English Original
sakura blossoms
loose in an envelope
priority mail
USA Winner, Haiku Invitational, 2019
Neal Whitman
Chinese Translation (Traditional)
盛開的櫻花
寬鬆地裝在信封裡
優先郵件
Chinese Translation (Simplified)
盛开的樱花
宽松地装在信封里
优先邮件
Bio Sketch
Neal Whitman lives with his wife, Elaine, in Pacific Grove, California, where he is a docent at Point Pinos Lighthouse. Visitors who come there from near and far inspire him to write poetry that takes the “particular" to convey the “universal". Neal is Vice President of the United Haiku and Tanka Society.
A well-crafted haiku can spin a full-length tale in the confines of three short lines. In this convincing poem the poet has done just that, from start to finish, complete with a plot twist. What are sakura blossoms doing in an envelope? We place ourselves in the scene and conjure a missing loved one who may live in a temperate climate, lacking cherry trees that bonded two people in the past. They are still connected via the blossom memory, but the poet has included the fragility and import of the moment with the words “loose” and “priority.” These elusive moments need to be captured and shared, as they have been here.
ReplyDelete-- excerpted from the judge's commentary, accessed at https://v1.vcbf.ca/2019-winning-haiku-commentary