Wednesday, July 28, 2010

3WW CXCIX

Entitled 'Dream fish (Tokyo Koi relaxing under reflected cherry blossoms)' this is a blurry image of an orange Koi swimming under a psychedelicesque swirl of reflected cherry blossoms in a wind-kissed lake.Dear Gentle Reader,

It is 3WW and, after a four month absence, I am back.

Hopefully, for a while.

This week the 3WW community received these three words as prompts:
abuse, cramp, and hatred.

As usual, I proffer three haiku, each with an American Sentence title.

So, without further ado... abuse, cramp, and hatred....




Runner's cramps felled her, felled her dreams; she blamed her trainer, not her drinks

cramps hit her mid stride
crampled she crumpled, bellowed
abuse, wild hatred






Heshiveredinthedarkcrevasse, searched for his wits, way out and ice axe.

Abused crampons cracked,
slid off... ... Red.Redhat.Hatred...
Blooddripswet,freezes.




**A stunned climber who fell down a crevasse might work his way from red, red hat, hat red to realising he has a bloody head. Or, at least, a bloody hat...







'Papa' gave kids balloons, then injected death straight into their small hearts.

Hot hatred cramps thoughts;
cold hatred cramps grace, begets
horrific abuse.




**Oswald "Papa" Kaduk was a butcher before the Second World War began.

He became a totally different butcher before that war had ended.

Oswald joined the SS, fought on the Eastern Front, and, injured, ended up at Auschwitz-Birkenau as a guard and moved 'up' the ranks.

The Final Solution was the Nazi plan to rid the world of the "lebensunwertes Leben", those considered by the Nazis to be unworthy of existence. Nazi ideology included gypsies, homosexuals, mentally handicapped people, and, of course, Jews in the list of peoples undeserving of life.

As part of the "Final Solution", 85% of the Jewish population of Europe in Nazi controlled lands were to be murdered as quickly as possible. The other 15% were to be worked to a point just before death and then murdered.

Infamous Auschwitz and lesser-known Birkenau were significant cogs in the Nazi "Final Solution".

Auschwitz warehoused around 30,000 victims being worked to death at any given point in time; adjoining Birkenau warehoused around 100,000 more victims.

Men who survived, after arrival, the selection of the 'lucky' 15%, statistically, survived for six months to a year. Women who survived selection generally survived for four months.

Children almost invariably were not selected and would generally die within an hour of arriving at the camp.

Almost a quarter million children were slaughtered at Birkenau.

Oswald Kaduk (1906-1997) was nicknamed "Papa" because of his 'love' for kids.

Papa gave children who arrived at Birkenau a balloon.

Then Papa would inject a needle, and phenol, through their chest and into their heart.

Papa did this ten times a minute; one child murdered every six seconds.

All for cold, calculating, racial hatred.




Tschuess,
Chris






Postscript about Haiku and American Sentences

First, technical definitions of the poetic forms I play with.

The English language version of the haiku is grammatically stricter (though semantically looser) than the original, Japanese form of this poetical form.

English Haiku are usually required to have three lines with 5 syllables on the first line, 7 syllables on the second line and 5 syllables on the final line.

The American Sentence is a poetical form structurally closer to the Japanese haiku format in some ways. It requires 17 syllables in one sentence and was created by the American poet Allen Ginsberg.

Yes, I know that there are content issues regarding what topics are permissible in Japanese haiku and that Japanese poets don't count syllables as they are generally understood in English.

I am not overly concerned.

If you are, I am sure I have discussed it sometime before. Check the haiku topic listing and have fun.

23 comments:

anthonynorth said...

Hard hitting in places. We need to know.

mark said...

Fascinating stuff, Chris and welcome back.

Julie Jordan Scott said...

I enjoyed the punch and the packaging of your words today.

Bravo.

My 3WW exploration and call to further writing action.

Teresa said...

So did you spend all your time in India playing with Kali?

Great poems; perhaps the "hatred" prompt injected that cold, cruel stream of horror in the second two poems. I'm so glad you're back.

Gemma Wiseman said...

A most intriguing post! Love the descriptive haikus!

Also, thank you for taking the time to think about my haiku! No devious ambiguity was intended!
The subject of two consecutive lines is "we". So, in the third line, "we" are the cursed ones by Nature. We are cursed for attempting to meddle with Nature. Forgiveness for this I am not sure is available.

(For the record, I too learnt Latin and I am English teacher!)

Thank you again and enjoy your week ahead!

R.S. Bohn said...

I feel simultaneously ravaged and invigorated.

Brilliant stuff.

Amity said...

Thanks Chris for your wonderful and kilometric comments in my last post, my 3WW offering...:-)

I just knew that an intellectual creature owns that comment and I have belief that intellectuals are either patient or lazy, either they dissect statements in long reactions or too short one! :)

But I am amazed you, you belong to either!

Then that made me curious all the more so here I am and my fears, yep, no, my wild thoughts proved me right, that you are *a vaguely impertinent, marginally literate, highly egocentric scribe*, in short...a *GENIUS*!!!!

I have been in blogworld for quite a long time now but it is only this time that someone made astounding reactions to one of my posts! I am very much honored. I mean, who would not be happy if someone has made equally astounding comments? And that gained you a new follower in me!!!

