Poetic Musings: Summer Haze Haiku by H. Gene Murtha

summer haze --

a crow flaps free

of the asphalt 

Frogpond, 27:1, 2004

H. Gene Murtha

Commentary: This is a haiku which reveals its grim meaning gradually. Line one is subtly paradoxical. In Japanese haiku there are particular words to refer to the ‘haze’ or ‘mist’ of spring and the ‘fog’ of autumn and winter – all with the potential of beauty. This is not what is alluded to here. This is a heat haze, created perhaps by petroleum fumes. Such beauty as it has is illusory. Line two shows a crow apparently flying freely; however, line three reveals this too is an illusion. It is freeing itself from the ensnarement of bitumen, perhaps from a natural tar pit, perhaps from a road surface, perhaps from a tar sands tailings pond. The ‘haze’ of line one now seems like the optical illusion of water apparently shimmering on a summer roadway. The dragging effort involved in the bird’s apparent escape is suggested by the alliteration, the repeated ‘f’s’ catching in the reader’s mouth as teeth make contact with bottom lip. The bird’s freedom may well be temporary.

First impressions mislead in this haiku. The crow is likely to have been soiled by the black sticky substance that had trapped it. Its contamination may be permanent, though not immediately apparent on its black, shining wings. Images of seabirds mired in oil slicks may come to the reader’s mind. This is another poem that ultimately treats a wild creature’s problematic survival with simple, unflinching directness.

Yet, Murtha’s position is not always that of an observer of despoliation and loss. He appears to write with such subtle power about destruction and degradation because his work recognises the value of what is endangered. His poetry is therefore as capable of enjoying the natural world as of chronicling the threats its denizens face...

-- excerpted from "Dark Wings of the Night: First Warm Day – H. Gene Murtha’s Bird Haiku" by Jo McInerney