open sky :: SAMVAAD |19th March
- sanjuktaa
- Mar 19, 2023
- 1 min read
Updated: Mar 26, 2023
hosts: sanjuktaa asopa & Kashiana Singh
cottontails
among the prairies grasses
we were young, once
— Maxianne Berger
(Composed at Haiku North America, Santa Fe, 2017)
The poem is gorgeous and that's why we chose to feature it, but there's another side to it which could take us on an interesting journey. How this poem came to be written? Here's an insight into the process in the poet's own words.
"You'll find attached a PDF which, when printed recto-verso, cut, stapled, folded and slit, becomes the fliplit for which "cottontails" was composed.
At Haiku North America in Santa Fe, New Mexico, in 2017, I gave a presentation about the uses of OuLiPo constraints in composing haiku—a way to extend possibilities. For the conference itself I put together a little fliplit as a gift to the attendees: each first line of each of the five "origina…
youthness is so transient and vulnerable like a cottontails heartbeat...once we were young among the prairie grass dancing, jumping in glee...and now regret that the youthness has left us. ah! once...very nostalgic. lovely ku
This is beautiful. There are so many ways to interpret this. It's so full of life and expectation, but also nostalgia. It is going in my book of favorites.