Friday, July 31, 2009
Thursday, July 30, 2009
Helen Losse reading Part 1
I had the pleasure of meeting and recording Helen Losse, editor of The Dead Mule School of Southern Literature, at a poetry reading in Winston-Salem recently. Here is Helen reading from Better with Friends, her wonderful new book of poems.
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
When Empathy Leads to Haiku
The following article appeared in the Juxtapositions section of Modern Haiku - Volume 40.2 (Summer 2009):
The majority of haiku I write are taken from moments in my life. This is the way I learned to write these concise poems. Reading another person’s haiku, we might have a sense of the poet saying, this happened to me, or, this is what I witnessed; what do you make of my experience? The poem resonates within us, which ultimately leads to our interpretation of it. Haiku, perhaps more than any other art form, are about sharing a small part of ourselves.
But what about haiku that are not based on events in the poet’s life? Can the poet walk in another person’s shoes and write haiku from events in someone else’s life? By their very nature are poets not more sensitive and perceptive of their surroundings than the average person? Do we not feel the joy and—yes—pain of a family member, friend, or colleague more intensely?
This haiku of mine was written from another person’s perspective.
autumn rain
peppers the sand. . .
a missing toe’s phantom itch
Frogpond 27:3 (for Melvin Powers)
A few people have approached me to inquire as to which of my toes is missing; in fact, all my toes are intact. My father-in-law suffered a massive heart attack some years ago and, to complicate matters, also had diabetes. He eventually recovered, living an additional twelve years, but not without the loss of his right leg and a couple of toes on his left foot. In my mind’s eye I saw him walking a beach in the autumn rain, complaining about the phantom itch that he often felt years after the loss of his leg and toes. With the images of rain and sand and the sensation of a “phantom itch” in the season of autumn, the nucleus of a poem about a dear relative of mine presented itself to me. Here’s another:
empty house —
a whisper of mother’s voice
in the autumn wind
Frogpond 31:1 (for Hilda Ratliff)
People are usually surprised when I tell them that this haiku is not about my mother. It was written after a colleague spoke of having to go to the empty house of her mother, who was in the hospital, to retrieve a few items. We were sitting under a pine tree at the time. The wind began to blow gently, causing the pine to “whisper.” I imagined the wind to be her mother’s voice.
I like to call haiku that are written from another person’s perspective “empathy haiku.” Haiku should not only be about sharing a part of ourselves with the reader, but it should also be a means to share in the joys, triumphs, and sufferings of others. What better way to show someone that we truly care than to write a haiku about their experience from their perspective?
Curtis Dunlap
Mayodan, N.C.
January 12, 2009
[A special thanks to Charlie Trumbull for publishing this mini essay.]
When Empathy Leads to Haiku
The majority of haiku I write are taken from moments in my life. This is the way I learned to write these concise poems. Reading another person’s haiku, we might have a sense of the poet saying, this happened to me, or, this is what I witnessed; what do you make of my experience? The poem resonates within us, which ultimately leads to our interpretation of it. Haiku, perhaps more than any other art form, are about sharing a small part of ourselves.
But what about haiku that are not based on events in the poet’s life? Can the poet walk in another person’s shoes and write haiku from events in someone else’s life? By their very nature are poets not more sensitive and perceptive of their surroundings than the average person? Do we not feel the joy and—yes—pain of a family member, friend, or colleague more intensely?
This haiku of mine was written from another person’s perspective.
autumn rain
peppers the sand. . .
a missing toe’s phantom itch
Frogpond 27:3 (for Melvin Powers)
A few people have approached me to inquire as to which of my toes is missing; in fact, all my toes are intact. My father-in-law suffered a massive heart attack some years ago and, to complicate matters, also had diabetes. He eventually recovered, living an additional twelve years, but not without the loss of his right leg and a couple of toes on his left foot. In my mind’s eye I saw him walking a beach in the autumn rain, complaining about the phantom itch that he often felt years after the loss of his leg and toes. With the images of rain and sand and the sensation of a “phantom itch” in the season of autumn, the nucleus of a poem about a dear relative of mine presented itself to me. Here’s another:
empty house —
a whisper of mother’s voice
in the autumn wind
Frogpond 31:1 (for Hilda Ratliff)
People are usually surprised when I tell them that this haiku is not about my mother. It was written after a colleague spoke of having to go to the empty house of her mother, who was in the hospital, to retrieve a few items. We were sitting under a pine tree at the time. The wind began to blow gently, causing the pine to “whisper.” I imagined the wind to be her mother’s voice.
I like to call haiku that are written from another person’s perspective “empathy haiku.” Haiku should not only be about sharing a part of ourselves with the reader, but it should also be a means to share in the joys, triumphs, and sufferings of others. What better way to show someone that we truly care than to write a haiku about their experience from their perspective?
Curtis Dunlap
Mayodan, N.C.
January 12, 2009
[A special thanks to Charlie Trumbull for publishing this mini essay.]
Sunday, July 26, 2009
Chad Lee Robinson - Three Questions
Chad Lee Robinson's haiku and related poetry have appeared in over thirty journals across eight countries as well as in a variety of anthologies, including five editions of the Red Moon Anthology and Baseball Haiku (W.W. Norton, 2007). He is a member of the Haiku Society of America and the Haiku Poets of Northern California, and has been the Plains & Mountains Regional Coordinator for the HSA since 2006. His first collection of haiku and senryu, a chapbook titled Pop Bottles, is due out this summer from True Vine Press. He lives in Pierre, SD, within sight and smell of the Missouri River.
1) Why do you write haiku?
