English Original
Rio Grande Valley
Mexican olive blossoms
on the wind
Lorraine Pester
Chinese Translation (Traditional)
里奧格蘭德河谷
墨西哥橄欖花瓣
隨風飄蕩
Chinese Translation (Simplified)
里奥格兰德河谷
墨西哥橄榄花瓣
随风飘荡
Bio Sketch
Being curious and staying open to possibility is Lorraine Pester’s way of keeping her haikai fresh. She shies from no topic that presents itself. Her deliberate interactions with birds while dog walking is a frequent theme. She lives with her husband and Abbey schnauzer in south Texas.
L1 sets the scene while the evocative image of Ls 2&3 is symbolically rich and poignantly effective (because the Mexican olive tree, one of the few native plants in the valley, "blooms almost every day throughout the year).
ReplyDeleteAnd when When evaluated in the geo-sociopolitical context/significance of L1 ("in/famous region" spanning the border of Texas and Mexico) , Ls 2&3 work well on three levels, literal, symbolic, and sociopolitical.
Lorraine's haiku about the Rio Grande Valley is a fine example of employing a literary device, "utamakura."
For further discussion, see my "To the Lighthouse" post, "A Rhetorical Device, Utamakura (Poetic Place Names)," accessed at https://neverendingstoryhaikutanka.blogspot.com/2016/09/to-lighthouse-rhetorical-device.html
The following is my haibun about this thematically significant and sociopolitically charged region spanning the border of Texas and Mexico:
Delete"A Tale of Two Laredos"
The fireman from Nuevo Laredo looks at the body, muttering, “This is the 6ooth body I’ve pulled out of the Rio Grande.” There is noisy silence between the two of us as I turn and see a long line of trucks crossing into Texas. We continue to make our way downriver and, upon turning a bend, I see a boy and his dog caught in branches at the river’s edge.
one howl, then many …
the imprint of an eagle
on the winter sky
Cattails, 1, December 2013