Poetic Musings: Job Hunting Haiku by Chen-ou Liu

job hunting

a curl of birch bark

edged with sunlight

Winner, 2017 British Haiku Society Awards

Chen-ou Liu

Judge's Commentary: This poem is just another in the long list of prizes won by Canadian poet Chen-ou Liu. The seeming artlessness of this poem belies its impact, both immediately and upon repeated return.Wordsworth’s sonnet “The world is too much with us; Late and soon, getting and spending, we lay waste our powers,” references itself upon first reading. Then, the poem emerges from the space between the two images—the drain of the daily search for work, the sometimes demeaning results, relieved by the exquisite appearance of a piece of birch. Where did the poet find it? Walking from one interview to another, stopped at an intersection, perhaps a memory of the moment while seated in a waiting room? The common language of the second part produces an uncommon image, resisting the effort to even remember it. I was surprised by the image each time I approached it. I was surprised by this poem.

Note: I also won two awards in the tanka section of the contest:

alone
on the edge
of a cliff...
behind my back
the shadow

Honorable Mention

I look away
from his intense gaze …
this homeless man
speaks English
with an accent like mine

Honorable Mention
(The judges' comments are included in the post's comment section.)

And my award-winning haiku is a sequel to the following poem:

a yellow leaf
drifts from branch to branch ...
job hunting

Editor’s First Choice Haiku, “fall trees” haiku thread, Sketchbook, 5:5,September/October 2010