Haiku Windows: ticket wicket
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 Submit an original unpublished poem (or poems) via our Contact Form by Sunday midnight on the theme of the week, including your name as you would like it to appear, and place of residence.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: spaceship window
Imagine looking out the window to a view of deep space… what do stars look like close-up? Or Mars? Or the moon? What does it feel like to be homesick for that blue-green planet?
I look forward to reading your submissions.
Haiku Windows: ticket wicket
drive-thru
monoxide
sandwichHelen Buckingham
Would you like fries with that?
Humour can be used to make a very serious point…
swampland jaunt
the toll booth window
with a bug screenMarilyn Appl Walker
Each week there have been such original takes on the theme for this column, and this is another of those… I prefer screens on all my windows, (mosquitoes!), but I had never imagined one on a toll booth window…
bank teller’s window
for just one moment
double the moneySkaidrite Stelzer
Toledo, Ohio
An optical illusion may be what is described in this poem – and one we hear about in financial circles… wouldn’t we all like to double our money, but for more than just one moment!
Here are the rest of my selections for this week:
behind the teller’s window
my money detained
by the internetAdjei Agyei-Baah
Kumasi, Ghana
new diagnosis
fumbling for change
at the ticket windowAmy Baranski
gateway
to my getaway –
ticket windowAmy Losak
a glimpse
of red nail varnish
ticket office windowAndrew Shimield
UK
bank counter
only hands
of the cashierAngiola Inglese
a car window
rolling down
traffic ticketArdelle Hollis Ray
Las Vegas NV
lottery –
a ticket to her dreams
in my handsarvinder kaur
Chandigarh, India
sleeper upgrade
a bee settles
on my ticketAstrid Egger
pay toll here
my 2 cents worth
the changeBetty Shropshire
show time –
long lines to the
ticket wicketCarol Raisfeld
wee hours
parking booth
attendant snoresChristina Chin
Kuching, Sarawak
once again
wishing on a star
lottery windowChristina Sng
new faces
at the pharmacy window
same prescriptionsClaire Vogel Camargo
ticket wicket
behind the window
the shadow of a manDebbi Antebi
ticket wicket
at the airport parking lot
cooled bottled waterDeborah P Kolodji
Temple City, California
I pay from distance
old wicket replaced by
computer monitorDubravka Scukanec
Zagreb, Croatia
bank teller
the family secrets unveiled
to a strangerEufemia Griffo
old model…
the man at the toll booth
still smirkingGautam Nadkarni
grandson asking
what is speed of life
a toll booth on highwayGuliz Mutlu
ticket wicket
of the lottery centre
open-and-shutHifsa Ashraf
Pakistan
gran holds up the queue
at the ticket window…
her purse of small changeIngrid Baluchi
Uganda
merry-go-round
at the tip of her toes
to buy a ticketJoanne van Helvoort
cashing a cheque
the teller’s eyes
glazed overJohn Hawkhead
drive-thru window
waiting for fast food
a line of antsKaren Conrads Wibell
automated wicket
stuck in the parking lot
overnightKath Abela Wilson
Pasadena, California
lemonade stand
i offer a paper airplane
and ten centsKen Olson
Yakima WA US
patrolman
outside my window
a ticketLPConvey
Brisbane, Australia
Post Office…
the employee’s frozen smile
through the wicketufficio postale … quel sorriso forzato / allo sportello
Lucia Cardillo
the blank stare
of the ticket vendor
my bad ItalianLucy Whitehead
Essex, UK
movie ticket counter
he checks my seniors card
for the discountMadhuri Pillai
mortgage-backed security…
she says “hi”
thru bullet proof glassMark Gilbert
UK
ticket window…
he asks me if i know
the speed limitMary Hanrahan
Parking lot booth –
window protecting
the replaced humanMichael Ceraolo
South Euclid, Ohio
reunion tour
dozing off at the
ticket windowMichael Henry Lee
race track window
she bets four rolls of pennies
on the jockey in pinkMichael H. Lester
Los Angeles CA USA
ticket wicket
the rim glassed cashier
peers at meMohammad Azim Khan
a night
on the town
ATMNancy Brady
Ohio, USA
the bank’s nonchalance…
an old man in shabby tweeds
at the wicketNatalia Kuznetsova
Russia
that feeling
of being swindled
currency exchange wicketOlivier Schopfer
Geneva, Switzerland
ticket window…
with the change, he gives me
a cherry blossomPraniti Gulyani
bank drive-through
a disembodied voice
bounces my checkPris Campbell
teller window front
her eyes faster than
his fingersRadhamani Sarma
New York
here I come
toll bridge windowRehn Kovacic
pawn shop window
my sister redeems
her wedding vowRoberta Beary
County Mayo, Ireland
beneath the shuttered theatre
will-call window
a sleeping bagrobyn brooks
usa
ghost train ride
a pretty vampire smiles
from the ticket windowRon C. Moss
Tasmania, Australia
theme park special pass
I skip long lines
and lunchRonald K. Craig
Batavia, OH USA
joining the queue –
there is nobody
at the ticket wicketRosa Maria Di Salvatore
pawnbroker’s wicket
behind bulletproof glass
a spray of violetsSari Grandstaff
Saugerties, NY, USA
rainy day
the girl-cashier smiles
in the ticket wicketSerhiy Shpychenko
Kyiv, Ukraine
between posters
of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
the ticket seller’s smileSimon Hanson
Queensland, Australia
milk booth
vendor leaves with
the refugee childSrinivasa Rao Sambangi
toll booth window
the guy ahead in it too
autumn rainStephen A. Peters
I don’t remember
the toll
just his eyesSusan Rogers
Los Angeles, CA, USA
a girl flirts
with a conductor through
the ticket wicketTomislav Maretic
circus ticket booth –
I become a child
once moreValentina Ranaldi-Adams
Fairlawn, Ohio USA
runaway bride
behind the window lies
ticket to her 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 35 Comments
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Great group of poems! Very inventive, thank you, Kathy and all!
