Wina Säwäsultsyìp Ahì’i–A Quick Little Contest

Kaltxì, ma frapo–

Here’s a quick little contest I hope some of you will enjoy:

Next week I’m going to be interviewed on camera for a web-based series called “The Secret Life of Scientists & Engineers.” (I’m not sure I count as a scientist, and I’m certainly not an engineer, but the producers thought that their viewers would be interested in the story of Na’vi.) As part of my preparation, I’ve been asked to compose a haiku, which I will read on camera. I suggested that it might be interesting if the haiku were in Na’vi instead of English, and the producers thought that was a great idea. Later, it occurred to me that this could be a fun little contest for members of the lì’fyaolo’: come up with a Na’vi haiku, which I will use for my interview, kezemplltxe with proper acknowledgment of the author!

For those of you who might not be familiar with haiku, it’s a form of brief poetry of Japanese origin. There are several varieties, but the most familiar one has three lines of 5, 7, and 5 syllables respectively–17 syllables in all. The subject is often related to the natural world.

Here’s a (not very good) English example I just made up. It’s based on recently seeing a young hawk enjoying our birdbath:

Hawk in my birdbath,
Looking in all directions.
Why so wary, friend?

 If nothing else, at least it follows the 5, 7, 5 pattern.  🙂

So let’s see what you can do with a Na’vi haiku!

Tsmukan Markì has kindly created a thread on learnnavi.org where you can post your haikus anonymously:

http://forum.learnnavi.org/word-submissions/dr-frommer-needs-haikus!/

I’ll check the thread periodically to see what’s there, and choose the one I like the best. Then I’ll find out who the author is so I can acknowledge her or him when I read the poem on camera.

Since my interview is Tuesday afternoon, please submit your haikus no later than Monday at noon, Pacific Time. I’ll make my choice later that day. Feel free to submit up to three haikus of your own.

Sìlpey oe, fìsäwäsultsyìp ’o’ lìyevu ayngaru!

Oh, and some related vocabulary: