Friday, March 23, 2018

Poetic Musings: Job Hunting Haiku by Chen-ou Liu

job hunting
a curl of birch bark
edged with sunlight

Winner, 2017 British Haiku Society Awards

Chen-ou Liu

Judge's Commentary: This poem is just another in the long list of prizes won by Canadian poet Chen-ou Liu. The seeming artlessness of this poem belies its impact, both immediately and upon repeated return.Wordsworth’s sonnet “The world is too much with us; Late and soon, getting and spending, we lay waste our powers,” references itself upon first reading. Then, the poem emerges from the space between the two images—the drain of the daily search for work, the sometimes demeaning results, relieved by the exquisite appearance of a piece of birch. Where did the poet find it? Walking from one interview to another, stopped at an intersection, perhaps a memory of the moment while seated in a waiting room? The common language of the second part produces an uncommon image, resisting the effort to even remember it. I was surprised by the image each time I approached it. I was surprised by this poem.

Note: I also won two awards in the tanka section of the contest:

alone
on the edge
of a cliff...
behind my back
the shadow

Honorable Mention

I look away
from his intense gaze …
this homeless man
speaks English
with an accent like mine

Honorable Mention
(The judges' comments are included in the post's comment section.)

And my award-winning haiku is a sequel to the following poem:

a yellow leaf
drifts from branch to branch ...
job hunting

Editor’s First Choice Haiku, “fall trees” haiku thread, Sketchbook, 5:5,September/October 2010

2 comments:

  1. I also won two awards in the tanka section of the contest:

    alone
    on the edge
    of a cliff...
    behind my back
    the shadow

    Honorable Mention

    Judge's commentary: Reading this was almost unbearable. It came with bleak, stark, shock.


    I look away
    from his intense gaze …
    this homeless man
    speaks English
    with an accent like mine

    Honorable Mention

    Judge's commentary: The tanka I chose for honorable mention represent a mix of themes from the traditional to the contemporary. ... “I look away” is a contemporary poem that speaks to what is happening worldwide as streets and cities are flooded with the homeless. This intimate moment between two countrymen who had quite different outcomes in their lives suggests a survivor’s guilt that many of us feel when coming across the homeless.

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  2. Very good. Encourages me to continue working on my homeless tanka, too. thank you.

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