The Western Post - March 2021

From February 21 to 28, TWP hosted the Festival of the Perfections to honor the artistic culture of NationStates in the forms of art, poetry, writing, and music. There was an incredible number of submissions, ranging from photography to short stories to sketches to haikus, and a great collection of special events, including a poetry workshop and quality musical performances. The festival was an enormous success, so I wanted to talk to the masterminds behind the Perfections to see what their thoughts were on the event. A big thank you to Fuentana (our FA minister and Poet Laureate of Haiku), Bran Astor (our former Delegate), and current Delegate Dilber for allowing me to interview them.

What was the hardest part of planning the festival?

Dilber: Honestly, it was fairly easy to plan. Bran and Fuentana did the heavy lifting with the server being set up similar to last year. I give full credit to the work they did. It was a fantastic job, and the iterations on the design were great. I made a couple design decisions, but they enacted them.
The work done in previous years led to it being fairly easy to plan.

Bran: Not over-producing the event and trusting you have it just right. Then it's sitting back and being a metronome. Let the festival run, but help it maintain its pacing. The challenge this year was passing on knowledge and experience to an exceptionally capable Fuentana without taking over and dictating details.

Fuentana: I luck out in that I stand on the shoulders of giants: Bran has in my mind mastered the Discord-based event, so a lot of the logistical matters like designing a server and making it user friendly with bot-roles and such were already taken care of. TWP also benefits from the reputation of excellence that are tied to our festivals in general, and to this one in particular. I loved my experience as a participant, and I know many others did, so I wasn't quite worried about turnout. I think the main challenge was figuring out how to set up something new (for us) in the form of live music. I'm pretty focused on TWP and the regions I cover in our Foreign Affairs, so recruiting performers was in some ways a shot in the dark with the exception of Rabbitz (whom we know) and Seraph (who jumped on the opportunity and was fantastic).

What's something new you want to try for next year’s festival?

Dilber: I'd like more special events. I thought they went really well. Another thing might be adding another couple of judges awards. We added in a couple UTWP students as judges, and it might be worth doing a special allied panel for an award.

Bran: I'm considering playing piano at the next Perfections.

Me: Oh nice! I’d love to hear that.

Fuentana: Next year, I would like to cultivate one strength and one area where there's space for more contributions. One strength is in photography as one of the perfections of art. On the one hand, everyone has smart phones that can take very good pictures. This allows people who "have an eye" but not necessarily the training/expertise to flourish. But why not learn some technique along the way? I am thinking about this because I only got into haiku because of TWP/NationStates, and with haiku, I discovered that just a little bit of reading and practice can pay very large dividends. There are surely people in our NS communities who know a thing or two about photography, and I want them to challenge our photographers to be even more creative with the frame, exposure, color, editing to turn very good into, well, perfection.

As for a space for more contributions, I know for a fact that in a satirical political simulator like NS, there are going to be a lot of very strong and creative writers. How could it be otherwise since most of NS revolves around reading and writing? I want to recruit prose writers to hold workshops and get people thinking way in advance about submitting short stories or essays. Good writing takes time, so with some proactive work, I think it can be a thriving part of the festival.

The festival had a great selection of special events. Did you get to join any of them, and if so, how was your experience?

Dilber: I was at all of them but one, and that was just timing. The experience in general was great. I think the workshop really helped with some of the creative juices, and I think that's something we can potentially expand on next year. All of the music performances were FANTASTIC. I am so glad we get to showcase the talents of people in NS. If I still had my Bari Sax, I'd have played, but that ship has sailed for me!

Bran: I did finally get to make non-exhibition entries into a couple categories this year. I tossed in a couple fun and goofy digital pieces and several photographs. I happen to live in a very beautiful region and get to travel across it on a regular basis. There's always something to snap a quick pic of.

