An old Chinese proverb says: „Tell me and I’ll forget, show me, and I may remember, involve me and I’ll understand“.

Nataly’s haiku are not just images, pretty or odd, funny or sad – they always try to engage the reader. Reading Nataly’s verses, you realise that they are heartfelt, and their sincerity is achieved by the fact that Nataly does not look for the ingenious subjects and complicated images, but writes about things close to her heart. And above all she lives for her family, her two little kids and nature – therefore these subjects are not accidental in her poems.

In her haiku Nataly manages to avoid the trap that many haijins fall into as they confuse depth and multiple meanings, common for haiku with ambiguity. Multiple meanings in haiku– is not a crossroads, where the road ramifies making the traveller think which way to go. It can probably be compared with the view from the window. While the window is closed, the view is only a picture, distant and strange, but as soon as one opens this window, the room immediately fills with streams of light, smell, sounds and air, making the room and everybody in it part of their lives.

Based on understandable associations and simple words, Nataly’s haiku do not leave any time to wonder about the possible meanings and about what the author wanted to say – they open up almost immediately, bursting with emotions. The preciseness of the associations, usual for Nataly, can be found in this verse too:

melting snow,
all in motley baby vests
a house by the pier

The first line paints us a picture of the beginning of spring, where patches of snow still can be found here and there, but the sun is already warm and fills the world with the spring colours. The mood of the spring and of the new life becomes stronger with the appearance of the motley baby vests – clothes of a tiny, a newborn person, which were hung to dry in the tender sun by the baby’s mum.

But it is the last line, and the last word in particular, that turns this warm and touching image into a great haiku. „The pier“ takes us at once to the seashore, and the little baby vests, fluttering in the gusty wind immediately turn into the signal flags on the mast of the ship – an ancient seamen’s language. Having reached the final link in this chain of associations, the reader begins to feel happiness that fills the heart of the sailor that comes back from the long voyage and notices from afar the motley flags by his house (maybe with predominance of blue or pink), announcing the happy event.

Haiku are sometimes called the poetry of loneliness, the poetry of quiet melancholy and meditative contemplation. From this point of view many of Nataly’s haiku probably cannot be called strictly traditional. Her haiku are the poetry of happiness, warmth and love, which she generously shares with her readers.

= Translated by the ULITKA =