Hifsa Ashraf
Interpretation: The opening line of this haiku is about a flower 'chrysanthemum' which symbolizes longevity, joy, and optimism but adding a word wilted brings in the opposite meaning of this flower. A wilted chrysanthemum not only symbolizes forgetting, death, loss, or grief but also the wilted part of the brain that stores memories. The connection between mother’s dementia and wilted chrysanthemum works well as both are transforming from blooming stage to wilting stage where memory loss brings nothing but wilted mind and heart.
-----
heat mirage
her life
after dementia
Heat mirage is an illusion that is due to the temporary false vision of eyes in a high temperature. Heat mirage brings a kind of hope initially where a person feels that there is a water oasis ahead of him or her but in reality it is just an illusion. Dementia brings such an illusion initially where a person feels some signs of hope in the heatwave of life, but actually these mirages go away if dementia persists for the rest of life. ‘Her’ means a widow, a mother, a wife, a daughter, or a young girl who finds her life more like a mirage after dementia especially if she has passed through hardships or back to back miseries. The signs of illusion and delusions are very common after dementia where the person seeks solace in remembering the chunks of memory, so mirage may have both positive and negative connotations in this case.
-----
spring twilight...
his lips quiver
to say her name
When I was writing this haiku, I had certain twilight purplish pink hues on my mind that also reflects our organs and skin colours. I tried to relate twilight colours with a fragile mind just like those colours that start losing their brightness at twilight time. But here is a catch, the word ‘spring’ before twilight means a better sight of twilight after a long day where the hues may be the same but with a bright spectrum. His lips quiver means that he remembers something due to flashes of memories that spark some time during dementia. Mostly, when a person remembers or regains his/her memory,they mostly take the name of loved ones who played a significant role in their lives. So, ‘her name’ means some who he loved the most and try to utter her name. ‘Lips quiver’ again shows fragility, grief, and inability to speak which also reflects some helplessness. But, still someone tries to come back to life after passing through a long day or a cold season of the winter.
-------
brain fog—
a refugee mother makes
the criss-cross constellation
Brain fog symbolises the un clarity of mind or memory loss. Fog covers the major aspects of life and blurs everything around us. A refugee mother may have lost her child, spouse, family, and significant others during the war. So, she is losing her mind due to the traumatic past where she has lost her memory as well or developed some symptoms of a memory loss. The criss-cross constellation reflections the confused mind with some abstract or complex thoughts which are not clear. It also means that her life path is also criss-cross in nature where she has to pass through some difficult time due to her state of mind, and social status of being a refugee. This haiku explains a lot about the lives of many women who pass through many mental health issues after migrating from their homeland that develop PTSD and gradually become a reason for dementia.