Fuentana: I got to listen to every performance we had, and I loved it because it was a great showcase not only of talent (which was considerable), but a showcase of a way of approaching NS that I associate with Bran and Halo: thoughtful, positive, creative, and celebrating healthy NS relationships. Seraph and Rabbitz are great examples of this. Rabbitz has performed for us on VC on many occasions (and surely for many other regions), and I think that he knows that we are all huge fans and want to affirm and showcase his talent. Seraph is probably one of the first contacts and friends I made in my assignment to TSP, and while I confess I should've asked him to perform in the first place because I've heard him sing before, I was really heartened that he so quickly volunteered, and he rocked the house. While I don't know Icarus too well, I loved their (remind me to double check pronouns) performance, and I loved above all that people from all sorts of regions were tuning in and enjoying the beauty of music.

4. What was your favorite submission for the Perfections? It can either be the best one you submitted or the best one you saw overall.

Dilber: I really loved the Fables short story by Fleischmann. There's a reason I gave it a delegates choice award. A lot of effort went into the series of stories. In regards to my own submission, I enjoyed my dinner pun: Dinner, on a bed of Dice.

Overall, a great event and one I look forward to yearly. We had great turnout, and we only keep getting better at it.

Bran: I was enthralled by a number of Darkesia's photos from her recent Grand Canyon excursion. Other than that, I really enjoyed the inclusion of music this year. I hope to see that portion expand further.

Fuentana: Though I didn't compete, my favorite submission is the one below. I wanted to practice some of the haiku techniques that I presented on in the poetry workshop, and I also wanted to become more focused on the importance of sound in haiku. So I used the format of 3-5-3 and wordplay techniques while thinking about a recent walk that my wife and I took in a park next to a small river.

a ripple
sitting by the stream
current thoughts

Now for a bonus question! You have to spend a week doing nothing but studying and practicing one kind of art nonstop. It can be any of the categories from the festival- painting, photography, haikus, essays, etc. But it should be something you haven’t really gotten into before and want to give a try. What type of art would you pick and why?

Dilber: Photography probably. I enjoy taking photos but never really had a chance to really "practice" it. In terms of writing, my undergrad and masters were super heavy on essays so staying away from that. Photos let me take memories and share them.

Bran: Proper photography. I know I've posted photos, but that's stuff I did with my phone as I was driving by. I want to spend a week being the person you see setting up on the coast for the perfect sunset, or walking through downtown Portland collecting candid portraits and stories from the various people I come across.

Fuentana: Painting, easily. It's a magnificent type of art, but it requires something like a week of nonstop work to really get the nuances of paint strokes, mixing to change color, texture, and so on. My favorite painters are mostly Impressionists or those who followed them, so there's a great connection between that and haiku which are traditionally focused on nature. I've done the social painting activity before, and it convinces me that anyone can paint. But I'd love to be at that level where it's not even making a pretty picture by itself, but expressing it in the types of brush strokes, brushes, and hues. It's like Starry Night. It's the swirls and different blues and careful placement of white and yellow that captivates me, but for the life of me, I can't do it. I can't even paint a blue crab.

Me: Awesome! Impressionist art is my favorite style too. I've never been good at painting but I'd love to get better at it. Ditto for photography.

The Festival of the Perfections was an enormous success and I enjoyed attending it. The planning done in previous years clearly helped the festival run smoothly this year and I’m sure Dilber, Fuentana, and Bran’s veteran knowledge will help set up next year’s festival as well. Finally, thanks to all three interviewees for letting me speak with them!

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On the day of 4th November 2020, the transfer of power between the 49th Delegate Bran Astor and 50th Delegate Dilber had just finished. Soon after, Dilber made his first speech as Delegate, and The Western Post then published an article about the delegate transition in the November 2020 edition. It's now been a hundred days since it took place, and in this article, you can read a review of what happened in the West since then!

In his first speech as Delegate, Dilber outlined a number of goals for his term. One of these main goals was a Hall of Nations revamp, which is now mostly done. For example, the Deputy Minister positions are no longer elected, and only the Speaker of the Hall and the newly-created position of Hall of Nations Guardian remain in the election cycle. Another change was to eliminate the legislation aspect of the Hall, and instead focus on building a transparency body. This was done by introducing weekly questions open to all Hall citizens, in order to encourage discussion and suggestions for improvement of the region. Similarly, the citizens can now ask questions to government members in scheduled AMA (Ask Me Anything) events—the first one was done for Giovanniland and received nearly 20 questions, while the second one features Overthinkers and is currently taking place. The final stage of the Hall revamp will be a forum reorganization, which hasn't happened yet but should be finished soon.

