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 Submit an original unpublished poem (or poems) via our Contact Form by Sunday midnight on the theme of the week, including your name as you would like it to appear, and place of residence.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

I work at home, so my office window looks out on my snowy backyard… a friend’s office overlooks the mighty Yukon River – she saw the competitors in the recent Arctic Ultra race trot by… plans are underway for an 8-storey building, the highest in Whitehorse, but another friend works on the 28th floor in downtown Vancouver – what is your view?

I look forward to reading your submissions.

 

Haiku Windows:  sunroof window

 

There are many moons in the window this week… but several surprises as well, as always… I can rely on poets to take the theme to places I have not thought of… this week I select 4 poems to highlight the kind of simplicity of language that can lead to a successful haiku – in each of these a scene is clearly drawn, and each implies without fully explaining…

a drop of rain
on the sunroof window –
first day of school

Giovanna Restuccia

the weather is used here to set the mood – the holidays are over…

 

new argument
the sunroof window
remains shut

Natalia Kuznetsova
Russia

spouses argue, parents and children argue – closed windows can keep an argument more private – or is the argument about opening the sunroof?

 

car broke down –
from the sunroof
clouds traveling

Nazarena Rampini
Italy

we do not know where the car has broken down, or for how long – only that it and its passengers are no longer traveling…

 

holiday traffic
through the open sunroof
the sound of the sea

Rachel Sutcliffe

slow-moving traffic driving to the seaside, and/or, the sound of traffic is replaced by the sound of the sea…

 

Here are the rest of my selections for this week:

 

open sunroof
the voice of the wind
rougher and rougher

Adjei Agyei-Baah

 

open sunroof
the giraffe licks
a wide-eyed face

Al Gallia
Lafayette, Louisiana USA

 

graduation
we puff cigar smoke
through the sunroof

andrew shimield

 

with the wind arrives
the smell of rain –
sunroof window

(col vento arriva
l’odore della pioggia –
finestra del tetto apribile)

Angela Giordano

 

leaky sunroof –
a guest from my motherland
brings raindrops

arvinder kaur
Chandigarh, India

 

starry night…
beyond the sunroof
so much space

Carol Jones
Wales

 

sunroof
my hair tries
to escape

Christina Sng
Singapore

 

open sunroof
the breeze ruffles
my fantasies

Claire Vogel Camargo

 

showroom tizz
the ferrari sunroof
stuck again

David Jacobs
London, UK

 

sunroof window –
the blanket of snow
I carry home

Debbi Antebi
London, UK

 

the sound of dreaming
beneath a swaying willow
sunroof window

Don Wentworth
Pittsburgh, PA

 

sunroof window
a child draws in the air
a little star

Eufemia Griffo

 

our first date
in the moonlight
under a sunroof

Genie Nakano
Hawthorne, CA

 

valentine’s day…
through the sunroof
heart shaped cloud

Hifsa Ashraf
Pakistan

 

new year’s eve
using our sunroof
for moonviewing

Kath Abela Wilson

 

heading home
sunroof wide open
whistling dixie

katherine stella
river falls wisconsin u.s.a

 

sunroof broken
still able to see enough
stars to make a wish

Kimberly Esser
Los Angeles, CA

 

marital compromise –
sunroof half open,
sometimes half closed

Lee Nash

 

open sunroof
his tongue hanging loose
Fido drinks in the wind

Madhuri Pillai

 

grandma’s visit
blowing bubbles
out the sunroof

Marilyn Ashbaugh
Edwardsburg, Michigan

 

after the accident…
seeing stars
through the sunroof

Mark Gilbert

 

smooching
in a bowl of stars –
panoramic sunroof

Martha Magenta
England, UK

 

open sunroof she finally says yes

Matthew Markworth
Mason, OH, USA

 

sunroof window –
much like his ex-fiancé
it lets in anything

Michael H. Lester
Los Angeles CA USA

 

just a quick glance
at an age-old star
sunroof window

Michael Stinson

 

sunroof window…
the breeze caresses
my toes

Nancy Brady

 

the moon
our travelling companion
open sunroof

Olivier Schopfer
Geneva, Switzerland

 

sunroof window ajar
catching & releasing
pale-amber stars

pamela a. babusci
rochester, ny  usa

 

from back seat
to sunroof
a bark toward the sky

Pat Davis
Pembroke, NH

 

sunroof
window left open
cat basking

paul geiger

 

sunroof night…
the moon and stars
ride shotgun

Peter Jastermsky

 

moon roof open
pear blossoms
on the empty seat

Randy Brooks

 

open sunroof
i correct
my posture

Roberta Beary
County Mayo, Ireland

 

driving with the sunroof
open in winter –
hot flashes

Robin Smith
Wilmington, DE

 

Star Wars drive-in
a stormtrooper pops open
the sunroof window

Ron C. Moss

 

even grandma
lets the music fly
sun roof

Sandi Pray

 

on prom night
the girls’ ribbons streaming
from the limousine’s sunroof

Sari Grandstaff
Saugerties, NY, U.S.A.

 

sunroof window
pillar of dust
inside a beam of light

Serhiy Shpychenko
Kyiv, Ukraine

 

downpour
streetlights splashing
over the sunroof

Simon Hanson
Australia

 

a plantpot satsuma rides shotgun
its ripening fruit through the roof

simonj
UK

 

open sunroof
an unwished bird’s gift
from the sky

Slobodan Pupovac
Zagreb, Croatia

 

spring sky
opening the sunroof window
to let it in

Stephen A. Peters

 

a bird flipped
through the sunroof
summer heat

Terri French

 

sunroof
I roll back
the moon

Tia Haynes
Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, USA

 

sunroof window
opened…  the boy enjoys
his spinning pinwheel

Tomislav Maretic

 

sunroof
my daughter asks
for a moonroof

Tsanka Shishkova

 

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.