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Field Notes 4

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For Field Notes 4, panelists were asked to take a look at Haiku in English: the First Hundred Years and to speak to the question of what the book tells us about where haiku has been, where it is now, and where it may go. Please add your your thoughts. To add your voice to the mix, you’ll need to register on our forum. Click the Register link on the forum home page.

This Post Has 3 Comments

  1. Dear Peter, Thank you. I have not registered for the Forum so far. Maybe I can do that this week. When I began on a daily basis with THF a few years ago, the discussion seemed way beyond me. Haiku found me after I had left academic life, and through health challenges – my own and my mother’s. One year I earned tenure in Chicago, and the next year I was recovering and determined to go to a grocery store by myself. But this is almost 20 years ago now – still it was a huge life lesson, with many hidden blessings. And my career in education was 20 years (mostly elementary and college settings).

    I didn’t expect to use my teaching gifts again, but Jim’s encouragement, and others here, helped me begin again with the Ed Wall. So I didn’t save my teaching materials, from special education mostly, and wrote new work. Started over. Emails with Jim and others, Montage, the many programs and features here became the new lesson plans – many poets included. I still remember being a teacher, every hour planned; and I love that we can help someone save time, share haiku with a new generation, and all free resources here. Dave linked from the plans to other areas of THF site.

    So yes I guess I did feel that the Forum discussion was beyond me, but I read the comments for Haiku In English, as I am adding this good book to my weekly reading list. I read a few pages at a time.

    I’ll be sure to mention the Forum when we write college plans etc. HIE is part of my new background reading, for the next set of plans.

    Best wishes, thanks again, Ellen

  2. Thanks for your comments, Ellen. I am wondering if you, and perhaps others, have the impression that Field Notes is an academic exercise? In any event, I’d like to say that panelists approach each installment from a variety of viewpoints: academic, intuitive, playful, ornery, scholarly, inventive, heartfelt and so on– but always, I hope, in a spirit of exploration from wherever they happen to find themselves in relation to a given subject.

    It puzzles me a bit that, while each Field Note thus far has attracted hundreds of “views”,
    very few people have responded. I hope the invitation is clear for all and any to join in the conversation, from whatever viewpoint.

  3. I’ve read part-way through Haiku In English and it’s nice to find beloved poems I’ve read over the years, along with haiku that are new for me. Last year, I spent a lot of time with Montage and look forward to the same time with HIE.

    The jacket art/design by John Jung Kim is very beautiful, and seems perfect for haiku. Nice production by Norton overall.

    Also, I like that this book is edited by three poets who clearly spent a great deal of time on this project, and who think of themselves as “serious students of the genre” (Editors’ Foreward): Jim Kacian, Philip Rowland, Allan Burns. Key word for me here is “students” as I always feel I am just beginning, and so am encouraged.

    Interesting to also read the Forum, Peter.

    I have a much better understanding of the history of haiku since reading here the last few years, and I know HIE will add to this knowledge. I tend to be a more intuitive poet, and it’s good to learn in these other ways as well – I’m not a scholar, but enjoyed academic work in special education and now it seems to be transferring to poetry. Grateful for that.

    Thanks to all, Ellen

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