Did I have any idea what I was getting myself into when I announced this topic? No, I did not. I had no idea that so many people would send me so much varied and amazing poetry about dragonflies. Just as I had no idea there were so many kinds of dragonflies until I started doing a little (okay, a lot) of research…
I’ll launch into the poetry in a minute, but first off, for those among you who like me have to know every. single. thing. there is to know. about something before you can possibly just enjoy reading about it (yes, we are annoying)… here is the Wikipedia article on dragonflies (which fascinatingly contains an entire section on the role dragonflies play in Japanese culture and even references haiku) and here is the page on dragonfly kigo from Gabi Greve’s World Kigo Database.
Okay, I’ll shut up now and let you enjoy this dream of dragonflies.
_________________________________________________________________________
.
(Photo by Jay Otto)
.
aki no ki no akatombo ni sadamarinu
The beginning of autumn,
Decided
By the red dragon-fly.
— Shirao, translated by R.H. Blyth
.
toogarashi hane o tsukereba akatonbo
red pepper
put wings on it
red dragonfly
— Basho, translated by Patricia Donegan
.
(Photo by Jay Otto)
a dragonfly lands
on a stranded paper boat…
summer’s end
— Polona Oblak, Crows and Daisies
.
within his armful
of raked leaves
this lifeless dragonfly
— Kirsten Cliff, Swimming in Lines of Haiku
.
(Artwork and poetry by Rick Daddario, 19 Planets)
dragonflies
the soft blur of time
in another land
.
(Photo by Jay Otto)
.
out of myself just briefly dragonfly
.
adding a touch
of blue to the breeze –
dragonfly
(Magnapoets Issue 4 July 2009)
.
fading light –
everything the dragonfly
has to say
— Paul Smith, Paper Moon
.
(Artwork by Amy Smith, The Spider Tribe’s Blog)
.
a crimson darter
skims the mirror-lake…
your lips on mine
tomorrow
may never come
.
twisting and turning
a dragonfly splits
a ray of light …
he says he loves me
in his own way
(Simply Haiku Winter 2011)
.
catching
the blue eye of the breeze
dragonfly
(Simply Haiku Spring 2011)
.
— Claire Everett, At the Edge of Dreams
.
(Photo by Jay Otto)
.
on the water lily
remains of a dragonfly
morning stillness
(Evergreen English Haiku, 1995)
.
from sedge
to sedge to sedge
dragonfly
.
with a few brushstrokes the dragonfly comes alive
.
autumn dragonfly
waning
like the moon
a few scarlet leaves
silently fall
.
— Pamela A. Babusci
.
(Artwork by Rick Daddario, 19 Planets)
.
Dragonfly rising
everything shining
in the wind
.
Gold dragonflies
crisscross the air in silence:
summer sunset
.
A cirrus sky
one hundred dark dragonflies
with golden wings
.
— Kris Lindbeck, Haiku Etc.
.
.
(Photo by Jay Otto)
.
The dragon-fly,
It tried in vain to settle
On a blade of grass.
— Basho, translated by R.H. Blyth
.
The dragon-fly
Perches on the stick
That strikes at him.
— Kohyo, translated by R.H. Blyth
.
the instant it flies up
a dragonfly
loses its shadow
— Inahata Teiko (1931-), translated by Makoto Ueda
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(Artwork by Rick Daddario, 19 Planets)
.
red dragonfly
on my shoulder, what
rank do I have?
.
spiderweb down,
a damselfly touches
my lips
— Michael Nickels-Wisdom
.
born in the year
of the dragon-
fly!
— Mary Ahearn
.
(Photo by Jay Otto)
.
sunset
from the tip of my shoe
the red dragonfly
(South by Southeast 18:2)
dew on grasses
the dragonflies
are gone
.
in a wrinkle
of light
dragonfly
.
— Donna Fleischer, word pond
.
(Poetry by Melissa Allen; illustration clip art)
.
.
through and through the gate dragonfly
— Melissa Allen
.
.
coupling dragonflies
at break-neck speed—
HOT!
(Modern Haiku 35.1)
— Susan Diridoni
.
