Chen-ou Liu's Translation Project: First English-Chinese Haiku and Tanka Blog

Wednesday, January 3, 2024

Most Feared Word Haiku

Revision:
I restructured four entries of Against the Drowning Noise of Other Words into one haiku sequence below:

Against the Drowning Noise of Other Words, III: "First Casualty"

First Casualty

a time for peace
a time for war only...
a twist to PM's mouth

remember, remember
what Amalek did  ...
fireballs burst skyward

night turned into orange day
a news host laments
the most feared word, context

police phalanx
Never Again, Never Again
for everyone 

Genocide or not?
bounced back and forth between experts ...
peace candles flicker


(FYI: The title alludes to 

The first casualty, when war comes, is truth.

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


Against the Drowning Noise of Other Words, I: "Context"
for Israeli journalist, editor, and chair of B’Tselem, Orly Noy

                               she   laments
                      day                           the  

                orange                                  most

            into                                                    feared

     turned                                                                word

night                                                                            context



FYI: This is the first entry of my 2024 writing project. The title of the project is taken from the following remark on the role/function of writing poetry:

Poetry is insurrection, resurrection, and insubordination -- against amnesia of every sort, against every form of oppression, dispossession and indifference. And against the drowning noise of other words.  -- Anne Michaels, Infinite Gradation


Added: Against the Drowning Noise of Other Words, IT: "War and Peace" 

a time for peace
a time for war only...
a twist to PM's mouth


AddedAgainst the Drowning Noise of Other Words, III: "Bombs and Hospital"

The Language of Cause and Effect

half-encircled
by soldiers and cameras
the President
writes "I rely on you"
on bomb after bomb

four children
crammed on one hospital bed...
a burnt boy's legs
hang over one side 
to the blood-stained floor


FYI: Haaretz, Opinion, Jan. 3: An Artillery Shell Signed by Israel's President, Isaac Herzog, Could Have Hit a Child in Gaza: What statesmanship is there in the signing of a lethal munition, which in the eyes of the world represents Israel's greatest sin in this war – sowing devastation in Gaza and killing innocents?

Last week, a picture made the rounds of social media showing President Isaac Herzog writing the phrase "I rely on you" on a shell to be dropped on Gaza. He is surrounded by smiling soldiers in what looks like a joyful scene.


Added: Against the Drowning Noise of Other Words, IV: "Never Again"

police phalanx
Never Again, Never Again
for everyone 


Added: Against the Drowning Noise of Other Words, V: "Genocide"

Genocide or not?
bounced back and forth between experts ...
peace candles flicker