Session Ten: “The Swallows of Kabul”
December 8th, 2014 by leonpan** NOTE: Haikus can be found if you click “Read the rest of this entry,” but they can also be found by clicking the following link: Haikus
In response to “The Swallows of Kabul,” I chose to write five separate haiku poems that were all related to the themes of mob mentality and fear of the suppressed. In “Swallows of Kabul,” the reader is exposed to two characters who both most face the conflicting powers of their inner consciences – the entities that tell them to do good, to confess to their wives that they committed a horrible act, or to return home to care for their ailing wives, who are close to death – versus society and the pressures that are attached to it – the entities that tell them to go with the crowd, to stone girls even though the injustice is apparent, or to simply divorce wives when they’re dying, since they can then be seen as dispensable and replaceable. In this blog post, I’ll be going through each of the five haikus in an attempt to explain how each one relates to the overall themes of the book.
The first haiku relates to fear of the minority, which further relates to fear of the unknown or the uncertain. In cases throughout history, views toward the minority were – or became – shadowed in hatred and persecution, and as a result of those wicked thoughts, wicked deeds followed suit. In fact, we don’t even need to look at cases throughout history; it’s happening in this very moment, right in front of our eyes in the cases of Michael Brown, Eric Garner, and more. The majority has a tendency to hate what is unlike them; WHY, they ask, are you not like us? Why are you not TRYING to be more like us when you have the chance to? Well, they say, if that’s how you want it, don’t blame us when we’re trying to defend ourselves against your demonic ways. The second haiku is like a response to these wicked deeds, a call to all potential allies to stand up and fight against oppression of their brothers and sisters, even if they belonged to a separate minority. The poem is telling you to fight for what’s right not when it’s convenient for you, but simply when it’s time; there will come a day, after all, when you are the one who must be protected, and those that you failed to stand up for out of fear for your own life or out of your own inconvenience will surely return the favor. The third haiku describes an encounter behind a persecutor and the Final Judge that he or she is answering to. I thought this poem was suiting, considering how many acts of persecution are committed in the name of religion; in this poem, the persecutor explains to God that the only reason he or she acted in such hateful ways was because of pressures from others. God, however, has no room for hate in His Kingdom and turns aside, leading us to the fourth haiku. This fourth one emphasizes further the power of God in comparison to that of mankind. Men on Earth convince each other to do horrible things, and these horrible things are done often because of fear of these powerful men; what people forget, however, is that the power of God, the God that they’re so “devoted” to, is much more powerful than any man on Earth and far more just. The last haiku is perhaps my favorite, and is less so a message than it is an example of why humans fall so short of doing good. Songs of peace are easy to sing and easy to repeat; we’re taught to be peaceful and to be rational from a young age, to always treat others with respect and to always be fair. What often happens, however, is that we sing these messages to ourselves and tell ourselves to be peaceful over and over again without actually putting these songs into action. When we’re taught songs of power, however – that almighty, glorious, toxic power – it’s much easier to inflict that song upon others and demonstrate our “strength”.
I. Fear of the unknown
Wicked deeds follow like thoughts
Fear of the suppressed
II. I did not call out
When I had the chance to save
Now who will save me?
III. “But they told me to,”
I fell onto my knees
And He turned aside
IV. The power of man
As conniving as a snake
Yet ephemeral
V.. Teach me songs of peace
I will sing them to myself
But songs of power…