(Photo by Jay Otto)
.
on the dried husk
that was an iris blossom
black dragonfly
.
we came here
seeking solitude
the loon
the dragonfly
and the speedboat
— Christina Nguyen, A wish for the sky…
.
(Artwork by Kitagawa Utamaro: “Red Dragonfly and Locust [Aka tonbo and Inago]”, from Picture Book of Selected Insects with Crazy Poems [Ehon Mushi Erabi]). From the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City.)
.
this brief life a dragonfly
.
dragonfly
where there is water
a path
.
— angie werren, feathers
.
tombô ya ni shaku tonde wa mata ni shaku
dragonfly–
flying two feet
then two feet more
— Issa, translated by David G. Lanoue
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(Photo by Jay Otto)
.
a break in the rain…
the stillness
of the dragonfly
— sanjuktaa, wild berries
.
dragonfly—
how much of me
do you see?
— Alegria Imperial, jornales
.
noonday heat
dragonflies slice
the still air
(South by Southeast Vol. 12 #1)
— T.D. Ingram, @haikujots (on twitter)
.
evening breeze
teetering on its perch
a red dragonfly
(Haiku Pix Review, summer 2011)
.— G.R. LeBlanc, Berry Blue Haiku
.
high notes
a red dragonfly skims
across the sound
— Margaret Dornaus, Haiku-Doodle
.
(Haiga by Polona Oblak, Crows and Daisies)
.
the heat
between downpours
blue dragonflies
— Mark Holloway, Beachcombing for the Landlocked
.
Steel blue flash
flies wing
drifts
— Robert Mullen
.
.
dragonfly dreams
the hospital intercom
repeats her name
.
with the password
to her sanity
darting dragonfly
.
iridescent dragonfly
hard to see
how her Ph.D. matters
.
tell me the old stories
one last time
convalescent dragonfly
.
discharge papers
the dragonfly returns home
on new meds
.
letting go of her walker
she lifts into the night sky
dragonfly
.
— Susan Antolin, Artichoke Season
.
Multimedia Interlude:
Sick of everything around here being flat and quiet? I found some moving stuff that makes noise for you too.
- First, there’s this amazing (very) short film by Paul Kroeker of the last moments of a dragonfly’s life, which I discovered via Donna Fleischer at word pond. It’s set to music and is incredibly compelling:
- Second, there are several versions of the well-known Japanese folk song (I mean, well-known to the Japanese) Aka Tombo, which means “Red Dragonfly.” This is apparently an indispensable part of every Japanese child’s upbringing. There are an almost infinite number of variations of this on YouTube so if these four aren’t enough for you, feel free to go noodling around over there looking for more.
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and on this general theme…
.
perched on bamboo grass
the low notes
of a dragonfly
(Haiku inspired by Tif Holmes’s Photo-Haiku Project: http://tifholmesphotography.com/cphp/2011/07/july-2011-series-entry-11/)
— Kathy Nguyen (A~Lotus), Poetry by Lotus
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for when even
the music stops—
dragonfly wings
— Aubrie Cox, Yay words!
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(Photo by Jay Otto)
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mid-morning
a dragonfly and I
bound for Mississippi
.
in and out of view
the computer-drawn dragonfly
on the web page
— Tzetzka Ilieva
.
dragonfly
at 60 miles per hour
those giant eyes
— Johnny Baranski
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(Photo by Jay Otto)
.
first impressions
a dragonfly hovers
before landing
— Cara Holman, Prose Posies
.
.
.
.
— Linda Papanicolaou, Haiga Online
.
In this forest glade
The snail gone, a dragonfly lights
On the mushroom cap
— P. Allen
.
.
‘Oh! Catch it!’
‘I heard they eat their own tails’
When I was a child, living on an Air Force base in Okinawa, it was a common belief, among the elementary school set, a dragonfly would eat itself if you caught it and fed it its own tail. I looked online and didn’t find any references to this notion so maybe we were all sniffing the good Japanese glue.
