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Writer's pictureVandana Parashar

open sky :: SAMVAAD | 12th June

hosts: Sanjuktaa Asopa & Vandana Parashar


blood moon calling pork pig beef cow


----P.H. Fischer

(Failed Haiku, Volume 7, Issue 78)

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14 Comments


Iffah  Peerzada
Iffah Peerzada
Jun 26, 2022

We humans do have a tendency to use fanciful words to cover-up our crimes. It's a conscious denial of our guilt. Just another form of lying. If we don't want our hands dirty, we shouldn't play in the mud to begin with..


I am always surprised by the power that words can have, even though stirring words are no starnger to me.

Before I read Peter's comment on the meaning of this monoku, I had no idea of it's depth. But when I read it again with a new understanding, I could feel it's echo....


Amazing poem!

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P. H.  Fischer
P. H. Fischer
Jun 13, 2022

My heartfelt thanks to Vandana and Sanjuktaa for selecting my poem. Thanks also for the comments here.


I was asked to provide a bit of backstory on the inspiration for writing this poem.

This monoku is the concluding poem of a haibun that appears in the latest issue of Failed Haiku. It is probably the most "political" poem I've written (although as Thomas Mann once said, "everything is political"). I wrote it and the accompanying haibun, as I recall, after reflecting on society's silent agreements and how we tend to hide behind euphemistic language for our dirty deeds. During times of war, for example, we say "collateral damage" instead of "slain women and children innocently going about their day." We…


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Billie Dee
Billie Dee
Jun 17, 2022
Replying to

Mulling over this poem the last few days... I remember reading the original haibun on FH and thinking the ku might be even more powerful as a stand-alone piece. Indeed, this post has confirmed that notion for me.

Fischer's monoku is such a punch in the gut! It's more powerful than Any PETA diatribe I've heard.

My late poet-friend Steve Kowit once wrote, "For livestock, everyday is Auschwitz." That simple statement branded itself on my mind. I could no longer pass the butcher shop without thinking about it. And here it is again---hot and tragic, irrefutably true.

Thank you, Vandana, for posting this. A good example of "Show don't tell."

-----Billie


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Billie Dee
Billie Dee
Jun 13, 2022

...an then we wrap it in plastic; grimly powerful monoku.

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Robert Kingston
Jun 13, 2022

stunned into silence…

the deathly thud

of a cow

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Kala Ramesh
Kala Ramesh
Jun 13, 2022

blood moon calling pork pig beef cow We have never told our children that we are serving 'pig' or 'cow' to them - they might feel it disgusting. Human beings, give fancy names to all animal products & this poem is all about that. I think 'blood moon' is just right. Am I anywhere close to your intent, Fischer?

Strong poem.

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