When I first encountered haiku, Basho’s famous crow, I couldn’t believe what I was looking at. I loved it. I connected with haiku more than I ever did with free verse or any fixed form poetry. It has since become a part of my everyday life. I love that feeling I get when I know I’ve written a good haiku, when everything about it feels just right. I write haiku because it feels just right.
2) What other poetic forms do you enjoy?
I also enjoy writing senryu and an occasional tanka.
3) Of the many wonderful haiku you’ve written, which do you consider to be your top three?
It’s hard to choose when so much effort goes into each one, but these have done very well for me:
the sound of bath water
going down the drain
winter evening
Acorn 13, Fall 2004
shooting star
the span of her hand
across my chest
Snapshots 11, 2005
buffalo bones
a wind less than a whisper
in the summer grass
The Heron’s Nest IX:3, September 2007
If you've been enjoying this weekly series and have not contributed, please consider sharing your response (whether it be for haiku or tanka) to the three little questions that Chad answered. You must be a published poet in order to participate.
William Cullen Jr. will be our guest next week.
1) Why do you write haiku?
When I first encountered haiku, Basho’s famous crow, I couldn’t believe what I was looking at. I loved it. I connected with haiku more than I ever did with free verse or any fixed form poetry. It has since become a part of my everyday life. I love that feeling I get when I know I’ve written a good haiku, when everything about it feels just right. I write haiku because it feels just right.
2) What other poetic forms do you enjoy?
I also enjoy writing senryu and an occasional tanka.
3) Of the many wonderful haiku you’ve written, which do you consider to be your top three?
It’s hard to choose when so much effort goes into each one, but these have done very well for me:
the sound of bath water
going down the drain
winter evening
Acorn 13, Fall 2004
shooting star
the span of her hand
across my chest
Snapshots 11, 2005
buffalo bones
a wind less than a whisper
in the summer grass
The Heron’s Nest IX:3, September 2007
If you've been enjoying this weekly series and have not contributed, please consider sharing your response (whether it be for haiku or tanka) to the three little questions that Chad answered. You must be a published poet in order to participate.
William Cullen Jr. will be our guest next week.
Thursday, July 23, 2009
Chasing the Sun
Chasing the Sun: selected haiku from Haiku North America 2007, edited by Bob Moyer with art by Pamela A. Babusci, is available from Rosenberry Books.
Order your copy by visiting the Rosenberry Books catalog page.
Contributors of this anthology can receive a copy for $4. A special page for ordering has been created for contributors.
And finally, I'll close this post with a reading by Bob Moyer, editor of Chasing the Sun.
Order your copy by visiting the Rosenberry Books catalog page.
Contributors of this anthology can receive a copy for $4. A special page for ordering has been created for contributors.
And finally, I'll close this post with a reading by Bob Moyer, editor of Chasing the Sun.
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
D. Claire Gallagher - Tribute
Carolyn Hall sent this bio of D. Claire Gallagher who passed away a few days ago:
D. CLAIRE GALLAGHER
1941 – 2009
D. Claire Gallagher, a woman of boundless energy and enormous talent, extraordinary haiku poet and friend to many in the community, passed away at home, surrounded by family, on Friday, July 17, 2009, after a long bout with cancer. She left this world as gracefully as she lived in it. Surviving her are her husband Patrick Gallagher, also a haiku poet, and loving children and grandchildren.
Claire became interested in haiku in 1991 after reading Wes Nisker’s commentary on haiku in his book Crazy Wisdom. Two years later she attended a meeting of the Haiku Poets of Northern California (HPNC) and quickly became active in that group, the Yuki Teikei Haiku Society, and the Haiku Society of America, and remained so till the end of her life. She served as HSA Regional Coordinator for Northern California. She was co-editor of Mariposa, the membership journal of HPNC, from 1999 to 2007 and played a major role in shaping this fine periodical. She served also on the editorial staff of the Red Moon Anthology. Her haiku have been published in numerous journals and anthologies and have won or placed in many contests in the USA and abroad. Among her many honors were a First Place in the 2007 HSA Harold Henderson haiku contest and Second Place in the 1998 HSA Gerald Brady senryu contest, as well as top honors in the HPNC San Francisco International contests, the Snapshot Press Calendar Awards, the NLAPW Poetry Contest, the British Haiku Society’s Hackett Award Contest, and the Yuki Teikei Society’s Tokutomi Contest. As winner of the Virgil Hutton manuscript contest, her chapbook, How Fast the Ground Moves, was published in 2001 by Saki Press. A newer collection of her haiku, The Nether World, is forthcoming from Red Moon Press.
Claire described herself as having been “born a Californian in Wisconsin.” She was raised in Western Pennsylvania and it was 43 years before she arrived physically on the “Left Coast” in Sunnyvale, California. Her career included incarnations as a potter, educator, radio journalist, technical writer, and naturalist hike leader for a land preserve agency. In addition to reading and writing haiku, which contributed to her living “more mindfully and more heartfully,” among the joys and talents that enriched her life were hiking and traveling with her husband, gardening, ikebana, collage, Chinese brush painting, and spending time with her family and friends. She was always keenly aware of the world of natural wonders around her, and she delighted in sharing her excitement and knowledge with friends and family, most especially with her grandchildren.
She will be greatly missed.
