The Haiku Foundation Forums

Dear Rebecca,

You are a fine commentator, and I thank you for that.

I am not at all surprised that you won an award for your haiku.

brief lives
today the cherry blossoms
seem more permanent

It is completely in keeping with the respect that the Japanese hold for cherry blossoms because they are so brief and fleeting.

It's one of the best ever haiku I've read over twenty years on the subject of fleeting lives, and of cherry blossom.

Alan

Quote from: whitedove on September 28, 2012, 07:54:02 PM
I'm late coming to this link, but I've enjoyed it immensely.  Thanks to all of you for your wonderful thoughts and poems.  Like Chase, I bought a book of Japanese Death Poems, and I very much enjoyed reading it. @ Chase—your poem is marvelous, but don't ever take that road. My husband's cousin, a gifted cardiovascular surgeon took his own life a few years ago. For others, the grief never ends.  I don't know if the poem I wrote could be considered a death poem, but I wrote it when I was battling breast cancer and entered it in the Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival Haiku International.  To my surprise it won a Sakura award.  I didn't think it had a chance when I read after I'd submitted that the theme of the contest was the joy of sharing cherry blossoms.  My poem explores themes of fragility and impermanence, and after I wrote it I thought it might make a good death poem.  The poem is:

brief lives
today the cherry blossoms
seem more permanent

Thanks again to all who contributed to this interesting discussion.  Rebecca Drouilhet

Dear Rebecca and Chibi,

I'm reposting this as it contains so many important points.

As I know from experience during my Masters Degree, when i assisted novelists in one particular module, and the University brought in my wife to help with the media aspect, that novelists are intensely shy of allowing readers into their private world, and there's the conundrum.

I look forward to Chibi's response.

For me I am absolutely fascinated by this, and feel there is both a book to come from this, as well poetry.

Alan

Rebecca's original message with spacings

Hello Chibi  I'm not sure if I fully understand your distinction between personal and private, but I will share with you some thoughts I've had about the subject.

I have lived for many years in an area that has a plethora of ghosts from the past.  Sometimes I move away from here, but I always come back.  Last year I took my grandchildren to visit the graves of their great-great-great-great grandparents. I wonder how many children get to do that? 

When I write, I'm not sure how to share things that are highly local—especially those things that have deep roots in collective consciousness and perhaps collective guilt.  For example, there is a graveyard in this coastal area that is called by the inelegant name of Rotten Bayou Cemetery. The locals here report many supernatural experiences at Rotten Bayou.  The ghosts they report seeing are often described as having hideous small pox scars.  This is an area that had a large Native American population, many of whom died of smallpox.  Many of the residents here are of mixed Native American and European ancestory. 

Recently, I wrote a haiku about Rotten Bayou Cemetery, but I didn't name the place in my poem or try to explain the complex hold it has on residents here who remain haunted by its specters after all these years. 

I suppose I could write a haibun and take readers in that way, but I do wonder if outsiders would understand the nature of many of the private secrets I know about this place.  I am somewhat reluctant to erase the lines between personal and private for reasons even I don't understand. Yet I think many fine writers do have the gift of removing those barriers and sharing their local cultures and customs.  I'm not sure about my own reluctance, but your discussion topic does make me question things again.

There are such things as unique clichés, or using cliché in a fresh approach.  Your verse is at least a double cliché (in a good way) and as Van Gogh painted Japanese artwork, why wouldn't Basho sketch Monet?  8)

Alan

Quote from: Don Baird on September 27, 2012, 12:12:15 PM
Maybe, after all of the haiku that has been written, the only thing left to our pens is "unique cliche"?

frog
out of the water
out of Basho

spoof on Virgilio's lily poem ...

Hi Marion,

re herons and heron haiku:

In the 1990s there was a spate where almost every haiku writer, it seemed, banged on about the stillness of herons, whether they'd actually seen one or not.  The versions were so similar and numerous that finally someone like Peter Williams had to do a spoof which reduced the numbers which were heading towards epic proportions, almost going viral. :-)

Herons are actually very loud clumsy birds taking off and landing, often crashing into trees, and their own tree nests.

Most things are quiet and still when they are quiet and still, and so after reading about the 200th still heron in just one quarter spread across half a dozen of the best print journals, I wasn't the only one who wanted to leave the poor heron(s) alone for a while. :-)

Many of us have seen herons, and I had one published in a handful of stones, which has just been anthologised as a small  stones title (to be released shortly).  But I didn't say it was still! :-) The heron was actually gently shifting the silt by a nest of swans late at night.

Actually it became a running joke at the NftG Road events as we saw a still heron in Aberdeen, but daren't mention the 'still' word. And then I was the only one to see a heron at Winchester Water Meadows, and it was moving around a lot, being noisy, and yet I was the only one to notice. :-)

But if you've seen a heron, write about it, but try to not mention the 'still' word as a challenge. :-)

Alan

Quote from: Seaview on September 27, 2012, 04:49:20 AM
I 've probably committed every cliché sin - apart from the pond one!  ;D But does this mean you can't write about a heron when that's what you're sitting looking at or it's what's standing looking at you?  :o

If you do read again publically, and don't regularly read in open mic spots and guest spots, I'd recommend at least an hour in front of the mirror, or a friend.

