The Seashell Game – Round One

[AlanSummers]

It seems that "spurts" was the right choice David, but possibly for different reasons as Dhugal suggests in email correspondence with me.  Permission is given to reproduce these comments.

Dhugal's first email:

"Dear Alan,

Atom Heart Mother refers to the Pink Floyd album which must have been playing at the time.

Someone is spurting blood as they sit in the bath of a pre-fabricated bathroom. One would assume it to be the poet but it could also be the Mother with the Atom Heart - and since it is a haiku it then therefore is the poet or perhaps the poet's mother while also lamenting on the breakdown of the nuclear family.

Will be happy to answer any other questions for you if it helps.

Best,

Dhugal"

Dhugal's second email after looking at the THF topic:

"I realise I didn't write it in the comment but this is an attempted suicide. I don't know why. It is not because they cut their leg unintentionally with a razor or are giving birth. They tried to slit their wrist. I feel it in my haiku bones. At least that is what the original Japanese presents to me within the framework of the Japanese culture. I guess that after that initial "knowing" one could rethink if that could really be true and come to other conclusions but the first image is definitely of a suicide.

Best,

Dhugal"

---------------------------------------------------------
Dhugal Lindsay

Dhugal is a Research Scientist at the Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology in Yokosuka City, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan.

He is also an award-winning haiku writer who thinks in Japanese as his first language when composing haiku. Dhugal won the 7th NakaNiida Haiku Award in 2001 for best haiku collection by a developing poet (first time a non-Japanese has ever won a haiku award competing with other haiku poets composing in Japanese.

You can hear Dhugal read his haiku in the original Japanese, followed by his later English version:
http://www.haijinx.com/I-2/lindsay/h3.html
---------------------------------------------------------

[John Carley]

Hi all, what an interesting discussion. Rather a lot seems to hinge on whether Atom Heart Mother is unequivocally the subject of the later verb.

Personally I experience something of a soft pivot at the end the first 'line' as not only is this a discrete semantic and metrical boundary but the system of orthography changes too. I suspect there's a deliberate irony in the fact that the first phrase is written in kanji though it refers to what was at the time a very 'external' cultural influence, whilst the second phrase is written in Katakana – the alphabet reserved for words held at arm's length – and which is a transliteration of a supposedly English phrase that is in fact a term used only in Japan to describe a feature (the all-in bathroom module) that is quintessentially 'modern Japan'.

Dhugal's suicide reading is reinforced greatly by the translation of 流す as 'spurts' rather than 'flows strongly', 'is shed, 'drains away', or similar. I wonder in truth if this overly directive. I notice for instance that in running a search for 血を流す the most commonly associated image is that of a figure weeping blood.

David tells us that the poet refers to an album released on the day of her birth. Which suggests to me a circular identification with the atom heart mother of the first line and the fact of the blood loss. It occurs to me therefore tht this is menstrual blood which is flowing.

So, to cultural identity angst add gender role identity angst.

Happy days! John

[Mark Harris]

about Atom Heart Mother, the bar,
Here's one blog entry from http://archive.metropolis.co.jp/tokyo/469/bars.asp

"Soon we were perched at Gen-shi-shin-bo's—the name in Japanese—seven-seat counter, typical of Golden Gai's plethora of lumber shanties. The bar, whose name is Japanese for Pink Floyd's Atom Heart Mother album, is owned and operated by Masami-san, an avid music and manga devotee with a penchant for all things "Atomic." Amid CDs, Astro Boy figurines, Akira originals and aged V.I.P. passes and posters all splayed out in an organized mess, Tokyo's artistic elite come to talk art, politics and philosophy in this dimly lit cubbyhole of a sanctuary away from the Pachinko parlor-infested, J-pop-blaring streets of Shinjuku. And we soon found out that regulars like Quentin Tarantino made it easier for us to fit in."

I can imagine Tanaka as one of the young "artistic elite" in this bar. --Eve

without a cut, "Atom Heart Mother" becoming the subject,  a character (as in Astro Boy, i.e. a kind of chic, post-war, urban "Shiva/Brahma"--destoyer/creator--/ Tarantino's Uma Thurman resurrected), while retaining all its other allusions and associative meanings: the album, a specific bar,  and a whole cultural mise-en-scène/state of mind/aesthetic. --Eve

Then there is a kind of return. We have, not the original woman, but an entity with the name, Atom Heart Mother, who 'spurts blood'. This is a kind of 'reincarnation' of the woman who underwent a two-step 'disappearing' process via the headline and the album title.  Perhaps this is the way this haiku should be primarily read, after all? Though I thought it unlikely, earlier, I can see now that it's a valid one, and the one that makes the most grammatical sense of the poem as it's rendered in English, as well as bringing in the element of animism which is at the foundations of Japanese culture. (Shinto) --Lorin

So, my first thought was that the "Mother" in the haiku is her own mother, giving birth to her. Her "own mother" could also be Mother Japan--which I associate with the sterile, ultra-modern and trendy "unit bath" or, as I translate it here, "pre-fab bathroom." --David

So, to cultural identity angst add gender role identity angst.

