ayaz daryl nielsen - Three Questions

ayaz daryl nielsen is a poet/father/husband/veteran and hospice nurse - his poems have hundreds of homes worldwide, and he is editor/custodian of bear creek haiku.

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1) Why do you like haiku?

In Poet's Market, bear creek haiku's listing ends with "write, create your poems - the heart, spirit, shadow, ancestors, readers, other poets, an occasional editor, etc., will benefit deeply", and this, for me, summarizes the essence of haiku. Within, around, beyond, underneath, before, and after all poetry, there is haiku - its poetic essence is within and embraces all ever-changing cultural, political and philosophical entities, past, present, future. It's an intertwined, mutually nourishing flow - within ghazals, the essence of haiku. Within haiku, the essence of ghazals -same with sonnets, triolets, you name the form, also the same with ever-emerging forms, peogles, Fibbing, sci-fi, dark fantasy - you name the form, the essence of haiku is there, and vice versa. Haiku, as with all poetic forms, is a beginning (which poets can always return to) - as Red Pine says of Basho's teachings in Narrow Road to the Interior (and I paraphrase), abide by rules, then throw them out, and wham! you are in the realms of ancients, elders and beyond to the genuine, soulful, wondrously transcendent poetic realm of you, ours - your own! Wow! Cool beans!

2) What other poetic forms do you enjoy?

Within all cultures are versions of the one original poem of creation - recently, I have been astonished, impressed at the high quality of poetics emerging - reemerging? - from eastern European countries, also, by what is overlooked in our - in my - own back yard(s).

3) Of the many haiku you've written, what do you consider to be your top three?

I love them all - here are three -

home, alone - dusk
     enters my living room
         forgets to leave

Lilliput Review


kestrel, hovering -
so, too,
the moment

accepted by Modern Haiku


fisherman's hat
on moonlit waves

his song, deep
within the river

Shemom


thank you for your extensive time and effort on Tobacco Road.

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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 ayaz answered. You must be a published poet in order to participate.

Andrea Grillo will be our guest next week.