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

Monday, December 23, 2024

A Maze of Makeshift Tents Haiku

Against the Drowning Noise of Other Words, CXL: "a maze of makeshift tents"

pause between fireballs ...
a boy wanders through a maze 
of makeshift tents



FYI: I combined entries, CXXXVI, CXXVIII,  CXXVII and CXXXVIII of Against the Drowning Noise of Other Words into the following latest entry:

Against the Drowning Noise of Other Words, CXXXIX: "in/humanity

In/Humanity

in smoky twilight
one evacuation order
after another ...
death upon death while the world
looks on but doesn't see

piles of rubble
cracked stoves, bottles, dusty trash heaps ...
all the way to the sea
the camera moves along
until it meets a girl's blank stare

the veil-thin line
between the living and the dead
each raindrop
and every US-made bomb
falls on rows of ripped tents

laying his beard
on his slain granddaughter's cheek
he strokes her hair
hugs and kisses her again ...
this Gazan doesn't cry, but I do


AddedAgainst the Drowning Noise of Other Words, CXLI: "a pile of rubble"

the crescent moon
a Gazan atop a pile
of rubble


AddedAgainst the Drowning Noise of Other Words, CXLII: "blood stained wooden Jesus" 
inspired by Rev. Dr. Munther Isaac's Christmas sermon: “Christ is Still in the Rubble”

Christmas Eve
blood stained wooden Jesus 
in Gaza's rubble