re:Virals 532

Welcome to re:Virals, The Haiku Foundation’s weekly commentary feature on some of your favorites among the best contemporary haiku and senryu written in English.  In the host chair today is Melissa. This week’s poem, chosen by Ashoka Weerakkody was:

     
her child answers 
in the nanny's tongue 
end of summer
Roland Packer 
The Heron's Nest xxvii No. 3, September 2025

Introducing this poem, Ashoka writes:

Quite a simple phenomenon, we all can absorb at once without gasping, brought into imagery of this remarkable senryu by the author, discreetly highlighting a basic human situation that deals with many aspects of modern family living. A tender little kid, offspring of working parents, is gaining quickly, perhaps so early in childhood, the skills of communication. In many middle income households the so-called nanny is the first teacher and guide for young children, just coming out of infancy, at the time their perception of the world around is at its most rapidly improving phase of early childhood.

Parents being away during the optimally interactive hours of the day for anyone, adults or children, with daylight and warmth just right, the living environment becomes most conducive for the learning process. The kids in particular, with their fresh sensory abilities pick up the ways and means of interacting. And their unhindered brain space readily and indelibly store the ‘data.’

This then, is likely the wonderful event the author presents for our specific reference, specific since the child answers not in his native tongue which he or she has to acquire at first but in an ‘alien’ one. The summer has made quite a transformation for the life of this family, quite one summer, not a long spell, has perhaps taken their child off their life’s path, taking the kid a bit more closer to an alien nanny than the parents, who in trying to manage the present moment conveniently balancing everything with ‘wisdom’ are now faced with a budding problem which can have future consequences to the good or the not so good.

A fine work of haiku to reflect upon, over to you!

Host comment (Melissa):

This is an interesting haiku with respect to the context and meaning. Reading this I imagine a child who has spent more time with their nanny than their parent, to have picked up their native tongue. How does the parent feel about this? If it were me I guess I would feel embarrassed at my absence. There are however other layers, which may be more subtle, for instance class, race and gender. What this haiku seems to reflect is the complexity of social relationships within a hierarchical society, where those who are from a lower socioeconomic group offer their services to those who are more affluent. It is then a haiku that is quite powerful, insightful and provocative, even though on first glance it might not appear to be so.

Roland’s haiku also reveals the relationship between language and power. For instance, over here in the UK we have many regional accents and our attitudes towards these have fortunately changed over time. At one time what we call ‘Received English’ or ‘Oxford English’ was all that would be heard in public broadcasting, especially the BBC, as this was seen as the right way of speaking. However, this form of English was only spoken by those fortunate enough to attend fee paying schools, and so it was spoken by individuals of a particular class. Received English carried huge prestige and can be understood as a form of Linguistic Capital, a concept developed by the Sociologist Pierre Bourdieu where certain accents, dialects and vocabularies are valued above other. And like Received English these are divisive and exclude the majority, as Received English excluded the working classes, whose voices were rarely heard. Language then is about so much more than words.

In reality, here in the British Isles there are many regional accents, possibly as many as 40 or so. For a long time these were not admired or valued. Any child that spoke like this would have been deemed ‘common’. I imagine the look of horror on a parent’s face as they listened to the words being spoken by their child. Ghastly!

Moreover, different languages that dwell within the British Isles were frowned upon or even banned, for instance Irish during colonial rule. In addition, it was just this week that Scots and Gaelic were recognised as official languages, on a par with English.

Another example is how English is a global language today, and so it is advantageous to be able to speak and write it. This page is a good example, as we have contributors from all over the world, but to be able to participate they need a good grasp of the English language. This is due to history, particularly the history of conquest and empire, which have shaped our modern world. I am lucky as I was born in England, and so English is my native language, but how many people are excluded who cannot speak my native tongue?

Finally, language is never value free, we always need to question what it is we are saying and why, and this is what makes this haiku so interesting to me, as it articulates this unfortunate aspect of our world, where certain ways of speaking are valued at the expense of others.

If you are interested in learning more about the concept of linguistic capital then please follow this link:

Bourdieu1977.pdf

Urszula Marciniak:

Experiencing and discovering the world together builds bonds. The nanny skilfully shapes the relationship, step by step. She knows the words to express the child’s feelings. Could this be the last end of summer with the same opportunity for parents? Or can they wait another year?

Sudha Devi Nayak:

There is a twinge of sadness about this beautiful haiku where a child gets to spend a whole summer with her nanny. In our crowded, pressurised lives which leave little room for families and especially children, we entrust these innocent to creches, childcare centers and, if we can afford it, to nannies.
Of course children do learn to love those who bring them up because it is in the nature of children to love and many have been close to their nannies after having grown up. But all the same parental bonds with children weaken when they are entrusted to caretakers. During long breaks and vacations when children long to spend time with parents looking forward to fun, indulgence, and freedom from routine, they are simply not there. For parents too who owing to circumstances cannot give their time and wholehearted attention and love it is heartrending to see their children more attached to their care givers, learning their ways and their tongue. Language it is said is love and the child speaks the tongue of the nanny rather than that of its parent.

