Haiku Windows: spaceship 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 Submit an original unpublished poem (or poems) via our Contact Form by Sunday midnight on the theme of the week, including your name as you would like it to appear, and place of residence.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: window-shop
It doesn’t cost anything to look – so go ahead – look through those shop windows, and write without actually spending any money…
I look forward to reading your submissions.
Haiku Windows: spaceship window
The response to ‘Haiku Windows’ has been phenomenal, and for that I am grateful. I have a handful of windows left up my sleeve, and then, starting in July, this column will take off in a new direction… it is my hope that the many faithful readers and writers will join me for the ride… in the meantime, here is some otherworldly poetry:
spaceship window I dream in blue and green
Angelee Deodhar
This brief one-line poem sums up so much of what we know, feel and imagine about the world of space travel, from actual news footage, to movies, to our own imaginations… once again, so much is said and so much is left unsaid…
spaceship window
I wipe my space glasses
with my space tieGarry Eaton
Many submissions this week appeal through humour – and sometimes it takes some thought to figure out why something is funny… in this case, the described behaviour in an imaginary scenario is normalized – presumably, humans are humans wherever they go…
space station meeting room
the window washer
floats byTerri French
A previous theme reappears – notice how many details are left to our imagination in this poem, and yet how complete the picture is that we as readers create for it…
Here are the rest of my selections for this week:
string theory
through spaceship window
I see their songsAkua LEZLI Hope
bulletproof glass
every astronaut tested
for their caliberAlan Summers
England
everywhere
nowhere
spaceship windowAmy Losak
starship window
my reflection
unchangedAnn K. Schwader
Westminster, CO USA
interstellar flight
someone knocks
on the windowArdelle Hollis Ray
Las Vegas, NV
cardboard spaceship –
making fish lips at my son
through the windowChad Lee Robinson
just remember
it’s all a simulation
spaceship windowCharles Harmon
Los Angeles, California, USA
wish upon a star in
one quick breath
spaceship windowChristina Chin
Kuching, Sarawak
deep space
nothing to see
but darknessChristina Sng
spaceship window
a floating man
looking back at meChristine Eales
UK
reaching to touch
the star I wish upon
spaceship windowClaire Vogel Camargo
spaceship window –
all these years spent
in isolationClaudia Messelodi
Italy
spaceship window…
the Milkyway
embraces meruimteschip raam –
de Melkweg
omarmt mij(Dutch translation)
Corine Timmer
spaceship window –
his vacuous look
when we argueD.A. Xiaolin Spires
Hawai’i
spaceship window
balancing the earth
on my pinkieDebbi Antebi
London, UK
spaceship window
the void between your world
and mineDeborah P Kolodji
Temple City, California
spaceship window
a tiny star crosses
Saturn’s ringsEufemia Griffo
floating
at the spaceship window
the dark side of moonGiovanna Restuccia
Italy
space shuttle window
volcanic plumes
from my home stateGreer Woodward
Kamuela, HI
spaceship window
one galaxy
to anotherGuliz Mutlu
sun glints
on the spaceship window
summer solsticeHifsa Ashraf
Pakistan
fragile marble –
our Earthly paradise
from my spaceship windowIngrid Baluchi
Uganda
new arrival
welcoming waves from the
space station windowKaren Conrads Wibell
this path of stars
my universe was once
a lawn of daisiesKaren Hoy
Wales/England
planet earth
through a spaceship window
déjà vuKath Abela Wilson
Pasadena California
capsule window
a forefinger & thumb
around the earthKen Olson
Yakima WA US
is that a blue world
floating in the depths of space
or a dream of home?Laurence Raphael Brothers
Waltham, Massachusetts USA
space mission
i wave goodbye
to myselfLPConvey
Brisbane Australia
lost in the universe
the Milky Way leads me
homeLucia Fontana
Milan, Italy
a handprint
on the other side of the glass
spaceship windowLucy Whitehead
Essex, UK
floating past
in his tin can…
Major TomMadhuri Pillai
our blue marble
hanging there…
spaceship windowMarilyn Appl Walker
starship window –
looks like Orion
has put on some weightMark Gilbert
UK
warp speed…
not one bug
on the windshieldMary Hanrahan
solar eclipse
a brief aside through
the space station windowMichael Henry Lee
Martian
spaceship windows…
for sale by ownerMichael H. Lester
Los Angeles CA USA
a neighborly wave
to a passing star
space ship windowMichael Stinson
space orbiter –
earth rise in the window
between the starsMichele L. Harvey
spaceship window
a tapestry of
starsMohammad Azim Khan
space window
he sees the earth
risingNancy Brady
spaceship portholes –
whatever way you look
infinityNatalia Kuznetsova
Russia
in the museum
spaceship windows
surprisingly smallN.E. Taylor
Los Angeles, CA
the stars’
variations in brightness
zero gravityOlivier Schopfer
Geneva, Switzerland
by the spaceship window
I cup my hands
around EarthPat Davis
blank
spaceship window
at warp speedPaul Geiger
