To the Lighthouse: Jisei, Japanese Death Poems

Thematically and religiously speaking, the death poem (jisei in Japanese) is a genre of poetry that has historically developed in the literary traditions of East Asian cultures, most prominently in Zen Japan as well as Chan China. It tends to offer the writer's reflection on death that is coupled with an insightful observation on life. 

In the case of Japanese literature, the death poem's structure can be in one of many forms, including the two traditional forms: haiku and tanka. Yoel Hoffmann's 1986 groundbreaking book, Japanese Death Poems: Written by Zen Monks and Haiku Poets on the Verge of Death, offers "hundreds of Japanese death poems, many with a commentary describing the circumstances of the poet's death. He explores the attitudes and customs surrounding death in historical and present-day Japan and gives examples of how these have been reflected in the nation's literature in general."

Here are some of haiku and tanka selected from his book:

In life I never was

among the well-known flowers

and yet, 

in withering

I am most certainly   

Tomoda Kinpei

And had my days been longer

still the darkness

would not leave this world --

along death’s path, among the hills

I shall behold the moon.

Oroku

Barren branches:

the autumn left behind 

a cicada’s hollow cry.

Kagai

Empty cicada shell:

as we come

we go back naked.

Fukaku

Farewell --

I pass as all things do

dew on the grass.

Banzan 

To conclude today's To the Lighthouse post, I would like to share with you two of my death tanka: 

midnight hush ...

I, a worker in words

straddle the line

between the abstract, death

and the concrete, aging body

the brick shack

with boarded windows

facing a graveyard

in gathering dusk

a torn-up chapbook: I AM

FYI: You can get a free PDF copy of the book here  and here is the link to Janine Beichman's detailed review of the book, "Yoel Hoffmann as Japanologist: Japanese Death Poems."

Poetic Musings: Writing Haiku by Alan Pizzarelli

tonite

nothing to write

but this

The Haiku Anthology, 1999

Alan Pizzarelli

Commentary: Technically speaking, this haiku about writing is a 4-liner: three lines of text (Ls 1, 2, and 4) and one blank line, L3, used for a visual emphasis. This added line between "nothing to write" and "but this" enhances a sense of the emptiness the poet is feeling: right now, nothing on the poet's mind like the empty space as indicated by "this," which is used to identify a specific thing close at hand, i.e. the blank line. The use of an alternative, informal spelling of tonight, "tonite," in L1 could be read as an indicator of  the poet's mood, which is highly influenced by L2, "nothing" to write.

This is a fine "mood haiku about writer's block." Every writer has been there, and it’s inevitable: one stares down at a blank page, struggling to string sentences together.

My haiku below could be read as its sequel:

writer's block ...

at dawn I open the window

to release the silence

Cold Moon Journal, February 18 2023

A Room of My Own: Eviction Notice Tanka

Re-Homing in the Maple Land, XXIX

eviction notice

crumpled in my hand

I stare long

at a pile of manuscripts

in the room's far corner

Added:

a little kick

under her left ribcage --

our wedding

will be seven months

and one book away

Added: Game Show, 2024, LXV

the mural

of Trump in a Rambo pose 

surrounded by pets 

in the unseasonal heat ...

my pitbull cocks its leg

FYI: Roxane Gay, The New Yorker, September 17: The Haitian Question: The history of Haitian immigration to the United States is that of politicians on both sides of the aisle fighting to keep Haitians out of the country, with equal cruelty.

As the Haitians in Springfield bear the intense scrutiny of the world, their hopes for a good life are dwindling. Trump and Vance, with their comments, have brought a renewed and naked contempt for Haitians into contemporary American discourse. They have legitimatized this bigotry.

Added:

the tendrils

of morning sunlight

blooming wisteria

Added:

shifting hues

of summer twilight

her talk of love

Added:

I inch my car

through snarled-up traffic

a v of geese

Added: Against the Drowning Noise of Other Words, XCVIII: "cloudsofsmoke"

Relentless 

above

cloudsofsmoke

cloudsofsmoke

Gaza

above

smoky darkness ...

scream after scream the reasons why

all blow away

Added:

harvest moon

behind the barbed wire fence 

a migrant's dream

reprinted in Asahi Haikuist Network, Oct. 18 2024

A Room of My Own: A Writer Blocked Inside

in a seaside cafe

alone, listening ...

summer night breeze

waiting for the Muse ...

the seaside cafe tables

fill and empty

from a sea of words

the Muse rises with breasts covered 

awake ...not yet awake

Added: Against the Drowning Noise of Other Words, XCVI: "fireballs"

as if

there is no tomorrow ...

fireballs over Gaza

Added: Against the Drowning Noise of Other Words, XCVII: "evacuation"

after Jane Reichhold

Gaza evacuation

bombed-out ruins

                             after

                                     bombed-out ruins

FYI: The prefatory note refers to the following classical haiku:

coming home

flower

           by

               flower

San Francisco Haiku Anthology, 1992

In a war situation or where violence and injustice are prevalent, "poetry is called upon to be something more than a thing of beauty." 