Children presumably are well looked after with care and understanding by their nannies in their formative and vulnerable years, but do experience a sense of abandonment and alienation. Children are a blessing as well as a challenge in these difficult times and by missing out on their childhood we miss their little joys and sorrows, their sense of wonder at everything around from a butterfly flitting from flower to flower, raindrops that settle on leaves, and the puppy that runs across the lawn chasing a ball.
These moments can never be retrieved or replicated as we have surrendered them to others. Nevertheless that twinge of regret reminds us we must make the most of our children as long as we can because we see in them a continuity of ourselves. Be tender with the young,they did not ask to be born.

Patricia Devine:

Could it be her “inner child” that is coming forth, reminding her that a certain phase of life is over — her internalized parent is telling her this.

Amoolya Kamalnath:

A well-crafted verse.
All was going well until….
Probably she is a single parent and a working mother and the nanny has been the prime caretaker of the child. The nanny has probably remarked something to the child and the child has repeated it verbatim to the mother. Or, the child has retorted to the mother in a reckless manner or uncouth way, much like the nanny’s way of speaking, which the mother obviously would not be able to digest. It’s now the end of the way things were going.

Radhamani Sarma:

Two different people, two different accents. Tongues alluded to leaving the choice to readers’ conclusion. The very first line “her child answers”, may be a mother and child interaction. After sometime spent in the care of the nanny – a change happens where the child learns the custom, culture, language and accent of the nanny; obviously replies in the nanny’s tongue. Written in a subtle humour, depicting how language and accent contribute to the environment and well being. There is not only humour but also a sad irony behind the line “in the nanny’s tongue”.

Another possible inference: if the nanny is strict, cold, and moody the child shivers and refuses to go back . Farewell to her, her care, her admonition etc.

The last line “end of summer” is an apt seasonal, reference, where cold chillness already began. Autumn has already been in the offing. To put in a nutshell, the angered voice of the affected child , sad irony behind it all along with a metaphor of seasonal reference

Shalini Pattabiraman and language games:

For a long time I have felt troubled by the functions of language, one that supports communication and self-expression and the other that identifies the speaker in a way that creates distinction, a kind of othering that happens even when not intended.

In this haiku, I discover a critique of that form of discrimination. Packer’s haiku provokes that question which time and again raises the issue of how we see each other, how we relate to each other, of we make one seem less than the other.

Having lived for many years in the cosmopolitan country of Singapore, in my work as a speech and drama facilitator, I often came across children whose accent and tonal range was markedly different from that of their parents. This cultural exchange and trace of influence was more pronounced in Singapore because of the diversity of people and the languages they spoke. Because both parents worked, childcare was often left to a hired carer. My son who went to a childcare centre from when he was seven months old, spoke in an accent that carried these traces of influence from his carers who came from various backgrounds. The multicultural influence can be seen as a colourful acquisition breaking barrier. But on the other hand, parents often sent their children to speech and drama centres where they would learn to speak standard spoken English. There was the need to make accent less distinctive and more neutral, subtracting traces that would identify where one came from. These aspirations are and remain as a legacy of colonialism, that made one accent or way of speaking seem less than the other.

“end of summer” thus holds many interpretations. One suggests the end of the carer’s role, another might suggest the increased influence because the child has more time with a carer and yet another might suggest a change because in summer holidays, children might have attended classes which to some extent might over time neutralise the presence of an accent.

Author Roland Packer
As for further comments on “her child answers,” I think I’d let the poem speak mainly for itself with its numerous melancholy echoes from the different perspectives of the child, the nanny, the mother and the season – not only of autumn beginning but of life and its phases.

Thanks to all who sent commentaries. As the contributor of the commentary reckoned best this week, Shalini Pattabiraman has chosen next week’s poem, which you’ll find below. We invite you to write a commentary to it. It may be short, or of moderate length, academic, your personal response, spontaneous, or idiosyncratic.  As long as it focuses on the verse presented, and with respect for the poet, all genuine reader reaction, criticism, and pertinent discussion is of value.   Out-takes are kept in the THF Archives.  Best of all, the chosen commentary’s author gets to pick the next poem.

Anyone can participate. Simply use the re:Virals commentary form below to enter your commentary on the new week’s poem (“Your text”) by the following Tuesday midnight, Eastern US Time Zone, and then press Submit to send your entry. The Submit button will not be available until Name, Email, and Place of Residence fields are filled in. We look forward to seeing your commentary and finding out about your favourite poems.

Poem for commentary:

     
low slung sky
the rain hanging
by a hundred prayers
— Anju Kishore
  The Heron's Nest, December 2025

Footnote:

Roland’s bio can be found at Haikupedia:

Roland Packer

a review of Roland’s book “no heroic measures” which received an honourable mention in The Touchstone Distinguished Books for 2024

Roland Packer — Touchstone Distinguished Books Honorable Mention 2024

and his 2017 mini chapbook, “Wayfarers” in the Haiku Foundation’s digital library:

https://thehaikufoundation.org/omeka/items/show/6227

re:Virals is co-hosted by Shawn Blair, Melissa Dennison, Susan Yavaniski, and Keith Evetts (managing editor).

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