FROM THE BOOK OF LIFE
A time will come in your life when you too will feel like a prisoner. It may be love keeping you boxed in or hate sucking out the air around you. It may be illness clipping your wings, or simply the weight of years … no matter.
Bach cantatas... unpicking stitches from the kneeler
deep waters the dreamer’s eyes twitch beneath her eyelids
the spring air studded with blooms… morning grace
Shelling a nuclear plant is never a good idea.
Zaporizhzhia—
now you see us
now you don’t
.
In The Other Bunny, March 6, 2023
forgiving mists my stash of wool for rainy days
The Brecon Beacons, Wales
The Luitpold Bridge in Munich is closed. Climate activists have glued themselves to the road disrupting traffic. They are not afraid of a jail sentence, they say. Part of me yearns to be there with them. Making statements, taking action. Instead, I follow signs for an alternative route, like so many ahead of me, and so many behind. Our long, slow-moving queue snakes around our principles.
on the radio…
instructions for instant
gratification
In The Other Bunny 27 Feb 2023
Valentine’s Day under blue skies fields edged in red
I just received Tim Roberts’s wonderful book, “Busted: Reflections on Police Life” published by Red Moon Press. Congratulations Tim!
A poignant, powerful, and at the same time sensitive rendering in haiku of police life that shocks, informs, disturbs, engages, and changes the reader. Alan Summers sums it up: “….beyond bravery…”
Honored to have contributed the Introduction to this book. As Robert Epstein writes in his Foreword: “Prepare to be arrested by Tim Roberts’s bold, graphic, and gut-wrenching haiku memoir”! Indeed!
failing light a pair of swans glide on the silence
Thrilled and honored to have been given the opportunity to speak about haiku and Parkinson’s Disease in an interview for Parkinson’s Life, the magazine of Parkinson’s Europe. See here
Grateful also to Northern California Haiku Society’s Dave Russo for his post on my interview and latest work. See here
The three micro-haibun from the series-in-progress The Censored Poems
The very antithesis of cherry blossom. On the one hand and on the other. And in between
breathing the torpid air of the mausoleum morels, porcini, chanterelles
*
Play if you must. Laugh till you cry. But life is serious. The road is hard, paved with hunger, illness, war. Greed and envy. They will haunt you. Pick apples if you must. Oranges, figs. It won’t make any difference.
Hosannah! at the nudist beach my sunglasses
*
Now that that illness accosted me and I stood up to it, I feel entitled to a few wisdoms.
minding the gap the chilling beauty of angels
Happy New Year 2023! And happy news! Issue 16 of MacQueen’s Quinterly is out!
Filled with excellent work by fellow poets, it makes for a great read! I am particularly chuffed to have 3 of my micro-haibun included from “Censored Poems,” a series in progress. My heartfelt thanks to Clare MacQueen for giving them a home.
*
before Zoom meet— I pluck my chin hair
A big thank you to the Editors Alan Summers & Pippa Philips for featuring my senryu.
Congratulations to all featured poets.
Delighted to see that my article “Parkinson’s Toolbox: The Case for Haiku” is now included in the online resources of Parkinson’s Europe, the umbrella organization for PD societies.
The project titled “Parkinson’s and Creativity” aims “to create an online library of scientific papers, relevant articles, and videos with the aim of sharing knowledge of the latest scientific discoveries and mysteries of Parkinson’s creativity.” Check it out here
https://www.parkinsonseurope.org/get-involved/parkinson-s-creativity/parkinsons-and-creativity/
new snow... the sound only silence makes
Wonderful! Pairing Maria Pierides’s painting with my haiku for a haiga that appeared at the Scriabin 150 Festival! Haiku read by Zoe Grant!
A big thank you to Sherry Grant and congratulations on a fantastic event!
Zoe Grant Reading Musical Haiku (14) from scriabin150 on Vimeo.
cold dawn… trees dressed in moonlight
Honored to see my haiku featured in “open sky: SAMVAAD,” of Trivenihaikai India! Many thanks to feature hosts Sanjuktaa Asopa and Vandana Parashar for selecting it. It is from 2014, shared third-place winner in the Kusamakura haiku competition.
wild stream my thoughts etc.
The hosts invite comments here. The third line seems to be….unusual!
Pleased to see Robert Epstein’s anthology is out! “The Haiku Way to Healing: Illness, Injury and Pain” is a significant contribution to haiku literature, a testament to the power of this very short form of poetry to express and share even the most painful of moments.
Honored that my work is included in this collection.
Here is one of my poems from page 207, initially part of a haibun published in “Contemporary Haibun Online” 17.1, and recently included in my juxtaEIGHT article ‘Parkinson’s Toolbox: The Case for Haiku’ (pp.37-61)
dyskinesia… how tall grass sways
The November challenge at Parkinsons.Art involves rewriting a given poem in our own preferred form.
Here is the tanka I wrote in response:
the mist and I cold, lingering, and silent… under the park bench a handwritten missive, advice from a brave heart
The eighth issue of Juxtapositions: Research and Scholarship in Haiku is out. JuxtaEIGHT is a themed issue on “haiku and wellness,” with several articles, interviews, and resources addressing this theme. And it includes two contributions by yours truly: the article “Parkinson’s Toolbox: The Case for Haiku” is now available to download (pp 37-61), as well as a description of Haikupedia from the Resources section of Juxtapositions: Check them out here https://thehaikufoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/juxtaeight.pdf
I copy below the Abstract of the Parkinson’s article:
Parkinson’s Disease (PD)—the fastest growing neurodegenerative condition worldwide—affects a wide range of motor and nonmotor functions. At present, there is no cure. Only symptomatic treatment is available, aiming to improve quality of life and slow progression. The aim of this paper is to recommend haiku as a therapeutic tool helping with symptoms and, potentially, rate of progression. To this end, following a brief description of PD, and its symptoms grouped under two areas of loss resulting in life diminishment, I touch upon the general role of art and literature in augmenting pharmacological treatment of the disease, before focusing on some of the qualities of haiku (in the process of writing as well as the created poem) that collectively make haiku a containing vessel that can hold and transform the distress associated with the disease into a more bearable experience.
Starting to prepare the garden and plants for winter. Several plants will be taking refuge in the greenhouse, where a heater will be protecting them from the frost’s cruel bites. Others will be toughening it out in the beds, with only a thick cover of straw.
For the first time, I will be planting garlic. I got the reading done, added a bed just in front of the greenhouse, and in a week or two, I will be planting. In the greenhouse, there will be potatoes growing in pots, salads, and herbs. Oh, the excitement! The excitement!
Having written an article on Parkinson’s and Haiku (Parkinson’s Toolbox: The Case for Haiku), I am playing with the idea of sequels. Such as? Well, Parkinson’s Toolbox: The Case for Gardening; Parkinson’s Toolbox: The Case for Table Tennis; Parkinson’s Toolbox: The Case for Felting! You get my gist. Between planting garlic, practicing serves, writing, and soaping wool there’s no time for apathy. Right? For now, at least…
On this Volunteer Appreciation Day, I’m happy to be included in the beautiful anthology from The Haiku Foundation titled “Our Garden.” Thank you, Jim Kacian, Julie Blos Kelsey, and Theresa Cancro!
The anthology can be found here: https://thehaikufoundation.org/omeka/items/show/6497
harvest moon a falling leaf catches the light
we take it for granted this world of flesh and freedoms… floating bookshop
crossing the Brecon Beacons clouds and I . in South Wales (and thinking of Marlene Mountain)
Stella Pierides 