A definition haiku or tanka, a subgenre of definition poetry, begins or ends with a short statement or phrase, followed or preceded by a description of the statement or phrase in concrete imagery. The visually and emotionally suggestive power of a definition haiku or tanka is NOT rooted in the explanatory relationship between its two parts, but in the "dialectical relationship" between them.
For example,
spring day mural:
green paint sprayed across the wall
behind leafless trees
The two parts of this "spring day mural/L1" haiku offers at least two contrasts, visual and symbolic (artistic/man-made: "replication of the absent leaves" of trees in L 2 vs natural/diseased or dying/dead in L3; "spring day" in L1 vs "leafless trees" in L3) and one environmentally significant and emotionally poignant question: why these trees, a synecdoche used to refer to Nature, leafless during springtime, i.e. lifeless.
Another example,
mayor's office:
"Yes, We Can" hangs in a frame
above the black desk
and reed orchids languish
in a dusty corner
Every pundit of any kind, of whatever political stripe emphasizes that a politician's, in this case of the tanka above, the mayor's, office interior design (L1) reflects his or her political ideals/policy focus (in Ls 2&3) [the political side], aesthetic preferences (L4) or personal traits (L5) [the personal side].
The political call-to-action slogan, "Yes, We Can" [formerly bold now almost cliched], is the policy or storytelling's focus of the mayor, and its power or impact is weakened by the failure of taking care of these most adaptive /least maintenance office plants, "reed orchids," the plants that bring a riot of colorful blooms year-round.
And one more example, the first tanka of the following tanka set:
Against the Drowning Noise of Other Words, XXXVII: "Promised Land"
The War Shrinks Our World
past suffering
spills into the present war
of fireballing rage
which shapes future kamikazes:
Promised Land of blood and honey
Free the Hostages
the yellowing sign hangs limp
on my neighbor's fence ...
from the street corner the chants
of Free, Free Palestine ring out
Ls 1-3 depict the (at least perceived) cause and bloody response of what has been happening between Israel and the Palestinian people, and L4 foreshadows the scariest future one can imagine in L4.
L5, "Promised Land [given by "Yahweh, an ancient Levantine deity, and national god of the Israelite kingdoms of Israel and Judah"] of [present] blood and [hopefully future] honey," defined by the description of Ls 1-4, is in sharp contrast with the "land of Israel'/Promised Land described in Tanakh (The Hebrew Bible, "Deuteronomy," 31:20), “a land flowing with milk and honey.”
Added: Against the Drowning Noise of Other Words, XXXVIII: "Israeli strikes"
dating profile photo:
a smiling twentysomething
with a M4
in front of mushroom clouds
from Israeli strikes in Gaza
FYI: Haaretz, March 24: 'We're Not Only Here to Fuck Hamas': How Israeli Militarism Took Over Online Dating: Why are Israeli soldiers uploading photos of themselves inside Gazan homes or with Palestinian detainees to their dating profiles? Beyond the 'uniform effect' which turned U.S. firefighters into heroes after September 11, some experts say the violent militarism seen on dating apps is leading to disturbing trends in Israeli society – online and off
And the American M4 and the Israel Tavor (in various guises) are the primary weapons of the IDF.
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