Haiku Windows: window-shop

This Post Has 58 Comments

1. Thanks for including me in this. I appreciate it.

   1. thanks for submitting Bob!

2. So many great haiku,

   But I really liked this one!

   window shopping
   H scale train encircles
   Santa O size Village

   ron scully

   I had a good size model train layout and we had N gauge trains on a distant hill above the HO’s, it never seemed quite right to me, and was a bit perturbing.
   Ron’s haiku says all that needs to be said 🙂

   1. thanks for sharing Marita!

3. Thankyou for including my haiku in this edition. I always reading the entries.

   1. thanks for submitting, Nicole, & for sharing this!

4. Thanks, Kathy! Always feel so lucky to be included. I love Valentina’s brilliant haiku! The poem by RéKa is so beautiful and a poignant tribute to Kate Spade.

   —Mary

   1. Oh gosh, Mary, I didn’t know she had killed herself. So many people in the fashion business have done this, it’s terribly sad: https://edition.cnn.com/2018/06/05/us/kate-spade-dead/index.html
      .
      condolences,
      Alan

   2. Thank-you for the compliment Mary.

   3. thanks for sharing, Mary!

5. This was my favorite haiku choice:

   window shopping
   one hand on the mouse
   while I dream
   .
   Devin Harrison

   The addition of the mouse is very precise, yet without looking at the keyboard or mouse, there is space to dream on clouds.

   1. thanks for sharing, Carmen!

6. Thanks, Kathy. So gratifying to be surrounded by the work of these generous Haiku artists.

   1. thanks Ken!

7. My favorite:
   .
   a barefoot doll
   from the shop window
   looking at my boots

   Dubravka Šcukanec
   Zagreb, Croatia
   .
   I would change ‘looking’ to looks.
   .
   a barefoot doll
   from the shop window
   looks at my boots
   .

   1. thanks for sharing John!

8. I’m sure we’ve all seen at least one cat, prowling the aisles, or sunning itself amongst the book display in the window, of an independent bookshop. This wouldn’t be allowed in a chain store, but many independent bookshops have their dogs or cats, so I couldn’t resist this one, as prominently placed in the window this time was TS Eliot’s famous book:
   “Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats”
   .
   .
   ‘Old Possum’s Book’
   a black cat licks itself
   round the window
   .
   Alan Summers
   Publication credits: Haiku Friends ed. Masaharu Hirata (Umeda, Osaka 2003)
   .
   .

   1. Alan, our haiku group, Commencement Bay Haiku, meets at a bookstore in Tacoma. They have two cats that walk on the tables and jump on laps.

      a glimpse of the cat
      in the bookstore window
      friends gather on time

      1. Yes, I believe it’s usually independent bookstores that often have pets.
         .
         Is one of the cats, at your bookstore, called Atticus? If you mean King’s Books in Tacoma? Miko died back in 2014, but perhaps Atticus has a newer buddy?
         .
         If it’s King’s Books, they were/are known to have two cats, and are the largest independent bookstore. There may be chain stores that allow pet cats, but not as residents?
         .
         Here’s Vlashka (although a dog) at no. 4:
         https://www.abramsandchronicle.co.uk/blog/bookstore-of-the-month-mr-bs-emporium-of-reading-delights/
         .
         Mr B’s Emporium of Reading Delights:, based in the City of Bath is an independent bookstore that has held various sell out haiku events from book launches to haiku and renga workshops. 🙂
         .
         .
         Back to cats!
         https://www.fodors.com/news/photos/17-bookstore-cats-worth-road-tripping-for
         .
         .
         a glimpse of the cat
         in the bookstore window
         friends gather on time
         .
         Carmen Sterba
         .
         .
         colour book the cat becomes marmalade
         .
         Alan Summers
         Right Hand Pointing issue 95 (haiku edition ed. Eric Burke, February 2016)
         .
         .

      2. Sounds great, I’d love to be there. I really do need to fund time to attend haiku events in the USA!
         🙂
         https://www.kingsbookstore.com/event/haikujun

         1. thanks Alan & Carmen!

9. .

