tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8669788.post-1167895303031346492007-01-03T23:21:00.000-08:002007-01-03T23:21:00.000-08:00Dear Gabi San,<BR/><BR/>I learn so much from your site. Your sensei's comments are most interesting and motivate me to read more WHC articles. Of course, speaking no Japanese, I cannot follow the nuanced variations on your haiku, but gather that overlapping kigo are problematic, even when an actual experience (snow melting in winter) is represented. I can see how this might invoke a sense of irony, humor, or even discomfort, in any poem. As artists we always struggle to balance “fact” with “truth,” “truth” with “art.”<BR/><BR/>To my ignorant, neo-haijin mind, your new year haiku is interesting <I>because</I> the snow is melting – think geothermal warming. Had you reversed “snow melting” to “melting snow,” there would have been little surprise. And to my ear, your haiku rendered in English is both musical and rhythmically satisfying.<BR/> <BR/>As for "ladylike" constraints, these cultural residua/anachronisms are happily fading among the youth of most industrialized nations – to my mother’s consternation, and my delight.<BR/><BR/>Many thanks, Gabi san, for this good read.<BR/><BR/>Your friend,<BR/><BR/>Billie Dee<BR/>San Diego, CA, USABillie Deehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07974328153016550197noreply@blogger.com