When reading a book on modern and post modern takes on poetry, I came across the thought ( am paraphrasing it): Male benevolence afforded to women, is also a form of authority.
Well, there are tomes that can be written on that one liner, but the question(s) it triggered is this:
Are there any feminist poets in haiku? What has the haiku tradition been like esp. when taking the feminist wave(s) into consideration?
I ask, because the Japanese culture too, like most Asian cultures did allow for women voices, though there were not that many voices to be heard...
Hi Anna,
I don't know about 'feminist' poets but strong female role models are Marlene Mountain and Roberta Beary, both are on Facebook and active.
warm regards,
Alan
Quote from: Anna on February 02, 2016, 01:14:57 PM
When reading a book on modern and post modern takes on poetry, I came across the thought ( am paraphrasing it): Male benevolence afforded to women, is also a form of authority.
Well, there are tomes that can be written on that one liner, but the question(s) it triggered is this:
Are there any feminist poets in haiku? What has the haiku tradition been like esp. when taking the feminist wave(s) into consideration?
I ask, because the Japanese culture too, like most Asian cultures did allow for women voices, though there were not that many voices to be heard...
Anna
Regarding feminists in Japanese form poetry, seems a marvelous subject for a treatis. You seem the ideal candidate to persue it.
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My exposure to ancient Japanese literature was in a senior level undergrad ancient lit class.
We read historic journals that had been translated from ancient texts. One was regarding the record of war wounded and dead during the Norse Wars.
But there was a charming journal kept by a Japanese woman of prominence that used indicators of sleeve length in revealing the hierarchical levels of servant women, geisha and ladies. There were no Japanese poems in the book, but there was a level of literacy that warmed me.
[EDIT: thanks to Light Pilgrim's comments, the book and author I mention here is referenced in Light's remarks ... "also the 11th century Lady Murasaki, whose novel 'Tale of Genji' is the first and possibly greatest novel in Japanese. For the topic in hand, Lady Murasaki started the practice of using prose and poetry in this work. So we could say, that the haibun (prose and poetry) has its roots here. :)"]
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My opinion is that male benevolence afforded to women is a form of authority as a construct of power, endowed by cultural expectations. Men who practice this type of benevolence justify it as an expression of empathy and it is thought to be acceptable.
But read that sentence again. It is constructed with a seed of suspicion built in.
Carefully treading just how far to argue the point, when the jumping off spot is skewed by linguistics.
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Can we read feminism in contemporary haiku??
I say yes.
Without defining the three most used terms of studying feminism (in Master Level Women's Studies), I will posture them here for the range of expression capable of being articulated:
moderate, libertarian, radical.
There can be arguments for more categories but these will keep you busy.
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During January 2016, a friend and I plundered through the compiled anthology of selected haiku --first 15 years of The Heron's Nest. NEST FEATHERS.
----We took a multi faceted approach to these poems, looking for gradual or sudden changes in format, word register, syllable count, three line and one line structures, concrete structures, senryu vs haiku prevalence, kigo usage, as well as any hint of disjunctive juxtaposition.
During this process, we did isolate a few haiku of women authors that can be seen as "feminist" influenced poems.
Acknowledgement, right here, that men are quite capable of writing from a feminist perspective, but for this thesis, I will present women haijin.
Recognize, this is the innocent, tender moment that I offer you, before the detractors swoop in, truncate, chop, and dissent.
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Roberta Beary, page 80, 2006
mother's day
a nurse unties
the restraints
(Clear perspective on the authority granted medical institutions in treating women. Could it be argued men have also been mistreated in medical facilities? You bet!
But Roberta has brought this topic to the haiku using the kigo, Mother's Day).
(Moderate).
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Fay Aoyagi, page 58, 2003
New Year's Eve bath--
I fail to become
a swan
Clear perspective of the pressure for aging women to recognize male dominant preference for younger and beautiful women (Swan) to be valued over the ducklings.
