HaikuLife 2020 Reprised: Lit Candles

Each day on the Troutswirl blog we will reprise a film featured in HaikuLife 2020, The Haiku Foundation’s haiku film festival, the only one of its kind.

Today’s film: 30 poets convened by Victor Ortiz offer poems of consolation for troubled times.

Title: Lit Candles
Artist: Victor Ortiz, convener
Format: free
Duration: 53:14

Victor Ortiz writes: “When I learned that the Poetry Society of America had recently featured a series called Reading in the Dark, with the stated purpose as follows, ‘In response to the Coronavirus pandemic, we asked poets to write about the poems they return to in difficult times — to find solace, perspective, or even a moment of delight,’ I decided to visit their site. I was deeply moved by what I read and I began to wonder if members of our haiku community would be willing to share a haiku that they return to in difficult times. But in this case, I thought that since many of us might be feeling isolated it would be important to meet face-to-face and hear our voices. Not only did I believe that this would be an uplifting experience but that it would also be a significant way for us to gather in celebration of International Haiku Poetry Day. So, I asked poets from the haiku community if they would be interested in participating in a ZOOM video conferencing event and the response was a very positive YES. What we all shared with each other was truly inspiring and we agreed to commemorate this special day with a recording to share with others.”

Reading order:

Susan Antolin
Fay Aoyagi
Gary Evans
Stanford M. Forrester
Abigail Friedman
Patrick Gallagher
Richard Gilbert
John S Green
Lynne Jambor
Jim Kacian
Deborah P Kolodji
Yvette Kolodji
Greg Longenecker
Eve Luckring
Vicki McCullough
Tanya McDonald
Patricia Machmiller
Carole MacRury
Ron C. Moss
kjmunro
Victor Ortiz
C. J. Prince
Michelle Schaefer
Rob Scott
Carla Shafer
Carole Slesnick
John Stevenson
Angela Terry
Michael Dylan Welch
Bruce H. Feingold

And watch the entire HaikuLife 2020 program here!