Poet Profile

'Haiku Elvis' (Carlos Colón)

Born in Shreveport, Louisiana, where he also made his home, Carlos Colón was the founding editor of the Electronic Poetry Network and a founding member of the Northwest Louisiana Haiku Society. In a review of Mountain Climbing, Colón's first haiku chapbook, Wally Swist wrote, "Colón's concrete poems are some of the best I've seen--this includes the contemporary classic, Concrete Poetry Anthology, issued by the Indiana University Press in the mid-seventies." [Modern Haiku XXV.2 (1994)]. Colón and Raffael de Gruttola published what is arguably the first concrete renku (Circling Bats) in 2001.His iconic appearances as "Haiku Elvis" became a must-see event at haiku conferences and gatherings. (A recorded performance of Colón appearing as "Haiku Elvis" is available on YouTube [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sybzgafBkvs and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rp46mbpszIc]).

Awards and Other Honors: Some of his awards and other honors include but are not limited to: Nominated for Pushcart Prize XX (1994); shared $20,000 (total) for three Louisiana Division of the Arts Decentralized Grants as part of The Yellow Bus Tour (1995-1997); Honorable Mention, Haiku Society of America Merit Book Awards for editing Voices and Echoes: Haiku Society of America Members' Anthology, 2001 (2002); Recipient, Shreveport Regional Arts Council Literature Fellowship (2002); Finalist for Sixteenth Annual Louisiana Literature Prize for Poetry (2002); Honorable Mention, Kanterman Merit Book Awards for editing haiku anthology (Haiku Society of America, 2002); The Heron's Nest Award (June 2003); Second Place, Gerald Brady Memorial Award for Unpublished Senryu (2003); First Place, San Francisco International Senryu Contest (2004). In addition to publishing more than 1,000 poems, 8 articles, 126 reviews, and 10 songs, his work was selected for several anthologies and other publications, including but not limited to Writer's Digest, Journal of Poetry Therapy, Louisiana Literature, Louisiana English Journal, Cæsura, Canadian Writer's Journal, Parnassus Literary Journal, Golf Digest, Reader's Digest, Haiku Compass (Haiku International Association, 1994); three editions of Maple Leaf Rag (Portals Press, 1994, 2006, and 2010); Higginson's Haiku World (Kodansha International, 1996); Dark and Stormy Rides Again (Penguin Books, 1996); four editions of The Red Moon Anthology of English-Language Haiku (Red Moon Press, 1997, 1999, 2005, and 2007); Umpteen Ways of Looking at a Possum (Xavier Review Press, 2006); Tazuo Yamaguchi's Haiku: Art of the Short Poem [print and DVD documentary] (Brooks Books, 2008); Recipient, G. Scott Griffin Award [for a local artist who has overcome adversity] (2010); The Southern Poetry Anthology (Texas Review Press, 2011); Haiku 21 (Modern Haiku Press, 2011); Recipient, Shreveport Regional Arts Council Theatre Fellowship (2011); Take Five: Best Contemporary Tanka (Modern English Tanka Press, 2011 and 2012); Haiku in English: The First Hundred Years [edited by Jim Kacian, Philip Rowland, and Allan Burns] (W.W. Norton and Company, 2013); his book Haiku Elvis - A Life in 17 Syllables (or Less) was shortlisted for the Touchstone Distinguished Book Award (2013); named Caddo Parish Poet Laureate by Caddo Parish Commission, (2014); work selected for Nest Feathers: Selected Haiku from the First 15 Years of The Heron's Nest (The Heron's Nest Press, 2015).

