HAIKU DIALOGUE – Facial Expressions – anger (1)

Facial Expressions with Co-Guest Editors Hifsa Ashraf & Arvinder Kaur

Facial expression as non-verbal communication is the most significant way to express emotions. Darwin also considered facial expressions as a significant part of the evolution of communication. We may run short of words, but our face symbolically says a lot. It is said that a person’s eyes can lead us to their heart and soul, something that poets and writers have used to the hilt. Apart from the movement of facial muscles, facial expressions have their own language that varies from culture to culture in terms of their understanding and interpretation. In this era of technology, emoticons are used to convey a range of emotions. In fact, one can safely say that emoticons have softened and lent a personal touch to messages that might otherwise seem dull and drab.

In literature, and especially in poetry, facial expressions have a special place. One can immediately understand the import of the moment if the poet says that her large eyes filled with wonder, a tremulous smile played on her lips and the moon appeared pale. In micropoetry, many famous haiku poets have used facial expressions in their poetry in an interesting way. Some examples from Basho’s poetry:

A sense of terror, fear, or surprise in both poems:

an old river
making big eyes
at the willow

stars in my eyes
wishing to see blossoms
on weeping cherries

Translator: Jane Reichhold
Basho: The Complete Haiku

And Kobayashi Issa used facial expressions in a different way:

autumn wind—
the face of the man
who planted pines

Translator: David Lanoue
Used with permission, Haiku Guy.com

Many facial expressions have been identified now but we will stick to the basic six facial expressions. And these are happiness, surprise, contempt/disgust, sadness, fear, and anger. You can let your imagination run wild and share some personal experiences or stories, or your observations related to these facial expressions in the weeks to come.

Below is Hifsa’s & Arvinder’s selection of poems on the theme of anger:

a vein
throbs in my temple
burst of rage

Ruth Holzer
Herndon, VA

 

mackerel sky …
blooming in his eyes
petunias

Samo Kreutz
Ljubljana, Slovenia

 

gaping mouth
and wide eyes
offensive humor

razjapljena usta
i raširene oči
uvredljiv humor

Zdenka Mlinar
Hrvatska

 

dark attic staircase
memories of his drunk stagger
and heavy breathing

Padmini Krishnan
United Arab Emirates

 

burned pan—
his scrubbing rises
in waves

Biswajit Mishra
Calgary, Canada

 

livid with rage
my ex from now on –
divorce decree

Natalia Kuznetsova
Russia

 

cigar smoke
on the nature trail–
her face burns with anger

Laurie Greer
Washington, DC

 

back burning
throughout the night
the heated conversations

wanda amos
Old Bar, Australia

 

crimson veins of leaf
mother’s wrinkles
amid storm

Nitu Yumnam
India

 

chaotic world
the werewolf howls
at the cold moon

Teiichi Suzuki
Japan

 

fireworks night—
we wait for dad
to explode

Adele Evershed
Wilton, Connecticut

 

muscles tighten
neck veins pop out
restrained silence

Kathleen Mazurowski
Chicago, IL

 

workday over
he meets my comments
with a grimace

Pris Campbell
U.S.

 

gorilla’s grimace
through the glass …
kid poking his finger

Sreenath
India

 

angry storm
the shore so near
yet so far

Vandana Parashar
India

 

another quarrel
I leave the scene
without a word

Mirela Brailean
Romania

 

grocery store tantrum
the pinched lips
of mom

Peggy Hale Bilbro
Alabama

 

manic Monday
the vein in her forehead
about to pop

Susan Burch
Hagerstown, MD

 

puffing out my cheeks–
a bully takes
my right of way

Helga Stania
Switzerland

 

my neighbor
scowling at the cat . . .
a shattered pot

il mio vicino
guarda accigliato il gatto . . .
un vaso in frantumi

Daniela Misso
Umbria, Italy

 

striped carnation
fearing my ire he doesn’t
congratulate

Richa Sharma
India

 

