IN203 Honors Seminar: Global Haiku Tradition
Dr. Randy Brooks • Spring 2006

Untraveled Worlds: Ode to Seatbelt
A collection of Haiku

by
Allison Lingren

Dedicated to Seabelt, my bright orange goldfish.

And to Mildred—mere words cannot suffice to immortalize you. Through music you will always be remembered.

My collection, "Untraveled Worlds: Ode to Seabiscuit" is a somewhat eclectic combination of haiku, haibun, and tan-renga. The subjects of my work are connected by only one thing—they all come from personal experience. Whether the subject is music, love or childhood, all of these haiku mean something deeply personal to me.

As a professional musician (in training) I can no longer always turn to music for solace and comfort. However, I never really have felt the urge to express through another medium. Though I profoundly hope that my work will strike a chord (pun intended) with you, the reader, I believe that in haiku I have found a way to express my innermost emotions through an art form outside my profession.

The title of my collection comes from Alfred Lord Tennyson's poetic work, Untraveled Worlds. I chose to present my haiku in a piece of choral music that uses this text because I felt that my work should be presented in a context that really accentuated my personality and quirks. In high school, the text of this poem always motivated me, especially the end:

Come, my friends,
'Tis not too late to seek a newer world
Push off, and sitting well in order smite
The sounding furrows; for my purpose holds
To sail beyond the sunset, and the baths
Of all the western stars, until I die.

After I chose this piece of music to hold my haiku, I began to find that many of them fit in perfectly with the text. Therefore, I tried to strategically place my haiku so that they were complemented by Tennyson's poetry.

This collection is dedicated to Seabelt, a bright orange goldfish that I have been part owner of for three days. I think the major reason that my haiku fit so well with Tennyson's Untraveled Worlds is that many of them deal with my need to make seemingly ordinary events into adventures. I think that this is a nearly mandatory characteristic of a good haiku. Seatbelt is a good example of my need for adventures, so I felt it was only fitting that I dedicate this work to him.

—Allison Lingren

a gasp—
before the applause
after the music