeks, following your prompts, being moved by them, and reading your outstanding comments to your picks of the week. can’t measure how much enlightenment you shined my way….but it will guide me in future writings and readings i am sure. thank you also for the thrill of seeing my poem included in the dialogue from time to time…although the first thrill is being moved to create. and being moved by reading the creations of others….and how we each approached the same prompt provided by you.

   now for the changing of the guards,
   happy return, kj

   wendy

3. Thank you very much, Craig! It was so enjoyable participating in these weekly challenges and I am very happy that some of my haiku found place in your selections.
   I am not long writing haiku and for me it was a very good experience and I appreciated reading your comments and all the different stories and points of view to the themes.
   And as others said there were some very good haiku that when you read them you think ah I wish I could write like that myself

   This week I specially got connected with these ones

   my ocean t-shirt—
   not the writing,
   but the blue

   Mona Williams
   Bridgewater, VA

   coffee break
   seeing the northern lights
   on a keyring

   C.R. Harper

   moving day
   she leaves behind
   her tacky heart souvenir

   Hifsa Ashraf
   Pakistan

   magnetic field-
   a whole world
   on my fridge

   Aljoša Vuković
   Šibenik, Croatia

   *

   Best regards!
   Nadejda Kostadinova

4. Thanks Craig
   The journey has been an enjoyable and enlightening one.

   Best wishes
   Rob

5. wonderful to be back – with many thanks to Craig Kittner for being the first, I hope, of many guest editors for this feature… sharing our different perspectives & opinions & selections is what this is all about!
   please contact us if you are interested in trying your hand at being a guest editor!
   thanks all, & more soon…
   kj

6. traffic snarl
   the knowing nod
   of a parcel shelf bulldog
   .
   Ingrid Baluchi
   .
   Just some of the things I like in a good haiku…
   .
   A juxtaposition, in this case just a pun (snarl), but it adds dimention.
   A cut, just the one, and only after something remarkable.
   A musical meter – can you repeat the haiku naturally, and do you want to repeat it.
   The words. I like the assonance of this, but that isn’t a prerequisite.
   .
   And there are mould breakers…although this too is musical…
   .
   my ocean t-shirt—
   not the writing,
   but the blue
   .
   Mona Williams
   .
   Just enough information.

   1. Thank you, simonj, for your analysis and appreciation of my poem!
      Ingrid

7. Thank you for including my poem. It’s my first here since I discovered this website a few weeks ago!

   I particularly like how Arvinder’s falling London bridge and Greer’s Mona Lisa shot glass both capture the desacralising effect that tacky souveniers possess in a clever and thoughtful way.

8. Dear Craig

   thank you so much for what I’m sure was hard, but enjoyable work in putting together this weekly collection. I have enjoyed reading it every week.

   I will be checking in on the comments section to see if there are ideas that will contribute to our on going conversation on the “essence of haiku”.

   Best regards
   Patricia

   1. Thank you, Patricia. I’m trying to put together a submission for the Tree episode of Poetry Pea, but so far I’ve been stumped. 🙂

      https://poetrypea.com/submission-topics-2019/

      1. craig
         sounds like you are somewhat near….at least a senryu might be “dug” out from your quest above.
         very funny

      2. Very good🤣

9. Thanks for all your hard work over the weeks, Craig, and for publishing several of my pieces, in such good company.

10. Thankyou Craig.
    .
    .
    ailsa craig the silence between stones
    .
    simonj
    UK
    .
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ailsa_Craig

    1. Thank you simonj! And thanks for the link. Guess that explains my strange attraction to curling.

11. Thank you Craig for choosing my haiku this week and for explaining about how you made your choices every week. I enjoyed your prompts very much and appreciate all the work you did in selecting and commenting on the haiku every week. My heartfelt gratitude to all the haiku poets who contributed to What’s at Hand and a warm welcome back to KJ!

