f/k/a archives . . . real opinions & real haiku

There they go again: the most powerful religious group in America is feeling persecuted, exiled and offended, because some local governmental units are displaying “Holiday Trees” and some retail stores are wishing customers a “Happy Holiday Season.” See “Boston ‘holiday tree’ stirs controversy,” Reuters/USNews (Nov.25, 2005); The article “Is there a ‘war on Christmas?“, Austin American Journal, Nov. 27, 2005), begins:

Fox News commentator Bill O’Reilly believes the greeting

“Happy Holidays” offends Christians celebrating the Christmas season.

 

 

“It absolutely does. And I know that for a fact,” he declared on his cable television program, “The O’Reilly Factor.”

This alleged secularist conspiracy has even left Prof. Bainbridge unable to exercise his customary analytical faculties, as he wonders why a city might have a “Holiday Tree” (some of his Commentors do a good job of helping Steve understand the issue). Prof. B. is even raising the issue three weeks earlier than last year (see good for Arnold, Dec. 20, 2004) At the time, f/k/a‘s Editor opined (Dec. 21, 2004):

 

 

I won’t let all those who are irked by Generic Holiday Greetings [e.g., Ken Lammers, Prof. B.] keep me from wanting all Americans to celebrate this Season without feeling religiously incorrect, compromised or left out. . . . .

This weblog has never been reluctant to poke fun at extremes of politically correct language. But, attempts to make this Holiday Season — clearly the most important celebration for our nation — all-inclusive do not seem silly to me, regardless of the Constitutional dimensions of the debate. Indeed, shopping sprees and Santa suits have done far more to “take the Christ out of Christmas” than a slew of First Amendment law suits could ever do.

Instead of chilling out and wishing good will to all humans, evangelical and conservative “Christians” have mounted a war of their own. Besides Bill O’Reilly telling folks they should be offended, Fox News anchor John Gibson came out with the book The War on Christmas in October. And,

The Conservative Voice says you should “Read, consider and act upon it!” (Its columnist, Michael J. Gaynor, complains that the front windows at Sax 5th Avenue “focused on concepts like unity, harmony and beauty.

Nothing about Christmas.”)

Meanwhile, Rev. Jerry Falwell is threatening lawsuits over arboreal nomenclature, and The Liberty Counsel has mounted the rather non-inclusive “Friend or Foe” Christmas Campaign. In his column “Friend or Foe of Christmas,” Rick Holmes says in reply (MetroWestDaily News, Nov. 27, 2005):

Pity the poor person at the cash register. A friendly greeting has become a step onto the thin ice of political correctness: What should she say at the end of every transaction: “Merry Christmas,” or “Happy Holidays”? . . . .

Falwell’s agenda isn’t about protecting the traditional place of religion in American culture, it’s about expanding it and claiming it for themselves.

They don’t want to educate people about the First Amendment, they want to intimidate people into acknowledging Christianity as America’s only legitimate religion.

They want that store cashier to say “Merry Christmas” or feel guilty about not saying it. What’s next, mandatory prayer at the checkout?

Naturally, in any American War, there are bumper stickers and magnets — such as the “Keep Christmas Alive” Campaign. Their proganda machine is busy with broadsides like Why all the Christophobia at Christmas? I have no illusions about changing anyone’s mind. Here are a few not-so-random

thoughts:

Despite the protestation of Phillip D. Powell, a member of the Harvard-Radcliffe Christian Fellowship — who says, “This is the Christmas season, and Dec. 25 is Christmas, not some general feel-good day of celebration” — there actually is a very lengthy holiday season in the United States. It starts at least as early as Thanksgiving and continues at least through New Year’s Day, with related “shopping seasons” extended on either end of the period. (e.g., Dong Zhi, Kwanza, Hanukkah, and Diwali) Some of these feasts are clearly non-religious, many are surely non-Christian, and some of the Christian ones are not Christmas. Just why in the name of America and God should a municipality, much less a department store, have to lump them all together under the rubric of “Christmas”?

 

nope

 

Although Mr. Gaynor at the Conservative Voice believes it’s relevant that “America’s greatest chief justice, John Marshall, proclaimed in 1833: ‘The American population is entirely Christian, and with us Christianity and Religion are identified,” I believe it is more relevant that there are now many non-Christians, ex-Christians and secularists in 2005 America. The government is not required to do everything it can, short of breaking the First Amendment, on behalf of Christianity.

