The Way I See It

Wednesday, July 18, 2012

It isn't always necessary to understanding something for it to make sense.

I own one of those devices that cell phone users can put into an ear to legally use the phone while driving. When I turn it on, a pleasant female voice whispers in my ear a nice little verse. It’s not haiku. Although it is a three line verse with a longer second line, the middle line lacks the required seven syllables for haiku. For that matter, neither the first nor the third lines match the 5-syllable haiku pattern. And, after all, the five-seven-five syllable haiku lines were Japanese language constraints; and only a diabolically inclined English teacher insists on that pattern when requiring students to write haiku in English; so I like to think the verse in my ear device is haiku. Who’s to argue?

Just about everybody’s favorite haiku, by the poet Basho, is “Old Pond.” If you think you didn’t have an English teacher in high school who introduced you to Basho and to this poem, either you weren’t listening when it happened or you have forgotten.

fu-ru-i-ke ya (5)

ka-wa-zu to-bi-ko-mu (7)

mi-zu no o-to (5)

Translated:

old pond
a frog leaps in
water’s sound

I like this translation just fine and would argue would any stodgy English teacher who insists on a strict five-seven-five English translation. I admit, though, to liking the idea that in the original Japanese, Basho followed form. Following form is important... but for my purposes in explaining why I like the verse recorded in my ear device (I’m sure there is a proper name for the thing I stick in my ear) my description will do. Here’s the way it goes:

力

高い電池

接続される

Power on (3)

Battery high (4)

Connected (3)

Although I don’t have a clue how many syllables these Japanese characters represent or what the Japanese translation sounds like (I translated from English to Japanese by using an Internet translation site); but I’m guessing the first, 力, (translated from “power on”) is only one syllable. I’m also guessing the second is five syllables and third is five; so clearly my phone poem is not haiku. I like it anyway.

I like hearing it every time I turn the device on. I can do anything I want with the meaning... sometimes one thing, sometimes another. Rarely do I literally recall the little plastic thing in my ear and remind myself that it is turned on. I like to think I am turned on. Battery high is obvious. Connected takes some thought and effort, but I like being reminded that I go out into the world determined to get connected. You can make of it what you will.