hosts: Sanjuktaa Asopa & Vandana Parashar
forsythia
the widow's blinds
part slightly
---- Chuck Brickley
(Mariposa 31, 2014 ; THF Touchstone Award for Individual Poems 2014)
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hosts: Sanjuktaa Asopa & Vandana Parashar
forsythia
the widow's blinds
part slightly
---- Chuck Brickley
(Mariposa 31, 2014 ; THF Touchstone Award for Individual Poems 2014)
Chuck has shared the backstory along with a beautiful picture of his inspiration behind this haiku. He says-
“The force that through the green fuse drives the flower ––Dylan Thomas
There’s a story behind my haiku "forsythia". A very long time after noticing a widowed neighbour peek through her blinds one day, it occured to me that perhaps she was looking at our forsythia bush when it was in bloom. I started to work on a haiku. I knew my protagonist, knew my imagery, but was having trouble deciding the sequence of their appearances. The widow first, or the flowers?
the widow
peeks through her blinds . . . forsythia
Realistically, this may be how the actual event happened, but…
Just one word, beautiful. Simple yet so many layers, and hidden meaning. What I saw in this haiku was healing. It's spring time, harsh winter has passed, and someone is finally ready to open their window. L3 tells me that it is just the first step and that's a good start. Beautiful!
There is only one way I can describe this poem. It's absurdly beautiful. It has no right to be so wondrously touching. It generated a whole lot of images in mind, going back to the origins of haiku in haikai no renga. Widows kept on showing up in those works, but they were projected in a hopelessly crude manner. Most degrading. When I read this poem, I saw a total metamorphosis from those horrors. This poem reminds me also of the classic movie Zorba the Greek. If you have watched it, you will immediately see what I mean. You have produced for me the image of a lonely widow, young perhaps, and her suitor. I see the suitor waiting with…
Minimum and yet so effective!!
lifting eyelids if
starts eighth protocol
is system online