Thanks Chris...:))

By the way, I only have one short reaction in your posts here: *you are a brilliant writer, both in prose and poetry*...:)

P.S. Hope google won't eat my comment this time, unlike yours!!! :D

Amity said...

P.S. Please bear with some typos and grammar issues...my mind works faster than my fingers on the keyboard...:D

Dee Martin said...

your haikus create vivid pictures and the information about the holocaust was chilling. I will never understand how so many people could commit such horrible acts against other human beings.

Cloudia said...

Happy Happy!!!!!


Yer BACK!


And I LOVE da Erhu...wanna play it.


Aloha from Waikiki

Comfort Spiral

Thomma Lyn said...

Welcome back, Chris! I've missed your 3WW contributions. This one is amazing. You always offer excellent food for thought, and today's post is no exception -- heavy-hitting stuff. We must remember and understand our history and stand up against hate, lest more heinous acts be committed at the behest of those who preach hatred and fanaticism.

Stan Ski said...

Great display of images and the use of the words, and variations on them.

dolorah said...

Uhm, Okay. You know, I was moved. And, I think that's what you wanted to accomplish.

Wow.

........dhole

word verif: tries. I do, at anything new and interesting.

Tilly Bud said...

The last one was horrific; incredible to think you injected shock for the reader as quickly as the butcher injected the children. Very well done. Thanks also for the background.

On the subject of haiku, strictly speaking, if it's not about nature then it's a senryu. I don't do strictly myself; I like to play around with the form and I always give them titles, which we also are not supposed to do.

I suspect you are a poet after my own heart.

http://thelaughinghousewife.wordpress.com

Ramesh Sood said...

Well, Chris, my first visit here.. you are brilliant..you know it,, and I am sure others too...will be reading you more often.. I am just 10 months into bloggers world and very new to 3WW...

Pblacksaw said...

welcome back.. I enjoyed my visit to your world.. Hatred such a strong emotion.. evil that is most often born in love.. or maybe it was just lust.. Have a great day!
Patsy

Vinay Leo R. said...

wow.. after a 4 month absence, u've come back with a bang! :D good haikus.. all hard hitting n poignant.

thanks for that very nice comment at my blog! glad my cinquain made u stop n think :) hmm, do share ur kus with us too :) its week 1 at my haiku meme, Haiku Heights :)

Jay R. Thurston said...

Glad to see your return to 3ww Chris, as the others have said, you returned with quite an impact!

The haikus were creative and fun. The write up on Papa Oswald was humbling and raw.

Nicely done on your range of 3ww offerings!

K said...

Each one of your offerings made such an emotional impact! Wow. Well written and bombastic!

I can find no other word to describe them. The last piece about "Papa" is repellent. Or rather, what you described is repellent. Your bravery in writing this piece is commendable. And you did it with such race.

My favorit of them all: "Hot hatred cramps thoughts;
cold hatred cramps grace, begets
horrific abuse."

BTW, thanks for your comment on my blog. Keep coming back.
Keep writing well.

Sepiru Chris said...

Anthony,

Yes, the ice in that crevasse was hard hitting...

Mark,
Glad that liked it.

Julie,
Punch is best packaged in a glass or in a mouth whilst todays offerings were meant for ear and brain, and I get your drift. Thanks.

Teresa,
I'll write, sometime later, about what I spent my time in India doing.

In a sense, though, yes.

A good part was spent dealing with bureaucracy, not that Kali devotees would appreciate that allusion, and another significant part was spent dealing with rural poverty, which is usually feminine. Like Kali.

And, Teresa, I am glad that you liked the haiku.

Greyscale, thanks and you are welcome.

R.S. Bohn, Ravaged and invigorated? I blush.

Amity, I blush further, and, to your coda, no worries.

Dee, The research shows that almost everyone has the capacity to become not just desensitised, but horrific, too. Not that that excuses such behaviour in the slightest.

Cloudia, The Heroine does! Play the erhu, I mean. Come visit sometime...

Thomma, Thanks. This is the first day in months that I have had the energy to string thoughts together vaguely coherently; I am pleased that I still can.

Stan, I try my best. Thank you for the compliment.

Donna, That was one of the aims. Thanks for the feedback.

Tilly, A haiku can also be about the seasons. And then there is the Japanese way of counting syllables, which is not the same as the Western way. And, you're right. These, like all my haiku, are really senryu--but the number of people who know that are less than the number of people who remember haiku from lit classes... ...Not to mention that, in English, haiku are , generally, semantically looser...

I'm not so sure about the titling, mind you. The modern, and semantic subject-wise restrictive haiku owes its origins to Matsuo Basho (1644-1694) and he certainly allowed for titles on occasion...

Ramesh, You are far too kind.

Pblacksaw, Possibly... possibly...

Leo, Thank you. And I will go check out your haiku site.

Jay, Thank you.

K, Thank you and you're welcome.

Tschuess and thanks, all.
Chris

Ann (bunnygirl) said...

You've got some pretty grim stuff here. I liked the first one best, though. I'm a distance runner. :-)

Linda Bob Grifins Korbetis Hall said...

sharp and fun piece of writing!

one more believer said...

intense visuals... especially so the balloon detail... the idea of pure evil comes to mind... i luv the freedom of the haiku to express..