Rio Grande Valley
Mexican olive blossoms
on the wind
NeverEnding Story, April 18, 2023
Lorraine Pester
Commentary: L1 sets the scene while Ls 2&3 are visually and emotionally evocative and symbolically rich. It's because the Mexican olive tree, one of the few native plants in the valley, blooms almost every day throughout the year.
And when evaluated in the geo-sociopolitical context/significance of L1 ("in/famous region" spanning the border of Texas and Mexico), Ls 2&3 work well on three levels, literal, symbolic, and sociopolitical.
Lorraine's haiku about the Rio Grande Valley is a fine example of employing a literary device, "utamakura (poetic place name)"
For further discussion, see "To the Lighthouse" post, "A Rhetorical Device, Utamakura (Poetic Place Names)"
FYI: The following is my haibun about this thematically significant and sociopolitically charged region spanning the border of Texas and Mexico:
"A Tale of Two Laredos"
The fireman from Nuevo Laredo looks at the body, muttering, “This is the 6ooth body I’ve pulled out of the Rio Grande.” There is noisy silence between the two of us as I turn and see a long line of trucks crossing into Texas. We continue to make our way downriver and, upon turning a bend, I see a boy and his dog caught in branches at the river’s edge.
one howl, then many …
the imprint of an eagle
on the winter sky
Cattails, 1, December 2013
No comments:
Post a Comment