Ed Baker - Three Questions

Ed Baker, artist and poet, was born in Washington, DC in 1941. Ed is our guest for a round of Haiku - Three Questions this week.

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1. Why do you write haiku?

what's a 'haiku', anyway? I do "shorties"...

some are 247 pages long (Neighbor, G oo dnight, Song of Chin)

some are one line/breath long...

"they" just tell me what they want to be... then when lucky...POW! I just be them.


2. What other poetic forms do you enjoy?

well, this interview, for instance, is sort of a form...

can't tell either as a priori OR as a posteriori

I do like Thomas Wyatt's form... and Niedecker's and Eigner's and Shiki's (as translated...forms?) depends on a particular function, eh?


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

let's see what I remember:



far beyond moon frog leaps

Longhouse

(or was that: far beyond frog moon leaps? form/function, again depending)



full moon
in her garden
peeing

Hummingbird



Wild Orchid
playing
with my mind


Wild Orchid, 2002, tel-let


and below is a little drawing (haiga?) a version of which was in Sketchbook




cheers, Ed

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If you've been enjoying this weekly series and have not contributed, please consider sharing your response to the three little questions that Ed answered. You must be a published poet in order to participate.

Brett Peruzzi will be our guest next week.