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James Kirkup

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James Kirkup

April 23rd, 1918 – May 10th, 2009

                            – Poet, Translator, Writer, Teacher
                            – Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature
                            – First President of the British Haiku Society
                            – Poetry Advisor, Kō Haiku Magazine (Japan)

 I switched off the light
       over the kitchen sink, and
         the frogs stopped croaking

This Post Has 5 Comments

  1. I never met James, but met his books in every bookshop I visited in every country, he made me feel at home.

    He was also the first British Haiku Society President, of which I later became General Secretary. Again I never got to meet him. Please read his wonderful haiku, tanka, and other poems.

  2. ps: I had an idea [fiction] for a poem that God is Bisexual [no offense folks]
    which is based on single cell organisums that produce both sperma & ova.
    I first thought of a haibun, but I can see having issues within the haiku. I’ll
    kick the idea around.
    PPS: I’ll make a query to see if this would have a market? haha, I can issues..

  4. I would like to offer my condolences to the Kirkup family, and to the haiku
    community.

    Sincerely,

    Gene

    fishing
    where my brother stood–
    twilight chill

  5. Some items from JAMES KIRKUP published in AZAMI early part of August 1998:

    INTERNATIONALISM

    Your Christ is a Jew,
    your new car is Japanese,
    and your couscous is
    Algerian. It is Greek,
    your democracy — or was.

    Your coffee comes from
    Brazil, your wristwatch is Swiss,
    your shirt is Indian,
    your radio Korean,
    You holiday in Turkey,

    Tunisia or
    Philippines. Your chocolate
    is from Ghana
    your figures are Arabic
    your letters come from Latin.

    — The whole world lives in
    your house, your office, your street.
    So will you tell me
    how you can treat a neighbour
    as such a total stranger?

    The antiracist
    is not the one who proclaims
    the equality
    of races, but who affirms
    the human race as one.

    James Kirkup
    (from TANKA TALES, University of Salzburg Press, 1997)

    Another page from Azami brought home…Merrill Ann Gonzales

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