HAIKU DIALOGUE – Working with the Soil – traditional soil work – long list

Working with the Soil with Guest Editor Arvinder Kaur

Human beings share an inextricable relationship with the soil. The word “human” itself is derived from humus, the organic matter, symbolising the intertwined nature of human life and soil. Our connection gets established right at the time of birth, and we share a deep emotional bond with our land. Deriving sustenance from it we take pride in our Mother Earth and swear by its sanctity. Many cultures have deep, spiritual connections with the soil evident in the myths of Earth goddesses and creation stories in folklore where legendary figures are born from it and mysteriously vanish into it. Some of the earliest means of livelihood are connected to the soil. Agriculture and farming have been our mainstay since time immemorial. Soil shapes our food securities and is, therefore, the backbone of economies. An agriculturist, like anyone else, faces lots of challenges. Natural calamities can ruin a whole year’s hard work and sometimes a poor farmer finds it hard to meet the daily needs of his family. The recent floods in northern India have completely altered the nature of the soil which may require scientific intervention not many will be able to afford.

The gardener works with the soil and draws livelihood by nurturing and manicuring. Horticulturists and viticulturists too transform the soil and bring their own science and artistry to it. Potters mould clay to shape their own destinies and perhaps those of others. Earthen lamps light up homes in a most beautiful and aesthetic way. Then there are brick-makers, construction workers, architects, archeologists, environmentalists…the list is endless. Modern-day farming also benefits from the work of soil scientists, engineers and conservationists. Everything reminds us of the earth beneath our feet and when it shakes, it spells disaster.

However, it remains true that the earth is the symbol of quiet patience, receiving whatever is given to it, a fallen leaf or a yet-to-germinate seed, bearing the weight of our lives, our cities and keeping our histories close to its bosom. So, our relationship with the soil is not just professional, it is something much more intimate and deep. It is a relationship of faith and of hope. The farmer who sows the seed knows and hopes the earth will nurture it. The gardener tends the flower bed with a hope that the earth shall respond with an exquisite reward for his hard work. As the potter shapes the clay, he also shapes memories. There is no better teacher for the lesson of decay and renewal than the earth itself. And this lesson is the very basis of our lives. We are born on this earth, and we are bound to return to it.

How do we relate to our soil? In the weeks that follow we shall explore the fundamentals of this relationship.

Below is Arvinder’s selection of poems on the topic of traditional soil work:

backache
I confide my sorrow
to the scarecrow

Marie Derley
Ath, Wallonia, Belgium

 

the whole life
within a seed
death and rebirth

Luciana Moretto
Italy

 

crescent moon
in the child’s hands
her first pottery

Sheikha A.
United Arab Emirates

 

mud pies
our daughter’s first taste
of Mother Earth

Robert Kingston
Chelmsford, United Kingdom

 

all thumbs
the inconvenience
of gardening gloves

Shloka Shankar
India

 

fingers shaping
the earthen lamp –
lifting fog

Rashmi Buragohain
India

 

wheat fields –
the shape of
my wedding ring

Morgan Ophir
Sydney, Australia

 

harvest evening–
the weight of straws
he carries home

Jagajit Salam
Imphal, India

 

earth’s furrows —
her ageing hands
folded in prayer

Sanjana Zorinc
Croatia

 

the dirt
under dad’s nails buried
forever

Curt Linderman
Seattle

 

after tremors
a farmer cradles
the newborn calf

Jahnavi Gogoi
Ajax, Ontario, Canada

 

inside a pot
spinning on the wheel
a tornado

Ravi Kiran
India

 

first rain
the farmer’s deep breaths
for the earth’s scent

Subir Ningthouja
Imphal, India

 

scarecrow
in the pumpkin patch
faithful companion

Barbara Anna Gaiardoni
Verona – Italy

 

companion planting
I plan to fill my borders
with his touch

Patricia Hawkhead
UK

 

a purple bloom pokes
through a crack in the asphalt –
a teaspoon of soil

Anne Curran
Hamilton, New Zealand

 

cremation urn
the dying embers
of a potter’s kiln

R. Suresh Babu
India

 

