Book of the Week: Haiku Ikebana by Elena Malec, Accompanied by Photographs of Her Ikebana Arrangements
An excerpt from Elena’s website – Elena Malec was born in Bucharest, Romania in 1954.She started drawing at an early age in graphite, colored pencils, watercolor and ink. A graduate from the University of Bucharest with a MA in modern languages, Elena pursued a career in education and research. Elena lives with her husband in Irvine, California where she spends her time writing poetry, doll making, designing web pages. One of her latest passions is flower arrangement following the freestyle Ikebana art. Her art, blogs and photos can be found at her website.
From the Merriam-Webster Dictionary – Ikebana is a way of arranging flowers that was developed by the Japanese. The art is based on the harmony of simple linear constructions and the appreciation of the subtle beauty of flowers and natural material, such as branches and stems.
empty room-
vase with Indian hawthorn
in scalene triangle
yerba mate-
drinking with friends from
a hollow gourd
baby breath flower-
arrangement with gravel
all white
a single branch ikebana-
shadows of furry catkins
on an empty wall
You can read the entire book in the THF Digital Library and please share your favorite poem from the book with us.
Do you have a chapbook published in 2016 or earlier that you would like featured as a Book of the Week? Contact us for details. Haiku featured in the Book of the Week Archive are selected by THF Digital Librarian Dan Campbell and are used with permission.
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Thank you very much, Dan and haiku friends.
What better way to wake up and set the tone for the day than to absorb Elena’s haiku and ikebana. A static ginko walk you might say. The haiku I particularly enjoyed was ‘red onion in a basket…’. Beautiful, thank you Elena.
So lovely.
What an exquisite book! Beautiful ikebana and haiku, so well matched. Thanks for sharing it.