Anyhow, even though we constantly snagged lizards and grasshoppers and cicadas, I never saw any one ever catch a dragonfly, as common as they were.
dragonfly
we play in the puddles
afraid to get close
— Steve Mitchell, Heed Not Steve
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(Photo by Jay Otto)
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dragonfly—
wings vibrating
on the rock face
(From the sequence “Ten Haiku: For the Dodge Tenth Anniversary Hike” in The Monkey’s Face)
dragonfly
on my fingernail
looks at me
(From Wind in the Long Grass, edited by William J. Higginson [Simon & Schuster, Books for Young Readers, 1991])
— Penny Harter, Penny Harter homepage, A Poet’s Alphabestiary, Etc.
.
An old tree
No bud and no leaf
full of dragonflies.
— @vonguyenphong22 (on Twitter)
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neti neti
a dragonfly hums
raga Megh
(raga Megh(a)=a raga for the monsoon season. Neti neti= a key expression from the Upanishads: “not this nor this” or “not this nor that” alluding to the essence of things.)
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”the sky’s gone out”
on the radio – and then
a dragonfly
.
dragonfly –
I mark an unpaid bill
“later”
— Johannes S.H. Bjerg, 2 tongues/2 tunger
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(Photo by Melissa Allen)
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in and out the reeds
a blue dragonfly
mother keeps sewing
.
stitching
water and sky together
– damselflies
— Paganini Jones, http://www.pathetic.org/library/5644
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boys playing games
stones miss the darning needle
— Jim Sullivan, haiku and commentary and tales
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dragonfly heading to the lemon hanging in the sun
— Gene Myers, genemyers.com, @myersgene (on Twitter)
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(Artwork by Kitagawa Utamaro, “Dragonfly and Butterfly,” from A Selection of Insects)
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bluetail damselfly
escapes the empty cottage
where children once played
(1st place Kiyoshi Tokutomi Memorial Haiku Contest 2009)
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on the bus
to the children’s museum
first dragonfly
— Roberta Beary, Roberta Beary
.
flitting idly
from flower to flower
a blue damsel
lights upon the lotus
unfolding iridescence
— Margaret Dornaus, Haiku-Doodle
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(Photo by Jay Otto)
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dark waters
a dragonfly dreaming
its reflection
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iridescent wings
the flying parts of
the dragon
— Stella Pierides, Stella Pierides
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silhouetted dragonfly
reeds pierce the moon
(The Mainichi Daily News, May 30, 2009)
— Martin Gottlieb Cohen
wow.
speechless
the dragonfly returns
for a second look
…wow. again.
rick — your ‘golden dragonfly’ is amazing! 😉
oh cool, i’m delighted with that reaction, Angie, thank you, they are amazing creatures.
Thanks. 🙂 And yes, I agree with Angie, I love that golden dragonfly. (Though it took my husband to inform me that it was the same dragonfly as the one you used for my other dragonfly poem…nice recycling!)
bwahahahaha – yeah, Jay has a great eye. yeah, i do use and re-use work i do (that golden dragonfly was actually done in 2008 – which is the date on it). i’m also constantly creating new work as well. the digital world has endless possibilities and i enjoy exploring it in as many ways as i can think of… dragonfly on. aloha.
I admire both your efficient recycling ability and your seemingly bottomless well of new ideas. 🙂
I can only agree with Rick!
Thanks, Tzetzka!
melissa,
again, you did a superb job of show casing the
poetry works & haiga from a vast array of
wonderful haiku & tanka poets about dragonflies; these
little magical creatures who stir our souls & hearts with
their flight, beauty & their gift of drawing us closer to Nature.
thanks SO much for all your generosity & kindness in presenting
these venues for us humans to express our words & art!!
hugs, pamela
Thanks so much, Pamela…I had such a wonderful time doing this, I feel like I should be thanking all my contributors for sharing their amazing work with me. 🙂
All I could say is WOW∞!
Thanks, Martin!
Fantastic! This is better even than the mushroom harvest.The photos by your husband are magical…!The poetry is superb! What else can i say? Thanks a lot!
Thanks so much, Sanjukta!
Wowzers. That is amazing. Particulary loving the poems by Linda Papanicolaou and Susan Antolin. But they are all great. As are the pictures.
Also, thank you the inclusion.
Thanks much!
This is inspired and inspiring- thank you! The poems,art,and the short film-oh that was so moving!
Thank you again and again.
