old carousel horse
a gleam of wildness
in the painted eye
Published by
Margarita Engle
Margarita Engle is the Cuban-American author of young adult novels in verse, including The Surrender Tree, which received the first Newbery Honor ever awarded to a Latino. Her most recent book is Hurricane Dancers, the First Caribbean Pirate Shipwreck.
View all posts by Margarita Engle
Thank you Margarita.
I really like this haiku!
What a wonderful opening. What joys it conjures up of childhood; of circuses and fairs. The hurdy-gurdy music. Darkness and garish coloured lights. Scents of popcorn and fairy-floss and hotdogs. I remember standing in the carousel queue waiting for my turn, watching the rides go around, and choosing which horse would be my mount, looking them each in the eye, before rushing onto the platform and claiming my steed.
The tame round-and-round, up-and-down of the carousel is matched by the regular 5-5-5 syllable construction of the poem. But the extra syllables are not missing, they are hidden there in the wild joy of the rider. Ah, indeed there is a wild gleam in that painted eye.
oh, this is the best…memories of carousel horses…
Wonderful! I am forwarding this to my friend William Dentzel III, who builds carousels, his family tradition.
strongly felt… the wildness and the wonder!! thank you!
your eye
in my eye
rainbow's end
Thank you Margarita.
I really like this haiku!
What a wonderful opening. What joys it conjures up of childhood; of circuses and fairs. The hurdy-gurdy music. Darkness and garish coloured lights. Scents of popcorn and fairy-floss and hotdogs. I remember standing in the carousel queue waiting for my turn, watching the rides go around, and choosing which horse would be my mount, looking them each in the eye, before rushing onto the platform and claiming my steed.
The tame round-and-round, up-and-down of the carousel is matched by the regular 5-5-5 syllable construction of the poem. But the extra syllables are not missing, they are hidden there in the wild joy of the rider. Ah, indeed there is a wild gleam in that painted eye.
Margarita:
A real beauty – thanks,
Don @ Lilliput Review
Love it – a hint of life in the old horse!
Excellent.
Margarita's special voice, which is also present in her many novels-in-verse.