spring fever --
the turtle’s neck
at full stretch
Second Place, 2013 Peggy Willis Lyles Haiku Contest
Carole MacRury
Chinese Translation (Traditional)
春季傷風 --
一隻烏龜的脖子
伸到最長
Chinese Translation (Simplified)
春季伤风 --
一只乌龟的脖子
伸到最长
Bio Sketch
Carole
MacRury resides in Point Roberts, Washington, a unique peninsula and
border town that inspires her work. She is the author of In the Company of Crows: Haiku and Tanka Between the Tides (Black Cat Press, 2008, 2nd Printing, 2018) and The Tang of Nasturtiums, an award-winning e-chapbook (Snapshot Press 2012).
This poem doesn’t need commentary. After all, don’t most of us stick our necks out at the first sign of spring?
ReplyDeleteI would like to state up front, however, that I worried that my choice might be suspected of bias in that the late Peggy Willis Lyles, for whom this award is a memorial, penned a marvelous haiku about turtles. Moreover, said poem was used as a highlight in the announcement of this contest. Well, the truth is that “spring fever” became a favorite despite that worry. In other words, it not only had to be “excellent,” it had to overcome a disadvantage the other poems didn’t have: my concern about bias. It occurs to me that the poet who chose to submit this haiku may have done so to honor Peggy. If so, then I am even happier for my decision.
Having said all of this, I now find myself unable to resist a little of the commentary that this haiku doesn’t need.
It is succinct—no wasted words. The poet gives expression to a subjective phenomenon that is universal in nature (spring fever) by connecting it to objective imagery (the turtle’s action). This poem trembles with exuberance, the essence of spring. I find the creative wording of the final line irresistible. The rhythm is effective, too: not the traditional short/long/short, but a double beat repeated twice, serving to emphasize the emotional content. And visually, the words on the page are pleasing to the eye.
I bow to the poet for making it safe and rewarding to stretch out our necks.
-- excerpted from the judge's commentary, accessed at https://www.theheronsnest.com/old_files/contests132.html
...I would like to state up front, however, that I worried that my choice might be suspected of bias in that the late Peggy Willis Lyles, for whom this award is a memorial, penned a marvelous haiku about turtles. Moreover, said poem was used as a highlight in the announcement of this contest....
DeleteThe following is the "said poem used as a highlight in the announcement of this contest:"
Indian summer
a turtle on a turtle
on a rock
Heron's Nest Award winner, 3:10, December 2001
Peggy Willis Lyles
Below is excerpted from The Heron's Nest's announcement of The Peggy Willis Lyles Haiku Award:
Isaac Newton reputedly claimed, "If I have seen further it is only by standing on the shoulders of giants." By any measure, Peggy Willis Lyles was a giant presence in the world of English-language haiku during the last quarter of the twentieth century and the first decade of this century. Those who came to know and admire Peggy's published work were enriched by the encounter. The scores of fortunate poets-from newcomers to veterans-who corresponded with Peggy at her "turtlerock" email address during her eight years as an editor with The Heron's Nest were even more profoundly rewarded through their firsthand experience of her incisive intellect and her generous spirit.