A few of Claire’s outstanding haiku:
family reunion—
some of the beached kelp
in knots
1st Place, HSA Harold Henderson Haiku Awards (2007)
weathered bench—
I open my palms
to the winter sky
2nd Place, San Francisco International Haiku Contest (2007)
sunflowers
the tube of cadmium yellow
squeezed flat
2nd Place, San Francisco International Haiku Contest (2004)
the closer we get . . .
losing my friend’s heart-to-heart
to the waterfall
1st Place (tie), British Haiku Society Hackett Award Contest (1999)
budding maples—
how fast the ground moves
under his tricycle
How Fast the Ground Moves, Saki Press, 2001
blowing out
one birthday candle
the whole family
2nd place, HSA Brady Contest (1998)
his arthritis
guiding the hoe—
late tomatoes
The Heron’s Nest IV:2 (2002)
Advent altar—
a candle wick straightens
within the flame
3rd Place, NLAPW Poetry Contest (1999)
winter solstice—
the sunset incantations
of red-winged blackbirds
Frogpond XXIV:3 (2001)
the dark folds
of a greening mountain —
my sister’s locked diary
The Heron’s Nest VIII:2 (2006)
sultry day—
melancholy squeezed
from his accordion
Acorn #20 (2008)
slicing apples
into the dented pan—
howl of the wind
The Heron’s Nest X:2 (2008), Heron’s Nest Award
D. CLAIRE GALLAGHER1941 – 2009
D. Claire Gallagher, a woman of boundless energy and enormous talent, extraordinary haiku poet and friend to many in the community, passed away at home, surrounded by family, on Friday, July 17, 2009, after a long bout with cancer. She left this world as gracefully as she lived in it. Surviving her are her husband Patrick Gallagher, also a haiku poet, and loving children and grandchildren.
Claire became interested in haiku in 1991 after reading Wes Nisker’s commentary on haiku in his book Crazy Wisdom. Two years later she attended a meeting of the Haiku Poets of Northern California (HPNC) and quickly became active in that group, the Yuki Teikei Haiku Society, and the Haiku Society of America, and remained so till the end of her life. She served as HSA Regional Coordinator for Northern California. She was co-editor of Mariposa, the membership journal of HPNC, from 1999 to 2007 and played a major role in shaping this fine periodical. She served also on the editorial staff of the Red Moon Anthology. Her haiku have been published in numerous journals and anthologies and have won or placed in many contests in the USA and abroad. Among her many honors were a First Place in the 2007 HSA Harold Henderson haiku contest and Second Place in the 1998 HSA Gerald Brady senryu contest, as well as top honors in the HPNC San Francisco International contests, the Snapshot Press Calendar Awards, the NLAPW Poetry Contest, the British Haiku Society’s Hackett Award Contest, and the Yuki Teikei Society’s Tokutomi Contest. As winner of the Virgil Hutton manuscript contest, her chapbook, How Fast the Ground Moves, was published in 2001 by Saki Press. A newer collection of her haiku, The Nether World, is forthcoming from Red Moon Press.
Claire described herself as having been “born a Californian in Wisconsin.” She was raised in Western Pennsylvania and it was 43 years before she arrived physically on the “Left Coast” in Sunnyvale, California. Her career included incarnations as a potter, educator, radio journalist, technical writer, and naturalist hike leader for a land preserve agency. In addition to reading and writing haiku, which contributed to her living “more mindfully and more heartfully,” among the joys and talents that enriched her life were hiking and traveling with her husband, gardening, ikebana, collage, Chinese brush painting, and spending time with her family and friends. She was always keenly aware of the world of natural wonders around her, and she delighted in sharing her excitement and knowledge with friends and family, most especially with her grandchildren.
She will be greatly missed.
A few of Claire’s outstanding haiku:
family reunion—
some of the beached kelp
in knots
1st Place, HSA Harold Henderson Haiku Awards (2007)
weathered bench—
I open my palms
to the winter sky
2nd Place, San Francisco International Haiku Contest (2007)
sunflowers
the tube of cadmium yellow
squeezed flat
2nd Place, San Francisco International Haiku Contest (2004)
the closer we get . . .
losing my friend’s heart-to-heart
to the waterfall
1st Place (tie), British Haiku Society Hackett Award Contest (1999)
budding maples—
how fast the ground moves
under his tricycle
How Fast the Ground Moves, Saki Press, 2001
blowing out
one birthday candle
the whole family
2nd place, HSA Brady Contest (1998)
his arthritis
guiding the hoe—
late tomatoes
The Heron’s Nest IV:2 (2002)
Advent altar—
a candle wick straightens
within the flame
3rd Place, NLAPW Poetry Contest (1999)
winter solstice—
the sunset incantations
of red-winged blackbirds
Frogpond XXIV:3 (2001)
the dark folds
of a greening mountain —
my sister’s locked diary
The Heron’s Nest VIII:2 (2006)
sultry day—
melancholy squeezed
from his accordion
Acorn #20 (2008)
slicing apples
into the dented pan—
howl of the wind
The Heron’s Nest X:2 (2008), Heron’s Nest Award
[Photo by Carolyn Hall]
Sunday, July 19, 2009
Desiree McMurry - Three Questions
Desiree McMurry is our Haiku - Three Questions guest this week. She writes:
Hi Curtis,
Thanks for your willingness to have me as the "3 Questions" poet! I appreciate it very much and feel honored amd humbled to have my name alongside so many accomplished and talented poets.
Here's a little bit about me:
I'm 41 and live with my husband of 18 years and 4 homeschooled children on a sheep farm in Missouri. Sometimes I feel I have an unfair advantage when it comes to haiku, as I'm constantly surrounded by various natural phenomena -- muddy fields, migrating geese, lambs, young leaves, the list could go on and on. My family are an inspiration, too.
I began writing haiku again in 2004 after a very long hiatus beginning at the age of 10, when I wrote my very first haiku in 5th grade! I have placed in the Tokutomi contest, including 1st in 2008 as well as honorable mentions in a few of the Anita Sadler Weiss Memorial contests. I've been published in the Geppo Study/Work Journal of the Yuki Teikei Haiku Society and in each of their member anthologies since 2005.
