existence
a little
four-note song
Published by
Jean LeBlanc
Jean LeBlanc is a poet, artist, and teacher in Newton, New Jersey. She teaches writing and literature at Sussex County Community College. Her collections of short-form poetry include The Opposite of Bird (Cyberwit, 2015) and The Haiku Aesthetic: Short Form Poetry as a Study in Craft (Cyberwit, 2013). In her blog, www.jeanleblancpoetry.blogspot.com, she contemplates the role of art and poetry in our weird, mixed-up world. View all posts by Jean LeBlanc
This poem just knocks me out! It takes one of the largest concepts in life, relates it to a tiny, beautiful detail expressed in the fewest words possible, and there you have it: a bird in a snowstorm. (Or so I interpret it here in snowy New Jersey, USA. A reader could complete the poem in so many other ways, though!)
Five words to depict a scene in nature with a human interaction (a bird overheard, almost by accident) that informs a way of looking at life, which is to say: note by note. Existence then may seem accidental but it can also be serendipitous. I like the implied gratitude here.
And this poem also happens to adhere to my own definition of haiku:
Haiku is the invention of the obvious.
Interesting how our individual perspectives impact our interpretation. It defined to me that our human existence, our time on this earth, is but a moment, a four-note song as compared to the symphony of the universe.
Perhaps existence is only a three-note song — like the three syllables in each of the three lines of this poem.
I loved this haiku! Thank you.
Oh my goodness, thank you all. I am so touched by your thoughtful and beautiful responses. Bill, I'm in snowy New Jersey, too!
a beautiful distillation of a tiny moment with big meaning :)
nice
What I love is the choice of the word "four" when many would have chosen three. We're all born, we live, we die, but that fourth note, oh, that fourth note… that's what it's all about. Thank you for this, Jean.
This one really grows on you!
How delightful! As we go about our daily lives, sometimes we barely notice we are living – until we hear something beautiful, like birdsong.
marion
…..and yet, so many variations on those four notes! This is wonderfully conceived! Thank you.
I love it.
For most of the people or it can be said that most of the illiterate and eccentric and ignorant people education is still nothing but completely a wastage of time as it gives nothing to human being.
Lovely, thank you. I think of the four seasons in Wisconsin.
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