Zofia Kamila Krzeminska - Three Questions

Zofia Kamila Krzemińska is our Haiku - Three  Questions poet this week. She writes:

Hi Curtis,

I met Susan Diridoni some years ago in Santiago de Chile where I live but we started a very interesting correspondence only recently. Our main topic has been poetry and this is how I got to know your website to which Susan introduced me. Since then it has been a must in my daily poetry reading.

I started to write haiku a few years ago in my mother-tongue Polish, and last May some of my poetry (free verse) and seven haiku have been published in Akcent, a literary magazine in Poland. I also write in Spanish and English. And the three haiku that I enclose here are my translations of those published in Akcent done with an invaluable help from Susan Diridoni.

Best regards,

Zofia Kamila Krzeminska

Biographical Note

Born in Poland, Zabrze (May 1, 1949)

1970 - International Trade Diploma (College of Professional Studies - Katowice, Poland)
1971 - settles in Great Britain, London Proficiency in English Studies, West London College, Cambridge University; courses in the field of photography and drawing
1975 - settles in Venezuela, Caracas among others works as: photographic technician, teacher of English,       translator
1995/8 -  Course in Tiffany stained glass method
1999/2003 - member of a poetic group "Toconoma"
2001 - first poetry book-object (in Spanish) - " We all tasted that fruit"
2002 -  first individual photographic exhibition - Polish Embassy, Caracas "The ground, just over the ground"
2003 - settles in Santiago de Chile
2003 -  individual photographic exhibition - Fotocine Club of Chile, Santiago "The ground, just over the ground"
2003 - 43rd National Photographic Competition, Santiago, Chile
2004/10 - works as a translator and teaches English
2005   publishes six poems in Przeglad Polski (New York Polish language newspaper)
2007   second poetry book-object (Haiku/Haiga-photography in Polish and Spanish)
2010   publishes five poems and seven haiku in "Akcent" - Polish literary magazine, Lublin, Poland

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1) Why do you write haiku?

Because I love its precision.

Poetry is the precision of intangible - a friend of mine told me once.  With haiku it is true even much more than with any other form of poetry, and that was what struck me most when I read haiku for the first time.  Its concise form, and perfect concentration on just one single moment and subject which on the other hand transmit, I daresay, the whole universe, is something absolutely stunning. Like a lightning.

2) What other poetic forms do you enjoy?

I'm still looking for an adequate form.  There is always a lingering feeling of the inexpressible after having written a new text, and there were times when I just stopped writing because I felt the words so imprecise. I find free verse a possibility: freedom to get closer and listen to the internal matter, own rhythm without being distracted or impelled by the form.

When it comes to reading, just good poetry, this is all what matters.

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

I'm not hungry
your letter just arrived
vessels are filled   

Akcent 2/2010 - Lublin, Poland



resting in the shade
by a bubbling waterfall
downtown rush

Akcent 2/2010 - Lublin, Poland




you came from above
pale-pink petals
night's rain knocked down

Akcent 2/2010 - Lublin, Poland

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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 Zofia answered. You must be a published poet to participate.