light snow a thin excuse
Frogpond, 40:3, Fall 2017
Marita Gargiulo
Chinese Translation (Traditional)
小雪 不足為道藉口
Chinese Translation (Simplified)
小雪 不足为道借口
Bio Sketch
Marita Gargiulo found haiku at MIT in the 70’s while editing a poetry magazine. She was the guest editor for The Haiku Foundation, featuring “pan-artistic” haiku, and organized poetry events with her local arts commission and symphony orchestra. In 2019 her haibun won third place in the HSA’s Annual Haibun Contest.
In this minimalist haiku, the juxtaposition of "light snow" and "thin excuse" is visually and emotionally effective and the layout of the haiku highlights the thematic focus of these two juxtaposed parts of the haiku.
ReplyDeleteThis is a good example of "mijikai haiku," the haiku that are stripped down to bare bones. There is no word in the poem that could be argued unnecessary to convey the experience/feeling.
This fine haiku reminds me one of George Swede's micro haiku:
divorce papers falling leaves
micro haiku: three to nine syllables, 2014
George Swede
Note: There are white spaces between "divorce paper" and "falling leaves."
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