HAIKU DIALOGUE – willow & intro to Poet’s Choice

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1. rowing home
   last ray of rainbow
   by the willow

   Guliz Mutlu

   this is a highly visual moment i can truly relate to….i like the way Guliz, uses the repeat “r’s” and “w’s”…and the feeling of calm relief…returning home…….with a gift of the last ray of rainbow,
   i can feel the navigation of the boat as it rounds the bend of the massive tree.

2. Thank you for including my haiku this week Kathy. I look forward each week to reading everyone’s haiku and comments. And I echo what others have said as I greatly appreciate all Alan’s insights as well. And it is great to see participation from around the globe. For me, that really adds to this feature.

   1. Beautiful haiku!
      .
      .
      my dreams reflected
      through the weeping willow bars
      of my cell
      .
      Sari Grandstaff
      Saugerties, NY
      .
      .
      It’s very sad, so I hope it’s not autobiographical. Love “the weeping willow bars
      of my cell” which is terrific!

3. Kathy, thank you so much for the great past few weeks. Proud to be included in this series among these amazing people. A lot of wonderful poems week after week. Big thanks also to Alan Summers for sharing his insight and knowledge. This is beautiful.

   Best to all,

   Tomislav

   1. Thank you!
      .
      .
      weeping willow tree
      touches its reflection
      in the lake
      .
      Tomislav Maretić
      .
      .
      Yes, the tree is truly iconic, and where does the tree start and end when it comes to its reflection I wonder. 🙂

4. Thank you Kathy for this series and for including my haiku.
   It is always a pleasure to see how many different variations can be created on one prompt.
   I enjoyed reading all of the haiku this week and especially liked Anitha Varma’s
   placid pond
   a temple bell
   through the twilight

   I like how this haiku reaches beyond the image using the sound of the temple bell…and yet perfectly conveys the essence of the image at the same time. A very rich and resonant haiku.

   I would like to also add my own note of appreciation to all the other comments of appreciation for Alan Summers.
   Alan ..I greatly look forward to reading each and every one of your comments in this blog as they are so full of insight and wisdom. Your generous and thought provoking commentary have enriched my understanding of the haiku and inspired me to continue participating in this blog.
   I found your comments the other week about writing haiku for images and how we can choose to venture beyond the frame of the image in our focus to be both very perceptive and helpful. Thank you for your kind words for my haiku on the ink image that I wrote for a young man I know irecovering n rehab.
   All your comments on my haiku have made me smile.
   My deep gratitude to you.
   susan

   1. Dear Susan,
      .
      That’s incredibly kind of you to say so, thank you! 🙂
      .
      .

      summer serenade
      under the weeping willow
      I chant your name
      .
      Susan Rogers
      Los Angeles, CA USA
      .
      .
      Wonderful “s” sounds and image and sound of being under a willow tree, and chanting a lover’s name, perhaps as Khalil Gibran would do, or Kabir.

5. A wonderful selection Kathy, thank you for including mine too.

6. Beautiful pictures, lovely poetry!

   Thanks, kj! Good job, All!

7. A short but productive series. Thanks, Kathy. Looking forward to the new series, and “brevity” this week. I personally hope Alan Summers participates! His comments are a workshop in their own right.

   1. thanks, John – & yes, we all owe Alan so much for his generous sharing of his time & knowledge…

      1. Thank you Kathy. 🙂

   2. Thanks John! 🙂
      .
      .
      this river still youthful
      visiting
      my father’s ashes
      .
      John S Green
      Atlanta, Georgia
      .
      .
      I’d like to say again what a glorious opening line which works so beautifully with the last line, and the middle becomes so powerful.
      .
      .
      Yes, I submitted something for today, it was a fascinating challenge, and I cannot wait to see what everyone has achieved. 🙂

8. This is a lovely image that has inspired so many wonderful poems. These are my favorites:

   water’s edge
   a tree holds on
   to its shadow
   .
   Adjei Agyei-Baah
   Ghana/New Zealand
   .
   Adjei has captured all the mystery of the shadows and the doubling of the reflections all in a few simple words. Well done!
   .
   .
   summer willow
   the delicate shading
   of a memory
   .
   Anna Maria Domburg-Sancristoforo
   .
   I love the delicacy of this poem. Something seems to linger just out of sight, maybe only seen as a reflection.
   .
   .
   leaning in
   we almost touch
   the distance between us
   .
   Janice Munro
   Canada
   .
   What an evocative reading of the image! Janice has humanized the willow and its never quite reached reflection. Does this make it a senryu? It is lovely, no matter what it is called.
   .
   Congrats to all poets and thank you Kathy for your beautiful prompts.

