Chen-ou Liu's Translation Project: First English-Chinese Haiku and Tanka Blog

Friday, August 12, 2011

Wall Haiku

For Gabi

the young girl smiles...
a large hole
in the Berlin Wall


World Kigo Database (Berlin Wall)

Note:

My haiku alludes to one of iconic photos celebrating the East German government's historic announcement made on 9 November 1989: that all GDR citizens could visit West Germany and West Berlin.

The visual focus of this photo is a young West German girl smiling at her father as she points to a large hole in the Berlin Wall on Nov. 11, 1989, while a row of East German soldiers stand on the top of the Wall, turning their eyes away from the girl.