Mary
Thanks so much, Mary!
oh, so beautiful melissa! I think I read the whole thing with my mouth open. thank you for taking the time to do this so extraordinarily, and for including my little poems.
wait — shhh. do you hear that? it’s the sound of a thousand dragonflies clapping. 😉
That would be quite a sound! 🙂 Thanks so much, Angie, and thank you for participating.
What a glorious gathering here, of dragonflies, of poems, of art. A wondrous labor of love, your dragonfly showcase, Melissa, and I’m honored to play a part. Thank you for the great joys of each and all.
Many thanks, Donna!
this is fun
i hope the damselflies don’t feel left out
lost in a pond
where once red dragonflies
a swarm of stars
A re-write of my first haiku gift to you for this collection that’s to me an e-chapbook! What an explosion of poetry and art. Can’t wait for the next, Melissa!
And thank you for including my conversation with a dragonfly.
Nice ku, Alegria! Thank you for the kind words.
oh, wait
i see i missed a few damselflies
beautiful arrangement
I was gonna say…you need to read more carefully, we provide equal opportunity here for dragonflies and damselflies!
Thanks much, Mark.
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Melissa, Thanks so much for showcasing all this fine poetry and art. I have my favorites but I don’t want to single anyone out all the work here being so very good.
Thanks, Johnny, and thanks for your fine work yourself. 🙂
Wonderful post. I can’t let it pass without adding a note about the dragonflies in this area……
thunderstorms
a blue dragonfly
skims the lake
Thanks so much for the wonderful haiku, Merrill. I miss those New England dragonflies!
wow, what a wonderful collection, melissa! fantastic job as always, thank you.
(see, i even broke my personal rule of not commenting on blogs)
🙂
Well, I’m glad I tempted you into replying! Thanks, Polona, and thanks for contributing.
Wow, wow, wow! Absolutely amazing collection of poems and photography. That short film was so touching, too. Thanks for putting this together Melissa, and I’m honored to have a haiku included! ~~ Gisele 🙂
Thanks, Gisele! And thanks for your contribution.
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Tremendous fun! (Have I responded with the same comment in other posts? Well, it is tremendous fun!) Thank you, Melissa.
You’re welcome, Steve! I never mind repeated compliments, so feel free.
Watching the Dragonfly film – ripped my guts out for some reason.
Probably because it’s gut-ripping. That guy is some kind of genius.
Wow you deserve some kind of an award for putting this all together, Melissa. Bravo to all of the haijin, artists and photographers that participated. Yes, Rick’s golden dragonfly was phenomenal. and the short film deeply moved me.
Thanks so much, Terri! Sorry you didn’t hear the call for poetry, I’m sure yours would have been great.
you certainly have gathered some beautiful words and photos here. i love how dragonflies come in so many beautiful colors. thank you. cheers, y
Thanks, Yi-Ching!
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So rich and delightful! Thank you for compiling and presenting these dragonfly gifts. :0)
Thanks, Robyn!
Dragonflies are my angels. I am indebted to Denis Garrison for helping me find you. I might have more photos, and/or haiku for you.
Thanks!
Thanks for stopping by, Nancy. I’m not taking submissions for any posts right now, but if you keep an eye on the blog I may be announcing another topic soon.
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What a lovely haiku party for dragonfly — enjoyed it, Melissa! I bet you and all the participated poets and artists had a great fun 🙂 If you throw another party like this, I’ll try to join it !
Thanks, Origa! I hope you do.
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This is such an amazing blog. VERY cool. 🙂
Thanks, Mandy, glad you stopped by!
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Absolutely stunning work, Melissa. Reading these took me right back to a time in France where my husband and kids and I spent a lazy afternoon watching dragonflies hover over a slow-moving river.
French holiday
she wants to take the dragonflies
back to Ireland
marion 🙂
Sounds idyllic, Marion! What a wonderful memory.
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Gorgeous! Beautiful! Music for the eye and soul!
Excellent travail , si vous le souhaitez, vous pouvez aller voir mon Drag Bird …!!!
What splendid dragonfly inspired poetry. You have some of the finest poets around writing on this beautiful theme, and along with all your own writing and the beautiful artwork, this is a post to return to again and again (and I have…and I will). I love your blog.
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