Happy days! John

Atom Heart Mother
in the prefab bathroom
spurts blood

     Ami Tanaka


summer festival—
my Astro Boy mask
has lost its power

     Fay Aoyagi



Astro Boy, star of Japanese manga and, later, anime, was a robot. His success inspired a genre that branched into stories about cyborgs (part human and part robot) who possess superpowers along with human characteristics. These branched into cyberpunk ala William Gibson. Then came Ghost in the Shell, a police thriller starring a female covert operations cyborg operating in a world in which it is possible to acquire bionic upgrades. Ghost in the Shell resulted in two anime movies. The first came out in 1995 and greatly influenced american hollywood movies with similar themes, such as The Matrix. James Cameron called Ghost in the Shell, "The first truly adult animation film to reach a level of literary and visual excellence."

this from Wikipedia:

Cyborg feminism
In her updated essay "A Cyborg Manifesto: Science, Technology, and Socialist-Feminism in the Late Twentieth Century",[3] in her book Simians, Cyborgs and Women: The Reinvention of Nature (1991), [Donna J.] Haraway uses the cyborg metaphor to explain how fundamental contradictions in feminist theory and identity should be conjoined, rather than resolved, similar to the fusion of machine and organism in cyborgs. "A Cyborg Manifesto" is also an important feminist critique of capitalism.
The idea of the cyborg deconstructs binaries of control and lack of control over the body, object and subject, nature and culture, in ways that are useful in postmodern feminist thought. Haraway uses the metaphor of cyborg identity to expose ways that things considered natural, like human bodies, are not, but are constructed by our ideas about them. This has particular relevance to feminism, since Haraway believes women are often discussed or treated in ways that reduce them to bodies.[citation needed] Balsamo and Haraway's ideas are also an important component of critiques of essentialist feminism and essentialism, as they subvert the idea of naturalness and of artificiality; the cyborg is a hybrid being...Haraway was referred to indirectly in Mamoru Oshii's film, Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence, when a cyborg version of Haraway appeared as a forensic scientist in a police station. While inspecting the body of a "dead" gynoid, she speaks of humanity's desire to recreate themselves as robots being similar to the desire to procreate biologically.

an aside: yes, Lorin, two years ago I incorporated into my body machinery potentially needed to correct Brugada Syndrome, an electrical problem caused by a rare gene mutation that runs in my family. a further aside, and way off topic: the syndrome is more common, and has long been explained by superstition, in southeast asia. I blame it on the haiku  :)

[Lorin]

If the blood spurting is a miscarriage, the poet might be saying something contradictory and disturbing about her own birth.

原子心母ユニットバスで血を流す
genshi shinbo unitto basu de chi wo nagasu

Atom Heart Mother
in the prefab bathroom
spurts blood

- David

David tells us that the poet refers to an album released on the day of her birth. Which suggests to me a circular identification with the atom heart mother of the first line and the fact of the blood loss. It occurs to me therefore that this is menstrual blood which is flowing.

So, to cultural identity angst add gender role identity angst.

Happy days! John

Atom Heart Mother
in the prefab bathroom
spurts blood

     Ami Tanaka


summer festival—
my Astro Boy mask
has lost its power

     Fay Aoyagi


Astro Boy, ... Ghost in the Shell, ( 'Ghost in the Machine'- Arthur Koestler an interesting but misogynous writer- Lorin) ,Cyborg feminism...Haraway uses the cyborg metaphor to explain how fundamental contradictions in feminist theory and identity should be conjoined, rather than resolved, similar to the fusion of machine and organism in cyborgs. ...The idea of the cyborg deconstructs binaries of control and lack of control over the body, object and subject, nature and culture, in ways that are useful in postmodern feminist thought. Haraway uses the metaphor of cyborg identity to expose ways that things considered natural, like human bodies, are not, but are constructed by our ideas about them. This has particular relevance to feminism, since Haraway believes women are often discussed or treated in ways that reduce them to bodies. (enter Lulubelle III, the cow on the album cover - Lorin) ... While inspecting the body of a "dead" gynoid, she speaks of humanity's desire to recreate themselves as robots being similar to the desire to procreate biologically.

"If the blood spurting is a miscarriage, the poet might be saying something contradictory and disturbing about her own birth." - David

Or about her (or her mother's or another woman's) decision not to give birth, to terminate a pregnacy?

