August Blog Bash, Day 10 - Rita Odeh

August Blog Bash, Day 10 - Rita Odeh

Welcome to the Debut
of the August Blog Bash 2012!

I am very much excited and honored to be hosting this new feature series... and it is a great way to end the summer! This Blog Bash is an impressive talent showcase of poets, artists, and writers/authors from all walks of life. For each day of this month, one individual will be featured here on this blog, at Origami Lotus Stones, my Twitter (hashtag will be #augblogbash), my Facebook community page, and on my blog page on Writing Our Way Home. Please be patient while I post on all platforms.

**Please note that all authors/artists have given me permission to post their work on the following platforms/sites I have just mentioned. Please do not plagiarize, modify, reproduce, or distribute any work without permission from the original authors/artists. Thank you!**

If you are interested in participating in this Blog Bash, feel free to check out the details here.

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Today's Feature: Rita Odeh

In this haiku, there is a contrast between lightness and heaviness. Perhaps a storm is coming along, but kite flying in the sky is like a silver lining. Its lightness creates a sense of hope and optimism. Now compare lines 1 and 3. To me, there is something on a much deeper level noted here as they both parallel the other. Perhaps the speaker of the poem (or the poet herself) has a heavy burden ("too many strings attached"), and so the "string" and "cloudy morning" are reflections of her emotions (they are both weights). However, something as simple as a kite creates that lightness needed in this moment. Ah, I so do love the many levels of interpretation in this one even though the haiku itself seems simple.

This fascinating haiga here reminds me of Edgar Allan Poe's famous narrative poem, "The Raven." Now who is it that is knocking on the door? Upon the first reading, it could be an unexpected house guest (or even a raven like in Poe's poem), but with another reading, it is "winter's end" at the speaker's doorsteps, marking the transition between the end of winter and the coming of spring. I also love the haunting image which complements the haiku within the haiga. It has an old-fashioned, mysterious feel (yugen) to it as noted with the dark brown, earthy, and sepia hues. I also like how the font style of the text is chosen; the font is sharp like small daggers. It is as if though something is beautiful going on ("the symphony") is interrupted by something jarring such as a sharp knock on the door.
Stunning work, Rita! Thank you so much for sharing and being one of the contributors!
(NB: Text arrangement on MS PowerPoint by Kathy Uyen Nguyen. Please note that text/graphics will be in this format.)

To check out more of Rita's work, you can click on the following link(s):

Catching the Moment (blog)

Please do promote this new feature on Facebook, Twitter, etc.! Thanks so much for all the support! And look, my blog now has buttons (see below) to make your life easier! Come back tomorrow for a new artist/author feature!

Posted byAmbiguitylotus at 8/09/2012 11:53:00 PM