I don't have an i-pod that can download apps, but my girlfriend Kathleen does. Yesterday, at my behest, she downloaded the free "THF Haiku" app, and we started playing with it. The very first haiku that appeared on the little screen was Ami Tanaka's "Atom Heart Mother" poem. Followers of Periplum, from its first year as a blog and through its second year as a forum, will remember this haiku and all the fun we had puzzling over its many layers of possible meaning and feeling.
But all good things must come to an end. And, incidentally, all bad things must also come to an end. I won't dare speculate which kind of thing this blog-turned-forum has been. I only know, I don't have time for it in the near future. The book that I'm trying to write, about Issa's animals, has stalled halfway through chapter one, the frogs. I need to get past froggies and on to chapter two, sparrows!
Which means, I must take a long, perhaps permanent, sabbatical from Periplum. I hope that someone will volunteer to continue keeping the conversation going. For now, I bid you all a fond farewell.
Thanks for tuning in!