Comments on Bruce’s blog got me thinking about the word for squid, which turns out to be “ika”. It’s possible it could sound like a cuckoo if the seller is yelling. And if they have a dry sense of humor they might throw in a phrase like “Ika wa ikaga?” Roughly translated I think it means “how’s the squid” or “how about some squid”. Puns in a native tongue are funny, but foreign puns are absolutely fascinating — they are like keys to unlock the treasure of another culture.

I also found a visual connection with squid and birds in Japan mentioned on the japantimes.co.jp site:

Ika is generally written with phonetic kana characters, most likely because of the unusual kanji characters it has been assigned. It is written “thieving crow,” because the bird has been known to swoop down and grab squid as they float lazily on the ocean’s surface or hang on the massive drying racks used to make the jerky-like surume-ika.

Here’s another attempt at a haiku for Bruce…

Trawler nets glide by
Mother squid caresses eggs
in obscurity

A repeat of my comment on Bruce’s blog…

Interesting that he started bringing poetry into his blog about security. :)

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Bruce, you’re too modest. I suspect you could wax poetic about the squid and security…perhaps something like:

The squid grabs its eggs
caressing and washing them
as the trawlers trawl

Speaking of interpretation, Marylin Chin’s poem “The Floral Apron” has an interesting take on squid and Chinese culture, the family, etc.

http://www.math.buffalo.edu/~sww/poetry2/chin_marilyn.html

The poem ends with:

And although we have traveled far
we would never forget that primal lesson
-on patience, courage, forbearance,
on how to love squid despite squid,
how to honor the village, the tribe,
the floral apron.

On Knowing

As we know
there are known knowns.

There are things we know we know.
We also know there are known unknowns.
That is to say, we know there are some things
we do not know.

But there are also unknown unknowns
the ones we don’t know we don’t know.

On Thinking

Well, um, you know
something’s neither good nor bad
but thinking makes it so,
I suppose,
as Shakespeare said.

On Certainty

We do know
of certain knowledge
that he is either
in Afghanistan,
or in some other country,
or dead.

On Accuracy

If I said yes, that would then suggest that
that might
be the only place where it might be done
which would not be accurate,
necessarily accurate.
It might also not be inaccurate,
but I’m disinclined
to mislead anyone.

On Agreement

Secretary Powell and I agree
on every single issue that has ever been before this administration
except for those instances where
Colin’s still learning.

Thanks Donald, I feel much safer now.

This was inspired by All Things Considered, June 29, 2003; interview with Hart Seely about his book, Pieces of Intelligence: The Existential Poetry of Donald Rumsfeld.