HAIKU DIALOGUE – Surrealism II – “Creation of the Birds”

Many thanks to Guest Editor Allyson Whipple for this fascinating study of the genre of poetry we know as haiku. Next, we welcome back returning Guest Editor Lafcadio with a continuation of surrealism in the art world… happy writing! kj

Surrealism II with Guest Editor Lafcadio

For the next few weeks I would like to be your docent again in The Haiku Foundation Art museum. We will continue our tour of the Surrealist gallery. I know we were there last year, but now I’d like to show you a few of the works of the female Surrealist painters. First, let’s have a quick review about surrealism to make sure we are all on the same page, or in the same room. Surrealism is an artistic movement that began in the early 20th century. Surrealistic painters created dreamlike and often inexplicable images. One of the major characteristics of this kind of painting is the comparison of unrelated entities and components. This creates a surprise for the viewer and hopefully carries them into a world of fantasy and symbolism. This technique of painting not only challenged traditional painting, but was also a representation of the social and political upheavals of society after the trauma and disillusionment of World War I. Still, surrealistic paintings are used today to transcend the boundaries of the ordinary and deliver us in the realm of the extraordinary.

In 1924 Andre Breton, known as the father of Surrealism, wrote his first Surrealist Manifesto. He stated that 19 painters had created art that was absolute Surrealism. None of these painters were female. These painters felt women were useful to them as muses and inspiration but not as artists in their own right. However, by 1985 it was determined that no other art movement had such a large number of women participants. As Surrealist art grew into a larger and more diverse group of men, women became interested in expressing themselves through this art movement. Most of the first women who entered the Surrealistic movement were lovers of male Surrealists.

As with the previous male painters we have viewed, there is so much abstraction and symbolism in the drawings and paintings that you will be able to create surrealistic haiku and senryu that reflect the emotions in these works of art. Let’s begin…

prompt:  “Creation of the Birds”

Remember no flash photography or touching the artwork. “Creation of the Birds” was created in 1957 by Remedios Varo, a Spanish painter. It can be seen at the Museum of Modern Art in Mexico City, Mexico. You can view it here. As the Surrealist movement became larger it moved from Europe to regions all over the world. Especially when Europe was descending into the conflict of World War II many artists resettled in the United States. The U.S., however, didn’t welcome immigrants with leftist political views (which many Surrealists had). The president of Mexico opened the country’s borders to anyone who was averse to Fascism. With Mexico being more welcoming, many Surrealists settled there.

After attending art school where she studied Surrealist art and political change, Remedios Varo left Spain for Paris in 1937. She was unable to return to Spain because of the Spanish Civil War and finally ended up in Mexico, where she continued to paint and exhibit for the rest of her life along with local and European female Surrealist painters.

“Creation of the Birds” is mesmerizing and mysterious. The room in the painting resembles an alchemy lab. A robed figure, possibly a magician or a sorceress, is using a complicated machine. It seems to be made from mechanical and organic items. The bright light it is emitting indicates a transformation is happening. There are symbols in the painting such as birds, eggs and celestial bodies. In Varo’s artworks, birds usually symbolize freedom, transcendence and enlightenment. The eggs stand for opportunities and new births. The celestial bodies symbolize cosmic power and the unity of the universe.

Try to use this image to write a surreal haiku or senryu that is connected to the origin of creation and the human need to figure out the secrets of the universe.

The deadline is midnight Eastern Daylight Time, Saturday June 21, 2025.

Please use the Haiku Dialogue submission form below to enter one or two original unpublished haiku inspired by the week’s theme, and then press Submit to send your entry. (The Submit button will not be available until the Name, Email, and Place of Residence fields are filled in.) In the Poem box, with your poem(s), please include any special formatting requirements & your name & residence as you would like it to appear in the column. Please note that by submitting, you agree that your work may appear in the column – neither acknowledgment nor acceptance emails will be sent. All communication about the poems that are posted in the column will be added as blog comments.

Join us next week for Lafcadio’s selection of poems on the topic of “Creation of the Birds”…

Bios:

Guest (& Assistant) Editor Lafcadio, a former teacher, now works from home writing, editing and proofreading study guides for nursing textbooks. She lives in Tennessee. She has written poetry for a long time but a couple of years ago fell in love with Japanese micropoetry and hasn’t looked back. Lafcadio has been published in a number of journals and anthologies. She writes under the nom de plume of Lafcadio because nom de plume is so fun to say. You can read her poems on Twitter (X) @lafcadiopoetry or BlueSky @lafcadiobsky.

Assistant Editor Vandana Parashar is an associate editor of haikuKATHA and one of the editors of Poetry Pea and #FemkuMag. Her debut e-chapbook, I Am, was published by Title IX Press (now Moth Orchid Press) in 2019 and her second chapbook Alone, I Am Not, was published by Velvet Dusk Publishing in April 2022.

Lori Zajkowski is the Post Manager for Haiku Dialogue. She lives in New York City and enjoys reading and writing haiku.

Managing Editor Katherine Munro lives in Whitehorse, Yukon Territory, and publishes under the name kjmunro. She served as Membership Secretary for Haiku Canada for ten years, and her debut poetry collection is contractions (Red Moon Press, 2019). Find her at: kjmunro1560.wordpress.com.

Portrait by Laurel Parry

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Photo Credit:

Banner photo credit:  Lafcadio

Haiku Dialogue offers a triweekly prompt for practicing your haiku. Posts appear each Wednesday with a prompt or a selection of poems from a previous week.