The Haiku is a 17 syllable poetic form that has been written in Japan for three hundred years. Haiku poets have, over generations, celebrated the changing seasons, and also the mystical relationship between non-related subjects. Most of the poets reflected the Zen Buddhists doctrine that all things and creatures in this world are part of the universal and interconnected brotherhood of creation.
Today the cycle of seasons is not what it used to be. The world is apprehending, rather than celebrating Climate Change. Reports predict the dire consequences of the 1.5 degree rise in temperature, for all living things, interconnected as they are in the intricate web of life.
Among the scientists too there are poets! Some of them have tried to interpret the consequences of Climate Change in Haiku!
Interesting indeed to compare the Haikus from then and now.
| Then | Now |
| Snow is melting…
Far in the misted Mountains A caw cawing crow
|
Big, fast carbon surge
Ice melts Oceans heat and rise Air warms by decades
|
| Icicles and water
Old differences Dissolved… Drip down together
|
Seas rise as they warm
Rates quicken Last century Melting ice joins in
|
| Even the ocean
Rising and falling All day Sighing green like trees.
|
More warming, Higher seas. Maybe much higher. Could wake sleeping giants.
|
|
Ultra-pink peony… Silver Siamese Soft cat… Gold-dust butterfly…
|
Warming is bad news
For many species. Once gone… We can’t bring them back |
The Then Haikus are from compilations of haiku by some of the best loved Japanese poets—Basho, Buson, Issa and Shiki.
The Now haikus are from the compilation by oceanographer Gregory Johnson (https://www.sightline.org/2013/12/16/the-entire-ipcc-report-in-19-illustrated-haiku/) and Andy Reisinger one of the contributing authors to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) special report on 1.5 °C (https://cicero.oslo.no/no/15-graders-haiku)
–Mamata
Millennial Matriarchs 