-- Seamus Heaney, an Irish poet, playwright and translator who received the 1995 Nobel Prize in Literature. 

Added:

an old woman

claps her raised hands

twice ...

where the Shinto shrine

once stood ten years ago

Added: Game Show, 2024, LXVI

Presidential "Debate" 

this deafening, deadly sound

of spit-drop silence

Added:

this unseasonal heat ...

two motorcycles race past me

and weave through

the rush-hour traffic, later

a third... a sixth one speeds by

One Man’s Maple Moon: Elegy Tanka by Michael McClintock

English Original

with words

in a notebook

I’m painting

unseen, in plain sight, 

an elegy for the blues

Gusts, 32, Fall/Winter 2020  

Michael McClintock

Chinese Translation (Traditional)

    

在筆記本中

用筆墨

在眾目睽睽之下, 

我描繪看不見

的一首藍調輓歌

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

在笔记本中

用笔墨

在众目睽睽之下,

我描绘看不见

的一首蓝调挽歌

Bio Sketch

Michael McClintock's lifework in haiku, tanka, and related literature spans over four decades. His many contributions to the field include six years as president of the Tanka Society of America (2004-2010) and contributing editor, essayist, and poet for dozens of journals, anthologies, landmark collections and critical studies. McClintock now lives in Clovis, California, where he works as an independent scholar, consultant for public libraries, and poet. Meals at Midnight [tanka], Sketches from the San Joaquin [haiku] and Streetlights: Poetry of Urban Life in Modern English Tanka, are some of his recent titles.

A Room of My Own: Imagine

surge upon surge

of this sultry loneliness 

washing ove me ...

quiet in a seaside room

one night before the deadline

the blank page

staring at me for hours ...

this drunken night

I glimpse the nude muse

rising from a sea of words

the muse and I

mouth on mouth, legs tangled with legs

become a single dream:

my book in the front window

at Barnes & Noble 

FYI: Barnes & Noble is the largest individual bookstore in the world measured by square footage.

Added: Against the Drowning Noise of Other Words, LXXX: "wall of apartheid"

apartheid wall

only so far a child's eyes

can see beyond [his world]

FYI Israel describes the wall as a necessary security barrier against Palestinian political violence; whereas Palestinians describe it as an element of racial segregation and a representation of Israeli apartheid, who often call it "Wall of Apartheid".

And Human Rights Watch, July 19, 2024: World Court Finds Israel Responsible for Apartheid

The following quote can be attributed to Tirana Hassan, Human Rights Watch Executive Director:

"In a historic ruling the International Court of Justice has found multiple and serious international law violations by Israel towards Palestinians in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including, for the first time, finding Israel responsible for apartheid. The court has placed responsibility with all states and the United Nations to end these violations of international law. The ruling should be yet another wake up call for the United States to end its egregious policy of defending Israel’s oppression of Palestinians and prompt a thorough reassessment in other countries as well."

Added: Against the Drowning Noise of Other Words, LXXXI: "Gaza's rubble"

to Kamala Harris, 2024 Democratic presidential candidate

what can be

unburdened by what has been

this soundbite 

becomes cheap and louder ...

a hand out of Gaza's rubble

FYI: "What can be, unburdened by what has been" is a quote popularized and primarily used by Kamala Harris, the current vice president of the United States and 2024 Democratic presidential candidate. A supercut of Harris repeating the quote was first shared by the Republican National Committee on social media platform X, on April 30, 2023, after which it became viral (Wikipedia, "What can be, unburdened by what has been")

Added: Against the Drowning Noise of Other Words, LXXXII: "war criminal"

written in response to Netanyahu's Congress speech

a state of dis/union:

pumping his fist in the air

the war criminal

opens, closes, opens... his mouth

to Congress for an hour

FYI: The Nation, July 25: Netanyahu’s Theater of the Grotesque

Mostly, though, the speech was notable for its lies. Netanyahu lied openly about his army’s ethics and conduct. He lied about starving civilians. He lied about the number of people he has killed. He lied about the antisemitism of American protesters. His only moment of deliberate truth-telling came when he declared his debt to his literal partner in crime, Joe Biden.

