Christmas eve --
the woman in the checkout line
blinking back tears

—Sue Burke

About the author: I live in Madrid, Spain, where I write fiction, poetry, and journalism. More at www.sue.burke.name.

My email: sue at burke dot name

11 responses
published 24 December 2007
in

 

Responses to the haiku for 24 December 2007 by Sue Burke

  1.  
    Sue Burke
    2007-12-24 03:21:32
     

    I witnessed this haiku: a checkout line at a grocery store, all of us buying last-minute items for a holiday dinner, and I couldn't tell if the woman was weeping tears of sadness or joy.

  2.  
    jem
    2007-12-24 07:11:48
     

    Beautiful - the ambiguity of the tears hold all the emotions that this season can contain.

  3.  
    Bill Kenney
    2007-12-24 07:26:07
     

    "I couldn't tell"--that's the beauty of what you've captured here. Not the closure of cynicism or of sentimentality, cynicism's bright-eyed sister, but a humble openness to the mysteries of being human.

  4.  
    Norman Darlington
    2007-12-24 12:20:58
     

    Christmas eve --
    the woman in the checkout line
    blinking back tears

    Quite wonderful, Sue. May your tears all be ones of joy.

  5.  
    ayaz daryl nielsen
    2007-12-24 14:38:50
     

    well done. If you would choose to send a few poems to bear creek haiku, welcome to do so (address on internet)

  6.  
    Barbara A Taylor
    2007-12-24 15:17:12
     

    g'day Sue,

    This really is good. Most appropriate and successfully emotive.

    Peace and Love

    B

  7.  
    b. m. richardson (orgbob at webtv dot net)
    2007-12-24 16:21:41
     

    xmas eve shopper
    at the register, blinking back tears
    store clerk

  8.  
    gK
    2007-12-24 23:21:04
     

    You wonder whether they are tears of sadness or joy, and you wonder what might have been the trigger for the tears. Was it something she saw or heard, or perhaps it was something she was thinking about.

    Simply written, but it has a nice depth to it. Very effective.

  9.  
    Ellen Olinger
    2007-12-25 07:13:59
     

    Christmas
    on the other side
    of grief
    the wonder
    of love...

    for my parents, Harold and Enola Borgh

  10.  
    Patricia (a/k/a Roswila) (maryschild44 at yahoo dot com)
    2007-12-25 09:57:34
     

    Wonder-full, Sue. It captures the mix of emotions this season can generate.

  11.  
    judith Ingram (super dot ingram at verizon dot net)
    2007-12-26 21:43:33
     

    Beautiful, Sue. The ambiguity and sense of mystery are so moving.
    Having just lost my granddaughter, 29 years old, that woman could have been me.

    12.