   1. Thank you for your kind reflections, Peggy. Though I found my inspiration on seeing the willow branches close to the water but not quite touching it, my words are fuelled by experiences of longing, intimacy and disconnection. I think my poem may be considered a senryu. I call it a ‘feeling-ku’. I don’t know if this is right, but it’s my impression that for this blog space haiku is a broad umbrella term for a wide range of haiku and senryu styles.

9. Thanks for choosing mine Kathy. I’ve really enjoyed these photo prompts, both responding to them and reading everyone else’s responses.

10. Thanks Kathy for including my haiku in this collection on Willow. I am equally awed by other works. I attempted two photo prompts in July and it was great working on them.

    Many thanks.

11. Dear Marta,
    Delighted to go through your haiku. In my comments
    it should read thus ….

    “otters” still ringing in my ears.

    silent oars
    slipping into the river
    otters

    Martha Magenta

12. Dear kathy Munro,

    Greetings. Thanking you for featuring mine. Always delighted to be in this blog ,educating us so much. Willow – how much of meaning it gives for us to go through.

    This week, my favorite among so many follows thus: ” otters still ringing.

    silent oars
    slipping into the river
    otters

    Martha Magenta

13. it has been a privilege to read your poems once again, & I am pleased to see senses other than sight explored here – sound & touch, for example – influenced by the earlier feature ‘A Sense of Place’, I hope… hair, reflections, green & blue, dreams, secrets & memories, weeping & murmuring… thanks to you all, kj

    1. Yes a very wide variety this week – thanks KJ.

    2. Thank you Kathy, It has been most enjoyable reading the variations to your prompts. I look forward to the next time. Thank you for including mine.
       Rob

    3. Thank you, Kathy, for including my poem. Best wishes!
       Marta

    4. The “Sense of Place” series was an amazing learning opportunity! Thank you! (Perhaps you will repeat it at some point?)

    5. The work and love you put into the themes and selections so appreciated kj! Very incoraging to many and we learn so much. Yes the Sence of place is an enduring influence and it comes to my mid often asking beyond seeing. What sid I hear. What was the taste the fragrance…it makes us realize our expansive experience. Your recent photos…nameless and suggestive brought a memory of a particilar named place, thank you to Alan for noticing! Memoriescflooded in from my childhood family picnics at wolfe’s pond patk… i think your present idea of the qualities also will leave a lasting imprint! It already has, tight from the start, in my mind. I love the example of Scott Mason.

       1. thank you Kath Abela!
          Poet’s Choice – this latest feature with the qualities & examples is Craig Kittner’s – he is back as editor for the month of August – happy writing!

       2. Thanks Kath Abela!
          .
          Yes, Scott Mason’s haiku was such a hard act to follow I had to go my own way. 🙂

14. Thank you Kathy Munro. Delighted to be here again.

15. Of all of these wonderful and diverse haiku one that immediately caught my attention was Olivier
    Schopfer’s –

    summer picnic
    the bottles we put
    in the river to cool

    A simple yet vivid image. (Maybe because it brings back many memories.)

    1. Thank you very much, Margaret. So glad my poem speaks to you!

16. by the green river
    where once the willow wept…
    another Starbucks

    Mark Meyer

    How we make too light of decimation of acres of forest throughout the world…this poem struck me as a sign of our times.

    Thank you Kathy for including my poem, and for these wonderful photo prompts encouraging so many intriguing angles and points of view.

17. I had a hard time with this one for whatever reason. I tried Alan’s 5th quarter technique which is a great technique, but couldn’t think of anything. So eventually, I just had to stop revising and set it free. Looks like it found a home! Thanks for including mine! Always impressed with what everyone comes up with! Looking forward to the next prompts…

    1. Well done Rich! 🙂
       .
       .
       You managed to ‘reach outside’ of the photo to “find the photo”!
       .
       .
       weeping willow
       i step from the shade
       of my father
       .
       Rich Schilling
       Webster Groves, MO
       .
       .
       One way is to directly name the image, and find a phrase, which you did, and it covers what many sons have to do, for good or even for bad reasons.

