Haiku Windows: storm 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 Submit an original unpublished poem (or poems) via our Contact Form by Sunday midnight on the theme of the week, including your name as you would like it to appear, and place of residence.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: ticket wicket
Drive-through window, bank teller, toll booth – a window for giving and receiving… and this has nothing to do with cricket…
I look forward to reading your submissions.
Haiku Windows: storm window
her black eye
hidden under makeup –
storm windowsAmy Losak
Here the poet takes the idea of a storm in a new direction, away from the storm window, and yet, aren’t the eyes the windows to the soul? Makeup covers the bruise, the way the storm window covers the window proper… a complex and interesting take on the theme…
funeral week
we put up storm windows
for motherMarilyn Appl Walker
In this poem, each line provides specific information to tell most of a story, still leaving the ‘gap’ for the reader to complete the poem – whose funeral was it? for example…
a sea of storm windows
all along
the evacuation routeSari Grandstaff
Saugerties, NY, USA
Those of us who are fortunate enough to have never personally experienced a flood, have probably seen the footage on the news of other places in the world… this is an extremely powerful poem because of the calm, detached description of a scene of destruction and devastation – the reader is not instructed how to feel…
Here are the rest of my selections for this week:
storm window
the continuous knock
of hailstonesAdjei Agyei-Baah
Kumasi, Ghana
storm window
a new shelter
for the antsAngiola Inglese
This subtle
Secret smile…
Her storm windowAnna Goluba
storm window
I no longer
feel the sunArdelle Hollis Ray
Las Vegas, NV
storm window –
an empty catamaran
bobs ashorearvinder kaur
Chandigarh, India
swallow’s nest…
storm window remains
in placeAstrid Egger
typhoon alert
wooden storm windows
rattle OkinawaCarmen Sterba
she asks about
storm windows
for her dollhouseCarol Raisfeld
storm windows
between the shadows
a little bird seeks comfortCelestine Nudanu
storm windows reflect
approaching tornado
child running, screamingCharles Harmon
Los Angeles, California, USA
reflections
insects hit
the storm windowChristina Chin
protecting us only
from what’s outside
storm windowChristina Sng
storm window
the little white lies
she learns to tellClaire Vogel Camargo
battered storm windows –
remembering the day
he installed themCorine Timmer
a crack
widens overnight
storm windowDebbi Antebi
an angry wind storm window
Deborah P Kolodji
Temple City, California
storm window…
the way the rain
drums on the sillDiana Teneva
ombré
my wheelchair without me
by the storm windowEngin Gülez
Ankara, Turkey
storm window
the glare of the rainbow
after rainEufemia Griffo
arguing
through the clouds the sun
and the hail on the windowGiovanna Restuccia
storm window
the last raindrop
on my reflectionGuliz Mutlu
war of roses
the storm windows
closedHelga Stania
Switzerland
storm window
deepening
the inner darknessHifsa Ashraf
Pakistan
storm window
the dusty print
of two wingsJoanne van Helvoort
storm windows
the reflection of molten lava
at sunsetKaren Conrads Wibell
psychological
storm windows
his many moodsKath Abela Wilson
Pasadena, California
sealed windows
keeping the storm
insideKen Olson
Yakima WA, US
storm window
waiting for blue skies
to returnLori Zajkowski
putting up
the storm windows
her lack of boundariesLucy Whitehead
Essex, UK
storm window…
my eyes too
double glazedMadhuri Pillai
behind
a storm window –
stolen momentsMargherita Petriccione
old farm house
only the storm window
stays straightMarta Chocilowska
Storm window –
dead bee somehow between
it and the screenmichael ceraolo
storm windows
the weather channel
twenty four sevenMichael Henry Lee
anger management –
she discovers a crack
in the storm windowMichael H. Lester
Los Angeles CA USA
apology –
I return the storms
to the garageMichele L. Harvey
outer windows up…
stormy bickering inside
unbrokenNatalia Kuznetsova
Russia
storm window
in your eyes
an icy lookOlivier Schopfer
Geneva, Switzerland
summer’s end
a layer of dust
on the storm windowsRachel Sutcliffe
storm window
heart-shaped
her dark glassesRadostina Dragostinova
storm window
the white curtain
still tremblesRamlawt Dinpuia
this May
storm windows
still upRehn Kovacic
color of our argument…
stuck in the storm window
a red ribbonRéka Nyitrai
storm window