   Now if I had just fictionalised the poem, where the cat (that I had seen often over a few years) wasn’t sunning, sitting, licking, prowling around this T S Eliot book, I might have just said “books” or enhanced that single word by creating a phrase. Thankfully it happened, first time in years that a book about cats, and such a famous one, was placed in the window.
   .
   Looking back at this poem, and as the bookshop is closed down now, it’s a wonderful and genuine memory of the (very) black cat by this particular book.
   .
   .
   As judge for Sonic Boom’s fourth senryu competition, I’ve again noticed how many strong haikai verses that get entered for the Windows feature each week. Most of them are either fine senryu, or haiku, or a hybrid of both.
   .
   .

   window shopping…
   a jewel thief plans
   the next heist
   .
   Valentina Ranaldi-Adams

   .

   .
   Ah, yes, which is why so many jewelry shops empty the windows. They just daren’t encouraging extreme window-shopping. 🙂
   .
   .

   window-shopping
   for androids
   the wink back
   .
   Ann Schwader
   .
   .
   Wonderful! 🙂
   .
   .

   window-shop
   wearing your face
   the mannequin
   .

   Anthony Rabang
   .
   .
   Powerful!
   .
   .
   her therapist
   writes a new prescription
   for window shopping
   .
   Carol Raisfeld
   .
   .
   Highly effective, and intriguing!
   .
   .
   window-shop
   mannequins beaming
   in size zero
   .
   Debbi Antebi
   London, UK
   .
   .
   Karen is so delighted that she’s escaped size zero! It’s an infamous invention that serves no useful public service. The verb choice is very effective here, and makes this both poignant, socially revealing about issues, and multi-layered in meaning and context. Debbi often creates haiku and senryu that appear deft at first reading, but thankfully don’t let us get away with just one quick reading. We’ll subconsciously know there’s more here. Debbi is adept at picking out important social issues (problems) that big companies attempt to hide, or abuse, and attempt to normalise.

10. .
    .
    I vow to walk
    another thousand steps
    bakery window
    .
    Deborah P Kolodji
    .
    .
    Great humor and a serious message as well. Shop windows are designed to make us break our discipline on all things retail, and savings etc…
    .
    .
    window shopping
    one hand on the mouse
    while I dream
    .
    Devin Harrison
    .
    .
    Wow! I love those last two lines. Highly memorable.
    .
    .
    a barefoot doll
    from the shop window
    looking at my boots
    .
    Dubravka Šcukanec
    .
    .
    Powerful!
    .
    .

    dream dress:
    walking towards you
    with closed eyes
    .
    Elisa Allo
    .
    .
    Wonderful, and poignant, and possibly uplifting, all in one!
    .
    .
    toy store window
    the secret dreams
    of a child
    .
    Eufemia Griffo
    .
    .
    Do shop windows tap into children’s dreams, and is this a good and encouraging thing? This verse makes me ponder the question of how we allow others to influence our children, and youth.

    .
    .

    a very colorful hat
    the heads
    of the window-shoppers
    .
    Guliz Mutlu
    .
    .
    I’ve worked on and off in retail for decades, on all four sides of the window, at least. 🙂
    .
    As a roving assistant manager I got to talk to all kinds of staff, including the window dressers. My father was a troubleshooter for a huge national fashion company, and this involved both window-dressing, and tightening up presentation, customer service, and sales, in a troubled store.
    .
    Mutlu’s verse appears simple and one meaning and effect, but it opens up a world for me. His choice in the first line might appear to break so many rules in haiku, but it’s that very fact that make this so gently powerful. As a senryu judge, this would be a very strong contender due to its gentle but strong humor. It’s a universe in a poem, both uplifting and revealing. I feel extraordinarily happy reading this, even though there is poignancy mixed in with the upbeat humour.
    .
    Norman Wisdom, popular in both the U.K. and a national hero in Albania, typifies how the window dressers, skilled or opportune, can really uplift the day for you.
    .
    Norman Wisdom (Trouble In Store, 1953):
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SwDQhxSh91Q

