Haiku Windows: waiting room 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 Submit an original unpublished poem (or poems) via our Contact Form by Sunday midnight on the theme of the week, including your name as you would like it to appear, and place of residence.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: triple pane window
This type of window may be new to some – it is the preferred choice here in the North. Triple pane or triple-glazed windows offer better insulation, save more energy, help reduce condensation, and are more soundproof than regular windows in a cold climate, but they are more expensive. They are also apparently for use in very warm climates too (?)…
I look forward to reading your submissions.
Haiku Windows: waiting room window
Please be aware of the Sunday deadline – I sometimes receive poems for the previous week’s theme (sad emoticon). This week I enjoy the variety of images chosen to show the passage of time – a dead insect at a funeral home, slow-moving clouds, and raindrops – and in some cases the expression of some frustration at being made to wait. I also enjoy how the poems sometimes go together, either one contact form after the next, or here in alphabetical order.
As I have said before, all the poems deserve comments, but this week I have chosen to highlight just one. For those who may not yet have heard, haiku poet Johnny Baranski passed away last week, on 24 January 2018. Remembered as a man of conscience and a pacifist, he wrote many poems while serving time in prison for acts of nonviolent resistance to militarism and nuclear weapons. Mark Gilbert honours his memory here. Johnny will be greatly missed by those who knew him personally, as well as by those who knew him through his poetry…
the waiting room
of the courthouse…
bars on the windows(This one is for Johnny Baranski)
Mark Gilbert
UK
Here are the rest of my selections for this week:
train delay
a smiley face
on the misted windowandrew shimield
a dentist’s waiting room
the window washer’s
perfect smileAngelee Deodhar
hospital waiting room –
beyond the window
passing cloudsANNA MARIA Domburg-Sancristoforo
airport gate
going nose-to-nose
with the planeArdelle Hollis Ray
waiting room window –
my daughter plays hopscotch
on the shadowsarvinder kaur
Chandigarh,India
keeping watch
by oil stained window
first free serviceAshoka Weerakkody
waiting room window the cracks we grow through
Betty Shropshire
Texas
first light
through the waiting room window…
no news yetCarol Jones
Wales
almost dark…
a nurse checks her hair
in the waiting room windowCarol Raisfeld
a dead fly
in the waiting room window –
funeral homeDan Curtis
Victoria, BC, Canada
waiting area
backs to the wall
and windowsDavid Jacobs
waiting for results
the rain tap tap taps
on the windowDebbi Antebi
London, UK
waiting room
a scent of wisteria
from the windowEufemia Griffo
Italy
the slow passage
of clouds
waiting room windowGarry Eaton
child custody hearing
at the window
his shadowHifsa Ashraf
Pakistan
oncology OPD –
by the window, she adjusts
her wigINDRA NEIL MEKALA
Rajamahendravaram, India
waiting room window
the somber receptionist
examines meJoan Prefontaine
Cottonwood, AZ, USA
oncology clinic –
the sky clears
then clouds againJudt Shrode
Tacoma WA, USA
optometrist’s
waiting room window
my glasses askewKath Abela Wilson
Pasadena, CA, USA
job center
a window
onto empty fieldsLee Nash
Cognac, France
mammogram…
a magpie’s silent vigil
on the wireMadhuri Pillai
a skylight opens
from the waiting room
the fly and I escapeMarietta McGregor
waiting room window
friends reach across the aisle
in prayerMarilyn Appl Walker
dental work
I wince when drilling starts
out in the streetMarion Clarke
Warrenpoint, Northern Ireland
waiting room
lengthening shadows
outsideMarta Chocilowska
4:59 p.m.
the waiting room window
slides shutMatthew Markworth
Mason, OH, USA
quarter to twelve
an out to lunch sign
in the waiting room windowMichael Henry Lee
graffiti scratches
on the waiting room window
can you see me now?Michael H. Lester
Los Angeles CA USA
a wish to be
in my red sedan
waiting room windowMichael Stinson
waiting room window –
the bell tower clock
moves slowlyNazarena Rampini
Italy
second waiting room
same grey paint
bigger windowNicole Tilde
Shady Dale, Ga.
eye doctor’s waiting room
the windowpanes
blurred with rainOlivier Schopfer
Geneva, Switzerland
the bell rings
my pal still sits
in the dean’s officePat Davis
Pembroke, NH
waiting room window
telling the future
by the doctor’s eyesPeter Jastermsky
hospital waiting room
outside the window
gathering cloudsRachel Sutcliffe
England, UK
raindrops trickle down
the window pane
deserted waiting roomRamlawt Dinpuia
Mizoram, India
looking for words
through the waiting room window
a rough draftRandy Brooks
USA
wait over
a nurse lowers
the window blindRoberta Beary
by the window
waiting for the train
waiting for the rainRobin Smith
Wilmington, DE
looking through
the waiting room window
looking through meRon C. Moss
my mind waits
in a tree of blackbirds
exam room 3Sandi Pray
North Carolina
waiting room
the visitor recounts
the clouds in the windowSerhiy Shpychenko
Kyiv, Ukraine
a killdeer feigns
a broken wing…
waiting room windowTerri French
loan interview –
a skunk strolls
past the windowValentina Ranaldi-Adams
watching other trains
arrive and depart
waiting room windowVishnu 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.
This Post Has 26 Comments
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Thank you for including mine! I’m truly honored. It’s such fun to read all the different takes.
thanks Judt!
Thank-you for publishing mine. Some good ones in this column. I liked the one by Matthew Markworth.
thanks for this, Valentina
Thank you for choosing my poem, Kathy. I have spent many hours in hospital waiting rooms recently.
This is my tribute to Johnny Baranski, whom I miss very much
*
barbed wire
over the prison wall
a bird song
*
Love
Marta
thanks for sharing, Marta – I miss him too
Another wonderful selection this week. So thankful to be amongst such great company. Thank you!
Robin
thanks Robin
Marvellous words, Mark.
*
Another delightful collection, Kate, thanks for including mine.
*
I think many of us can relate to, Nicole Tilde’s verse, nice work 🙂
And Marion Clarke’s gave me a shudder…I have a dental appointment next week 🙂 thanks, Marion.
Thank you, Carol
thanks for this, Carol
A wonderful collection here. Thankyou for publishing my haiku here. I had a whole series as I went from waiting room to waiting room to finally have labs drawn. Afraid I don’t know much about triple-pane windows, living in the south. I’m curious to see what comes up.
Triple pane windows work the same in the south…keeps the summer heat out as well as dampen outside noise. City dwellers use them for that reason, too. Also, lets in less sunlight because of the extra pane. ☺ Betty
thanks for this Betty – I read about that – of course it’s a problem I can imagine… it is bright out today – we have light snow at minus 20*C…
Thanks Nicole – I am curious too!
Great batch of waiting room poems! 🙂
thanks Alan!
Great selection! Enjoyed reading all the haiku! Thank you Ms.Munro!
thanks for this!
some great stuff here! Love this prompt!
thanks Terri
A fabulous haiku, Mark – it would stand alone even without the dedication and Katherine’s description
… maybe …
Thanks
agreed – thanks David
Thank you for choosing mine among this week’s excellent crop. I Ioved the series of prison haiku that Johnny Baranski wrote, and mine is a small homage.
thanks for this, Mark – one whole section of the crime haiku anthology I co-edited is devoted to Johnny’s prison haiku (the section is called ‘Behind Bars’), so I’m with you…