Haiku Windows: airplane window

Haiku Windows

In the book Haiku: The Art of the Short Poem, editors Yamaguchi and Brooks quote David Lanoue:  “A haiku is a window”…

In the following weeks we will look at (or through?) the many possibilities raised by this thought – and you’re invited to join in the fun! Submit an original unpublished poem (or poems) via our Contact Form by Sunday midnight on the theme of the week, including your name as you would like it to appear, and place of residence. I will select from these for the column, and add commentary.

next week’s theme:  waiting room window

While we wait to see if the groundhog sees its shadow, we will explore the sights and sounds through the waiting room window – whether for an appointment or an interview, in a downtown high-rise office tower or a busy hospital, the principal’s office, a railway station, or a small-town dentist office – we wait…

I look forward to reading your submissions.

Haiku Windows:  airplane window

It is extremely rewarding to me to know that new poems are being written as a result of this project, and many people have also let me know that they are enjoying reading my selections in this column, so thanks to you all for that!
Please try to remember to include your name as you would like it to appear, plus your place of residence, after your poem(s) in the contact form!
This week we have many different takes on ‘clouds’ as well as the fear of flying – but first:

airplane window –
a child asks me
where country borders are

Leonardo Lazzari
Italy

Isn’t it so like a child to ask a simple, straightforward question? Yet, the simple, straightforward answer eludes us, and the complex possibilities resonate…

taking off…
our world
of dollhouses

Olivier Schopfer
Geneva, Switzerland

Here we find a link to last week’s theme – well done! This may not be possible every week, but it certainly works here…

a child’s fingers
walk the sunrise
airplane window

Sandi Pray

A description of another child, again behaving in a way that is both believable and poignant. I particularly like the poetic phrase ‘walk the sunrise’, which is perhaps what each of us does every day…

cruising height
Carina in a dark sky
out to starboard wing

Simon Hanson
Queensland, Australia

The poet includes a specific reference here that I chose to look up. I had inferred that this is a constellation, and I learned that it is related to the myth of Jason and the Argonauts who searched for the Golden Fleece, and it is seen in the southern hemisphere. The more information the reader can bring to a reading of any poem, the better – now, for me, the flight in this poem is a quest of some kind…

Here are the rest of my selections for this week:

airplane window
the clouds in my eyes
streaked with tears

Amy Losak
NJ, USA

 

half asleep
the wing tip in and out
of cloud

andrew shimield

 

up there
looking down
keeps me grounded

Ardelle Hollis Ray
Las Vegas NV (USA)

 

long flight
chapter by chapter
I read the clouds

Barbara Kaufmann

 

yellow stubble quivers
on the field – pilot announces
departure

Craig Kittner
Wilmington, NC

 

behind the plane window
my hometown shrinks
into nothing

Debbi Antebi

 

window seat…
river snakes
and lion lakes

Deborah P Kolodji
Temple City, CA

 

aviophobia
in the tiny window
a tiny hole

Eva Limbach

 

airplane window
on the other side of clouds
my fear

Giovanna Restuccia

 

glints of sunrise
on airplane window
homecoming

Hifsa Ashraf
Pakistan

 

counting sheepbacks –
now fast asleep against
the airplane window

Joanne van Helvoort
The Nederlands

 

window seat –
searching the ocean for clues
to my new country

Judt Shrode
Tacoma WA, USA

 

outside my window
blades spinning faster
up, up, and… away

katherine stella
river falls Wisconsin, u.s.a.

 

red-eye flight
everyone closes
their shutters

Lee Nash

 

blurred window
farewell tears
cloud my eyes

Madhuri Pillai

 

air sickness –
the clouds inside and out
of the window

Margherita Petriccione

 

airplane window –
finally I put my worries
into perspective

Maria Laura Valente

 

airplane window –
my son’s eyes
so far away

Maria Teresa Sisti

 

airplane window
my toddler blows a kiss
to grandma

Marilyn Appl Walker

 

airplane window
I knit
in sunset hues

Marilyn Ashbaugh
Michigan, usa

 

window seat
my selfie photobombed
by the setting sun

Marion Clarke

 

plane descent
church bells can be seen
swinging

Marta Chocilowska

 

she ignores the glare
from the airplane window…
breastfeeding

Michael H. Lester

 

airplane window
stitched together
the farms of my hometown

Nicole Tilde
Shady Dale, Ga.

 

cloudy airplane window
he will never leave
his wife

pamela a. babusci

 

our first flight
I give my child
the window seat

Pat Davis
Pembroke, NH  USA

 

airplane window
his face filling
with clouds

Peter Jastermsky

 

night flight
moonlight draws the contours
of the Gulf of Trieste

Polona Oblak
Ljubljana, Slovenia

 

plane window
the fields we once
played chase in

Rachel Sutcliffe

 

a horizon of clouds
beyond the airplane wing
after the funeral

Randy Brooks

 

sky dive –
the pilot’s window
w
a
v
e

Roberta Beary
County Mayo, Ireland

 

soldiers stare out
as their plane nears the gate
family reunions

Robin Smith
Wilmington, DE

 

flying over Capri
I think I see
two lovers kissing

Rosa Maria Di Salvatore

 

airplane window
the glass on the folding table
is filled with light

Serhiy Shpychenko
Kyiv, Ukraine

 

33,000 feet
clouds and rivers
flowing to the sea

Sheila Sondik

 

first flight…
our son with his nose
to the window

Susan Constable

 

above the clouds
my reflection
on the wings

Tia Haynes
Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, USA

 

dream vacation –
in the window seat
a sleeping spouse

Valentina Ranaldi-Adams
USA

 

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 recently co-edited an anthology of crime-themed haiku called Body of Evidence: a collection of killer ’ku.