Haiku Windows: window cleaner

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 Submit an original unpublished poem (or poems) via our Contact Form by Sunday midnight on the theme of the week, including your name as you would like it to appear, and place of residence.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

Hospitals are places of healing, hope, caring and pain… needles, bandages and stretchers – can these open a window to poetry?

I look forward to reading your submissions.

Haiku Windows:  window cleaner

spring cleaning
the spotless shine
around the noseprints

Jennifer Hambrick
Columbus, Ohio, USA

Anyone who has a pet cat or dog (and maybe other pets?) or even a young child, knows about the noseprints on every window within reach… before, during and after the window cleaning…

professional strength
all her windows gleam
as her garden dies

Marilyn Ashbaugh
Edwardsburg, Michigan

A strong statement is made here – one that people often disregard – that one person can make a difference, even with the simple choices around household cleaners and their effect on our environment…

cleaning windows
another game
for the cat

Simon Hanson
Queensland, Australia

The simplicity of this poem is its strength – we have probably all witnessed this adorable scene – the poem illustrates the relationship between us and our domesticated family members, and also hints at the notion that cleaning windows for us is not so much a game…

Here are the rest of my selections for this week:

skyscraper
two window washers
blend into blue

Amy Losak

 

Suddenly, I feel that
Someone stares at me…
Window cleaner

Anna Goluba

 

cleaning clouds
on the twentieth floor –
head for heights

Anna Maria Domburg-Sancristoforo

 

before the splash
a riot of handprints
on the window

Billy Antonio

 

skyscrapers
orchestrate the wind
window cleaners sing

carol jones
Wales

 

window washer –
she watches him
watching her

Carol Raisfeld

 

window squeegee
the slight squeak
of clouds

cezar florescu

 

the sky lift’s
torrid descent
cleaner’s six pack abs

Christina Chin
Kuching, Sarawak, Borneo

 

seeing the world
through soap bubbles
first car wash

Christina Sng

 

Dad cleaning the windows
with a short ladder
and a mop

Christine Eales
UK

 

I scrub the window
and my sadness away
autumn reflection

Christine Villa

 

transition
balance beam to swing stage
window washer

Claire Vogel Camargo

 

the stuffed kingfisher stares
at the window cleaner
– glass lake house

Corine Timmer

 

cleaning
an upstairs window
the contortionist

David Jacobs
London, UK

 

moments after
scrubbing the windows
spring shower

Debbi Antebi
London, UK

 

children’s hospital
the window cleaner
dons his cape

Debbie Strange
Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada

 

fuzzy smile
the last blue squirt
of window cleaner

Deborah P Kolodji
Temple City, California

 

east wind blown stray
tongue drips down glass door
canine clean

Deirdre Hines
Letterkenny Ireland

 

sunbeams stream
through spring-cleaned window
cat catnaps

dianne moritz

 

clear window
from my desk
a new outlook

Doris Pascolo

 

window cleaner
summer stars become
brighter

Eufemia Griffo

 

first spring sun
the naked legs
of a window cleaner

Eva Limbach
Germany

 

moving the clouds
from window to window
the window cleaner

Hifsa Ashraf
Pakistan

 

perfect synchrony
the kitten’s head
and window cleaner’s sponge

Ingrid Baluchi
Uganda

 

window cleaner
trying to wipe away
the fog

Joanne van Helvoort

 

winter sun
suspended on ropes
a boy cleans the glass pane

Kala Ramesh

 

kissed by a suckerfish
the window cleaner
at the aquarium

Kath Abela Wilson
Pasadena, California

 

window cleaning
rubbing the inside
of an outside spot

Ken Olson
Yakima WA

 

his signature
in soap
high rise window washer

Kimberly Esser
Los Angeles,  CA

 

spring cleaning
I call the rain gods to wash
the upper windows

Liz Ann Winkler

 

window cleaner…
one spider waits patiently
in its corner

pulizia vetri… paziente nel suo angolo / aspetta un ragno

Lucia Cardillo

 

wiping away
the clouds
window cleaner

Lucy Whitehead
Essex, UK

 

full service station
a squirt of window cleaner
in my face

Marilyn Appl Walker

 

naked mannequin
the window cleaner
admires the sheen

Mark Gilbert
UK

 

exchanging of looks –
outside the penthouse window
man with a squeegee

Marta Chocilowska

 

washing windows
the grass now greener
on the other side

Mary Hanrahan

 

the window washer
pausing that extra second
above her cubicle

Michael Henry Lee

 

hypnotized
by the sway of his hips –
window washer

Michael H. Lester
Los Angeles CA USA

 

polishing windows
with yesterday’s newspaper
a new perspective

Mike Gallagher

 

cleaning the window –
I remove the dust
from the trees

Muskaan Ahuja
Chandigarh, India

 

cat’s nose prints…
she washes
the window, again

Nancy Brady

 

heavenly chanting
from behind office windows…
migrant cleaners

Natalia Kuznetsova

 

Cleaning windows
I reflect on myself
Window cleaning.

Niall OConnor
Ireland

 

not seeing them
until it is too late
window cleaners

Olivier Schopfer
Geneva, Switzerland

 

window washer
a drop away
from eternity

Peter Jastermsky

 

window cleaner
how he follows me
from room to room

Rachel Sutcliffe

 

sky reflected
in the clean glass
bird flies into the window

Rehn Kovacic

 

swaying ropes
the window washer
keeps singing

Roberta Beary
County Mayo, Ireland

 

detective story
the window cleaner takes aim
with a sponge

Ron C. Moss
Tasmania, Australia

 

window cleaner
rubs away the visage –
Amazing Spiderman

Ron Scully

 

the windows
wait their turn
I read the newspaper

Ronald K. Craig
Batavia, OH USA

 

hotel
window cleaner
a room with a view

Sari Grandstaff
Saugerties, NY, USA

 

penthouse window
the cleanerman washes
the dirt from the sky

Serhiy Shpychenko
Kyiv, Ukraine

 

red light
a homeless man’s squeegee’s
sudden swoosh

Skaidrite Stelzer
Toledo, Ohio

 

sunny morning
man’s shadow
on my desk

Slobodan Pupovac
Zagreb, Croatia

 

window dirt
i clean
my glasses

Srinivasa Rao Sambangi

 

window
after cleaning
some of the streaks remain

Stephen A. Peters

 

cleaning windows
I offer a prayer
for each child

Susan Rogers
Los Angeles, CA, USA

 

washing my windows
just like grandma taught me
first home

Tia Haynes
Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, USA

 

window cleaner
in the museum pauses –
a Monet painting

Tomislav Maretic

 

old church –
the window cleaner discovers
the Bible stories

Tsanka Shishkova

 

reappearing hand prints
on the glass door…
the neighbor’s child

Valentina Ranaldi-Adams
Fairlawn, Ohio USA

 

Barcelona fan
the window cleaner glued
to my window

Vandana Parashar

 

futile effort
to dust the day moon
window cleaner

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.