Haiku Dialogue

Haiku Dialogue: What’s at Hand Week 19

 

 

Welcome to Haiku Dialogue — What’s at Hand Week 19 with Guest Editor Craig Kittner.

Let’s talk about haiku! Through June 26 we will see what 21 common objects can inspire.

Our theme for June 12 is a glass bottle.

Immerse yourself in the theme, then submit one original, unpublished haiku via our Contact Form. Please submit by Saturday, June 8 at 6:00 pm eastern time. Include your name as you would like it to appear and your place of residence.

By submitting you agree that your work may appear in the column — neither acknowledgment nor acceptance emails will be sent.

I will select haiku that make good use of the theme and that are likely to generate lively discussions. I’ll add some thoughts below each week’s selections to get the conversation started.

Here are my selections for a fallen leaf.

herbarium-
a fallen leaf has changed
its name

Aljoša Vuković
Šibenik, Croatia

 

daydreaming …
a sparrow gazing at
the fallen leaf

Angelo B. Ancheta

 

space-filling line art – the folio of leaf miners

Art Fredeen
Prince George, BC, Canada

 

securing braids
with tic tac pins –
leaves fall and fall

arvinder kaur
Chandigarh,India

 

fallen leaf
my son presents another
folded flag

B Shropshire
TX

 

fallen leaf
a piece of time
we’ve forgotten

C.A. Harper

 

excursion
a stray maple leaf
on the road

C.R. Harper

 

filling the void
of a fallen leaf
another leaf

Carol Raisfeld

 

fallen leaves
on the floor
her last book

Debbie Scheving
Bremerton, WA

 

unmarked grave . . .
a thousand red maples
offer their leaves

Debbie Strange
Canada

 

golden anniversary
a fallen leaf
on the tablecloth

Deborah P Kolodji
Temple City, CA

 

family reunion
the wind returns a leaf
to its branch

Edward Cody Huddleston

 

gardener sweeps
the leaves to one side,
the wind to other

Enes Kisevic

 

foglia caduta:
chiaroscuro attorno di paglia al sole
…
fallen leaf:
chiaroscuro around straw in the sun

Giuliana Ravaglia

 

last year’s
last leaf
snowbound

Greer Woodward
Waimea, Hawaii

 

a fallen leaf
the refugee’s hands
red with henna

Guliz Mutlu

 

estate disposal—
her secret recipe slips
from a cook book

Ingrid Baluchi
Ohrid, Macedonia

 

falling leaves…
between you and me
gravity’s pull

Jackie Chou
Pico Rivera, CA, USA

 

a wind blown leaf
stuck to my window
a child’s handprint

Jo El
North Carolina

 

dead leaves in
rushing brown water
spring cleaning

joanb
NY

 

house clearance
between her poems
a skeleton leaf

Joanne van Helvoort

 

learning to feed
my future self…
autumn leaves falling

Kat Lehmann
Connecticut, USA

 

last strokes
midrib opening
a fallen leaf

Lakshmi Iyer

 

swing set
calling it flying
the arc of a maple leaf

Laurie Greer
Washington DC

 

tra i miei passi un piccolo cuore ingiallito … foglia caduta
…
in my steps
a small withered heart …
fallen leaf

Lucia Cardillo

 

on the box of ash
a dried gum leaf—
our walks

Madhuri Pillai

 

journal entry
that day
a lost page

Margaret Walker

 

fallen leaf –
not even time
for a hug

Maria Teresa Piras

 

autumn trail
a leaf leaps
into a toad

Martha Magenta
UK

 

leaf falling…
thinking about my past
how it settled

Muskaan Ahuja
Chandigarh, India

 

fallen leaf
a galleon
on the river

nancy liddle
australia

 

dewdrops
resting on a fallen leaf
many moons

Pat Davis
NH, USA

 

leaf on the floor
my bad haiku
missed the waste basket

Paul Geiger
Sebastopol, CA, USA

 

cottonwood fuzz
and spiraling leaves
the meander of my path

Peggy Hale Bilbro
Alabama, USA

 

forest hike
a piece of autumn rides home
on my sweater

Pris Campbell

 

a fallen leaf
I search for the lifeline
on my palm

Rashmi Vesa

 

heat wave
a daydream of falling
leaves

Rich Schilling

 

leafall—
my child asks
about heaven

Roberta Beary
Co Mayo, Ireland

 

