never may my thirst
for freedom be appeased by
modern urinals
Like all Haiku's, the one presented above is the same cryptic sham that happens to want to pose as a form of poetry. In any case there is a meaning behind it, and this meaning may, if one dares to imagine wide enough, will know no limits, and with enough boldness may even seem to apply to any situation one cares to put his creative thoughts to. However within the set of boundaries that exist, though broad, some semblance of what the poet is trying to say with it can seem to arise.
For instance, one notes the main theme of the poem. That is clear enough since it is presented in a single phrase, being "freedom". Such a concept that is being spoken off is by no means a strange thing, since it is a theme of the human condition and subsequently, adopted by many writers. This theme is likened to a liquid, perhaps water, since as a qualifying term, "thirst" is also used. What better candidate for a life sustaining liquid, besides water can there be since one of life's sustaining factors is a need for freedom? In that sense, freedom becomes a life sustaining force for the human spirit, just as water does for the human body.
A further reference to the liquid state is found later on in the poem. In fact the initial impression and overall feel that the Haiku gives is a feeling of wetness. Of a human tongue and mouth, wet with putrid saliva, coming into contact with more unknown wet things, and into a great mixture of liquid that has ambivalent meanings of need and filth. What these further wet things are, cannot be discerned directly. If one will care to imply something rotten, then perhaps we begin to see an Armah-esque style to the poem. Without even looking further at the poem, similarities are already in existence in terms of the subject and concern, "freedom", and the sensitivity implied in detecting filth. In fact, it is not even the showing of filth that is significant as a similarity. Rather the way that one almost feels a sense of disgust, when we read of incongruous elements put together. Here, being that of "thirst" and "urinals", that strikes at the base of our throats, when positive feelings of thirst for freedom are first suddenly given to vague disgust, then as the images in the head get clearer, an outright nausea.
This is only the first sense and before the poem's message has even been discerned. Being so repulsive to our sensitivities so early on does grab the attention pretty well and urges the thought processes in trying to decipher the reason for the existence of these images that can provoke this kind of reaction. The tone of the poem is one such device that in the presence of the repulsive images seeks to somehow gain our sympathy. The poet has been wounded or misunderstood, and the haiku is an exaltation of his frustration. Clearly the tone given is one of anger and defiance. This we feel so vividly and easily because having our nausea turned on is itself some form of intrusion into our personal feelings of self-control. Since we cannot stop this feeling from stirring within us, then there must be some kind of parallel with the concept of freedom that we cannot and should not take because it is similarly intolerable to our most basic senses.
The use of the word "never", is one of the features that is indicative of this. It is the first word that begins the poem, and is haughty as if in some kind of exclamation. That this word is not written with a capital letter somehow suggest some form of need to be restrained in the loosing of such a view onto us. This is in line with the defiance that is one of the undertones of the poem's urgings. Obviously, there must be some kind of authority that is imposing a restraint on the poet's view. It is my view that this authority in question could be the general consensus of society towards the concept of freedom. That the only way to be freed from the oppression is to maintain this "thirst for freedom" which should somehow be satisfied by "modern urinals".
A "urinal" in normal circumstances, is a place where one urinates or discharges waste material from the body. But why "modern urinals"? "Modern" is obviously a qualifier to the word "urinals". The word "Modern" could mean something futuristic, clean, efficient, or even symbolic of our often-called "modern" society, as opposed to primitive ones years ago. If this were taken to be a reading of the poem, then it is perhaps basically a statement about the stupidity of people's attitudes towards progress, and with it such trappings of wealth and power. Furthermore, the word "urinals" is simply used as a moralistic judgement on the term "modern", to symbolize it's association with waste and decay. Also, there is a certain irony in seeing that these "urinals" are but modern equivalents of a base lowly function that exists no matter how modern we become. This perhaps points to some kind of inevitability of human nature, and it that sense the existence of a difficulty in changing a hard worn attitude borne of a natural instinct.
Earlier my reference to the writer Awi Kweh Armah was made because of the repulsivity of the filth that in this poem and to his book, "The Beautyful Ones Are Not Yet Born". Having realized the possibility of the poem's possible meaning we begin to see a correlation between it and this book not only in terms of the nausea but also in terms of their similar message. Armah's story is about a man's dilemma in choosing between the opposing pillars of wealth and power, or a simple, undefined, aesthetic beauty in which society can live for. This beauty is never described to us at all, perhaps because it is too far off being a mystical, abstract concept whose characteristics cannot be discerned by those who have had no taste of it yet. Armah, like the Haiku's author, knows only what he doesn't want, what he wants however, he cannot say himself, but he knows that it will be "Beautyful".
The Haiku's message is thus one that is simple and springs from a motivation to change the structure of society to perfection, or if that is not possible, to something more tolerable. Simplicity in this deliverance is one of the poem's strengths as it adds it's short message to the multitude of world literature regarding the ills and failures of society, counting one more vote along the path that has been blazed by many others before.