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triveni spotlight: 21st january

Updated: Jan 22, 2023

triveni spotlight A FEATURE EVERY ALTERNATE DAY! hosts: Teji Sethi and Kala Ramesh GUEST EDITOR: Michael Dylan Welch



five years

in the wrong window;

the violet’s first bloom



Kay F. Anderson Woodnotes #22, Autumn 1994



About the poem:

I once shared this poem with a friend of mine who immediately wanted to keep a copy. She had just moved to San Francisco to start a new life after ending a five-year marriage. She felt like she was finally blooming after being in the “wrong window” for all those years. On the surface, this poem is about just the flower itself, but the deeper meaning is what we bring to it as readers, as my friend did. For me it’s also a caution against procrastination—it reminds me of Gary Snyder’s “After weeks of watching the roof leak / I fixed it tonight / by moving a single board.” Isn’t that how life is sometimes?


Note by the Editor

Woodnotes triveni spotlight


by Michael Dylan Welch


From 1989 to 1997, in various capacities, I edited or helped to edit Woodnotes, the quarterly journal of the Haiku Poets of Northern California, and in 1996 I took on the journal independently before replacing it with my new journal Tundra. I lived in the San Francisco area for more than a dozen years and was active with HPNC from its first year in 1989 until I moved north to Seattle in 2002. Working on Woodnotes with such coeditors as vincent tripi, Ebba Story, Christopher Herold, and Paul O. Williams was a fine education in the art of haiku. The following are selections of favourite haiku and senryu from the journal’s 31 issues, with brief commentary. These poems are expressions of wonder, or as Billy Collins once described haiku, they exhibit “existential gratitude.” In return, I am deeply grateful for the thousands of poems published in Woodnotes over the years, and the hundreds of poets who contributed to the journal’s success. * * * * * This month is going to be a treat for our members. _()_ Thank you so much, Michael.

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9 comentários


Barbara  Olmtak
Barbara Olmtak
22 de jan. de 2023

Lovely ku and love the flower chosen💖violets do need that special touch and attention to bloom.

Beautiful

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Kala Ramesh
Kala Ramesh
22 de jan. de 2023

I'm coming in late here. What beautiful comments forthis stunning haiku. five years

in the wrong window;

the violet’s first bloom


Kay F. Anderson


The first think I noticed was a semi-colon. So a semi-colon was in use in 1994. When did it drop away? 'wrong window' opens out a world of things we have been missing in our lives. most beautiful.

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mona bedi
mona bedi
22 de jan. de 2023

A beautiful poem indeed! Happens to all of us in different contexts! So very relatable!!

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lakshmi iyer
lakshmi iyer
21 de jan. de 2023

What to say about this poem happening in 1994. Where was i?

'wrong window' blew my senses off. It appears a very simple poem but zooming in takes us to that corridor of life where the best way to escape is jump out of this wrong window - take a big u-turn. And bloom yourself into a total different world of yours!

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Billie Dee
Billie Dee
21 de jan. de 2023

Anderson’s metaphoric ku really resonates for me. As a fruit farmer, I have learned that plants (in my instance, trees) do communicate—they annunciate rather slowly, but quite distinctly if you take the time to read them. And thanks for slipping in Snyder’s leaky roof poem. I have treasured this gem for years. It’s been a real touchstone for me, especially in times when troubles seem overwhelming. His wisdom is a true comfort, often wrapped in wry humor, as in this example.

So happy to see you here dear Michael! I’m eager to see what else blossoms in what remains of this eventful (for me) first month of the year.


—Billie

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Michael Dylan Welch
Michael Dylan Welch
01 de fev. de 2023
Respondendo a

I should mention that the haiku itself is not metaphorical, at least not intrinsically or overtly. Rather, the metaphor has been applied by the reader, extrinsically to the poem. We routinely bring interpretations and applications of meaning to haiku, so this is part of its reverberation.

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