What is it with Japan? Mysterious land of things small and perfectly formed – haiku, bonsai, sumo … ok, so sumo is the exception (and more than balances out the distilled essence of the poet and the plant!)
Hello again, welcome to the much-anticipated second installment of The Friday Haiku . Well last week was definitely a tease, as I mentioned the ultimate expression of minimalism: a one-word haiku. Brace yourselves, for here it is:
tundra
Cor van den Heuvel (Curbstones, 1998)
What a sublime haiku! So evocative, with the merest hint or sense of season, it is wistful, epic, expansive, remote, vital, romantic, bracing, it hints at ‘survival’; there are just so many emotive reactions from a single, perfectly formed image. I dare you to ponder that one word for a time and not conclude as I have… the Dilettante thinks it is a haiku masterpiece.
A one-word masterpiece? Yes!
(This raises some very interesting questions about ‘authorship’ – it reminds me of the race of painters to minimalise everything down to the blank white canvas).
What do you think?
The D!
Musings of a Literary Dilettante's Blog 