anniversary dinner
i tie together
dad’s shoelaces

AHS Winter Solstice Haiku String 2018
©Michael Smeer (Netherlands)

This week’s poet is the founder of both “My Haiku Pond” and “My Haiku Pond Academy.” We recommend these groups as great places of learning and feedback.

Now, let’s get to the commentary:

This heartfelt senryu has two elements due to the choice of words, which provides curiosity to readers.

An anniversary dinner here may be the celebration of a parents’ wedding. So, here I can see this as a matter of deep pain where one spouse is being missed (due to death, separation, or illness). The child may have tried to make this event a special one for the father, who seems to be very old. With a deep emotional state of mind, the son couldn’t figure out how to tie dad’s shoelaces. Shoelaces here symbolize the relationship…