The poem opens very dramatically: the cry of an eagle. Few of us perhaps have every heard an eagle in real life, though it is a familiar enough sensory image from movies or documentaries. It is a striking and even fearsome image. But where is the bird? In flight? Or in its eyrie? For eagles don't cry when they are hunting - that would scare away their prey. They cry either as an alarm, or to chase away a rival, or to call to their mate. So how do we interpret the cry in this poem? Our focus now shifts to the rock climber. Specifically we focus on their "fingers", as they reach for a grip. There is a lovely ambiguity and dynamism here. In reaching, fingers splay out (like the wingtip feathers of an eagle in flight) and in gripping they curl up (like an eagle's claw, and with similar strength and power). The climber on the mountain face is metamorphasizing into the true master of the peaks, is transforming somehow into an eagle. And so I think the eagle's cry is one of recognition and of welcome.
as always, i enjoyed your take on this haiku. much of what you describe went through my mind as well as a sense of danger both for the climber (who is likely to overcome it) and the bird. thank you
One wonders will the cry distract the climber just as he is reaching for a grip...or is the bird warning of danger ahead..or is it indeed a welcoming cry as mentioned above...many images come to mind with this piece.
4 comments:
The poem opens very dramatically: the cry of an eagle. Few of us perhaps have every heard an eagle in real life, though it is a familiar enough sensory image from movies or documentaries. It is a striking and even fearsome image. But where is the bird? In flight? Or in its eyrie? For eagles don't cry when they are hunting - that would scare away their prey. They cry either as an alarm, or to chase away a rival, or to call to their mate.
So how do we interpret the cry in this poem? Our focus now shifts to the rock climber. Specifically we focus on their "fingers", as they reach for a grip. There is a lovely ambiguity and dynamism here. In reaching, fingers splay out (like the wingtip feathers of an eagle in flight) and in gripping they curl up (like an eagle's claw, and with similar strength and power). The climber on the mountain face is metamorphasizing into the true master of the peaks, is transforming somehow into an eagle. And so I think the eagle's cry is one of recognition and of welcome.
A stunningly effective poem Polona.
as always, i enjoyed your take on this haiku. much of what you describe went through my mind as well as a sense of danger both for the climber (who is likely to overcome it) and the bird.
thank you
One wonders will the cry distract the climber just as he is reaching for a grip...or is the bird warning of danger ahead..or is it indeed a welcoming cry as mentioned above...many images come to mind with this piece.
i'm afraid it is a cry for help from the bird as humans have occupied most of its natural habitat... thank you again, Janice
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