English Original
eating watermelon
she spits out words of complaint
seed by seed
Chrysanthemum, 29, April 2021
Sherry Grant
Chinese Translation (Traditional)
大啖西瓜
一粒接一粒她吐出
抱怨之辭
Chinese Translation (Simplified)
大啖西瓜
一粒接一粒她吐出
抱怨之辞
Bio Sketch
Sherry Grant is a NZ concert pianist, cellist and poet originally from Taiwan. She was shortlisted for the 2020 NZ Heritage Literary Awards, and has been published in 35 journals/anthologies. She is the author of Bat Girl (with little Zoe) and inventor of “nonaku.” Sherry presented a rengay workshop at the 2021 HSA conference. See her work at www.artsinfinitypress.com and Chalk-on-the-Walk-Haiku (Facebook).
L1 sets the (seemingly happy) scene while the shift in tone and emotions ("words of complaint") makes this eating watermelon haiku emotionally poignant, giving the reader's glimpse of the woman's "personality:" [spitting] out words of "complaint"/ "seed by seed"(just imagine how many seeds in a watermelon?)
ReplyDeleteAnd it might be interesting to do a thematic comparative reading of the following two haiku:
unexpected pregnancy
she spits out
watermelon seeds
Chrysanthemum Love, 2003
Fay Aoyagi
chickadees
a child spits out
watermelon seeds
NeverEnding Story, July 30, 2021
Brad Bennett
FYI: The interestingly fresh jux. of L1 and Ls 2&3 creates an unexpected yet playful contrast (chickadee call, chickadee-dee-dee vs intermittent sound of spitting out watermelon seeds).