decayed leaf
its outline remains
our legacy

Ronald K. Craig
Batavia, OH, USA

 

the last leaf falls
after the other leaves…
slow steps

Rosa Maria Di Salvatore

 

a green tea leaf
fallen from the canister –
brewing resentment

Sari Grandstaff
Saugerties, NY

 

fallen leaf
the gold rim of cup
is wiped

Serhiy Shpychenko
Kyiv, UA

 

spring warmth
the snowman clings on
to his fig leaf

simonj
UK

 

fallen leaves . . .
a toddler breaks
the silence

Srinivasa Rao Sambangi
Hyderabad, India

 

everyone different
everyone the same
leaves through the rest home window

Stephen A. Peters

 

crumbling maple leaf
last year’s remnant captured
by a growing bush

Susan Bonk Plumridge
London, Canada

 

fall
…in
…….leaf

Susan Rogers
Los Angeles, CA, USA

 

ferrying home . . .
dragonfly on a leaf
on a kayak

Taofeek Ayeyemi (Aswagaawy)
Port Harcourt, Nigeria

 

moist leaf on the ground
all the colors
of decomposition

Tomislav Sjekloća,
Cetinje, Montenegro

 

fallen –
a leaf on the tomb
of the Unknown Soldier

Valentina Ranaldi-Adams
Fairlawn, Ohio, USA

 

a fallen leaf
from the school notebook
summer break

Zdenka Mlinar

The fallen leaf theme generated the greatest number of submissions to date for the What’s at Hand series, and the quality of the submissions was quite high. We clearly have a shared affinity for the falling of leaves.

I chose to put forth this prompt as we approach summer in the northern hemisphere, because I wondered what alternatives might crop up to the falling of leaves in autumn. Zdenka Mlinar provided an interesting one. A different kind of leaf falling for a different reason at the start of summer. Cool!

In contrast, Susan Rogers did the autumn season justice with three well-chosen and well-placed words. If spring can be in bloom, why not fall in leaf? Or, taken another way, is not a fallen leaf our go-to symbol for autumn?

Falling leaves remind us that time keeps bringing us closer to the end, and Rashmi Vesa captures this quite neatly in her haiku. It makes me wonder, if our lifelines were really accurate, how differently would we live?

But the changing seasons do more than remind us of time’s passage. Could there be a spring if there was no fall? Carol Raisfeld presents renewal beautifully as new life filling emptiness. Something life does quite well.

Lastly, I was utterly charmed by Angelo B. Ancheta’s “daydreaming.” It was nicely reminiscent of Issa. I can’t help but wonder, is it just the poet who daydreams? Or does the staring sparrow do so also?

With all these haiku, where does your mind drift? Please join the conversation below.

 

Guest Editor Craig Kittner lives near the banks of the Cape Fear River in Wilmington, North Carolina. He has worked as a gallery director in Washington, DC, and a program director for the Kentucky Arts Council. He took second prize in the North Carolina Poetry Society Bloodroot Haiku Award for 2019.

 

Katherine Munro lives in Whitehorse, Yukon Territory, and publishes under the name kjmunro. She is Membership Secretary for Haiku Canada and an Associate Member of the League of Canadian Poets. She co-edited an anthology of crime-themed haiku called Body of Evidence: a collection of killer ’ku.

After several years of moves, Craig Kittner has put down roots in the sandy soil of Eastern North Carolina. There the sunshine is clear. The climate gives rise to riotous growths of wildflowers. Birds abound, and the sky is alive with ocean breezes. Craig is content to walk the forests and beaches, gathering imagery for his poems. His work has been published in Frogpond, Chrysanthemum, Failed Haiku, bottle rockets, and the Autumn Moon Haiku Journal. In 2018, he had two poems selected as judges' favorites in the 5th Annual Golden Haiku Competition, and one poem selected for the Winston Salem Writers' Poetry in Plain Sight project. His first chapbook, Time's Sweet Savor, was published in 2016 by New Books on Front Street, an imprint of Old Books on Front Street in downtown Wilmington.

This Post Has 52 Comments

  1. family reunion
    the wind returns a leaf
    to its branch

    Edward Cody Huddleston

    I enjoyed this one so much I will read it on the haiku pea podcast on the 15th July. Crediting Mr Huddleston and Haiku Dialogue, of course.