Okay, enough about me. Here are answers to your three questions:
1. Why do you write haiku?
Writing haiku allows me savor the moments of grace which are part of everyday existence, when I make myself slow down enough to take those moments in. Reading haiku is an excellent reminder of the grace which is all around us, when we open ourselves to it. The best haiku take me out of myself into something which, to quote C.S. Lewis, is " bigger on the inside than it is on the outside".
2. What other poetic forms do you enjoy?
Being so new to poetry I haven't attempted to write any form other than haiku, though I do fantasize about writing haibun some day and I really like reading it. My favorite haiku poets (so far) are Chiyo-ni, Shiki, and Buson. Free verse poetry is a new reading endeavour for me, particularly Seamus Heaney and Jane Kenyon.
3. Of the many wonderful haiku you've written, what do you consider to be your top three? (Please provide original publication credits.)
This question makes me blush, so I'll keep my answer short and (hopefully) sweet:
laughing baby
the clarity
of this spring moon
(unpublished)
winter garden
the stems
go this way and that
Yuki Teikei Geppo Study Journal, Jan-Feb 2008
This last one was inspired by my growing-up-too-fast 5 1/2 year old daughter, when we were walking along the creek near our house:
youngest daughter
passing through
the willow shoots
2nd place, Kaji Aso Studio’s International Haiku Contest 2009
Once again, thank you, Curtis! Keep up the good work!
Desiree McMurry
If you've been enjoying this weekly series and have not contributed, please consider sharing your response (whether it be for haiku or tanka) to the three little questions that Desiree answered. You must be a published poet in order to participate.
Chad Lee Robinson will be our guest next week.
Hi Curtis,
Thanks for your willingness to have me as the "3 Questions" poet! I appreciate it very much and feel honored amd humbled to have my name alongside so many accomplished and talented poets.
Here's a little bit about me:
I'm 41 and live with my husband of 18 years and 4 homeschooled children on a sheep farm in Missouri. Sometimes I feel I have an unfair advantage when it comes to haiku, as I'm constantly surrounded by various natural phenomena -- muddy fields, migrating geese, lambs, young leaves, the list could go on and on. My family are an inspiration, too.
I began writing haiku again in 2004 after a very long hiatus beginning at the age of 10, when I wrote my very first haiku in 5th grade! I have placed in the Tokutomi contest, including 1st in 2008 as well as honorable mentions in a few of the Anita Sadler Weiss Memorial contests. I've been published in the Geppo Study/Work Journal of the Yuki Teikei Haiku Society and in each of their member anthologies since 2005.
Okay, enough about me. Here are answers to your three questions:
1. Why do you write haiku?
Writing haiku allows me savor the moments of grace which are part of everyday existence, when I make myself slow down enough to take those moments in. Reading haiku is an excellent reminder of the grace which is all around us, when we open ourselves to it. The best haiku take me out of myself into something which, to quote C.S. Lewis, is " bigger on the inside than it is on the outside".
2. What other poetic forms do you enjoy?
Being so new to poetry I haven't attempted to write any form other than haiku, though I do fantasize about writing haibun some day and I really like reading it. My favorite haiku poets (so far) are Chiyo-ni, Shiki, and Buson. Free verse poetry is a new reading endeavour for me, particularly Seamus Heaney and Jane Kenyon.
3. Of the many wonderful haiku you've written, what do you consider to be your top three? (Please provide original publication credits.)
This question makes me blush, so I'll keep my answer short and (hopefully) sweet:
laughing baby
the clarity
of this spring moon
(unpublished)
winter garden
the stems
go this way and that
Yuki Teikei Geppo Study Journal, Jan-Feb 2008
This last one was inspired by my growing-up-too-fast 5 1/2 year old daughter, when we were walking along the creek near our house:
youngest daughter
passing through
the willow shoots
2nd place, Kaji Aso Studio’s International Haiku Contest 2009
Once again, thank you, Curtis! Keep up the good work!
Desiree McMurry
If you've been enjoying this weekly series and have not contributed, please consider sharing your response (whether it be for haiku or tanka) to the three little questions that Desiree answered. You must be a published poet in order to participate.
Chad Lee Robinson will be our guest next week.
Saturday, July 18, 2009
Sad news - D. Claire Gallagher
Deborah P Kolodji notified me of this very sad news:
"I don't know if you heard that haiku poet D. Claire Gallagher passed away yesterday afternoon."
Here are a few poems from this remarkable lady and poet:
blowing out
one birthday candle:
the whole family
Second Place 1998 Gerald Brady Memorial Award Collection
autumn breakers
the laughter of old friends
with new hips
The Virgil Hutton Haiku Memorial Award Chapbook Contest Winner 2001 – 2002
Please join me in extending our sincere condolences to the family and friends of D. Claire Gallagher.
[Photo by Carolyn Hall]
the laughter of old friends
with new hips
The Virgil Hutton Haiku Memorial Award Chapbook Contest Winner 2001 – 2002
Please join me in extending our sincere condolences to the family and friends of D. Claire Gallagher.
[Photo by Carolyn Hall]
Pamela A. Babusci - A Thousand Reasons
A Thousand Reasons
Tanka
by Pamela A. Babusci
a thousand reasons
to leave him
a thousand reasons
to stay...
withering bamboo
~ Pamela A. Babusci
The first collection of tanka by internationally award-winning poet and acclaimed artist Pamela A. Babusci is now available from the author. A Thousand Reasons contains 120 individual tanka by Babusci—whose work is familiar to readers of literary journals and online sites in the U.S. and around the world—as well as an introduction by award winning U.S. poet Tom Clausen and an afterword by British poet/songwriter and editor of Three Lights Gallery Liam Wilkinson.
