triveni spotlight
A FEATURE EVERY ALTERNATE DAY!
hosts: Teji Sethi and Kala Ramesh
guest editor: Stanford M. Forrester/sekiro
Theme: The Editor's Best Haiku from bottle rockets
shell of a cicada
a song
sung out Johnette Downing (br34/17:2)
Triveni Haikai India
Walking through some of the back issues of bottle rocket a collection of short verse
bottle rockets is a haiku literary magazine that has been in print for 23 years. At the invitation of Kala Ramesh, I have gone through ten or so back issues and have chosen some haiku, senryu, and short poems that I feel have contributed to the magazine's overall feel. I'm happy to share these poems with the readers of Triveni Haikai India. My only wish is that you will enjoy reading them as much as I have.
—Stanford M. Forrester/sekiro, editor of bottle rockets press
Soulful song - life itself
Superb composition! L1 goes as follows. Once upon a time there was a cicada. It had an outer self, a shell, and an inner self. And L1 speaks only of the outer self. So, the reader is warned in L1 itself. One might even commit the atrocity of suspecting that this haiku is all about the outer self. The inside is emptiness. Does it make L1 itself the "aha"? No, it doesn't and there lies the supreme beauty of this haiku. Clearly the cicada is no longer living, but what has it left behind? Go to L2. A song. It has left behind the song it used to sing. The memory of that lovely song of life. The reader already…
Most poignant. death is inevitable.
Lovely!!!!
How sad, and so beautifully crafted!