spaceship window
staring into
my insignificancePeter Jastermsky
reruns…
a view into other worlds
through captain kirkPris Campbell
long haul flight
counting stars
through the spaceship windowRachel Sutcliffe
open skylight
the whole sky
homeRadostina Dragostinova
earth rise
over the moon’s horizon
an astronaut tries a rhymeRandy Brooks
beyond the stars
infinity
through spaceship windowRehn Kovacic
spaceship window –
behind the clouds
a winged horseRéka Nyitrai
starship window
a red-haired teacher
cradles the moon(In Memory Christa McAuliffe)
Roberta Beary
County Mayo, Ireland
mission to mars
our tiny planet glows
in the spaceship windowRon C. Moss
Tasmania, Australia
spaceship window –
an endless trail
of bright starsRosa Maria Di Salvatore
satellite window
looking down at the earth
in aweSari Grandstaff
Saugerties, NY, USA
view from the spaceship
the moon lights
the dew on the fieldsSerhiy Shpychenko
Kyiv, Ukraine
window view
megaparsecs
dusted with starsSimon Hanson
full moon
with American flag
on the left cheekSlobodan Pupovac
Zagreb, Croatia
no turning back
now
spaceship windowSusan Rogers
Los Angeles, CA, USA
roles reversed –
the Earth our moon
outside my spaceship windowTammie Baluch
Uganda
spaceship window…
look at the worried face of
my guardian angelTomislav Maretic
in spaceship window
light signs from Japan –
obon holidaysTsanka Shishkova
TARDIS window…
the ever-changing face
of Doctor WhoValentina Ranaldi-Adams
Fairlawn, Ohio USA
NASA trip
he asks if he can see the star
his mom becameVandana Parashar
spaceship window
yearning for a home
I never knewYvette Nicole Kolodji
Encino, CA
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 45 Comments
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when our fantasies take shape within single a bubble of imagination, surprisingly everyone sees the same thing out there, human minds seem firmly bonded with each other even in their dreams!
spaceship window
balancing the earth
on my pinkie
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Debbi Antebi
London, UK
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I’m also thinking of the pinkie swear, and two little girls making a promise to go out in space, and at least one of them did.
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Or even these two boys:
https://www.space.com/11175-nasa-identical-twin-astronauts-reunited.html
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pinkie swear: https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=pinkie%20swear
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A very reflective one, pun part intended:
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space mission
i wave goodbye
to myself
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LPConvey
Brisbane Australia
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Poignant, as well as wry.
I love the spookiness of this one:
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a handprint
on the other side of the glass
spaceship window
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Lucy Whitehead
Essex, UK
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I can imagine it both as a science fiction angle, but also by accident or prank, someone pre-launch managing to leave one, and surviving Earth exit. 🙂
thanks again, Alan – your comments add so much to this column!
Thank Alan. I was definitely imagining it as a spooky sci fi scenario, but it also works as an accident or prank. Also the handprint was not necessarily human….
Oh, yes, not everything is human. 😉
A fun nod perhaps to Hemingway’s appropriation of a small ad made into a six word story:
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Martian
spaceship windows…
for sale by owner
Michael H. Lester
Los Angeles CA USA
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Great start to a novel too!!! 🙂
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Ernest Hemingway’s use of the small ads culture:
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For sale, Baby shoes, Never worn.
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And my attempt:
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For sale: space boots, still worn.
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Alan Summers
Understated but quietly very powerful:
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open skylight
the whole sky
home
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Radostina Dragostinova
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Two wonderful tributes:
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starship window
a red-haired teacher
cradles the moon
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(In Memory Christa McAuliffe)
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Roberta Beary
County Mayo, Ireland
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NASA, Challenger Center Collaborate to Perform Christa McAuliffe’s Legacy Experiments:
https://www.nasa.gov/feature/nasa-challenger-center-collaborate-to-perform-christa-mcauliffe-s-legacy-experiments
thanks for this link, Alan!
