I apologize for not spending much time with Tobacco Road this week. As the old saying goes, I've had several "irons in the fire". Let me start with a little belated news:
Terry Ann Carter had five of her haiku featured on the Electronic Poetry Network this week. Her poems are available through the weekend. Click on the link below to read Terry's poems:
http://www.shreve-lib.org/poemofday.htm
This just in from Penny Harter:
I'd like to pass on Tracy Koretsky's invitation to contact her for either a 108-page-perfect-bound paperback copy of her first collection of free verse, Even Before My Own Name, for only $5.00 (which will cover the cost of printing and shipping) at
http://www.tracykoretsky.com/EBMON/html/order_paperback.html; or for a free download of the book at
http://www.tracykoretsky.com/EBMON/html/free_e-book_.html .
The widely-published poems in this collection have earned prizes ranging from haiku to prose poem, including two Pushcart nominations. Tracy's Japanese genre-related work has appeared in
Acorn, Haibun Today, Haiga Online, Lynx, Moonset, SimplyHaiku, tiny words and more. These poems, written over the course of more than twenty years, constitute a powerful and moving collection that really holds together in terms of sequence. Their styles range from haiku to prose poems, with an accompanying range of emotional timbre, and I admire her skillful use of these different genres. In strong and energetic poems, she brings the powerful truths of her childhood world to light, and to life. She reveals times, places, and persons---some happy, some sad, and some even ugly and frightening. She gives us that love / hate/ fear thing that goes on with parents, and the intense inner landscape of the child and young woman she once was. And she not only captures her younger selves, but also, in the last poems, brings us into her present life. It's a stunning book!
Also, as one who has recently been exploring the haibun form, I recommend your visiting the following URL on the blog
Haibun Today:
http://haibuntoday.blogspot.com/2008/01/tracy-koretsky-on-hill-over-haifa.html. And here is Tracy's web site should you want to contact her:
http://wwwTracyKoretsky.com.
~Penny Harter
The deadline for the The Haiku Calendar Competition 2010 is tomorrow. Visit the link below for more details:
http://www.snapshotpress.co.uk/haiku_competition_details.htm
Here is a reminder from moonset:
Hello from moonset.us. Moonset is no longer in tabloid newspaper format, we are back to journal size. Since we were unhappy with the cover presentation last issue… and as a result of generous donations, our next issue will have a light-colored heavy cover.
To subscribe or renew your subscription, you can visit our website at
http://www.moonset.us/subscribe.html
or, you can mail us at: moonset, POB 3627, La Pine, Oregon USA 97739.
Thank you for supporting moonset; we are now “non-profit”!
Submissions and contest entry deadlines are 1 February, for the next issue, visit the website for editor information.
Charlotte Digregorio sent this:
The Midwest Chapter of the Haiku Society of America is planning a free program, 1:30 to 4:30 p.m., Saturday, Feb. 20 along Chicago's North Shore at the Winnetka Public Library, 768 Oak St. There will be six presentations on a variety of haiku topics, plus readings and critique. The public is invited.
The presentations are broad ones, dealing with the style and content of haiku, and will be of interest to both beginning and experienced haiku poets. There will also be time for participants to read a haiku they’ve written and get it critiqued.
Among presenters are: John Han, Professor of English and Creative Writing/Chair of The Humanities Division at Missouri Baptist University, and haiku poet. He will speak on “What Is Haiku?” He will also act as moderator for our discussion, “What Inspires Us to Write Haiku?” Other presentations include: “Season and Other Aesthetics/Poetics in Haiku,” by Poet Heather Jagman; “The Silence Between Haiku Images,” by Poet Joe Kirschner; “What is Sumi Art and Haiga?” by Artist and Poet Lidia Rozmus; and “Haiku in Korea Today,” by Poet Sung Kyu Kim.
After the meeting, participants may attend an informal dinner at the Celtic Knot Public House in Evanston.
