Domestic Unrest

What happens when a playful haiku triggers a debate about gender roles—and stray banana peels.

- David Eddie

THE PHRASE “controversial haiku” has likely never occurred to you, but a friend of mine, who has a husband and a 12-year-old boy, recently posted one on Facebook that unleashed a tsunami of response: “Empty bowl in fridge / Boys and men are useless at housework / Tears are wet.”

The unapologetic sexism of the poem drew howls of outrage—mostly from men, it’s true. One guy pointed out that her syllabic structure was all wrong for a haiku, adding, “I vacuum like a boss.”

To which one waggish woman wondered aloud, “What is it with men and their penchant for vacuums?” She speculated that it was because a machine is involved: “It’s like indoor mowing.”

The debate raged on. One woman argued that even when men do things around the house, it’s women who make the to-do list and who are the “project managers.”