Haiku diary 2

At first glance, the combination of "co-discoverer of the Greatest Bohemian" and "old Japanese poetic form" might seem somewhat fanciful. But nothing is impossible for artists of Čepelka's range. He became acquainted with haiku relatively late in life, and his poetic little drawings are thus gifted to us only at a mature age. But the later it is, the more intimate is its connection with the world of seventeen syllables, as you will see for yourself in the second Diary of a Haiku (the first one was published in 2009 and is now practically dismantled).

In it, the poet engages in a fierce battle with the great themes - to name two of the basic instincts of literature, eros and thanatos, and the eternal inspirer, love - but he does not shy away from the idiocies of everyday life that would otherwise fit under the table or behind the bed. Like a skilled artist, he holds beauty in one hand and ugliness in the other... And if he feels like it, he lets the rhyme balance on his head. A true haiku is not supposed to rhyme, but the author approaches it with such humility that even the old masters of Nippon would gladly forgive him for this transgression.

A man who has not fallen asleep (over) his art is rightfully allowed - and forgiven - everything. In Milona Čepelka's haiku we find exuberant optimism and darkened scepticism, trips to the border of the universe and beyond the not very soundproof wall behind which an unknown lady moans in a situation that does not admit ambiguity.