re:Virals 276
Welcome to re:Virals, The Haiku Foundation’s weekly poem commentary feature on some of the finest haiku ever written in English. This week’s poem was
midnight blue
a grandma-shaped crater
on the moon
— Hemapriya Chellappan, The Blo͞o Outlier Journal, Issue #1 (2020)
Marion Clarke reflects on larger-than-life grannies:
The rich and vibrant midnight blue of line one combined with the humorous visual of the second line suggests a grandmother with a larger-than-life character who was a lot of fun. In fact, this haiku reminds me of my own grandmother, Granny Campbell, still much missed after twenty years. The loss of a favorite grandparent who colored our lives during childhood has a huge impact, and Hemapriya’s haiku reflects this well.
Radhamani Sarma moves through various phases:
Thanks to Hemapriya for kindling our imagination on the specific shape of the moon. East or west, the moon and celestial stars have been agile tempers for writers augmenting their descriptive aura. Creativity finds a unique platform when one writes about the moon, its round shape and bright, waning or waxing phases, as well as the shades and shadows embedded on it — various images to suit the writer’s immediacy of purpose.
The persona who weaves a tale of woe could be either a sad man or woman, viewing the moon’s odd shapes and phases.
The first line, “midnight blue,” sets the tone of unhappy, somber surroundings. He or she is in deep distress, unable to control the memory of loss, death, a bygone event, perhaps experiencing an uncomfortable sleep or some inexplicable void or cloud. All of this taunts the persona, who may be rolling to either side of the bed in the dead of night, midnight, the irony of depression passing through. If it were day, it might result in the narrator’s scream or wail; his running and jumping might be the outcome. Yet it is midnight, and this is happening in silence, eerie silence.
The second line, “a grandma-shaped crater,“ manifests in this image on the rounded beauty of the moon, until some creepy hollow or dent has formed on it, as visualized by the narrator at midnight. Hollowness, or perhaps a chipped cavity on the moon, is carved like a grandma, all shrunken due to age. It could be that the hollowed size or gap is Grandma warped on the moon.
Another possible inference is that the person recollects the bard’s feeling, and he or she wants to outwit the moon’s speed as it crosses the sky. As the moon moves along, he or she sees gaps and shadings, somewhat like Grandmother gliding along the gaps of the moon.
“on the moon” implies a gradual disfiguration of this celestial body. There is contrast between the cool, rounded beauty and the thieved, chipped hollowness. Taken in its totality, the poem shows that what was once in the past now is the present condition. The visitation of Grandmother on the moon takes place in this poet’s imagination.
As this week’s winner, Radhamani gets to choose next week’s poem, which you’ll find below. We invite you to write a commentary to it. It may be as long or short, academic or spontaneous, serious or silly, public or personal as you like. We will select out-takes from the best of these. And the very best will be reproduced in its entirety and take its place as part of the THF Archives. Best of all, the winning commentator gets to choose the next poem for commentary.
Anyone can participate. A new poem will appear each Friday morning. Simply put your commentary in the Contact box by the following Tuesday midnight (Eastern US Time Zone). Please use the subject header “re:Virals” so we know what we’re looking at. We look forward to seeing some of your favorite poems — and finding out why!
The Haiku Foundation reminds you that participation in our offerings assumes respectful and appropriate behavior from all parties. Please see our Code of Conduct policy.
re:Virals 277:
peeling layers of childhood green mango chutney
— Neena Singh, Heliosparrow Poetry Journal (2020)
This Post Has 11 Comments
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I was asked on Facebook a short while ago, about what boxes does this haiku tick, especially as I said there were boxes I didn’t know existed, that had been ticked as well.
The question:
“Which boxes do you reckon it ticks?”
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midnight blue
a grandma-shaped crater
on the moon
— Hemapriya Chellappan, The Blo͞o Outlier Journal, Issue #1 (2020) ed. Alan Summers
https://bloooutlierjournal.blogspot.com/2020/12/the-bloo-outlier-journal-winter-issue.html
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Most haikai verses are dominated by words, even more so in Japanese because punctuation (kire) is a “word” (kireji) not a symbol.
Let’s look at the words, setting aside the grammar at this point, which is the elemental box to be ticked:
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midnight
blue
grandma
moon
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I have found with haiku (in English) that certain words carry a weight of emotion without the need to push a more obvious emotion:
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dusk
twilight
midnight
woodsmoke
colors
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family, especially grandparents
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the moon
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I think we can all work out why these words already carry emotion.
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The phrase with two words hyphenated carries both the emotion of a grandparent, and perhaps the loss of a grandparent? We like to see faces in things:
https://newsroom.unsw.edu.au/news/science-tech/why-brain-programmed-see-faces-everyday-objects
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Or perhaps we want to know, late at night, trying to sleep or having had a nightmare, or a scare, that the moon is like a grandparent, when we need one most?
