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Oh, wouldn't it be nice to have some letters? Some comments on our spring issue?
We can't promise to include everything we are sent or even all of a single letter (we reserve the right to edit for space, etc), but we would love to know what you think. Simply send us an email.
What a great issue! I've read through must of the haiku now, and am looking forward to reading the articles over the next few days. I'm inspired!
Terrie Relf (semi)
March 29, 2002
First, let me congratulate Mark Brooks and the entire haijinx staff . . . this issue is a fine offering with lots of interesting and different ingredients. And I'm very happy to see the "hai" really is still present in haijinx, because the poems, which I felt were exceptionally good, articles, reviews, commentary, and the overall tone revolves around the intrinsically humorous core of haiku as a genre. . . .and that is a key factor in what makes haijinx unique in haiku journals.
I especially enjoyed Bill Higginson's article, well written, as usual, and was stimulated by his recognition in paragraph 4: "Bashô's mature attitude toward haikai seems to be telling us to 'lighten up'". This "lightening up" Bill refers to seems to be something not unique to Bashô; in fact, we learn of this from a number of other poets, and certainly artists in varied fields as well. Picasso, for one, as we witness his artwork growing from intensely detailed representations of nearly photographic clarity and quality, to a long evolution into abstraction and simplification. And this is seen not only in his paintings which became in some cases, one line drawings of a powerfully spontaneous impulse, but also in his sculpture and pottery, etc. I can paraphrase his sense of this "lightening up" in his own words: "It takes a long time to grow young".
We see another example of this "lightening up" phenomenon in the literary evolution of the poetical writings of Kenneth Rexroth, an important American writer with genuine influence upon the haiku movement, even if only through his translations of Japanese haiku and his indelible influence upon the "San Fransisco renaissance poets", which included Jack Kerouac and Gary Snyder, both poets who have written original haiku. His first writings were concrete and confessional, imagistic. . . but a decade later, his work became disassociative, and was often referred to as a kind of "literary cubism". Later, as a truly mature poet and deeply contemplative individual, his writing "lightened up" and sluiced back into a more classically simple presentation. This was when he wrote his wonderous nature verses, his beautiful and erotic love poetry, all so seemingly influenced by the early work of the oriental poets.
Certainly, these are only two examples of masters in art and literature who have expressed this "lighten up" philosophy in their work. So. . . perhaps this area of thought will make an interesting follow up piece, to weave this "Universality" into the mix as an expansion upon haiku's shared impulse.
. . .some first thoughts,
Zolo
April 3, 2002
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