Books Published: Chapbooks: THE WORST OF almira gulch [satirical poetry] (self-published,1984); Almira Gulch: Confessions of a Social Wallflower [musical] (self-published,1987); The Kleppie Handbook (unpublished manuscript, 1982); Blue Jay on a Bowling Pin (self-published, 1991); Jiminy Limericks (self-published, 1991 and 1994 [illustrated version]); Mountain Climbing [(haiku and concrete poetry] (self-published, 1993); Nothing Inside [linked poem with Alexis K. Rotella] (proof press, 1996); Clocking Out (self-published, 1996); Sassy [a collection of linked poetry with Alexis K. Rotella] (self-published, 1998); Circling Bats: A Concrete Renga [with Raffael de Gruttola] (self-published, 2001); You Don't Need a Weatherman (unpublished poetry manuscript, 2001); Wall Street Park: A Concrete Renku [with Raffael de Gruttola] (self-published, 2007); Autumn Leaves: A Twelve-Tone Concrete Renku [with Raffael de Gruttola] (self-published, 2010); The Inside Scoop: New and Selected Poems [poetry] (Naissance, 2010); Haiku Elvis - A Life in 17 Syllables (or Less) (Laughing Cactus Press, 2013). Editor: The Best of the Electronic Poetry Network (Shreveport Regional Arts Council Literary Panel, 2000); Voices and Echoes: Haiku Society of America Members' Anthology, 2001 (Haiku Society of America, 2001); Between Quiet and Confrontation (Lost Words Publishing, 2003).

  at the hazardous
      waste site
an eight-leaf clover

closing arguments
the length of the lawyer's
skirt

in the middle
of making love
counting syllables

overtaken
by weeds
the road not taken

summer night
a baby changed
on the hood of a Chevy

in the wrong
place again
my accent

taking my glasses
the optician disappears
into the wall paper

my daughter’s eyes
when I refuse
the beggar

zen concert
an air guitar
slightly out of tune

pointing 
my way home
the starfish

Credits: [an incomplete list] "hazardous waste site" - Point Judith Light II.2 (1993); Colón, Mountain Climbing; Parnassus (spring 1994); Frogpond 17:2 (summer 1994); Higginson, Haiku Compass; Haiku Alphabet in Celebration of Summer; Haiku World (1996); Haiku antici e moderni (1997); Red Moon Anthology 1997; Haiku Light (November 1997); WHA Web site (October 2); Shreve Memorial Library (Shreveport, La.) Electronic Poetry Network, March 17, 1998; "in the middle" – Second Place, Gerald Brady Memorial Award for Unpublished Senryu (2003); "summer night" – The Heron's Nest VII:1 (2005); Nest Feathers: Selected Haiku from the First 15 Years of The Heron's Nest (The Heron's Nest Press, 2015); "taking my glasses" - Modern Haiku 26:1 (1995); Haiku Headlines (February 1997); Colón, Clocking Out; South by Southeast 4:2 (1997); One Breath (Haiku Society of America Members’ Anthology 1995); Haiku Headlines 9:11 (1997); Haiku Light Web site (February 1998); WHA Web site (October 2002); Cornell University Mann Library's Daily Haiku [Web], February 1, 2008); "zen concert" - Raw NerVZ 3:1 [as part of "Mardi Gras Parade" renku with Alexis K. Rotella] (1996); Colón, Clocking Out; South by Southeast 4:2 (1997); Rotella & Colón, Sassy; Hardenbrook & Smith, Haiku Poems; Haiku Light (February 1998); Cornell University Mann Library's Daily Haiku [Web], February 3, 2008); "closing arguments" – Too Busy for Spring (Haiku North America anthology, 1999); Haiku in English: The First Hundred Years [edited by Jim Kacian, Philip Rowland, and Allan Burns] (W.W. Norton and Company, 2013); "overtaken" - Haiku Headlines 10:3 (1997); Haiku in English: The First Hundred Years [edited by Jim Kacian, Philip Rowland, and Allan Burns] (W.W. Norton and Company, 2013); "in the wrong place" - Sunday at Four V:2 (1996); From a Kind Neighbor (Haiku Society of America Members’ Anthology 1997); "my daughter’s eyes" - Frogpond 22:1 (1999); Thin Curve (Red Moon Anthology 1999); Cornell University Mann Library's Daily Haiku [Web] (February 10, 2008); "pointing" - Raw NerVZ 3:1 [as part of "Mardi Gras Parade" renku with Alexis K. Rotella] (1996); Rotella & Colón, Sassy; Haiku Headlines, February 1997; Lynx 12:1 (1997); Haiku Light Website (November 1999); Hardenbrook & Smith, Haiku Poems; Colón, Clocking Out; Shreveport, Louisiana’s Art Poetry A-Go-Go project; WHA Web site (October 2002); Haiku in English: The First Hundred Years [edited by Jim Kacian, Philip Rowland, and Allan Burns] (W.W. Norton and Company, 2013).