Musings on Things in Translation

Kindergarten assignment.

The five year old, I think I’ve mentioned, is in a French immersion program at school. The teacher does not speak English to the children at all, and all the signage, and lessons, and what not are in French. Their specials are in English, but otherwise it’s full immersion. It’s been really interesting to see what bits of language he comes home with. They have learned numbers and and letters and colours. “Red” is “rouge”, as it should be, but “blue” is … “blue”, the difference between “blue” and “bleu” subtle enough not to register with him, especially when spoken. Interesting too, is when he comes home and asks me what certain phrases mean. Of course, to him, they are not separate words, but just a long string of syllables.

“What is ‘luvaylama’?” he asked me the other day.

“I’m not quite sure,” I say. And I ask him to say it more slowly. After several times, I finally get it: “Levez la main.” Raise your hand. I’m not a linguistic researcher, but I do find it fascinating that our brains must at some point learn to break down strings of syllables into separate components. When the baby was younger, I enrolled her in all sorts of language studies at the University, and one of them centered around when children started to differentiate forms of speech. They would play videos of various nonsense syllables and at some point, apparently, kids, even though they don’t know what a word specifically means, will recognize if something is an action word or a “thing” word.

And then there is the wonder of seeing how the five year old’s brain comes to understand things based on context.

Last week, he asks me, “Does ‘Pas maintenent’ mean ‘I don’t want to answer that question?'”

Pas maintenant“, literally means “not now“, but in a way, the five year old’s understanding, if not literally correct, probably captured the spirit of the way he heard it. And in his interpretation, I could suddenly see clearly how the teacher might have used that phrase – I could picture her trying to get twenty-five kindergarteners to line up for lunch and one child trying doggedly to ask something, and the teacher telling that child, “Pas maintenant!”

Seeing the little guy grapple with language and puzzle it out in his brain really hits home the idea that language doesn’t operate in a vacuum.

Switching gears – Four Haikus for Thursday:

Chaotic morning
Multitasking results in
Scraping off burnt toast.

The hours are long
from 4pm til lights out,
Interminable.

This sick day, restful.
The invalid now restless
Clearly recovered.

The view was lovely
And briefly seen. Shivering.
Should have worn more clothes.

A view from our verrrry cold hike attempt.

Three Haikus for Thursday (even though it’s Friday)

… because I fell asleep before I could hit post…. I used to write a lot of haikus here (see them here), and I thought I might try to make it a habit again. Anyhow, here are this week’s efforts.

My tooth brush, child prepped.
Everywhere, toothpaste is smeared.
Love amidst chaos.

Full Moon, spotlight bright
Wakes me like a bulb flicked on
Unexpectedly.

Fall’s brittle carpet,
A cacophony of leaves.
Sounds of a fall walk.

crunch crunch swish.




January Challenge #16 – flowers

For January I signed up for 64 Million Artists’ January Challenge. Every day in January, they send out a prompt for a quick creative challenge. I’m posting some of my output here.

Find a flower. You might find it outside, inside, in a book, magazine or online.  
Consider the colour, shapes and textures of the flower. Is it rough, soft, rotting, smooth…or anything else?

Capture the essence and colours of your flower in a picture, sketch or haiku. 

January rose.
Blazing solitary pink
When will the snow come?

Snow mirroring clouds,
Soft white banks of fluff and cold
with blue sky between.

Haikus for October

Leaves peeping shyly.
Crimson peering through the green,
afraid to be seen.

Baby and acorn
Small vessels of potential
What hopes lie inside!

Low sun at morning
A ray of warmth in the chill
Summer turns to fall.

Dusky ev’ning walk
Late summer meandering
even though it’s fall.

Her hair smells like me-
spicy from nestling in the
crook of my armpit.

Chilly autumn morning,
Misty air, dewy playgrounds
Wet bottoms down slides.

Face raised to the sun
He stands still, soaking the warmth.
Parking lot moment.

Sticky hands reaching
Smearing fruit on her plump chin
Blueberry Van Dyke.

This one is from today, but it feels too immediate to leave for the end of the month:

Window refreshing,
Reviving breathless hope
a shot at a shot.