    I enjoyed all the haiku for this week. Here are a few of my favorites

    magnetic field-
    a whole world
    on my fridge

    Aljoša Vuković’s haiku creates a world in a magnet. I love the expansiveness and the simplicity of this haiku.
    I almost chose a magnet poem for this week but opted for the plastic pig. I was going to submit this:

    fake sushi magnet
    on the hospital fridge…
    mercury warnings

    her Eiffel Tower
    “souvenir de Paris”
    lights still flashing

    Charles Harmon’s Eiffel souvenir reminds me of a host of souvenirs I have acquired over the years that “light up” It is always a smile when after quite some time, they still “flash”

    magnet stuck
    on a secondhand fridge
    dad’s laugh

    Constance Bourg’s haiku suggests interesting possiblities. Is Dad laughing at something about the magnet or at something caught in that moment of time when the magnet gets stuck on the fridge. Either way a nice haiku.

    a new channel
    in the Colorado River
    cracked Grand Canyon mug

    I love how the crack in the mug becomes a “new channel” of the the river. Wonderful haiku by Edward Cody Huddleston

    Mona Lisa shot glass
    we reconsider
    our priorities

    I love Greer Woodward’s haiku…it leaves me wondering what the priorities are that are being reconsidered. An enigmatic haiku as mysterious as the Mona Lisa smile.

    moving day
    she leaves behind
    her tacky heart souvenir

    Hifsa Ashraf’s haiku adds an undercurrent of mystery to the tacky theme. Is leaving the souvenir heart behind a sign of release and freedom or a gesture of surrender to circumstance and loss?

    Hillbilly Festival…
    “Deposit Guaranteed”
    on the outhouse bank

    Margaret Walker’s haiku is clever, funny and tells a story in a few well-chosen words

    salt air…
    the dashboard hula dancer
    shakes her booty

    Michele L. Harvey’s haiku seems to pair nicely with Nancy Brady’s bobble head…I can see them both so clearly moving on the dashboard!

    road trip…
    the bobble head nods
    to the beat

    Nancy Brady’s bobble head dances of the page for me.

    1. Hi Susan,

       I loved reading your interpretation of my haiku. I’m always pleasantly surprised at how many different associations readers can have.

       The clue for the meaning for me personally is in the secondhand fridge. My dad’s laugh is a memory, the fridge was his and the magnet is from a trip we both took while he was still alive 🙂

    2. Susan, Thank you for your comment about my “outhouse” ku. A similar theme to your “poopy pig”. I remember those – and perhaps should be ashamed to say much I laughed the first time I saw one. Thank you for another laugh yesterday.

       I will respond to more poems later today.

    3. Susan
       Thank you for commenting on my “ outhouse” poem. A similar theme to your plastic pig. I do remember laughing at those! Thank you for the chuckle again!

    4. Thanks Susan for your comments on my bobble heads haiku. I went for humor as would be expected with kitschy and tacky souvenirs. Humor, too, was found in yours of the alliterative pig pops haiku.

12. Thank you editors for publishing my haiku and I look forward to our further cooperation. Also, congratulations everybody!

13. Its been lovely to be a part of this blog all along ! Enjoyed reading the wonderful selection each week ! Thanks Craig for all the wonderful work m it takes a lot to bring out such an interesting feature. MY regards,arvinder

14. Thank you, Craig Kittner, for including my poem.

    Your series has been an eye-opener for me, plus, very inspiring. The haiku “community” shares guidance generously and graciously. Thank you.

    I’ll save your helpful words:
    “…effective haiku has immediacy, simplicity, suitable rhythm, and experiential immersion…. You could say I was seeking authenticity.”

    I love reading all the poems and I learn from all the brilliance. Thanks.

    —

    coffee break
    seeing the northern lights
    on a keyring
    C.R. Harper
    —
    A wonderful mystery, perhaps C.R. Harper is daydreaming, recalling, wishing, or shopping during a “coffee break”? The only time I saw the “northern lights” was in Grand Marais, a sweet memory.

    —

    moose head coin
    can’t buy anything but
    memories
    Kathleen Mazurowski
    —
    I love Kathleen Mazurowski’s poem! I have many of these—somewhere;-)

    —

    Hillbilly Festival…
    “Deposit Guaranteed”
    on the outhouse bank
    Margaret Walker
    —
    Margaret Walker’s poem is delightful! Funny wordplay. An antique maybe?

    —

    dust cloud . . .
    her travel souvenirs
    atop the wardrobe
    Martha Magenta
    —
    I can sure relate to Martha Magenta’s poem. After packing and moving so many times, I stopped collecting and let them all go.

    —

    my ocean t-shirt—
    not the writing,
    but the blue
    Mona Williams
    Bridgewater, VA
    —
    Mona Williams’ poem is beautiful! It’s delicate. The t-shirt is a keeper.

    —

    in the drawer
    a plastic gondola
    that I can’t throw
    Nazarena Rampini
    —
    I can relate to Nazarena Rampini’s poem! Those little things, only you know the meaning.

