toll booth lit for Christmas —
from my hand to hers
warm change
Published by
Michael Dylan Welch
Michael Dylan Welch served two terms as poet laureate of Redmond, Washington, where he has curated monthly SoulFood Poetry Night readings since 2006 and was president of the Redmond Association of Spokenword for more than 15 years. His books include True Colour, a collection of solo rengay, and Seven Suns, Seven Moons. He founded and continues to direct the annual Seabeck Haiku Getaway, runs National Haiku Writing Month (www.nahaiwrimo.com), and serves as a director of the biennial Haiku North America conference. He has been keynote speaker for the Haiku International Association conference in Tokyo, and in 2012 one of his translations from the Japanese appeared on the back of 150 million U.S. postage stamps. His personal website is www.graceguts.com, devoted mostly to poetry. View all posts by Michael Dylan Welch
nice. I can feel it.
Not bad.
.In fact quite good – I have no comparison for this that comes readily to mind. Well done!
I can't do against ist, I must translate:
d?jkapu d?sze
feny? ? k?zmeleg apr?t
ny?jtok a l?nynak
My palm tingled when I read it. Good work!
Dear Michael, What a great Christmas poem! Thank you.
I love it, it evokes the the smell of exhaust fumes, the sounds of motors and coins, the flash of Christmas lights, the whoosh of Truckers' air brakes, the feeling of we're getting home for Christmas. Thank you.
warm change means so very much this time of year…Thanks, Michael.
Lovely sentiment, Michael.
I love that many of the readers felt their palms tingle with this poem… what could be better to indicate capturing the moment… the significance of a cold night in this season and the warmth exchanged out the window!… (it is possible to read this a different way… the passing of coins to the driver's hand (hers) in the front seat from the passenger seat…to be put into the toll booth slot… etc…(so passed between lovers inside the car) but I think the other image from the car to the coin~taker (so the warmth of the season exchanged to a stranger even in the most ordinary circumstances) may be the main intention, both are meaningful to me… and the possibilities suggests how wonderful this little poem is…
I love that many of the readers felt their palms tingle with this poem… what could be better to indicate capturing the moment… the significance of a cold night in this season and the warmth exchanged out the window!… (it is possible to read this a different way… the passing of coins to the driver's hand (hers) in the front seat from the passenger seat…to be put into the toll booth slot… etc…(so passed between lovers inside the car) but I think the other image from the car to the coin~taker (so the warmth of the season exchanged to a stranger even in the most ordinary circumstances) may be the main intention, both are meaningful to me… and the possibilities suggests how wonderful this little poem is…
Thanks for all the comments here. For more discussion on this poem, you might want to visit the Haiku Foundation blog site at http://www.thehaikufoundation.org/2010/02/04/viral-5-5/.
Michael