| Candle Night キャンドルナイト  candle night - is the spider looking for enlightenment ?  . . . . . candle night - the beetles are having some fun in the dark   |
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Candle Night, KIGO
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candle night -
is the spider looking for
enlightenment ?
Dear Gabi,
I like this very much, and have a question.
We get drilled into us so much not to use personification and I know you're very experienced in haiku. When do you decide to make an exception (you personally)?
Dear Friend,
I try to avoid personifications and anthropomorphism as much as I can, since I believe haiku should state the objective observance, not the subjective judgement about it. I only use it when the situation really calls for it.
Here is the story to the above haiku.
It is candlenight in Japan.
A few good friends have gathered around the old pond, with the odd frog jumping in once in a while too for good measure.
In the darkness, we enjoy the conversation, then the silence, then talk again.
Plop, another frog. Silence deepens.
A firefly zips by and I tell my friends about this haiku, written a few days ago in some haiku forum after a discussion on the subject
temporary enlightenment -
just a bunch of
fireflies
Everybody chuckles ... yea, yea, the follies of us human beings ...
And silence again in the darkness.
Staring toward the white calla lily, a small spider makes its way toward the innermost flower parts. Slowly, stopping, sensing what ?
Everyone gets focussed on the spider and then another little beetle on the white flower next to it. Candlelight makes this scene especially unworldly. Like under a giant spotlight, all we see now is the spider.
And then someone asks:
Is the spider looking for
enlightenment ?
...
So my particular haiku is not really a personification, but a report about a situation during that candlenight.
Anthropomorphism - Pro and Con
Read my Haiku Archives 2007
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