English Original
blue winter sky
the little peck holes
up a pine tree
Summer Drizzles, 2005
Bruce Ross
Chinese Translation (Traditional)
冬日藍天
一棵松樹上
啄出的小洞
Chinese Translation (Simplified)
冬日蓝天
一棵松树上
啄出的小洞
Bio Sketch
Bruce Ross, Ph.D., former president of the HSA, was the editor of anthologies such as the seminal Haiku Moment and, more recently, co-editor of A Vast Sky. He was the founding editor of the online Autumn Moon Haiku Journal, and He has authored many collections of haiku and haibun.
This haiku effectively employs what William J. Higginson terms the “zoom-lens effect” (The Haiku Handbook, p. 116). The visual focus shifts from the expansive blue winter sky (L 1) to the intimate detail of the little peck holes / up a pine tree (Ls 2&3). Like a camera lens, the reader’s eye moves from the vastness of the sky to zoom in on the “small sky” contained within each peck hole. Without naming the birds themselves, the haiku allows the peck holes to imply life, sound, and activity set against the stillness of winter.
ReplyDeleteAs a result, this haiku draws readers into the scene and invites them to participate actively in the haiku moment, rather than remain passive observers.