FemkuMag Haibun ~ Village Daughter-in-Law

Village Daughter-in-Law 


Early morning as I stand and watch this family beside the village pond, memories keep flooding back. A young woman in her twenties squats on a hardwood plank which slants into to water. She's washing clothes by the buckets for her extended family. A baby strapped to her back, a two year old on her right thigh on the other a three year old. Her four and five year olds play rinsing clothes on the edge where the plank submerges in the water. This chore done she starts her firewood stove preparing lunch, cleaning, ironing, dinner preparation it goes on.


play house
the one acting
mom 
always asks
where's the cane

~ Christina Chin





#FemkuMag Haibun Issue November 2019
Guest Editor Tia Haynes

Poetry Pea ~ mediterranean

mediterranean
coral craft bargains
sign language

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The Voyages podcast, July 20th and the 3rd quarterly journal. 2020
http://www.poetrypea.com/

Poetry Pea ~ snowy egret

The poetrypea journal March 2020, in the animal section:




far end
busy stirring water
a snowy egret


🔸




https://poetrypea.com/series-3-episode-2-haiku-all-about-animals/

FemkuMag ~ after tanka

after tanka the emporer disrobes

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https://femkumag.wixsite.com/home

Haiku Column ~ autumn clouds

10月11日
Haiku Column Daily Best



autumn clouds brim the summit
a rumbling sound

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 【千秋訳】
頂上の縁に秋の雲
ゴロゴロと音がする

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Plum Tree Tavern ~ frangipani

the scent
at her gravestone
frangipani

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Plum Tree Tavern, Editor Russell Streur
premier in October 2019

FemkuMag ~ haibun feature

I'm honoured and thrilled to be selected for this month's feature and commentary by the Guest Editor, Elizabeth Alford.


FEMKUMAG FEATURE:

Growing Concerns

Coming to a halt along the river which divides this quaint old town. On both
banks of the river is a bustling but not congested bazaar connected by
concrete bridges. This is the only gazetted morning-till-night market for the
townsfolk which fringes and is perpendicular to the shop houses. At town's
end, close to the estuary across a quiet tombolo a view of low lying plains and
its eighteenth to nineteenth century architecture, I often ponder over the same
thought which crossed my mind for many years.

winter storms
the world powers ignore
water-level rise
my neighbours retreating
to higher grounds

~ Christina Chin


FEMKUMAG FEATURE: GUEST EDITOR’S COMMENTARY

From the moment I began reading this stunning tanka prose, the words on
the pages flew from my lips almost without my realizing it. There is an
authentic verbal cadence in the brief tour of this small coastal town, with its
flowing estuary, concrete bridges, and tombolo (a sandbar which connects an
island to the mainland or another island). The bazaar, the only “gazetted” (i.e.
advertised via the local newspaper) regular event, adds a paradoxical bustling
of activity.. There is a sense of tension between the moving and unmoving
people and landmarks, an urgency compounded by the closing tanka.
Abandoned by those in positions of power who could help the most, the
speaker’s neighbors “retreat to higher ground.” I couldn’t help noticing that it
is the speaker’s neighbors, not the speaker, who retreat. Yet the speaker
obviously lives here, or used to live here; obviously recognizes the danger, but
does not take action. Meanwhile, the townspeople’s geographical and political
isolation has left them exposed, vulnerable, and scrambling.
There is indeed a “growing concern” for high ground in these turbulent times,
moral or otherwise. Ultimately, it is hesitation and carelessness towards others
that does us in.

~ Elizabeth Alford


Thank you so very much for for the feature, Elizabeth.
Do check out this December's Issue of FemkuMag.
https://69b046c2-a7e1-4a9a-9a22-1c70986eaa24.filesusr.com/ugd/f4c0ea_7923b76706ca4e1a9e3db52c80dbdb36.pdf


Issue #19
https://femkumag.wixsite.com/home/issues