Tag Archives: haiku

Blog, Haiku

The Haiku Foundation: where the party continues…

The Haiku Foundation, a non-profit organization whose aim is “to preserve and archive the accomplishments of our first century of haiku in English, and to provide resources for its expansion in our next,” is the place to hang around if you are trying to make April, the National Poetry Month, last all year long!

There’s a lot to do there! There’s the Per Diem: Daily Haiku, in its box, on the Home page, bringing you specially selected haiku each and every single day of the year;  the Haiku Registry, with over 400 poets and poems to browse through; archives of contest-winning poems, and awards, with judges’ commentaries; an exciting blog with thought-provoking posts and information; contest and event calendars, a digital library, and forums for any haiku-related questions you can come up with…

And now, there is going to be more! The Haiku Foundation plans to create

“the first collection of in-depth interviews documenting the development of 20th century haiku. Poets, translators, and scholars…will share their work and discuss their ideas. The resulting video and audio recordings will be available FREE of charge on the The Haiku Foundation (THF) website: http://www.thehaikufoundation.org …”

Now that’s a worthy cause!

The Foundation is asking for your help with this project. Running a Video Archive Campaign, it aims to collect through donations the $6,000 it needs to buy the audio and video equipment necessary. Will you help them reach their goal?

They say:

“Imagine if you could watch your favorite poets talk about their craft and lives and respond to questions you always wanted to ask them. While the technology wasn’t available during the lifetime of some of our favorite poets, today we have the opportunity to create a rich resource for our generation and those to come. As we move forward into the 21st century, many haiku poets who led the way in the 20th have already passed away. We need to start working immediately to preserve the voices of those who are still with us. Their stories deserve to be heard.”

I can well imagine…

“If a haiku has ever stirred your heart, pitch in! We will return your generosity with hours of enriching interviews, and you will help preserve a fast-fading history.”

Please follow this link here for a lot more information, including various gifts/perks you receive with your donation, tax free advice, gallery of gifts, comments etc.

aros, Blog, Haiku, News

haiku in Bregengemme/Chrysanthemum

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jasmine rice                                                                   Jasminreis
the tongue twists into a new                                   Zungenbrecher in einer neuen
language                                                                        Sprache

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In Bregengemme / Chrysanthemum Vol. 11.1, 2011

(With many thanks to the editors for the translation into German)

Blog, Haiku, News

My Most Beautiful Thing

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Schmutter Marsh

In November last year, I moved to a place near the river Schmutter, in the Greater Augsburg area. Some of you may remember my posts, and pictures, on ‘Leaving Ammersee’ from last year. Given the spectacular Ammersee lake and those sunsets – those sunsets! – it was difficult to imagine then how I would take to my new surroundings. Indeed, it has taken time for me to settle – still many unpacked boxes in the cellar! – but at least I have started going out for walks in the vicinity.

Almost next door, there are the Schmutter meadows: a nature reserve marshland by the river Schmutter (a tributary to the Danube), which is flooded several times each year. The soil is enriched by the flooding, and meadows become home to numerous rare plants, birds, and other animals.

And here, in the local marshland, its grassy paths, sludgy mud, numerous water channels, sluices, and flooded pools, the river itself twisting and turning, I have found beauty, again! This is a beauty I can neither own nor grasp in one go, i.e., in one picture, in one season, or one year. It is a beauty that develops, changes; a fragile, weather-beaten, marshland eco-system that I can only experience piecemeal on my walks through it.

If you have the time, take a look at this picture and haiku, imagine walking by the Schmutter. I will be posting more pictures from this area and writing haiku responding to my walks in the future. Am I trying to make this area ‘mine?’ Perhaps I am! You can come along for the experience.

Better still, choose an area near your own home, observe it, write about or take pictures of it, and turn it into your ‘most beautiful thing.’

This post is written in response to Fiona Robyn’s call for writers to write (and blog) about what they consider to be their most beautiful thing: a ‘blogsplash’ . In the context of her launching her new novel ‘The Most beautiful Thing,’ Fiona is making the novel available for free on the 24th and 25th of April 2012. Visit her blog for details here

Blog, Haiku, News

Prose Posies: Virtual Reading

I am pleased to report here that Cara Holman, in her blog Prose Posies, celebrated April the 17th, National Haiku Poetry Day, by hosting a virtual haiku poetry reading event. Several poets, including myself, were given the space to ‘read’ their haiku at this event.

Thank you, Cara, for organizing this wonderful space, and for including my haiku. In such good company!

The link, which makes the poetry reading accessible to those interested is here

 

Blog, Haiku, News

Couplets Update

National Poetry Month 2012 – Update. Taking part in Couplets, the multi-author poetry blog organized by Joanne Merriam of Upper Rubber Boot Books, I was honoured to be featured:

On the 1st of April 2012 at Margaret Dornaus’ wonderful blog ‘haiku-doodle’

On the 6th of April 2012, at Angie Werren’s great blog for micropoetry ‘feathers’

In the same project, Couplets, 1st of April, I hosted the exquisite poetry of Margaret Dornaus on my own blog. Margaret offered three of her excellent tanka poems.

I also had the pleasure of hosting Lisa Cihlar, whose poetry I love. Lisa wrote a fascinating article about the creation of one of her characters, ‘Swampy Woman.’

There is more to come in the second half of the month. And there are so many good poets taking part in this project! Visit the Couplets site and enjoy! And don’t forget to come back!