The two day Another Country event had rehearsal times so everything was polished as it could be, although some naughty poets didn't attend, and you could see the difference in some cases.

I'm a regular public speaker nowadays so I'll often just spend 30 minutes rehearsing in front of my wife, also a performance poet, page poet, haiku and tanka writer etc...

It's so that the nuances aren't missed where you should stress certain words, and also pitch the voice correctly.

Karen read on both days as she was in the anthology, and I read on the second day with Karen and the editors, and a few selected readers.  Here's a link, with other weblinks:
http://area17.blogspot.co.uk/2011/02/karen-hoy-appears-in-major-new-haiku.html

The Irish anthology, which I've just ordered, is now able to be purchased at:
http://www.doghousebooks.ie/doghouse/publications/publication.php?publication=bamboodreams

Alan

Quote from: Seaview on September 26, 2012, 10:25:39 AM
Thanks, Alan. I didn't know about the Welsh anthology, thanks for that.

I'm hoping Anatoly will put it up as I think he was recording speakers. Well, I don't really hope so as I dread to think what I was like, although he did say I was a good reader afterwards...but maybe he says that to everyone!  ;D

marion

I've tried to excise my bad ones from memory and records, but here's one that should have never seen the light of day (cliché alert):


the old mouser
an empty sheepshed
hunted still

Alan Summers
Publications credits: Azami #37 (1996)

A lazy reliance on still to add depth, plus I have old!

It was indeed a retired  mousing dog, but he wasn't exactly haunting the sheepshed, either because he was dead or wanted to carry on.

He was a very happy retired dog in a sheep farm in Queensland. :-)

Alan

My experience of haiku in the 1990s was that there was a plethora of clichés.

This came to pass (cliché) when one writer would create a fresh haiku and it would be copied sometimes a hundred fold.

Another reason for clichés occuring was our laziness in using shortcuts with keywords such

•  still
•  shadow
•  old
•  herons, and stillness of herons in particular
•  cherry blossom
•  Basho/frog pond verse allusions

The Late Peter Williams, born in Watford, England, brought out some marvellous and humourous verses gently poking fun at the innumerable number of clichéd oft-repeated themes or keywords/modifiers that abounded.

These particular haiku were published in 2001 as a mix of fond homage to the clichés back in the 1990s.

They appeared in Blithe Spirit, Journal of The British Haiku Society: But it wasn't just a British disease.

I look forward to people brave enough to recognise and post their own clichéd haiku.



The lovely Peter Williams, now deceased, published these wonderful and subtle spoofs and satirical verses, taking the gentle mickey out of fads, clichés and trends in Western haiku over the years. ;-)


too tired to get up–
my shadow goes and makes
a cup of tea


midnight pond
a frog jumps over
the moon


cherry blossom–
time to polish
my shoes


branch above the river
the heron
moves about a lot


Peter Williams
Blithe Spirit Vol. II No.3 (2001)



n.b.

I was delighted when the Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival included a haiku competition run by competent knowledgeable organisers and judges including Michael Dylan Welch and Carole MacCrury, so the blossom verses appeared fresh and original and never tired.
http://www.vcbf.ca/haiku/haiku-invitational-2012

I am also the very proud owner of Robin Gill's  Cherry Blossom Epiphany – the poetry and philosophy of a flowering tree – ISBN#  0-9742618-6-6 (pbk);  13 digit    978-0-9742618-6-7   740 pp
http://paraverse.org/newbooks.htm

Highly recommended: Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival, and Robin Gill's Paraverse publications.




.

Thanks for the report.

As there's been a Welsh haikai anthology, an Irish one was long overdue.  Glad it was so well supported.

Did you take photographs or have the readers recorded for YouTube?

Alan

Quote from: Seaview on September 26, 2012, 06:31:53 AM
I travelled to Dublin by cab, rail and the DART yesterday then walked for half an hour in order to read at the launch of new anthology, Bamboo Dreams

This publication is the first ever Irish national anthology of haiku edited by Anatoly Kudryavitsky. The Minister of Arts launched the collection and spoke of the recent rise in popularity of haiku in Ireland. I was honoured to have been asked for permission for my work to appear in a publication that contains a haiku from mainsteam Irish poets Seamus Heaney and Patrick Kavanagh. Some of my haiku that featured in the anthology were workshopped on The Haiku Foundation and AHA - so thank you everyone! 

marion

.

bones - a journal for new haiku

home page: http://www.bonesjournal.com/
submission guidelines: http://bonesjournal.com/submission.html
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/bonesjournal/info
Twitter: https://twitter.com/bonesjournal

Free pre-issue PDF of new haiku on the homepage:
http://www.bonesjournal.com





.

