Saturday, May 3, 2008

Peggy Lyles - Three Questions

During the warm months, I enjoy sitting in an old rocking chair on my front porch with a magazine or book of poetry. One book that has made several trips with me to my reading spot is a wonderful collection of haiku entitled To Hear the Rain: Selected Haiku of Peggy Lyles.

Peggy Willis Lyles, haiku poet, Magnapoet, and co-editor of The Heron's Nest responds to Haiku - Three Questions.



1. Why do you write haiku?

Vince Tripi asked me that question many years ago, and after considerable thought I answered, "To participate." That may be as close as I can come to the nearly impossible answer. I could add, "Because I want to and need to." Writing haiku is a way of partaking and sharing, of contributing to and becoming one with humanity, the earth, the universe. Searching, being, expressing, and discovering merge in this life-enriching habit that sharpens observation, intuition, and experience.

2. What other poetic forms do you enjoy?

A great many! I came to haiku from a love of British and American poetry, studied in some depth, and world poetry sampled in translation. Although haiku has become my "specialty," I continue to read and enjoy a broad variety of classic and contemporary poems.

3. Of the many wonderful haiku you've written, what do you consider to be your top three? (Please provide original publication credits.)

I hope the best ones are still ahead of me. I know that other people remember and value these:


summer stillness
the play of light and shadow
on the wind chimes


first published in Modern Haiku XI, 1980

-----

shimmering pines
a taste of the mountain
from your cupped hands


first published in Mayfly
#31
, 2001


----

and


in spite of everything forsythia


first published in The Snapshot Press Haiku Calendar 2008




Next week, Paul David Mena.

1 comment:

Area 17 said...

Such a poignant posting since Peggy passed away this month, and such a good opportunity to catch Peggy online.

You are greatly missed all around the world.

all my best,

Alan