Molly Burns • Molly's Haiku •

"Sunlight comes and Goes 1" by Francine Porad Painter Poet Francine Porad Francine Porad is not only a haiku poet, but a painter as well, and therefore has a very distinctive perspective on the world, which she sees through the eyes of an artist of many mediums. Her haiku are all very personal in nature, many of them seeming to reflect specific moments in her life. The reader has a sense of being given a peek into the author's world. I found all of her haiku to be very interesting because they are so personal and it's obvious that Porad has a very strong connection with every haiku she has ever written. She also includes many of her own sketches and paintings in her haiku chapbooks, giving the reader an even richer sense of her background and roots. Porad generally includes seasonal elements in her haiku, but like most American writers, does not seem to consider it a necessity of haiku writing. She writes haiku, tanka and senryu, including all three varieties in almost all of her published works. According to her biography "Women Painters of Washington," Porad has been producing artwork since the 1970s. She is also a past president of Haiku Society of America and spent eight years as editor of Brussels Sprout , an international journal of haiku and art. Her biography on this site also presents her philosophy on her work, the following haiku: dear God thank you my work: my joy She feels that this haiku best sums up how she feels about writing and painting - one can surmise that this lifestyle has made her quite happy and given her a great deal to write about. She has won multiple awards for her writing, including being named one of the Top 100 Writers of 2005 by the International Biographical Centre from Cambridge, England. She also received the Haiku Society of American Merit Book Award for her artwork. She has been honored multiple times for her haiku and artwork alike. While reading through the selections of Porad's haiku, I found that my favorites were the more tongue-in-cheek selections. Though I'm not entirely certain this definition is correct, my understanding of senryu is that they are the more amusing, somewhat sarcastic haiku. I believe these tongue-in-cheek favorites would certainly fall under the category of senryu. This haiku in particular, from the collection "Connections" jumped out at me right away: field of dandelions - a foreigner remarks, "How lovely!" This haiku jumped out at me immediately because of its amusing nature. Of course, living in the Midwest (and really anywhere in the States), we see dandelions all the time, we consider them weeds and cannot wait to get them out of our yards. However, this foreigner has likely never seen these little, yellow flowers before and obviously finds them quite charming. Though the first inclination is to chuckle at the foreigner, I believe Porad had a two-fold purpose in writing this haiku - sometimes we need to step back and view the world through the eyes of others, particularly those we may not understand. We've been seeing these yellow weeds for so long that we're sick of them, but the foreigner is seeing them through new eyes and can therefore recognize their true beauty. It is almost Porad's way of telling her readers to, corny as it sounds, stop and smell the flowers. We're all so busy with everyday life that we don't take the time to admire the beauty of the simple things. Another haiku that stuck out to me was this selection, also from "Connections." mirrored image stares back at me, then forms the face I show to strangers This haiku also seems to be making a societal comment. Porad's intention is not to imply that people are fake, but rather that we have two different "selves," one that we show only to those we truly love and care about, and one we show to others. This interpretation could even be taken one step further to say that this face we "show to strangers" is the face we want them to see, the way we want to be perceived as opposed to the way we actually are. I think the sentiment behind this haiku could certainly be a product of Porad's background in painting and art in general. As both an artist and a poet, she is probably a great deal more in tune with facial features and expressions than the average person. And because she is so aware of both of these factors, she finds herself analyzing her own face, to see if perhaps she too has two different faces. This haiku is much less light-hearted than some of her other works; yet just like all of her other haiku, it seeks to reveal the truth about the world as Porad sees it. As mentioned previously, Porad's haiku are all very personal in nature. It is obvious that she is writing from her own memories and experiences, rather than making it up as she goes along. Because her haiku are so personal, it helps the reader feel and even stronger connection to her work. I believe this is why I had such a difficult time choosing only a few haiku to write about; they are all wonderful in their own ways. One can also see Porad's connection to her haiku in the titles of all of her collections. The Perfect Worry-stone was titled as an homage to the Greeks, who used to carry worry-stones in their pockets - "fingering them had a calming effect, reducing anxiety," (5). Porad likens her haiku to that worry-stone, using writing as a way to take her mind off everything troublesome in her life. In a way, Porad's writing can be seen as almost therapeutic. Another collection, Ladies and Jellyspoons is dedicated to her brother, in memory of the magic shows he used to perform in their basement, calling out a greeting that Porad's imagination stubbornly insists included the phrase "Welcome, Ladies and Jellyspoons!" This too shows Porad's further personal connections to her haiku. Porad does not have any high, fantastical notions of the world, she simply writes about everyday events with a bit of a humorous or touching twist, such as this offering from All Eyes : a new script -         baby: (screams )         (exit grandma ) This haiku certainly has a humorous twist to it. It also makes use of a different format than most traditional haiku, as Porad chose to format it like a script and forgo the use of the typical seasonal element. However, even though there is no clear, seasonal image, the reader still gets a remarkably clear idea of what is happening in this haiku. Grandma has just come to see her new grandchild, and perhaps it's even her first experience with a grandbaby. She holds it delightedly for a few moments, but hands it back to Mom when it begins to scream, not because she cannot handle the screaming, but because she feels that her days of having to deal with baby screaming are over, Grandma's job is to spoil. The last haiku I would like to look at in-depth is this offering from Sunlight Comes and Goes , and perhaps my favorite of all of Porad's haiku: Sequoia sketch - from random marks initials and heart I enjoy this haiku a great deal, because the overall image just calls to mind this picture of innocence and sweetness that is rarely seen today. It's been a long time since I've seen initials carved into a tree, but I know that it used to be something quite special - doing so meant that the couple would be together forever (at least in their eyes). It calls to mind a time when all a couple had to do to ensure a lasting relationship was carve their initials into a tree. The phrase "random marks," leads the reader to believe that these initials have been here for quite a while, and also that no one else has carved since then. In this way, the haiku reflects a sort of loss of innocence in society - we no longer believe that lasting love can be proclaimed on the bark of a tree. The phrase "Sequoia sketch" is also an excellent choice of words, as opposed to, for example, "Carved into a tree." Porad's word choice is very deliberate in all of her haiku; it's obvious she has put a great deal of thought into every single word and phrase she uses, and it comes through in her writing. In addition, many of her haiku have multiple layers of meaning - they can be enjoyed simply for their surface qualities, or they can be explored deeper for their often two-fold meanings.   Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed reading and analyzing Francine Porad's haiku. Because she sees the world through the eyes of both painter and poet, she brings a unique perspective to the art. All of her haiku are very personal, written from her own memories and experiences, a factor which further entices the reader and draws them into her world. Her haiku are about the more simple moments in life - initials carved into trees, fields of dandelions, anxiously waiting for sunrise, new babies - but she manages to turn these ordinary moments into extraordinary images.