18. .
    .

     
    dogs on the run
    the pixels in the bark
    of each one
    .
    Alan Summers
    Monkton Park, Chippenham, England
     .
    .

    Some trees have leaves that look like pixels to me, or light shining off like green and gold smalti.
    .
    The photograph looked eerily so similar to one I’d taken from home, it was if Kathy was on the same path along a river leading to a meadow just behind my house!
    .
    I often meet dogs and we nod, and sometimes they just bark as they are happy as the walk offers as much to them, as it does to me and other humans.
    .
    Then I recalled cartoon dog woofs, and as I zoomed further into the photograph so the pixels grew, and I imagined the pixels of both the photo and of past and present dogs woofing it up in their barks.
    .
    Of course bark is a pun on tree bark too, so I could resist adding that layer of wordplay too!
    .
    .

    immersing remains –
    one by one the raindrops
    from the willow
    .
    arvinder kaur
    Chandigarh, India
    .
    .
    The opening line is full of consonances merging and separating from each other and feels like a sound poem in its own right!
    .
    A lovely middle line, and we are offered the context by mentioning the willow, but the haiku is far more than just about a type of tree.
    .
    It’s an unusual phrase but the opening line echoes through each line, and outside those lines.
    .
    .
    .
    swimming in reflections yearbook
    .
    C.R. Harper
    .
    .
    So many interpretations and angles from just those few words, and it feels haunting, poignant, and reflective.
    .
    .

    blue pool
    a weeping willow
    touches the sky
    .
    carol jones
    Wales
    .
    .
    In Dorset, England, there is a Blue Pool which is a flooded, disused clay pit where Purbeck ball clay was once extracted. The title ‘blue’ arose because there are minute particles of clay in colloidal suspension within the water.
    .
    But as the author is from Wales U.K. it might be more likely to be Blue Pool Bay, which is a small cove near the village of Llangennith in Gower, Wales. The cove is bordered by cliffs, and is accessible via a clifftop path and a steep, unstable path down to the beach. The beach is covered fully at high tide and takes its name from a large, natural rockpool.
    .
    It’s one of Gower’s most beautiful yet dangerous spots!
    .
    There is also this meaning taken from ‘blue pool’
    “Bluepooling refers to the action of producing a result, whatever the cost. Derived from the concept of getting a pool blue, whatever it takes. Chlorine and blue dye could have the same result, a blue pool.”
    .
    The haiku takes on a whole new life if we add aspects of location, and perfection manmade and nature-created.
    .
    .

    leaning in
    we almost touch
    the distance between us
    .
    Janice Munro
    Canada
    .
    .
    This feels like a mix of yearning, and also of science fiction. It’s a wonderful haiku full of layers, every time I read it, I feel a mix of elation and loss, and other emotions.
    .
    .

    this river still youthful
    visiting
    my father’s ashes
    .
    John S Green
    Atlanta, Georgia
    .
    .
    Achingly beautiful and poignant.
    .
    .

    wolfe’s pond park
    reflected trees are full
    of birds and fish
    .
    Kath Abela Wilson
    Pasadena, CA
    .
    .
    I like the location being added, and an image of birds and fish in the trees. It’s something many of us have seen and perhaps forgotten in visits, and also dreams, which are their own kind of visits.
    .
    .

     
    secret garden
    under the canopy
    quiet whispers
    .
    Margaret Walker
    .
    .
    Ah, as if passing by, and mostly seeing a canopy of canvas or leaves or both, and hearing only softly spoken conspiracies, gossip, or lovers that are both young and old simultaneously.
     .
    .
    willow
    her hair reflected
    in the glass
    .
    Mark Gilbert
    UK
    .
    .
    I automatically think of a fairytale, and a glass coffin surrounded by high bramble and paranormal thorns. And one of those emergency glass hammers
    .
    .
     
    summertime
    on her light-green hair
    new highlights
    .
    Marta Chocilowska
    Warsaw, Poland
    .
    .
    The Girl with Green Hair, first published in The Airgonaut in April 2017 by New Zealand writer Sandra Arnold, and of course old hair dye for blonde hair often turned green! But this poem quite naturally celebrates green hair, and why not! 🙂
    .
    .

