Thursday, May 11, 2023

Butterfly Dream: Old Labrador Haiku by André Surridge

English Original

summer afternoon
settling into its shadow
the old labrador

Honorable Mention, 2006 Betty Drevniok Award

André Surridge 


Chinese Translation (Traditional)

夏日午後
一隻衰老的拉布拉多狗
安適在它的陰影中

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

夏日午后
一只衰老的拉布拉多狗
安适在它的阴影中


Bio Sketch

André Surridge was an award-winning playwright and poet who immigrated to New Zealand from Yorkshire, England in 1972. He was President of the Playwrights Association of New Zealand from 1998-2000. Widely published, some of his awards included: 1995 Minolta Playwriting Award,  2007 Elizabeth Searle Lamb Award, 2008 Tanka Splendor Award, and 2010 Jane Reichhold International prize. And his first collection of haiku ans senryu, one hundred petals, was critically acclaimed in 2019.

1 comment:

  1. This is a fine "mood haiku" infused with visually and emotionally evocative imagery.

    And juxtapused with a "old" labrador, L2 , "settling" into its "shadow," takes on new and added/symbolic significance.

    And with André's haiku, my three haiku below form a four-season sequence of dog haiku:

    spring sunlight
    my old dog jumping
    out of its shadow

    Hedgerow, 118, 2017

    autumn chill
    a stray dog sits
    on my shadow

    Ardea, 2, 2012

    early snowfall
    an old alley dog barks
    at its shadow

    NeverEnding Story, October 22, 2018

    ReplyDelete