Lynne Rees - Three Questions

Lynne Rees is a poet, novelist and short fiction writer who turned to haiku writing in 2006. Her work has been published in a number of anthologies and print and on-line journals, she's currently the haibun editor at Simply Haiku, and will be joint editor of The Biennial British Haiku Society Haibun Anthology in 2009. Lynne's website is www.lynnerees.co.uk and selected published haiku and haibun can be found at http://anopenfield.blogspot.com/. She lives in Antibes, in the South of France.

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1. Why do you write haiku?

Most of the time I feel as if I'm 'trying' to write haiku. Some succeed, but most of them don't because they don't feel fresh enough, or they don't surprise me in any way so I doubt they'll matter to anyone else. But I love the process of 'making' them whatever the result, the feeling that I'm learning something about observation, sincerity, language and form.

2. What other poetic forms do you enjoy?

I published a collection of free-verse before starting to write haiku, and I still write the occasional free verse poem, but mostly I write haibun now, though I've also written some tanka, and experimented at length with rengay with the poet Harriot West, an experience we both felt we learned a lot from.

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

I've chosen the following three (two of which dip into senryu territory) because I can still feel the truth of them now, some time after their making. They're also all connected in some way to Wales, where I was born, and my family, so of course that adds to why I feel fondly about them



sunlit garden
when did my father grow
an old man's neck?


Frogpond – Fall 2006





all this green forgiving the rain


http://tinywords.com/haiku/2008/03/13/





newborn
he stretches his legs into
all this space


Blithe Spirit 16/3


www.lynnerees.co.uk
http://applehousepoetryworkshop.blogspot.com/
http://anopenfield.blogspot.com/

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Stephen Addiss will be our Haiku - Three Questions guest next week.