  2. filling the void
    of a fallen leaf
    another leaf

    Carol Raisfeld

    this is so beautiful, the healing of nature….Carol Raisfeld.

    I am reminded, too, that sometimes….when i work with my herbs, ie. basil….i remove the bottom leaves of a living branch, dip the stem in water and very soon roots grow from where the leaves were removed. And then a whole new plant is formed.

  4. Thank you for including my haiku. My favorites are these:

    filling the void
    of a fallen leaf
    another leaf
    Carol Raisfeld

    falling leaves…
    between you and me
    gravity’s pull
    Jackie Chou

    autumn trail
    a leaf leaps
    into a toad
    Martha Magenta

  5. I love how gravity pulls at the falling leaf and suggests the pull between two people in

    falling leaves
    between you and me
    gtavity’s pull

    –jackie chou

    and I love the leap from falling leaves to heaven..the child’s unspoken question about what happens after the end of things

    leafall-
    my child asks
    about heaven

    Roberta Beary

    and I admire this haiku which carries
    so many shades of meaning…might be a gold leaf that fell and was used as symbolic decoration or maybe the celebration is outside under golden trees and the leaf just fell among the dishes:

    golden anniversary
    a fallen leaf
    on the tablecloth

    Deborah P. Kolodji

    and I loved the flight of swing and leaf
    in his haiku of synchronicity

    swing set
    calling it flying
    the arc of a maple leaf

    Laurie Greer

    so many wonderful haiku this week

    2. Thank you, Susan, for appreciating my haiku, and thank you, Craig, for including it this week. So proud to be among all this great work. Looking forward to next week’s selection.

  6. Dear Craig,
    Greetings. Going through all powerful. This week my special of many wonderful ones
    the following

    filling the void
    of a fallen leaf
    another leaf

    Carol Raisfeld

  7. I hit “send” too soon. There are so many poems worthy of comment here but three others especially reached out to me –

    family reunion
    the wind returns a leaf
    to its branch

    Edward Cody Huddleston

    The memory of many family reunions – and far too many missed.

    ……

    falling leaves…
    between you and me
    gravity’s pull

    Jackie Chou

    Perhaps the author is referring to aging – or to something about the pull of “energy” or attraction between two people? Interesting to contemplate as I read and re-read it.

    ……….

    fallen leaf
    my son presents another
    folded flag

    B. Shropshire

    A sight seen far too often – and so vividly presented here.

  8. I found this piece especially touching today. Too often we seem to lose sight of the Canadian and Australian men who gave their lives on D-Day.

    unmarked grave . . .
    a thousand red maples
    offer their leaves

    Debbie Strange
    Canada

    1. this one is amazing, thank you Debbie Strange for the gift of reading this fabulous haiku. And congrats for your win and other contributions in the otherworldly intergalactic haiku space theme video game.

  10. This does indeed read like a collection. You’ve organized it beautifully to flow from one to another. So many wonderful ones but here are my favorites. And thanks for including my haiku.

    fallen leaf
    a piece of time
    we’ve forgotten

    C.A. Harper
    .
    I love the connection here between lost memories and the natural passage of time represented by the leaf. Nice one!
    .
    .
    unmarked grave . . .
    a thousand red maples
    offer their leaves

    Debbie Strange
    Canada
    .
    Debbie, you’ve given us a beautiful tribute to those lost in battle. The red of the maples, the fallen leaves like the fallen soldiers, and a reminder to remove our hats in respect for their loss. Especially poignant today.
    .
    .
    swing set
    calling it flying
    the arc of a maple leaf

    Laurie Greer
    Washington DC
    .
    What a wonderful image you’ve created Laurie! That wild feeling of almost breaking free on the swing. Thanks!
    .
    .
    fallen leaf
    a galleon
    on the river

    nancy liddle
    australia
    .
    Large to small. I never would have made this connection, but now, thanks to Nancy, I will have it whenever I see a leaf floating along.
    .
    .

