Imminent War

imminent war -
the younger girl next door
thickening the plot

Vasilica Grigoraș

Diagonally, we have two words related to the craft of war: war and plot. Along the way, their meanings, however, by attracting other words, skid towards more subversive meanings: scheming, conspiracies, and intrigues. The word imminent makes the war slide towards conflict, thickening the plot that causes it, by messing things up through unwanted situations and complications.

Unification of meaning comes from the middle line – the younger girl next door. It gives us the indication to the whole allegorical situation, otherwise elliptical. It is only now that we can stretch out the plot before us to understand the intrigues and imminent conflict: the (attractive) girl next door has hit on the man on the other side of the fence and has messed up the relationship of the pair who had tied up the knot. A declaration of war cannot be avoided.

Anyone who loves haiku will certainly enjoy the complexity and fabric economy of the poem above.

(Corneliu Traian Atanasiu)