HAIKU DIALOGUE – Social Issues – Social -isms

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1. loved the pickings this week lori a++++ minor, great job!

2. There’s a lot to contemplate reading the line up with this collection, well done to all.
   .
   When I read this verse the image that came to mind was one I saw on an advert for ‘save the children’
   A young child that seemed to be no more than the age of two, sitting half exposed, (naked?) in a cardboard box on a busy street the little soul might as well had been a stray animal for the lack of concern. Horrific.
   .
   half clad boy—
   the notes of his flute
   from across the school gate
   .
   arvinda kaur

   This is such a sad read, for me, when we are supposed to live in an age of equality.

   1. We’re all the same people, human beings, yet what you read is the norm and perfectly acceptable in many countries, including here in this, my adopted own — a European country. You can imagine the consternation of passers by if they saw a child in a box in Soho or affluent areas of American cities.
      Why such cruel division?

      1. A cruel division, indeed, Ingrid. There’s always so much talk talk talk from governments to lessen this division, but here we are decades later…

3. Terrric set again, curated by Lori A Minor! 🙂

4. granola bar offer
   refused due to missing teeth
   small change best option

   1. Sorry, wrong place

5. What a powerful collection of poetry. I could feel the depth of experience in every one of them. Kudos to the poets and to the curators.

6. acid (ra)in (c)hang(i)ng the (s)oil co(m)position

   Hifsa Ashraf
   Pakistan

   It took me a while to see what you meant, but what you say is so important on several different levels.
   Brilliant! And thank you!

7. Thank you to everyone who contributed to this thought-provoking feature—and to Lori for issuing the challenge! I could not get out of my tanka mind in time to contribute, but I really admire all the writers who managed to grapple with such a difficult topic in haiku form. A few of my favorites:

   the gray mantle
   of invisibility
   snow moon
   *
   Marilyn Ashbaugh
   *
   Love the pure poetry of this subtle senryu. I now have enough grey hair to be able to relate to the unsettling age-ist phenomenon it describes. Of course, I’m choosing to look at this invisibility as my new super power…
   *
   crazy insane
   he describes the good party
   like my mother’s illness
   *
   Kat Lehmann
   *
   This poem taught me something new. I had not considered the way the hyperbolic use of words like “crazy insane” to describe fun times might be offensive to those struggling with mental illness. Thank you, Kat, for raising my awareness.
   *
   acid (ra)in (c)hang(i)ng the (s)oil co(m)position
   *
   Hifsa Ashraf
   Pakistan
   *
   This poem is so much more than the cleverness that meets the eye. Acid rain is an anthropogenic issue, as is the climate crisis, as is racism. This poem demonstrates the way our actions change the very ground of our being. I especially like the “oh-by-the-way” quality the parentheses lend to this observation.
   *

   shuffling the deck —
   my ism trumps your ism
   *
   Mark Gilbert
   *
   This poem points to the way we work harder at trying to “out-victim” one another than we do at trying to relate to or understand one another. How interesting—and sad—that our society has mistaken the victim corner of the abuse triangle (abuser—victim—rescuer) for a position of power. What will it take for us to get out of the triangle entirely? Perhaps the awareness generated by our attentive witnessing of the infamous spouter-of-isms alluded to in line two is a start.

   1. Thank you for the words about all of these.

8. I was really disappointed that my contribution didn’t make it. It was about bullying in the school yard. I am pleased by many friends that gad their contributions published. Overall I enjoyed reading the published pieces.

9. Lots of great haiku here. This one caught my attention. I’m sure we all know mothers who encourage their daughters to play with dolls when the weather is not suitable for playing outside. So the last line is a surprise. We need to accept children for who they are and not who we want them to be.

   cold rain
   the girl who doesn’t
   play with dolls

   Isabel Caves
   Auckland, New Zealand

10. Two others I admired were Janice Munro’s multilayered
    .
    Cinderella
    in the closet
    his mother’s slippers
    .
    and Peggy Hall Bibro’s sad and subtly ironic
    .
    handicapped restroom
    to your left
    and down three steps
    .

    1. Thank you Mark for your mention. The location of Peggy’s ‘handicapped restroom’ affected me strongly (gave me a jolt) as well. I also appreciated your words on Ingrid’s generation haiku bringing out several meanings including the double take on her use of ‘other’.

    2. Thanks Janice and Mark. I’ve seen way too many of these handicapped restrooms. Or ones with the TP way too high or way too low to access. Or no purse hanger. Or no way to grasp the door once inside the stall.

11. Ingrid Baluchi’s really grabbed me –
    .
    generation
    after generation
    blaming the other
    .
    – an example where after first reading there was a ‘clunk’ moment when the implication of the last line sunk in – a truly ambiguous haiku/senryu for me, with two clear and simultaneous meanings – firstly the way generations (or other groups in society) are encouraged to turn on eachother, but also the chilling last line, where irrespective of which group it is, everyone blames The Other, whoever or whatever that happens conveniently to be. Meanwhile nothing seems to change. Fantastically done, for such a seemingly simple set of words and structure.

    1. Thank you, Mark, for seeing into my poem and for your comments.
       .
       I was thinking about how my parents used to blame the world’s ills on the ‘spoiled’ generation coming after WWII, and how hard a time it was back then for them.
       .
       They seemed to have forgotten that their parents’ generation kept their mouths shut at such atrocities as the First World War, colonial empire-building and social injustices on a grand scale.
       .
       Then our generation wonders at the way the world has become less courteous, and so violent and nasty with increasing fake news, hate mail, school shootings, street stabbings, and so on, and blame the current generation.
       .
       But there is some hope because in spite of all these ills, it’s possible that the current generation, and perhaps others coming after, will try, with greater access to the media, and by being more honest and acting more positively, to address and rectify some of these issues. They have to, to be honest. We’ve got ourselves and this planet of ours into a real mess, and our ‘leaders’ make things worse through greed, arrogance and little thought for the future.

