Haiku to a Cow: An Indian Missionary’s Poem to Home

Context: When we talked about haikus in class a few weeks ago, I immediately thought of this missionary haiku. My brother had been in India for about five months when my cousin wrote to him requesting a tidbit for the family newsletter. Lincoln, a naturally clever and witty young fellow wrote back with his “Haiku to a Cow”

The Poem:

Haiku to a Cow

Sagging skin, so slim

Eating trash by the roadside

I do not miss beef

Analysis: Lincoln really was a very clever missionary. He took a concept associated with India—the custom to revere the cow as sacred—and completely humanized it. This cow is not white, flower-covered, or sacred. This is a scrawny, wiry cow he saw eating trash by the road one day, which made him glad that Indians don’t eat much beef. Really, I think this haiku says a lot about my brother’s experience as a missionary in India. The misconceptions and glorifications of all kinds of aspects of his life including religion, humanity, and Indian culture were proven to be unrealistic. The realities were just skinny old cows eating trash on the road.

Educational Context: Using this and some haikus we talked about in class as models, I could have my students pick a misconception in their worlds and write a haiku about their true feelings after some inquiry into the truth behind the belief. I think this could be a good exercise in inquiry (I would encourage them to use several sources including books, internet, interviews, opinions, news articles, etc.) as well as an exercise in looking beyond commonly held beliefs. Perhaps I could even have them pick a misconception presented by the media, then we could have a conversation about the untrue views the media often presents.