Poet Profile

Angelee Deodhar

Following the developpement of a life-threatening illness, Indian ophtalmologist, Angelee Deodhar turned to writing as a lifetime and second career. Dr. Deodhar was born just before the partition of India and schooled in the best "English" tradition. Her home in the foothills of the Himalaya was filled with books and music and even during medical school she wrote short stories, articles and poems. It was not, however; until she developed a recurrent pulmonary thromboembolism necessitating repeated prolonged hospitalizations that she developed a passion for poetry, especially haiku. She wrote award-winning poems which were published in the USA, the UK, Canada, Australia, Japan, Croatia, Romania, Finland, Poland, and India.
She was a member of several haiku societies, a.o. the Haiku Society of America, Haiku Society of Canada, Haiku International Association, Japan, the World Haiku Association and the Evergreen Haiku Society. She was a member of International Arts Medicine Association and has been published in medical magazines also.
In 2000 she attended the World Haiku Festival held in London and Oxford and presented a paper on “Haiku in India”. In 2001 she gave a few multimedia presentations on "Contemporary Collaborative Haiga and Healing" at the request of the Haiku Society of Canada. In summer 2003 she was one of the main speakers at the Haiku North America conference held in New York City and gave a multimedia presentation on "The Seasons of Love: Women's Poetry in India and Japan". In the essay that she presented she quoted Ezra Pound's definition of image —"an emotional and intellectual complex in an instant of time"— and compared it to the response we have to a good haiku. She also talked about the healing qualities of haiku, for both the poet and the reader ande used the visual arts and writing in her own healing after a serious illness.
An interview with Angelee (May, 2014): A life in haiku;
Cafe Haiku The blog of InHaikuMumbai A Tribute to Angelee Deodhar .

Awards and Other Honors:

Presence Award, Highly Commended, 2002; Third Prize, 2003 Robert Spiess Memorial Haiku Award; runner-up in The R.H. Blyth Award 2013; Honorable mention the 6th Japan-Russia Haiku Contest, 2017.

Books Published:

Pail in Hand 25 Haiku (2000), Haiku World, An International Poetry Almanac, William J. Higginson, Kodansha International 1996 – digitized in The Haiku Foundation Digital Library; If Someone Asks: Masaoka Shiki's Life and Haiku (2005) Matsuyama Municipal Shiki-Kinen Museum, Matsuyama Japan; Classic Haiku: A Master’s Selection, edited by Miura Yuzuru, 2006; Ogura Hyakunin Isshu: 100 Poems by 100 Poets, 2007 Azad Hind Stores, Chandigarh India; Children’s Haiku from Around the World: A Haiku Primer, Hindi translation and bilingual publication by Angelee Deodhar (Chandigarh, India: printed by Azad Hind Stores Ltd., Autumn 2007); Indian Haiku: A Bilingual Anthology of Haiku by 105 Poets from India, Angelee Deodhar, compiler and editor (Chandigarh, India: printed by Azad Hind Stores Ltd., Spring 2008); The Distant Mountain:The Life and Haiku of Kobayashi Issa, 2009 a bilingual edition by David G. Lanoue (English translations & comments) and Angelee Deodhar (Hindi translations) 2009; Journeys: An Anthology of International Haibun, by Angelee Deodhar (Editor), 2014, 2015, 2017, CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform; (February 24, 2017); Atoms of Haiku Volume III: A Haiku Collection By Authors United: Volume 3, CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform; (March 25, 2018); “Haiku Silence” - essay by Angelee Deodhar.

burial at sea―
I save their buttons
to take home

midnight walk
the dog nudges me down
our moonlit path

out of the fog
a crow's cracked caw
drips into silence

moon rise―
the scarecrow’s long shadow
in a stubble burnt field

smoldering eyes
the lambada rhythm
hip to hip

another dream―
riding a white horse
into the mist

after the funeral
first a sprinkle of stars
then a dusting of snow

rumors of war
up into a darkening sky
―a child's newsprint kite

cold wind
our conversation fills
with plum blossom

spring melt
the susurration of water
in the tea kettle

Credits:

“waterfall” – Modern Haiku vol. 45:2, Summer 2014; “midnight walk” – The Asahi Shimbun, Oct. 25, 2003; “out of the fog“ – Poetry Pacific, Nov. 5, 2015; “moon rise“ – Autumn Moon Haiku 1:1, 2017; “smoldering eyes“ – Frogpond vol. 38:2, Summer 2015; “another dream” – Hedgerow #123, Spring 2018; “after the funeral“ – The Mainichi, March 24, 2017; “rumors of war“ – Third Prize, The Robert Spiess Memorial Haiku Award for 2003; “cold wind“ – The Heron's Nest Vol. VII, No. 1: March, 2005; “spring melt“ – The Heron's Nest Vol. XII, No 2: June, 2010.