gritted teeth:
Canute’s attempt to hold back
the tide of harsh words

Jenny Shepherd
London, UK

 

the bull’s flared nostrils-
we take another route
to the pub

Caroline Ridley-Duff
UK

 

a fiery red horizon in her eyes the lost womanhood

Lakshmi Iyer
India

 

her rhythm
on the chopping board
his affair unmasked

Ravi Kiran
India

 

quiet
before the storm
…his ugly temper

Margaret Mahony
Australia

 

furrowed brow
now I’m afraid to say
the wrong thing

Eavonka Ettinger
Long Beach, CA

 

hissing geese
blood trickles
from his bit lip

Richard L. Matta
San Diego, California USA

 

first bubbles
his eyes before
he boils over

John Hawkhead
UK

 

spit in a test tube diseased mother’s son

Alan Peat
Biddulph, United Kingdom

 

the masseter ripples greeting the windscreen ticket

simonj
UK

 

scalded milk
mother’s seething scowl
boils over

Jenn Ryan-Jauregui
Tucson, Arizona USA

 

the old feud
still on her tongue
khola chilli

Daya Bhat
India

 

his puckered lips
seal in
his furious words

Ann Rawson
Scotland

 

the child
posing on a battle tank
first coldspell

Eva Limbach
Deutschland

 

gathering storm the depth of his frown lines

Kerry J Heckman
Seattle, WA

 

my face redder
than falling leaves-
anger rising

Ruth Happel
United States

 

clenched teeth
the scraping groan
of a snowplow

Margaret Tau
New Bern, North Carolina

 

dad screams –
child takes star wars collectible
out of original box

Alan Harvey
Tacoma, WA

 

storm clouds gather
another evening
in silence

Susan Farner
USA

 

crowded plane
the child returns
my scowl

Richard Straw
Cary, North Carolina

 

fierce tempest . . .
I raise my hands high
to summon the stars

Ivan Gaćina
Zadar, Croatia

 

red hot pokers
the way his eyes pierce
right through me

Lori Kiefer
UK

 

nightfall –
sleep pauses
her anger

Valentina Ranaldi-Adams
Fairlawn, Ohio USA

 

computer error
i grind what is left
of my teeth

Margie Gustafson
Lombard, IL USA

 

unspoken words –
a lit fuse burns
beneath my skin

Annie Wilson
Shropshire, UK

 

deepening furrows…
no space to bury
on both sides

Vipanjeet Kaur
India

Join us next week for Hifsa’s & Arvinder’s commentary on additional poems, & our next prompt…

Guest Editor Hifsa Ashraf is an award-winning poet, author, editor, and social activist from Rawalpindi, Pakistan. Her work has been widely published. Hifsa is the author of six micropoetry books on gender-based taboos, mental health, socio-cultural, and socio-political issues. She has won The Touchstone Award for Individual Poems 2021 from The Haiku Foundation. She received special mention for her book, Her Fading Henna Tattoo, in the Touchstone Distinguished Books Award 2020 and in the Haiku Society of America Merit Book Award 2021. Her most recent micropoetry collection, hazy crescent moon, is about Islamophobia and is published by Alba Publishing, UK.

Guest Editor Arvinder Kaur, author, translator and an award-winning poet, specializes in English literature and Media Studies. Her haiku have appeared in several international journals. She is the author of four books of micropoetry, two of which are bilingual where she has translated her own work into vernacular. Her books have been very well received in India and abroad. She lives in Chandigarh, India with her family.

Lori Zajkowski is the Post Manager for Haiku Dialogue. A novice haiku poet, she lives in New York City.

Managing Editor Katherine Munro lives in Whitehorse, Yukon Territory, and publishes under the name kjmunro. She is Membership Secretary for Haiku Canada, and her debut poetry collection is contractions (Red Moon Press, 2019). Find her at: kjmunro1560.wordpress.com.

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