Rise,
Ye Sea Slugs!
chinmoku wa kin nari namako katakuna ni
sasaki masao
(silence-as-for, gold/en is, seaslug strictly/obdurately/absolutely)
silence may
be golden but sea slug’s
a bonehead
viz
the chapter
on
The Silent Sea Slug
stubborn
silence is
golden: sea slug
absolutely
kinko
silence is
golden ossified
sea slug
(^ - ^)
silence is
golden: sea slug
my mantra
soul food
sea slug:
chewed in golden
silence
credo
silence
is golden: my food
sea slug
The original haiku was truncated even by haiku standards. The infinite possibilities of silence provoked half a dozen readings. I would bet on the slug=poet readings, mostly because contemporary haiku have taken the old theme of the Silent Sea Slug and turned it into the silent sea slug eater. Indeed, silence comes right after slipperiness and chewiness as a major sub-theme of ->
the culinary sea slug. I was tempted to fuse it with the Drinking Sea Slug – not quite a metaphor – but it that would not have been fair tothe Chewy Sea Slug, also involved with silence, so I gave it this chapter. If the reader rereads chewy and drinking sea slugs, the unmentioned silence will be felt more strongly for seeing these clear-cut silent sea slugs.