Purring, playful cat
Rolling in the autumn leaves
With her limp, dead rat.
Heather Kuehl is a writer of fantasy, horror, and the occasional science fiction. She has been featured in Ruins Metropolis (Hadley Rille Books), Strange Worlds of Lunacy (Cyberwizard Productions), and The Drabbler 10 & 11 (Sam’s Dot Publishing). Heather’s poems have been seen in Aphelion. More about her writing and forthcoming works can be found at http://heatherkuehl.googlepages.com/malevolentdead.
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14 Responses to “HAIKU ON CATS • by Heather Kuehl”
Comments
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February 19th, 2009 at 1:12 am
Love it – shocking and perfect (sorry, couldn’t resist that!). That last line is amazing.
Axxx
February 19th, 2009 at 1:26 am
Not often a haiku manages to give a jolt – but this one did! Nice writing…
February 19th, 2009 at 4:34 am
nice! i’m not usually a fan of rhyming haiku, but this one’s great.
February 19th, 2009 at 6:54 am
I like it!
February 19th, 2009 at 7:53 am
Very fine short poem. Powerful contrast of last line with idyllic first two lines. Vivid reminder of the coexistence of stark realities such as beauty, disgust, charm and terror.
February 19th, 2009 at 9:18 am
Anything that ends with a dead rat is good by me.
–dj
February 19th, 2009 at 9:43 am
Like that one. Haiku with a twist.
February 19th, 2009 at 12:01 pm
I like the image, but I’m a little iffy on the double adjectives in the first and last lines. Sorry I can’t say anything more helpful than that–I just prefer haiku in the minimalist tradition, I suppose! Still, nice turn in the last line.
~Megan
February 19th, 2009 at 2:53 pm
Thank you! I’m glad you all enjoyed this.
February 19th, 2009 at 7:29 pm
Megan -
Maybe we should just stick simple tags on everything without all the intricate description. That way, we just read the tag and knee-jerk to the label without need of difficult further questioning.
February 20th, 2009 at 2:31 pm
that’s wonderful! I love it!
February 20th, 2009 at 2:53 pm
Roberta-
With respect to both you and the poet, I hardly think “purring, playful” can be called “intricate description,” and when applied to a cat I think either adjective could easily imply both.
Haiku as a genre are not meant to be “intricate” in the sense of containing many details or complex ideas. And I’m sure a strong argument could be built for whether or not haiku provoke “difficult further questioning,” though I don’t think this specific poem does.
It presents an image, and presents it well; I just don’t think it presents it in the way that would be ideal for a haiku.
February 20th, 2009 at 5:29 pm
Roberta & Megan,
I’ve made sure to copy your opinions onto my computer. Your feedback will will surely help me on my next haiku adventure. Sadly, Megan, purring and playful are not the same when it comes to cats. They purr for many reasons, such as being during play, when they are content, when they are in pain, and when they die. It’s sad, but true. And while reading over this haiku, I realize only now that I could have swapped out playful with a different adjective.
Again, thank you for your feedback.
)
February 21st, 2009 at 9:38 am
Heather-
Valid point about the purring.
However, when reading “purring” in a haiku I think most people will automatically assume a happy cat rather than an injured one.
Okay, letting the point go!
This is why I try to keep my haiku discussions on publications dedicated exclusively to the genre…