Haiku Windows: office 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 Submit an original unpublished poem (or poems) via our Contact Form by Sunday midnight on the theme of the week, including your name as you would like it to appear, and place of residence.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: tree fort window
Do kids even climb trees anymore? Once upon a time, kids climbed trees for fun – sometimes a structure was constructed up there among the branches and leaves, and sometimes not everyone was allowed in… perhaps now it is all about the virtual tree fort…
I look forward to reading your submissions.
Haiku Windows: office window
This week many poems are longer than usual for some reason… many describe the view, or lament a lack or loss of office window, and there are many cats and birds – here are two poems that struck me:
no windows
in the librarian’s office
paper butterfliesRandy Brooks
office cubicle –
I hang one poster
of a windowValentina Ranaldi-Adams
Fairlawn, Ohio USA
These poems provide all the information a reader requires, and still leave so much room for interpretation. Both utilize a simple concrete image – butterflies, poster – and that image creates a whole world in the imagination… and the poets trust that the reader will complete the poem. The idea of paper butterflies in a library is particularly strong, as is the choice of the word ‘cubicle’ to describe this office scene…
Here are the rest of my selections for this week:
out my office window –
the reflections
of office windowsAmy Losak
NJ
office block
just one window
decked with tinselAndrew Shimield
UK
office window –
the metro rumbles through
the airpodAngelee Deodhar
office window
a voice beckons
to free myselfAngelo Ancheta
first snowflakes –
all the attention of the students
towards the windowAngiola Inglese
office view –
in the pouring rain
a stray catAnna Maria Domburg-Sancristoforo
mango pollen…
a whiff of summer
from my office windowarvinder kaur
Chandigarh, India
office window
my fingerprints on
the day mooncezar ciobika
searching high and low
for the office cat
billowing curtainsChristina Sng
outside the office window
three pigeons waiting
to be fedchristine eales
uk
outside
my office window
a cougarClaire Vogel Camargo
USA
back from leave
I’ve lost
my window deskDavid Jacobs
London, UK
office window
comings and goings
of butterfliesDebbi Antebi
consulting…
the clouds outsideDeborah P Kolodji
Temple City, California
working at home…
mountains upside down
into the lakeElisa Allo
office window
the endless journey
of snowflakesEufemia Griffo
stacks of papers –
for a moment
the snow falls slowerGiovanna Restuccia
Modena, Italy
crisis meeting
– robin
flies inHelen Buckingham
extra work
through the office window
the harvest moonHifsa Ashraf
Pakistan
basement view…
her office window is a
big-screen aquariumJackie Maugh Robinson
Las Vegas, Nevada
a Cooper’s hawk
studies my bird feeder
office windowJoan Prefontaine
boardroom meeting –
the shining face
of the window cleanerJoanne van Helvoort
office window
my reflection
on an outdoor lifeJohn Hawkhead
through the office window –
busy squirrels going
about their businessJudt Shrode
Tacoma USA
grey suits strut
outside my office window
… pigeon promenadeKimberly Esser
Los Angeles, CA
arrival
of the new secretary…
my window blocked by suitsLee Nash
double rainbow –
no more ink
in the printerLeonardo Lazzari
Italy
office window…
among magnolia branches
the new nestsLucia Cardillo
office window –
a pink cyclamen
on the narrow window sillMaria Teresa Sisti
high rise office
a pail and two legs dangle
at my windowMarilyn Appl Walker
through my office window…
watching others
leave on timeMark Gilbert
just retired
looking at the windows
of the officeMarta Chocilowska
frosty meeting –
ice flowers
on the windowMartha Magenta
England, UK
office window
the red sky in puddlesmartin gottlieb cohen
night rain…
in the motel office window
the Laughing BuddhaMatthew Markworth
Mason, OH, USA
office window
across the courtyard our boss
with binocularsMichael Henry Lee
office window –
wondering which side
the fly is onMichael H. Lester
Los Angeles CA USA
retirement…
vista from office window
expandsnancy brady
huron, ohio, usa
end of a hard day’s work
I meet myself
in the windowpaneOlivier Schopfer
Geneva, Switzerland
the blues
melancholic cumulus
through office windowspamela a. babusci
rochester, ny usa
by the office window
my coffee break
with sunsetpat davis
pembroke, nh
office window –
Sydney Harbour sparkles
through the dirtPauline O’Carolan
Sydney, Australia
dreaming
outside the box
office windowPeggy Hale Bilbro
Alabama, USA
office windows
all the lives
we could have ledPeter Jastermsky
airing the office
a draught rearranges
my deskPolona Oblak
Ljubljana, Slovenia
boss in a bad mood
outside the window
gathering cloudsRachel Sutcliffe
office window
my rainbow flag waves
at my sonRoberta Beary
County Mayo, Ireland
sunset rainbows
computers screens glow
in office windowsRon C. Moss
Tasmania, Australia
office window
above the tree line
sparrowhawk’s shadow fallsRon Scully
my reflection
stuck here
office windowRonald K. Craig
Batavia, OH USA
divorce lawyer’s office window –
weeping willows
in the courtyardSari Grandstaff
Saugerties, NY, USA
sunny day
officer’s tie is hanging
on the handle of the windowSerhiy Shpychenko
Kyiv, Ukraine
running backwards
the office clock
in the windowSimon Hanson
from my drawing-board the evening rush of crows
simonj
UK
office window
open just enough
the birdsong comes and goesStephen A. Peters
plans for the future
looking out the office window…
autumn leavesTomislav Maretic
the carnival –
her office window
wide openTsanka Shishkova
office window
a graffiti outside says
chase your dreamsVandana Parashar
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.