my son lifts it
with a smileRoberta Beary
County Mayo, Ireland
storm window –
her silence foreshadows
the tempestrobyn brooks
usa
lashing rain
storm windows creak
with the pirate storyRon C. Moss
Tasmania, Australia
old storm windows
numbered from back to front
their best days behind themRon Scully
cheap storm window
no guarantee…
her restraining orderRonald K. Craig
on the storm window –
snowflakes
dancing in the windRosa Maria Di Salvatore
prolonged winter
I decide to take off
the storm windowsSerhiy Shpychenko
Kyiv, Ukraine
storm windows
hung in January
neighbors tsk tskShandon Land
hurricane took away
the roof of our house –
the storm windows remainSlobodan Pupovac
Zagreb, Croatia
winter sun
the storm window
cleans itselfSrinivasa Rao Sambangi
Zen retreat
taking down the storm windows
one by oneStephen A. Peters
reflection
in the storm window
her bruised faceSusan Mallernee
the heat
in her eyes
storm windowsSusan Rogers
Los Angeles, CA, USA
replacing storm windows
all the ladybugs that never
made it homeTerri French
storm windows
we move
into separate roomsTia Haynes
Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, USA
pealing thunders…
lightning lights up
apple flowersTsanka Shishkova
fall colors…
storm windows and coats
come out of storageValentina Ranaldi-Adams
Fairlawn, Ohio USA
storm window
I lip read the couple
fighting outsideVandana Parashar
thunder
your storm window is down
mine is upVessislava Savova
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 37 Comments
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Late to this party, but what a wonderful collection of haiku! Thanks to all for sharing.
thanks Robyn!
ticket wicket
troubled dream
mourning dove call
eyes won’t open
Hi Pat – please submit using the Contact Form above…
Thanks, Kathy! Not only is “windows” a lot of fun each week, but it’s challenging and a great learning experience.
so happy to hear this, Ken – thanks!
What a lov-el-y bunch of haiku! I enjoyed every single one. Thank you, wonderful poets! And thank you too, for choosing mine for commentary, Kathy.
You have made Wednesday’s one of the most exciting days of the week!
Marilyn
thanks for this, Marilyn!
I just want to say how much I’m enjoying reading the whole window series. The storm windows poems this week make for such excellent reading. Congratulations to all the poets.
thanks so much for these kind words, Mary!
Thank you, Kathy 🙂
thanks for submitting, Marta!
A wonderful, varied selection. Thank you KJ!
There are many poems to love. It’s hard to choose.
Excellent selections. Congratulations everyone.
thanks for this Tsanka!
An interesting and varied selection of poems. Thanks for selecting one of mine. I enjoyed reading each one as well as the comments.
thanks Corine!
So many fine haiku! Enjoyed reading and rereading…
Thank you for including mine, Kathy.
thanks for this, Carol – &, of course, for submitting!
Thank-you for publishing mine among all those superior to mine.
Dear Valentina,
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I will have to disagree with you. 🙂
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fall colors…
storm windows and coats
come out of storage
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Valentina Ranaldi-Adams
Fairlawn, Ohio USA
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I love how it’s almost as if the special windows, and the coats, both decide to come out, and enjoy the new season. It reminds me of magical films such as Mary Poppins (the semi-animated Disney original). It’s a strong seasonal haiku, and I can enjoy adding another dimension too! 🙂
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warm regards,
Alan
thanks so much for this, Alan – well-said!
Thank-you Alan for the kind words about my haiku.
I agree with Alan, Valentina – there are many approaches, different directions & moods in this column every week – & they all have value!
Thank-you Kathy.
I agree with Alan, too, Valentina. It’s a wonderful haiku!
Thank-you Deborah
Thank you so much Kathy for featuring my storm window haiku! Last week we had a tornado right here in my town and it was scary so the storm window theme was much on my mind. I also was especially struck by Arvinder Kaur’s, Carmen Sterba’s and Slobodan Pupovac’s haiku. It is interesting all the varied directions people go with the same theme.
thanks for sharing this, Sari – & I agree, it is great to see where one theme can go…
Beautiful selection of haiku!
