Sunday, January 29, 2012

Tomislav Maretić - Three Questions

Tomislav Maretić lives in Zagreb with his wife Ana and four children. He has written haiku for the past 30 years. They have been nationally and internationally published in a number of haiku journals, magazines, anthologies and almanacs, as well as awarded in many international haiku competitions.

Poetry Collections:
The Boat in the Reeds (haiku, 1990)
Alluvium (free verse, 2002)
Butterfly Over the Open Sea (haiku, 2011)



1) Why do you write haiku?

I write haiku because it is the world's shortest poetry form and because I don't have much time for longer poetry. In addition, I find haiku to almost not be poetry at all, but instead touching of reality and poetry in reality. What I like with haiku is that is is poetry in Nature, and not in words.

2) What other poetic forms do you enjoy?

I'm open to all poetry forms, and I generally and particularly like various styles of imagistic poetry, either rhymed or free verse, as well as poetry by Croatian poets:  A.B. Šimić, Tin Ujević, Viktor Vida and Danijel Dragojević.

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



a child shakes off
the first snow from the swing –
quiet morning    

 (Ito en, 1991)


guests are coming –
are the petals to be swept
away from the paths?

(Sakura Award, Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival, 2006)


hot tea-pot
on the garden table –
camellias in haze        

(Vladimir Devidé Haiku Awards, runner-up, 2011)



If you are enjoying this series and have not contributed, please consider sharing your response - whether it be for haibun, haiku or tanka - to the three little questions that Tomislav answered. You must be a published poet to participate.

7 comments:

Area 17 said...

My only criticism is that I would love to hear even more from Tom. :-)

I love his delicate touch with haiku including this one in particular:

a child shakes off
the first snow from the swing –
quiet morning

regards,

Alan
www.withwords.org.uk

Anonymous said...

Tom is a humble man and a haiku guy, so he does not speak much, but tells it all by the little words he uses.
I like both Tom and his poetry.
Greetings to Tomislav and the haiku world!

Sasa

Gillena Cox said...

Tom is one of my Caribbean Kigo Kukai players; i'm happy to see him featured here

Carlos Colon said...

Great poems, Tomislav. I enjoyed featuring you on the Electronic Poetry Network, here in Shreveport, Louisiana.

Carole said...

How wonderful to see your haiku and haiku thoughts on Tobacco road, Tom. I am especially drawn to your thoughts of haiku as ‘touching on the poetry in reality’. It takes a sensitive mind and keen eyes to see what is all around us and those you have dear friend. I am enjoying your book, "Butterfly Over the Open Sea", and only wish I were fluent in Croatian so that I could also enjoy reading your free verse. Meanwhile, let me say how much I love your three haiku shown above. The first one, especially, is a favorite and joins my growing list of favorites from you. Keep on sharing your world with us.

snowbird said...

I have enjoyed Tomislav's haiku for years... and was very glad to find he wrote on FaceBook so I could follow his art. There is a strength and comfort in his writing that finds the quiet place in a world that is not always quiet or kind.

Norman Darlington said...

I'm delighted to read this mini-interview with one of my favourite poets. Tom's writing style was one I found attractive and engaging from the first time I came across it, some ten years ago.

I love the delicacy of sentiment in this ku:

guests are coming –
are the petals to be swept
away from the paths?