"Bilingual / Bilingüe" by Rhina P. Espaillat

[lonelybusiness.livejournal.com]

My father liked them separate, one there,
one here (allá y aquí), as if aware

that words might cut in two his daughter’s heart
(el corazón) and lock the alien part

to what he was—his memory, his name
(su nombre)—with a key he could not claim.

“English outside this door, Spanish inside,”
he said, “y basta.” But who can divide

the world, the word (mundo y palabra) from
any child? I knew how to be dumb

and stubborn (testaruda); late, in bed,
I hoarded secret syllables I read

until my tongue (mi lengua) learned to run
where his stumbled. And still the heart was one.

I like to think he knew that, even when,
proud (orgulloso) of his daughter’s pen,

he stood outside mis versos, half in fear
of words he loved but wanted not to hear.

The Underworld ~ Sharon Bryan

[bleodswean.livejournal.com]

When I lived in the foothills
birds flocked to the feeder:

house finches, goldfinches,
skyblue lazuli buntings,

impeccably dressed chickadees,
sparrows in work clothes, even

hummingbirds fastforwarding
through the trees. Some of them

disappeared after a week, headed
north, I thought, with the sun.

But the first cool day
they were back, then gone,

then back, more reliable
than weathermen, and I realized

they hadn't gone north at all,
but up the mountain, as invisible

to me as if they had flown
a thousand miles, yet in reality

just out of sight, out of reach—
maybe at the end of our lives

the world lifts that slightly
away from us, and returns once

or twice to see if we've refilled
the feeder, if we still remember it,

or if we've taken leave
of our senses altogether.

three haiku by Chiyo-ni and request

[stefan11.livejournal.com]

morning glory
my well-bucket entangled -
I ask for water

morning glories -
awakened
in the middle of a dream

morning glory -
the truth is
the flower hates people

Chiyo-ni (1703-1775)

REQUEST: The first is a classic and perhaps the best known haiku of hers. She revisited the same theme many more times and wrote numerous haiku about it; the second and the third ones are such "takes". If you know any other morning glory haiku by Chiyo-ni, please post it here as a comment (with a source). Thank you!