Comments on: Viral 1.1

By: Paul D Miller on Haiku Trends « Haiku North America 2009

Paul D Miller on Haiku Trends « Haiku North America 2009 — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 20:06:11 +0000

[...] talk on haiku and hermits, Michael Welch’s Fuyoh Observations, Charlie Trumbull’s talk on Shasei (which I think is under attack now, so will be very interesting!!), and of course hearing [...]

By: Viral 1.3 |

Viral 1.3 | — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 01:33:43 +0000

[...] Viral 1.1 (Metz ➾ Kacian) • Viral 1.2 (Kacian ➾ Gurga) [...]

By: Viral 1.2 |

Viral 1.2 | — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 08:52:06 +0000

[...] • Viral 1.1 (Metz ➾ Kacian) [...]

By: Francine Banwarth

Francine Banwarth — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 05:22:03 +0000

I have been finding my way around the Haiku Foundation site and want to say I especially enjoyed Scott Metz’s discussion of Jim Kacian’s “dusklight–”. I’m glad I was on board to judge the Spiess that year. Kacian’s own thoughts about bringing the “psychological” into his writing really has me thinking, and as I read his work I can see how he manages to incorporate this element into his haiku, which makes them soar, really. It is a step above the “emotional” level of suggestion–somehow deeper, and very effective.

By: Peter Yovu

Peter Yovu — Fri, 15 May 2009 15:22:16 +0000

Kacian writes “her poem,” which leads, I suppose, the interpreting mind to land on the notion of an actual (or imagined) poet as reference. That is certainly where I landed when I first came across this poem. But Scott’s reading, especially considering “dusklight” as a state of consciousness, leads me to explore further: that is, to consider that “dusklight” itself is the “poet”. I believe it is an attribute of poetry, and perhaps especially of the poetry we call haiku, that it engages that capacity of mind which can hold several possibilities at once and come to a singular understanding, if understanding is understood as submitting and not as deciding.

I’m reminded once more of Emerson’s statement that “every word was once a poem.” “Dusklight” (and also “troutswirl”) in its freshness and fusion, is a poem in itself, and though it was written by an actual (and not imagined, I’m pretty sure) poet, one might say it is self-authoring. And though this way of looking at the poem requires a sense of “dusklight” as a feminine, self-authoring consciousness, I find I do not object to it, I find that I can stay in that light and allow it to deepen and darken within me. I find that it invites me to read it differently, and variously.