Jenny Ward Angyal
Insight
My newborn granddaughter nestles in my arms, her gaze fixed intently on my face. I poke out my tongue and wiggle it, and watch in delight as she thrusts out her own tiny pink tongue. Our eyes lock. Only hours from the darkness of the womb, how does she make sense of the images traveling from eye to brain? How does she know how to see?
Mouse pups are born with their eyes sealed shut, yet waves of nerve impulses flow across their retinas. They flow in the same pattern that would occur if the mouse were moving forward, past scenery that appears to flow backward. Practicing even before its eyelids open, the pup is primed to make sense of the motion it will see as it scurries through field or forest or the maze beneath the sink.
dreaming what I don’t yet know— seeds on the wind
Author’s Note:
“Positive evidence for neonatal imitation: A general response, adaptive engagement,” Developmental science, 23(2), e12894. https://doi.org/10.1111/desc.12894
About the Author
Jenny Ward Angyal’s tanka have appeared widely in journals and in her collection, moonlight on water (2016). She is tanka editor of Under the Basho.
Jenny,
Enjoyed reading your multi-layered haibun.
How well your title marries your prose and haiku into one.
I have grandkids now and understand this wonder we call the birth of a child and the way they grow in leaps and bounds – every growth spurt is something awesome, and nothing short of a miracle.
a fine piece of work “Insight” by Jenny Ward Angyal. It made me wonder and moved me to want to research the rapid growth of kittens – as they also can’t see for the first days of their lives. They survive within their mother cat’s warmth – she shows them within weeks all they need to know to survive – one of the best mothers – the kittens grow rapidly into skilled hunters; their sweetness and charm is legendary, irresistible their gift of purring-
thank you Jenny for this insightful haibun. I read your work whenever i find it.
Giselle Maya, St. Martin de Castillon, France
Jenny, I love how you wed the deeply personal–first embrace of a grandchild and the bonding that occurs through eye contact–with the science of how mouse pups learn to see. Deeply moving and wonderfully described.
Hi Jenny
A moving haibun, I was immediately reminded of my son’s birth and how we were enchanted by all the first experiences. I especially loved the haiku at the end; how well it captures this feeling.
Warmest
Shalini