the way
she chooses to die . . .
flowering plum
Published by
Margaret Dornaus
Margaret Dornaus holds an M.F.A. in literary translation from the University of Arkansas, where she received the Lily Peters Poetry Translation Award as well as being twice nominated for an Associated Writing Program essay-writing award. Winner of the Tanka Society of America?s 2011 International Tanka Contest, her tanka, haiku and haibun have appeared in numerous anthologies and journals, including: A Hundred Gourds; Atlas Poetica; Modern Haiku; Moonbathing; red lights; Ribbons; and others. Her first book of poems, Prayer for the Dead: Collected Haibun & Tanka Prose, received a 2017 Merit Book Award from the Haiku Society of America. View all posts by Margaret Dornaus
Lovely!
Thank you, Marilyn!
.
the way
she chooses to die . . .
flowering plum
—MARGARET DORNAUS
Juxtaposition of images is such a potent device in haiku. Do we pair images so that the reader can get a split-second connection, or one that resonates with us over several re-readings so much it increases its power over us?
As a reader I need to be moved, and this certainly succeeds.
Thank you.
Alan
Thank you, Alan, for your kind words.
Thank you Margaret. Spooky appropriate. I just learned that a feisty 97-year-old neighbor of mine just passed and she did it her way. Somewhere a plum is flowering for her!
Very moving! A beloved aunt, ninety, just passed last week. She died the way she lived – blooming with a quiet spirit. Thank you for this lovely poem!
Ghost moon in daylight,
as if a lost planet was
outlined iin pencil.
Wow, this one certainly grabs you by the heart and doesn't let go. Poignantly beautiful.
Thank you so much, Gisele._
This is a very striking haiku, Maggie. The phrase is sad, but that flowering plum in the fragment leaves us with a beautiful, lasting image. I imagined that this lady was buried under a plum tree and her children and grandchildren will be reminded of her every time it flowers.
marion
Thank you, Marion.