11. .
    window shopping
    all the well-heeled mannequins
    I might have been
    .
    John Hawkhead
    .
    .
    It’s intriguing how many verses include mannequins, even in today’s shopping, and display windows. I still remember two chilling episodes about mannequins coming to life in British SF/thriller TV series Dr. Who, and also The Avengers (Steed and Emma Peel).
    .
    .
    Here’s it’s almost the very opposite. We can see the fashions and lifestyles we didn’t dare do ourselves, either to peer pressure or lack of enough money, or both. A very powerful verse.
    .
    .
    I could list every single verse this week, they are all wonderful. I’d need two days I cannot spare, if I gave commentary to every poem. 🙂
    .
    .
    window-shopping
    my reflection wears
    the wedding dress
    .
    Kath Abela Wilson
    .
    .
    Kath Abela Wilsons’s verse is yet another subtle one I’d happily not worry if it’s senryu or haiku, and there ongoing debates whether non-Japanese senryu are closer to haiku than the Japanese genre. Without my judge’s hat, I’d be happy for this to be called senryu or haiku. It’s the depth of the writing that I appreciate.
    .
    This seems like a simple verse, it’s purely human focused in an urban setting, and that every girl wants a wedding. Perhaps this girl (we all mostly retain our child within ourselves) might be wishing for a fairytale wedding, in real life, or just to have a passing fancy, safe and cheap. It might also be the fact that the author and the person in the poem are one and the same. That the author is happy to remember her wedding for a few moments before going onto or from work.
    .
    That’s the magic of window-shopping, as it’s available 24 hours a day, without any cost to us as passing public. Perhaps the character/narrator is not the author, or the reader can put themselves into the poem. By this I mean they may not even want to be married, for whatever reason, but for a convenient few seconds, their passing reflection momentarily “wears” the wedding dress. I can enjoy reading so many different things into this poem, and if I was a short story writer, or novelist, it’s one of those verses that would act as a catalyst.
    .
    .
    admiring
    Grandmother’s ring
    pawnshop window
    .
    LPConvey
    .
    .
    Now there are Grandmother rings, and there are rings that belonged to our Grandmother(s). Here the truncated syntax pays off as I read this verse two ways. One way might be the narrator looks at the pawnshop window where they have taken cash for a family heirloom, and spend a moment admiring the ring for its beauty and intricacy, but also because of those characteristics, it’s brought them a better and necessary bigger loan.
    .
    It could also be read/misread, that the pawnshop window is given a human character, and is admiring the Grandmother ring as a possible addition to its display one day.
    .
    NOTE:
    “A mother’s ring is a piece of emblematic jewelry that constitutes a mother’s or a grandmother’s own diverse family. The ring is accented with either one birthstone or several birthstones; the birthstones represent the children or grandchildren of the woman who is wearing the ring, who can either be living or deceased.”

    .
    .
    all the people
    she could be
    window-shopping
    .
    Lucy Whitehead
    .
    .
    Another one that can be read “literally” but don’t be fooled, it’s full of depth beyond a fine surface level meaning. Very strong opening two lines that is only made even stronger by the last line. It’s just brilliant! Utterly brilliant!

    .
    .
    The French have wonderful alternatives to well-known English-language sayings. Her salivered window verse is metaphorical of course, but a wonderful if slightly disturbing image the French and Marion Clarke combined, make!
    .

    1. Don’t forget this creepy Kraftwerk video about mannequins …
       https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NkuUuBt7nrE

       1. I believe Dr Who, and particularly the British TV series of The Avengers pre-dated Kraftwerk, but they are all a great take on one of many common fears:

          1964 (maybe even earlier?):
          https://www.dissolute.com.au/the-avengers-tv-series/series-3/324-the-charmers-other.html

          1970:
          Autons are essentially life-sized plastic dummies, automatons animated by the Nestene Consciousness, an extraterrestrial, disembodied gestalt intelligence which first arrived on Earth in hollow plastic meteorites. Their name comes from Auto Plastics, the company that was infiltrated by the Nestenes and subsequently manufactured their Auton shells in Spearhead.
          https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auton

          1977:
          Showroom Dummies is taken from Kraftwerk`s seminal 1977 album “Trans Europe Express”:
          https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NkuUuBt7nrE

          1. 1964:
             .
             The Cybernauts, The Avengers’ chief villains, were created in 1964 a couple of years before Doctor Who’s Cybermen. Not unlike a cross between Cybermen and crash test dummies, The Cybernauts were the creation of Dr Armstrong, a creepy performance by Michael Gough. A year later The Return Of The Cybernauts saw them reappear in colour, this time with Peter Cushing as guest star:
             .
             http://www.denofgeek.com/tv/the-avengers/32480/looking-back-at-the-avengers

             1. thank you Alan & Mark…

12. .

    two Kate Spade’s bags
    and a lost, white butterfly –
    deepening dusk
    .

