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Saturday 16 January 2010

Haiku #16

Thinking of Haiti - and the news that at least one politician on the extreme right has advised people not to give...

A great many images
One catastrophe
Diverse reactions

16 comments:

Elisabeth said...

Tragedy can bring forth deep compassion but also ugly responses as you describe. More than diversity I fear some responses to tragedy border on racism.

Tabor said...

I love you haiku, Dave, but I am afraid I would not be so gentle with this politician on my mind. My haiku would be spread with blood and guts.

Dianne said...

I think the detatchment of your Haiku is true to the form of Haiku.
thanks for including the introduction.

steven said...

dave - i made the choice to watch what the now infamous man said and i knew before i made that choice that it wasn't wise. there will always, always be people who see and share the perspective that misery and suffering are a form of justifiable punishment. that somehow there is a ledger in which there is a balancing. i know for myself that this is about their own internal struggle and not about the world and so i pass them by. live in goodwill, share good thoughts, goodness in whatever form and avoid the negativity. it serves no purpose other than to breed more of the same (ref. the second comment!) i love that my class and my school are working hard to raise funds for the people of haiti so that they can move on from this sorry time. that's where the real goodness lies - in the hearts of people like my students. steven

The Turning Point said...

How damaged and poverty stricken must the politician's heart be. Can only include him in with prayers for all the people of Haiti.

Haiku --topnotch

JF

The Weaver of Grass said...

I like the fat that you try to stay topical with your haiky Dave.

As far as not giving - I just hope noone takes his advice. Having just read Wolf Hall with its religious intolerance I just wonder how far we have really progressed on that front. Didn't that same politician say something about it being God's wrath?

Barry said...

I was just writing on my blog about how the tragedy in Haiti had united us.

After reading your post, I guess that is not the case.

Kass said...

Your Haiku was elegant in its tact and simplicity. Its bareness brought people to their own realizations. Reading the comments on your blog is always a pleasure.

Kat Mortensen said...

I fear I couldn't be as restrained as you if I got into the political end of it. I did a haiku on "Keepsakes" under the veil of the Theme Thursday's "surface" prompt.

It is truly amazing how some people can use the guise of "Christianity" to condemn those in distress. Thank heavens, however, that there are people of all faiths and beliefs who truly give a damn.

Unknown said...

Hi Dave,

Sadly, not a situation we are likely to remedy - the politician, that is, and others like him.

I notice Weaver, no doubt with a slip of her finger, described your haiku as a "haiky". Maybe that could be the new name for them?

Tommaso Gervasutti said...

Dear Dave, hearing and watching images of the terrible tragedy of Haiti makes me dumb, I couldn't write anything about such a people's hell of an ordeal.
I think it's very good that you can say something about it especially when the extreme right intervenes in the worst possible way...

Cloudia said...

Excellent.



Aloha, Friend!


Comfort Spiral

Conda Douglas said...

So apropos of so many events, including the most recent one, Dave. Excellent haiku.

Shadow said...

as many people, as many diverse reactions. so true.

A Cuban In London said...

Excellent poem. I read about a rightwing commentator in the States who said that Haitians had brought this calamity on themselves through voodoo. It beggars belief.

Greetings from London.

Dave King said...

Thanks all
If I've read the comments correctly, it seems that the general view is that I have been true to the Haiku but too soft on the guy in question. I've read more of him since, and it seems that the reason he gave for his advice was that Obama was going to divert the money collected to the Red Cross - and there was no way of knowing who they would give it to. Which to me seems even m ore extraordinary.
Hope the school does well steven.
Welcome to Turning Point
I think the vast m ajority have come together Barry
Haiky I like Derrick - but would the great an d good out there know what it is?
One thing that has come home to me is that by being distant as the Haiku requires is about the only way I could have posted on something like the Haiti situation.
I hadn't seen that bit, Cuban - presumably the commentator believes in voodoo, then?