English Original
obituary column messaging silence into the sky
Under the Basho, August 28 2017
Pravat Kumar Padhy
Chinese Translation (Traditional)
訃聞專欄向天空傳達沉默的訊息
Chinese Translation (Simplified)
讣闻专栏向天空传达沉默的讯息
Bio Sketch
Pravat Kumar Padhy, a poet-scientist, did his Masters and Ph.D from IIT-Dhanbad, India. Work referred in Spectrum History of Indian Literature in English, Alienation in Contemporary Indian English Poetry etc. His Japanese short form of poetry appeared in many international journals. He is a recipient of Editor’s Choice Awards, Special and Honourable Mentions. His fourth collection of verses, Ripple of Resonance, is in press.
This one-line haiku is remarkably compressed, imagistic, and quietly uncanny, using its unbroken horizontal structure to map an impossible trajectory of communication.
ReplyDeleteThe poem’s opening phrase, “obituary column,” introduces a deliberately prosaic, journalistic reality. This stark, everyday modern textuality creates an immediate, compelling tension with the lyricism that follows, grounding the poem before it launches into the abstract.
The heart of the haiku lies in the brilliant juxtaposition of “messaging silence.” This phrase transforms the static text of a death notice into an active, yet inherently failed, attempt at communication. "Messaging" implies urgency and a destination, while "silence" reverses that expectation, rendering the action deeply paradoxical and poignant.
Finally, the concluding phrase, “into the sky,” expands the poem's physical geometry. It lifts the image far beyond the printed page, shifting the narrative toward death, vast absence, or a sense of spiritual transcendence. By omitting standard punctuation and line breaks, the poem acts as a singular, uninterrupted transmission—broadcasting grief into the void.
FYI: For more about one-line haiku (monoku) and Pravat Kumar Padhy 's haiku, see "To the Lighthouse," post, "Monoku: An Experiment with Minimalism in Haiku Literature" by Pravat Kumar Padhy, accessed at http://neverendingstoryhaikutanka.blogspot.com/2020/11/to-lighthouse-monoku-experiment-with.html