I missed sending again, but anyway:
Naples ticket gate
the suspicious weight
of my backpack
thanks for this Marietta!
Fun experiment, thank you for including me. Love the monoxide ku–my son is still chuckling.
thanks for sharing this, Amy, & thanks so much for submitting
Congrats to everyone! Thanks, Kathy for another great round of window haiku and thanks for including one of mine in the mix!
thanks for submitting Mary!
Amy Baranski’s intriguing poem kept me reading. “fumbling for change” . . . so many ways to go.
thanks for sharing Ken!
Some fantastic haiku here! Sari, thank you for your kind words, and Kathy, thank you for including mine with commentary. I agree with Ken. The haiku are getting better every week,
Marilyn
thank you!
Kathy, thank-you for publishing mine. I learned something new since I never heard the phrase “ticket wicket” before. Many fine takes on the theme this week.
Yours conjured up a lovely image.
Thank-you Mark
thanks to you both for sharing!
A wonderful batch of haiku, Kathy, thank you so much. And thank you for including mine. I love Helen Buckingham’s and Marilyn Appl Walker’s also and your commentary. All the toll booth ones I am partial to, actually, as I am one of the last people on earth not to have EZ Pass and so I still pay my tolls in cash at a tollbooth to a human being.
thanks for sharing Sari!
Thanks Kathy, the poems get better every week!
thanks for this Ken!
Thanks so much for your comment, Ingrid…..and of course to Kathy, for collating another fine set of poems!
thank you Helen!
Several poems here made me smile . . . knowingly as well, with Olivier’s feeling swindled, and Mark’s.
I admire the brevity of Helen’s: the whole scenario — what’s more a comment on our times — in just seven syllables. Brilliant.
Kathy, thanks for including mine.
Outer space . . . here we come!
Thanks Ingrid, and to KJ for including mine.
thanks for sharing Ingrid! & thanks to you & Mark for submitting!
Inspiring! A joy to read.
thanks Corine!
I just had to say this!
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teller window front
her eyes faster than
his fingers
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Radhamani Sarma
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Brilliant! This has atmosphere, movement, and mystery. It’s a great opening line to a short story or a novel as well!
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Lots of favorites!
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As I write a lot of SFku and Space Haiku, I must have a go at next week’s prompt. And as Karen is writing a SF novel, I’ll twist her arm too. 🙂
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warm regards,
Alan
Alan, if you published any space haiku or sf haiku in 2017, please send it to me tomorrow (5/31 is the deadline) for consideration for the Dwarf Stars Anthology (send to dwarfstars@sfpoetry.com).
I, too, can’t wait for “Spaceship windows”!
And, Kathy, I also didn’t know what a “ticket wicket” was before last week, even though I had obviously used them. Great group of poems, I’m particularly fond of Susan Rogers’.
Thanks Deborah!
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I’ve compiled a few, and submitted via my email: admin@callofthepage.org
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It sometimes goes into people’s Spam Folder for some odd reason, if you don’t see it. 🙂
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Like you, I thought Susan Rogers’ haiku was very cool!
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I’ve written some fresh Space Haiku, some with windows, so just going through a rotation of revisions, and I hope they’ll find homes. 🙂
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warm regards,
Alan
& thanks as always Alan!
thanks for this, Deb! I’m a fan of life-long learning!
What a variety, KJ. Another great selection. Thanks for including one of mine in this week’s selections. Well done, all.
thanks for submitting Nancy!
Fabulous lines!
Congratulations everyone.
Thanks Kathy so much, deeply appreciated!
thanks Christina!