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So this could be that there has been a loss of a grandparent which creates a grandparent shaped hole in our lives. My amazing 12 year old nephew lost his vitally important grandfather to covid recently.
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CONNECTION: the key to any fiction or CNF, and to be honest, connection should be prevalent in any kind of writing be it legal writing or other bureaucratic writing, rather than constant dictats.
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The phrase: grandma-shaped crater
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It’s both real, genuine, authentic, and deeply moving, without bells and whistles that many haiku try to do instead. It’s gently touching and more powerful for all of that.
My grandmother was no picnic. And so, looking at this,
I am reminded that craters on the moon were created
by collisions with meteorites.
—–
Not too many nasty grandmas in the world of haiku/senryu,
or that I’ve seen. Be curious if anyone knows of one.
I love this haiku and find it so interesting that Marion and Radhamani responded with such different reactions. Marion saw a rich deep color in the midnight blue sky, while Radhamani found it to be somber and distressing. As Marion savored the happy memories of her grandmother, Radhamani was drawn into the grief at the loss of a beloved grandmother. For me, the midnight sky and full moon are distant but reassuring images, and the grandmother shaped crater is a reminder of the crater left in our lives at the loss of a loved one. At the same time that shape holds the memory of the beloved person preserved in the shape in the moon. I always seem to come back to this thought: A wonderful haiku is so perfectly presented that each reader becomes a partner of the poet in the creation of a new poem, through their own experience and context. Thus, the creation continues with each reading. Well done Hemapriya!
midnight blue
a grandma-shaped crater
on the moon
— Hemapriya Chellappan, The Blo͞o Outlier Journal, Issue #1 (2020)
Such a beautiful commentary…the ku is memorable and the commentary adds to its wonder! Congratulations to Hemapriya, the poet, Radhamani Sarna for taking us on the flight of fancy and Alan Summers for selecting it for the extraordinary Bloo Outlier journal.
I am grateful for the selection of my ku by Radhamani and deem it a great honour, as I am still learning the nuances of this great art of haiku. 🙏🤗💐
Sorry for the typo – it should be Radhamani Sarma…
couldn’t edit it on the comment. Please excuse.
Dear Neena singh, About the typo, no problem, it happens.
Many more from you.
Dear Neena Singh,
Greetings. Such a wonderfully depicted haiku, delving us go deeper into the nuances. Pleasure reading it .
Dear Marian Clarke,
Always grandmother lives ever mostly in our memory.
Your mention , in your take of a grandmother in the following way is
quite interesting.
” a grandmother with a larger-than-life character who was a lot of fun. “
Some see the rabbit in the moon (I still do: my paternal grandmother showed that rabbit to me when I was very young), some see the man in the moon and Hemapriya Chellappan discovers a grandma in the moon, a crater in the shape of (a) a grandma or (b) Hemapriya’s own grandma.
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What shape is a grandma? Since grandmas come in various shapes and sizes I conclude that the moon crater has the familiar shape of the author’s own grandma.
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Midnight blue is the deepest possible blue, the colour of mystery, vibrant and alive in a way that black can never be. Black obscures but midnight blue beckons , shimmers, invites us into mystery, here the mystery of our own perceptions/ projections, the shapes that the shadowy moon craters take on, for each of us.
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Hemapriya’s excellent haiku has balance and a light, humorous touch.
as colour colour s
that is “grandma shaped”.
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Huge thanks to Marion Clarke and Radhamani Sarma for your wonderful comments, deeply appreciated.
It’s a truly amazing haiku, and I knew within minutes, nine I believe, that I had to nab this freshly original, unusual, and genuine poem ASAP!
Alan Summers
Founding Editor, Blo͞o Outlier Journal
https://bloooutlierjournal.blogspot.com
And do enjoy the other 250+ authors! 🙂
The Blo͞o Outlier Journal Winter Christmas Eve Special Issue 2020 (Issue #1) ed. Alan Summers
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1SdwR7QdRK7QP73c3ezhCEWBf5I4r8AGb/view?usp=sharing
I nominated Hemapriya Chellappan for The Touchstone Individual poem awards:
Diana Webb
Lynne Jambor
Kath Abela Wilson
Jo Balistreri
Hemapriya Chellappan
Margaret Walker
Robyn Cairns
Gabriela Popa
Brad Bennett
Lenard D. Moore
The haikai verse deservedly got a nomination in such great company, and it’s wonderful that Terri French nominated the poem for this THF feature too!
Alan Summers
Founding Editor, Blo͞o Outlier Journal
https://bloooutlierjournal.blogspot.com