Monday updates

Terry Ann Carter sent this:

 Hi Curtis, I have permission from Patricia for you to post this review on Tobacco Road.

Thanks, again, for all you do!

Click the book title to read Patricia Prime's review of: Lighting the Global Lantern: A Teacher's Guide to Writing Haiku and Related Forms

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Bookin’ It On Main: A Celebration of Black Writers

http://lingolit.wordpress.com/bookin-it-on-main/

For immediate release
November 1, 2011


Contact:
Susan Levi Wallach
bookin.it.on.main@gmail.com
803 466 / 5458

Haiku is ‘a way of life’ for poet Lenard D. Moore

Columbia, SC:  As an award-winning poet drawn to formal structures, Lenard D. Moore writes in more than thirty poetic forms, from bop, free verse, and kwansaba to sestina, triolet, and villanelle. But the form he favors most is haiku. Perhaps it is the challenge of working with only three lines totaling seventeen syllables. Perhaps it is because he sees haiku as “a way of life.” It is one he enjoys sharing: Moore, who is the first African American as well as the first Southerner to become president of the Haiku Society of America, will lead a workshop on writing haiku at “Bookin’ It On Main: A Celebration of Black Writers.”

Though haiku is a Japanese form whose history goes back hundreds of years, it is also popular among American poets, who, Moore said, “appreciate how haiku depicts what is happening now, how it includes a
contrast of two unlike things and how the reader must participate in the experience of it.”

Moore, who teaches at Mount Olive College in North Carolina, has been writing and publishing haiku for almost thirty years. Many appear in his own books “The Open Eye” and “Desert Storm, A Brief History.” In
addition, he has several books of longer poems, including “A Temple Looming” and “Forever Home.” His work also has been included in more than fifty anthologies, including Kwame Dawes' about-to-be-released
"Home Is Where." Among Moore's many honors, he is a three-time winner of the Haiku Museum of Tokyo Award. “I am drawn to the precision of imagery and the conciseness of language in haiku,” he said. “I also
like the oneness of existence with the natural world.”

There is more to haiku than format. A traditional haiku also includes a “kigo” —words or a word describing a particular season— that Moore said “contributes to the deepening of a haiku.” Nonetheless, Moore added, “I think there is room for experimentation in haiku, though it is important to understand the haiku guidelines and know how they work. When I teach a haiku workshop, I start with the haiku guidelines and discuss how they work to help the poet write effective haiku.”

“Bookin’ It On Main” will take place on Saturday, November 12, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. in and around the Columbia Museum of Art. The event will include free readings by sixteen poets, most of whom have poems included in Kwame Dawes’ new anthology, “Home Is Where,” along with ten writing workshops, live music, book signings, a vendor area, and for younger children, an all-day BYOB — Bring Your Own Book — during which children who bring in a picture book can have it read aloud to them. Workshop registration is under way at http://bookinitonmain.eventbrite.com/. For information on “Bookin’ It On Main,” please visit http://lingolit.wordpress.com/bookin-it-on-main or contact bookin.it.on.main@gmail.com.

Lenard D. Moore recently led a haiku workshop at the North Carolina Botanical Garden, in Chapel Hill. On November 12, he’ll give a public reading and lead a haiku workshop at “Bookin’ It On Main: A Celebration of Black Writers,” in Columbia. Photo credit: Dave Russo

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Bookin' It On Main: A Celebration of Black Writers

Columbia Museum of Art (Main and Hampton)
Columbia, South Carolina
November 12, 2011, 10 a.m. - 4 p.m.

Join Us!

bookin.it.on.main@gmail.com
http://lingolit.wordpress.com/bookin-it-on-main
Find us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter!

Gabriola Island

I apologize for the small hiatus. My daughter, Alana, and I moved recently. We're still located in the little old southern town of Mayodan, North Carolina. I know it may sound a bit cliché but there truly is no place like home.

I'd like to thank everyone, near and far, who have helped and supported me during this transition. Sometimes you have no idea just how large your family can be until you need someone to talk to or a shoulder to lean on. I am forever indebted to you all.

BTW, Alana recently contributed to Paw Prints, her school newspaper. Chapter one of Alana's story entitled Black, White, and Gold appears on page seven of the September issue of Paw Prints. Yes, I'm a proud father of a remarkable 12 year-old.

Okay, let's talk poetry!