"She has a daring in her tanka that both upholds certain traditions as well as offers groundbreaking exploration of her uninhibited inner being," writes Clausen, in his Introduction. "This collection of tanka goes well beyond love to touch on every woman’s concerns and, for that matter, every person’s joys and struggles."
"The tanka poetry of Pamela A. Babusci is a rich tapestry of language and emotion; shining threads of Eastern and Western literary tradition interwoven against a kaleidoscope background of passion and deep self-awareness. An accomplished fine artist as well as poet, in A Thousand Reasons Babusci lays bare her soul to readers: these pages are her canvas and tanka her brush as she paints for us not only the rolling landscapes of her own heart, but the hills and valleys of our own as well," writes Cathy Drinkwater Better, award-winning poet, journalist.
Babusci has received honors in: the Museum of Haiku Literature Awards; the International Tanka Splendor Awards; the Yellow Moon Tanka Competition (Australia); the Kokako Tanka Competition (New Zealand); the Basho Festival Haiku Contests (Japan); the Suruga Baika Literary Festival (Japan); and Joint Third Prize for the First With Words International On-Line Haiku Competition—among others.
In 2008, she both sponsored and adjudicated the First International EroticTanka Contest.
Babusci is also an acclaimed haiga artist. Her illustration credits include the cover design for the recently published:
Take Five: Best Contemporary Tanka 2008; and she served as logo designer/artist for Haiku North America in 2003 and 2007.
"Just as an artist stands at the canvas, surveying the clean white landscape before the painting is begun, I imagine Pamela A. Babusci to be forever teetering at the lip of another tanka," writes Wilkinson in his Afterword. "She is…a skilled craftswoman who is as much at home in her haiga as she is in her tanka, with a precise eye for composition that informs all of her work…Pamela seems perpetually willing to pour her entire self and soul into a form that seems, perhaps due to the dexterity of the artist, boundless…."
For more information about A Thousand Reasons, or to order, contact Pamela A. Babusci at:
150 Milford Street, Apt. 13, Rochester, NY 14615-1810 USA; or e-mail her at: moongate44(at)gmail(dot)com
A Thousand Reasons
Tanka by Pamela A.Babusci Self-published
July 2009; Rochester, NY, USA
Printed by Art Bookbindery
Cover art by the poet
Introduction by Tom Clausen
Afterword by Liam Wilkinson
Softcover; 80 pp.
Cover price: US $14.00
S&H US & Canada $2.50
Foreign $5.00
Tanka
by Pamela A. Babusci
a thousand reasons
to leave him
a thousand reasons
to stay...
withering bamboo
~ Pamela A. Babusci
The first collection of tanka by internationally award-winning poet and acclaimed artist Pamela A. Babusci is now available from the author. A Thousand Reasons contains 120 individual tanka by Babusci—whose work is familiar to readers of literary journals and online sites in the U.S. and around the world—as well as an introduction by award winning U.S. poet Tom Clausen and an afterword by British poet/songwriter and editor of Three Lights Gallery Liam Wilkinson.
"She has a daring in her tanka that both upholds certain traditions as well as offers groundbreaking exploration of her uninhibited inner being," writes Clausen, in his Introduction. "This collection of tanka goes well beyond love to touch on every woman’s concerns and, for that matter, every person’s joys and struggles."
"The tanka poetry of Pamela A. Babusci is a rich tapestry of language and emotion; shining threads of Eastern and Western literary tradition interwoven against a kaleidoscope background of passion and deep self-awareness. An accomplished fine artist as well as poet, in A Thousand Reasons Babusci lays bare her soul to readers: these pages are her canvas and tanka her brush as she paints for us not only the rolling landscapes of her own heart, but the hills and valleys of our own as well," writes Cathy Drinkwater Better, award-winning poet, journalist.
Babusci has received honors in: the Museum of Haiku Literature Awards; the International Tanka Splendor Awards; the Yellow Moon Tanka Competition (Australia); the Kokako Tanka Competition (New Zealand); the Basho Festival Haiku Contests (Japan); the Suruga Baika Literary Festival (Japan); and Joint Third Prize for the First With Words International On-Line Haiku Competition—among others.
In 2008, she both sponsored and adjudicated the First International EroticTanka Contest.
Babusci is also an acclaimed haiga artist. Her illustration credits include the cover design for the recently published:
Take Five: Best Contemporary Tanka 2008; and she served as logo designer/artist for Haiku North America in 2003 and 2007.
"Just as an artist stands at the canvas, surveying the clean white landscape before the painting is begun, I imagine Pamela A. Babusci to be forever teetering at the lip of another tanka," writes Wilkinson in his Afterword. "She is…a skilled craftswoman who is as much at home in her haiga as she is in her tanka, with a precise eye for composition that informs all of her work…Pamela seems perpetually willing to pour her entire self and soul into a form that seems, perhaps due to the dexterity of the artist, boundless…."
For more information about A Thousand Reasons, or to order, contact Pamela A. Babusci at:
150 Milford Street, Apt. 13, Rochester, NY 14615-1810 USA; or e-mail her at: moongate44(at)gmail(dot)com
A Thousand Reasons
Tanka by Pamela A.Babusci Self-published
July 2009; Rochester, NY, USA
Printed by Art Bookbindery
Cover art by the poet
Introduction by Tom Clausen
Afterword by Liam Wilkinson
Softcover; 80 pp.
