...
sorry kids
we won't walk to the zoo today
the animals all have colds
we won't drive to the moon today
too far for cars I'm told
we won't swim in the nile today
so nothing will chomp our toes
we won't gallop in Spain today
like unlucky Lucia, oh no!
we won't fly with eagles today
watch out for pointy talons
we won't drink with fish today
(an ocean is how many gallons?)
we won't ride a comet today
do they even have seat belts
we won't stroll on the sun today
our ice cream would probably melt
wherever will we go today?
come over here and look
of anywhere that's fun, I say
the best place is a book.
...
Sunday, September 30
Tuesday, September 25
What is a Haiku?
...
Someone just sent me this tweet:
"@Happybucket true (ie: not-as culturally appropriated) haiku are meant to include a seasonal reference & juxtaposition: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haiku"
and I responded with this:
I'm sorry that you /
can't open my gift since you /
don't value the box
#haiku #poetry #mp
...
However, I feel that a further explanation is necessary, since I write many, many of what I call haiku, yet others might call something different. (Possibly twaiku or garbage, depending on their inclination.)
I'd like to start with the term "culturally appropriated." What exactly does that mean? It seems like a code phrase for "don't steal ideas from other groups of people because that's bad."
Which means the Romans would have to give up their gods, Christians and Muslims would have toss their bibles, no one could eat french fries except Belgians, who couldn't even really eat those since potatoes are from Peru. The U.S. stole democracy from France. The Beatles "culturally appropriated" their sound from Chuck Berry. In fact, nothing good on this earth would have been passed around, mutated, and evolved into something excellent if it weren't for our ability to culturally appropriate stuff from other people.
So are my haiku culturally appropriated? Heck yes! I am proud of it. I stole the crap out of the form, and I mutated it right along with every school teacher handing down the 5-7-5 format to their 6th graders.
No, I do not write like dead Japanese poets. Nor do I want to. If the Japanese want me to give back their haiku form and the word that goes along with it, then they can hand over hip hop and rap. It amuses me to think that somewhere in Japan, someone is criticizing someone else by saying, "You do not write rap correctly. Rap must be like Snoop Dogg."
Though really, a Japanese person has never said to me, "Hey, stop writing haiku in English. You're doing it wrong." It's generally a well-meaning, yet snotty literary type with an authoritarian internet link and too much time on their hands. They feel the need to correct me, since obviously I haven't already learned what a "real" haiku is on my own, so I need their condescending guidance.
Back off. I know what I'm doing, thank you. I've written thousands upon thousands of haiku now. I dream in haiku. Yes, I call them haiku, therefore they are haiku. Yes, the word comes from another place, and another people, and I respect their language and their version, but right here, right now, this word is mine, and if I want to call what I write haiku, I will. Your wikipedia article be damned. It's written by democratic process anyway, and what good art has ever been voted on? My artistic process is a dictatorship, in which I am the leader, and I decree that 5-7-5 is a haiku.
If you don't like it, then please don't read what I write. It would be lost on you anyway.
Thank you.
...
Someone just sent me this tweet:
and I responded with this:
I'm sorry that you /
can't open my gift since you /
don't value the box
#haiku #poetry #mp
...
However, I feel that a further explanation is necessary, since I write many, many of what I call haiku, yet others might call something different. (Possibly twaiku or garbage, depending on their inclination.)
I'd like to start with the term "culturally appropriated." What exactly does that mean? It seems like a code phrase for "don't steal ideas from other groups of people because that's bad."
Which means the Romans would have to give up their gods, Christians and Muslims would have toss their bibles, no one could eat french fries except Belgians, who couldn't even really eat those since potatoes are from Peru. The U.S. stole democracy from France. The Beatles "culturally appropriated" their sound from Chuck Berry. In fact, nothing good on this earth would have been passed around, mutated, and evolved into something excellent if it weren't for our ability to culturally appropriate stuff from other people.
So are my haiku culturally appropriated? Heck yes! I am proud of it. I stole the crap out of the form, and I mutated it right along with every school teacher handing down the 5-7-5 format to their 6th graders.
No, I do not write like dead Japanese poets. Nor do I want to. If the Japanese want me to give back their haiku form and the word that goes along with it, then they can hand over hip hop and rap. It amuses me to think that somewhere in Japan, someone is criticizing someone else by saying, "You do not write rap correctly. Rap must be like Snoop Dogg."
Though really, a Japanese person has never said to me, "Hey, stop writing haiku in English. You're doing it wrong." It's generally a well-meaning, yet snotty literary type with an authoritarian internet link and too much time on their hands. They feel the need to correct me, since obviously I haven't already learned what a "real" haiku is on my own, so I need their condescending guidance.
Back off. I know what I'm doing, thank you. I've written thousands upon thousands of haiku now. I dream in haiku. Yes, I call them haiku, therefore they are haiku. Yes, the word comes from another place, and another people, and I respect their language and their version, but right here, right now, this word is mine, and if I want to call what I write haiku, I will. Your wikipedia article be damned. It's written by democratic process anyway, and what good art has ever been voted on? My artistic process is a dictatorship, in which I am the leader, and I decree that 5-7-5 is a haiku.
If you don't like it, then please don't read what I write. It would be lost on you anyway.
Thank you.
...
Asked an Exasperated Anyone
...
asked an exasperated anyone:
"oh someone, has a someone, seen no one
a someone's a wave, while that I can be
who'd prefer to wrap their arms 'round a sea
looking for no one, yes, no one at all
breathless and shapeless and massively tall
fanciful hair the color of the breeze
in dazzling night she sings along with trees
her silence fills the spaces when I speak
yet her thoughts on being are quite unique
yes, I'm anyone, anyone at all
though next to her, I'm enormously small
she runs faster than me, this lovely void
she'll be sprinting still when all is destroyed
maybe someone has seen her, you someone!
an anyone wants no one, yes no one
at all"
...
asked an exasperated anyone:
"oh someone, has a someone, seen no one
a someone's a wave, while that I can be
who'd prefer to wrap their arms 'round a sea
looking for no one, yes, no one at all
breathless and shapeless and massively tall
fanciful hair the color of the breeze
in dazzling night she sings along with trees
her silence fills the spaces when I speak
yet her thoughts on being are quite unique
yes, I'm anyone, anyone at all
though next to her, I'm enormously small
she runs faster than me, this lovely void
she'll be sprinting still when all is destroyed
maybe someone has seen her, you someone!
an anyone wants no one, yes no one
at all"
...
Sunday, September 23
Autumn Kick-Off Event
...
what do I expect /
to see in mirrored words that /
reflect anyone
...
For New World Creative Union
what do I expect /
to see in mirrored words that /
reflect anyone
...
For New World Creative Union
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