    Réka Nyitrai
    .
    .
    I’m a Karen Millen fan myself, and never heard of Kate Spade. I see they are a New York company, but ship to the UK where there’s a 50% sale!!!
    .
    I’ll have to tell my wife about this! Kate Spade has a shop at Heathrow airport, darn it, I met my Karen just yesterday coming in from Dallas (Texas), but there are branches in London, and of course online shopping creates further discounts. 😉
    .
    .
    There is something poignant about a lost white butterfly deepening dusk, coupled with Kate Spade (the founder’s name) and bags. I also like the unusual choice (for current haiku) to add a comma between “lost”, and “white butterfly”.
    .
    .
    It would have been all too easy to have it like this:
    .
    two Kate Spade’s bags
    and a lost white butterfly –
    deepening dusk
    .
    .
    Which although that looks and reads well, it’s that placing the comma that heightens the sabi feeling. The comma makes lost even more important and poignant. The word for sad and lonely is さびしい (SABISHII). If your placement of the comma was intuitive, it was well-judged for me. Two commas would have diluted the effect…
    .

    e.g.
    .
    two Kate Spade’s bags
    and a lost, white, butterfly –
    deepening dusk
    .
    or
    .
    two Kate Spade’s bags
    and a lost, white, butterfly
    deepening dusk
    .
    .

    The use of that single comma makes this both a literal poem about shopping in general and in particular, and something from the insect world (butterfly), but also metaphorical, but not in an expected manner.
    .
    .
    The use of a number, that of two, and a butterfly is highly effective:
    A butterfly has four wings, two forewings and two hind-wings.
    .
    This has a haunting resonance for me. I won’t forget this wonderful unforgettable verse that has great aspects of the best haiku and senryu published over the years.
    .
    .
    Wow! And wow! to every other entry on this amazing shop window feature too!
    .
    .

    What I have found with Kathy’s amazing window series, in general, is not only fine haiku and senryu, but all angles at looking at everyday themes, occurrences, social issues, or commonalities. Kathy’s window prompts make up for an important anthology length collection.
    .
    .
    Kathy announced this:
    .

    “…a new column will start in July, where we will get back to haiku basics and explore specific locations with an emphasis on the senses. Prompts will still be provided, with the intention of guiding the poet in their own haiku practice… sound intriguing?”
    .
    .
    It is and does sound intriguing! This is one of the best ever features on this side of the THF website, and all others are pretty brilliant!
    .
    Thank you Kathy, for all of this, and can’t wait to not only read more windows haiku/senryu, but your new feature too!
    .
    .
    warm regards,
    Alan
    .

    1. And I am assuming this is the wonderfully newly discovered Kate Spade?
       .
       .
       black as the ace in Spade’s window
       .
       Michael Henry Lee
       .
       .
       And a clever play on this famous song:
       .
       Motörhead – Ace Of Spades:
       https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1iwC2QljLn4
       .
       .

    2. thank you once again for your kind words, Alan, & for all you contribute to this column!

13. Again and again, Katherine Munro offers us a bouquet of wonderful haiku! Thank you, dear Kathy!
    Congratulations to all authors!

    1. thanks for your kind words, Tsanka!

14. This one from Michael Lester did it for me:

    *

    strict budget –
    I cut down on my
    window shopping

    *

    Great opening line, loads of humour and so much said

    1. thanks for sharing, David!