In the Foreign Affairs front, the first 100 days of Dilber's term were quite eventful. After assuming the delegacy, Dilber nominated Giovanniland and Fuentana to lead the ministry together as he himself was the former minister. Dilber's term featured several interregional events so far, such as the Magna Hearta festival with The Pacific & Balder, the Region of the Week event with Europeia, and gaming nights with Osiris. We couldn't finish this section without talking about the Festival of the Perfections though, which was attended by nearly 100 people from the NationStates multiverse and is explained better in another article from this newspaper.

The Cultural Trust also saw interesting events happening, and even a new community join in—welcome to the West Pacific Gaming! For example, the regional roleplay community saw two Sports RP events happen, namely the 2nd Rugby World Cup and the 1st World Cup of Football, and also increased activity in other roleplay topics such as the Zoranian Civil War. Other communities of the Trust also fared well, with the Fine Arts Society helping with planning the Festival of the Perfections, and the Card Club organizing some events such as the Tree Decorating Card Contest and a pull event for the Punk Reloaded and Punk Daddy cards. Meanwhile, the regional military TWPAF saw its activity increase during these 100 days under the leadership of Overthinkers. A highlight of the term was the saga of South Lebanon, which ended with the region being refounded by TWP and NPO forces and now serving as a premier vacation destination where one can find the world-renowned Dalimbar Shawarma Shack. Other interesting happenings were the promotion of some experienced pirates and the recruitment of newer members to the crew, which increased the number of operations.

For the World Assembly Recruitment ministry, it was too an interesting start of term, even though endorsement levels for the Delegate and Guardians haven't risen too much lately. The term saw Bhang Bhang Duc being appointed to the new position of Security Council Adviser and the beginning of the proposal drafts to commend The Holy Principality of Saint Mark. Finally, the University of the West Pacific started a new round of classes in which eight students signed up and are now going through its four modules.

In order to bring this article to a perfect end, we decided to interview Dilber about his thoughts on his delegacy so far and some plans for the future. There are great plans for TWP as you can see below, and we all hope that the region will continue to accomplish even more goals. Here's what was asked and answered:

First question: In your opinion, how's everything so far for TWP in general ever since your delegacy started?

I'm a fan of what we're doing. We've seen some changes to the HoN, getting some good feedback, and I'm liking what I'm seeing out of the military. I'm also happy with the early part of the UTWP class. We've put on some events, done some cool stuff with allies, it's been a ride so far.

Thanks! Second question: on your first speech as Delegate, you wanted to have the Hall of Nations as a transparency body. After 100 days, how do you think the reform is going, and is there anything you want to tell the readers about this theme?

I think we've been fairly transparent. We had our first round of Q&As, we've been doing open cabinet meetings, people bring me an idea and I go, "let’s run with it." I think it's been good at building engagement. We still have more work to do. Transparency and engagement is a long term thing, not short term.

That is a good answer. Next, could you say a few words about your future plans, things you'd like to see in the future during the rest of your delegacy, etc.?

I'd like to see greater SC engagement. That's been an area we've had issues cracking, and I'd like to throw resources at it. Some people enjoy doing it, and it's something we as a region are behind on. The more we provide, the better it is for everyone. Furthermore, I want to see the continued pace of our mil ops to provide as much fun as possible for our troops. And for FA, I want us to keep engaging in a smart way. We've had some fun events, and I think we can continue to do so.

Those are great plans! Finally, any other comments or thoughts about the region or your delegacy you'd like to share in this interview?

I'm proud of our community for being inclusive, and we'll continue working to make the region more friendly for new players. We've put a lot of programs in place between my delegacy and under Bran, and it's showing fruit with our younger crop of players. We've got a great bench of future leaders, and I am excited!

