THE AMISH WOMAN............ Helen Ruggieri I pretend to look at the bread but look at the rough fabric of her blue dress, the dry skin of her plain face. Her hands are chapped across the knuckles. I want to rub rich cream scented with herbs across the backs of her hands. Instead I hand over the price of a loaf where we meet to exchange goods for dollars at the Farmer's Market. I think of her kneading bread on the scrubbed table, the child feeding chunks of wood into the stove, her rocker by the window for extra light in the evening, armless, so there will be no resting. We meet, treading time as if it were water, our worlds focused on trade, my worldliness, her purity. I want to touch her century, to button up the devil in 17th century clothes. I want to yank her into my century, to whisper to her, we have been to the moon; you can save the children from whooping cough, from polio. A bearded man in blue whispers to her. Children in round black hats whoop behind her table. old barn moving deeper and deeper into the weeds   Editor's Comments: One hesitates to choose one haibun as outstanding among a body of good, heartfelt writing. For one thing, I know that my tastes both in terms of style and content dictate my enjoyment of the haibun that I read. Thus, my choices are likely to be different than those of others simply because I am me and you are you. Several things caught my attention in "The Amish Woman" by Helen Ruggieri. First, her use of description is strong—I can visualize the scene [rough fabric of her blue dress, dry skin of her plain face, her hands are chapped across the knuckles]—it's as if I am there, at the market looking at the Amish woman and her family. Second, the content has to work for me. In this haibun we see an interesting clash of two cultures [and even centuries], Amish-old and modern-poetic with the author stepping [uncomfortably, as I read it] into the shoes of the other. I'd have liked to have seen the author also consider what might be in that other culture that could offer a better life than hers—but that's just my preference. Third, we are treated to both the observational [sight, taste, smell, touch, sound] as well as the inner workings of the author's mind [imagining, feeling, thinking]. Fourth, a distinguishing feature of haibun is that it contains poetic writing—some well turned phrases, and isn't simply a prose piece, an essay, a diatribe, a thought piece. For example, a phrase that particularly caught my attention and admiration is: "We meet, treading time as if it were water ...". Mmmm ... wish I had written that! Finally, the haiku should stand out and not simply offer more descriptive information that could be easily folded into the prose. Helen's haiku takes us out of the market to an old barn. We can ask, who is the old barn ... yes, obviously the Amish woman, but what about the writer, looking at herself in another century and possibly even contemplating her own aging process? Thanks Helen for a marvelous piece of writing. ~ Ray Rasmussen   return to top of page