The Judges
* * *
Mercy, What has I done got mahself into wif' this high-falutin' Haiku thang?
Truly now, y'all's all sighin' wif' relief that ya' ain't gotta figger whose Haiku reigns supreme,
ain't ya'?
I does wanna thank ever'body fer the fun, frolickin', fabulous entries for this week's Haiku Monday. Folks outdid theyselves an' Aunty had a boatload of amusement. Uncle too.
Oh yes, Uncle Aloysius got a recital wif' his mornin' cawfee. While he ain't the final word, I did allow him to thumbs up the one he heard that he liked real good. That narrowed the field some.
An' it also did one other thang--it impressed on me the truth that poetry read an' poetry heard are different altogether. Thar's some lovely/ ironical/ funny moments observed in all these entries. Yet, lemme invite y'all to read them aloud an' see if the Haiku heard takes on a little different feel/ vision?
Poet Robert Pinsky said that poems have their "...culmination in the audience's body."
In some of yore entries, thar's an added dimension in the sounds of the words used to express the "moment" or vision that the Haiku intends to communicate. The sounds reflect the meaning of the words in some obvious or subtle manner.
An example:
The first line of the first entry in the Combox:
curling wafting smoke
( Foam's)
I hope ya' hear what I mean--the sound of the word "curling" is itself sorta of curly--that is, ya' mouth lingers over the word, your ear tarries on the word. It does not sound quick or short, an' the object it describes--smoke--ain't got the property of bein' quick or short. So the very sound ya' hear, not jes' the meanin' of the word, also communicates the property of the thang described. This is a subtle feature of word choice in poetry that may come natcherly, not needin' any teachin', sort of intuitive to the writer. Iffin' ya wuz to write a poem about machine gun fire, wif'ouut even thinkin', youse gonna choose short sound syllables, to mimic the actual sound of the blasts. (The Japanese have "onji" which is one syllable short sound words that are also short when written)
The listener doan need to deconstruct sound and voice mechanics to appreciate that THIS word, but not THAT word, is more communicative of the subject--it is a grand ability that humans have to appreciate a a truth wif'out needin' to analyze it (as I jes' done). That is--important point--we somehow apprehend realities on a level beyond the laborious need to analyze to see IF it is so. We analyze after the fact to understand HOW it is so.
I reckon thas' somethin that makes poetry --any good art--art. It taps into that reservoir of unnerstandin' we humans have that is a "lightening apprehension" (not analysis) that Pinsky outlines.
Which point leads to mah next point. SIGNS.
Thar's a fancy word, (erudit-ish fer the Troll) Semiotics which is the study of signs. How we assign significance to a signifier (a sign) that ain't the than actual thang itself. (applied to Haiku, the idea is to communicate a definite, concrete moment in time and place--a poem snapshot, if you will. The successful Haiku locates the precise moment in such a way that the listener recognizes it--it is nearly experiential--that is, even though not thar' at that moment, hearin' the Haiku the listener can "be there" too.)
What is fascinatin' is that the virtual world is changin' the way we signify real or virtual. I'se no expert on any of this stuff, but I reckon that when Gutenberg turned the world upside down wif' his invention it made it possible for more folks to understand the signified world better.
Anyhoo--y'all doan wanna hear/ read all this....but it is important to keep in mind the SIGNS that are around us --to keep alert, folks. Thar's thangs to know if ya would jes' SEE.
A few final notes of appreciation. Thanky to everyone who wrote wif' regard to Granny Cracker. I'se touched. An' thanky too to y'all brown-noses that ALMOST got to Aunty wif' paeans to batiste or Composela. An special mention on them really good entries wif reference to Signs of the Ultimate Thangs.
And now, drum roll....
The winning Cracker-speak Haikus has a real an' direct sign, is in Cracker speak. The second Cracker -speak doan work as well, wif'out the visual, but in this case the visual is so strong!
The first conveys a Cracker (of lower order) craftiness. The information in 17 syllables evokes eggsactly how a certain Cracker folks might stand lookin' at a sign an' find the work-around. Thus, a specific moment in time is "seen" when ya hear this Haiku.
The first winner be,
Pam OKC wif'
SIGN SAID "NO TRESPASS"
BUT ON THE OTHER SIDE IT
DIDN’T SAY NOTHIN’
The Second Cracker-Speak winnin' entry locates a precise moment wif' a physical sign an' follows the Japanese classical form of relating to nature.
The winner is BuzzK wif'
Foragin' fer food.
They wuz Deer Woods long ago.
Stompin' ground garden.
The winning Haiku wuz much harder to judge an' I still doan wanna settle fer one--so many good ones. If ya re-read over them, an especially read out loud, I think you'll find several very strong entries that put ya squarely thar'--makes you feel part of what is conveyed. An' mercy, it is hard to select jes' one. In the end, thar' were three neck an' neck, an jes' wish all could be first-place.
Sigh..so. Keepin' the ones Uncle gave thumbs up to, I narrowed the field again by resortin' to the classical Japanese format that requires some reference to nature. This means that to keep the "sign" theme, an' a nature component, an to locate a precise moment in time, an' to sound good when read out loud, the winnin' entry had to hit a lot of markers, includin' the 5-7-5- format, which nosed out Master Banana Tree 's otherwise wonderful entry of 3-5-5 (dern-- them English speakin' judges!)
The winner be:
Foam, wif'
tumultuous rain
undulating bulbs stretch high..
heralds of springtime
Mayhap I'se captivated by "undulating," cause Foam's flippant late entry is hilarious, a moment one can quickly visualize...unless ya' need a dictionary first.
ululating roars
undulating ungulates
unguligrade run
Congratulations to all!
Winners, please send me yore mailin' particulars by email so I can dispatch your prizes forthwith!