I'm not sure to be honest.  I've been told by a lot of American, and Canadian, poets that there isn't anything like the courses I offer.  Contact me for more information if you like.

Alan

Quote from: Chase Fire on September 23, 2012, 11:45:16 AM
This sounds aeesome. Do you know if there are any courses like this in the USA?

Alas no.

But if you are coming over to England, I'm often running events, some of them are public too. 

Quote from: Chase Fire on September 23, 2012, 11:42:38 AM
Alan, since NFTG is no longer a publication, that means no more nftg on the road? :(

There cannot be one alone for so here's three to start with!

Fay Aoyagi: http://www.haijinx.org/IV-1/reviews/liveagain.html
John Stevenson: http://www.haijinx.org/IV-1/reviews/liveagain.html
Johannes S H Berg: http://www.cyberwit.net/publications/295

Look forward to the magazine when it goes live with its links.  Enjoy! :-)

Alan

Quote from: Chase Fire on September 16, 2012, 05:08:41 PM
Step outside when the sky is clear and the moon is full, and just look. You cant cant help but to be struck by the moons flawless beauty. Its no wonder that this amazing part of the sky has been the center of countless myths and ledgends over thousands of years.
Moon Blood Magazine will make you think about the moon in ways you never thought you could.
-Chief Editor, Lemark Grey.

Moon Blood Magazine is a fresh new journal that will publish only moon related verses. Edited by up and coming poets Chase Fire and Lemark Grey. Each issue will be posted on our site and will be packed with powerful haiku, tanka, and haibun, which all touch on the moon in different and unique ways. Moon Blood Magazine will be open for submissions very soon!
We hope to see everyone submit. We will post a link in about two weeks, so get your submissions ready!
Thank you, Co Editor, Chase Fire.

.

Call for submissions of short verse for C.2.2. an anthology by Yet To Be Named Free Press.

C.2.2. Editors: Brendan Slater and Alan Summers

"Between loss of identity and loss of name, it's surprising, how when you are referred to by a number, you hurt." Prisoner KM5451

Yet To Be Named Free Press is putting together an anthology entitled C.2.2. on the following themes:


• loss of identity and/or name
• mental health issues
• social issues
• physical health issues
• unsentimental love


Send us your darkest and/or most honest work to be considered for the anthology, alongside a pen name (pseudonym).

We are looking for poems between 1 to 8 lines in length. Poets may submit up to 5 haiku, tanka, short haibun, free-verse along with a pen name.*

Deadline: 30th November 2012.

We are looking for modern experimental work only.

Submissions Email:
Please submit your work to: subs@yettobenamedfreepress.org

The anthology will contain around 200 poems and will be published in early 2013.


*Only pen names will be included in the anthology but individual poems may be posted on personal blogs or other social media with the poet's real name.

FFI please go to these weblinks:

http://area17.blogspot.co.uk/2012/09/call-for-poetry-for-new-short-verse.html

http://www.yettobenamedfreepress.org/


--------- e n d ----------

.

For the contributers Iron Press was incredibly generous, as they gave each of us three copies.  My mother-in-law received her copy yesterday from my wife, and was very impressed by the writing.

It was interesting to observe her choices as she isn't caught up in fifth-liners (it's my name for the fifth line where the author's names appear) and would read out haiku that were really good, by names I recognised (when I asked) but who rarely publish widely.

Also the layout is revolutionary, and perfect for new readers to haiku, as well as established readers of haiku.  Basically it's user friendly across a wider spectrum, and will help address the confusion over gimmicky verse posing as haiku to boost sales aka the Cat haiku books out there etc...



The Humours of Haiku
edited by David Cobb

    £7.00
    Publication date: September 2012
    76 pages A6 page size
    ISBN 978-0-9565725-4-7

For anyone who thinks haiku arouse only a very narrow range of emotions, this anthology - with 240 haiku by over 100 poets - is a challenge to think again.

Sadness, anger, jealousy, pity, compassion, regret and joy are just some of the emotions covered, and all within the confines of the small three line poems - confines that can often prove liberating to the practitioners of this increasingly popular literary form.



INTERNATIONAL ORDERS
Iron Press are not able to take credit cards at present. To pay by credit card go to their Inpress webpage: http://www.inpressbooks.co.uk/the-humours-of-haiku/

For US orders or Eurozone:
Click at the top right of the webpage for more currency choices (where it states GBP) and you get a choice of Euros or US Dollars. :-)

I guess for non Europeans and non-US citizens, you could be able to use established international credit cards plus paypal: http://www.inpressbooks.co.uk/customer-service

ORDERING FOR UK CITIZENS
If you live in the United Kingdom you can order our books by sending Iron Press a cheque for the appropriate amount, plus £1 per book towards postage and packing.

Click on the logo below to download and print our order form and price list.
http://www.ironpress.co.uk/orders.html
http://www.ironpress.co.uk/txtord.htm



.