cup-shaped blooms
the outpouring of
emotion
.
In Blithe Spirit (Journal of the British Haiku Society) 25:2, 2015
‘Loving’ in KYSO Flash
In her long life she owned six cats, each living at least ten years. As a child, she was afraid of her first cat, a street-wise tabby. Then she loved chasing her around the house, transferring her fear to the cat. As a teen, she helped a boyfriend taunt the poor thing. She ignored, tripped over, kicked, or spoiled subsequent cats, depending on her phase of life and her mood. Now resting in her recliner, she caresses and speaks to her latest, and only, companion, an ageing, placid ginger, with a gentleness she hasn’t known before.
pear blossom
the lifelong practice of
learning to love
.
KYSO Flash 3, May 2015
‘counting petals’ in Blithe Spirit
counting petals
the dull ache of
insincerity
In Blithe Spirit (Journal of the British Haiku Society) 25.2, 2015.
Reading and Haibun ‘Shoes’
I enjoyed my reading last night, jointly with other writers, at the Open Reading for Writers event, Munich Readery. Many thanks to the writers for the company, camaraderie, their insightful comments and discussion; and special thanks to Lisa Yarger for so wonderfully, and calmly, hosting the event. I read eight haibun, all work in progress. Here is one of them:
Shoes
With warmer days, newspapers are filling with news of migrant boats from Africa and the Middle East increasing in their numbers, sinking in droves. Hundreds of deaths each week.
We poets, who put our hearts in the shoes of the hummingbird and the beggar poet, the little frog and the mighty spring thunder, the cat and the star-studded sky, are confronted with a reality hard to fathom. I find myself at a loss for words. Reading about other people’s misfortunes, of their fleeing deserts, war, of their placing their lives and their childrens’ lives in the hands of fate, of their washing up on European shores lifeless, I stop writing.
My mind fills with questions: did they leave books behind? A favourite thimble, a tin soldier, a straw dolly? A mug they liked to drink from, a shady spot they loved to sit in, an icon they lit candles in front of? A carpet they knelt to pray on? Did they leave behind many beliefs, nourishing relationships, did they lose their innocence before or during the journey? What happened to their shoes?
snowmelt
wall cracks filling
with shadows
.
Image found in Mashable: Migrant Ship Sinking. Photo: Michalis Loizos, Associated Press
See an interesting article on The Migrant Crisis on Greece’s Islands in The New Yorker
‘elderflower’
elderflower–
children sipping granny’s
cordial
Photo from my walk this week around Neusaess.
‘glowing embers’ in Tinywords
‘austerity’
austerity —
bleeding hearts growing through
cracks in the marble
Prompt: austerity
‘life cycle’
life cycle—
keeping still
while moving
.
In the background, painting by Maria Pierides, slightly altered in the process of making this haiga.
‘catching’ and ‘that look on her face’
catching
the last rays. . .
buttercups
*
From my walk along the Schmutter
Photo of bridge over the Schmutter, Neusaess
*
that look on her face . . .
a feather stuck
to the egg
.
Prompt: question
‘Nepal quake’
.
Nepal quake fluttering prayer flags
.
Nepal quake
resin seeping from
the pine
.
Prompt: quake
‘swaying branch’ and ‘moment of stillness’
swaying branch
the hummingbird here
and not here
.
moment of stillness
just before the light
changes
From In the Garden of Absence (Fruit Dove Press, 2012), my book of haiku and micro poetry.
The ‘hummingbird’ poem is also included in my film presentation for HaikuLife ‘Haiku Journey‘ organised by The Haiku Foundation and shown together with several other entries to the event on International Haiku Poetry Day, April 17, 2015. The event was an enormous heart-warming, global literary celebration of haiku, and if you missed it, you can catch up through the blog posts on the THF site and the links here
‘in light of’ and ‘dawn chorus’ translated into Bulgarian
in light of
wild violets…
nightcap
в светлината
на дивите теменужки…
нощна шапчица
*
dawn chorus
the night shift spills out
into the street
утринен хор
нощната смяна се изсипва
на улицата
*
These two haiku, first posted to THF EarthRise, the IHPD rolling haiku collaboration 2015, were translated into Bulgarian for Wild Lilacs, a blog of Bulgarian poets: Thank you Maya Lyubenova, Tzetzka Ilieva, Vessislava Savova!
Haiku Journey for HaikuLife 2015
At the beginning of this year, I wrote about my visit to Kettle’s Yard, University of Cambridge, to view their collection of paintings by Alfred Wallis. At that time, I was inspired to put together a presentation for the HaikuLife FilmFest, organised by The Haiku Foundation. The presentation, Haiku Journey, was shown on International Haiku Poetry Day, April 17, 2015, together with a good number of other films. It is now archived on the site here.
Poetry and arrangement: Stella Pierides; film editing: Rob Ward
Images: by kind permission of Kettle’s Yard, University of Cambridge
Enjoy!
