quarantine
an orange peel
fills the room
Published by
Roland Packer
Roland lives in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. For over 40 years he has worked as a professional musician in various roles; performer, teacher and composer. He has been writing haiku since the early 80s and has authored a mini-chapbook,"Wayfarers" (Phafours Press, 2017) and a full-length collection, "no heroic measures" (Red Moon Press, 2024).
View all posts by Roland Packer
How contemporary Packer's poem is in a time of Ebola and posited cures
using massive quantities of vitamin C, colloidal (spelling?) silver, etc. Thanks for
the beautiful understatement.
.
quarantine
an orange peel
fills the room
—ROLAND PACKER
We enter or re-enter a time of quarantine or discussion of global quarantine, so this will be continually topic, which is a power of haiku.
The wonderful last two lines are not just literal, the scent does travel, but shows not tells how contagious modern viruses and diseases can be despite the lack of co-ordinated interest and endeavour by governments around the world.
A very strong haiku showing the power of apparently unrelated topics being anything but in actuality.
It's one that I would love to include in my forthcoming book on haiku called Writing Poetry: the haiku way.
Hopefully the author may give me permission.
warm regards,
Alan
I love the subtlety in this one and how it leaves plenty of room for interpretation. Very nicely crafted.
No one can stop the scent of an orange once the skin has been broken – inspired!
marion
That which plunges us into an infinite abyss.