    the quiet
    of the truce –
    still waters…
    .
    Natalia Kuznetsova
    .
    .
    The key word for me is ‘truce’ and ‘quiet’ whether a family or a war truce, we are manipulated constantly into being a divisive species whether religious, race, politics, or anything else that can be created to divide us. A very powerful haiku.
    .
    .

     
    deep willows
    however ancient i
    leave
    .
    Neelam Dadhwal
    Chandigarh, India
    .
    .
    A wonderful opening line made even more powerful by the two line phrase using enjambment outside the norm of line breaks in haiku.
    .
    It’s a very powerful haiku!
    .
    .
     
     
    summer picnic
    the bottles we put
    in the river to cool
    .
    Olivier Schopfer
    Geneva, Switzerland
    .
    .
    A simple yet powerfully potent use of ‘reminiscence’ when we just keep things to a minimum and yet have maximum enjoyment! Wonderful haiku!
    .
    .

    the summertime warp and weft of the creel
    .
    simonj
    UK
    .
    .
    My brain made me think it must be ‘creek’ which would have been excellent, but the word is:
    .
    creel
    noun
    noun: creel; plural noun: creels
    1. 
a large wicker basket for holding fish.
    an angler’s fishing basket.

    2. 
a rack holding bobbins or spools when spinning.
    .
    .
    There’s much here to discover with this haiku. Enjoy! 🙂
    .
    .

    1. Thank you, Alan. So glad you liked my haiku!

       1. Of course! 🙂
          .
          .
          summer picnic
          the bottles we put
          in the river to cool
          .
          Olivier Schopfer
          Geneva, Switzerland
          .
          .
          Those last two lines feel simple but are gorgeous in that simplicity! 🙂

    2. Many thanks, Kathy for placing my verse in such a wonderful line up again this week.
       Looking forward to the next challenge.
       I haven’t read the entire post as yet, but I most certainly will. So much to learn.
       .
       Hi Alan
       That is a mind expanding explanation of my verse, and a very interesting read, one of which I’m going to explore.
       I don’t live a million miles from the Gower.
       When I wrote this I was thinking of how people are moved or could be by another’s sadness. With the endless corrosion of our environment due to climatic change and development of the environment due to the ever expanding need for affordable homes and motorways because of human reproduction, I felt the sky had a deep sympathy with life on earth, and the pool was a part of the sky itself.
       Thank you Alan, your comment is appreciated.

       1. Thanks Carol! 🙂
          .
          I find looking outside of the box, but still maintaining its structure, when I make a comment, really gives us a chance to see what we didn’t know as authors we offer to the close reader.
          .
          .
          blue pool
          a weeping willow
          touches the sky
          .
          carol jones
          Wales
          .
          .
          And yes, pools can appear when all they are doing is reflecting the sky. And when the sky is broken, that will sadly be reflected.
          .
          It’s frightening that we actually only have 18 months to change things, or it’s pretty much an automatic slide down away from the bountiful planet we ruined.

    3. Alan –

       Thank you for commenting on my haiku! There were so many options for this photo that it was hard to decide on a “subject” – yet I thought it seemed like a spot in which two people (perhaps on the unseen bank) could hide from the outside world.
       Or perhaps simply the “whisper” of the leaves and the murmur of the quiet water in this lovely “secret” spot.
       As I read your comments about the various pieces I am always amazed in what you “read” in each one.

       1. Hi Margaret! 🙂
          .
          .
          secret garden
          under the canopy
          quiet whispers
          .
          Margaret Walker
          .
          .
          I like all sorts of haiku, and I do like ones that I can weave my own story around, and have fun anticipating what the author might have meant to convey. The great thing about most haiku (poets) is that it doesn’t or shouldn’t matter if we get a different ‘take’ than the author. 🙂
          .
          The prompt was hard because the willow, particularly the weeping willow is such an iconic image in various types of art, so we needed to push aside the branches and take a deep breath. 🙂
          .
          Actually geese do this very thing, and often use weeping willows for their young. We read out a haiku about this at the Slimbridge Wetlands Trust which went down well! 🙂
          .
          Yes, most things whisper, and we often fail to listen, hence we don’t even have ten years to balance the planet.