    2. Aha, I see the double meaning now. Thx.

12. So many stories here, it is sobering.
    I was thrown off a bit by the length but intrigued by:
    workplace power harassment –
    waterless pool is
    a coffin of fish
    .
    Teiichi Suzuki
    *
    a cinema –
    the white and black rows
    crying the same tears
    .
    Aljosa Vukovic
    Sibenik, Croatia
    .
    Are theaters still segregated? That saddens me.
    *
    you loved my paintings
    until you met me –
    weighed and sifted
    .
    Lemuel Waite
    .
    A hard story here. It is difficult to separate the art from the artist sometimes, especially now with expectations of a social media presence.
    *
    an old man
    hesitating at the door…
    unisex restroom
    .
    Al Gallia
    .
    This created a vivid image, helped by the line breaks. Change is hard, and the man wants to make sure he’s at the right place.
    *
    without a frown descending paralysis
    .
    simonj
    .
    This intuitively moved me.
    *
    thunderclap
    we the silenced
    boom #me too
    .
    Karen Harvey
    .
    Powerful and concise. And maybe just me but I associated a positive clap in thunderclap.

    1. Lovely insight you shared, Gratitude to you. Shall we think the better of all beings? The goodness, one’s creativity, and, their kindness are prominent and more abundantly real than all begrudging assumptions and low thoughts we assign to others in wrongful judgment. Stop the spiral of strife, that is, the “sorting” of other people.

       1. Beautifully worded.

    2. Debbie, thanks for you comment.

13. DearLori, Lori Mnor and Catherine Munroe,
    Greetings, delighted to go through this week’s blog, My favorite one is the following of so many:

    how mom learned
    her son was gay
    left for dead

    Kath Abela Wilson
    Pasadena, California

    1. Agreed Radhamani, I found Kath Abela Wilson’s poem incredibly poignant with its shocking and heartbreaking last line (though skilfully leaving just a tiny bit of hope).

14. Thank you so much Lori for your comments. This is indeed a powerful assembly of haiku. I started making a list of ‘choices’ but concluded that there are so many powerful images that I’d prefer to salute them all. Overall I come away feeling reaffirmed in the sense that we have a long way to go on many fronts and whether prejudices and injustices are blatant, subtle, or concealed, they are keenly felt.

15. Another fine selection of poems. Thanks Lori for setting the bar high.
    All of the above are deserved of their place in this emotionally charged theme.
    I agree with Laurie above that it feels somewhat wrong to single one out.
    I though have, as this one really hit home hard.
    .
    between beer gulps
    guest’s in the bar take photos
    of a beaten up girl*

    *true story – Zadar, Croatia, Juni 13th 2018

    Dubravka Šćukanec
    Zagreb, Croatia
    .
    Living in a supposed humane society in the 21st century, one would think we could not return to such events. Yet here we see we have not moved much at all. Events such as this appears on social media sites daily; be it a fight, a stabbing, a shooting or as in this case a beating. Once upon a time people would have gone to aid someone in trouble. I like to think I would.

    1. While moved by the story, what about the haikuness or poetry?
       “beer” is a superfluous word in the “bar”, and “beaten up” is a conclusion, a tell not a show eg. a girl’s many bruises. Removal of “of” would also provide for a stronger cut.

16. Love Isabel Caves’

    cold rain
    the girl who doesn’t
    play with dolls

    Line 3 surprises us, and the kigo adds emotional weight. Very well done indeed!

    1. Agreed.

    2. True!

17. Many thanks to Lori and all the contributors–this is one of the strongest columns I’ve seen on this blog yet. All the poems are so powerful it seems wrong to single any out as favorites, and together, as they show the effects of everything from deliberate cruelty to thoughtlessness to the obliviousness of assumptions and ingrained habits, they give an illuminating, maddening picture of where we are now.

18. Thank you for including my haiku here among this collection. So varied. Very interesting topics for haiku. Some are subtle and some are less so but all have quite an impact.

19. Thank-you Lori for publishing one of mine.

    1. Valentina, I felt yours was extremely bold and interesting (a concrete haiku/senryu?) and I don’t think I’ve seen that done anywhere else. I think it is in a similar territory to mine and Ingrid’s (all this energy flows in a circle and nothing changes…).
       .
       Flow Chart
       .
       Group A
       …./
       dislikes
       …./
       Group B
       …./
       dislikes
       …./
       Group C

       1. Thank-you for commenting on mine Mark. I was trying to make the point that a person who is discriminated against for some reason turns around and discriminates against someone else for a different reason.

20. Thanks Lori for commenting on my haiku! I forgot to include my name. I really don’t understand why a certain group of people do something as simple as pray in a temple and another group of people aren’t allowed to? It makes no sense to me. Seems to me it’s all based on traditional rules that are completely bullshit. A lot of horrible isms out there.

    1. “Maybe time to tone down religions?”, she responds controversially.
       .
       Not that long ago, we used to say that money was the greatest evil.
       .
       These days we’re facing far more real and dire threats to the planet we live in and share with other ecosystems, yet religious beliefs seem to get in the way of common sense.
       .
       I await the flak….

       1. No flak from me. For all the beauty and comfort religion has given to the world, it is too often used as a blunt instrument against those who pursue spiritual comfort in different ways.

          1. Thank you Peggy. I totally agree.

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