Stupid question, but necessary to frame this micro-essay: remember the original Star Wars?
Great!
Everyone wants to identify with the Rebel Alliance, but no one wants to be the Empire. And yet, think about Leia. Princess Leia. Her arch nemesis was the Emperor. Seems like a princess and an emperor are both part of the same power structure.
And never mind that poor Anakin Skywalker's only escape from institutionalized poverty is that he’s a genetic freak with an unusual ability to harness the Force. Otherwise, those Jedi knights wouldn't give a street urchin like him the time of day.
I could go on with some alt theory that Star Wars is really about a power struggle between two equally nefarious factions, a struggle that would ultimately perpetuates and strengthens the system that benefits princesses and emperors, while keeping simple folk like the Skywalker family impoverished and powerless.
Star Wars isn't about taking down an evil system, but fighting for control of it.
Anyway, everyone wants to blow up the Death Star, but hardly anyone wants to acknowledge their role (however passive) or their consent (however tacit) in helping build that horrible weapon in the first place.
Where is Andy going with all this? You might look around at various crises in this burning world, and make some very dark assumptions about what I'm saying.
And you'd be wrong. The Rebel Alliance and Empire are within you.
What I am saying is, you can blow up the Death Star as many times as you like, but it won't matter if you keep building new ones.
How does one dismantle such mayhem-making machinery within oneself? I struggle with this every day.
And that struggle ties this whole rant back to haiku.
Whew.
Writing haiku is my own effort to transcend both machinery and mayhem. Because for a brief moment, I can experience a reality beyond dualities, beyond the yin and yang of Rebel Alliances and Empires.
Anyway.
Another week, another seven haiku postcards mailed out to...
haiku 20231023 » West Liberty, OH USA
hotel corridor
a rumble and crash
from the ice machine
haiku 20231024 » Sacramento, CA USA
overgrown lot
a path cut by kids
through the ivy
haiku 20231025 » Santa Barbara, CA USA
october wind
the dry rustle of.
my neighbor's aspens
haiku 20231026 » Lexington, SC USA
rainy afternoon
the cats and I
stare out the window
haiku 20231027 » Castle Rock, CO USA
tule fog
the morning commute
takes a mystical turn
haiku 20231028 » Denver, CO USA
windy morning
the aspen leaves
still hang on
haiku 20231029 » Browns Mills, NJ USA
tule fog
below a cloudless sky
the things we pass
That’s all seven! See you next week! And remember…
I STILL want to send you a card
It’s kinda weird you read my Substack but haven’t requested a card yet. I don’t get it. Please ask! It’s free. I ask nothing in return, aside from your good graces or maybe a cup of coffee if you’re so inclined.
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And I’m posting reels of each week’s haiku postcards on Instagram. The “live” photos feature lets you see my sloppy attempts to angle in on the best shot. Check it out!
Recommended reading
I heartily recommend all the books below. I get no commission, no nothing if you buy through my links. (Amazon Associates gave me the boot because I didn’t move enough merch. Oh well.)
Haiku: An Anthology of Japanese Poems, Stephen Addiss/Fumiko Y. Yamamoto/Akira Y. Yamamoto
With the exception of The Haiku Anthology (see below), this was the first haiku anthology I bought when I first started sending out haiku cards. I stumbled across this small, beautiful book, while making my requisite writer’s pilgrimage to Shakespeare’s Books in Paris (ooh la la). The richness and scope between the covers in this little book is simply amazing, featuring over 102 poets, many more if you include anonymous authors. It’s my go-to when packing for a trip. Buy it here.
The Haiku Anthology (Third Edition), Edited by Cor van den Heuvel
Want to know what modern English-language haiku really looks like? What it is capable of? Here is your answer, and a must for every haiku poet’s bookshelf. When I first started writing haiku, this volume served me very well. Many of the haiku within have remained with me throughout the years, and I have been privileged to now count some of the contributors as colleagues and friends. Buy it here.
Three Simple Lines: A Writer’s Pilgrimage into the Heart and Homeland of Haiku, Natalie Goldberg
Many writers will immediately recognize Goldberg from her forever bestselling Writing Down the Bones. As it happens, she has been writing haiku for her entire adult life, and has much to teach us. In Three Simple Lines, she intertwines memoir, history, and travelogue in a magnificent way as she journeys through Japan, chasing down the ghosts of Bashō and Buson, among others. She also draws much needed attention to women haiku poets, who were too often overshadowed by their male contemporaries. Buy it here.
Mountain Tasting - Haiku and Journals of Santoka … (tr. John Stevens)
I found Santoka challenging at first. Much of his haiku feels incomplete to me or dashed off. But he grew on me. Soon I felt like a companion on his journey, bouncing from inn to inn, begging for alms by day, pounding sake by night. Buy it here.
The Essential Haiku - Versions of Bashō, Buson, & Issa
Essential is right! Edited by Robert Hass, a great poet in his own right. Hass includes great essays on the history and evolution, as well as other writings by the poets themselves. A true master class in haiku! Buy it here.
Narrow Road to the Interior and Other Writings, Matsuo Bashō (tr. Sam Hamill)
Haiku poets have a tradition of wandering the countryside, and Bashō set the example! Buy it here.
Selected Poems, Masaoka Shiki (tr. Burton Watson)
I wrote a whole post about Shiki. Haiku might not exist today without his influence and renewal of the form. Buy it here.
Issa's Best: A Translator's Selection of Master Haiku, Issa Kobayashi (tr. David G. Lanoue)
Issa is probably the most beloved of the classic poets. His humility and joy in the face of unbearable loss and poverty endear him to haiku lovers everywhere. Lanoue seems to have made translating Issa his life’s mission, and I love his versions. Buy it here.