Comment:

starry night-

a desire aged

with me

-- By Carmela Marino

The haiku with seven words is indeed a minimalistic expression in its poetic spirit. It manifests a sort of synesthetic element or influence on abstraction. The tonal and rhythmic styles create a subtle resonance. The kinesthetic image, “starry night,’ a situation or sight, reveals a metaphoric expression of a psychological phenomenon and a cognitive impression. The kireji, en dash) portrays a thought pause, as defined by Faubion Bowers, and the phrase section elucidates a sudden shift. The poet does not specify the nature of the desire; it could represent an incident from the past, a long-term memory, a lost moment in life, or an expectation fervently longing for fulfillment. Precisely so, the poet chooses the indefinite article ‘a desire’ in line two.The phrase block, “a desire aged/ with me” reveals a sublime concept of abstraction. In this haiku, the poet subconsciously juxtaposes the present with past events in a subtle tone. The emotionally blended abstract fraction has been well juxtaposed with the concrete image. Apparently, it reminds me of the haiku “The water lying/ in a withered lotus . . ./ if repentance has a colour” by Kagiwada Yuko. Interestingly, the haiku embodies a cognitive poetic approach, with a close similarity to Jim Kacian’s memorable monoku “pain fading the days back to wilderness,” embedded in human-centric psychology. The phrase section represents a humble acceptance of reconciliation along with self-realization and tranquility. The emotional instant and philosophical tone set in a sense of yūgen in the transcendental realm of the flow of time.

The haiku, in its brevity, holds immense potential for meaningful expansion from the setting of ‘starry night-’ into ‘a desire aged’ with time and thus exhibits a sort of four-dimensional haiku.

In Hegelian terms, the flow of the haiku is essentially simple with fragmentary language but implies sensitivity of both the real and the abstract.  Bashō once said, 'the taste of haikai is sabi' and the present haiku justifies it with soul and spirit.

 

-Pravat Kumar Padhy