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 Submit an original unpublished poem (or poems) via our Contact Form by Sunday midnight on the theme of the week, including your name as you would like it to appear, and place of residence.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

andrew shimield

 

a dentist’s waiting room
the window washer’s
perfect smile

Angelee Deodhar

 

hospital waiting room –
beyond the window
passing clouds

ANNA MARIA Domburg-Sancristoforo

 

airport gate
going nose-to-nose
with the plane

Ardelle Hollis Ray

 

waiting room window –
my daughter plays hopscotch
on the shadows

arvinder kaur
Chandigarh,India

 

keeping watch
by oil stained window
first free service

Ashoka Weerakkody

 

waiting room window the cracks we grow through

Betty Shropshire
Texas

 

first light
through the waiting room window…
no news yet

Carol Jones
Wales

 

almost dark…
a nurse checks her hair
in the waiting room window

Carol Raisfeld

 

a dead fly
in the waiting room window –
funeral home

Dan Curtis
Victoria, BC, Canada

 

waiting area
backs to the wall
and windows

David Jacobs

 

waiting for results
the rain tap tap taps
on the window

Debbi Antebi
London, UK

 

waiting room
a scent of wisteria
from the window

Eufemia Griffo
Italy

 

the slow passage
of clouds
waiting room window

Garry Eaton

 

child custody hearing
at the window
his shadow

Hifsa Ashraf
Pakistan

 

oncology OPD –
by the window, she adjusts
her wig

INDRA NEIL MEKALA
Rajamahendravaram, India

 

waiting room window
the somber receptionist
examines me

Joan Prefontaine
Cottonwood, AZ, USA

 

oncology clinic –
the sky clears
then clouds again

Judt Shrode
Tacoma WA, USA

 

optometrist’s
waiting room window
my glasses askew

Kath Abela Wilson
Pasadena, CA, USA

 

job center
a window
onto empty fields

Lee Nash
Cognac, France

 

mammogram…
a magpie’s silent vigil
on the wire

Madhuri Pillai

 

a skylight opens
from the waiting room
the fly and I escape

Marietta McGregor

 

waiting room window
friends reach across the aisle
in prayer

Marilyn Appl Walker

 

dental work
I wince when drilling starts
out in the street

Marion Clarke
Warrenpoint, Northern Ireland

 

waiting room
lengthening shadows
outside

Marta Chocilowska

 

4:59 p.m.
the waiting room window
slides shut

Matthew Markworth
Mason, OH, USA

 

quarter to twelve
an out to lunch sign
in the waiting room window

Michael 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 window

Michael Stinson

 

waiting room window –
the  bell tower clock
moves slowly

Nazarena Rampini
Italy

 

second waiting room
same grey paint
bigger window

Nicole Tilde
Shady Dale, Ga.

 

eye doctor’s waiting room
the windowpanes
blurred with rain

Olivier Schopfer
Geneva, Switzerland

 

the bell rings
my pal still sits
in the dean’s office

Pat Davis
Pembroke, NH

 

waiting room window
telling the future
by the doctor’s eyes

Peter Jastermsky

 

hospital waiting room
outside the window
gathering clouds

Rachel Sutcliffe
England, UK

 

raindrops trickle down
the window pane
deserted waiting room

Ramlawt Dinpuia
Mizoram, India

 

looking for words
through the waiting room window
a rough draft

Randy Brooks
USA

 

wait over
a nurse lowers
the window blind

Roberta Beary

 

by the window
waiting for the train
waiting for the rain

Robin Smith
Wilmington, DE

 

looking through
the waiting room window
looking through me

Ron C. Moss

 

my mind waits
in a tree of blackbirds
exam room 3

Sandi Pray
North Carolina

 

waiting room
the visitor recounts
the clouds in the window

Serhiy Shpychenko
Kyiv, Ukraine

 

a killdeer feigns
a broken wing…
waiting room window

Terri French

 

loan interview –
a skunk strolls
past the window

Valentina Ranaldi-Adams

 

watching other trains
arrive and depart
waiting room window

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.