Also, it is no accident that Aoyagi uses an evening bath to punctuate the image of "Eve"; accentuating the feminine expression of the human race. (Moderate).
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Eve Luckring, page 143, 2012
near the horizon
a wave forms
touch me there, again
Luckring uses slight metaphor to express a sentient woman approaching climax, without bringing the "blue" a man might write.
She presents a woman, equal to a man, or other woman, in knowing her body, confidently expressing the desire for climax, and avoids any madonna/whore overtones common to the writings of the male of the species.
This hauku brings a feminist recognition and sensuality to one aspect of women. (Libertarian)
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Francine Porad, page 22, 2000
steady rain
I fall short of being the human
I wish to be
Admittedly, this haiku could be written as effectively by a man, as a woman. But as a woman, reading it, i acknowledge the woman who struggles with confidence to change the course she is on.
Women often carry doubt regarding their worth, their ability to accomplish the project handed them, or visualize a better future.
There is a psychological construct to be recognized in Porad's expression of disgust at having not done better; it overshadows the potential she might see in herself. (Moderate)
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Anna,
I hope this helps you see feminism in haiku, just a bit better, and not confound you.
I will leave this perspective with you to ponder as you see fit, but will not be drawn into endless questions.
Best wishes on your journey.
Jan Benson
Hi Anna,
A very interesting theme and I hope more will respond. :)
An internet search of poets across the globe invariably brings up the names of male poets. For example, the position of the Poet Laureate in Canada, UK and US are dominated by male poets. UK's first female Poet Laureate Carol Ann Duffy (b.1955) was only appointed in 2009. This is note worthy given that the roots of the Poet Laureate go back to 12th century and the English Royal House of Plantagenet.
The Japanese haiku tradition too is dominated by the male masters, (Basho, Buson, Issa etc) But there are some outstanding women poets like Chiyo-ni and also the 11th century Lady Murasaki, whose novel 'Tale of Genji' is the first and possibly greatest novel in Japanese. For the topic in hand, Lady Murasaki started the practice of using prose and poetry in this work. So we could say, that the haibun (prose and poetry) has its roots here. :)
There are contemporary women haijjin who write about themes, which touch their lives and those of others. I quote an example of an Indian poet who wrote this haibun, which was picked as Editor's choice in May 2015 issue of cattails.:
QuoteForgotten
Shobhana Kumar
India
For twelve days she tottered between excruciating pain and confused identity. Nothing had changed to the world: she was just a man who was possibly rabidly insane, and was best left to die. Inside, her severed hormones raged like a monsoon. She no longer knew hunger from pain; sorrow from thirst; the loss of belonging from sheer abandonment.
Finally, discarding the life like the shirt she had worn all along she emerged in a sequined sari, rapped her knuckles on the kiosk and demanded money.
half moon—
the unwritten pages
of my diary
This haibun explores the twilight world of transgender in India, which has recently become a legal and constitutional issue in the country.
When I first started to submit haiku and related poems, many editors assumed I was male. This was both liberating and amusing. ;D
I don't know if I am a feminist voice, but I do write about issues which impact on the lives of women and children - war, sexual abuse, exploitation and atrocities.
Here is haibun about childhood violence and abuse. Published in the first issue of cattails 2013.QuoteCold Fire of Memory
Can you dream for someone who is terrified to sleep? Night oppresses her with its layer by layer of thickening silence. Even the full moon glints with insinuation.
