Friday, September 24, 2010

The Mysterious Haiku Ninja


While I've been recovering from my miscellaneous assortment of illness and injury, I've been going for a lot of walks. I've also started trying my hand at a bit of amateur photography.


 I don't pretend to be anything approaching an expert in the practice, although it's always something that's interested me. I've been told quite a few times in my life that I have a unique way of seeing the world.

I think it comes down to the way I see patterns where most people don't. Read into that what you will. And while this tendency may create a lot of unnecessarily awkward social interactions, it does have some advantages.


I think a lot of amateur photographers are satisfied to simply take photos of beautiful things and that can often be a little boring. Anyone can take a picture of something beautiful and have it come out looking beautiful. I like to try and take pictures of things most people wouldn't like at in ways that make them more interesting. I guess that's an area where the whole pattern thing is kinda useful.


There are a whole lot more where that came from, from all around the area where I live. But natural patterns aren't the only things I've been noticing. As well as the often ridiculous government funded sculptures that litter the streets of Adelaide and its surrounding areas, there's quite a lot of street art near where I live. Chalk it up to the nearby presence of an art school if you like, but there are a number of scattered paintings. A stencil advertising some xxx rated ankles, the word vegan splashed around like a brand name. But my favourites are the little haikus I've started finding scattered around, small print on random bricks where people might not be looking.

Such as this one, from a laneway near my house:

"Good people exist
You are only noticing
The loudest voices"

 Or the sly Bon Jovi reference at this bus stop:

"I'm shot through the heart
And I have no-one to blame
But my own damn self"

Or this one outside a storage place:

"If I had three lives
I'd set one of them aside
To make bad choices"

Or this insight into the human condition:

"You will never be
As smart as you think you are
Right at this moment"

And my personal favourite, near a school:

"You must make a choice
The outcome depends on this
I choose you, Squirtle"

I'm interested in how many of them are around - I'm mainly limited to the area I can reach on foot when I go out with my camera. So if you live in Adelaide, keep an eye out and let me know.


-Smackie Onassis