Thanks so much for including mine, Kathy!
thanks for submitting, Christina!
Excellent choice, KJ, of Amy Losak’s, and I also loved Carol Raisfeld’s, Christina Sng’s and Debbi Antebi’s, all in a similar space ….
thanks for sharing your comments, Mark, as always
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thunder
your storm window is down
mine is up
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Vessislava Savova
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First of all, a deep bow of thanks for your wonderful book of rengay called Whimsies, with Dilyana Georgieva, and your lovely note to Karen and myself. 🙂
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Secondly, a neat way of making human couples like storm windows as a metaphor! 🙂
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I love the cinematic feel of this one!
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storm window
I lip read the couple
fighting outside
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Vandana Parashar
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I can hear the torrent of rain, and a film scene of real people arguing and getting frantically soaked through with rain.
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There are too many fine haiku to list them all with comments. When I’ve done that before it was an entire day, so please forgive me for just mentioning a handful this time.
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storm window
deepening
the inner darkness
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Hifsa Ashraf
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Hifsa’s haiku with its effectively emotive ‘deepening’ partnered with ‘the inner darkness’ by a storm window, and perhaps it’s black with deep night, and a solid threat of something awfully big about to hurl itself at us, is very powerful.
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The metaphorical possibilities of storm window have come alive on this page, and in this one:
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storm window
the little white lies
she learns to tell
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Claire Vogel Camargo
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This haiku may be quite innocent, and of a very young girl wanting to copy the adult version of a house:
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she asks about
storm windows
for her dollhouse
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Carol Raisfeld
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But I can also see another reading where the child is wanting to protect her house, her dollhouse, herself, and her parents, from the stormy arguments they are starting to have that are escalating.
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Perhaps it’s not intended, but the worldly wise and combined naivety of the little girl very indirectly suggesting and asking that her parents cease their personal stormy relationship makes this an additional and intensely powerful choice of interpretation.
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Amy, Marliyn’s, and Sari’s haiku are amazing too.
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I’ll partly pick on Sari, as evacuation routes makes me think of domestic terrorism in Britain and the USA, as well as our unfortunate interfering in countries outside our borders which creates havoc for good people who become refugees from their own country.
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a sea of storm windows
all along
the evacuation route
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Sari Grandstaff
Saugerties, NY, USA
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That is a very powerful middle line for me, with its two simple words:
“all along” as all along we constantly embrace wars (mostly for profit) and embrace guns and firing them for fun, revenge, and cowardly attacks on friends, neighbours, family, school or work colleagues. I can see a very long metaphorical line of refugees and human protectors acting as storm windows, from teachers to responsible police officers, and wonderful civilians who don’t bring guns, but practical things like food and blankets, and a safe refuge.
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I came across this early haiku, written during many flash floods in Queensland, Australia:
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sudden rainstorm
the pattern of rain strikes
through the window blinds
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Alan Summers
HI no. 29 (Tokyo, Japan, October 1997)
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Thank you Alan. I had not thought of war refugees evacuating at all. I love your comments. I was thinking much more literally. Here along the low-lying shores of the east coast of the U.S. there are blue and white evacuation route signs for when they mandate evacuations from hurricanes, floods, tropical storms, etc. Seeking refuge from one of nature’s storms by putting up storm windows was what I had in mind but yes, your metaphorical interpretation of war as a storm and the protectors acting as storm windows – wow! I do have a haiku online in the March 25, 2018 New Verse News about the gun violence type of storm.
I thought so, but it’s great that haikai verses can be re-interpretated, for instance Basho’s hokku verse was simply commemorating a famous battlefield, sadly overgrown when I was there in 2001.
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I remember a storm coming up fast in Malibu where I was working on a sound studio, and nailing everything down fast before it hit. 🙂
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I remember being greatly moved by students eloquently protesting against the gun invasions of US schools on a regular basis, so this verse from you was very strong all over again:
https://newversenews.blogspot.co.uk/2018/03/enough-haiku.html
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warm regards,
Alan
thank you Alan. 🙂 certain fears that are related to the inner darkness.
thanks so much for sharing your comments, Alan, & inspiring all these new comments – these conversations are so valuable – thanks to you all!