Ray Rasmussen

The Summing Ups and Downs

I open the review of a haibun anthology and see that my work is summarized as: “Ray Rasmussen's several pieces in the anthology display his talent for presenting amusing personal stories and confessions.”

Shouldn’t I feel good about having my work included in the anthology and being one of the few writers mentioned in a positive tone by the reviewer?

But is that all my writing adds up to – amusing stories, good for a chuckle?

birthday party –
a child's balloon,
  de
       flat
            ing
                 .
                    .
                       .

I want to write at least one haibun that this reviewer, for whom I have great respect, would describe – as he did about the work of others – as “wild and woolly servings of word-soup” and as using “lyrical narrative language.”

And although I’m not sure I understand these terms, even as containing “paradoxical associations” and “surreal disjunctions.”

bobbing
amongst the flotsam
a rusty beer can

scurrying
in the jetsam –
a crab, claws raised

Note: Revision of a piece previously published in Notes from the Gean.