Cover price: US $14.00
S&H US & Canada $2.50
Foreign $5.00
Paul Conneally - renga videos
Paul Conneally shared these wonderful renga videos:
Hi Curtis - don't know if you've seen these before:
http://www.archive.org/details/RengaBandstand
and
http://www.archive.org/details/circleoffire
both examples of interactive live renga out in the community...
keep up the good work!
Paul
Hi Curtis - don't know if you've seen these before:
http://www.archive.org/details/RengaBandstand
and
http://www.archive.org/details/circleoffire
both examples of interactive live renga out in the community...
keep up the good work!
Paul
Charlie Smith - featured haiku
Raleigh haiku poet, Charlie Smith, had a poem featured in the July 17, 2009 issue of The Mainichi Daily News.
Congratulations Charlie!
Congratulations Charlie!
Summer Plums Fetival of Haiku
Cor van den Heuvel has a request:
Calling all Haiku poets, try to make the event described below:
The Living Theater Poetry Series presents:
SUMMER PLUMS FESTIVAL OF HAIKU
On Wednesday, July 22, 2009, 8pm
featuring:
Ernie Conrick, Steve Dalachinsky, John Farris, Tsaurah Litzky, Eve Packer, Tony Pupello, Cor Van Den Heuvel & Yuko Otomo
plus:
Haiku Writing Contest/Haiku Open Reading
curated by Tsaurah Litzky & Yuko Otomo series director: Dorothy Friedman August
$5
The Living Theater
19-21 Clinton St.
(between Houston & Stanton Sts.)
NYC
Calling all Haiku poets, try to make the event described below:
The Living Theater Poetry Series presents:
SUMMER PLUMS FESTIVAL OF HAIKU
On Wednesday, July 22, 2009, 8pm
featuring:
Ernie Conrick, Steve Dalachinsky, John Farris, Tsaurah Litzky, Eve Packer, Tony Pupello, Cor Van Den Heuvel & Yuko Otomo
plus:
Haiku Writing Contest/Haiku Open Reading
curated by Tsaurah Litzky & Yuko Otomo series director: Dorothy Friedman August
$5
The Living Theater
19-21 Clinton St.
(between Houston & Stanton Sts.)
NYC
Thursday, July 16, 2009
Three updates
This just in from kuniharu shimizu:
Curtis-san:
I am just letting you and your readers know that I have completed my Basho haiga project. All the haiku written by Basho in his "Narrow Road to Oku" are in haiga now. ttp://seehaikuhere.blogspot.com/
all the best,
kuniharu shimizu
seehaikuhere
The new issue of Sketchbook is now on line: http://poetrywriting.org Here is a direct link to the current May/June 2009 Sketchbook issue.
Curtis-san:
I am just letting you and your readers know that I have completed my Basho haiga project. All the haiku written by Basho in his "Narrow Road to Oku" are in haiga now. ttp://seehaikuhere.blogspot.com/
all the best,
kuniharu shimizu
seehaikuhere
The new issue of Sketchbook is now on line: http://poetrywriting.org Here is a direct link to the current May/June 2009 Sketchbook issue.
2009 Genkissu! Spirits Up!
World Wide Hekinan Haiku Contest
Results
World Wide Hekinan Haiku Contest
Results
Scroll down to see the English haiku winners.
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
Modern Haiku is moving
This just in from Charlie Trumbull:
Please note that Modern Haiku is moving to New Mexico!
After the close of the current reading period on July 15, the MH files will be packed up for the move to Santa Fe. For a period of about a month, processing of new submissions will be suspended and response times will be very slow. We will try to process subscription matters as promptly as possible, but there may be some delays in this area too. We beg your understanding! With luck, we’ll be able to meet our publishing schedule and have issue 40.3 in the mail on schedule in October.
Effective immediately, the new address for all Modern Haiku matters is:
Charles Trumbull
Editor, Modern Haiku
PO Box 33077
Santa Fe NM 87594-9998
Mail will be forwarded from our Evanston mailbox for six months, but using that box, of course, will only add to the delay in processing your submissions and subscriptions.
We think we’ll be able to keep our present e-mail address:
All best,
Charlie
Please note that Modern Haiku is moving to New Mexico!
After the close of the current reading period on July 15, the MH files will be packed up for the move to Santa Fe. For a period of about a month, processing of new submissions will be suspended and response times will be very slow. We will try to process subscription matters as promptly as possible, but there may be some delays in this area too. We beg your understanding! With luck, we’ll be able to meet our publishing schedule and have issue 40.3 in the mail on schedule in October.
Effective immediately, the new address for all Modern Haiku matters is:
Charles Trumbull
Editor, Modern Haiku
PO Box 33077
Santa Fe NM 87594-9998
Mail will be forwarded from our Evanston mailbox for six months, but using that box, of course, will only add to the delay in processing your submissions and subscriptions.
We think we’ll be able to keep our present e-mail address:
All best,
Charlie
Monday, July 13, 2009
A couple of quick items: HNA & The Mule
Haiku North America 2009 has its own blog. It's located at:
http://haiku09.wordpress.com/
Also, in reference to the recent post about The Dead Mule School of Southern Literature's call for Snow Poems, I neglected to mention that poems should be over three lines.
I apologize for my error.
Sunday, July 12, 2009
Gina - Three Questions (tanka)
Gina is Hungarian born in South Africa now living in Tasmania with a cat, an outdoor fish pond, a peacock that visits and a garden where roses support tomatoes and various peppers grow among perennials. She is an award winning artist with works in collections around the world and since discovering poetry in 2005 has over 60 poems published in 21 journals (online and in print) such as Lynx, The Herons Nest, Modern English Tanka, moonset, 3lights gallery, Ribbons, Simply Haiku, Haibun Today, Tasmanian Times, Burst and Haigaonline, amongst others.1) Why do you write tanka?
