we speak of
cherry blossoms --
a safe topic
Best BC Haiku, 2011 Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival
Beth Skala
Chinese Translation (Traditional)
我們談到
盛開的櫻花 --
一個安全的話題
Chinese Translation (Simplified)
我们谈到
盛开的樱花 --
一个安全的话题
Bio Sketch
Beth Skala plies the magical arts of writing, textile art, photography, and gardening on breathtaking Vancouver Island. Her poetry has been published in anthologies across Canada. Beth belongs to the Federation of BC Writers and Haiku Canada. She has won numerous awards for haiku at the Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival.
In this fine haiku selected for the “Best from British Columbia”, obviously there is more than one person involved — perhaps two friends, partners, a married or divorced couple, father and daughter, mother and son, multiple siblings . . . and the list goes on. No matter however because what is most important is that they are sharing a mutual respect and admiration for the inherent beauty of cherry blossoms! The third line gives us an “aha” as we learn that these cherry blossoms are “a safe topic” for discussion between them, and whatever their reason for needing only to talk about a safe topic — becomes unimportant and is simply put on-hold. The haiku melds nature with human nature in just a mere 8 words and 11 syllables, and albeit this is shorter than the 5,7,5 count most people were originally and mistakenly taught in their school systems, it contains a complete thought with subject, verb and follow through. There is no run-on sentence, rather just a pause in line two reinforced with an em—dash. There’s juxtaposition between the softness and peaceful feeling representative of cherry blossoms which provided the environment needed for a safe topic of conversation between parties. It is a haiku that anyone from anywhere in the world from age 9-90 can relate to and understand easily upon first reading. This is not to say that it won’t be read over and over again. Thanks to this author for submitting such a well-written entry.
ReplyDelete-- excerpted from the judge's comment, which can be accessed at http://www.vcbf.ca/2011-winning-haiku-commentary