What about an individual woman's angst about the prospect of becoming a mother? Which after all, doesn't end with the birth of a baby, but entails a very long time of commitment including financial commitment in a modern world where there is little, if any, community or extended family assistance. Let alone the very real negative change of social status that a woman endures once she becomes a 'single mother'? (No problems for Lulubelle, there) Or, if married, what if she has had as many children already as she and her husband are willing to raise? Add to this very highly populated cities and therefore the kind of cramped living space problems which make the claustrophobic unitto basu a logical solution.

"The Japanese population is rapidly aging, the effect of a post-war baby boom followed by a decrease in births in the latter part of the 20th century."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japan

"Oral contraceptives have limited availability, but the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare of Japan announced that oral contraceptives will be approved by the end of year 2010.[1]"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abortion_in_Japan

...'spurts blood' or 'gushes blood' isn't associated with natural birth but it certainly is with miscarriage. An induced miscarriage (abortion) is looking quite likely, I'd say. Birth control doesn't always work. Angst indeed.

(David and John, do you think 'gushes' might be a viable alternative to 'spurts'? )


- Lorin

[Don Baird]

Lorin,

I agree.  I'd say "gushes" and/or "heavy bleeding" would be more in line with the character of the poem.  I'm leaning toward those thoughts ...

best,

Don

[sandra]

I have been following the discussion here with a great deal of interest - and have learned much, so thank you to all contributors.

When the suggestion was made by Dhugal that this woman was committing suicide that seemed to be instinctively right (that is without any knowledge of the Japanese language on my part and having previously found this poem beyond my ken).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seppuku:
In time, carrying out seppuku came to involve a detailed ritual. This was usually performed in front of spectators if it was a planned seppuku, not one performed on a battlefield. A samurai was bathed, dressed in white robes, and fed his favorite meal. When he was finished, his instrument was placed on his plate. Dressed ceremonially, with his sword placed in front of him and sometimes seated on special cloths, the warrior would prepare for death by writing a death poem.

By performing her seppuku in a poem, the author is performing it in front of spectators; she is in a bathroom so we may infer that she has just bathed; and somehow I was seeing the scene all in white anyway with red blood as an exclamation. This warrior, this Atom Heart Mother (whether all mothers or specifically a mother with this type of pacemaker) is now presenting us with her death poem.

Atom Heart Mother
in the prefab bathroom
spurts blood

I think there is a case to argue that AHM of L1 *may* be all mothers - once you become a mother everything changes, your priorities, you discover hitherto unknown fears and courage, and it's a lifelong commitment. A mother is a warrior for her children, born and unborn.

The Wikipedia article states that seppuku was performed during and after WW2 and as recently as 1970.

Now I'm on a roll I may even suppose that AHM has commited seppuku on behalf of the children yet to come - if I read "Atom Heart" as also referring to Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Sacrificing herself (which is what mothers do, if not entirely literally).

[eluckring]

Mark,
nice to see Haraway's Cyborg Manifesto referenced in relation to this discussion.
Thanks.

P.S. 
being a cyborg yourself must enhance your sensitivity to these things ;)

[Lorin]

 Added to the question "Who or what is Atom Heart Mother?" is the second question, "What is happening in the unitto basu?"

So far we have:

* birth
* menstrual 'bleeding'
* miscarriage (spontaneous or induced)
* suicide (ritual or otherwise)

As well, we have the odd thing that John points out: Atom Heart Mother is rendered in kanji, though foreign words and titles are usually rendered in katakana, and the second phrase, giving us the place ( "quintessentially 'modern Japan' "- JEC) is rendered in katakana , usually reserved for 'foreign' words or texts translated into Japanese - a deliberate switch which is waving a big flag, but what is it signaling? Is this indicating that there is another switch happening in this haiku? Or simply that cultural boundaries are being blurred, which might point to 'Cyborg Manifesto'?

Could it be that Mark is right on-track with the 'Cyborg Manifesto'? (which I wasn't aware of until today)

"Haraway underlines the critical function of the cyborg concept, especially for feminist politics. The current dualistic thinking involves a "logic of dominance" because the parts of the dualisms are not equivalent. Thus, the logic produces hierarchies that legitimize men dominating women, whites dominating blacks, and humans dominating animals.

Instead, Haraway suggests that people should undermine these hierarchies by actively exploring and mobilizing the blurring of borders.[3]"  (underlining mine)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyborg_theory

Despite our various interpretations and associations, the only certain thing in this haiku is that central unitto basu, which is given in katakana.