Added: Re-Homing in the Maple Land, XXIII

shouts from the beach,

go back where you came from ...

bubbles of memory

pop to the surface

of my immigrant life

FYI: This could be read as a prequel to my tanka below"

a kid trying

to kick sea foam back

where it came from

I remember the first time

a white man yelled at me

Runner-Up, Tanka Section, 2016 British Haiku Society Awards

Added: No More Fairy Tales, XXX

written in response to Jasper wildfires

smoky twilight

this wall

of fast-moving flame

Added: No More Fairy Tales, XXXI

sultry night alone

the long note

of a wildfire siren

Butterfly Dream: Ant Hill Haiku by Laryalee Fraser

English Original

ant hill ...

all these words searching

for a voice

Simply Haiku, 6:3, Autumn 2008

Laryalee Fraser 

Chinese Translation (Traditional)

螞蟻山丘 ...

所有這些字詞找尋

一個表達方式

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

蚂蚁山丘 ...

所有这些字词找寻

一个表达方式

Bio Sketch

A resident of British Columbia, Canada, Laryalee Fraser was actively engaged in online poetry forums from the mid-1990’s until her death in 2013. Her poetry has been widely published in haiku and tanka journals, and  in 2006, she compiled an online anthology of haiku, "a procession of ripples."

April Holy Fool's Message: "Noli Timere -- Don't be afraid"

My Dear Readers and Friends

On April Fool's Day morning, I got a warning/Not Prank (see my first warning detailed in "To the Lighthouse: Magical Realism in Times of Crises") from X, formerly Twitter, now owned by Elon Musk, who has been accused of antisemitism MANY times,  and most importantly, who now calls himself ‘Aspirationally Jewish’ after his "Rehabilitation Tour" to the "first and only democratic country" in the Middle East, Israel, accompanied by its Prime Minister" (The New York Times, Jan. 22):

We have found that your account may contain spam or be engaging in other types of platform manipulation. You may not use X’s services in a manner intended to artificially amplify, suppress information, or engage in behavior that manipulates or disrupts people’s experience or platform manipulation defenses on X.

This warning was sent two days after the posting of NeverEnding Story: Call for Haiku and Tanka Submissions in Response to UN Report,"The Anatomy of a Genocide" and the following tanka:

Against the Drowning Noise of Other Words, XLII: "2,000 pound block-busting bombs"

thousands more

2,000-pound bombs sent to Israel ...

Joe Biden's eyes spark

at a roomful of donors

chanting, four more years

FYI: Business Insider, March 30: Planned US arms transfer to Israel of 2,000-pound block-busting bombs branded "obscene" hypocrisy by Bernie Sanders as criticism builds

Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders labeled the move "obscene" in a post on X, formerly Twitter, writing: "The US cannot beg Netanyahu to stop bombing civilians one day and the next send him thousands more 2,000 lb. bombs that can level entire city blocks."

It's all because of my fireballing poetry about Israel's US-backed War on Gaza

Here is my response: 

Against the Drowning Noise of Other Words, XLIII: "covering the war"

You and I: Covering the War

you, a reporter

hide behind the headlines

of deaths and famine ...

I mourn this Dead-Sea-wide chasm 

bombed out by your contextless words 

beware, beware

of my hunger and anger

as airstrikes rage 

I drop fake-news-busting wordbombs

on the spokesmen for Israel

FYI: Ls 1&2 of the second tanka allude to the last stanza of one of the most read/popular Palestinian poems, "Identity Card," written by Mahmoud Darwish, poet of Palestinian resistance (1941-2008) and author of The Butterfly Effect, 2008, who died believing in the power of his poetry to make a difference.

Therefore!

Write down on the top of the first page:

I do not hate people

Nor do I encroach

But if I become hungry

The usurper's flesh will be my food

Beware ...

Beware ...

Of my hunger

And my anger!

The following is one of my favorite remarks on poetry:

Previously, I believed that poetry was a form of combat, but today I don't think that it has an immediate task. Its influence is very slow, cumulative.

To conclude today's April Holy Fool's Message post, I would like to share with you a relevant excerpt from Michael Enright's essay, "Seamus Heaney's last words to his wife"

In the course of the funeral tributes, his son Michael told the mourners that a few minutes before he died, the poet sent a message, in Latin, to his wife Marie. It said simply: "Noli Timere --- Don't be afraid."

 

Poets know about human pain and human fear.

It is part of their mandate to write about our fears, not necessarily to assuage them, but only to describe them accurately so that we know what we are dealing with.

    

We seem to be steeped in fear these days, marinating in the uncertainty that something dreadful is about to happen. 