15. Hello
    I’ve submitted my haiku but, not seen in the window.

    window-shop
    mannequin look like
    a naked barbie

    Somayajulu Musunuri ‘MUSO
    Hyderabad, India

    1. I’m sure it was a glitch. I do like this a lot, and it’s a very astute observation:
       .
       .
       window-shop
       mannequin look like
       a naked barbie
       .
       Somayajulu Musunuri ‘MUSO’
       Hyderabad, India
       .
       .
       My only suggestion is to include an article and add an ‘s’ to the verb:
       .
       e.g.
       .
       window-shop
       the mannequin look like
       a naked barbie
       .
       Somayajulu Musunuri ‘MUSO’
       Hyderabad, India
       .
       .
       or
       .
       window-shop
       a mannequin looks like
       the naked barbie
       .
       Somayajulu Musunuri ‘MUSO’
       Hyderabad, India
       .
       .

       1. Darn, the blog posts don’t allow us to correct mistakes! 🙂

          .
          .
          My only suggestion is to include an article and add an ‘s’ to the verb:
          .
          e.g.
          .
          window-shop
          the mannequin looks like
          a naked barbie
          .
          Somayajulu Musunuri ‘MUSO’
          Hyderabad, India
          .
          .
          or
          .
          window-shop
          a mannequin looks like
          the naked barbie
          .
          Somayajulu Musunuri ‘MUSO’
          Hyderabad, India
          .
          .
          or even:
          .
          .
          window-shop…
          the mannequin looks
          like naked barbie
          .
          Somayajulu Musunuri ‘MUSO’
          Hyderabad, India
          .
          .
          or
          .
          window-shop…
          a mannequin looks like
          naked barbie
          .
          Somayajulu Musunuri ‘MUSO’
          Hyderabad, India

    2. thanks for these suggestions, Alan – I am not editing any poems for this feature, except for typing errors, spelling etc.
       also, I select from the submissions for the post, a maximum of one poem per poet…

16. Some interesting metrics this week – as well as ~20% of the haiku being about mannequins, only approximately the same number were from male entrants – do you think this is due to the subject matter or is this general for haiku? It’s not something I’ve noticed before ….

    1. an experienced editor might be able to answer this, Mark – I have not been keeping track…

17. Thank you for including my haiku! Acutally, I was looking for a dress to wear to a funeral, and the best one was in the thrift shop window! Luckily it fit.

    1. thanks for this, Judith – I was picturing someone looking in the window at the same dress they were wearing… but many interpretations make for a good poem, in my view…

18. Thank you for including mine and I too loved the other mannequin haiku. Réka Nyitrai’s current event haiku was wonderful and I enjoyed Roberta Beary and Tia Haynes’s. The humor in Rosa Maria Di Salvatore’s haiku made me smile! My town had poems in the shop windows for National Poetry Month in April. Thanks again Kathy!

    1. thanks so much for this, Sari!

19. Lots of different takes on the prompt, KJ. Loved Valentina’s haiku in particular. Thanks for including mine with all these excellent haiku.

    1. Thank-you Nancy !

    2. thanks for sharing this Nancy!

20. Lots of mannequins this time – so often a laugh in reality. In Uganda they are all white, blonde and blue-eyed, yet the darker skin tone shows off the vibrant colors Ugandans love to wear so much better.
    Thank you Kathy for including mine, and I do like Valentina’s different take; also Angelee’s dancing shoes among others.

    1. Yes, if ever there is a future mannequin prompt we will have lots of material (including me – from the cutting room floor). Thanks KJ.

    2. Thank-you Ingrid for commenting on mine. That is an interesting observation about the mannequins in Uganda.

    3. thanks for sharing, Ingrid – & also for your comments, Mark & Valentina!

21. Kathy, I was surprised and pleased that my haiku was chosen for commentary. Thank-you !!

    1. I wasn’t surprised, I loved your poem!
       .
       .
       window shopping…
       a jewel thief plans
       the next heist
       .
       Valentina Ranaldi-Adams
       .
       .
       It’s both well crafted, delightful humour, and gives me a smile each time I read it. 🙂
       .
       warm regards,
       Alan

       1. Thank-you Alan !!

          1. You are more than welcome, and I will always defend the author, even when it’s you guys thinking your work isn’t strong enough.
             .
             It’s a joy to read your poem again, and will be again and again. That’s one heck of an achievement.
             .

             🙂

             1. & thanks for this, Alan!

    2. Thanks so much for submitting, Valentina!

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