Haiku

John Ahern writes,

Leaves, roly polies

curl up when dead. Is God an

anthropomorphist?

Posted at 11:36 pm EST on the 5th of November 2009 by John R. Ahern.

Under Poetry as

There are 16 replies.
 
  1. P. James McCord says on November 6th, 2009 at 11:48 am

    Ha, I can just see you walking along and thinking this.

    I think you should make friends with alliteration – she’s super sweet. (Just don’t get too close. She slaps.)

  2. John Ahern says on November 6th, 2009 at 2:35 pm

    Ha, James, I did, and she did. Slap, that is. (Check out “Spring” in the archives, if you dare.)

  3. V. K. Blake says on November 6th, 2009 at 3:40 pm

    Comparing leaves to animals isn’t actually anthropomorphism.

  4. Nick says on November 6th, 2009 at 4:40 pm

    but, Vicki, seeing both leaves and roly polies as possessing human characteristics is, which I imagine is the point — though I don’t see how curling up is in any way typically human. John?

  5. John R. Ahern says on November 6th, 2009 at 6:55 pm

    Curling up, drying up, withering when dead is typically human, though. Isn’t it? (And, yes, Nick, exactly.)

  6. Nick says on November 6th, 2009 at 6:59 pm

    Oh… I don’t know that it is. I think curling up and dying is kind of a reference to how animals die, and drying up is a reference to how plants die. I think they’re both really metaphors in that way. I mean, I have to say, I’ve seen some corpses, and I’ve never seen one actually curl up… or even particularly dry up all that much.

  7. Sarah says on November 6th, 2009 at 9:12 pm

    Very pithy, John. Impressive.

  8. L.N.T. says on November 6th, 2009 at 10:58 pm

    Wow, yes, very impressive.

  9. H. G. Roorda says on November 6th, 2009 at 11:44 pm

    Well, I think haiku is trite and boring. There’s no beauty in it. It’s very stark. It’s like an apartment decorated in nothing but black and white… nice in a magazine, but horrible in real life.

  10. Erin says on November 7th, 2009 at 11:15 am

    I think Han would be more impressed if you translated that into Chinese.

  11. V. K. Blake says on November 7th, 2009 at 3:38 pm

    Ah, but Han, starkness can be beautiful! Like when you go to a “lake” in Arizona during not water season, and everything is all dry, and there are gnarled trees and stuff. (=
    And I know we already beat this into John at the meeting, but I’m going to say again that dead people don’t curl up.

  12. Margaret Ahern says on November 9th, 2009 at 8:54 am

    Nick has a point. Humans get stiff after death (rigor mortis). Kind of the opposite of curling up.

  13. Lilly says on November 9th, 2009 at 7:50 pm

    Hah, here’s Google’s translation:

    ????polies
    ?????????
    anthropomorphist?

    Are you impressed, Hannah? :D

  14. H. G. Roorda says on November 10th, 2009 at 12:00 pm

    I’m not really sure where the Chinese thing came into it… I might sit up and take notice if it was in Hindi– it would sound cool, anyway.

    Vicki, stark things can be really beautiful and interesting and impressive, but I don’t think haiku can capture that. I think haiku is mostly just a cheap way to call something poetry– give it the right number of syllables in order, and voila, a poem! It doesn’t take any skill or genius, just the ability to count.

    In defense of John, people shrivel and curl up as they age and die, and then they get stiff. Bugs are stiff while they live, and then they curl up and get crunchy when they die. So, maybe it’s chiastic anthropomorphism!

  15. John R. Ahern says on November 10th, 2009 at 12:42 pm

    Hannah, wouldn’t you admit there’s artistry in making a good PAN post in 300 words or less? Certainly you’d admit that isn’t just a matter of counting.

    And, yes, I’m glad I posted this for the precise reason that I think Vicki and Nick have pointed out an inherent inconsistency in the makeup. There are some metaphorical ways that humans “curl up” when the die, but not enough to draw the connection of God patterning nature after that. Maybe if I went along with the dust-to-dust line I could come up with something a little better.

  16. Gary Rolls says on December 7th, 2009 at 11:29 pm

    MMM. Me love haiku!!! Me think poemtry real nice. Poemtry make me little heart roll. Gary hope all people likes you poemtry. It sound real nice.