In his poem "The Cure at Troy", Seamus Heaney wrote;

    

History says, don't hope

On this side of the grave.

But then, once in a lifetime

The longed-for tidal wave

Of justice can rise up,

And hope and history rhyme.

And to repeat the following call:

NeverEnding Story: Call for Haiku and Tanka Submissions in Response to UN Report,"The Anatomy of a Genocide"

Happy Holy Fool's Day

Chen-ou

FYI: The Holy Fool (Yuródivyy, chiefly radical Eastern Orthodoxy), often associated with gifts of prophecy and vision, publicly acts as if mad or foolish (for Christ). 

In my case, it's for Truth because

The first casualty, when war comes, is truth.

Hiram Johnson (1866-1945), a Progressive Republican senator in California)

And The Hill, April 1: Israel’s government passes law to temporarily shut down Al Jazeera

Israel’s legislature passed a law Monday paving the way to shut down the Qatar-based Al Jazeera news network, under legislation allowing for the temporary ban of foreign news networks that the government deems a threat to national security.

The law passed Israel’s Knesset 71-10 in its second and third reading in the Knesset plenum...

But the Biden administration said it was concerned over the Israeli passage of the law.

“We’ve seen the reports and certainly I’m going to refer to Israel for what they may or may not be considering. But if it is true, a move like this is concerning. We believe in the freedom of the press. It is critical. It is critically important,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Monday.

A Room of My Own: Gazan Poet Tanka

Against the Drowning Noise of Other Words, XXV: "poetry"

do you still believe

that poems are stronger than fireballs

a Gazan poet asks

in daymares, I see a narcissus

entwined around my mind

FYI: This is a sequel to the following tanka:

Against the Drowning Noise of Other Words, XVIII: "Rafah"

attacks on Rafah ...

will the sound of bombings 

echo, echoing

in the ears of the World

thousands of miles away

NeverEnding Story, February 12 2023

Added: Against the Drowning Noise of Other Words, XXVI: "aid airdrops"

                     aid

out of reach            air            ops

                                       dr 

and a dead child’s stare

FYI: Democarcy Now, March 4: U.S. Airdrops Food to Gaza While Arming Israel to Drop Bombs

Palestinian health officials say at least 16 children have died in recent days from starvation and dehydration as Israel’s assault continues. UNICEF warns the number of child deaths will likely “rapidly increase” unless the war ends.

And BBC News, March 5: Gaza aid airdrop: Why delivering food from the air is controversial

"Airdrops are expensive, haphazard and usually lead to the wrong people getting the aid," Jan Egeland, the secretary general of the Norwegian Refugee Council and a former UN aid chief, told the BBC after returning from a recent three-day visit to Gaza.

Airdrops are seven times more expensive compared to ground-delivered aid due to costs related to aircraft, fuel and personnel, says the WFP.

In addition to that, only relatively small quantities can be delivered with each flight, in comparison to what a convoy of lorries can bring in, and significant ground co-ordination is required within the delivery zone, says the WFP.

And The Guardian, March 8: Five killed and 10 injured in Gaza aid airdrop when parachute fails to open: Package ‘fell down like a rocket’ on roof of house near al-Shati refugee camp where people were waiting, a witness says

And Haaretz, March 9: UNRWA Accuses Israel of Forcing Agency Staff to Falsely Admit Hamas Links

A report by the UN agency details allegations of severe physical beatings, waterboarding, and threats of harm to family members.

Added: Against the Drowning Noise of Other Words, XXVII: "donkey feed"

rain clouds darkening ...

Gazan children sift through feed

as a donkey does

 Democracy Now, March 7: Ceasefire Talks Falter as Famine Plagues Gaza, Aid Remains Blocked by Israel

The group Refugees International is warning Israel’s persistent blocking of humanitarian aid into Gaza has created “apocalyptic” conditions inside the besieged territory. At least 20 Gazans have starved to death; the youngest victim was just one day old.

a soup kitchen volunteer in Rafah, Mohammed Al-Dalu: “Our hearts are being squeezed when a child comes over and says, 'I want to have rice and chicken.' We are unable to provide rice, let alone chicken, in light of the war that we are experiencing. This is not only a war on civilians. It is a war on food, on starvation. People here in the Gaza Strip cannot find bread to eat.”

And Democracy Now, March 7: Biden Quietly Approves 100+ Arms Sales to Israel While Claiming Concern for Civilians in Gaza

Added: Against the Drowning Noise of Other Words, XXVIII: "bombshell shards"

winter deepens

bombshell shards glinting

at the crescent moon

reprinted on Haikuniverse, March 11 2024

Poetic Musings: It is always three o'clock in the morning by Chen-ou Liu

It is always three o'clock in the morning

day after day.

the ghostly past

lurking around the corner

of my mind ...

with a scalpel of words

I stab into its heart

However, my immigrant past is never ...dead -- gone and forgotten. It is not even past.