planting tulips
my dads memory
close by

Stephen A. Peters
Bellingham, WA

 

sweaty gardener …
the weight of apology
in the rose

Samo Kreutz
Ljubljana, Slovenia

 

furrowed field
the rise and fall
of a farmer’s voice

Sue Courtney
Orewa, New Zealand

 

using compost
to mulch each spring
Mom’s garden

Eavonka Ettinger
Long Beach

 

starry sky . . .
the soil is ready
for sowing

cielo stellato . . .
il terreno è pronto
per la semina

Daniela Misso
Italy

 

snacking
on strawberries –
my neighbor’s garden

Dan Campbell
Virginia

 

raked leaves
a gust of wind scatters them
back into the yard

Olivier Schopfer
Geneva Switzerland

 

aroma
of plowed land
returning home

Tsanka Shishkova
Sofia, Bulgaria

 

wet spring . . .
wrestling weed roots
out of the wall

Barrie Levine
Massachusetts

 

lacecap hydrangeas
the cat swats away
a bee

John S Green
Bellingham, Washington

 

night gardener
foraging …
a bandicoot

wanda amos
Australia

 

a handful of grains
in the donation box
the unsung feed

Lakshmi Iyer
India

 

drowned paddy field
the rice farmer feels the soil
between his toes

Jenny Shepherd
London, United Kingdom

 

folding into itself –
each furrow turning
the field anew

Tim Chamberlain
Tokyo, Japan

 

lunch break
in the midst of a bare field
a farmer and his bull

Mohua Maulik
New Delhi, India

 

scanning the sky
for signs of rain—
withered leaves

Helen Ogden
Pacific Grove CA

 

migrant workers
gathering the fruits of the earth
for others

Ruth Holzer
Potomac Falls, VA

 

the bounty
of soil-caked hands
our daily bread

Belinda Behne
Clinton, CT

 

the farmer’s dry tears –
planted in the ploughed soil
landmines

Natalia Kuznetsova
Russia

 

deeply
rooted in me
olive tree

Roberta Beach Jacobson
Indianola, IA, USA

 

angelica
deep in an earth poem
the root of angels

Sharon Ferrante
Florida, USA

 

freshly dug grave
one half of a worm
still moves

joanne van helvoort
The Netherlands

 

veterans day
checking the perimeter
of his garden

John Pappas
USA

 

a river song spins on the wheel his thought of home

Daya Bhat
India

 

moon phases—
the conical hats
of rice farmers

Martina Matijević
Vidovci, Croatia

 

clearing my sinuses—
the springtime scent of
farmyard slurry

Tony Williams
Scotland, UK

 

rice paddies—
rolling indigo hills
of bent backs

Adele Evershed
Wilton, Connecticut

 

forgetting where
i planted radishes
my red tricycle

Kathabela Wilson
USA

 

a queen bee
sleeps deep in the earth…
first frost

Melissa Dennison
UK

 

a red tractor
ploughs the soil—
farmer’s new ringtone

Neena Singh
India

 

fingers pat
the brown soil down
mango saplings

Rupa Anand
New Delhi, India

 

terramation
from my father’s hands
a sprig of wildflowers

Laurie Greer
Washington, DC

 

late harvest
wagon wheels rut
the farm road

Anne Fox
Broomes Island, MD USA

 

potter’s wheel –
between my child’s palms
the globe spins

Dan C. Iulian
Romania

 

gardening…
a blush of robins
give me company

Nisha Raviprasad
India

 

clay path
the potter gathers rainwater
in a cupped palm

Nalini Shetty
Mumbai India

 

harvest basket
the earthy aroma
of just pulled carrots

Govind Joshi
Dehradun India

 

a handful of clay
on the old potter’s wheel
winter rising sun

Lori Kiefer
United Kingdom

 

first day of school—
a lump of clay
taking shape

Nitu Yumnam
UAE

 

grandma’s straw hat
her face in shadow
as she plants green beans

Cindy Putnam Guentherman
IL, USA

 

autumn leaves –
the clods turned
at a slow rhythm

foglie d’autunno-
le zolle rivoltate
a ritmo lento

Angiola Inglese
Italia

 