International Haiku Poetry Day 2015
In 2015, The Haiku Foundation celebrates haiku on a global scale, encompassing the work and achievements of haiku poets from around the world. From this year on, International Haiku Poetry Day (IHPD), replacing the THF’s National Haiku Poetry Day, becomes the biggest celebration of haiku poetry word wide. On April 17 each year, haiku poets, haiku poetry fans, and organisations will be getting together under the auspices of the THF in order to honour the depth, reach, creativity, and joy of the genre we have come to love.
For this year, the Foundation has organised a series of events, from local haiku readings and celebrations, over HaikuLife, a FilmFest showcasing work submitted by individuals and organisations, to EarthRise, a rolling collaborative poem.
On April 17th, 2015, from 12:01 A.M. at the International Date Line, a wave of haiku contributions begins and rolls throughout the day, with poets offering their haiku at dawn their local time. The finished collaboration, on the theme of Light, will be permanently archived on the THF site.
I am very much looking forward to the day, and the many exciting contributions from poets around the globe. I will be setting my alarm, and posting my own haiku to the inaugural EarthRise.
I am also delighted that the FilmFest, HaikuLife, features a short film of my haiku together with paintings by Alfred Wallis (from the excellent Kettle’s Yard, University of Cambridge, collection). I created this film with the (much appreciated) support of Rob Ward, After-Effects Artist and Animator. Besides my presentation, there are at least 12 other contributions by haiku poets and organisations, amounting to almost 90 minutes of film.
I hope you will be able to join in the fun on IHPD.
For times, url, and other information about HaikuLife and EarthRise, as well as the local (to the US) readings, please visit the Troutswirl blog at The Haiku Foundation site.
Update April17, 2015
Happy International Haiku Poetry Day, folks! Contribute your poems to EarthRise, watch the HaikuLife films, go to the readings, enjoy the day!
My short film, Haiku Journey, is shown today — together with a number of other films — and will be permanently archived on the Haiku Foundation site. Please see here
For an introduction to the Foundation HaikuLife project, and the list of all projects shown, please click
‘Seferis’ Houses’
My longer poem Seferis’ Houses, republished in Little Eagle’s RE / VERSE, April 9, 2015. To read the poem, please click here
Artwork by Ralph Murre, after a photo by (or of?) Giorgos Seferis
Little Eagle Press presents poems previously published. Well worth another look, we think
Paying homage to Seferis, the poem directly refers to Seferis’ ‘Thrush’, a poem he wrote in 1946. You can read the poem on the Poetry Foundation site.
For information about Giorgos Seferis, see the Wikipedia entry.
You may also want to take a look at this longer, Princeton Uni. entry with photos, or at Edmund Keeley’s interview with Seferis in the Paris Review.
‘skull MRI’
skull MRI
butterfly eggs readying
to hatch
.
Prompt: a Rorschach test image (Gabi Greve)
World Kigo Database, Haiku topics, Theory and Keywords: Rorschach
See more poems here
‘re: falling leaves’
re: falling leaves
he says he still
loves her
.
In Frogpond, 2015, Vol. 38:1, p. 10
‘waiting room’
waiting room
how iron rust
grows
‘walking on ice’
walking on ice …
my full attention
to the moment
.
A Hundred Gourds 4:2 March 2015, p. 15
‘ash wednesday’
ash wednesday
the oud workshop closed
during the war
.
‘you and I’
.
you and I this winter ellipsis
.
Modern Haiku vol. 46.1 winter-Spring 2015
Updated THF Haiku App and Mini-Review Contest
The Haiku Foundation has updated the Haiku App–one of its most important offerings to the haiku community worldwide. In 2015 the App includes well over 1500 haiku from poets around the globe
“showing the range of topics and form characteristic of today’s — not your grandfather’s — haiku! Shake your iPhone or other Apple mobile device and a new poem appears. Share your favorites with friends with a click.”
The THF Haiku App is available to download from iTunes for free! More information and a link to iTunes from here
What is more, the Foundation runs a mini-review contest for bloggers. You only have to post a review on your blog (up to 100 words) and let the Foundation know, giving the blog’s url by using the contact form on the website. There’s still time to do this! The winner will receive Montage: The Book, an award-winning haiku collection, and will be featured on Troutswirl, the Haiku Foundation blog. Give it a try, and have fun!
‘angel dust’
Continuing with the science fiction/weird science theme:
angel dust
a seagull drone readies
to sweep
‘creature comforts’
creature comforts
I pack a haiku
for Mars
‘olive press’
olive press
in the Cretan mountains
liquid gold
.
Prompt: oil
‘the sum total’
the sum total
of experience…
blood orange
I took this photo a few months ago, in 2014, during a visit to the Duveen Galleries, Tate Britain. The photo is of a small part of Phyllida Barlow’s installation, ‘dock’. You can read an account of my reaction to her work here.
‘still life’
still life
a gull breaks
the silence
This is a photo I took of Konstanz harbour, on Lake Constance, or Bodensee, as it is also known in Germany.
wikipedia entry for Lake Constance:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Constance
‘pinpricks’
pinpricks of icy rain…
how damp wood spits
.
In Blithe Spirit, 25:1, p. 4.
Blithe Spirit is the Journal of the British Haiku Society
‘event horizon’
event horizon
another stage
of the journey
Happy Chinese New Year of the Sheep!
Happy Chinese New Year of the Sheep!