Haikus for May, June and July

Get back on the bike
Show up and write anything
Back in the habit.

May:

Verdantly dancing,
Winter limbs don leafy coats
All the shades of green.

Exoskeletons
Sunshine trough cicada shells
Jewels left behind.

He slurps his noodles
A bowl of surprise and wonder
Discov’ring mushrooms.

Good Morning Spring Sun!
Slanting through kitchen windows
Stabs me in the eye.

June:

Cicadas flutter
on buzzing wings to treetops
alarmingly loud.

Ghost lights in water
Splash strokes, propelling shadows
Summer dusk swim meet.

June heat blankets me
in a thick layer of air,
prompts my lethargy.

The taste of summer skin
baking in the poolside heat
Sunscreen and chlorine.

The baby dances
unobserved in the kitchen.
It’s true what they say.


July:

Brood X now silent,
Bodies dissolved into earth
Leaving brown-tipped trees.

Skies open, rain storms.
Skies open, sunshine. Briefly.
Enough for a swim.

Haikus for April

Daffodil carpet
spread out under bare limbed trees
Welcome mat for spring.

Wafting on spring winds
blossoms drfiting, blown off trees
like an April snow.

Wet days, then sunshine
Rain coats. Seventies. Short sleeves.
Shifty spring weather.

She picks ev’ry stick
grasped in her baby fingers
so diligently

Biting April winds
awakens my winter coat
from hibernation.

She stands hesitant
Atop the mountain slide. Watis.
Then zips down with glee.

Buffeting spring winds.
Bracing. Cuts through the sunshine.
Blows off lethargy.

Spring brings morning sun
slanting through kitchen windows
stabs me in the eye.

Pandemic reset.
I’m relaxing commitments
to expectations

Haikus for March

A beltway of stars
shines so clear this inky night
freckling the March sky.

Sunlight warms my face
clean air, sharp in my nostrils
shut eyes see spring signs

The birds are singing
Brilliant blue cloudless skies
This first week of spring.

A path through the sky
3/21/21
space station fly by.
(note: I just learned that you can get email notification of when the International Space Station can be seen flying overhead for any given location. Spot the Station. Such a cool summer evening activity!)

Spring brings many things
Blue jays fly on outstretched wings
to eaves for nesting.

I sit in the car
breathing in the still quiet.
Chaos waits inside.

Haikus from February

Tree branches frozen,
Encased in a crystal sleeve
Like the Snow Queen’s wand.

The afternoon moon
still among cumulous drifts,
mottled white cloud-like.

She sings wordless songs
of adventure and nature
things only she knows

The last stubborn snow
Persists in fifty degrees
Unmeltingly solid.

Persistent snow drift
Every day a little less
melting into March

Sycamore limbs stretch
Spreading to full potential
given space and time

Quiet and busy
toilet paper on the floor
A roll strewn with joy.

Urban park mural
So bright on a winter’s day
punchy, popping hues

Weary yet hopeful
Welcome to the human race
Solidarity

Haikus for January

Sliver of evening
glows pink gold through bare trees
As church bells toll.

Black poet, yellow coat
Elegantly eloquent
Sowing words of hope.

On a cold night,
Across a blazing bright moon
Clouds billow like smoke.

Lunch: cheese, cracker bits,
rejected sandwich, cut fruit,
this morning’s tea, cold.

Tangled limbs reach high
Cartwheeling through conifers
Bare in winter light.

A decade passes.
Seems long on paper, but feels
like no time at all.

Icing crust of snow-
Translucent on golden grass-
Crunch under my boots

White blankets bounce light,
Cutting through the winter grey.
Brightly fills the room.

Haikus for December

Good thing she is cute.

Wispy, silky hair.
Kisses on doughy cheeks.
Savor this baby.

Trying to savor
this tiny person spitting
banana on me.

Onesie snaps are like
“Rock, paper, scissors.” Aim for
Best two out of three.

Toast is my refuge –
Crisp, buttery comfort, and
deafeningly loud.

Silence and water
cocoon me in the shower.
Treasured solitude.