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Haiku Herman

April 16, 2010

The EU's first President, Herman Van Rompuy, has published his first book of haikus, which are short Japanese-style poems. And as John Laurenson reports in this Postcard, van Rompuy’s poetry definitely stands out.

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Herman van Rompuy against the backdrop of a European flag
Van Rompuy is a fan of Japanese-style poetryImage: AP

On the first of January 2010, Herman Van Rompuy, otherwise known as Haiku Herman, became the first permanent president of the European Council. He was - outside of Belgium where he was prime minister - largely unknown.

But, on February 24, during his maiden appearance in front of the European Parliament, he became a well-known and even rather lovable figure when he was verbally attacked by a member of the UK Independence Party, Nigel Farage.

Farage told Van Rompuy, among other things, that he had the charisma of a damp rag and the appearance of a low grade bank clerk. Rather more than the 17 syllables required of a haiku. And around seventeen times too nasty.

Farage's interminable, contrived insults were delivered with such bulging eyed animosity as to be a sore embarrassment even to his fellow eurosceptics. We could not have been further removed, in any case, from the placidity and purity of Herman's haikus.

Mightier than the sword

This form of poetry is more strictly regulated than European Union health and safety. These poems consist of exactly 17 syllables. Not 16 or, heaven forbid, 15. Van Rompuy is said to compose his little Japanese-style poems while sitting in meetings. And some seem to reflect this.

A rather beautiful one "Life is sailing on the sea of time, but only the sea remains" sounds almost like a lament of a man whose life is spent listening to people droning on about fishing quotas. And what if, after all, the European Union were one vast haiku? Not boring as such but calming, tranquil. Like a pool of water or a garden of raked gravel. A place to empty your mind. To find peace.

DW Korrespondent John Laurenson Frankreich
John Laurenson is glad to have a poet at the European helmImage: DW

In any case, this is the effect it seems to have on Van Rompuy, some of whose haikus soar out of the meeting room altogether. "Light on the sea is brighter than on land. Heaven is breathing," he writes.

In fact, the ghastly Farage couldn't be more wrong. Van Rompuy's disheveled, slightly batty appearance is not that of a lowly bank clerk but of a poet. And putting a poet in the important-sounding job of President of the European Council is something of which Europeans should be proud.

Author: John Laurenson

Editor: Neil King