Embedded Files
August 2013
A Collection of Writings and Haiku Poems
by Susumu Takiguchi
Brief Introduction: This collection is compiled for the benefit of those who wish to read the academic articles and general essays on haiku, and haiku poems written by Susumu Takiguchi. It is especially designed for beginners in haiku and those who have not had the chance to read his writings and poems. Most works are going to be steadily extracted from the past issues of World Haiku Review though some may be obtained from other outlets or written anew.
Articles and Essays
Nature in Haiku - What Nature?
Is Western Haiku a Second Rate Art?
A Study of Shiki's Haiku Poems
Poems (on this page)
THE END OF THE LINE –
The Sixtieth Anniversary of the Auschwitz Liberation
(January 2005)
snow falls endlessly
on the railway tracks…
leading nowhere
the end of the line
where human beings
perished
treated as sub-human
by self-appointed super-humans…
one winter too many
prejudice and violence
matched by paranoia and
inferiority complex reversed
neither summer grass
nor winter snow can
hide its shame
two rusty iron rails
lit by countless candle lights
show up failed final solution
sixty years on…
even the bitter cold,
not deterring survivors
this sixtieth anniversary…
liberation of the unthinkable;
but what do we celebrate?
as dusk takes over,
braziers at the camp fence lighted,
whipping winter wind
red brazier lights loom…
like victims’ haunting eyes,
yet like evil eyes also
with the unblinking eyes
survivors look into the darkness,
their eyebrows white with snow
face the dead and survived,
even writing a line of poetry
feels sinful and disrespectful
but what can strangers do?
especially from other nations?
and from other generations?
a European affair? Yes, but…
but it’s our affairs too; cut ourselves,
blood spews from our wound
love us, we love back;
hate us, we hate back;
despise us, we despise back
a 20th century affair? Yes, but…
Auschwitz was not unprecedented,
nor has it been un-repeated
atrocities are no monopoly;
they may differ in size or appearances
but share the same cause
as snowfall does not end,
so Auschwitz will happen again,
unless humanity ends
no one in conflicts
wishes to be compared
with the Nazi
none of little-Hitlers
wishes to be identified as or compared to
the greatest incarnate of evil
so many modern religious wars,
so many contemporary political conflicts
share so much with this man’s war
and yet such comparisons
have become a new taboo:
a sure cause of troubles
Auschwitz is a complex issue;
difficult to unravel or comprehend but…
but, a best textbook of humanity
thoughts wander and linger
around why we’ve failed to learn lessons
even from the Auschwitz?
like the Great Tsunami,
I wouldn’t presume to understand
the Holocaust
but as I paint small waves,
I try to understand it in ways
I know how
not in dozens or hundreds
but I have a few individuals
whom I hate personally
these hateful faces,
whenever I think of them
I think of Auschwitz
when I am angry
I try to look into the mirror
and gaze at what I see
when I see conflicts
I look into each party’s own causes
leading to such collisions
whenever anyone criticises
or attacks someone else, I rather
scrutinise the attacker
when a whistle-blower
begins to be victimised, I will
begin to take him/her seriously
when people become in denial,
or try to save their own skin, or fudge
I start to be nervous
when someone starts to preach
I turn my back against him/her,
checking on the preacher
when someone crosses
the point of moderation, I make myself
agitated and alert
I have trained myself hard
to be able to detect any falsehood
like a drug-sniffing dog
I look into underlying motives,
especially ulterior or selfish ones,
behind people’s behaviour
I spend time not to gain satori
but to spot the very point where
normality turns into fanaticism
never trust any government;
not a bad starting point, be a
contrarian; another
cast a fundamental doubt
to fundamental fallacies accepted
as fundamental truths
men are never created equal;
making the contrary a starting point
is a cause of many contradictions
to treat them as if they were
is what distinguishes man from beast
and a base of civilisation
the Nazi flouted this wisdom,
one of the few noblest achievements
of otherwise flawed humanity
deluding themselves
that they were a super race
was normal madness
declaring
that Jews were sub-humans
was abnormal madness
exterminating them
on the greatest racial prejudice
was madness beyond comprehension
attempts at playing god
often end up in calamities;
maybe god’s wrath!
the Auschwitz survivors
are dying; soon there will be none, so are
others of their generation
collective memory
and collective sense of guilt:
fading or vanishing
little-Hitlers are everywhere,
little-collaborators, little-sympathisers
and connivance abound
stop these little ones
or you will have another Auschwitz,
not an empty threat
the Nazi pushed human history
back to barbarism as their dogma
contained fundamental flaws
but many of us have committed
similar mistakes: the Japanese military,
Stalin, the British Empire…
The Serge Tome’s list,
chilling and uncomfortable,
indicts today’s atrocities
the fundamental understanding
should be: that all of us are capable of
everything, including atrocities
each one of us
has all capabilities, good and evil,
potential or overt
if we deny this
we still do not know
much about humanity
snow keeps falling
at Auschwitz, buttercups will
flower in spring
neither of them
can hide the shame of
all human beings
the shame should be seen,
talked about and exposed,
to be shared by us all
otherwise, the evil
in the darkest corner of our mind
would be out again
we must have dominion
over the devil within us, by keeping
our immune system strong
the beauty of snow
contrasts the lowest degradation,
at Auschwitz
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