Twitter, haiku and the unveiling of the wonku
Sharp eyed readers will have noticed that you can now sign up for twitter feeds of new posts from this blog (under my mug shot to the right of this).
I have no intention of tweeting separately for the moment, partly because my son informed me,
grave of haiku master Yosa Buson
in a voice dripping with scorn, that twitter is ‘just for old people pretending to be young’. Ouch. Also I don’t think I could cope with a 140 character limit. With one exception – why don’t we start a line in development wonk haiku (the 17 syllable Japanese poems – just the right length for a tweet). Added complication is they have to be three lines of 5, 7 and 5 syllables
We could call them wonku. You know, something like:
‘Conditional cash
transfers. A panacea?
Can’t be that easy.’
Or
‘the Copenhagen
Action Plan: suicide note
from humanity?’
Wonku would provide us with ready-made responses to the dreaded ‘lift question’ (what would you say about your latest report to Ban Ki-moon/Barrack Obama etc if you found yourself in a lift with them?). And they could provide a great alternative to executive summaries. In fact, some of the clunkier titles of Oxfam policy papers are probably already wonku without us even realizing it (must check that sometime). Reckon they could catch on? If so, send me some. Copy of From Poverty to Power to the best (yes, yes, I know, two copies to the worst…..)
For the real thing, see here or this example from Ezra Pound, which has stuck in my head since I read it as a kid.
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February 1st, 2010 at 10:53 am
If you really want to be true to the haiku style, you also need to include a word or expression that (preferably implicitly) shows which season of the year you are in, which is causing you the emotion that you are putting in the haiku about. Now this makes it even harder to squeeze all of your development theory in!
February 1st, 2010 at 3:40 pm
Poverty research:
too much analysis lost
to stylistic fads?
February 1st, 2010 at 10:11 pm
I LOVE this idea. Here’s a few attempts:
River blindness and
Trachoma. Neglected but
easily treated.
MDG review
Think of equity and rights
Of those who miss out
Research partnerships
North and South work as equals?
Some try, not there yet
(ooh, controversial one)
Better stop before I get a reputation as the Adrian Mole of policy wonkdom.
Sorry, didn’t manage the seasonal overtones.
February 1st, 2010 at 11:34 pm
If it can’t be said
in seventeen syllables,
it’s not worth saying
In our NGO, a few of us have been haiku-ing sporadically to each other for a few months, as an antidote to thick development-speak documents. Glad to hear there may be a movement afoot!
February 1st, 2010 at 11:39 pm
Before: war, no aid.
Now Haiti is forced to take
Too much outside help.
February 2nd, 2010 at 9:21 am
Dear Duncan: Greetings from Islamabad. Reading your blog regularly. Just one word: excellent. Cheers Ifti
February 2nd, 2010 at 11:28 am
In the lead up to IMF & World Bank Meetings how about
Spring consultation:
Stakeholders’ fora processes
Kill innovation.
February 4th, 2010 at 8:58 am
Here’s a “Korpku”, Sun’s CEO resigns via Tweet, in form of Haiku:
Financial crisis
Stalled too many customers
CEO no more
http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/02/04/suns-chief-executive-tweets-his-resignation/
February 4th, 2010 at 10:22 pm
OK, shameless attempt to get the book:
Active citizens
Plus effective government
Can end poverty
February 5th, 2010 at 7:41 am
The wonku movement is spreading! Read Chris Blattman + readers joining in on http://chrisblattman.com/2010/02/04/twitter-development-haiku/
February 5th, 2010 at 11:31 am
Be the change you want
to see in the world, said a
wise man. We’re trying.
or, a bit geekier (Geeku?):
When we assume that
“ceteris paribus” holds
true, we’re in trouble.
February 7th, 2010 at 6:03 pm
Decentralise all:
power to the people, or
the state off the hook?
February 9th, 2010 at 3:15 pm
This from Alex Evans, in response to my post on his paper (10 Feb)
‘Waves buffet the boat;
Rocks in the water ahead.
But who’s at the helm?’
Has to be a strong contender….
February 10th, 2010 at 3:23 pm
Pittance on Wall Street;
Salutary in Main Street:
The Robin Hood Tax.
June 28th, 2010 at 2:13 pm
In Ireland we now have some sort of “Wonku” competition, though the artistic criteria are much more stringent than yours!
See
http://irishhaiku.webs.com/haikucompetition.htm for more details.