HAIKU DIALOGUE – Music Around the World – Loving you with all of my tunes or let’s talk about feelings – long list

Music Around the World with Guest Editor Deborah Karl-Brandt

Hi guys, it’s me again. Over the next few weeks, we’ll be immersing ourselves in music together. There is a variety of instruments, rhythms and melodies to explore around the globe. Ancient Chinese music is based on a five-tone system and the guqin had an almost religious significance. Waka and later the tanka are basically songs. The mother’s steady heartbeat calms the baby in the womb and can be compared to the rhythm of a drum. Music is the language that everyone can connect with, even without understanding the meaning of the words being sung. It speaks directly to our hearts. I would like to invite everyone to explore the world of music with me in these prompts.

Below is Deborah’s selection of poems on the topic Loving you with all of my tunes or let’s talk about feelings:

Music: Flowing Water Guqin

PTSD
her love songs
bring him back home

Herbert Shippey
Tifton, Georgia

 

open dam gates
to pacify the flood
Death Metal

Subir Ningthouja
Imphal, India

 

windscreen sky
driving through a rainbow
as Mick Can’t Get No

Morgan Ophir
Sydney, Australia

 

wind shift
the garden bell
improvises my song

John S Green
Bellingham, Washington

 

morning traffic jam
my sadness passes
from blues to blues

Vladislav Hristov
Bulgaria

 

between
eulogies
a violin solo

Ravi Kiran
Hyderabad, India

 

hospice window –
a new tune for the
old life

Satyanarayana Chittaluri
Nakrekal, Telangana, India

 

pumping staccato
for the cool swing dancers
dad on his trumpet

Barrie Levine
Massachusetts, USA

 

our first wedding dance
merging with its melody
the beat of my heart

Boryana Boteva
Sofia, Bulgaria

 

my heart jigs
to the songs played at teen
no expiry date

Raji Vijayaraghavan
India

 

Burning Down The House
spontaneous
kitchen dance party

Jennifer Gurney
US

 

that song still in my head
…my then boyfriend
heard me sing

Margaret Mahony
Australia

 

Andy Griffith theme song
my mind drifts
to simpler times

Cindy Putnam Guentherman
IL, USA

 

sound bath sessions –
soothing the trauma
of overwhelming grief

Paul Callus
Ħal Safi, Malta

 

the lark will rise
like my heart to heaven
singing our song

Lynda Flint
West Yorkshire UK

 

these words “don’t give up”
mixed with the melody
her autumn pains ease

Urszula Marciniak
Poland

 

energy dwindles
ten thousand spoons – ironic
I have none to give

Veronica Hosking
Avondale, AZ

 

muted sun…
listening to ‘Libertango ‘
energy boost

Luciana Moretto
Italy

 

a baby’s cry
in the farthest reach
vibrating strings

Dejan Ivanovic
Lazarevac, Serbia

 

jujube season
lilting love melodies
fill the grove

Arvinder Kaur
Chandigarh India

 

wanting only
to be alone with you
mountain stream

Joanna Ashwell
UK

 

hush, little baby,
don’t say a word – Daddy’s gonna
buy you a mockingbird

Alan Harvey
Tacoma, WA

 

leaving the lawyers’
I duck into a dive bar
schmaltzy jukebox song

Sari Grandstaff
Saugerties, NY, USA

 

sad song
looking for red wine
to cry better

Marie Derley
Ath, Belgium

 

untouched snow outside
my mind streams …
the Avril Lavigne’s Innocence

Pegah Rahmati Nezhad
Teheran, Iran

 

wheezing night
my father whistles
‘I have a Dream’

Lakshmi Iyer
India

 

after
adoration
aretha

Curt Linderman
United States

 

harp concert
the strings touched
with a broken nail

Zoltan Pachnik
Hungary

 

reaching for her
in the middle of the night
moon song

Stephen A. Peters
Bellingham, WA

 

on and off the radio a man of constant sorrow

John Pappas
United States

 

First dance –
just wed and already
out of sync

Caroline Ridley-Duff
UK

 

grey-backed afternoon
my friend plays Joy Division
again and again

John Hawkhead
UK

 

deserted mansion
a purloined waltz
to the sea’s song

Pris Campbell
U.S.

 

sick bed –
his lips move softly
to old lullabies

Jagajit Salam
Imphal, India

 

served
with the bitter greens
an old man’s refrain

Samo Kreutz
Ljubljana, Slovenia

 

calling my insurance
playing on repeat
our wedding song

Jahnavi Gogoi
Ajax, Ontario, Canada

 

an old tune still wanders her streets

Vijay Prasad
Patna, India

 

both sides
her voice then and
now

Eva Limbach
Germany

 

farewell on the pier
a sailor’s cheerful song
and our silence

Anica Marcelic
Zapresic, Croatia

 

distant stars—
the refugee mother rewrites
her lullaby

Hifsa Ashraf
Rawalpindi, Pakistan

 

broken string
the note
goes on

Nalini Shetty
Mumbai, India

 

lisping to each other
oborozukiyo . . .
my child and i

Vaishnavi Ramaswamy
Chennai, India

 

college friends
the same old songs
on repeat

Kerry J Heckman
Seattle, WA

 

organ fills the church —
a tear turns unstoppable
approaching All Saints

Goda Virginija Bendoraitienė
Lithuania

 

singing his song
now
widowed love bird

wendy c. bialek
usa

 

spring break
kids on swings
kick laughter

Omarion Anderson
Greenwood, MS

 

