“I am often on the lookout for “pear” haiku, especially those that allow a reader to explore the word’s connotations. I am excited about this poem’s multiple layers, from the entirely literal and seasonal to the traditional mythic significance of the pear as the fruit of the Tree of Life, which also relates to first and second Advents (and all annual Advents, too, in metaphorical and spiritual continuum), to the allusive, allegorical significance of branches when taken together with these other meanings. Did David Cobb intend these meanings? Maybe, maybe not. He probably was linking his haiku to one or two classical Japanese haiku that occur to me at the moment. But a possible lack of intent doesn’t eliminate that cycle of resonance that Richard Gilbert wrote about and that I am experiencing here.”

“I am often on the lookout for ‘pear’ haiku, especially those that allow a reader to explore the word’s connotations. I am excited aboutthis poem’s multiple layers, from the entirely literal and seasonal to the traditional mythic significance of the pear as the fruit of the Tree of Life, which also relates to both first and second Advents (and all annual Advents, too,in metaphorical and spiritual continuum) to the allisive, allegorical significance of branches when taken together with these other meanings. Did David Cobb intend these meanings? Maybe, maybe not. He probably was linking this haiku to one or two classical Japanese haiku that occur to me atthe moment. But a possible lack of intent doesn’t mean that cycle of resonance that Richard Gilbert wrote about and that I am experiencing here.”

Adelaide