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If you've read previous editions of The Western Post, you will have noticed the multiple sports roleplay events that happened in the West Pacific last year, such as the 1st & 2nd Rugby World Cups and the 1st Summer Olympics. This has continued in 2021, and our first event of the year was the 1st World Cup of Football! The event was both scorinated and hosted by United Adaikes—the nations of Giovanniland and Zoran also placed bids to host but ultimately failed. Twenty-four nations participated in this world cup, the largest quorum ever seen in a TWP roleplay event. Of course, many posted reports about their team's matches, the overall tournament, or other interesting information related to the event.

The final 1st World Cup of Football standings listing all nations by performance. Full version available here!

Like other roleplay events, the World Cup took place in our regional forums. The 24 participants were divided into four groups with six nations each. Five group stage matchdays then happened, after which the top four nations of each group advanced to the round of 16. From there, losing nations were eliminated up until the final and 3rd place match. The tournament champions were Nieubasria, who won 1-0 against Larxia in a close final match. It's worth noting Nieubasria were also the champions of the 1st Summer Olympics football tournament. Meanwhile, Tara and cambray (Bran Astor) won 4-1 against Nagaraningrad to earn 3rd place. Furthermore, there were also individual prizes for outstanding players: Camdyn Cartwrighte from Nieubasria received the Golden Ball, Leo Messy from Larxia earned the Golden Boot, and Stefan Keller from Tara and Cambray was awarded the Golden Glove.

Some happenings from previous RP events continued during this World Cup. One example was the team sent by Dilber, which was actually the rugby team from previous events under the effect of even more performance-enhancing drugs. Other examples were the refugees from Zoran, which reportedly came twice as many as in the Rugby World Cup, and the unexpected happenings every time Zoranian Times' reporter Quiyakaso talked to the public.

Other highlights were, for example, the news reports from Santos-dominius, which included results from all matches in a given matchday, all summed up with some nice graphics. The team from Fuentana was brought to the spotlight as well due to its interesting Crab Formation (1-2-2-2-2-1) and the fact all its players were philosophers who shouted "Eureka!" every time their team scored a goal. However, there were also some unfortunate happenings during this tournament. The most notable was the death of the Nieubasrian captain Earc Velding after an attack in the Adaikesian city of Perthdoches. The death was mourned by the team from Nieubasria, which later went on to win the World Cup of Football despite this tragedy. Finally, after the tournament ended, some nations such as Giovanniland and Hertfordshire and Jammbo also published interesting overall statistics about their teams.

Overall, the 1st World Cup of Football was another successful sports roleplaying event in the West Pacific. Many players spent some time writing interesting reports or even designing images of news sites related to the event. Two months ago, in the article about the 2nd Rugby World Cup, I hoped that 2021 would have many more activities like that one. For now, we can say for sure that this year has started strong, and we can only hope that more sports RP events will take place throughout the year!

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The Overview

Osiris is one of the Game Created Regions (GCRs) of NationStates, specifically one of the three sinker regions. It was 'founded' by Testlandia on Tuesday 18th October 2011 and its first leader was Sichuan pepper (Wordy), although that only lasted for 9-10 days before Zaolat was elected as the first-ever Pharaoh of Osiris. As for the first constitutional Pharaoh of Osiris, that was none other than Dalimbar. In the 9 years and counting of their existence, Osiris has gone through many forms. These include the Pre-Constitutional Period (2011), the Kemetic Republic (2011-2013), and the Fraternal Order (2013-2016 + 2016-Present) that persists to this day, with a Reformation (2013) and a Transition period (2016) in between. There are separate bodies for different departments of the Osiris government with those being executive, military, judiciary, and legislative.

