crackling beach fire--
     we hum in place of words
we can't recall

—Michael Dylan Welch

The Heron’s Nest VI:11, Dec. 2004, p. 3 [in print and online]
Winner of a Runner-Up Heron’s Nest Award

I hope the humming here adds to the mellow mood of contemplation that so often occurs when gathering around a campfire, even while everyone joins in to sing.

About the author: Michael Dylan Welch is editor/publisher of Tundra: The Journal of the Short Poem. A long-time vice president of the Haiku Society of America, he was also cofounder of the Haiku North America conference in 1991, cofounder of the American Haiku Archives in 1996, and founder of the Tanka Society of America in 2000. He has published his poetry in hundreds of journals and anthologies in more than a dozen languages, and has won first prize in each of the Henderson, Brady, Drevniok, and Tokutomi contests, among others. Though originally British, and having grown up in England, Ghana, Australia, and Canada, Michael now lives with his wife and two children near Seattle, Washington.

8 responses
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published 4 July 2007
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Responses to the haiku for 4 July 2007 by Michael Dylan Welch

  1.  
    Alan Summers
    2007-07-04 01:23:31
     

    Takes me back to so many bonfires in Queensland when I was doing landcare.

    I enjoyed the haiku because it touches on our needs to remain communal, and even if we "forget the words" we still reach forward to embrace the moment.

  2.  
    Alexander Woodhouse
    2007-07-04 06:15:24
     

    Wow, that haiku truly has an incredible power..

  3.  
    kala ramesh
    2007-07-04 07:32:40
     

    Well said Alan. . . I totally agree with your thoughts.

    Michael this a beautiful moment you've captured.

    _kala

  4.  
    judith Ingram
    2007-07-04 13:35:00
     

    So evocative, Michael. Hopefully everyone can remember
    being a part of that lovely and loving scene.

  5.  
    Bill Kenney
    2007-07-04 16:09:26
     

    And I can't carry a tune, either. But I love the truth of this moment.

  6.  
    paul winters
    2007-07-04 18:00:19
     

    a good small poem
    dwarfed
    by
    the bio.

  7.  
    Carole MacRury
    2007-07-06 09:36:50
     

    Lovely haiku, Michael. This says a lot to me pesonally in regards to remembering the melody, but not the words. The former being much more visceral. I would have preferred not to hear your thoughts on the haiku though...

    Carole

  8.  
    b. m. richardson (orgbob at webtv dot net)
    2007-07-14 03:28:03
     

    carole, in the wee hours of the morning, i was caught off-guard by your comment. i tried stifling the laughter, but thought, "what the hell; anyway, my neighbor's light is on".

    now, i labour to clean the coffee off my monitor...

    -

    crackling thunder-
    the silence heard
    round the room

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