She's too young to hold such sorrow within.
deep blue iris ...
the swollen smoothness
of her broken face
A tanka about how denial of abuse can be more complex than just a male/female situation, where the women too can create barriers which adds to the victim's suffering.:
Quoteshe
whose husband fingers
young girls
lectures trainee teachers
in child psychology
(Ribbons Fall 2011 Issue)
A tanka about violence against women trying to flee atrocities:QuoteChinese guns track
Tibetans on the ridge
in a trail of blood
one by one the nuns fall
fleeing their occupied home
Atlas Poetica 11 , 2012
This was inspired by the case of women in a village in Rajasthan, who were forcibly operated to remove their wombs by unscrupulous doctors.Quotestolen wombs -
the wind brings only dust
to the village well
Haiku News, 2013, haiga, Chrysanthemum 14, October 2013
A cousin of mine volunteered to go in an UN team to Syria and came back with horrendous stories of death and destruction of homes and children's lives. The inspiration for this haibun.:QuoteAleppo: Topography of Terror
clap of thunder —
ravens peel off a carcass
in the field
Through the glassless window a red balloon plays on the grass. Clock
hands have jammed at twelve. The shadow of an upturned cot spreads on
the bullet-splattered wall. A faint breeze of orange blossoms.
Nothing moves in the abandoned street. The setting sun plays on broken
doors that hang off their hinges.
In the public park the fountain teems with blowflies filled with their
run of eyeless corpses. Street lamps with empty sockets rain darkness.
moonset --
glint of orion's sword
low in the east
Published cattail 2013
Infant mortality is still a problem in many countries. Echoing fears about this:
Quotecrossing the road
to avoid the butcher's slab -
my first trimester
A Hundred Gourds 2:1, December 2012
Miscarriage and loss:QuoteObituary for Vanished Hope
Like the Snow Lotus in the mountain wind you've gone.
That dawn, unable to sleep, I tiptoed to the veranda stippled by gossamer rifts of the moon. I felt you for the first time. Your nascent warmth seeped to my cold fingers. No scan could have picked you then. My heart beat to a new rhythm.
Did the gods envy our un-shareable love? They sought their malicious revenge. You bled from my womb.
December rain—
a single acer leaf floats
to the heap below
A Hundred Gourds 3:2 March 2014
In recent years, a growing number of women have become editors of major haiku and related forms' journals. In alphabetical order of journal's name.:
A Hundred Gourds : Founder and Haiku Editor: Lorin Ford
Haiga Editor: Sandi Pray
Tanka: Susan Constable
Cattails : Principal Editor, haiku and tanka Editor : An'ya
Haiga Editor: Elizabeth McFarland
Youth Corner: Kala Ramesh. She is also an editor of World Review and Under the Basho and LHA
haibun& senryu: Sonam Chhoki
Chrysanthemum: Beate Conrad, Managing Editor
Eucalypt : Beverley George: Founder Editor
Frogpond: Aubrie Cox
Haibun Today : Melissa Allen &Ruth Holzer
Modern Haiku (Haibun editor): Roberta Beary
Moon bathing: Pamela A. Babusci
Redlights: Marilyn Hazelton
Skylark : Claire Everett: Founder Editor
There are other journals too which have women editors.
light pilgrim
Light,
So glad for your perspective on feminism in contemporary ELH. Great reference materials.
Beyond those important notations is your reference to "the Tail of Gengi" which was a read I enjoyed 26-ish years ago. I have altered my above entry with a quote from your well referenced treatis, with glad regards!
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"also the 11th century Lady Murasaki, whose novel 'Tale of Genji' is the first and possibly greatest novel in Japanese. For the topic in hand, Lady Murasaki started the practice of using prose and poetry in this work. So we could say, that the haibun (prose and poetry) has its roots here. :)"
---------------
Jan Benson
Thank you Alan, Jan, lp.
There is enough to read and pursue.
.
I would say this book is a must have:
A Long Rainy Season
by Leza Lowitz, Miyuki Aoyama, and Akemi Tomioka (editors)
http://www.stonebridge.com/catalog/a-long-rainy-season?A=SearchResult&SearchID=2204659&ObjectID=11826412&ObjectType=35
Liza Lowitz:
http://www.stonebridge.com/authors-archive/leza-lowitz
The other author bios have not yet been uploaded alas.