原子心母ユニットバスで血を流す
genshi shinbo unitto basu de chi wo nagasu

Atom Heart Mother
in the prefab bathroom
spurts blood

Atom Heart Mother
in the prefab bathroom
spurts of blood

Atom Heart Mother
in the prefab bathroom
gushes blood/ gushes of blood

Atom Heart Mother
in the prefab bathroom
tears of blood


- Lorin

[Lorin]

...an aside, but since her 'Astro Boy' haiku has been quoted in relation to 'Atom Heart Mother', here's Fay Aoyagi's haiku which is featured as today's THF 'haiku of the day' in relation to 'In my luggage' :



手荷物は劣化ウランと夏の海
teimotsu wa rekka uran to natsu no umi

In my luggage
depleted uranium
and the summer sea

Keiji Minato


August cicadas
could I carry an ocean
in one suitcase

-Fay Aoyagi

[John Carley]

Hi Lorin - interesting variations. It can't be 'tears of blood' though. Here's a couple of dictionary entries (from differing word lists).

Best wishes, John

nagasu 【流す】– godan verb 「-す」; transitive verb
to drain;  to pour;  to spill;  to shed (blood, tears)

流す v. (Hira=ながす) drain, draw out; float; shed; ply

流す - it throws (?!)

[chibi575]

.
What
the bloody hell?!
Atom Heart Mother

I am enjoying this comment model of the whisper game!

word on - word off ... are you kidding me?  (all respects to Kesuke Miyagi sensei)

;D

[Lorin]

Hi Lorin - interesting variations. It can't be 'tears of blood' though. Here's a couple of dictionary entries (from differing word lists).

Best wishes, John

nagasu 【流す】– godan verb 「-す」; transitive verb
to drain;  to pour;  to spill;  to shed (blood, tears)

流す v. (Hira=ながす) drain, draw out; float; shed; ply

流す - it throws (?!)

ok, John, no 'tears of blood'  8)

'sheds bloody tears'? ... ahem, not very elegant.

- Lorin

[Lorin]

.
What
the bloody hell?!
Atom Heart Mother

I am enjoying this comment model of the whisper game!

word on - word off ... are you kidding me?  (all respects to Kesuke Miyagi sensei)

;D

What
the bloody hell?!
Atom Heart Mother

;D . . .indeed, Dennis. Though I might reverse it:

Atom Heart Mother
What
the bloody hell?!


( ...you'll have to translate the rest of your post for this little inhabitant of the Deeper South, though, she says, scratching her head.)

- Lorin

[chibi575]

Lorin,

Sorry, I guess it's a guy thing, not a South thing... ref. Karate Kid, Mr. Miyagi... "wax on ... wax off... etc., ...).

ciao  8)

[Lorin]

原子心母ユニットバスで血を流す
genshi shinbo unitto basu de chi wo nagasu

Atom Heart Mother
in the prefab bathroom
spurts blood

(spurting blood, gushing blood, flushing blood?...down the toilet, after all many things have been flushed down the toilet as a means of disposal, actually and metaphorically)

...but until now discretion or timidity have prevented me mentioning that travesty of motherhood and birth, that ultimate lapse in good taste and very interesting case of a distorted Oedipal complex which inspired a pilot of a bomber plane to give it the name of his mother, "Enola Gay". And in case that wasn't clear enough to all concerned, the devastating cargo was named "Little Boy".

The first line of this haiku, the name of a British band's album, rendered in kanji where it would  normally be rendered in katakana, and the "quintessentially Japanese" prefabricated, all-in-one bathroom rendered in katakana, where one would've expected kanji; this odd switch that John noted seems to signal another switch within the field of the poem's discourse.

Surely "Enola Gay", the original, terrible Atom Heart Mother who 'gave birth' to The Bomb is the entity lurking in the underlayers of this haiku?

Or maybe closer to the surface:

"Enola Gay became the center of a controversy at the Smithsonian Institution, when the museum put its fuselage on public display on 28 June 1995, as part of an exhibit commemorating the 50th anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima.[18] The exhibit, The Crossroads: The End of World War II, the Atomic Bomb and the Cold War, was drafted by the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum staff, and arranged around the restored Enola Gay.[19][20]
See also: Debate over the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki

...The exhibit brought to national attention many long-standing academic and political issues related to retrospective views of the bombings. As a result, after various failed attempts to revise the exhibit in order to meet the satisfaction of competing interest groups, the exhibit was canceled on 30 January 1995, although the fuselage did go on display.[22] On 2 July, three people were arrested for throwing ash and human blood on the aircraft's fuselage, following an earlier incident in which a protester had thrown red paint over the gallery's carpeting.[23] Martin O. Harwit, Director of the National Air and Space Museum, resigned over the controversy.[24][25]"  (underlining mine)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enola_Gay

Apropos of nothing except coincidence, 2nd July was my father's birthday. There is a story of personal angst (his) connected to the war with Japan, off the Philippines in WW2, too. He was in the Australian Navy.


- Lorin