I love the form. I found it while in the midst of discovering, learning and struggling with haiku. After 3 years and many haiku published i still find it a difficult form for me, but i like its discipline. With tanka I begin with that haiku discipline forcing myself to be observant and steeped in everyday language until the pivot line and then i bring in the poetic, the emotion. I love the pivot line and use pivot words often too ... i love the use of line breaks and sometimes poetic devices aiming for the emotion.
2) What other poetic forms do you enjoy?
i write free verse which takes me much longer - sometimes months but i recognise my short form experience in them and spend time hunting down the right phrase, word, observed image or emotion. The challenge is not to become a diary entry. I write senryu, haiku, tanka, cinquain and I LOVE haibun and most recently i have come to love and be published in haiga - a perfect culmination of my art pursuits and words ...
3) Of the many wonderful tanka you've written, what do you consider to be your top three? (Please provide publication credits.)
hmmm let me see ...
distant thunder
tall gum trees perfectly still
before the storm
i waited, as promised
and watched the tide ebb away
Ribbons - March 2006
~
our dreams grow
grey among the flotsam
and dead fish
lying on the rocks
with clouds in their eyes
3lightsgallery jan-march 2008
~
under leafless boughs
forget-me-nots self seed
with vigour
after all this time
do i still cross your mind ?
Modern English Tanka January 2007
If you've been enjoying this weekly series and have not contributed, please consider sharing your response (whether it be for haiku or tanka) to the three little questions that Gina answered. You must be a published poet in order to participate.
Desiree McMurry will be our guest next week.
Boston Haiku Society Anthology
This just in from Raffael de Gruttola:
The Boston Haiku Society has a new perfect bound anthology out: wind flow i.e. 66 pages with 22 poets. It includes haiku, senryu, tanka, haibun, haiga, and one renku. It can be ordered from me for $10. + $2.50 for p & h. i.e. Raffael de Gruttola, 4 Marshall Road, Natick, MA 01760.
Thanks,
Raffael
The Boston Haiku Society has a new perfect bound anthology out: wind flow i.e. 66 pages with 22 poets. It includes haiku, senryu, tanka, haibun, haiga, and one renku. It can be ordered from me for $10. + $2.50 for p & h. i.e. Raffael de Gruttola, 4 Marshall Road, Natick, MA 01760.
Thanks,
Raffael
Saturday, July 11, 2009
Three publication notes
Helen Losse, editor of The Dead Mule School of Southern Literature:
Wanted: Snow Poems
We’re looking for poems about snow and snowstorms for the December issue. It’s all right, if the poems mention the Holidays but not necessary. Deadline: November 1. Send them now, if you have them.
This just in from Jeffrey Woodward:
Dear Curtis,
Can you be so kind as to pass the word to your readers about the long interview with Michael McClintock, “Wheeling through the Cedars,” (pp. 145-160) which is available in the current issue of Modern Haibun & Tanka Prose online at
http://www.themetpress.com/modernhaibunandtankaprose/digital/mhtp1.html
Thanks.
Jeffrey Woodward
And from Billie Wilson:
The Haiku Foundation reports the addition of a new interactive forum which, according to its creator Peter Yovu, is “devoted to presenting questions for discussion and debate on the nature and possibilities of haiku.” So, check out Peter’s introduction to Sails and then be sure to add your response to lst Sail, which asks “Why do you read haiku?”
Also, for readers who would like to print out a checklist of submission and contest deadlines, the Foundation regularly updates its Event Calendars (one of which is a contests-only version).
Wanted: Snow Poems
We’re looking for poems about snow and snowstorms for the December issue. It’s all right, if the poems mention the Holidays but not necessary. Deadline: November 1. Send them now, if you have them.
This just in from Jeffrey Woodward:
Dear Curtis,
Can you be so kind as to pass the word to your readers about the long interview with Michael McClintock, “Wheeling through the Cedars,” (pp. 145-160) which is available in the current issue of Modern Haibun & Tanka Prose online at
http://www.themetpress.com/modernhaibunandtankaprose/digital/mhtp1.html
Thanks.
Jeffrey Woodward
And from Billie Wilson:
The Haiku Foundation reports the addition of a new interactive forum which, according to its creator Peter Yovu, is “devoted to presenting questions for discussion and debate on the nature and possibilities of haiku.” So, check out Peter’s introduction to Sails and then be sure to add your response to lst Sail, which asks “Why do you read haiku?”
Also, for readers who would like to print out a checklist of submission and contest deadlines, the Foundation regularly updates its Event Calendars (one of which is a contests-only version).
Thursday, July 9, 2009
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
Francine Banwarth - The HSA Henderson and Brady Contests
This just in from Francine Banwarth:
Greetings from Iowa, which seems to have cooled off as we head into July.
I'm writing on behalf of the HSA and the annual Henderson Haiku and Brady Senryu contests. The in-hand deadline for both contests is July 31. Send only previously unpublished haiku and senryu to me:
Francine Banwarth
985 So Grandview
Dubuque, IA 52003
Any questions or concerns, email me at frantic647@yahoo.com
All details and procedure can be accessed on the HSA website:
http://haikusocietyofamerica.com
All the best,
Francine
Greetings from Iowa, which seems to have cooled off as we head into July.