    1. thank you Peggy for your lovely comments and thank you Craig for including my haiku

  11. I liked so many of these I don’t know where to start! This one especially grabbed me–“galleon” is such a wonderful word–I’ll never look at a floating leaf the same way again.

    fallen leaf
    a galleon
    on the river

    nancy liddle
    *
    this one, too–such a wonderful play on family trees, prodigal sons, and more…
    family reunion
    the wind returns a leaf
    to its branch

    Edward Cody Huddleston
    australia
    *
    know just what you mean! No need even to say “leaf”

    journal entry
    that day
    a lost page

    Margaret Walker
    *
    so vivid and true and always special–

    dewdrops
    resting on a fallen leaf
    many moons

    Pat Davis
    NH, USA

    *
    really fine–and it shows how important it is to hear these poems too. Sound/sight in perfect synchrony–and only three words!

    fall
    …in
    …….leaf

    Susan Rogers
    Los Angeles, CA, USA

    *
    Thanks once again, Craig, for this wonderful column.

    1. Laurie – Thank you for commenting on my “journal entry”. I am so glad you liked it!

      I hope to make some comments later today.

    2. thank you Laurie for your appreciation of my little galleon and thank you Craig for including my offering

    3. Thank you laurie!
      I was so happy with this haiku..it “fell” into me like a leaf. And thank you Craig for including it.
      blessings

  12. I wanted to give a shout out to Martha’s toad. We have cane toads in my part of the world. They are large and it may be an understatement to say they are ugly. They are large, have bumpy skin, and a mottled brownish exterior. I never knew what to call this color, but thanks to Martha, I see it resembles a decaying autumn leaf. I am very fond of these toads. Some live on our property. We have to watch our driveway. Headlights may freeze them up and you have to strategize to get them off the road. I’m glad Martha’s toad was on a more secure pathway. I love that haiku can send you into a different world or memory that turns out to be so rich.
    I enjoyed the haiku in this series. Falling or fallen leaves are so evocative, the end of a joyous life.
    Thanks, Craig, for including mine!

  13. Thank you so much for accepting my entry and I’m glad you liked it.

    -Angelo B. Ancheta

  14. filling the void
    of a fallen leaf
    another leaf
    .
    Carol Raisfeld
    .
    The cycle repeats again – old leaves drop in the fall and new ones appear in the spring.

  15. fallen leaf
    my son presents another
    folded flag
    .
    B Shropshire
    TX
    .
    Poignant. This one refers to the U. S. flag that is presented to the relative, of someone who has served in the military, at the person’s funeral services. The meaning is there without using the words military or funeral.

  16. fallen leaf
    my son presents another
    folded flag
    .
    B Shropshire
    .
    This is excellent.
    The middle line pivot oscillating between innocence (of a youngster) and solemnity, and the obvious but profound link between the metaphorical leaf and symbolic flag.
    All in a neatly packaged read.

  17. forest hike
    a piece of autumn rides home
    on my sweater
    .
    Pris Campbell

    I love the imagery in Pris’s haiku. One that most will relate to.

  18. fallen leaves
    on the floor
    her last book
    Debbie Scheving
    .
    I can see my 92 year old mom, “reading” an illustrated book on birds I’ve sent, and allowing it to fall to the floor as she takes her last breath. Strong image, Debbie. Thank you.
    .
    fallen leaf
    my son presents another
    folded flag
    B. Shropshire
    .
    What a respectful way to handle a very controversial subject! Excellent poetry, B.
    .
    unmarked grave . . .
    a thousand red maples
    offer their leaves
    Debbie Strange
    .
    Nature never forgets its own. A touching poem, Debbie!
    .
    .
    No, I’m not attempting to set any records here. It’s just that the first time I typed all of these in one post, it didn’t post !!! So I reposted multiple times.
    .
    I could comment on many others, there were so many inspiring poems this week, but I’m sure addition comments will be forthcoming!
    .
    Ron

    1. Thank you Ron. This has two meanings for me, and the first is similar to your image. Debbie

  19. unmarked grave . . .
    a thousand red maples
    offer their leaves
    .
    Debbie Strange
    Canada
    .
    This one has a powerful impact.

  20. leaf on the floor
    my bad haiku
    missed the waste basket
    .
    Paul Geiger
    Sebastopol, CA, USA
    .
    Perhaps this bad haiku was about a leaf. We have all shared the experience of writing a bad haiku.

  21. decayed leaf
    its outline remains
    our legacy
    .
    Ronald K. Craig
    Batavia, OH, USA
    .
    This one nicely illustrates that our actions can damage the environment and this damage can long outlast us.

