From the margins of the Lutrell Psalter, British Library (www.gotmedieval.com)

Because it is 3:46 a.m. and, after giving the Midgets my cold last week, they gave it back to me Sunday, with all the requisite symptoms, I am going to keep this brief. In fact, I think I’ll write a haiku. To make it more fun. But first, two quotes:

“A poet’s work is to name the unnameable, to point at frauds, to take sides, start arguments, shape the world, and stop it going to sleep.” –Salman Rushdie

“All bad poetry springs from genuine feeling.” –Oscar Wilde

The haiku, of course, originated in Japan. The Japanese language doesn’t require articles, which makes a three-line verse of seventeen syllables way more doable if it is actually in Japanese. I see that my little brother is online, as now it is 4:04 a.m. (8:04 p.m. in the countryside north of Tokyo), but I won’t pester him for a translation, because my haiku just isn’t worth it. Here it is:

Villas at Palm Valley’s First HOA Meeting

Developer of undeveloped lots holds majority

Voted Himself President, Vice President, and Secretary/Treasurer

I should have stayed home and cleaned the toilets

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Does poetry or politics shape your world?