Thanks, Kathy. I love the weekly format of your “windows”. Lots of new poems to enjoy and always a fresh challenge.
thanks for this Ken!
in the silence
across the universe
the light of souls
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***
… the spirit of Nikola Tesla.
thanks Tsanka!
How apropo! I don’t think your timing with this window prompt could have been any better. Our NASA lady astronaut lifted into space yesterday with two other astronauts aboard a Russian Soyuz Space Craft. They were heading to the International Space Station and due to arrive on Friday.
Her name is Serena Aunon-Chancellor. I saw her on the news this morning. 😉
Thanks for all the great haiku!
Wow – thanks for this Marilyn!
Thank-you Kathy for publishing one of mine. My favorite is
space shuttle window
volcanic plumes
from my home state
Greer Woodward
Kamuela, HI
for how space is linked to an important event that is happening right now on Earth.
Thanks for your kind words, Valentina. It’s a treat to be in this collection.
thanks to you both – for your comments & for submitting!
What a wonderful collection of poems! Thanks for this delightful theme.
thanks for this Peggy!
Thank you, KJ!
I love these haiku windows! Every Wednesday is a magical journey. I will probably miss it.
Congratulations to the authors of this great selection!
thanks for this Tsanka!
Thanks, kj, for your insightful comments. I appreciate having mine selected.
you are so welcome, Garry – thanks so much for submitting!
Thank you for including one of my spaceship window haiku. I particularly appreciate the haiku by Terri French, Alan Summers, Deb Kolodji and Vandana Parashar. This week’s selections offer a view into outer and inner space it seems to me.
Thanks Sari! 🙂
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I had a lot of fun researching about more current aspects of space travel, and how tough spacesuits are now, compared to the days of the moon landings.
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“one manufacturer of aluminum oxynitride bulletproofing products said 1.6 inches of AlON was sufficient to completely stop an armor-piercing .50 calibre round.”
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Wow! And with Mars so hostile, it’s vital, because of those dust storms and high velocity winds.
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warm regards,
Alan
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P.S.
I wish we could all watch our planet from space, once in our lifetime, and realise we are all very lucky.
thanks for submitting, Sari, & for sharing your comments!
Another beautiful set, well done everyone. I’m totally with Mark and Corine re Karen Hoy’s ku…..so many layers, seamlessly interwoven……the standout poem for me. Congratulations once again, Katherine, for assembling such a lovely collection.
Thanks Helen! It was written while at Reading train station, between trains, getting ready for Texas!
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Karen put a lot of thought into it, and I loved how she took the prompt.
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warm regards,
Alan
thanks Helen – especially for sharing this…
Dear Catherine Munro,
Wonderful collection. Appreciate all those featured.
Reading one after another .
thanks for sharing!
Another inspiring collection of poems. I particularly enjoyed Karen Hoy’s poem. Thanks for including one of mine, Kathy.
Thanks Corine! 🙂
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Karen is away in Texas, so I’ll thank you for her.
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I could relate to your poem, as once living in Queensland for a few years, the night sky is clean of light pollution, and once while driving, I really thought I’d have my car be embraced.
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Alan
🙂
thanks for submitting, Corine, & for sharing this…
Another sparkling collection, well done to all the poets.
thanks for this Carol!
Thanks KJ, I loved these and am going to do a bit of an Alan with my comments …
Some captured our perception of space very effectively (what it’s actually like I haven’t a clue), such as Amy Losak’s ‘everywhere / nowhere / spaceship window’ Christina Sng’s ‘deep space / nothing to see / but darkness’ and Susan Rogers’ ‘no turning back / now / spaceship window’ ….
Whereas Arsene Hollis Ray’s ‘interstellar flight / someone knocks / on the window’ could be the starting point for a science fiction novel ….
And I loved these two which swirled around between the future and the past – Karen Hoy’s ‘this path of stars /my universe was once / a lawn of daisies’ and Mohammed Azim Khan’s ‘spaceship window / a tapestry of / stars’. Thanks all.
Thanks for standing in! 🙂
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And many thanks for enjoying Karen’s haiku! She spends so much time on TV documentary treatment writing, or working on our courses, that I was chuffed she knuckled down to this prompt! 🙂
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warm regards,
Alan
Wonderful comments, Mark – thanks so much for this ‘bit of an Alan’, & Alan too for your comments always… it was a stellar week!
The stars do look very different today…with the variety of these haiku. Enjoyed reading them, and appreciate your inclusion of mine.
thanks Nancy, for your comments & for submitting…