I'm writing on behalf of the HSA and the annual Henderson Haiku and Brady Senryu contests. The in-hand deadline for both contests is July 31. Send only previously unpublished haiku and senryu to me:
Francine Banwarth
985 So Grandview
Dubuque, IA 52003
Any questions or concerns, email me at frantic647@yahoo.com
All details and procedure can be accessed on the HSA website:
http://haikusocietyofamerica.com
All the best,
Francine
Sunday, July 5, 2009
Marc di Saverio - Three Questions
Marc di Saverio, an English major at McMaster University, hails from Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. His poetry and translations have appeared in The Dalhousie Review, Modern Haiku, Haiku Reality, Moonset, Frogpond, Maisonneuve Magazine and Haiku Scotland (he was the "featured poet" in issue 19). He is currently working on SALAMANDER-CIRRUS, his debut book of haiku, haiku translations, tanka, haiga and objectohaiku. An article regarding his work will be appearing in the forthcoming issue of Moonset.1) Why do you write haiku?
I write haiku for the following reasons: 1) because haiku naturally occur to me (inside and outside the "now") during mindfully-experienced moments transpiring out in the world, but also during dreams, during altered states, during abstract thinking, during wild and tamed imaginings, during third-eye meditation (a.k.a. Trataka), in short, during purely inner experiences, as well. Though most of my haiku are born in actual moments of mindful experience in the real world (as most haijin's 'ku are born), I believe that by blazing new trails toward the haijin's "a-ha!" will result in both new and more ranging epiphanies, and new and more ranging forms (of haiku), both of which may result in attracting new and more ranging readership; 2) because if haiku-readership can be increased and varied this potentially powerful, misunderstood form (or should I say genre, or even way of life, or way of revolt) can be instrumental in reversing the evolutionary direction of nature-estranged, computerizing, roboticizing, fashionably passionless, kitsch-hearted, camp-hearted western humanity -- this misunderstood form can hopefully succeed in charging shriveling souls with the verve and lust to not only seek out experience and understanding and union and commonalities with the natural world, but to also inspire a strong and sincere drive to revolt against nature's destroyers, and to ACTUALLY inspire revolt 3) because I love reading and contemplating haiku...I think I have learned more from single haiku than I have from entire epics; 4) because haiku compliment my daily meditations, which compliment my haiku; 5) because i want to share the subtle links and "hidden correspondences" (as Baudelaire put it) between humankind/human nature and mother nature's kind/mother nature's nature; 6) because a haiku is, verily, "a moment's monument", and I want to create these monuments.
2) What other poetic forms do you enjoy?
Sonnets, epigrams, tanka, prose poetry, ojectoverse/objectohaiku, and verso d'oggetti
3a) my top choice would be "blue bloom haiga"
3b) my second favorite is "objectohaiku and objecto in blue", which are meant to be displayed together as one visual statement as displayed on the Haiku Reality gallery where it first appeared (crickets bought dead).
3c) For third favorite it's a tie between these two:
twilight --
as I strike my match the fireflies
scatter
(Haiku Reality, 2009, third place)
first rain --
all these finger-graven
flowers in the snow
(Haiku Scotland # 19, 2009)
If you've been enjoying this weekly series and have not contributed, please consider sharing your response (whether it be for haiku or tanka) to the three little questions that Marc answered. You must be a published poet in order to participate.
Gina will be our guest next week.
Saturday, July 4, 2009
Prune Juice and a video
The summer issue of Prune Juice: Journal of Senryu and Kyoka is available.
One of the poets published in the summer issue is an old friend of mine. Stan Siceloff and I worked together in a textile mill during the 90s. We have since reconnected. Here's a video of Stan reading senryu, one poem just published in the new issue of Prune Juice:
One of the poets published in the summer issue is an old friend of mine. Stan Siceloff and I worked together in a textile mill during the 90s. We have since reconnected. Here's a video of Stan reading senryu, one poem just published in the new issue of Prune Juice:
Peter Yovu - Sails
This just in from Peter Yovu:
Many readers of “Tobacco Road” may have already had a look at “Troutswirl”, the blog of The Haiku Foundation. If you haven’t, I highly recommend you check it out, and to all I hope you will consider posting comments under any of the various sections. I will be heading up a new section entitled “Sails”. This will be an open forum where questions central to the writing, development, and appreciation of haiku will be presented and discussed. Like other sections of the blog, its health will depend on the willingness of readers to participate. It could be seen as an extension of “Tobacco Road”.
If you would like to receive, as a preview, a few questions and subjects which are likely to be offered in the coming weeks and months, or if you have any thoughts about “Sails”, please email me at
pyovu(at)comcast.net
And keep checking the site http://thehaikufoundation.org/
for updates. Hope to see you there.
Peter Yovu
Many readers of “Tobacco Road” may have already had a look at “Troutswirl”, the blog of The Haiku Foundation. If you haven’t, I highly recommend you check it out, and to all I hope you will consider posting comments under any of the various sections. I will be heading up a new section entitled “Sails”. This will be an open forum where questions central to the writing, development, and appreciation of haiku will be presented and discussed. Like other sections of the blog, its health will depend on the willingness of readers to participate. It could be seen as an extension of “Tobacco Road”.
If you would like to receive, as a preview, a few questions and subjects which are likely to be offered in the coming weeks and months, or if you have any thoughts about “Sails”, please email me at
pyovu(at)comcast.net
And keep checking the site http://thehaikufoundation.org/
for updates. Hope to see you there.
Peter Yovu
Thursday, July 2, 2009
Two publication notes: The Mule and Summer of Love
The summer sabbatical issue of The Dead Mule School of Southern Literature is available. Click on the image below to see the new issue:
3Lights Gallery has a special issue dedicated to the 40th anniversary of Woodstock. Click the Summer of Love image to view the exhibit.
3Lights Gallery has a special issue dedicated to the 40th anniversary of Woodstock. Click the Summer of Love image to view the exhibit.