Haiku Windows: triple pane 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 Submit an original unpublished poem (or poems) via our Contact Form by Sunday midnight on the theme of the week, including your name as you would like it to appear, and place of residence.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:  broken window

Just in time for Valentine’s Day…

it could have been an accident… sometimes these things just happen – it doesn’t always have to be somebody’s fault…

I look forward to reading your submissions.

Haiku Windows:  triple pane window

Reading these submissions at minus 35 degrees Celsius may have influenced some of my choices… this week, the triple pane window reflects, affects how sound carries, and is seen as a barrier – with some negative connotations – where, in practice, I have always seen it as a positive thing that makes my life easier, or at least more pleasant… thanks everyone for these new perspectives!

triple pane window…
contemplating snowflakes
in the morning warmth

Elisa Allo
Zug, Switzerland

Nicely contrasting the inside of the house with the outside, this poem describes my experience perfectly – imagine the roaring wood stove and another fresh cup of coffee – I look up from the book of haiku that I am reading, or my notebook, to watch the snow for winter inspiration… let me know when you will be visiting!

triple pane window
a clinging leaf
on the windowsill

Eufemia Griffo
Italy

Here the poet uses a simple description to evoke so many possible meanings – the season changing from autumn to winter, and that sense of time passing, and again the contrast between the environment inside and outside the building. But it is the choice of the word ‘clinging’ that takes this poem to another level – it could suggest clinging to the past, or struggling towards the unattainable…

forty below
the triple panes
glazed with frost

Ruth Powell

For those who may not have experienced this degree of outdoor temperature, it can be both scary and beautiful. The high pressure system means the weather is usually clear – sunny – but dangerously cold. And depending on the house construction, and the humidity and other factors, ice can build up on the inside of even triple pane windows… in this poem we also find a refreshing play on the word ‘glazed’…

triple pane window…
feeling
the stray cat’s shiver

Susan Mallernee

The scene described in this poem can also be interpreted different ways – are we watching the cat still out in the snow and imagining its shiver? Or are we looking out the window with our new friend that we have invited in “just until it warms up”?

Here are the rest of my selections for this week:

triple glazing –
the reflex of the reflex
of a reflex

Angiola Inglese

 

three layers of glass –
I can’t even hear
the rain fall

Anna Maria Domburg-Sancristoforo

 

a blind gaze
at consular triple pane
visa interview

Ashoka Weerakkody
Colombo, Sri Lanka

 

springing
for triple pane windows
wedding gift

Christina Sng

 

triple pane window
three layers away
from your smile

Christine Eales
UK

 

triple pane window
the rise and fall
of condensation

Claire Vogel-Camargo

 

triple pane window –
a woman silently
screaming

Dan Curtis
Victoria, BC, Canada

 

triple pane window
I can still hear
the neighbors’ dog

(for Debbi)

David Jacobs
London, UK

 

triple pane window
not a soul hears
her scream

Debbi Antebi
London, UK

 

behind triple pane windows
the battlegrounds
we know from hearsay

Eva Limbach
Germany

 

I don’t remember
the scent of stars –
triple pane window

Giovanna Restuccia
Modena, Italy

 

noise travels   for crying out loud
what I’d give   to be triple-glazed

Helen Buckingham

 

through triple pane window the silent storm

Hifsa Ashraf
Pakistan

 

through triple glazing
they argue
in sign language

Joanne van Helvoort

 

rainy winter –
ladybug faces its first
triple pane window

Karoline Borelli
Italy

 

even through three glass panes,
the neighbor’s voice

Lee Nash

 

triple pane window –
the reflection of my jacket
on the coat rack

Margherita Petriccione

 

triple-glazing…
i glaze over at
his explanation

Marietta McGregor

 

triple glazed…
blissfully oblivious
to my own alarm

Mark Gilbert

 

dead silence
behind triple pane windows
my insomnia

Marta Chocilowska

 

triple glazed –
cat’s eyes in the cat’s eyes
in the cat’s eyes

Martha Magenta
England, UK

 

triple pane
what comes
between us

Matthew Markworth
Mason, OH, USA

 

triple pane windows
keeping the silence
between us

Michael Henry Lee

 

close-out sale
two triple pane windows
for the price of one

Michael H. Lester
Los Angeles CA USA

 

bitter north wind
I can only imagine
a triple pane window

Michael Stinson

 

mum’s glazed look…
new triple pane windows
in the hospice

Natalia Kuznetsova
Russia

 

northern sun
behind the triple glass
delicate orchids

Nazarena Rampini
Italy

 

triple pane window
i can still see
your lies

pamela a. babusci
rochester, ny  usa

 

closing the window
the city
falls silent

Rachel Sutcliffe

 

triple pane windows?
the salesman talks about
becoming a dad

Randy Brooks
USA

 

triple paned window –
the barriers
between us

Robin Smith
Wilmington, DE

 

smiley faces
on the triple pane window
feathered with frost

Ron C. Moss

 

my son’s baseball
hits the triple pane window
he runs home

Sari Grandstaff
Saugerties, New York

 

candle on the table
the flame multiplies
in the triple pane window

Serhiy Shpychenko
Kyiv, Ukraine

 

triple glazed…
reflections on parallel
universes

Simon Hanson

 

triple pane window
the sun and my mood
lighten

Stephen A. Peters

 

in the window
reflections of a narcissus
triple-glazed

Susan Constable

 

triple pane greenhouse
lettuce leaves flourish
in winter light

Terri French

 

multi-pane windows…
my triple-dog-dare
to winter

Valentina Ranaldi-Adams
Fairlawn, Ohio USA

 

triple pane window…
a glimpse of her eyes behind
the veil

Vandana Parashar

 

a bumblebee
knocks at the triple pane window
I see the sound

Vishnu Kapoor

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.