Guilty Conscience (Senryu)

This could be interpreted in a number of ways...

 

 

 

After killing him,

 

She looked into the mirror.

 

There was no image.

 

Reviews

[Adrian K. Smith]

I liked to play out in left field, it is where I am most comfortable, just daydreaming and chasing butterflies as the case may be. The title may server as the hinge pin or it may serve as a distraction, but I am going to go with it being a distracting pin for this. All that mattered after killing him, was the guilt. It consumed her. Guilt is not a physical entity. She became her guilty conscience, not even an apparition of her former self. She would see nothing but the guilt. Just my view from left field.

[Bhavya Kaushik]

"After killing him,
She looked into the mirror.
There was no image."
...
This is a great haiku! The last line is very powerful according to me and thus a reader can get a lot from it! I agree with you that it could be interpreted in many ways, entirely depending upon the psychology of the reader. The title "Guilty Conscious" according to me is playing a very important part in enhancing the feel of the haiku.
For me, this is about someone who fought very hard to get an identity of herself and finally when she got that she found herself almost hollow as she was nothing without him, the one who she wants to remove from her life by killing all the memories...But, at last when she did so...she found that he was everything for her and now that sense of guilty had forced her to surrender and because of that she found herself entirely hollow!
So...for me, it's just like that!

( I just read A.L James review and it left me smiling)


Great write as always!

[Rain]

Wow..You cannot possibly be that lethal. Rain..

[Jaded Perception]

im going with the vampire thing. its sexier . lol good job.

[A.L. James]

why do you write stuff like this all the time? Do you have trouble feeling happiness??

[James Mayfield]

I'd say it is pretty open to interpretation. Alot of people say the eyes of a killer are dead. At least thats my take on it. Interesting read.

[Deborah Leah Krempa]

Sounds like she was a vampire or had no conscience. Short, with a few words can say much to a reader. Thank you for sharing. Debileah

[Dorothy]

Wow! Very interesting. No image because his life defined her? No image because she can't see herself without him? Very thooughtful. I like it. :)

[Shalini R]

yikes, i love love LOVE mirrors
great haiku

[C. Harter Amos]

The way I read this was that she defines herself through him. Perhaps she hates him for this fact and once killing him finds there's nothing left of herself without him. This was fun to play with mentally. Very interesting to turn several interpretations over to consider. I suppose the one I chose most matches my own story? Hmmmm....Kudos on a thought provoking short three lines. Well done.