Stella Pierides, British poet, and writer of Greek descent. Books include: Of This World (2017) and In the Garden of Absence (2012), both Haiku Society of America Merit Book Award winners, and Feeding the Doves (2013). Stella serves on The Haiku Foundation Board of Directors. She concieved and co ordinates the feature Haiku for Parkinson's for The Haiku Foundation.
Today, the 4th of December, is Rainer Maria Rilke’s birthday. Honoring the poet, three biographies appeared in 2025, which I am about to read: Sandra Richter’s “Rilke or The Open Life”, Manfred Koch’s “Rilke – Poet of Anxiety” and Ruediger Shaper’s Rainer Maria Rilke: The Prophet of the Avant-Garde.
All three in the German Language. In the biogaphy by Manfred Koch, Rilke’s traumatic experiences are shown to be pivotal in forming his psychological make-up and artistic drive. Several reviews confirm that Koch presents Rilke’s anxieties not as much as an obstacle but as the very creative engine for his poetry.
Being interested in ways in which art and literature are utilized to cope with pain, and trauma, I will be reading eagerly…
Interesting! After I posted the haiku, above, I checked AI for its opinion. AI came back with the following poem:
AI enhances the scene,
Evening light gains warmth and glow,
Human eye still guides.
In its poetic response, AI addressing the question about ownership in collaboration, tryies to reassure me about any concerns I might have regarding authorship. In the interplay between human creativity and AI enhancement, I am told, I still have the rights to my vision!
Honored and thrilled that my haiga series “Felt World” is featured this November 2025 at The Haiku Foundation website.
Haiga Galleries.
“Felt World in the title of this Gallery alludes both to the world as experienced through our senses and emotions, in the immediate, embodied understanding of it; and the world of those interested in felting, in transforming mainly wool fibres to the matted material referred to as felt, through a process involving heat, moisture, pressure, and elbow grease.
For background information on how I came to felting and haikufelting, you may find this essay interesting: Felting Haiga [or, Hairballs to Haiga: The Evolution of a New Hybrid, “Haikufelting”here
Brilliant! The new Haiku Foundation volunteer anthology 2025 is here! Co-editors Marta Chocilowska and Robert Kania, with the theme “back to childhood,” have produced a beautiful volume. Kick the Clouds is a must read!
Shamelessly proud to be included! My poem appears on p. 75.
Every Wednesday morning, seven of us serving the life sentence of Parkinson’s, tear through Mering Heath, in the south of Germany. Brushing against coarse grass and heather, stabbing the ground with our walking sticks, thrusting ourselves forward, we fill our lungs with the heather-scented air.
During today’s cooling-down session – swinging upper body left and right, extended arms loosely following, slowly catching our breath – the leader of our group relates the history of the place. In the 1700s, a building housing the Court of Justice stood exactly here by the Galgenbach, the Gallows stream. It was here that executions ordered by the Court were carried out. Crowds gathered, watched and cheered with the tightening of each noose, with each trap door opening. They watched the 15 minute-dance of the hanged, and then walked home.
hangman’s elm the ancient tree creaks and groans . In Blithe Spirit 35. 2 p. 70
The podcast series Two Parkies in a Pod offers advice and tips on how to cope with chronic illness, and the specific challenges of Parkinson’s: https://www.2parkiesinapod.com/
The Haiku Foundation year-long (2024-2025) series ‘Haiku for Parkinson’s’ features #haiku as a tool that may help calm, reframe problem(s), and generally improve the quality of life for those living with disease and the psychosocial entanglements it involves:
What do I find helpful in my own journey of the disease? My family and friends; the ‘Betreutes Laufen‘ walking for Parkinson’s group in Augsburg, the Ping Pong Parkinson (PPP) group in Augsburg and the dedicated PPPCourse in Koenigsbrunn (see also the nationwide PPP Association https://www.pingpongparkinson.de/); being part of the international online community, writing and reading haiku; felting, gardening…
Happy to share with you all the news of the forthcoming Kunsthandwerkermarkt in Neuburg an der Donau in which I am taking part. Eighth and ninth of March 2025, only one week away…I can’t wait!
The images below show some of the works I will be showing.
Shamelessly proud to be included! My poem appears on p. 75.
