The Haiku Foundation Forums

This excellent question recalls the Haiku - Three Questions Series, edited by Curtis Dunlap, at Blogging Along Tobacco Road.  I remember writing my answers in 2010, from my heart, and have not reprinted the earlier haiku I shared there since then.  Many poets are included, and perhaps this is a new resource for some readers. 

Newer short poems, including haiku, appear in a Christmas collection I created on WordPress last year.  I am leaving it now as a free online book.  http://quietchristmaspoetry.wordpress.com  There is also a large print chapbook to go along with the site.

I realize I have returned to my haiku beginnings; my love of this form and other short poems that can be read by people in many life situations, and from many points of view.  For me, the beginnings were from broken health and grief.  Now my goal is to share with others, also from a place of peace and wellness (though I know life can change in a moment).  Sometimes memories overtake me, and I write my way back.  I think of my personal work as an encouragement ministry.  Sometimes I write from a teacher's point of view, in other contexts.  I simply love language, and this love brings wholeness to my life.

With my work as a volunteer for the education page at The Haiku Foundation, I have studied craft a great deal more.  I believe a lot of listening and reading create a good foundation for writing poetry.  Everyone's path is unique though.  By God's grace, I was able to give 20 years to special education.  I like to think that haiku seems friendly and possible to someone who may find the language arts especially difficult. 

Years that seemed fallow at the time have truly supported me.  I also love being older and having a different perspective about time.  I sit and wonder a lot.  So grateful.

holiness
and humility
Christmas

wind freeing the snow
from evergreen branches
waterfalls

looking at trees
I remember prayers
of friends

(from my Christmas site)

Thank you to Peter Yovu and the poets for Field Notes. 

Blessings, Ellen

Thank you for this conversation.  There is a lot here to read and learn.  For now, I saw that Kristen Deming echoed the thought that Criticism is an art in and of itself.  I've thought that as well, as I've read criticism in education, poetry, and other fields.

As I read reviews, I mostly appreciate a clear summary of what the book is like, and perhaps a few sample poems.  Let the reader decide.  Sometimes I wish I had read books before the reviews, so I can evaluate for myself before joining the broader conversation.  A review may have seemed too negative, or too positive - thereby putting pressure on the poems that didn't need to be there, in my view.  This must be where the art of criticism is so important.

As for haiku criticism in the form of essays and books, I don't feel qualified so far to speak to that topic.  But I remember in educational and psychological research the difference between basic and applied research.  Always felt both were equally valid, even though the former might not bear fruit for a long time.  My gift was to translate the research into teacher preparation classes.  In some areas, it seemed a small group of people were writing for each other - were peers - and that surely has its place. What I didn't like though, was when the journals that did the translation of research into practice weren't seen as equal by some (or so it seemed). Or different areas of the field were in competition.  I'd say to my students, this is education, we should be helping each other.

This haiku was a gift 20 years ago this December.  It was published in Time Of Singing (1997).

coming out of
anesthesia . . .
the Cross on the wall

And this poem today, in gratitude for healing and everyday life.

Christmas
light from the fireplace
on the floor

This poem by Jim Kacian, from the Haiku in English anthology, is another gift.

pain fading the days back to wilderness

* * *

On an another note, this is my first post for the Forum.  Thanks to Peter Yovu for encouragement.

Very nice idea for a theme: Gift.

Ellen