that old tune …
knots in my shoelace
coming loose
Third Place, 2015 Spiess Memorial Haiku Competition
Lesley Anne Swanson
Chinese Translation (Traditional)
那個老曲調 ...
我的蝴蝶結鞋帶
變鬆了
Chinese Translation (Simplified)
那个老曲调 ...
我的蝴蝶结鞋带
变松了
Bio Sketch
Lesley
Anne Swanson has lived in Northern California, the Southwest, and the
Pacific Northwest, but now calls Pennsylvania home. Always a wordsmith,
she discovered tanka in 2011 and has been enthralled ever since.
This haiku is rich with association and revelation. What music can do for us and what the heart of poetry can do for us stimulate complex emotions and we literally become undone in the process. The sound of a significant song or the recitation of a remarkable poem can unbind us, release us then set us free from long suppressed emotions. The image of the knots in a shoelace coming loose is a wonderful image.
ReplyDelete-- excerpted from the judge's comment, which can be accessed at http://www.modernhaiku.org/spiesscontest/spiessawards2015.html
"The image of the knots in a shoelace coming loose is a wonderful image."
On the second reading, this image adds symbolic significance to the poem.