pi & anne

this was the ice moon
how i see you
how i saw you

Kati Mohr | pi.and.anne

I know why I think this is a good haiku. Others may not see it as such. It bends a lot of ideas you might have about what makes (or breaks) a haiku.

First: there is no short/long/short. Second: there is past tense. Third: there is repetition. Fourth: only one image for real, the juxtaposition happens between an image of the same thing, but at two different times. So it is not quite about the now, one may state.

I’ll say: exactly because of that it is very much about the now! Because the speaker has a past idea in mind, and gets lost in the confusing overlay of past and present right now.

The ice moon is the first full moon (January) of the year. ‘this was the ice moon’ means we have the ice moon on our mind while we are noticing the moon beginning to wane closely after. It is no longer the ice moon, but it is connected with it, it almost looks like it still.

This gets almost philosophical, when we think of meeting people who have changed. Their new year has begun, their new cycle, and here we are trying to look at them in their changed light, but the past impression keeps dashing in. It is close and related to the now but something is indeed different. A challenge to hold these side by side and to bear them. A cold season of figuring things out.