The Osiran history from 2011 to the present has certainly gone through many phases and interesting events. For example, when Cormac became the 7th Pharaoh of Osiris on 27th June 2013, the previous incumbent, The dourian embassy (Treize Dreizehn) perpetrated a Gatesville Inc.-backed coup based on unsubstantiated claims of election fraud. Thus, Osiris decided to 'declare war' on Gatesville. The war lasted for around a month before Osiris and Gatesville reached a peace agreement. The peace agreement was voided literally the next day and acting Pharaoh Sentimental journey (Diamete) banjected the culprit Treize Dreizehn from the region for good, thereby ending their struggle for power. In the aftermath on 14th August 2013, Cormac repealed the Sovereign Confederation Charter, formed between Osiris, Equilism, Gatesville Inc, The Pacific, and later Unknown on 8th February 2013, as well as the Bilateral Oasis-Osiris Treaty formed between Osiris and Antarctic Oasis.

Furthermore, Osiris is a region where many former or current TWPers have set up camps. Names that come to mind include the current VoFA Ark, the current VoCA Wymondham who set up a highly commendable NS charity fundraiser that successfully raised $3,400 for The Trevor Project on JustGiving, and current resident Emperor Emeritus of the West The Holy Principality of Saint Mark (Halo). He serves on the Osiran judiciary known as the Council of Priests.

So what about me? Well, I have been on NationStates since June 2019 and the TWP diplomat to Osiris since at least September 2020. Despite only having a few months of experience, I would be blatantly lying if I said I haven't met any pleasant and interesting people on my ongoing stay in the great desert. That's why I've decided to interview some members of Osiris both old and new, from both inside and outside, starting off with our former diplomat to Osiris, Gryphonian Alliance (HyFy)! A former diplomat should be in a prime position to voice their view on what sets a region apart. HyFy answered "One thing that stands out to me about Osiris is how the government is integrated with the people. Osiris has open Gameside, Foreign, and Community Affairs departments, which allow Osirans to participate in them freely. They also have a rewards program to incentivize people to get involved. Osiris makes it very easy for residents to contribute to the region, which has helped improve their activity and engagement levels a lot". Sure tells me a lot about Osiris in one answer. So without much further ado, we shall now commence. Now departing Overview station, next stop: Feature!

Yes, Minister, I Have Your Government Feature Right Here

Osiris works in a very similar way to TWP in that it is a meritocracy, but also differs in that it runs itself as a monarchy. You could probably tell that from the fact the delegate has the title of Pharaoh. There are small elements of democracy, but overall it is very much a meritocracy. The current Pharaoh is Valerievna (Dakota), the 27th Pharaoh since early November. At her side are Community Affairs Vizier Wymondham, Foreign Affairs Vizier Arkadia Universalis and Gameside Affairs Vizier Luna State (Skies) who each run their respective departments. Among them, Ark and Wym are also Guardians, alongside Federation of the Resentine Kingdom and Malphe II. The Viziers, as well as the Chief Vizier when there is one, are all appointed directly by the Pharaoh, who holds supreme and final authority when it comes to making decisions. The Pharaoh's successor, known as the Heir/Heiress Apparent, is handpicked by the incumbent Pharaoh. Sound familiar? One interesting piece of information is that Osiris originally decided who would rule as Pharaoh through elections, but after the Transitional Period that involved the dissolution of the second constitution of Osiris (State Code) and the creation of the former constitution (Scroll of Ma'at), the position of Pharaoh became an appointed position highly similar to the way the TWP Delegate is chosen.

The Community Affairs department of the Osiris government is headed by Wym, as previously mentioned, and it is responsible for administering community and integration, per the job description. The Foreign Affairs department of the Osiris government has Ark at the helm, and it is responsible for administering diplomacy and relations with other regions. It handles the creation and repeal of treaties naturally, often giving very catchy and inventive names. The Gameside Affairs department handles the job of in-game outreach and integration and is headed by Skies. Skies attempts to post a 'Question of the Day' on the RMB every single day, which is currently the most significant driver of activity on the Osiris RMB by far.

There is also the Council of Scribes, which handles the legislature and voting system, and the Council of Priests, which handles criminal law enforcement. Of course, how can one forget the Sekhmet Legion, the raider-aligned military arm of Osiris? I'm not someone who can forget that at all. This military wing of the great desert was formed as the 2nd iteration of the Osiris military by Cormac a stark after receiving approval from Detective figs (Astarial). Recently, Tethys announced that they were stepping down as the Chief Scribe of Osiris, a role taken over by Dragonian Alliance as of 20th December 2020.