To pre-register or for more information, contact Charlotte Digregorio, Midwest Regional Coordinator, Haiku Society of America, 847-881-2664.
Jim Kacian sent this:
Hi All:
It's that time of year again: time for the new Red Moon Anthology of English-Language Haiku to make its appearance. This year's volume, titled
where the wind turns, contains 161 haiku, 12 linked forms (haibun, rengay and renku), and 6 critical pieces on the reading, writing and study of the genre, as selected by the Red Moon Editorial Staff—John Barlow (United Kingdom), Roberta Beary, Ernest J. Berry (New Zealand), Randy M. Brooks, Dee Evetts, LeRoy Gorman (Canada), Maureen Gorman, Peggy Willis Lyles, Kohjin Sakamoto (Japan) and Max Verhart (Netherlands), along with Editor-in-Chief Jim Kacian.
This is the 14th entry in the most decorated serial volume in the history of English-language haiku, and we’re sure you’ll find much to enjoy and appreciate here. To order, go to our website
www.redmoonpress.com and either order from the shopping cart, or else print out the downloadable order form and mail it in. [Note: If you had work appear in
where the wind turns and have not yet ordered your copies at the contributors’ discount price, please reply to this email and we’ll help you make this happen.]
The Red Moon Anthology is the flagship volume for the press, but hardly the only thing we do: here are several other volumes we’ve recently completed, and a few more to be available within the next couple weeks—
[Click on the link to order.]
Live Again—haiku by John Stevenson
John’s third full-length volume of haiku and related forms (you’ll also find his Some of the Silence (1999) and quiet enough (2004) on our website).
**
seeds—haiku by Yu Chang
Yu's long-awaited first full-length collection of haiku doesn’t disappoint.
**
Haiku Wars—a novel by David G. Lanoue
David’s third haiku-themed novel, in his inimical style and including the usual (by now) hallucinatory time-trips back and forth between old Japan and modern New Orleans. You’ll find his two previous novels, Haiku Guy and Laughing Buddha, here as well.
**
Ksana—haiku by John Martone
John’s distinctive poems have had a profound influence on both the content and the shape of contemporary haiku. Unfortunately his earlier volume, dogwood & honeysuckle, is sold out, as will this one be soon, so order soon.
**
a gate left open—haiku by Alice Frampton
Alice’s debut full-length collection has received critical raves and gained her many fans. Not many left.
**
the nether world—haiku of Claire Gallagher
This volume appeared just after Claire’s death, and many have said it has gladdened them because it reminds them of her—a strong voice in a form she mastered. Not many left.
**
Coming Soon:
more wine—haiku by William M. Ramsey
A kind of sequel to Bill’s earlier volume, this wine, seeks to combine the quietistic tradition of haiku with the ecstatic tradition of mystical writing, with electric results. Available March 1.
**
long enough—Jim Westenhaver
Jim’s first chapbook of haiku is elegiac and chastening, a strong new voice you’ll want to get to know. Available March 1.
**
contemporary haibun 11More than a decade of bringing you the best haibun and haiga written and published in English, with more than 60 pieces and 24 graphical works. Available April 1.
**
And of course there’s a lot more on the site, so please have a look
www.redmoonpress.com. Thanks for your continued patronage, and the best to you all in 2010.
Red Moon Press
And finally on a weather note, the sleepy little town of Mayodan is waking up to the white stuff this morning. Here's an east and west shot from my front porch. It's suppose to snow for several more hours. Looks like a good day for
homemade soup!
I'll return tomorrow morning with this week's Haiku - Three Questions poet.
Bill Ramsey's new haiku book, More Wine, is now available from Red Moon Press. Warning: this book may be hazardous to postmodern angst. Its back cover states: "Haiku long has relished the quietistic impulse. Ecstatic verse has favored dramatic exuberance. These two traditions are stirred into a global mix in More Wine. Wine, an old symbol of human thirst for an intimate Beloved, here pours through yearnings of our postmodern sensibility."