 

Distressed and alone by the bedroom window, in the wake of a dream about a Taiwan blue magpie disappearing into the dark forest, I hear Time passing in the sound of snow.

Ribbons, 19:1, Winter 2023

contemporary haibun, 19, 2024

(annual anthology showcasing a "state-of-the-art selection of haibun, tanka prose, and haiga from journals around the world")

Chen-ou Liu

Commentary (emailed to me by Tanka Prose Editor, Liz Lanigan):

A short and powerful piece of self reflection where the poet seems to be preparing themselves for an intense look-back at family history.

Love the final sentence… “I hear Time passing in the sound of snow”  -- Carole Harrison.

I think you published a little masterpiece: Chen-ou Liu’s  “It is always three o’clock in the morning”. It is the piece I am copying into my journal. I don’t feel like analysis, but it’s haunting and meaningful and I love the format which is innovative I think. -- Gerry Jabobson

Note: The run-on title alludes to the following remark:

But at three o'clock in the morning, a forgotten package has the same tragic importance as a death sentence, and the cure doesn't work-- and in a real dark night of the soul it is always three o'clock in the morning, day after day.

― F. Scott Fitzgerald, "The Crack-Up"

And “The dark night of the soul” was a phrase first used by the Spanish mystic St John of the Cross in 16th century.

One Man's Maple Moon: Imagination Tanka by M. Kei

English Original

no love notes

to be found

except those

that I wrote

in my imagination

M. Kei

Chinese Translation (Traditional)

沒有找到

任何愛情的便條

除了那些

曾經書寫

在我的想像中

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

没有找到

任何爱情的便条

除了那些

曾经书写

在我的想像中

Bio Sketch

M. Kei is a tall ship sailor and award-winning poet who lives on Maryland’s Eastern shore. He is the editor of Atlas Poetica: A Journal of World Tanka. His most recent collection of poetry is January, A Tanka Diary. He is also the author of the award-winning gay Age of Sail adventure novels, Pirates of the Narrow Seas. He can be followed on Twitter @kujakupoet, or visit AtlasPoetica.org.

Poetic Musings: Sunrise & Sunset Tanka by Bhawana Rathore

a poem comes 

and sits beside me 

while I wait 

for the sun, to set 

for the sun, to rise

NeverEnding Story, November 9, 2023

Bhawana Rathore

Commentary: Enhanced by the use of syntactic parallelism, Ls 3-5 invite the reader into the "proper frame of mind" (i.e. in touch with nature) to receive the divine inspiration that the Muse imparts in Ls 1&2.

Thematically and philosophically speaking, this mood tanka about the "being" of a poem reminds me of the following remark:

A poem should not mean

But be

Archibald MacLeish, "Ars poetica"

And it could be read as a sequel to the following tanka:

waking half way

through the day

half the sunshine

half the pain

-- still time for a poem

Little Purple Universes, 2011

Helen Buckingham

A Room of My Own: Parting Words Tanka

in dim streetlight

love alone doesn't put food

on the table ...

her parting words taken

by the winter gust

Added:

in my dream

this blurry silhouette ...

waves of time

flood her footprints

in the life we had

Added: This Brave New World, CXL

phalanx after phalanx

of black-clad men in Rome

fascist salutes

FYI: NBC News, Jan.9: Outrage in Italy after hundreds give fascist salute at a rally in Rome

The rally was held in front of the former headquarters of a post-war neo-fascist party called the Italian Social Movement (MSI), which gave root to the Brothers of Italy party now led by Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni. 

Meloni came to power in 2022 as Italy’s first female prime minister at the head of a coalition, giving the country its most right-wing government since World War II. She praised Mussolini in her youth but has since changed her stance and said there was “no space” in her party “for nostalgia for fascism, racism or antisemitism.”

One Man’s Maple Moon: Each Other Tanka by Michael McClintock

English Original

in her letter

where tears had dried

the words were blurred --

that was how we always

understood each other

Tanka of Michael McClintock, Pinterest, 2011

Michael McClintock

Chinese Translation (Traditional)

    

在她的信中

淚水已乾的地方

文字變得模糊 --

我們總是這樣

互相理解對方

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

在她的信中

泪水已干的地方

文字变得模糊 --

我们总是这样

互相理解对方

Bio Sketch

Michael McClintock's lifework in haiku, tanka, and related literature spans over four decades. His many contributions to the field include six years as president of the Tanka Society of America (2004-2010) and contributing editor, essayist, and poet for dozens of journals, anthologies, landmark collections and critical studies. McClintock now lives in Clovis, California, where he works as an independent scholar, consultant for public libraries, and poet. Meals at Midnight [tanka], Sketches from the San Joaquin [haiku] and Streetlights: Poetry of Urban Life in Modern English Tanka, are some of his recent titles.