 

Those who know the Bible better than I will have to tell me why the Jesus who “entered into the temple of God, and drove out all of those who sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the money changers’ tables and the seats of those who sold the doves,” and who protected the Gentile pilgrims (Matthew 21-12), would want “His” people wasting their time on the naming of decorations and the wording of good wishes, rather than working to reverse the universal connection in America of His birth with the most crass commercialism and greed. (see, e.g., CBS3 [Philadelphia.], “Local Shoppers Back At It,” Nov. 26, 2005; Bloomberg, “Weekend Sales Jump 22% to $27.8 Billion,” Nov. 27, 2005)

 

orig.

 

Likewise, the Right and the self-proclaimed Saved correctly fault the Left (for example, feminists) for too-often looking for reasons to be offended. Why, then, do the same thing and turn the season of Good Will Toward All into a nasty part of the culture wars? If you want to pre-empt a clerk saying “Happy Holidays,” why not wear a “Merry Christmas” button on your lapel rather than a “you talkin’ to me?!” chip on your shoulder?

 

Finally, if the religious Right wants to aim its paranoia at a more appropriate target, I suggest Chicken Little. Just why is Hollywood trying to turn an obviously false prophet into a hero? And, why are they using such a stinky flick? As if we’re going to believe there are celestial beings with super-human powers that would come to earth and take dominion over mankind.

lips and tongues

traditional Christmas

papercuts

 

 

tsunami on tv —

our children awash

in christmas gifts

dagosan

from second thoughts (2005)

Demonstrating his typical excess, dagosan decided

to start two daily weblogs today.  In addition to

dagosan’s haiku diary, he’s launched simply senryu,

describing it as:

david giacalone’s daily look at the foibles

and ironies of human nature, using poems

structured like haiku and called “senryu”

Click here for a brief discussion of the senryu genre.

 

 

As we said earlier this evening, when announcing his

haiku diary, you’re encouraged to visit simply senryu for

a daily dollop of senryu.  Please do not expect dagosan

to punch a clock — he posts whenever the Muse has done

her work.  For your convience, there’s a link to simply senryu 

in our Sidebar.

Editors of haiku journals who do not wish to

see new dagosan (david giacalone) poems before they

are submitted for possible publication, should probably

avoid dagosan’s haiku diary and simply senryu . 

Everybody else should stop by often.

 

 

waiting undressed

to meet the new doctor —

cold feet

 

           dagosan

            from second thoughts (2005)

 

 

 

  Don’t forget there’s a Thanksgiving gift for all our

visitors — haiku brochures from dagosan.

 

Our post yesterday about the blossoming of daily haiku weblogs

inspired dagosan to start one of his own today.  

 

  If you have liked his work here, you’re encouraged to

visit dagosan’s haiku diary for a new haiku each day.  As at f/k/a,

do not expect dagosan to punch a clock — he posts when the Muse

has done her work.  For future use, you’ll find a link to dhd in our Sidebar.

 

From now on, the daily dagosan feature here

at f/k/a will showcase his vintage/select/classic

[older] works.

 

  Editors of haiku journals who do not wish to

see new dagosan (david giacalone) haiku before they

are submitted for possible publication, should probably

avoid dagosan’s haiku diary.  Everybody else should

come early and often.

 

 

teeth gritted

writing

today’s haiku

 

     dagosan

 

 

 

potluck

  Got holiday agita?   Somebody with post-Thanksgiving

indigestion had this query how to remove gas pain?> for

Yahoo! Search.   Of the 3 million results, the first two were

for the f/k/a post “gas pain?”   Sadly, they won’t get much

relief there, unless they’re worried about high gas prices or 

getting better mileage. 

 

 

Sunday morning

looking up the word

from my dream

 

 

 

 

 

 

     deadline approaches

  my nose drips

faster

 

 

 

“waspg”

 

 

 

 

stifled laugh:

   a November wasp

      rousing itself

 

 

 

 

revising poems,

a third cup of tea

from the same bag

 

 

 

John Stevenson 

from “Some of the Silence  (Red Moon Press,1999) 

 

                                                                                                           

 

Nearly midnight: it’s too late to squeeze out any punditry,

but there’s no reason not to savor some of Gary Hotham’s

breathmarks: haiku to read in the dark before bedtime:

 

 

night snow–

the house

creaks

 

 

my move

their move

morning clouds

 

 

 

 

deserted tennis court

      wind through the net

 

 

 

 

loud wind

the bed unmade

all day

 

gary hotham 

from breathmarks: haiku to read in the dark 

 

 

 

• 
  
  by dagosan                                               

snow falls

from a low gray sky –

she lifts the sauce pan lid

 

                           [Dec. 3, 2004] 

                                                                                                                                                            

 

When f/k/a pushed off from its wharf in May 2004, dagosan promised

himself he would write “one haiku a day that I wouldn’t be embarrassed

to share with the entire Internet.”  That seemed like folly for a neophyte

haiku poet, but his lawyer training had left dagosan unable to produce

without deadlines.  So far, he’s met his schedule and Your Editor hasn’t

died of embarrassment. 