Look Inside feature at Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/Long-Rainy-Season-Collection-Literature/dp/1880656159/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1434575850&sr=8-1
Winner of the 1995 Benjamin Franklin Award, this is a landmark anthology of traditional short verse. In haiku and tanka fifteen Japanese women poets reveal universal female themes through the lens of a challenging spiritual and physical Japanese environment.
Amazon page for Miyuki Aoyama
http://www.amazon.com/Miyuki-Aoyama/e/B004YCE9AC/ref=dp_byline_cont_book_2
By Akemi Tomioka with Lillian Faderman and Minako Hara
http://www.amazon.com/Resubian-rekishi-Lillian-Faderman-Tomioka/dp/4480857338/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1454588193&sr=1-2
A Long Rainy Season is a stunning and shocking book with haiku and tanka by Japanese women, some of whom suffered at the hands of male authority. It's as shocking as the recent film Suffragette
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suffragette_(film)
The book transformed how I approached haiku and tanka.
.
Hi Anna,
Here's something that you may enjoy reading:
http://www.ahapoetry.com/TWWHBK.HTM
best,
vida
Thank you Vida.
:)
Alan,
am going thru the amazon links of the books you mentioned. The sad part is that none are available as e-books ...
I will have to wait, since, even though the books are listed on Amazon.in, they have to be imported by Amazon.in itself, before they reach me... it takes anywhere between 3-8 weeks, I will only know after I make the purchase. So it will be a slow read, but until then, there is the Tales of Genji.
Thank you.
People,
are there any preferred translations of The tale of Genji?
There are so many versions, and one version is available on Kindle.
However, there seems to be a preference to read the David Washburn version which also happens to be the newest one.
Halp. >:( :-X
Hi Anna,Quote from: Anna on February 04, 2016, 06:59:54 PM
Alan,
am going thru the amazon links of the books you mentioned. The sad part is that none are available as e-books ...
I will have to wait, since, even though the books are listed on Amazon.in, they have to be imported by Amazon.in itself, before they reach me... it takes anywhere between 3-8 weeks, I will only know after I make the purchase. So it will be a slow read, but until then, there is the Tales of Genji.
Thank you.
I totally agree regarding eBooks, and it's something I'm looking into when I produce some books later this year. I do have around 1000 eBooks around the haikai genres etc...
When I purchased the Journeys 2015 haibun anthology I was delighted that Dr Angelee Deodhar had also produced a Kindle version. Way to go! :-)
Tales of Genji is not a bad book to thoroughly read and also deconstruct, great that you are reading such classic works, it's part of our history if we write haikai literature.
Alan
Anna, (all):
---An online search of my local library shows two options to order "Tale of Genji" from the leading library. No e-book optins.
(You may want to check you library).
---Alan, "A Long Rainy Season" is cost prohibitive (even used, on Amazon).
My library does not carry it, and it is huge, with tenticles reaching far away satellite sources.
Jan Benson
I tend to snatch books up as soon as they are released due to this problem.
What about Abebooks and their searches for A Long Rainy Season:
http://www.abebooks.com/servlet/SearchResults?sts=t&tn=A+Long+Rainy+Season
warm regards,
Alan
Quote from: Jan in Texas on February 05, 2016, 12:59:22 PM
Anna, (all):
---An online search of my local library shows two options to order "Tale of Genji" from the leading library. No e-book optins.
(You may want to check you library).
---Alan, "A Long Rainy Season" is cost prohibitive (even used, on Amazon).
My library does not carry it, and it is huge, with tenticles reaching far away satellite sources.
Jan Benson
Alan,
You just earned your salary!
Ordered!
(A Happy Camper in Texas!)
Jan
Anna, all.
---I have since purchased and read "A Long Rainy Season".
---The haiku were ok to good.
It was the second half, tankas, that split me open.
I've picked up the book several times in the month that I've owned it, in search of inspiration within this fresh and spirited collection.
---That Alan read it in the 1990's and was changed, and my read of it in 2016, opening my mind to these contemporary women, speaks well of the enduring quality of this anthology.
Jan Benson
I will get it Jan, thanks.