Monday, December 17, 2018

Butterfly Dream: Job Interview Haiku by Marilyn Humbert

English Original

job interview --
dodging puddles
in my best shoes

Second Place, 2017 H. Gene Murtha Memorial Senyru Contest

Marilyn Humbert


Chinese Translation (Traditional)

工作面試 --
穿著我最好的鞋子
躲避水坑

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

工作面试 --
穿着我最好的鞋子
躲避水坑


Bio Sketch

Marilyn Humbert lives in the Northern Suburbs of Sydney NSW surrounded by bush. Her pastimes include writing free verse poetry, tanka, tanka prose and related genre. She is the leader of Bottlebrush Tanka Group and member of the Huddle and Bowerbird Tanka Groups. Her tanka appears in Australian and international journals.

2 comments:

  1. .. In this senryu you have an image most, if not all of us, can relate to. You are literally trying to' put your best foot forward' in a job interview but the weather is fighting all your best efforts. Marilyn does not tell us if she succeeded in keeping those shoes shiny, but then each of us can fill in the 'end game' with our personal experience in dodging puddles. It is that simple and relatable a moment, shared in twelve syllables that made this one resonante ...

    -- excerpted from the judge's commentary, accessed at http://www.haikuhut.com/MurthaContestResults2017.pdf

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  2. ... each of us can fill in the "'end game'" with our personal experience in dodging "puddles..."


    Here are my tanka in response:


    from his pale mouth
    "you're overqualified"
    like a hammer ...
    my broken immigrant dream
    and shards of memory

    Gusts, 22, Fall/Winter 2015

    "sorry
    you're overqualified
    for the job..."
    I crush the morning sun
    in an icy puddle


    Atlas Poetica, 15, 2013

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