his and her
bookmarks
leapfrogging
through Bly
Frogpond, 44:3, Autumn 2021
Julie Warther Schwerin
FYI: The haiku's hinge is "leapfrogging" in L3. On the surface, the word simply describes the alternating movement of two bookmarks as one reader gets ahead, then the other. The verb is vivid, playful, and kinetic, introducing motion into an otherwise static domestic tableau.
Only with L4—"through Bly"—does the haiku execute its own leap. For readers familiar with Robert Bly's conception of "leaping poetry," the final line retrospectively transforms the meaning of "leapfrogging."
The verb now operates on two levels. Literally, the two bookmarks overtake one another as two readers make their way through Bly's work. Metaphorically, "leapfrogging" evokes Bly's own poetics: the intuitive, associative leaps by which disparate images and states of consciousness are unexpectedly, yet convincingly, connected.
The placement of the key word is essential. Because "leapfrogging" precedes "through Bly," the reader first experiences it as a concrete description of physical movement. Only when Bly's name appears does the verb acquire its second semantic field. The result is not an overt pun but a delayed realization. Significantly, the poem is itself leaping: the reader's understanding moves suddenly from the literal image of alternating bookmarks to a metapoetic awareness of Bly's aesthetics. The semantic leap occurs at precisely the moment Bly's name appears, allowing the reader to experience the very kind of intuitive associative movement that Bly regarded as the essence of poetry.
This delayed recognition is central to the haiku's success. By withholding Bly's name until the final line, the poem allows the ordinary image to establish itself before revealing its metapoetic dimension. The allusion is therefore performative rather than merely referential: the haiku does not simply point to Bly's poetics—it enacts them.
Equally important, the allusion remains non-essential. Readers unfamiliar with Bly still encounter an engaging image of two people sharing an author's work, their reading progress alternating in a quiet rhythm. Those who recognize the reference receive an additional layer of meaning, as the central verb itself becomes an homage to Bly's aesthetics. Such layered accessibility is a hallmark of successful allusive haiku: the reference enriches the poem without becoming necessary for its appreciation.
The visual layout further reinforces this reading. The alternating indentation of L2 and L4 subtly suggests the leapfrogging motion of the bookmarks themselves. Typography, syntax, and semantics converge as the eye moves back and forth across the page, echoing both the alternating positions of the bookmarks and the intuitive leaps characteristic of Bly's poetic imagination.
Perhaps the haiku's most elegant achievement is that it embodies rather than merely references Bly's poetics. The final line does not explain the allusion; it prompts the reader to experience it. Meaning arrives by sudden association rather than linear exposition. The poem's structure, semantics, and typography all participate in this movement, transforming an ordinary domestic detail into a meditation on shared reading, companionship, and the nature of poetic movement itself.
