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triveni spotlight : 1 july

Writer's picture: tejisethi13tejisethi13

triveni spotlight A FEATURE EVERY ALTERNATE DAY! hosts: Teji Sethi and Kala Ramesh guest editor: Scott Mason

Theme: hand play



evening news

she files her nails

down to nothing


Megan Arkenberg

The Heron’s Nest

Vol. X, No. 3 (September 2008)


All these poems were originally published in The Heron's Nest. I chose to confine my search there not just for the quality but also for the convenience of its online archive. Scott Mason



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12 Comments


Kenneth Slaughter
Jul 03, 2022

i picture a woman becoming engrossed in the news and becoming anxious about what she sees. She files her nails much further than she wanted to - down to nothing. This act of hers invites a comparison with what she sees on the news. My first thought is Ukraine, where the country is being reduced to almost nothing. This is a painful sight as is the feeling in her nails now

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Billie Dee
Billie Dee
Jul 02, 2022

evening news

she files her nails

down to nothing

Megan Arkenberg


I won't repeat what others have said, except to agree that the power of Arkenberg's senryu lies in its dystopian horror-vs.-ennui ambiguity.

I'll add that metaphorically "she" is now defenseless without her nails. And doesn't the daily news often leave us feeling that way, with its emphasis on violence and seemingly senseless tragedy? The irony is that our declawing is self-inflicted.

At a certain point we become numb, mute, addicted to this constant barrage. Shades of Ray Bradbury's / Francois Truffaut's Fahrenheit 451? Maybe the antidote to this distracted, often anomic state is the groomed Haiku Mind.

Strong poem. As Lakshmi said, it "strikes deep." Thanks Scott and…


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Billie Dee
Billie Dee
Jul 03, 2022
Replying to

'dystopian horror-vs.-ennui ambiguity' (I've added hyphens to clarify)


Hi Lakshmi.

Please forgive my poor communication. Sometimes I get carried away with jargon and forget we are talking about haiku, where simple language is best.

But to explain:

Dystopia is the opposite of Utopia. It describes a society where there is deep injustice and corruption, usually totalitarian control and constant surveillance—one where a central authority (like government, the military, prisons, religion, wealthy families, big corporations) tries to regulate everything in daily life, even your thoughts. Nazi Germany immediately comes to mind, as well as tyrannical monarchies and religions. I'm sure you can think of some modern examples. Many futuristic movies depict this, like Fahrenheit 451.

So much of what w…

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lakshmi iyer
lakshmi iyer
Jul 02, 2022

'Heron's Nest' is one of the best journals that picks up poems that strike deep. What to say about Scott Mason! I'm eagerly waiting to read his selections.


evening news

she files her nails

down to nothing

Megan Arkenberg


Line 1 'evening news' is such a simple image, the usual scene we find in most of the houses where they switch on the TV/radio.

L2 and L3 has lifted up the whole scenario. Here there are two possibilities, either she finds an interesting event or maybe a rather boring one. Both ways, there are chances of zeroing your activity 'to nothing'. The news maybe 'repetitive or not of any of her interest'. She is least concerned about the end result.…


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lakshmi iyer
lakshmi iyer
Jul 02, 2022
Replying to

Just my thoughts. If Megan or Scott can describe it well, nothing like that.

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Kala Ramesh
Kala Ramesh
Jul 02, 2022

Does no one have anything to comment on this haiku? :)) Waiting to hear from you.

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Janice Doppler
Janice Doppler
Jul 01, 2022

evening news

she files her nails

down to nothing


Megan Arkenberg


Line 1 is so open, so many interpretations. Line 2 struck me as a bored woman and the surprise of line 3 … so captured by the news she doesn’t stop filing and the openness of multiple possibilities for why.

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