Frank Brannock • Frank's Haiku •

I found reading Mrs. Peggy Lyles’ haiku quite enjoyable. Her haiku took me to places and times that I had not been for awhile. She accomplished this with the choice of words she used in her haiku and how she brought them together. I have chosen several examples of her poetry that demonstrate how she does this, but first let us learn a little about Mrs. Lyles. Mrs. Lyles was born in Summerville, South Carolina, on September 17, 1939. Today her and her husband Bill live in Tucker, Georgia, a suburb of Atlanta. They still visit Charleston and the surrounding South Carolina Lowcountry, which is where she grew up on a regular basis. She attended the College of Charleston and The Citadel, graduated with honors from Columbia College, and received her MA degree in English from Tulane University, where she was a Woodrow Wilson Fellow for 1960-61. She taught Sophie Newcomb College, High Point High School, and High Point College in North Carolina. In the mid-sixties, she gave birth to a daughter and a son. Then in 1968, the family moved to Athens, Georgia and stayed for 18 years. Her academic career was interrupted and eventually curtailed by complications cause by Crohn’s disease. After reading the first edition of Cor van den Heuvel’s The Haiku Anthology, she became convinced of the value English-language haiku. The enthusiasm that followed led to a considerable study of classic and contemporary Japanese haiku and to her involvement worldwide with the haiku movement. Mrs. Lyles has received many awards for her haiku from the following; Modern Haiku, Wind Chimes, Woodnotes, Mayfly, The Heron’s Nest, the Haiku Society of America, the Museum of Haiku Literature, Snapshot Press, the Mainichi Daily News, Japan Airlines, the New Zealand Poetry Society, the Suruga Baika Literary Festival, The People’s Poetry Newsletter, Haiku Poets of Northern California, the World Haiku Club, and other publications and organizations. She has also served as a judge for many haiku competitions. A quick look at Mrs. Lyle’s achievements shows one that she is an accomplished scholar and poet. And I like her advice on how to read her poetry. Slowly. Individually. More than once. Preferably aloud. So with these instructions in mind let us proceed to look at some of her poetry. I have selected a few of my favorites that I thank demonstrate Mrs. Lyle’s ability as a fine poet. The first haiku I have selected is; a damp fern strokes my ankle dark eyes of the doe Here Mrs. Lyles sets the stage of a walk through the woods in the early morning while dew is still on the plants. The poem suggest that the walker is startled by a damp plant, a fern, brushing against their ankle, which opens their eyes to see a doe. This is my interpretation of this poem. Mrs. Lyles has left out or omitted details that would dictate to the reader what they should visualize when reading her poem. This allows the reader to interpret the poem as they see fit from their own experience. I choose an early morning time of day but some one else may choose the afternoon following a spring rain. I choose to set the poem in the woods where others may have set it in a meadow or even a back yard. By not being, overly descriptive Mrs. Lyles brings the reader into the creative process. Mrs. Lyles choice of words in her haiku, help setup the reader to use their imagination and own experiences to give meaning to her haiku. Let’s look at another haiku that I like: shimmering pines a taste of the mountain from your cupped hands Here the scene has been set as a mountain area or may be not. All depending on the individual reader. I see a pair of lovers on a mountain path when the man bends down and picks up some water from a spring for his lady to drink. This was my first impression but after some further thought, I saw a child offering berries to a parent that they had just picked on the mountainside. Here I have given two different impressions of the same haiku, but there is still some common ground between the two. The words she has chosen to use not only suggest a place but also an offer of love. The line from your cupped hands says to me that the offer is being made from the heart. The words here create a feeling that the person cupping their hands has strong feelings for the one being offered the taste. She also selects words and phrases that set a particular mood. The following haiku I feel does just that: sun shower the river otter somersaults Here I see a bright cheery day with a playful otter swimming in a river. The phrase sun shower tells me that it is a warm sunning day probably spring or summer. Not only is it a warm day but it is also a fun day. People are on a picnic or a walk along a stream enjoying the day as an otter playfully roles in the water near by. Also, I chose a stream bank because of the word river, but otters do play in all kinds of water. The location could just as easily be a pond or lake or even a park fountain or zoo. Here again Mrs. Lyles has laid down the groundwork for the reader. This gives the reader the chance to create in his or her own mind what the haiku is saying. Mrs. Lyles love of nature and the outdoors is apparent in her haiku. As seen in the previous haiku and the next one I have chosen: through a maze of lilies brushstrokes of the trout When I read this I thing of the Rocky Mountains in Colorado where I go elk hunting. There are no lilies up there but the streaMrs. contain many trout. I have changed out the lilies for reeds because of my personal experience, but some one else my see a southern pond full of rainbow trout. The reason for me to be near a trout stream is to be hunting or fishing. Since these are my hobbies, they slant my view on the interpretation of the haiku. Where as some body who does not have such hobbies may have a different view. they could even see it as a description of a painting. Mrs. Lyles likes to write about simple things. The next haiku I feel she is grateful that no one was hurt in a natural disaster. dinner party glancing up from grace to the flood mark on the wall Here I am giving a strong since of gratitude in this haiku. I am setting at a dinner party with close friends and family, when I look up and see a watermark on the wall left from a flood that devastated the area. I feel she is grateful that her friends and family was unharmed in the flood. She is setting at a wonderful dinner and she remembers the treble flood that damaged many homes and may have claimed a few lives. She notices this right after giving thanks to God for the meal. Here she has thanked God for the blessings on the table and is reminded to thank Him for the people he spared. In closing, I enjoy Peggy Willis Lyles haiku. I find it easy to relate to and to understand. Must of all I like being able to relate my live into her work. She says in the front of the book To Hear the Rain, “That it is the way of the haiku. The omissions leave room for each reader to become part of the experience and to take the haiku to whatever breadth and depth he discovers.” This is what I find the must enjoyable part of her work is her ability to do this. —Frank Brannock