re:Virals

re:Virals 136

Welcome to re:Virals, The Haiku Foundation’s weekly poem commentary feature on some of the finest haiku ever written in English. This week’s poem was

 
     ‘will this be one of the days i remember?’ and grass
          — Chris Gordon, A NEW RESONANCE: Emerging Voices in English-Language Haiku (1999)

Nancy Rapp looks forward:

I hope you know how much I look forward to learning from the comments in re:Virals and being introduced to many haiku I’m not familiar with. That said, this one seems as stripped down and basic as a haiku can get. Haiku leads me to be mindful of the simple, ordinary beauty in every moment. Then crafting haiku from the experience creates many connections for remembering and enjoying the moment again and again. All I need is the grass and seeing it again for the first time.

virus2
As this week’s winner, Nancy gets to choose next week’s poem, which you’ll find below. We invite you to write a commentary to it. It may be as long or short, academic or spontaneous, serious or silly, public or personal as you like. We will select out-takes from the best of these. And the very best will be reproduced in its entirety and take its place as part of the THF Archives. Best of all, the winning commentator gets to choose the next poem for commentary.
Anyone can participate. A new poem will appear each Friday morning. Simply put your commentary in the Contact box by the following Tuesday midnight (Eastern US Time Zone). Please use the subject header “re:Virals” so we know what we’re looking at. We look forward to seeing some of your favorite poems — and finding out why!
 
re:Virals 136:

 
     dusk
     the girl we didn't like
     with fireflies in her hair
          — Harriot West, Haiku in English: The First Hundred Years

This Post Has 3 Comments

  1. ‘will this be one of the days i remember?’ and grass

    — Chris Gordon, A NEW RESONANCE: Emerging Voices in English-Language Haiku (1999)
    .
    A surprise, for me. Now I will try to find more of Chris Gordon’s haiku.
    .
    How “and grass” expands the field of the question. There is a poignancy in the question. The days pass. A time comes in our lives when we dwell on (or in) memories and recall our summers. The poet may be leaving a grassy region to live elsewhere, in a city. Or not. The grassy field might be turned into a new suburb in the future. Or not. Right now, grass seems to stretch out around. One day we’ll be lying beneath it. What makes a day memorable?
    .
    – Lorin

    2. Thank you, Michael. I’d heard of ant ant etc. but never actually found it!
      .
      – Lorin

Comments are closed.

Back To Top