Capstone haikus are here!
Another personal-favorite annual Fletcher tradition has gotten underway! Capstone haikus are particularly fun for being so organic. There’s no Fletcher Capstone Haiku Club (to my knowledge), no formal coordinating structure, no due date, and no real rules. Some debate on that last point, to be honest; one current student’s three-stanza initial call to verse (kicking off the below list) got submissions flowing on the Social List recently, and also started a discussion on the “proper” form and spirit of haiku. As you’ll see from the final entry listed here, some take issue with the branding of these entries as “haiku” in the traditional sense. In typical Social List fashion, others quickly responded with rebuttals, and lengthy disquisitions (including supporting links) on why a “traditional” haiku in fact encapsulates a much broader form and sensibility than a rigid 5-7-5 syllable format with an emphasis on nature.
While acknowledging that larger ongoing poetic debate, we’ll not get further sidetracked with those issues in this space. Enjoy these recent submissions on Capstone topics, meta-commentary on the concept of Capstones themselves, and, of course, a few COVID-filtered views on our current circumstances.
A five syll’ble start,
The seven syllable heart;
An elegant poem.
Cry hav’c! And let slip
The dogs of capstone haiku.
One tradition lives.
A hypersonic:
Mach five plus and flying high.
Instability?
More female workers
Sounds good, but there are no data!
How can I estimate it?
Oh, I haven’t finished
Wait, Wait, Wait everyone,
We are procrastination friends…
Global governance
Of autonomous weapons
Russia, what’s your take?
CAFTA: A Success?
For Costa Rica, yes. Others…
Trade deals aren’t enough
Norway gave dough
Brazilians the Amazon
But the forest? Gone
Maghreb and the Gulf
Israel’s old and new friends
Opportunities
2020 cap
How to start how to finish?
Coronavirus
End of the decade
Began with hope, now evokes
Tower of Babel
People get raped in
immigration detention-
Trump gives zero f***s.
Research is boring
Stories are biased AF
Tech can help maybe
Green New Deal = great start
Let me be the finisher
Hire me, AOC
(= doesn’t count as a syllable so don’t @ me)
Invest in Afrique
Deal Structure key for power
U.S. let’s build it
Stepping outside now,
‘Stranger Things’ we have not seen.
Truly upside down
I met my friend at
the hill, where we stood. Should we:
COVID or candid?
“Could I have a drag?”
“Dude, I tested positive.”
“Give me a damn drag.”
Still more displacement
Colombia in conflict
Unsuccessful peace
Palestinian
citizens of Israel
vote too, FYI
Zoom Zoom here we go
Generation Zoom is here
Zoom Zoom rock that square
“¡Venaco véte!”
“Nos quita el trabajo!”
“Delincuentes son!”
Refugees are they
Unseen and unheard they toil
In the informal
Island Paradise
Trash going to waste, a shame
Trash be gone! Energy Renewable
SEATO failed
Pacific NATO today?
No, lots of problems
Human trafficking
or White Slave Trade? Either way:
Decolonize law
Returning from Sham
Women of the Caliphate
Europe, unprepared…
Finishing Fletcher
During a Great Depression
PhD sounds good
Bombing Syria
No one trusts the UN now
From Russia With Love
There came hurricanes
Some things never recover
Who woulda thought it
Cops: Surveillance? Sick
Me: Can we talk this out, please?
Cops: STFU
IDP women
More resilient than we think
So, so much STATA
Rainfall’s uncertain
Agriculture seems iffy
Let’s support herders
Feels like yesterday
That I changed my zoom background,
To the Hall of Flags
Climate change is bad
Often made worse with conflict
Al-Shabaab profits
Support the Hustle
Formalize to Vitalize
Let’s Feed Kenya’s Kids
Waking up at noon
Please dear God someone help me
Finish my capstone
Turns out it’s real hard
To fix social media
Maybe we give up ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Those Pesky Russians
Spread fake news so they can port
In Madagascar
Capstone extension!
Gotta write about fake news,
Time to bake again
Where did ISIS go?
Oh, they’re in Southeast Asia?
Here we go again?
Keep looking at screens
My eyes are getting redder
Is this our future?
Whoops child marriage
What’s up Egypt, Idaho?
Change your laws a******s
The cow goes “moo moo,”
She’s also problematic
So let’s use her s**t.
Solar for multi-family
Affordable housing units
Is a good idea
Uribe hates FARC
Is peace a right or duty?
So much state violence…
Hydrogen Pipelines
Hopefully they don’t go BOOM
HVDC Bad
Sushi burrito
“Haikus” with no zen spirit
They ain’t my homies