moving house
we transplant a hibiscus
with the mother soil

Sumitra Kumar
India

 

day after day
stained terra cotta red…
the potter’s hands

Mark Meyer
Mercer Island WA, USA

 

state fair
for the prize sheep
a handful of hay

Richard Straw
Cary, North Carolina

 

home from home . . .
the songs we have sung
sowing seeds

Monica Kakkar
India

 

scent of summer
filling his gnarled hands
last tomatoes

Annie Wilson
Shropshire, UK

 

hedgerow rain
a farmer latches the gate
on his last field

C.X. Turner
UK

 

fallowing field the rudderless pole beans

Lorraine A Padden
San Diego, California

 

pottery workshop
the coolness of clay
on tired hands

Mona Bedi
Delhi India

 

high noon
a potter’s wheel scatters light
in dark corners

Swagata Soumyanarayan
Mumbai India

 

turning the soil
we go over his meds
again

susan burch
Hagerstown, MD

 

first thunder
in the farmer’s eyes
tears of joy

Mona Iordan
Bucharest, Romania

 

garden watering
hummingbirds
zip and thrum

AJ Johnson
Stephens City, VA USA

 

damp chill
softens dry leaves
many journeys

Kavita Ratna
India

 

natural farming
in a sprig of mint
the soil’s fragrance

Geetha Ravichandran
India

 

warm winter day
a neighbor’s back
tending her garden

Keiko Izawa
Japan

 

home gardening
last year’s seeds germinate
in indoor pots

Valentina Ranaldi-Adams
Fairlawn, Ohio USA

 

new garden
the river’s silt
settles in

marilyn ashbaugh
usa

 

raising a new life potter’s wheel

Cynthia Anderson
Yucca Valley, California

 

sweet smell
of earth
grandma’s new vegie patch

Margaret Mahony
Australia

 

winter burial
gravediggers feeling the cold
in their bones

Sari Grandstaff
USA

 

a seed wakens spring solstice

Sangita Kalarickal
USA

 

shaping up petrichor
in my morning chai . . .
a potter’s touch

Vaishnavi Ramaswamy
Chennai, India

Join us next week for Arvinder’s commentary on additional poems…

Bios:

Guest Editor Arvinder Kaur, author, translator and an award-winning poet, specializes in English literature and Media Studies. She was one of the founding editors of the bilingual haiku journal Wah. She has been a guest editor at Triveni, Failed Haiku and recently at The Haiku Foundation’s Haiku Dialogue. Her haiku have appeared in several national and international journals. She is the author of four books of micropoetry, two of which are bilingual where she has translated her own work into vernacular. Her books have been very well received in India and abroad. She lives in Chandigarh, India with her family.

Assistant Editor Lafcadio, a former teacher, now works from home writing, editing and proofreading study guides for nursing textbooks. She lives in Tennessee. She has written poetry for a long time but a couple of years ago fell in love with Japanese micropoetry and hasn’t looked back. Lafcadio has been published in a number of journals and anthologies. She writes under the nom de plume of Lafcadio because nom de plume is so fun to say. You can read her poems on Twitter (X) @lafcadiopoetry or BlueSky @lafcadiobsky.

Assistant Editor Vandana Parashar is an associate editor of haikuKATHA and one of the editors of Poetry Pea and #FemkuMag. Her debut e-chapbook, I Am, was published by Title IX Press (now Moth Orchid Press) in 2019 and her second chapbook Alone, I Am Not, was published by Velvet Dusk Publishing in April 2022.

Lori Zajkowski is the Post Manager for Haiku Dialogue. She lives in New York City and enjoys reading and writing haiku.

Managing Editor Katherine Munro lives in Whitehorse, Yukon Territory, and publishes under the name kjmunro. She served as Membership Secretary for Haiku Canada for ten years, and her debut poetry collection is contractions (Red Moon Press, 2019). Find her at: kjmunro1560.wordpress.com.

Portrait by Laurel Parry

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Haiku Dialogue offers a triweekly prompt for practicing your haiku. Posts appear each Wednesday with a prompt or a selection of poems from a previous week.