To the Lighthouse: the Place of Politics in Poetry by Seamus Heaney

My Dear Readers and Fellow Poets:

Two days ago, CBC Radio re-aired its May 23, 2010 interview with Nobel Prize-winner Seamus Heaney on the place of politics in poetry. 

This interview was timely, sociopolitically conscious, and most importantly, relevant to "our life in this broken world."

Below is an excerpt from this interview:

Pondering Poetry:

I was first interested in poetry as 'poetry.' Early on I was familiar with recitation.

We had little concerts at home as children, where we recited poems we'd learned at school of course. Then at Christmastime and at Easter, elder friends of my father's and mother's would be in, and there would be sing-songs. As I came into adolescence I would be asked to do a recitation. I knew several, such as The Shooting of Dan McGrew, The Spell of the Yukon and The Cremation of Sam McGee, all from Robert W. Service...

I wrote some poems as every literary undergraduate does, but it wasn't until 1962, that something started in me. But it came from reading poetry by Patrick Kavanagh, an Irish poet with the same kind of background as myself, a wonderful sudden burst of energy from him; and likewise from Ted Hughes, who again touched on subjects that I thought were known only to me, such as dead pigs lying in barrows, and bulls in outhouses, and barns and so on...

Poetics & Politics:

The question of what a poet's responsibility is to address the politics in their time is one that I kept answering ad nauseum between about 1969 or 1970 and 1989. Almost everything that I've written in prose and much that's in verse is about that question. Poets of the 1930s in England especially felt that. I mean, Spender, Auden and Louis MacNeice — who's an Irish poet of course, but part of that British generation — spoke to and about the Spanish Civil War, the rise of fascism and so on.

They were lyric poets, they had private subjects. They had love, eros, sex, time, childhood and yet there was the big war and the need for commitment. Communism was flowering as an ideology. The attraction of working for the wretched of the earth was deep, moral and compelling. So what was the private lyric poet to do? Was he or she to just keep to the lyric matter of the self and beauty or was there a bigger obligation?...

Just a few minutes before Seamus Heaney  died, he sent a message, in Latin, to his wife Marie. It said simply: "Noli Timere – Don't be afraid."

In a war situation or where violence and injustice are prevalent, "poetry is called upon to be something more than a thing of beauty." 

-- Seamus Heaney, Ireland's most renowned poet since Yeats, playwright and translator who received the 1995 Nobel Prize in Literature

History says don’t hope

On this side of the grave.

But then, once in a lifetime

The longed for tidal wave

Of justice can rise up

And hope and history rhyme

Seamus Heaney, "The Cure at Troy"

 

I would like to conclude today's post with a "haiku called upon to be something more than a thing of beauty"

This Brave New World, CXXIX

a teen waves his bloodied keffiyeh becoming Flag

FYI: For many Palestinians, the keffiyeh symbolizes their yearning for freedom and serves a nod to their history. For some non-Palestinians, it's a show of solidarity. 

And The Guardian, Jan.9, 2023 (9 months before the Hamas attacks): Israel security minister bans Palestinian flag-flying in public: Itamar Ben-Gvir’s order follows series of punitive steps against Palestinians since Israel’s hardline government took office.

Note: For more about Seamus Heaney's view of haiku and writing of tanka, see my "Dark Wings of the Night" posts: Seamus Heaney and His View of Haiku and Tankas for Toraiwa

Added: This Brave New World, CXXX

Christmas Eve in Bethlehem

nativity scene

Mary, Joseph, baby Jesus

amid tangled rubble

the sound of church bells

fades in the gathering dark

empty Manger Square

FYI: Manger Square is a city square in the center of Bethlehem in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. "In 1950, Bethlehem and the surrounding villages were 86 percent Christian. But by 2016, the Christian population dipped to just 12 percent, according Bethlehem mayor Vera Baboun."

The New Yorker, Nov.1 2023: The Gaza-ification of the West Bank: As the war in Gaza escalates, so, too, has the forcible displacement of Palestinians in the West Bank. Is Israel’s approach to the two regions linked?

An interview with Hagai El-Ad, an Israeli activist and the former executive director of the nonprofit organization B’Tselem, which works on human-rights issues in the occupied territories.