    4. Thank you very much, Alan for your nice comment!
       Best wishes,
       Marta

       1. Hi Marta! 🙂
          .
          You do know the old meaning of “nice” was wanton, do you? 😉
          .
          There was nothing wanton about my comments! Did you ever see The Boy with Green Hair, that was an interesting movie. I’d forgotten it was Hollywood, as it came across as kinda British. Great film!
          .
          .

          summertime
          on her light-green hair
          new highlights
          .
          Marta Chocilowska
          Warsaw, Poland
          .
          .
          Many thanks for the anthology again! 🙂
          .
          That was a bit of a rush in that tunnel, and I never caught up with the ginko party, they just vanished, and I ended up a crime scene instead.
          .
          If you are ever in Blighty, while it still exists, I’d love you to sign the book, especially for our Call of the Page library which will be officially opened later this year. 🙂

          1. A crime scene, Alan?!
             Now you can often meet people with different hair colors – green, pink, blue, purple or red. I didn’t see the movie nor I knew the meaning of nice = wanton.
             I’am very glad you liked the anthology and thank you for the invitation to Blighty . When you will visit Warsaw, we must necessarily see each other. Heartfelt hugs for you and kisses for Karen 🙂
             Marta

             1. Yes, there was a horrific crime committed in the early hours of that day.
                .
                The movie is beautiful, worth checking out, here it is:
                .
                THE BOY WITH GREEN HAIR
                https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ixtLMJH5hWo
                .
                .
                Would be great to go to Warsaw, on my bucket list! 🙂
                .
                If you turn up at London for any kind of poetry event, we are 90 minutes away from Paddington Train Station! 🙂

    5. Hi Alan,
       Creel was the seed word, from which the whole haiku flowed. Another link between the willow and the river, and a very sensual object.
       simonj

       1. Hi Simon,
          .
          Yes, great word, feels very sound-resonant even without knowing its meaning. Makes me think of that kid in the reeds who got involved with Pyramids.
          .
          .
          the summertime warp and weft of the creel
          .
          simonj
          UK
          .
          .

    6. Thanks Alan for your comment. The mood of the poem is somber because of my recent loss.

       1. Dear Arvinder,
          .
          I am sorry for your loss, and I hope writing helps you through your grief.
          .
          .
          immersing remains –
          one by one the raindrops
          from the willow
          .
          arvinder kaur
          Chandigarh, India
          .
          .
          It’s a fascinating haiku as I can read the opening line in so many ways. Thank you.

          1. Thanks for sharing my grief Alan ! touched , best regards, arvinder

             1. Be gentle with yourself and any second free from grief is not a bad thing.
                .
                deepest regards,
                Alan

    7. Thanks san Alan Summers for reviewing and appreciating my haiku. This inspires me a lot as I have always admired your work and insight.

       1. Thank you Neelam, that is very kind! 🙂
          .
          It’s rare that I get feedback on my own haiku, so your words are deeply appreciated.
          .
          .
          deep willows
          however ancient i
          leave
          .
          Neelam Dadhwal
          Chandigarh, India
          .
          .
          This really is a haunting poem, and it’s wonderful to push the haiku box a little, and so successfully.

    8. Thank you, Alan for your comment. How close to the water the willow branches grow without actually touching it…longing was another word I considered but somewhat reluctantly saved for another time. Your science fiction suggestion adds an enticing dimension…making me think of our dreams of escape to lives beyond our planet that may or may not become a reality.
       .
       The notion of pixels in the leaf canopy and in bark works well for me. Reading ‘bark’ my mind easily slips sideways into ‘park’ ( a slip possibly hinted at in your location which I enjoy very much…there are so many possible locations each of us could go by).