25th reunion
we sing our duet
in lower keys

Padma Rajeswari
Mumbai, India

 

Sound of music
clinking of cups
those were the days

Sudha Devi Nayak
Bhubaneswar India

 

road work
detour through cotton field
a slow drag of blues

Shyla Davis
Greenwood, MS

 

spun from gold
I wear my mother’s song
spring sun

Anne Fox
Broomes Island, MD USA

 

the soundtrack
of our first kisses…
ne me quitte pas

la colonna sonora
dei nostri primi baci…
ne me quitte pas

Angiola Inglese
Italy

 

Albinoni’s adagio –
a long, gentle turn
of an autumn leaf

Sanjana Zorinc
Croatia

 

how she added
a little brogue
mother’s lullaby

Bryan Rickert
Belleville, Illinois

 

Arangetram
her anklet bells speak
a thousand words

(Arangetram dance, the debut performance in Indian classical dance and music)

Mona Bedi
India

 

morning rain
drips down the spout
itsy bitsy spider

Ann Sullivan
Massachusetts, USA

 

reggae tune…
how the resin in myrrh
sticks to your soul

Sharon Ferrante
Florida, USA

 

rain tapping
on car wipers . . .
our duet begins

Neena Singh
India

 

flying lyrics our hum still a song

Daya Bhat
India

 

with each guitar’s chord
his sage scent luring me in
for the taste of kiss

Martina Matijević
Vidovci, Croatia

 

spring evening
the sound of the waterfall
melting my grievances

Swarna Bopali de Zoysa
Sri Lanka

 

jingle bells, jingle bells
the deaf girl learns
the fairy lights pattern

Denisa Hanšutová
Slovakia

 

row, row, row your boat
my baby still clapping
through tears

Minal Sarosh
Ahmedabad, India

 

“the owl and the pussycat”
…she sings herself
to sleep

Laurie Greer
Washington, DC

 

no regrets
with the man I love now
I hear my first “our song”

Jenny Shepherd
London UK

 

alzheimer’s –
a lullaby
for mom

Nazarena Rampini
Italy

 

ice thawing her nursery song

Richa Sharma
India

 

the cassette tape
crumbles …
stardust

Kavita Ratna
India

 

a note held too long turns into a prayer

Dan Campbell
Virginia

 

a pause in the cow graze in the cowherd’s harmonica

Srinivasa Rao Sambangi
Hyderabad, India

 

the pause
between each note…
a cherry petal

Padma Priya
India

 

I see clearly
the rain has gone
singing bowl

Seretta Martin
San Diego, CA

 

winter wedding—
I dance alone
to Fairytale of New York

Adele Evershed
Wilton, Connecticut

 

oh danny boy. . .
grandpa’s whistle
leaves my lips

Terri French
Alabama, US

 

one by one
she names us
mom’s Maltese lullaby

Kathabela Wilson
USA

 

stronger than words
long tones of the strings
speak to my heart

Miluše Míčková
The Czech Republic

 

a folk song—
how will I quench
thirst for love?

Tejendra Sherchan
Nepal

 

Dichterliebe –
love secretly vibrating
in their hearts

Elena Zouain
France

 

getting prepared
for difficult days
Mortal Kombat

Nancy Brady
Huron, Ohio

 

Viva Las Vegas
we become
Mr. and Mrs.

Valentina Ranaldi-Adams
Fairlawn, Ohio USA

 

an anxious child
she sings with him
“I Hope You Dance”

Debbie Scheving
Bremerton WA USA

 

guitar notes…
floating on the breeze
the scent of ylang ylang

wanda amos
Australia

 

Mozart’s requiem
reverberate ….
funeral march

Mohammad Azim Khan
Peshawar, Pakistan

 

morning love fest
the medley of songs
I sing to the cat

Cynthia Anderson
Yucca Valley, California

 

stellar music
streams from the mountain
flowing water

Minko Tanev
Bulgaria

 

autumn outing
salutation the peaks
with a mountain song

Stoianka Boianova
Bulgaria

 

autumn sunset —
gliding between memories
flute notes

Fatma Zohra Habis
Algeria

 

knowing
every note by heart
carousel horses

Roberta Beach Jacobson
Indianola, IA, USA

 

catch a fish
the heart of a song
also slips the hook

Rachel Greve
Wisconsin, United States

 

first English lesson
all together shouting
Yellow Submarine

Mariangela Canzi
Italy

 

half-moon night
listening to nocturnal calls
my heart with her

Lakshman Bulusu
Princeton, NJ, USA

 

power ballad
karaoke tears
hitting that note (just about)

