#haikuforjustice dec 2019

  

Once again at the end of November came the suggestion to share daily haiku, this year from Jone MacCulloch, with the hashtag #haikuforkindness. But then I was very affected by an article from the magazine Teaching Tolerance I read in the loo at my Thanksgiving hosts' house. "The harm done by long-term exposure to injustice—to the kind of imagery found in racist books, microaggressions and discrimination—calls for more than a simple understanding of kindness. It demands that kindness be interwoven with substantial notions of true justice," writes primary teacher Bret Turner. This made me want to take a step beyond kindness into the territory of #haikuforjustice.

Here's what I have come up with this month, often in response to news items.

December 28 #haikuforkindness #haikuforjustice 

yuletide richness inside 

bare brown scarcity outside 

sunny 60* evens things out


December 27 #haikuforkindness #haikuforjustice 

#FireDrillFriday #ClimateActionNow 

it's called a school strike

to stand with a striking sign

schooling passers-by


December 23 #haikuforkindness #haikuforjustice

https://n.pr/2EKPtDG #longformhaiku
1/ 2

to you my British kin

who still buy proper Christmas cards and

then --love--actually send them

2/2 

to Florence and her dad

who found a message in their Tesco card

then--love--actually heard


December 22 #haikuforkindness #haikuforjustice

#GeorgetownGlow @GeorgetownGlow

all hanging in the same

dark sky prickly and bright

ziptied ziplined light


December 21 #haikuforkindness #haikuforjustice
#haikuforsickness

longest night broken

the throwing off of last year's

acid  excess   bile


December 18 #haikuforkindness #haikuforjustice

https://n.pr/35C32kI #StarWars 
@museumofnaz #indigenousgenius

Hopi R2 codetalking

decolonized rebels

force of indigenous genius


December 16 #haikuforkindness #haikuforjustice
@RepSlotkin #principled

represent them yes

but also oath of office

head and shoulders above


December 14 #haikuforkindness #haikuforjustice
#PublicEdForum #AllOurChildren

they all arrive

without a price tag  some

can’t see their value

December 12 #twitterku #haikuforkindness

#haikuforjustice

Greta girl of the globe

person of the year

unable to kid herself


December 11 #twitterku #haikuforkindness #haikuforjustice

12:12 12/12

silent sky clock

counts out equal shine for all

cold moon justice

December 10  #haikuforkindness #haikuforjustice
#HumanRightsDay2019  https://youthforhumanrights.org

stand strong use your rights

to lift theirs till no one's left

defenseless alone

[no wait this is better]

everyone EVERY

one everyone everyone

EVERY one and ALL

December 9 #haikuforkindness #haikuforjustice
http://anticorruptionday.org

1/ richly corrupt from

cheeto feet to rotten crotch

to his hoggish head

2/ richly corrupt from

the start sometimes I think

about little Donnie


December 8 #haikuforjustice #haikuforkindness
#BigBird @KCHonors
Carroll, we won't forget

how to get, how to

get to Sesame Street


December 7  #haikuforkindness

#haikuforjustice #longformhaiku on film

washington and lee

belafonte harrier their

blackkklansman arrests me


December 5  #haikuforkindness #haikuforjustice

who sees what they need

who senses  who sounds  who speaks

we do   the teachers


December 4  #haikuforjustice #longformhaiku
#haikuforkindness

we had never met when the

birthday girl mailed me a tiny encouragement

I keep it in my wallet


December 3 #haikuforjustice #haikuforkindness

#simoncowellisoverparty racism sexism homophobia

one voice is too little

northsoutheastwest try a fifth direction

true harmony is a mix

December 2 #haikuforkindness #haikuforjustice

#AbolishModernSlavery

her dad tells me "trabajo

lunes a sabado. no puedo

llevarla al doctor"


December 1 #haikuforkindness #haikuforjustice #WorldAIDSDay

kindness wears a rainbow

of ribbons, red yellow pink

justice acts up

 

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I'm not sure I've pulled it off, and certainly I have broken that cardinal rule of haiku and failed to include nature images in most of them...but I guess that comes with the territory.  Thanks, Poetic License!

Thanks also to the crew who are sharing their #haikuforkindness (also essential) and #haikufor justice on various platforms, and to Michelle Kogan who is hosting our last round-up of 2019 and blasting into a 2020 full of climate action--which is always for #justice.  See you in the new year!