(Writer's note: Below is the transcript, authorized by Howard, of our our original chat about his haiku and later, the interpretation. I have edited it, made it more readable, took out the time stamps, repetition of speakers, and avs' names, and provided brief context from Yoru's side.)
INTERVIEW with HOWARD: "additional interpretive notes" to "Poetess"
Rummaging around in his inventory, Howard Plutonian IMs Yoru:
"Ah here it is...
Poetess
Shadows on the lawn
She spins a web of words
To speak with demons"
Yoru IMs back, "Oh Howard it is beautiful and it has meaning."
Howard grins, "You like? o good. It was from that day we sat in the courtyard ... doing impromptu poetics :)"
"I remember that day," Yoru murmurs, "I like :) It was written with me in mind?"
"Yes that is my yoru poem! i sort of composed it that day but revised it a few months later.".
"Awww, I am shadowed spider enmeshing other people in their own darkness. A woman to be careful with LOL."
"Indeed ! :) Howard smiled back, "whatever - you are a teddy bear."
"How are you, my long time friend?"
"Quite well thank you! happy as a clam.. or a mountain lion. i have wrapped up my unfinished business from my first 40 years... slowly but surely... and am ready to get on with love, painting, and a masters degree"
Yoru was genuinely happy: "Oh that's wonderful for you my howard"
"and you? how is my little Hawaiian dancer?"
Yoru's eyes misted, she feels deeply for Howard, born of a teacher/student relationship that has worked both ways at different stages of their friendship. "I am glad you IM me again--I have missed you. Oh, I am fine, hehe you remember the Hawaiian connection :)
"You at the commune? i might drop by there in a bit after some paint clean up here." Howard was creating, which meant I could expect a dazzlingly weird display when he got to the commune.
"Yes," she replied, "and may I post the yoru haiku on my blog H?"
Without hesitation, Howard replied, "Go for it :)"
":) Please let me know when you are here :)"
"Boo!" Howard had found Yoru in the middle of a pile of sexy avs emoting in the weekly commune event she organizes, the LoveIn Orgy. Howard often watched but never jumped in.
"Howard!" Yoru laughed, "You want to play?" Knowing he is in love and feels he must be true, she always tries anyway, just to let him know he is welcome. She explained that a guy had just crashed out of the orgy so there was a blue ball ready for him to sync into the writhing, glistening bodies without delay.
"No you all go ahead. (...) is my playmate." Sweet Howard is very devoted to his love, loyal, even in the presence of a proven seductress of considerable infamy.
":) I am so happy for you," she said, meaning it in her heart, and later, "Night baby thank you for the poem."
Fenton Maurer
(Writer's note: Below is a transcript of Howard's and Yoru's interpretive notes with musings on haiku, persona, zen, haiku & tweets, and more:)
Howard Plutonian:
Poetess
Shadows on the lawn
She spins a web of words
To speak with demons
.....
[18:12] howard (howard.plutonian): yes that is my yoru poem!
Here is Yoru's interpretation of Howard's haiku "Poetess" from an earlier blogpost:
Thus the "shadows," pixels, of our Second Life avatars on the "lawn" of our monitors is a chilling reminder of the tenuousness of our SL existence. Yoru is like a spider, "spinning" scenarios with her long legs, enabling her lovers to commune with the "demons" on the dark side of their desires.
"Ah i like it. a bold interpretation. and it reminds me of the comments zen guys would make on each others manuscripts," said Howard.
"You like the interpretation, that makes me happy because it really spoke to me this haiku--at first it was difficult but then *ping* I got it LOL."
"And i like that you are extending the metaphor to include its second life origins. Definitely some subtext in that haiku beyond 'the facts' - which i think is what haiku is supposed to do."
"The shadows are perfect for pixels, so fleeting and insubstantial," Yoru agreed, thinking they are nevertheless potent emotional provocateurs. "Subtext, nice."
"Indeed. And i will confess i had not made that connection consciously..."
"I wondered if you had," she said, "it is what makes a writer and reader come together -- the interpretation."
"...nor even the interpretation of demons as dark sides of desires - although considering you were actually talking to (a demon av), and that was the image, i suppose it fits :)" Howard paused, then added: "All of us avis are kind of walking talking metaphors for something anyway."
Yoru suggested that "the demons are another way of saying naughty, "dirty"--all silly ideas because the ultimate gift (of erotic love) is giving angelic comfort."
"Right. Maybe we only treat them as "dark" because society taught us that. When you really face them though, they aren't that dark at all."
"So," Yoru concluded, "naughty has nothing to do with it, but romantically it does help LOL."
"And notice that in the haiku there is no sense of fear in her. She is speaking with the demons, not even confronting or anything. It's a conversation."
"It is more," she thought to herself, and whispered, "She speaks as the medium for her lovers. No fear."
"Yes," Howard croaked, his voice catching.
Yoru was silent for a few seconds, then said: "Fuck H you got it going on!"
"Well i think," Howard spoke slowly, "your interpretation really captures 'yoru' as a character, as a persona - what she's all about."
"That's nice the way you say that--hey this conversation is blog material!" screeched Yoru, ruthless as always in her search for stories.
"Yes :)," he grinned, we could call it "additional interpretive notes."
"We just figured it out together --that's what the writers' group is all about :)"
"I think so, totally agreed."
"You restart the writers' group, I will come."
"Plus it's hard for me to work with haiku - so to see you take it as a springboard for expansion - is actually pretty rewarding. It means i managed to squeeze (in) just enough 'cognitive material,' as my friend says, to make it interesting to talk about. Haiku often feel like - i have not enough room to say what matters and am not sure i pointed to it clearly enough."
"That little impromptu, 'practice' haiku turned out substantial! And my short prose piece during our writers' workshop about the rainy meeting with another girl in Japan is now a complete story." (Writer's note: the story is a post and is also located at the bottom of this blog as an introduction to Yoru entitled: FUMIKO, RAINBOW, AND RAIN)
"Oh nice!" Howard smiled.
"Doesn't it remind you of tweets? How short they must be I mean."
"Haiku?Yeah, and as the Japanese seem to write them, they really are more like tweets.... the "lines" are kind of american i guess. So using 140 or now 160 characters as a limit is also a way to practice."
Yoru nodded, admiring the fish, fins, pink and blue kitty, and boobies floating around in circles in the air surrounding. her writing teacher. His latest invention... an all that in addition to his outrageous stockings.
"H you are a piece of work, isn't that the expression?"
"Yes :) it is," he admitted good naturedly. "Well, there was something i wanted to see... so i began making it :)"
"Hahaha!" Yoru laughed, needing no explanations, "Goodnight mr inventor."
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