       1. Hi Janice! 🙂
          .
          .
          leaning in
          we almost touch
          the distance between us
          .
          Janice Munro
          Canada
          .
          .
          Glad you enjoyed my multiple bark in the park haiku too! 🙂

          1. Hi Alan:
             Another click for me with your last remark. Now I fully hear and see clouds of bark pixels… such gaiety and varied pitches. It’s an amazing scene of sound and light.
             🙂

             1. Thanks Janice! 🙂
                .
                It’s always interesting to zoom into Kathy’s photos, just like last week. There’s always something to notice, and thankfully I segued into the dogs! 🙂

          2. Well worth repeating:

             dogs on the run
             the pixels in the bark
             of each one
             .
             Alan Summers
             Monkton Park, Chippenham, England

             Cheers!
             Janice

             1. Thanks! 🙂
                .
                There is a joyousness about dogs, sometimes something we fellow animals and co-species forget, with that fresh naivety. 🙂

19. Thank you , Kate Munroe 🙂

20. Thank you dear Kathy for including my work in this wonderful selection

21. From weeping willows, to willow seats to willow caning bottoms, there are so many reflections on this photo prompt. (Not to mention all the reflections noticed by many poets.) This may be the most varied set of haiku yet. So much to consider especially as next week’s challenge is brevity.
    *
    Thanks Kathy for choosing mine and more importantly, overseeing this weekly process these past weeks. Thank you Laurie for seeing some nugget in mine (as I did in your tranquil porch scene sitting on a willow seat).
    *
    To all the poets, reading through and contemplating your haiku every week has only helped my writing. Although I may not comment on too many, you give me food for thought…thanks. Keep them coming. ~nan

    1. Thank you kindly, Laurie Greer, for your mention of my haiku.
       mirror reflection
       the stranger
       in the store window
       Claire Vogel Camargo
       .
       There are so many to appreciate. Such as yours in which I can imagine myself sitting on the porch:
       .
       screened porch
       breathing in the view
       from my willow seat
       .
       Laurie Greer
       Washington DC
       .
       Thank you kj Munro so much for including my haiku. Love your prompts! And the haiku written in response. Echoing Nancy Brady’s words. To all the poet participants, I greatly enjoy and am touched by what you write, and hope to become better at responding to you. I am still reading and taking in your lovely words and images.
       .
       MUCH APPRECIATION to THF, Haiku Dialogue, kj Munro, Craig, and all who ‘prompt’ us! MANY THANKS also to Alan Summers who provides such wonderful feedback on so many haiku, and for his time!
       .
       Claire Vogel Camargo

       1. Thank you! 🙂

22. There was almost too much to do with this photo!
    These jumped out at me for their beautiful simplicity (mostly). I love the clarity of vision, sound, image, emotion these reach. Plus other details too numerous to mention:

    *
    water’s edge
    a tree holds on
    to its shadow

    Adjei Agyei-Baah
    Ghana/New Zealand
    *

    summer baby let your hair down

    Adrian Bouter

    *
    weeping willow
    murmuring to herself
    by the pond

    Agus Maulana Sunjaya
    Tangerang, Indonesia

    *
    swimming in reflections yearbook

    C.R. Harper

    *
    mirror reflection
    the stranger
    in the store window

    Claire Vogel Camargo

    *
    summer breeze
    the lazy rustle
    of my petticoat

    Joanne van Helvoort
    *
    Willow –
    the river
    gets bigger

    Maria Teresa Piras
    *
    willow fronds
    she weeps
    in silence

    Nancy Brady
    Huron, Ohio

    *
    the quiet
    of the truce –
    still waters…

    Natalia Kuznetsova

    *
    drought
    tears of the willow
    fall between the cracks

    nancy liddle
    broken hill, Oz

    *
    new swing
    оn the old willow
    love

    Pere Risteski

    *
    weeping willow
    i step from the shade
    of my father

    Rich Schilling
    Webster Groves, MO

    *
    the summertime warp and weft of the creel

    simonj
    UK

    *
    old age
    the pond gathers life
    in its depths

    Steve Tabb
    San Miguel de Allende, Mexico

    *

    *
    silent oars
    slipping into the river
    otters

    Martha Magenta

    *
    gentle fingers
    on my forehead…
    mother’s dream

    SD Desai

    *
    two herons
    take flight from the tree…
    catkins in the air

    Taofeek Ayeyemi (Aswagaawy)
    Port Harcourt, Nigeria

    *
    These also bring a lot of surprises–we never know where a reflection will lead.
    Thanks for all the wonderful work, everyone! And kj for the photo and inspiration.

    1. Glad to know you find beauty in my verse. Thank you.

    2. Thank you for enjoying mine!

    3. Laurie, Thank you.

23. I am glad that my ku found a place amongst all of you… 😊

    Thank you, Kathy.

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