crackling beach fire–
we hum in place of words
we can’t recall

Published by

Michael Dylan Welch

Michael Dylan Welch served two terms as poet laureate of Redmond, Washington, where he has curated monthly SoulFood Poetry Night readings since 2006 and was president of the Redmond Association of Spokenword for more than 15 years. His books include True Colour, a collection of solo rengay, and Seven Suns, Seven Moons. He founded and continues to direct the annual Seabeck Haiku Getaway, runs National Haiku Writing Month (www.nahaiwrimo.com), and serves as a director of the biennial Haiku North America conference. He has been keynote speaker for the Haiku International Association conference in Tokyo, and in 2012 one of his translations from the Japanese appeared on the back of 150 million U.S. postage stamps. His personal website is www.graceguts.com, devoted mostly to poetry.

8 thoughts on “”

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

    Michael this a beautiful moment you’ve captured.

    _kala

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

  4. 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

  5. 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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