Tuesday Poem: Haiku—“May Day”
May Day –
the last hydrangea bends
under snow
(c) Helen Lowe
Published in the taste of nashi, the Third NZ Haiku Anthology, Windrift, 2008
Submitted by E Berry, NZ selector, for the Red Moon (US) international haiku anthology 2008
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On Saturday I posted some photos of hydrangeas in my (currently) summer garden, here. And Steve B commented to say that he was very jealous–and currently his garden was “under a foot of snow.” So I promised I would post this haiku today, as a commemoration of when my garden suffered a similar fate. Although the event the poem commemorates occurred a few years ago now, we had similar weather this past winter, as the photo ‘vouches.’ The hydrangea shown on Saturday is the same one, featuring as a snowy mound against the fence, on the far right of this photo.
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I’ve got to admit, that rarely happens even up here in Minnesota. It’s not unknown to have a tiny bit of snow in early May, but not enough to bend hydrangeas…
Paul, in NZ, 1 May would be the equivalent of 1 November in the northern hemisphere. But NZ is very temperate (its parallel, plus long, narrow, & surrounded by ocean helps with that), far more than Minnesota or Sweden (where I lived for a while), so it’s unusual to get snow that “lies” at all in winter, let alone enough to cloak a plant to the extent recorded in the haiku. But I will be honest and say I was playing with the triple meaning of May Day (ie northern hemisphere—given my northern hemisphere experience of snow well into late spring—southern hemisphere and the international distress call) in the poem. 🙂
I’m not terribly familiar with haikus, but have always loved their light brushstrokes, like one in a Japanese scroll. Thank you, Helen.
Thank you for commenting, Melissa. When writing haiku, I always strive for actual “a-ha moments” (that moment of seeing that sparks the poem), rather than writing what are sometimes called “desk-ku” (sitting down thinking: I’m going to write 1-100 haiku today: now, what might ‘work’?), for the lightness you speak of, as well as seeking the ‘cutting’ moment/effect (usually expressed by the emdash in English, but supported by the juxtapostion of two concepts, the ‘lesser’ leaping to the ‘larger’ whole) and also reversability. So in this case, I have juxtaposed “May Day” (both 1 May and the international distress signifier) with the concrete moment of the hydrangea (the last left on the shrub) physically bending under the weight of snow. And reversed the meaning is still there:
under snow
the last hydrangea bends —
May Day
Thanks for sharing Helen. I do enjoy your poetry. After quite a snowstorm last week it’s become unseasonably warm all the sudden. Makes me wish for an early spring here in Wisconsin.
“Spring is coming.” 🙂 You may be sure of that, for over the past few days we’ve had what I call “the turn”—those mornings you wake and there’s a coolness in the air, a crispness–and even of the days are hot thereafter, it’s the mellow warmth that speaks of appraoching autumn, not the intensity of summer. So we, like GRRM’s characters, can say that first autumn, and then winter is coming!
Wow, the poor hydrangeas in the ‘snow photo’ – glad to hear (and see!) they survived and LOVE the haiku – the succumbing to the elements is perfectly poised.
Thank you, Elizabth. Given your poetic discernment—high praise!:)
Love the ku here, Helen, beautifully phrased and the image it gives me is striking
Thank you, Ashley—am glad you “liked.”:)