 

All the while, the rest of the f/k/a Gang has been wondering why other

haijin haven’t jumped on the weblog and poem-a-day bandwagon.  It’s

so darn easy to set up a weblog and they’re free.  All you need is a little

faith in yourself, your muse, and your webmaster.

 

 

Well, at the end of November 2005, I’ve got something else to be

thankful about — I’ve found a half-dozen daily weblogs featuring

haiku and senryu (plus, photography and other paired images).  Let me

remind you of places you should bookmark for perusal (after finishing

your daily visit here):

 

 

haikupoet.com has the haiku of paul david mena and the photography

of mary melodee mena.  It’s first post was Oct. 14, 2004.  We featured

it last December.  Here’s Paul’s Thanksgiving offering (Nov. 24, 2005):

 

                                    Bonita

Thanksgiving night –   
everyone thanks me
for walking the dog

 

Morden Haiku was started on Oct. 5, 2005 by Matt Morden, one of our

our Honored Guests.  As we said back in October, Matt also presents

both haiku and photos. 

Here are a pair of haiku from this past week that

demonstrate Matt’s verbal skill and art; click the

link to see the paired images:

 

early frost
my daughter asks me to
turn the music down

 

          (Nov. 22, 2005)

 

 

 

“mattmorden”

 

 

 

tough enough to hold
the weight of this world
bramble leaves

 

         (Nov. 24, 2005)

 

eric houck jr‘s haiku & senryu was launched on Sept. 16, 2005, but came

to my attention this week thanks to my Referer Page. (thanks for the link,

Eric).  His poem for today should make you want to visit and his other

offerings will bring you back again:

 

grandma’s
first winter alone
hilltop cemetery

 

    [Nov. 25, 2005]

 

  dustin neal‘s daily haiku hasn’t had its first fortnight anniversary

yet, but it’s quite promising and I hope Dustin will keep it up.  His

Thanksgiving senryu rang a bell for me:

 

thanksgiving day  
prayer
without thanks

 

       [Nov. 24, 2005] 

 

Miso Soup has been served daily since Mid-October, 2005, by Alison Williams 

(also proprietor of the writing group weblog Cabbage Soup and her university

librarian weblog ML 107).  I hope she continues to offer her unique perspective. 

E.g.:

 

heroic statues bound
with strings
of Christmas lights

 

    [Nov. 24, 2005]  

 

  Tangent: a brief stop at Alison’s ML107

site left me wanting to know more about the book

How to Be a Student, by Sarah Moore.  Check out

the chapter headings here.

 

everyday Issa is a delight, as we proclaimed on October 2nd.  It features the haiga

paintings and renku of Sakuo Nakamura, and the haiku of Kobayashi Issa.  Sakuo

has been doing a painting a day to go along with David Lanoue’s translations of

Master Issa’s haiku since February 2005, then he adds a linked verse of his own.   

  

 

  It’s not easy to keep a weblog going.  But, I’m hoping that the new

haijin webloggers will stick with their intentions to post a haiku or senryu every day.

(I also wish Bret Wooldridge would revive his Wanton Tree.)  If a worn out old guy

like dagosan can do it (while churning out breathless punditry), all you younguns

ought to be able to keep it up without breaking a sweat.  And, a few more should

join the weblog parade.

 

p.s. It’s not a daily and not a weblog, but I want to tip a hat to Jason 

Sanford Brown for launching his Roadrunner Haiku Journal eleven

months ago.

 

update (Nov. 27, 2005):  T.A. Thompson wrote today, saying that this post

inspired him to start a daily haiku weblog of his own — coffee.tea.haiku — which

has now been serving “A little dose of haiku each day with your morning coffee

or evening tea” for two days.  TAT is founder of the Gin Bender Poetry Review.

 

 

  dagosan convinced himself to start a haiku diary 

and a daily senryu weblog.   yes, fools do rush in.

 

afterthought (Nov. 28, 2005): I want to specifically nag the prolific and ubiquitous

Ed Markowski about starting a weblog.  Hey, Eddie, you know how to use email,

so you already know how to operate a weblog.  Really.  Your public awaits.  I say

this, even though your efforts will surely make mine look meagre and sorry.  Also,

I want to encourage Webwiseguy H. Curtis “Curt” Dunlap to start updating his

existing-but-lapsed weblog.  Until then, click on his name to see a selection of

his published haiku. Finally (for now), it’s great to see Denis Garrison has been

busy this month at his Haiku Unchained weblog.

 

digital age

aging digits

at the keyboard

 

          dagosan   from second thoughts