Fukiyu Haiku

I dig poetry.

One of my favorites is haiku.

Haiku is a form of Japanese poetry. Three lines.  Usually 17 syllables., but that’s not carved in stone. The essential characteristic of haiku is that it juxtaposes two images or ideas in such a way as it cuts,  like a katana through a pile of dried cow patties, right to a zen revelation of truth in the way those two elements are related,

Not a lot of people know it, but my ex-hometown, Chicago, has its own native poetry.

Much like a haiku, it juxtaposes two ideas, or concepts or images, and then offers a terse punch-line, sometimes a single word,  to condense volumes of exposition and description  down to an “essence,” that hits you a truth about the relationship of those two ideas, concepts or images, like a short uppercut to the solar plexus.  It the verse of the underdog, the losers in love, the down-trodden. 

The rich snits?  

They’ve got sonnets and iambic pentameter.

No offense, Will.

Chi-town “haiku” is named for the last line of a famous example:

Lies and greed and bloody deeds

You say love it or leave it.

Fuck you.

Here are a few more examples of Fukiyu poetry.

Election time

Who’s the lesser evil?

Motherfuckery for sale.

Unarmed man shot in the back

Cops claim fear for their lives.

Bullshit.

Autopsy, witnesses and videotape.

Cop still skates.

What the fuck?

 

My squeeze and him.

She says they’re friends.

Dump her.

Some of his best friends are black.

And he never owned slaves.

Sheet’s in the wash.

Black man in the White House.

Nothing changes.

House negro.

The government said so.

They wouldn’t do that.

Seen any Indians around here lately?

Got some Fukiyu you’d like to share?

Lay it on me.

sj