    —

    paper dragon
    the boy’s fierce souvenir
    unfolds its wings
    Steve Tabb
    San Miguel de Allende, Mexico
    —
    I like Steve Tabb’s poem! Maybe the unfolding “wings” soften the fierceness.

    —

    I squeeze
    and the plastic pink pig poos—
    the gift of your smile
    Susan Rogers
    Los Angeles, CA USA
    —
    Susan Rogers’ poem is fun! Maybe a child’s squirty bath toy?

    1. Thank you Vicki for liking my tacky haiku. I was thinking of the keychain gifts I brought back for my friends from the airport in Japan (although I have seen them also in clear plastic containers at the check out lines of drugstores and bed and bath stores. They come in different animal shapes and the most tacky of all, I think, is the pig. You squeeze the pig and a brown plastic piece pokes out of the rear end of the pig. Its a little disgusting but very funny. Little kids and adults with a kid sense of humor love them!

       1. Oh yes, Susan, here’s to that kid humor! My friend’s grandkids had some gross bath toys – kewpie-like dolls that squirt and make whoopie noises! I’ll have to be on the lookout for those “pigs” – they would squeal!

    2. Thank you for commenting on my tacky poem.
       Your “first crush” brought back memories – It was a clever play on words. “Crush” as in “young love” and/or the crush of a “crane claw”?

       1. Thanks! so much for picking up on that, Margaret!! Memories for me too. I actually can give you another layer there…I was the junkie (kind of) and wanted to give something to a boy who liked football. I thought it was a good idea, but in the end, I was too shy to do it. I was crushed!

15. A fun theme to end the series on. I joined late but want to thank Craig for his dedication. I have learned much from his commentary and everyone’s comments, and appreciate that a couple of my contributions were shared as I’m fairly new to the haiku world. I’m especially thrilled to see it is a world, as so many countries have joined in.

16. a tacky souvenir.
    .
    The prompt sure brought great results! I can only comment on a mere handful, so many brilliant though!
    .
    .
    iPhone cover –
    how London Bridge
    begins to fall
    .
    arvinder kaur
    Chandigarh,India
    .
    Now a deeply poignant poem as it was a complete accident that the infamous attack happened at London Bridge. It was intended to be an attack the next day, I believe, and supposed to be in London’s busiest shopping street, the famous Oxford Street area.
    .
    And of course iPhone is infamous for various things alas. Gosh, is everything falling? ‘Ring a ring o’roses, a pocketful of posies, atishoo, atishoo, all fall down’
    .
    A very interesting verse.
    .
    .

    coffee break
    seeing the northern lights
    on a keyring
    .
    C.R. Harper
    .
    .
    Wonderful! The ability to travel outside our countries was outside our wallet, and in some cases, for sinister reasons.
    .
    .
     
    in the op shop
    a plastic pope’s
    indulgences
    .
    nancy liddle
    australia
    .
    .
    Ah yes, the abuse in Australia and other countries is still not fully revealed. Brings another meaning to new or used goods with a peculiar odour. Strong work!
    .
    .

    two wives later
    pink plastic pearls souvenir
    his daughter’s photo
    .
    Roberta Beary
    County Mayo, Ireland
    .
    .
    I love making a noun into a verb like this!
    .
    verb
    INFORMAL
    verb: souvenir; 3rd person present: souvenirs; past tense: souvenired; past participle: souvenired; gerund or present participle: souveniring
    1. 
take as a memento.
    .
    It’s an interesting poem, as usual, from Roberta, both simple and witih multiple complexities. Gently or strongly disturbing? I’ll leave that to every individual reader. I hope I’m wrong, but there is an undercurrent. 🙂
    .
    .

    the hula dancer
    in the snow globe
    goes with my ex-husband
    .
    Sari Grandstaff
    Saugerties, NY
    .
    .
    Great fun! I hope? I bet you miss the snow globe!
    .
    .

    paper dragon
    the boy’s fierce souvenir
    unfolds its wings
    .
    Steve Tabb
    San Miguel de Allende, Mexico
    .
    .
    Just love this! 🙂
    .
    .

    border inspection
    doll inside a doll
    inside a doll
    .
    Tomislav Sjekloća,
    Cetinje, Montenegro
    .
    .
    Horribly poignant as a father and baby died today. I can’t give a link as it’s too shocking. Will it change things? I hope so, please. As I feel we are losing what claim we have to humanity nowadays.
    .
    .

