out of the ocean
the moon
lifts

9 Responses

  1. barbara Says:

    Made me think of this:
    Out of a daisy
    a yellow sun
    rises

  2. martin mikelberg Says:

    I submitted the Haiku, never expecting it be published. Reading my mind, I suspect that it was a variation of a Nicholas Virgilio haiku – Lily, out of the water, out of itself – for which he received acclaim from the Emperor of Japan at the time. I met him and attended a session in Pennsylvania , a small group setting, where he recited many of his poems, using a candle in a unlit room for a background effect. He inspired me to write haiku, but I usually only write "ku" , or minimal haiku, i.e. hiddenemyself , downwindown, onewe, and others.
    Thanks for your comment.

  3. Alan Summers Says:

    Thanks Mike, wonderful to hear from the author. :-)

  4. Brandon Bordelon Says:

    emerging
    from the hot tub
    harvest moon

  5. haikuapprentice Says:

    What a lovely haiku, Martin. And perfectly timed to coincide with the full moon last night.
    As I'm sure many haiku enthusiasts know, moon-viewing has long been a major aesthetic pursuit among the Japanese, and many literary and artistic works celebrate the glories of the full moon. Although I made no poetic attempt myself last night, my son and I paused to admire it.

    What I particularly love about your poem is the pacing. Each line ends with a pause, almost a breath, which slows down the reading of the poem, and matches the slow progress of the moon rising.

    And the final word, "lifting" – an inspired (and literally "inspiring") choice!

    Wonderful poem to add to my favourites.

    Strider

  6. Alan Summers Says:

    No self-respecting haiku writer would fail to pen at least a hundred haiku with moons during their lifetime.

    I'm not dead yet, so here's just a few:

    the moon is broken
    Battersea Power Station
    from a train window

    Alan Summers
    Award credit: 1st Prize, World Monuments Fund 2012 Haiku Contest

    first quarter moon
    dancing pinheads burst
    into new angel DNA

    Alan Summers
    Publications credits:
    Asahi Shimbun (Japan, August 2012); Does Fish-God Know (YTBN Press 2012)

    falling snow moon
    the slowness of shadows
    caught in branches

    Alan Summers
    Publications credits: Presence #47 (2012)

    chestnut moon shifting in my memory ghost floors

    Alan Summers
    Publication Credits: Roadrunner 12.3 (December 2012); LAKEVIEW International Journal of Literature and Arts Vol.1, No.1 February 2013

  7. @DreamsOfTaos Says:

    Yes, my own number of moon poems is staggering in relation to whatever my second place category may be. Just too many opportunities. I have a smaller, sub-genre of day moon poems, with the subject inevitably portrayed as the eternally out-of-place misfit:

    day moon
    I wasn't made
    for these times

    (Presence No. 47)

    S.M. Abeles

  8. Jan Dobb Says:

    'for lease'
    an empty house full of
    moonlight

    Jan Dobb
    (FreeXpression, XVIII:5, May 2011)

  9. seaviewwarrenpoint Says:

    Wonderful. I like how it could be the moon that lifts the ocean as well as itself.

    I wrote a French one about a moon that was reluctant to leave the sky!

    point du jour
    le mât d’un voilier donne un petit coup
    à la lune

    Gong Journal of the French Haiku Association, No. 39

    Translation

    daybreak
    the mast of a yacht
    pokes the moon

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