Mark Gilbert
UK

 

humming
her mother’s lullaby
the child with a doll

Milan Rajkumar
Imphal, India

 

without ceasing
the sparrow singing
a life of prayer

Richard Straw
Cary, North Carolina

 

the humming notes
from the empty chair
cold moon

Nitu Yumnam
UAE

 

autumn deepens –
he looks for the sheet music
of Moonlight Sonata

Steliana Cristina Voicu
Ploiesti, Romania

 

muscle memory
she taps her foot
to our song

thomas david
United Kingdom

 

the poor man
plays on his single-string fiddle
bach’s air on a g-string

de arme man
speelt op zijn éénsnarige viool
bach’s air on a g-string

Guido De Pelsmaeker
België (Holsbeek)

 

rice paddy flute
the melody of father
and his father

A.J. Anwar
Jakarta, Indonesia

 

sunrise
our limbs entwine…
the lark ascending

Melissa Dennison
UK

 

guqing
without words—
dusk meditation

Christina Chin
Borneo State

 

on the way home
humming her last song
the moon and I

Zahra Mughis
Lahore, Pakistan

 

amazing grace
holding my mother’s hands
one last time

Linda Powers O’Dell
Richmond VA

 

my voice
inside
my flute

Diana Jeong
Pasadena, CA, USA

 

wildflower
young sweet only seventeen
years ago

Lorelyn Arevalo
Bombon, Philippines

 

morning has broken—
imagine— sounds of silence—
blowin’ in the wind

David Hoffmann
Ashland, Oregon, USA

 

raining. . .
where it’s just the two of us
in gentle rhythm

Anthony Rabang
Philippines

 

tango violins
an elderly couple
holding hands

Arrigo Bassi
Switzerland

 

Brojna Čavoglave —
what can the foe do
on our own stone

(Brojna Čavoglave – a song from the Homeland War)

Tomislav Maretić
Croatia

 

nocturnal suburban train –
‘five hundred miles’
still reverberates

Madhuri Pillai
Australia

 

out of nowhere
granny’s lullaby …
insomnia

Natalia Kuznetsova
Russia

 

out of touch…
no wind
in the pines

Amoolya Kamalnath
India

 

nightfall
after the adagio
the sound of starlight

Jonathan English
Washington, DC

 

blast of loudspeakers
we sign, dance
to the floor’s vibrations

Vicki Vogt
Watertown, MA

 

strawberry field
a migrant humming
an old doina

(Doina – a Romanian folk song)

Cristina Pietraru
Romania

 

autumn rain…
adding depth
to my tune

Flory Untanu
Romania

 

reeds in the wind
remembering dad
playing Pan flute

Cezar Ciobica
Romania

 

the flute’s tremolo first orgasm

susan burch
Hagerstown, MD

 

gibberish refrain…
a kid coaching his dad
to sing right

Sumitra Kumar
India

 

waking up
to my mother’s Saturday
blasting bizet’s Carmen

Madeleine Kavanagh
Northern California

 

your cello my voice finding the key

Rita Melissano
Rock Island, IL USA

 

grandma’s lullaby
rocking my baby to sleep
the same old magic

Cristina Povero
Italy

 

Schubert impromptus
the dog and I listen
during her last days

Mark Meyer
Mercer Island WA USA

 

funeral service
a last song—
sobbing

Ruth H. Hermosa
Oriental Mindoro, Philippines

 

tuning fork
the ache between us
rings true

C.X. Turner
U.K.

 

your phantom presence
our song
my earworm

Maxianne Berger
Outremont, Quebec

 

thumri
I become both
RadhaKrishna

Biswajit Mishra
Canada

 

music of the spheres
like clockwork i awaken

rob barkan
usa

 

summer breeze
the music of flowing water
witching its folds

Baisali Chatterjee Dutt
Kolkata, India

 

dad can’t find
the saxophone keys –
alzheimer

Mircea Moldovan
România

 

finch’s song —
all I wanted
to say

Hynek Koziol
Czech Republic

 

the way he twirls me
this way and that . . .
The Sultan of Swing

Lori Kiefer
UK

 

she loves me…
she loves me not…
Carmina Burana

Maya Daneva
The Netherlands

 

sleep my little one…
the lullaby that put
us both to sleep

Carol Reynolds
Australia

 

humming lullabies
under a blood moon
empty cradle

Annie Wilson
Shropshire, UK

 

punk rock
a generation’s angst
fading to grey

Jenn Ryan-Jauregui
Tucson Arizona USA

 

power chords
no separation
I am the music

Margie Gustafson
Lombard, IL USA

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

Bios:

Guest Editor Deborah Karl-Brandt lives in Sinzig, Germany, with her husband, two rabbits and numerous books. After her PhD studies in Scandinavian languages and literatures, she works as a freelance author and poet. Her poems have appeared in magazines like Prune Juice, Kingfisher, First Frost, Frogpond, Failed Haiku and Tsuridoro. If she is not outside for a long stroll or to do some birdwatching, she explores Chinese and Japanese novels.

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.