    USA road trip –
    each souvenir made
    in a foreign land
    .
    Valentina Ranaldi-Adams
    Fairlawn, Ohio USA
    .
    .
    I still remember as a child being bewildered by national goods with a big stamp showing it wasn’t actually even made locally but from a far away almost mystical land.
    .
    .

    desert dusk
    a cactus fridge magnet
    clings to an ice chest
    .
    wendy c. bialek
    prescott valley, az, usa
    .
    .
    Love the alliterative opening line! Ah, those big cactus fridge magnets! I’m sure I had one clinging to an old battered fridge both in my youth! 🙂
    .
    .
    Great end to a great series. Long live the old and enter the new too!
    .
    .

    1. Thank you Alan for such in depth comments on my poem. Loved the analysis. Best,arvinder

       1. Thank you!
          .
          .
          iPhone cover –
          how London Bridge
          begins to fall
          .
          arvinder kaur
          Chandigarh, India
          .
          .
          With all the current political nonsense and time-wasting in London, the bridge could easily have stress fractures. 🙂

    2. it’s deeply disturbing! Amazing how you get me each time, Alan!

       1. See you soon! Karen can’t wait! 🙂
          .
          And me, of course!!! 🙂

    3. thank you alan for all your comments, (on every poem that is listed), participation and poetic contributions to this wonderful blog.

       regarding your comments here on this week’s prompt:

       glad you enjoyed the sound “desert dusk”
       and have memories of a cactus fridge magnet.

       my poem was written just before the father/daughter drowning….
       i won’t post its link either.
       but here…in arizona….crossings make the news daily.

       and i did want you to know that i share the same feelings you have.
       my poem resonates to the same issues about humanity you speak about in the illustrated border stop poem. by tomislav.

       https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/01/20/volunteers-guilty-dropping-water-food-migrants-arizona-

       however, when i read Tomislav Sjekloća’s poem….i pictured a border leaving russia….with the russian nesting dolls….Matryoshka dolls. i could see how the check point may have held up the line of cars…as each doll was looked into to see if anything inside was not allowed. the dolls needed to be opened…separated…to accomplish this. so it is interesting, that your connection to the border crossings coming through mexico…was made. Did Tomislav have this in mind….i would like to know.

       katchina dolls are affiliated with Native American history which are prevalent in shops where migration may be occurring.

       1. Thanks Wendy,
          .
          I had a long chat with another Brit about immigration/migration/refugees, and basically if we didn’t meddle in other countries (British Empire, France, Spain, Portugal during earlier centuries) and this meddling carrying on into the 20th and now 21st centuries, the dynamics of fleeing from a mess not entirely their own countries fault, would be lessened.
          .
          My Brit mate thinks the photo was staged. This spin factor which has been around a very long time, now makes sensible people distrust anything photographic or reported. Be that as it may, there have been and will be deaths, that shouldn’t be happening.
          .
          .
          desert dusk
          a cactus fridge magnet
          clings to an ice chest
          .
          wendy c. bialek
          prescott valley, az, usa
          .
          .
          border inspection
          doll inside a doll
          inside a doll
          .
          Tomislav Sjekloća,
          Cetinje, Montenegro
          .
          .
          Yes, good points about this haiku. Nesting dolls have long been used for symbolism in literature, film, and TV drama. They are still big in Russia Federation, with Putin, and other heads of state being painted onto them as well. Other types of dolls have long been used to smuggle drugs and other contraband, as innocent objects and people, used to fool border security and police, but no longer. The nesting dolls are a very powerful symbol aren’t they?
          .
          warm regards,
          Alan

          1. alan….nesting dolls are indeed symbolic….if i look at the outer doll as say a “mother”….and the inner dolls as “her children”….the inspector at the border is separating them….

             here in arizona the cactus….specifically, the saguaro cactus…is protected by law….anyone destroying one…can be imprisoned.

             What do we do if someone needs the liquid to sustain a life on the hot desert journey?

             STAGED or non-STAGED
             haiku have been staged, (like a still-life painting)….yet they can still portray and reflect realities and evoke true emotional responses….

             SAD: mistrust may not have to lead to dismissal or denial of issues…even a staged photo is symbolic/meaningful….where do we draw a line on compassion?