 

Government of Canada, Dec. 15: 14 countries, in addition to the EU, call on Israel to take immediate and concrete steps to tackle record high settler violence in the West Bank.

And Haaretz, Dec. 24: "Christmas During Gaza War: Bethlehem Marks a Somber Holiday"

Bethlehem and the entire Holy Land are in a state of grief and deep sadness. There's no problem with attending Midnight Mass: There are no tickets, no stress and no worshippers.

A Room of My Own: Writing, Life and Death

written in response to the Voice in Pierre's sleep: If there was no suffering, man would not know his limits, would not know himself (War and Peace, Vol. 5&6, p.35)

living side by side

with strangers in a basement

my writer friend

mutters, my mind, a logbook

of income streams and expenses

children's blood

flows beyond the pages

of War and Peace

my friend grieves the loss of passion

and of her writing dream

Added: inspired by The Independent, Dec. 11: George Clooney so badly stricken with Covid he was forced to direct new film, The Boys in the Boat,  from bed: That’s it. A tiny room. And out of that tiny room, let’s say there were 18 people there, 17 people got Covid.

Covid loves a crowd. 

It can also crash your party ...

grandpa's masked smile

FYI: BBC News, Oct. 2, 2023: Covid will 'continue to surprise us', warns health official

Covid will "continue to surprise us", England's deputy chief medical officer has warned ahead of another tricky winter for the NHS.

Dr Thomas Waite says the disease does not yet behave in a seasonal way, making it less predictable than other winter illnesses.

He encourages anyone eligible for the free flu and/or Covid vaccine to get the jabs and protect their health.

Added:

Covid surge ...

behind grandma's mask

another mask

FYI: 

And CBC News, Dec. 8: "1 in 9 Canadian adults have experienced long-term COVID symptoms, StatsCan says": More than half still had symptoms as of June 2023

Two-thirds of Canadian adults who have tried to get health-care services for their long-term symptoms say they haven't received enough treatment or support, the Statistics Canada report said.

To the Lighthouse: Poetry, Something More Than a "Thing of Beauty"

When Vincent was in the eighth grade, I drove him and a friend, a girl, back from a birthday party, and, like all mothers, I eavesdropped on their conversation. They were discussing the girl’s decision not to participate in a poetry contest. She had read the previous winners, she said, and they were composed of words such as “injustice,” “inequality,” “empowerment,” “action.” “What I don’t understand,” the girl said, “is why can’t we write about flowers anymore.”

“Of course we can,” Vincent said. “But ...”

He did not finish the sentence. I wondered if he was asking: Is there still a place for Emily Dickinson these days?

-- Yiyun Li, The New Yorker, October 23, 2023: "What Gardening Offered After a Son’s Death: Deep in mourning, I thought, What if spring never returns?"

In her heart-wrenching article, Yiyun Li, a Chinese American author whose life has been shaped by tragedy, responded to her son's hesitation with a thematically significant yet often misunderstood rhetorical question --"Is there still a place for Emily Dickinson these days?" -- one that reveals a typical/high school textbook image of one of the most popularized/popular poets in USA and around the world, Emily Dickinson, a reclusive/private poet who immersed herself in the beauty of nature with simple possessions and basic needs and search for life’s true meaning to herself.

"In fact, Emily Dickinson’s writing life peaked during the Civil War (perhaps half her poems were drafted in the years 1861-65), though her poetry often shows little relation to the cataclysmic event of the American nineteenth century. As was her wont, Dickinson tended to "write about the Civil War via metaphor," but she also contributed poems to a U.S. Sanitary Commission publication, her small, personal, contribution to the Union war effort." (Cecily Nelson Zander, "The Civil War in Surprising Places: Emily Dickinson’s Poetry and the Pop Culture Delights of Dickinson")

In 1863 as the Civil War raged, she wrote the following poem, one, unlike most of her poems, that directly discusses "themes of guilt, battlefield death, and the sacrifice of those who went South to fight for the Union cause during the conflict."

“It Feels A Shame To Be Alive”

It feels a shame to be Alive—

When Men so brave—are dead—

One envies the Distinguished Dust—

Permitted—such a Head—

The Stone—that tells defending Whom

This Spartan put away

What little of Him we—possessed

In Pawn for Liberty—

The price is great—Sublimely paid—

Do we deserve—a Thing—

That lives—like Dollars—must be piled

Before we may obtain?

Are we that wait—sufficient worth—

That such Enormous Pearl

As life—dissolved be—for Us—

In Battle’s—horrid Bowl?