Another office post in the Osiran government, for reasons probably best left unexplained, is the recently created post of Puppy Kicker, who has the authority to make polls. Naturally then, this title is held by Varanius (Varanius The Second). It was born as a position on Tuesday 23rd February 2021, or so I estimate. I’m not going to try and hide it, this lowkey concerns me, giving a puppy kicker this sort of power, however high or low.

Desert Project: Culture of Osiris

When I entered Osiris as the diplomat from TWP, one of the first things I quickly noticed was a cultural scene that was not only widely varied but highly engaging and easy to follow. The compilation one is beholden to contains the variety of a Quality Street tin, the engagement of a family get-together, and yet somehow for me at least it is as easy to keep up with as reading an atlas for directions because I've become lost on a roundabout somewhere. I do not say this lightly. In fact, I say it with a reasonable amount of confidence. For activity, the RMB and Discord tie for the most active, while the forums are the least active, although some motions still go through there. After all, where else would be a better place for all the works of the scribes, priests, etc., to go?

The RMB's main driver of activity is Question of the Day, something I'm pretty sure I mentioned previously in this same feature. This involves Luna State (Skies) submitting a question directed at all nations who read it, and people coming up with answers. The questions usually revolve around a characteristic of the nation answering and include questions that seek out a personal answer. Such QotD's include 'Does your nation have a nemesis?' and 'What topics could you spend hours talking about?'. Each question brings up a wide range of responses, helped by the fact that a wide range of nations regularly or irregularly present take part. I find it quite fun to answer, especially the part when I become stumped on what to respond with and just end up going with the tried-and-tested answer that relates to farms and/or hammers.

The Discord also sees a large amount of activity. The main channel is where general chat takes place, and it is called #public-courtyard. There is a dedicated channel for spam, memes, and trivia called #spam-pavilion and a testing channel with the same rules as spam-pavilion called #the-sandbox. The #vidya channel discusses games such as Hearts of Iron IV, Pokemon, Warhammer, and others. These are but a handful of what the Osiris discord server has to offer. My personal favorite section is the spam-pavilion, which I like to upload memes onto and occasionally appear and disappear out of completely nowhere.

Though less active at present, the forum houses many important documents regarding the functioning of government, cultural activities, and judicial trials. The community and culture section is home to the Temples of Bes, Nun, and Khepri. Bes is where NS topics and out-of-character topics such as politics goes, and this channel houses the Osiris Historical Library, among other interesting sources. Nun is similar to The Clubhouse on the TWP Forum; it is home to the various games locals create. The ones I like to engage in are the Last Person Wins by Cormac, The Endless Argument by Aeon, and The Next Person by Cormac. Finally, Khepri is where the Osiran roleplay takes place. If you want frequent involvement, then the RMB and Discord are your best bets, but some of the most significant and most interesting stuff happens on the forums as well. Just take the 'Super Awesome Christmas Avatar Contest,' a discord profile picture competition that concluded with Draco winning with an overwhelming score of 7-1-0. Tethys got the one. Poor Wym ended up with nought. Not to mention the many mock judicial trials and the miniatures collection that Teth shows in the Shrine of Ptah, home to the Community Affairs branch. No cultural read would be complete without mentioning the news broadcaster, which is called the Osiris Oracle. Although it does not publish as frequently as newspapers such as our Western Post, it's certainly a well-written publication with 20 editions.

Unlike the government section, which can be filled using historical libraries and the like, the same cannot be said for the culture section. That is because to even have a hope of truly understanding the culture of a region, there really is no substitute for actually getting in there and engaging with people on the issue. At least that's how I see it. With that in mind, I decided that the most effective strategy would be to interview some Osiris locals and get their views on what Osiris is all about in terms of its cultural landscape.

