after the hurricane
a tsunami
of mosquitoes
Haiku Laureate, 2022 Hexapod Haiku Challenge
Ali Znaidi
Commentary: The buildup to the last line is unexpected yet visually and emotionally poignant. Ali's shasei (sketch from life) haiku provides a realistically convincing and powerful take on an all-too-familiar human experience seen from a different lens: it's not about bodies buried in mud and rubble, or floating in water, which is obvious to us, but about "countless objects filled with still water – the perfect habitat for developing mosquitoes. Mosquitoes are not just a nuisance; they can also be incredibly dangerous, as disease vectors of medical and veterinary importance. In fact, vector-borne diseases kill more than 700,000 people annually, more than an order of magnitude more than die in natural disasters. This haiku piles disaster on disaster, skillfully referencing a second natural disaster, a tsunami, to metaphorically describe the onslaught of mosquitos that comes after a hurricane. The third line startles the reader, almost adding an element of humor through its surprise." (judge's comments)
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