Heeding Haiku With HA: Pretense

I had a conversation with a friend about the character of a man, how it is unreal and how everything is a pretense. Everyone is pretentious. We behave according to what others expect from us in our behaviors.

At one point, I wrote to him.

What I think is that we pretend even in front of ourselves. If we really go on and remove all the masks in noone else’s presence but that of our own, would we be able to face what we see?

Even what I am writing to you is pretense. It is a pretense that has come from my understanding of what you believe and my deliberate attempt to put up a notion quite contrary to yours. Every word I say is not the one I would speak. I am right now hidden behind network lines and the screen of a cell phone and that is my biggest pretense to let you know my views through this artificial gateway. Or to let you know them at all.

What do you think? I call myself a pretender, in all areas of my life. What is your definition of pretense?

I would like you to share some pretentious haiku or tanka or both with us this week. Sounds like a lousy prompt? Yes, it is. But give it a try. It is liberating to be pretentious after all. 😀

What to do next?

1. Publish a post with your haiku or tanka if you have a blog. If you haven’t got a blog, you can share them in the comments down below. In case you have published a post, you can submit its link in the linking widget.

2. After you have made the post, take some of your time and visit the links of other participants. This is how we learn and improvise. Return again at the end of the week if you have made your post during the weekdays because there would be new links to visit, which would help us all to make connections and develop the feeling of community and togetherness in our adventure every week. Even if you can’t take out the time to visit all the links, then visit at least the link shared before or after you and offer your feedback and develop comradeship with that person.

You can also add the following tags to your post: HeedingHaikuWithHA and MindLoveMisery’sMenagerie.

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About anmol

Anmol is an independent journalist, writer, and poet from India. They report on gender, health, food, and culture. Their work has appeared in the BMJ, Whetstone South Asia, Autostraddle, Mint Lounge, and other platforms.

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