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PrintFrequent readers of ColumbiaMissourian.com might have noticed an increase in poetic comments in October. The poetry began with comments on a guest commentary about Occupy COMO and an Associated Press article about possible increases for Missouri’s minimum wage.
We were intrigued by the trend and asked each person who contributed in haiku, song lyrics or free verse to explain why they commented and why they participate in our online discussions.
The initiator naturally responded in haiku:
Gregg Bush
(14 haiku comments since October 2011; first comment: September 10, 2008)
Why haiku? Focus,
Precision, meditation,
Blather preventer.
Poetry offers
Deeper truths, a puzzle that
One can unravel.
Empathy takes work.
Interpreting verse intent
May be good practice.
If you can see your
Self in me, there's a chance for
A community.
Facts and data won't
Convince, but there's wooing in
Curiosity.
Some tranquility
(Relief from hot rhetoric)
Comes from this whimsy.
John Schultz
(6 haiku comments since October 2011; first comment: August 22, 2007)
"Basically I wrote the haikus to see if I could in response to Gregg Bush's. Usually I comment to add information to a story or correct an error, either in the story or from another commenter."
Derrick Fogle
(2 haiku comments since October 2011; first comment: November 19, 2008)
"The only real reasons I've personally posted a couple of haikus on Missourian comments is for humor, and possibly to further annoy the people who are already annoyed by the poetry. I personally really like the poetry."
Even one of the Missourian's assistant city editors chimed in.
Katy Bergen
(First comment: February 17, 2010)
Comments in haiku
the cure to manic Monday
Keep us laughing please
Show Me the Errors 
Comments
You sent me a *private* email asking if I would agree to inclusion in a mini-profile of poetry writers.
I specifically said "No".
I explained why I said no.
Yet, you did it anyway.
You lied and deceived.
Why?
I misunderstood your intention. I didn't include any other information about you, but I thought you were OK with the comment about the haiku. We took out your section of the article.
Sorry about that. I did not mean to mislead you.
-Laura Kebede
Community outreach team, Columbia Missourian
Laura: Thanks for taking it out.
However, it's kinda hard to misunderstand the word "no".
To err is human
A couple of negatives,
Equals a yes?
Mouth open, ears shut tight
We yell at each other about
Our own fragile egos
Has anything here
achieved anything worthwhile?
My entertainment.
Communication
tools like this discussion board
amplify division
While things that might unite
Are illegal, called immoral,
Likely fattening.
One nation under God,
Indivisible, with liberty
And justice for all.
Yes, a Socialist
Wrote that pledge, and now we choose
To ignore the whole.
Under God was added
To the pledge in '54
Superceding the rest.
Now we're divided,
Have far fewer liberties,
Very little justice.
Freedom isn't free
But it is being auctioned
To highest bidder.
The winning bidder
Smiles while claiming the lot
While we remain here.
Kinda sad, really.
Arguing how to fix it
Makes it more broken.
So I'm breaking my
Rules to say "Love your haikus!"
No, I'll keep my rules.
Censorship must be
the highest mark
of a quality newspaper