war is peace: the war to end all wars, news rolling
Remembrance Day
the parade lengthens
by armless vets
(FYI: Originated as an idealistic slogan during World War I, "The War to End All Wars" now is a sarcastic term for this Great War. And according to Geneva Academy of International Humanitarian Law, "today, it monitors more than 110 armed conflicts ... Some of them started recently, while others have lasted for more than 50 years."
And for more about gembun, see To the Lighthouse: Gembun, Untitled Minimalist Haibun)
1984
spine broken, margins yellowed ...
"war is peace" in red
Chen-ou Liu
watercolor poppies
blowing across the field . . .
why
is it so hard
to learn from history
Honorable Mention, 2020 Tanka Society of America Tanka Contest
Rebecca Drouilhet
To conclude today's Special Feature post, I would like to share with you the following tanka, written by by the most famous Buddhist monk-poet Saigyo’s (1118–1190 AD), with the longest prefatory note:
In the world of men it came to be a time of warfare. Throughout the country -- west, east, north, and south -- there was no place where the war was not being fought. The count of those dying because of it climbed continually and reached an enormous number. It was beyond belief! And for what on earth was this struggle taking place? A most tragic state of affairs
There's no gap or break
In the rank of those marching
Under the hill:
An endless line of dying men,
Moving on and on and on ...
FYI: This lengthy and sociopolitically conscious prefatory note establishes the thematic and emotive context of the poem while the tanka visually enhances the tone and mood. Saigyo's use of repetition in the last line adds extra emotional weight and psychological depth to the poem... (For detailed comments, see "To the Lighthouse: Joshi (Prefatory Note) as a Poetic Device" and "Poetic Musings: Dying Men Tanka by Saigyo Hoshi.")
Peace is the only battle worth waging.
-- Albert Camus, written in August 1945, the day after the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima.
in the gathering dark
one candle kindles another:
peace vigil
Chen-ou Liu
No comments:
Post a Comment