hosts : Sanjuktaa Asopa & Aparna Pathak
cumulus
I realise I've lived
all my life on islands
- Alison Williams
( Presence 45, January 2012; appeared on a stone at the New Zealand Katikati haiku pathway )
open sky :: SAMVAAD | 7th April
Updated: Apr 11
empty sky --
a single bird fills
it all
p.s. the comments welcome
Here is my take on the poem. Clouds never settle anywhere in particular in the sky. Watching the clouds' inconstancy, the poet reflects on the transitional nature of living in general. Living amounts to travelling through time and time, like the clouds, keeps moving. The islands can be viewed as the moments of time we encounter in our living . Each moment is an island that is different from the subsequent one. I wondered about the kigo. Possibly, it could be any season, since clouds form all through the year. However, "cumulus" may well be a reference to a certain season. If so, then despite encountering them during a particular season, and hence in a seasonally unique shape and colour…
Thanks to all of you who commented. Alison Williams doesn't say much about the poem, but there is enough dreaming room here for the readers, or so we felt. Now to the poet:
I can't be sure of the exact moment of inspiration for writing but I think it was while watching fair weather clouds pass over and musing on a lifetime of travel. I have always loved islands, large and small.
Lovely ku!
home
what the glacier
left behind
(I grew up on an island, and now I live on a Cape!)