Haiku Reflections

The delightful pivot of this visually humorous haiku comes from the momentary confusion between a real whale and a cloud whale. It is probably only on second reading that we realize the poet is describing the latter. The whale that is devoured by the billowing clouds is itself “only a cloud.” So . . . no harm, not foul—even though there a slight ecological dissonance at the mention of an endangered animal.
—Clark Strand