I no longer do reviews on Tobacco Road. Frankly, I don't have time. However, occasionally I receive a book from someone that is so captivating that I am compelled to spread the news. Tidepools: Haiku on Gabriola is such a book. Edited by Michael Dylan Welch, Tidepools is is a splendid book of haiku, senryu, haibun, rengay (and more) by poets who gather annually at the home of Naomi Beth Wakan on Gabriola Island, British Columbia. This book is more than an anthology of spectacular poems: It is also a guideline as to how haiku gatherings should be conducted, in an air of mutual respect, teaching and learning. Participating poets pay tribute to Gabriola Island in Tidepools with their poems:


sun-worshippers
their discarded clothes
find the shade

Harvey Jenkins
Nanaimo, British Columbia


Silva Bay
watersplash from the tips
of a toddler's toes

Naia
Oceanside, California


pale and wet
drips the winter moon
from the painter's brush

Leanne McIntosh
Nanaimo, British Columbia

Naomi Beth Wakan's free verse poem,  How to Write a Haiku, on page 26 is instructional and fabulous!

I hope I can find my way to Gabriola Island someday. Until then, I'll read and reread this remarkable book.

I'll have another post for you soon.

Issa, Renku, and Andrew Vachss news

A message from David G. Lanoue:

Dear Haiku Friends,

This May will mark the 10th year anniversary of my Haiku of Kobayashi Issa website. As part of a month-long celebration, I'd like to post your messages to Issa. These can be in the form of short notes addressed to Issa, telling him what he means to you--and, if you feel inspired, a haiku on any topic.

Along with these messages and haiku, I'm planning some other special surprises for my website in May--so be sure to stop by!

http://haikuguy.com/issa/

I appreciate your participation. Thanks!

David G. Lanoue
david1gerard@hotmail.com

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Francine Banwarth sent this reminder:

The Bernard Lionel Einbond Renku Contest deadline is quickly approaching: in-hand April 30, 2010. Contest information is posted on the HSA website:

http://www.hsa-haiku.org/hsa-contests.htm

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Robert Moyer sent this:

Jetted a review link off, a mystery novel by acclaimed writer Andrew Vachss. It's a decent hard-boiled novel that dances around haiku principles.  It's rare to find a mainstream novel that deals with haiku let alone one that does so with respect and competency.

Wednesday updates - 3/31/2010

Darlington Richards are proud to announce the launch of their first title, containing 115 haibun from this master of the poetic form which combines distilled, essentialised prose with haiku:

The Plenitude of Emptiness
hortensia anderson : collected haibun
with an introduction by Jim Kacian

"If haibun didn't exist, it's possible that Hortensia Anderson would have had to invent it" - Jim Kacian

"[Hortensia's] haibun are executed in brief, delicate brushstrokes that skilfully weave the ethereal and wistful through the harsh realities of life" - Maria Steyn

This title is available now from Lulu.com at
http://bit.ly/poe-haibun

Best wishes
Norman Darlington
Moira Richards

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Robert Moyer sent this:

Here is a link to a book called HAIKU I reviewed in the Winston Salem Journal. Not many mainstream mysteries deal with poetry let alone haiku. The conceit here is centered around what we might call a "death" haiku, which takes on more meaning in a mystery novel. Vachss is a master of searing detail that has been known to make many a reader cringe.

http://www2.journalnow.com/content/2010/mar/21/sensei-sums-life-in-a-few-phrases/

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Saša Važic

sent this:

The Mainichi Daily News Haiku in English Annual Selection 2009

Judge's Comments: 'Haiku in season'

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A new issue of Roadrunner is online:

http://www.roadrunnerjournal.net/

Krawiec book Indie Book Awards Finalist

Breakdown: A Father's Journey, a chapbook of poems by North Carolina Haiku Society member, Richard Krawiec, was a finalist for the prestigious 2009 Indie Book Awards. Breakdown is a powerful book of poems; it reads (in some ways) as a survival guide for anyone going through a difficult relationship. Within its pages you will discover how a father's love for his sons can strengthen and steady him when all seems bleak. I highly recommend this book.

Here is an excerpt:

Spirit Guide

soon after the rain
my son piles sticks on dirt—
an insect nursery
God teaches you how
to be good he whispers
eyes open like insistent fruit
then he kills you
and gives your body
to the people factory
they make you into a new person
and you get born
again his fingers balance
another twig atop the pile
his smiles asks do you see
are you listening

— Richard Krawiec


Breakdown is published through Main Street Rag Publishing Company.

In the Company of Crows: HAIKU and TANKA Between the Tides - Book Review

Author: Carole MacRury

Editor: Cathy Drinkwater Better

Foreword: Beverley George

Illustrations: Ion Codrescu

Publisher: Black Cat Press

Paperback: 160 pages

ISBN 0-9766407-7-5

Reading In the Company of Crows: HAIKU and TANKA Between the Tides by award winning poet Carole MacRury is akin to receiving an invitation to visit the poet at her home in Point Roberts, Washington, located on a peninsula in the Strait of Georgia. It does not take the reader long to surmise that MacRury's home is fertile ground for the naturalist and the poet; her haiku are as compelling and diverse as the wildlife:


winter drizzle
a lone crow huddles
on the stone gargoyle


through the fog. . .
the sound of whales
    breaching


heat wave
a horse blinks away
a gnat's life


The last poem illustrates MacRury's sharp attention to detail, but the following poem is a prime example of just how acute and observant her poetic senses are, even when she is...