Relations between Osiris and The West Pacific

At this point, you have read a lot about the government and culture of Osiris, as much as I could put in reasonably because if I mentioned everything I could, this feature would take up at least half the news issue, or so I claim. Having said that, what about the relations that Osiris has with The West Pacific? The embassies they have between each other have been going on for over four (4) years. It is the longest-lasting of all current Osiran embassies, and that on its own, I think, speaks volumes. There is also a record in Osiris of the treaty in effect between the two regions, namely the Treaty of the Occident on 5th December 2017, which was 'an effort to create a powerful bond between the West Pacific and Osiris' among an incredible amount of other details. The meaning of occident for those who aren't sure is the countries of the west. No wonder the treaty has that name then.

The Conclusion

What can we take from this? Apart from the fact that Osiris is highly fascinating and pleasant and is completely worth the time and then some? Hard to say, but what I can mention is the simple fact that in the short few months I have been the diplomat to Osiris, the person behind the H&J name really does enjoy it. At the very least, I have sincere hopes that the positive relationship between Osi and TWP can and shall continue for many months and years to come. Of course, I shall continue to dutifully fulfill my role and further engage with the locals, plus anyone else that happens to visit.

Meanwhile, why not check out the rest of this issue? I assure you, it is well worth the read. On that non-bombshell, it is time to end. Thank you very much for reading, goodbye! Remain in touch with The Western Post for more Foreign Affairs features in future issues.

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Introduction

By Fhaengshia

More haiku, from the region and beyond.

With the conclusion of our premier event, we decided to celebrate some of the haiku submitted to the Festival of the Perfections along with the usual highlight of our favorites from the region in the last month.

Adaikes’ Faves

[1]

The Holy Principality of Saint Mark wrote:

Cuddly? Furry? Cute?
Pouchy disease carriers.
Don't be fooled by looks.

[2]

Cro Magnon wrote:

O for heaven's sake
Fruit don't belong on pizza!
you dirty heathens!

[3]

Willow Gate wrote:

Elegant and calm
Stretched out by the front window
Licking his butthole.

Comments:

[1] And here you thought you know everything about marsupials. You’re wrong! As what is said in the last line, ‘don’t get fooled!’

[2] See? You just need 17 syllables to get your message across.

[3] Perhaps the author knew about the techniques, maybe not. But using what I see is the Technique of the Riddle, yet most of you would think the last line would be the answer to what the first two lines are talking about. The Technique of Contrast is also in play. You might be thinking what could be elegant and calm, yet licks his butthole? A perfect way on how to create a perfect haiku. (And you should figure out what creature the haiku was talking about)

Fuentana’s Festival Faves

Our first is from Erinor (aka Seraph, winner of Best in Show)

Erinor wrote:

Leaf buds "unboxing",
Bird choirs sing (still COVID-free):
New life just goes on.

Marinas Island wrote:

A woman rages
Her friend tries to restrain her
The cat only sneers

The Holy Principality of Saint Mark wrote:

Bright sun off the snow
Breezes carrying some warmth
Hope begins to grow

Comments:

These three are from our Festival of the Perfections, which featured many very strong haiku. But these were my favorite submissions for the following reasons: they capture the “nature” dimension and the power of communicating what one observes. Sometimes it is simply stunning nature, sometimes it is a funny scene in real life. Haiku can do all of these things, and these authors modeled that with some really effective short writing.

Afterword

Whether light-hearted, or more serious, any haiku can impress an emotion in the reader. We continue to honor those that have struck a chord in each of us. Every Tuesday we’re searching for something to resonate with and celebrate here in the annals of the West’s best poetry.

Want to get more involved? Contact any of the authors to join our work as members of The West Pacific Fine Arts Society, a branch of The West Pacific Cultural Trust.

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All your chocolate belongs to Darkesia
The Western Post Staff - Delegate-in-Editor-in-Chief: Dilber Editors: Fuentana, Fujai, Giovanniland – Staff: Aluminum Oxynitride, Bran Astor, Fhaengshia, Gryphonian Alliance, Nieubasria, Overthinkers, Podium, Recuecn, Teralyon, United Adaikes, and YOU
All your chocolate belongs to Darkesia

spooky!