It may be—a Renown to live—

I think the Man who die—

Those unsustained—Saviors—

Present Divinity—

Another two examples about the physical violence of war are “The name–of it–is 'Autumn'” and “My Life–A Loaded Gun.” For more, see Emily Dickinson and Violent Poetry: Women, Writing, and War

The mis/understadning of Emily Dickinson's poetry reminds me of the following penetrating remark:

People generally see what they look for, and hear what they listen for.

-- Harper Lee, author of To Kill a Mockingbird 

Back to the conversation between Yiyun Li's son, Vincent, and his classmate, about the question regarding the role/goal of writing poetry:

...What I don’t understand,” the girl said, “is why can’t we write about flowers anymore.”

“Of course we can,” Vincent said. “But ...”

In a war situation or where violence and injustice are prevalent, "poetry is called upon to be something more than a thing of beauty." 

-- Seamus Heaney, an Irish poet, playwright and translator who received the 1995 Nobel Prize in Literature. 

For example, I wrote the following haiku in response to the siege of Gaza:

running out of water

running out of life:

Gaza in smoky darkness

NeverEnding Story, October 20, 2023

It alludes to the following "classical[nature] haiku"

lily:

out of the water …

out of itself

Selected Haiku, 1989

Nick Virgilio

(FYI: Nick Virgilio also wrote a lot of "'blood-less yet gory, i.e., less popular/less known haiku," about the Vietnam War, such as one of my favourites about the "man-nature" relationship:

deep in rank grass,

through a bullet-riddled helmet:

an unknown flower)

To conclude today's post, I would like to share with you the following tanka written in response to Associated Press, Nov. 14: "Tens of thousands of supporters of Israel rally in Washington, crying "never again"

This Brave New World, CVII

a wavy sea 

of American flags mixed

with Israeli flags ...

at the corner an old man cries

Never Again for everyone

FYI: This is the sequel to the concluding tanka below of my tanka sequence, "Covering the War," for Edward Said, author of Covering Islam: How the Media and the Experts Determine How We See the Rest of the World

Never Again

a promise, a slogan,

a bumper sticker ...

now a rallying cry

for more chaos and carnage

One Man's Maple Moon: Sunrise & Sunset Tanka by Bhawana Rathore

English Original

a poem comes 

and sits beside me 

while I wait 

for the sun, to set 

for the sun, to rise

Bhawana Rathore

Chinese Translation (Traditional)

當我等待

太陽, 下山時

太陽, 升起時

一首詩蒞臨

並坐在我身旁

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

当我等待

太阳, 下山时

太阳, 升起时

一首诗莅临

并坐在我身旁

Bio Sketch

Bhawana Rathore is a student from India, interested in literature and human sciences. She dedicates her poetry to her late grandparents. Her work has been published in some of the online haiku journals, including BONES, Cattails, Prune Juice, Failed Haiku, Femku etc.

Poetic Musings: Lonely Maneuver Tanka by Sanford Goldstein

I spit

on tonight’s lonely

maneuver,

I floss,

I scribble poems

This Short Life: Minimalist Tanka, 2014

Sanford Goldstein 

Commentary: Written in a traditional style of "Onihishigitei (demon-quelling force, characterized by its “strong or even vulgar diction" (Japanese Court Poetry, p. 406),  Sanford's "I tanka" effectively depicts its speaker's character through a well-chosen set of verbs ("spit," "floss," and "scribble) with a [lonely] performative act, "maneuver," in the central line.

And it might be interesting to do a comparative reading of my "loneliness tanka" below :

at midnight

my thoughts and hand moving

across the page:

I tanka-barricade

the door to loneliness

Skylark, 3:2, Winter 2015

FYI: For more information about Onihishigitei, see my "To the Lighthouse" post, "Onihishigitei, Style of Demon-Quelling Force"

Reference:

Brower, Robert and Miner, Earl, Japanese Court Poetry, Stanford University Press, 1988, p. 406), 

One Man's Maple Moon: Life's Page Tanka by Sanford Goldstein

English Original

half a tanka

will probably suffice

to say

this blur on life's page

is ready for erasure

Poetry That Heals, 2018

Sanford Goldstein 

Chinese Translation (Traditional)

半首短歌

可能就已足夠

訴說了

生命這一頁上的模糊之處

已準備好被擦除乾淨

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

半首短歌

可能就已足够

诉说了

生命这一页上的模糊之处

已准备好被擦除干净

Bio Sketch

Long ago, Sanford Goldstein wrote haiku, but decided to focus on tanka. His latest books, three in two years, have each said this would be his last. The Tanka Society of America renamed its international tanka contest for him in 2015; and he has been called the grandfather of tanka in English.