  22. a wind blown leaf
    stuck to my window
    a child’s handprint
    Jo El
    .
    I see this as a child placing her/his hand opposite a leaf sticking to the outside of a window (and not simply a metaphor) and the child showing wonderment with this action! Nice poem, Jo El. My favorite this week.
    .
    falling leaves
    between you and me
    gravity’s pull
    Jackie Chou
    .
    A really nice picture of attraction, a force that can be difficult to break in a strong relationship.
    .
    family reunion
    the wind returns a leaf
    to its branch
    Edward Cody
    .
    A very nice picture of the opposite of “fallen.” Returning to a family is returning to a branch as well as returning to your roots! Maybe this person had fallen earlier, but it welcomed back!
    .
    Wonderful poems this week.
    Ron

  24. heat wave
    a daydream of falling
    leaves
    Rich Schilling
    .
    This is one daydream I can get into! Nice poem, Rich.
    .
    a fallen leaf
    I search for the lifeline
    on my palm
    Rashmi Vesa
    .
    What a great connection, Rashmi, between the structure of nature and our body.
    .
    leaf falling . . .
    thinking about my past
    how it settled
    Muskaan Ahuja
    .
    Nature makes us contemplate our lives. Despite some negative past actions we know there are yet other leaves to fall with positive memories in which to revel!
    .
    Many fine poems this week!
    Ron

  25. everyone different
    everyone the same
    leaves through the rest home window
    Stephen A. Peters
    .
    I visit my 92 year old mother in a St. Louis area Alzheimers unit each year. What an appropriate way to characterize her situation! Thank you, Stephen.
    .
    fallen leaves . . .
    a toddler breaks
    the silence
    Srinivasa Rao
    .
    Whether a child or a neighbor’s loud music, one’s reverie is often broken. But it is not lost forever!
    .
    leafall –
    my child asks
    about heaven
    Roberta Beary
    .
    I love poems about children! What a nice connection between different aspects of a child’s curiosity.
    .
    Nice poetry, everyone!
    Ron

  26. a fallen leaf
    from the school notebook
    summer break
    Zdenka Mlinar
    .
    Schools out! Who cares? Nice poem, Zdenka.
    .
    fallen –
    a leaf on the tomb
    of the Unknown Soldier
    Valentina Ranaldi-Adams
    .
    This tomb will always be remembered . . . in many ways.
    .
    moist leaf on the ground
    all the colors
    of decomposition
    Tomislav Sjekloca
    .
    As a volunteer at the Cincinnati Nature Center, I see decomposition all the time. Nature can be beautiful, even in death.
    .
    Nice poetry.
    Ron

  27. Thank you Craig for including my haiku on fallen leaf this week! It was interesting to have fallen leaf as a theme. Sometimes writing a haiku out of season, relying on memory, can lead to more reflective haiku, at least for me. Direct perception often stymies me. I particularly liked

    a fallen leaf
    from the school notebook
    summer break

    Zdenka Mlinar

    fallen –
    a leaf on the tomb
    of the Unknown Soldier

    Valentina Ranaldi-Adams
    Fairlawn, Ohio, USA

    golden anniversary
    a fallen leaf
    on the tablecloth

    Deborah P Kolodji
    Temple City, CA

    last year’s
    last leaf
    snowbound

    Greer Woodward
    Waimea, Hawaii

  28. Wow, this read like a collection this week. I enjoyed each one. Thank you for including mine.
    .
    moist leaf on the ground
    all the colors
    of decomposition
    .
    Tomislav Sjekloca
    Cetinje, Montenegro
    .
    This reminded me of walking in wet late autumn. Loved “colors of decomposition” read out loud.
    .
    fallen leaf
    the gold rim of cup
    is wiped
    .
    Serhiy Shpychenko
    Kyiv, UA
    .
    I imagined a cherished worn gold leaf trimmed cup, perhaps a tea cup.
    .
    swing set
    calling it flying
    the arc of a maple leaf
    .
    Laurie Greer
    .
    I loved the movement of arc with the swings.
    .
    fallen leaf
    a piece of time
    we’ve forgotten
    .
    C.A. Harper
    .
    This one prompted reflection.
    .
    And I related to Pris Campbell’s ” …piece of autumn…” and Stephen A. Peters’ “…everyone…” nursing home experience.

  29. Thank you for including my haiku. My favourite this week is:
    .
    autumn trail
    a leaf leaps
    into a toad
    .
    Martha Magenta

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