This Post Has 36 Comments
Comments are closed.
rich girl’s tree fort
the window
mostly closed
Marilyn,
Please use the Contact Form to submit!
Dear kjmunro,
Greetings. At leisure going through all these contributions through this wonderful window – very nice.
with regards
S.Radhamani
thank you so much!
Im pleased to be included among this group of poets! Thanks so much.
you are so welcome, Peggy – thanks for submitting!
many thx kj for including my haiku! blessings, pamela
you are so welcome, pamela – thanks again for submitting, kj
Thank you for including my verse, Kathy. This is such fun!
agreed! thanks Judt!
Thank you, Kathy
thanks Martha!
For me, Christina Sng’s ‘searching high and low’ had that rare aha moment, that delicious pause between the end of the poem and a deeper understanding – it is like a short story condensed into three lines. Thanks Kathy for including mine also.
thanks for sharing, Mark
Kathy, I was quite surprised that you chose mine to comment upon. Thank-you !!!
you are welcome, Valentina – thanks for submitting
Fabulous diverse views, such a great read from you all.
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That certainly is a chilling verse involving the cat image, Alan.
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office window
across the courtyard our boss
with binoculars
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Michael Henry Lee
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this conjures up some interesting images 🙂
agreed! thanks Carol!
Really liked this from Tsanka Shishkova:
the carnival –
her office window
wide open
Skilfully juxtaposed, the most straightforward of language and the mini ‘shock’ of the last line – much said by being unsaid
Dear David Jacobs, thank you so much!
thanks for sharing, David
Thanks for including one of my Office Window haiku, Kathy. I love reading and re-reading these haiku and congratulations to all. I particularly like Matthew Markworth’s, Amy Losak’s and Leonardo Lazzari’s.
thanks for sharing, Sari!
great selection! alan summers’ comments added a depth to the ‘stray cat’ ku that i had not thought of.
yes – it is wonderful!
Another terrific set!
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I can’t help but see Michael McClintock’s famous cat in the pouring rain, whenever anyone pens a verse about a cat in the pouring rain.
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An office can definitely be a window to scenes we would rather not see, from a dead animal, a mugging victim, drugs being swapped, and worse, an office affair gone really bad, but if you are in an office block that isn’t nowhere a troubled zone, it might just be a soggy cat, fingers crossed.
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office view –
in the pouring rain
a stray cat
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Anna Maria Domburg-Sancristoforo
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Sometimes, if it’s not a tragedy we witness, it must seem a blessing to be in a warm dry office. I’ve inhabited a few offices in my lifetime, only one of them to dealing in death everyday (long story, don’t ask). 🙂
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From Dr Randy Brooks, who touched on the iconic cat haiku, that may be a metaphor even…
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“…I appreciated this haiku by McClintock, which I read in the context of the Vietnam war…”
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dead cat . . .
open-mouthed
to the pouring rain
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Michael McClintock
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Collection: Light Run (Shiloh, 1971)
Anthology: The Haiku Anthology ed. Cor Van den Heuvel (1st Edition, 1974)
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“…this haiku put me on the battle field, with the “pouring rain” being both rain and bullets. The dead “cat” was an American GI lying in the rain, with his mouth open, just as it was when he died crying out in agony. The battle is too hot for the body to be retrieved. Of course this haiku can also be read as being about a literal dead cat in someone’s yard, with its fur matted down in the rain, having died while crying out.”
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“With either reading, it presents a cold, dark, haunting image of death that chills the reader to the bone.”
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Dr Randy Brooks, USA
WRITING HAIKU
Frogpond 34.1 (2011)
Great comment, Alan!
Thank you!
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just retired
looking at the windows
of the office
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Marta Chocilowska
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That must have felt like an awesome feeling. A bit like finally leaving school behind, or leaving the first grotty rented apartment. 🙂 We have not long moved into a little house, so a long goodbye to tight apartments, plenty of windows to look out from, and all our’s. 🙂
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Alan
Yes, you can feel free (on the condition you’re not too young to stop working at all) 🙂
thanks for this too, Marta
Thank you Alan for letting me know this haiku (and book). However my haiku has not such a depth as the one you mention. I looked from my office window on a street with along side a canal. There were fishermen and stray cats waiting for a fish. This particular one waited in vain.
Dear Anna,
How fortunate to have a window on a street that is alongside a canal too! 🙂
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Loved your explanation, and liked this as well, straight from your own words:
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office window
fishermen and stray cats
waiting for fish
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wonderful!
A found haiku.
Love this, Alan!
thanks again Alan!
such insightful comments, leading once again to great discussion!