half asleep —
the rhythm
    of receding rain


I would wager that she keeps a pen and pad by the nightstand. I only wonder if she fought off sleep long enough to pen the poem right then or waited until morning. :)

MacRury is equally skilled as a tanka poet:


spring yard work —
together we turn the earth
turn the worms. . .
the roots of our marriage
both forgiving and deep


we sip in silence
lost in a familiar tune
watching
as the rising moon
turns our red wine blue


late summer kisses
on berry-stained lips
in the dusk
we turn past sins
into sweetness


All three poems are superb examples of English language tanka, bridging the natural world with the human condition to forge beautiful and romantic poems. Yes, I know, tanka do not have to be romantic, but such poems are my favorites. (Call me an old softy!)

Haiku and tanka sequences also grace the pages of this volume along with a number of beautiful illustrations by Ion Codrescu.

In the Company of Crows: HAIKU and TANKA Between the Tides is a book that will be read more than once and will likely find a prominent place on your bookshelf. It is a fabulous book of haiku and tanka; each poem flows smoothly when read aloud. MacRury is a poet who knows which form or genre best fits the poem.

To order, send $18.00 in US funds to the author; cash, check, or money order, payable to "Carole MacRury," to:

In the Company of Crows,
c/o Carole MacRury,
1636 Edwards Drive,
Point Roberts, WA 98281 USA.

For more information, e-mail:
macrury@whidbey.com

It may also interest the reader to know that Ms MacRury is the featured poet on the Mann Library's Daily Haiku web site for the entire month of April.

Basho: The Complete Haiku - Book Review

Hardcover: 432 pages
Publisher: Kodansha International
Translations, notes, and more: Jane Reichhold


My haiku journey has been one of cultivating a growing awareness of my surroundings. Through study, trial, and error, I have learned to preserve moments in my life and, occasionally, share them through haiku. I likely would have ignored such opportunities for composing poems had I not studied the works of other poets. I have had the pleasure of meeting and talking with a number of people who have inspired me through their friendship, advice, and poems. Such encounters have always fueled my haiku engine.

Unfortunately, we cannot converse with the original masters of haiku, but we can be inspired by their poems, journals, and the books written about them. Basho: The Complete Haiku, a new book published by Kodansha International with an introduction, biographical notes, and translations by author and poet, Jane Reichhold, explores the life and 1,012 known poems of the father of haiku, Matsuo Basho (1644-1694).

My first and long-lasting impression of this book is that Reichhold has worked diligently to retain the essence of each poem in her translations, occasionally offering multiple interpretations in each chapter along with the literal translations, Romanized versions, and original Japanese for every poem in the Notes section.

Here are a couple of examples:

26.

here and there
a mask by itself combs
willow hair

or

a spring wind
combs on a mask
willow hair

And the Romanized version of the same poem from the Notes section:

achi kochi ya / men men sabaki / yanagi gami
here there <> / mask combing by itself / willow hair

And one of my favorite poems from this volume referencing the poet Saigyo with an introductory sentence by Basho written in the autumn of 1684:

A stream flows through the bottom of Saigyo Valley, where I wrote a poem about women washing yams.

200.

women washing yams
if Saigyo was here
he'd compose a poem

or

women washing yams
if Saigyo was here
they'd compose a poem

And the Romanized version of the same poem from the Notes section:

imo arau onna / Saigyo nara ba / uta yoman
yam washing woman / Saigyo if be / poem write (conjecture)

The commentary included with the Romanized and Japanese versions of all 1,012 poems is invaluable, giving the reader a better understanding of what inspired Master Basho to write each poem, his poetic sensibilities, and his keen haiku eye.

The chronological order of this book is especially appealing, from introduction to chapter-by-chapter biographical synopsis, followed by poems written by Basho during that phase of his life gives the reader a sense that they are accompanying this revered poet on his haiku journey. The selected chronological notes and glossary of Japanese literary terms in the back of the book are perfect for quick referencing.

Reichhold could have finished Basho: The Complete Haiku with the translations and biographical notes and had a successful book, but she goes the extra mile, reaching out to the serious student of haiku by including an Appendix with 33 techniques in composing haiku including such important topics as sabi, wabi, yugen, and karumi. Each technique is explained and expertly demonstrated with one of Basho's poems.

Shiro Tsujimura's illustrations, interspersed throughout the book, complement this volume nicely. The dusk jacket photo by Shuhei Fujita of a representation of Basho's hut is quite appealing to the eye, perhaps giving the peruser the feeling that he or she is holding a piece of history. It is the opinion of this humble haijin that this book by Kodansha International and Reichhold is of tremendous literary and historical significance and should be included in every haiku poet's library. Basho: The Complete Haiku is an indispensable resource for any serious student of the father of haiku.