Haiku Windows: window box

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 Submit an original unpublished poem (or poems) via our Contact Form by Sunday midnight on the theme of the week, including your name as you would like it to appear, and place of residence.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

Bills and more bills, bank statements and a notice that you have won the chance to win a lottery… this week we will look through the window to your mail…

I look forward to reading your submissions.

Haiku Windows:  window box

winter wind
a faded pink pinwheel turns
in the window box

Andrew Shimield
UK

Whereas most submissions are understandably spring-related, this poem is clearly situated (from the very first word) in winter… and although the description could be interpreted as quite bleak, and the pinwheel, once a bright pink, is now faded, there is a certain optimism in the fact that it is still turning… perhaps the pinwheel is determined to remind us of the spring that waits in the heart of every winter…

a caterpillar
in my window box
changing seasons

Christina Sng

Here we also have the idea of the changing seasons, winter to spring or spring to summer, most likely, emphasized by the entrance of a creature that will change itself. The setting of the window box also fits well – gardening and plants also follow a cycle, although humans often attempt to force their own ideas on these things…

home tour morning
the space where
the window box was

Marilyn Appl Walker

Sometimes the poet notices the things that aren’t there – or the things that are no longer there… this could be a tour of a famous person’s house – perhaps it is now a museum – or it could be a home that is for sale… in any case, we can contemplate how and why things come and go, and there is space in the poem for the reader to fill in the picture…

early spring –
the window box still
without flowers

Tomislav Maretic

In this poem, it is possible to read one word two different ways… many poets write about flowers – the colours and scents of the window box – but this poem conveys another layer of meaning and a completely new direction at the same time:  the window box is yet to bloom with flowers, and the window box is without movement when there are no plants in it…

Here are the rest of my selections for this week:

overgrown window box
a finch song inches
into my dream

Adjei Agyei-Baah
Kumasi, Ghana

 

planting herself
in the window box
calico cat

Amy Losak
Teaneck, NJ

 

heritage house
kudzu vines reclaim
the window box

Anthony Rabang

 

first light
a sparrow chirping
in the window box

Aparna Pathak
India

 

window box
the cat and the ferns
freshly planted

Ardelle Hollis Ray
Las Vegas, NV

 

lavender blooms
in the window box –
mother’s scent

arvinder kaur
chandigarh, India

 

even her window box
thrives on drama –
dragon wing begonias

Beverly Acuff Momoi
Mountain View, CA

 

window box…
a sweet potato vine
creeps over the edge

Carol Raisfeld

 

all saints day
in the window box
a butterfly wing

cezar florescu

 

empty leasehold
a weed in
the window box

David Jacobs
London, UK

 

window box
the scent of lavender
on my fingertips

Debbi Antebi
London, UK

 

window box
the touch of a dandelion
in my hands

Eufemia Griffo

 

last year’s window box
the flowers
I never planted

Eva Limbach
Saarbrucken, Germany

 

curtain drawn
a bird’s nest
in the window box

Garry Eaton

 

hospice window box full of wildflowers

Hifsa Ashraf
Pakistan

 

kitchen sill planter
a wall lizard tilts its length
to the sun

Ingrid Baluch

 

window box
her collection
of wild grasses

Joanne van Helvoort

 

bonsai window box
my limitations
in clear view

Kath Abela Wilson

 

window box –
a room of blooms
for a view

Keith Polette
El Paso, TX USA

 

water rationing
all the window boxes
planted with plastic

Kimberly Esser
Los Angeles, CA

 

winter’s  end
the ragged promise of
window box pansies

Liz Ann Winkler

 

Snowfall –
white buds
cover my window box.

Lorraine Schein
Queens, NY

 

the summer scent
from kitchen window box…
fresh basil

fresco profumo / dalla finestra aperta… basilico

Lucia Cardillo

 

garden shed
mother’s window boxes
once flooded with herbs

Madhuri Pillai

 

slug in the window box
where he/she has gone
to live/die

Mark Gilbert
Nottingham, UK

 

anniversary
cooing in the window box
a pigeon chick

Marta Chocilowska

 

window box
a tiny bird skeleton
among the leaves

Martha Magenta
England, UK

 

window box
the sound of rain
in the room

martin gottlieb cohen

 

pinching basil
a spicy breeze
off the window box

Mary Weiler
Todos Santos, BCS, Mexico

 

window box
a tree frog without
the tree

Michael Henry Lee

 

window box –
this annual maintenance
is for the birds

Michael H. Lester
Los Angeles CA USA

 

city window box
a mourning dove croons
to her eggs

Michele L. Harvey

 

gerbera daisies
in the window box…
spring equinox

Neha Talreja

 

the spaces between
sweet flag, petunia, ivy
a wren’s nest

Nicole Tilde
Shady Dale, Ga.

 

nightfall
from the window box
the scent of lavender

Olivier Schopfer

 

window box
one open flower
center stage

Pat Davis
Pembroke, NH  USA

 

window box weeds
fall on 31st street
no Roundup allowed

Paul Geiger

 

morning sunshine
the last snow melts
in the window box

Rachel Sutcliffe

 

mourning dove
rests in the window box
thin sunshine

Randy Brooks

 

morning breeze
scent of sage
from the window box

Rehn Kovacic

 

window box
where mother’s tulips
used to live

Roberta Beary
County Mayo, Ireland

 

african violets
wine stains inside
an old window box

robyn brooks
usa

 

children’s shelter…
tiny treasures hidden
in the window box

Ron C. Moss
Tasmania, Australia

 

window box –
green leaves rustling
in the breeze

Rosa Maria Di Salvatore

 

hummingbird
at the window box
practicing my scales

Sari Grandstaff
Saugerties, NY, USA

 

Mom’s room
Tulip bulbs
sprout in the window box

Serhiy Shpychenko
Kyiv, Ukraine

 

sun shines on
the window box
gilding the lilies

Shandon Land

 

window box
waiting for the chrysalis
before replanting

Simon Hanson
Queensland, Australia

 

window box
a sparrow pecks at
the dead geranium

Skaidrite Stelzer
Toledo, Ohio

 

window box
in the flower pot
a baby dove opens eyes

Srinivasa Rao Sambangi

 

window box
thinking about the garden
drinking my morning tea

Stephen A. Peters

 

window box rescue
just in time for marinara
three ripe Roma

Susan Rogers
Los Angeles, CA

 

neighbor’s new cat
taking up gardening
in my window box

Tammie Baluch
Kampala, Uganda

 

icicles grow
under the window box
longer days

Tom Sacramona

 

flowers and butterflies…
so many colors in the
small window box

Tsanka Shishkova

 

window box mosaic
red geraniums… green leaves…
blue paint

Valentina Ranaldi-Adams
Fairlawn, Ohio USA

 

falling uninhibited
on the window box…
my tears and the rain

Vandana 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.