HaikuNow! 2013: John Hawkhead

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1. Maybe the snowflakes on the child’s face are the only “stars” in view, so seeing them on the young face reminds the viewer the ancient stars are always above, even if behind clouds, “clouds” another word for evanescence.

2. 雪ちらりちらり見事な月夜哉
   yuki chirari-chirari migoto na tsuki yo kana

   snowflakes flitting–
   a splendid
   moonlit night

   —Kobayashi Issa, 1823 (trans. David G. Lanoue)

3. Interesting comments and I understand your views but if everything in poetry was based on logic and scientific accuracy, would it still be poetry? The snowflakes themselves, potentially made up of 180 million molecules, can be many shapes – including stars…
   …and using a purely mechanistic approach, clouds that produce snow can dissipate and move away from you after they release snow. So light falling snow can be seen at your position while the stars, moon (and sun) can still be out .

4. This is a beautiful haiku. But G Rosenstock’s comment deals with that kind of beauty. Sorry, I go along with it.

5. I’m intrigued by the First Prize haiku. A lovely juxtaposition of snow and stars.
   But then, I thought of a burlesque play that I had written, The Amazing Professor Parrot, in which somebody says, ‘How could you have been born on a snowy moonlit night?’ If there’s snow there’s going to be clouds, thus obscuring the heavens. Same with stars.
   http://www.amazon.com/The-Amazing-Professor-Parrot-Burlesque-ebook/dp/B0086741EU
   Am I missing something?

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