I based this poem on Lyotard's architectural understanding of Postmodernism. Ideas of the past (like buildings) are never really lost, they decay with time, and postmodernism is concerned with what can be built on the ruins of past ideas. That perspective reminded me of my dryer's lint-trap, and how, if I don't clean it out, the lint keeps piling up and after a while it starts to burn a little, so the old lint is slowly burning away, while more new lint gets stuck to it. Even if I clean out the lint trap, there's always a little bit of fuzz left over, that then gets incorporated into a new wad of lint. This is how I understand Postmodernism: not as a clean start, but as a piling-on of more and more bits of knowledge to create a new wad of ideas.
The way you approach postmodernism in your haiku is unique. I enjoy the imagery you use to describe the theory--that the past, present, future--it's all lint. Though it may have come from different cycles or batches, it is still lint.
Nice poem, but I need a bit of explanation. Theories? Theorists? What is this illustrating?
ReplyDeleteI based this poem on Lyotard's architectural understanding of Postmodernism. Ideas of the past (like buildings) are never really lost, they decay with time, and postmodernism is concerned with what can be built on the ruins of past ideas. That perspective reminded me of my dryer's lint-trap, and how, if I don't clean it out, the lint keeps piling up and after a while it starts to burn a little, so the old lint is slowly burning away, while more new lint gets stuck to it. Even if I clean out the lint trap, there's always a little bit of fuzz left over, that then gets incorporated into a new wad of lint. This is how I understand Postmodernism: not as a clean start, but as a piling-on of more and more bits of knowledge to create a new wad of ideas.
ReplyDeleteThe way you approach postmodernism in your haiku is unique. I enjoy the imagery you use to describe the theory--that the past, present, future--it's all lint. Though it may have come from different cycles or batches, it is still lint.
ReplyDelete