Hopeful gringo hordes

cross the guarded border to

Seek a better life.

Lulu Torbet y Leah Feldon
Gringo Haikú

My fellow writer friend Leah Feldon and I were desperate to come up with something for the first San Miguel Authors Anthology, but we hadn’t been in San Miguel long enough to have written anything about it. Sitting around over a couple rounds of tequila, we wrote a piece on ‘Gringo Haiku,’ based on the traditional Japanese poem form of 17-syllables, in lines of 5-7-5, about the vagaries of San Miguel gringo life, with a faux-academic introduction. It got great laughs, so we turned it into a little book. 

Lulu Torbet

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THE Gringo HAIKU

The gringo haiku of the San Miguel School, as offered here, evolved from the needs of displaced expatriates to express their love for – and confusion about – their adopted land. Written in a big hurry, primarily in English, these evocative verses are flavored by the occasional Spanish word: margarita¹, caramba², plomero³. The traditional form of seventeen syllables, in three lines of five, seven, and five -- or as we say in these parts, cinco, siete, cinco—has been retained.

From its inception in Japan in the 12th century, the sensory aspect of haiku has been a central element. The scent of plum blossoms; blackbirds against a night sky; a wilting chrysanthemum: each conveys a world of meaning.

The gringo haiku, on the other hand, relies for its sensory palette on the aroma of carnitas or packs of street dogs. To give a sense of place, Mt. Fuji or a still pond finds its gringo haiku equivalent in the Instituto or potholes.

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Juan, Lupe, Miguel,
Jesús, María, José
good saints and neighbors.


Lulu Torbet y Leah Feldon
Gringo Haiku

Like so many before us, we came to San Miguel (Allende) to relax and take it easy, to get away from the hustle and bustle of life in el norte, to find time for astistic pursuists. But there's so much to do here in San Miguel -people to see, places to go, so much to eat and drink and buy. How would we find time for true creative literary expression? Ah! haiku, of course, the venerated short verse from of the mysterious East. Caramba!

Lulu Torbet y Leah Feldon

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In San Miguel you
never know for whom the bell
tolls, or why, or when.



Lulu Torbet y Leah Feldon