    4. Thank you Alan!

17. thanks for including my pope haiku – i really appreciate this forum to practice and post haiku and the thrill of seeing that you have included one of mine. and i love and learn from reading the others – like someone else wrote, i wish i’d written that! 😀

18. Thank you Craig for running the What’s at Hand series, and showing this week how much work really goes into these features (and unpaid, while running other duties). 🙂
    .
    Hope you stay in touch now and then! 🙂
    .
    Deep bow,
    Alan

    1. You’ll see me again fairly soon. And, of course, I’ll keep an eye on the blog and throw in a comment or two when I can.

19. Thank-you Craig for choosing my haiku. Thank-you also for all your efforts over the past few weeks.
    .
    Sometimes I read a haiku and I think I wish I could write like that. That is my definition of a good haiku.

20. Dear Craig, Admiring the entire blog, the following is my fasvourite”

    my ocean t-shirt—
    not the writing,
    but the blue

    Mona Williams
    Bridgewater, VA

    1. Thank you! I enjoy reading your comments, and your opinion means a lot to me.

21. Not to be monotonous–but once again, I liked everything! Craig: it has been wonderful. And to your catalog of haiku essentials, I would add, surprise–whether through language or perspective or that one incandescent detail, they startle and reveal the world anew, in a flash. And that newness never wears off.

    Here are some that did that for me this week:
    *
    magnetic field-
    a whole world
    on my fridge

    Aljoša Vuković
    Šibenik, Croatia
    *
    just magical, that “magnetic” it does so much, so clearly and neatly and perfectly
    *

    i phone cover –
    how London bridge
    begins to fall

    arvinder kaur
    Chandigarh,India
    *
    I love the juxtaposition of old/new–and the subtle question of threat regarding the technology
    *
    a new channel
    in the Colorado River
    cracked Grand Canyon mug

    Edward Cody Huddleston

    *
    this works so well–it flows naturally (as it were) and is very visual and immediate, also speaking to the fragility of the natural world
    *

    in the op shop
    a plastic pope’s
    indulgences

    nancy liddle
    australia

    *
    brilliant, that “indulgences” and the “op” suggesting the opportunists that often prey on the needy.
    *
    USA road trip –
    each souvenir made
    in a foreign land

    Valentina Ranaldi-Adams
    Fairlawn, Ohio USA

    *
    as others have noticed: very apt and ironic–not to mention true!
    *
    thanks to everyone for their great poems.
    and welcome back, kj!

    1. thanks for liking my pope haiku – your interpretation took it up a level 😀

    2. Thanks Laurie for liking and appreciating my poem. Best,arvinder

22. I thoroughly agree with all the points Craig outlines that make a poem of this nature effective.
    As a relative newcomer to haiku and senryu, I would add to the ‘immediacy’ (the this-is-happening-right-now quality), and the brevity, a certainty of comprehension by the reader. No reason not to be made to work reasonably hard to understand and appreciate what the poet is alluding to, but not to such extent that one gives up, feels an idiot for not getting the picture, or having to do a considerable amount of research.
    What made this series, and including Kj’s, so compelling and interesting, is that in pursuit of understanding, one does a heck of a lot of learning, which is always pleasurable. But there were times when nothing came ‘to hand’ to give any clues. As well, I found I had to jettison several of my own attempts believing that readers would not be able to see what seemed obvious to me. Our experiences are all so different, after all, it is not surprising that some poems come over as obscure. . . and maybe it is just a question of time and practice, as well as knowledge. I guess one never stops learning about this wonderful genre.
    .
    Craig, thank you for including my offering this week, and for your always interesting selections, and especially your comments; and thank you to all the poets for their fascinating output and insight.

23. What a kitschy collection. Humorous, poignant, and full of memories. Thanks, Craig, for all the thoughtful choices and thoughts about the various haiku over the past weeks you have edited this column. I appreciated your explanation of the decision making process that you employed.

    Personally, I have yet to be able to define what makes a good haiku. Some just do, and what hits me may not hit another with the same impact. So, like Dory, I keep reading, reading, and writing.

    The irony of Valentina’s haiku is not lost on me. With all the issues of tariffs, immigration, and other political situations, it is one of my favorites among many. Maybe I will comment on others once I have more time. Now, I have an appointment to go to.

24. My favourite this week is:
    .
    magnetic field-
    a whole world
    on my fridge
    .
    Aljoša Vuković
    .
    such creative use of the prompt!

25. Thank you, dear Craig for all these 22 dialoguing weeks❤️
    Best wishes
    Marta

    1. Thank you Craig for including mine in this fun series of haiku. “Exit through the gift shop,” as they say!

       1. Which is a great movie, by the way.
          https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1587707/

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