Triveni Spotlight: 5 August 2022

spring lightning—

a flower’s shadow

against the fortress wall

Michael Dylan Welch

Sammamish, Washington, USA

The Heron’s Nest, XIX:3, 2017

I am pleased to submit the following selected poems [starting with this poem] from my personal “favorite haiku” list, one I’ve developed over the last 30 years or so. All . . . are from the U.S. Pacific coastal rim (my region). I have chosen “close observation” as my theme, a guiding principle in my own writing, and a core element in my opinion for developing a Haiku Mind.

The ironic juxtaposition of flower and fortress is part of the powerful appeal of Michael’s poem. The fact that the image lasts for only a moment reminds us of our impermanence, of the fragility of our every perception. Then, Poof! It’s gone in the blink of a lightning flash. 

—Billie Dee