As I write this I am staring at a pile of haikai-related literature on my coffee table that is approximately two feet high, or would be if it hadn’t tipped over. (I suspect cats were involved.) But that doesn’t mean I’m not constantly looking for more to feed my all-consuming haikai appetite, and I suspect you might be the same way. So here are a few books and websites that have recently come into existence that you might want to check out.
another country, haiku poetry from Wales
This is the first ever anthology of its kind to celebrate the literary wealth of haiku, and its associated forms, created both within Wales and by Welsh writers internationally from the 1960s to the present.
another country takes the 'haiku temperature' of Wales rather than being an anthology of haiku about Wales and is constructed around umbrella themes (e.g. Age & Youth, Exits & Entrances, Memory & Imagination) to create a haiku journey through and around the ordinary and extra-ordinary aspects of everyday life, rewarding the reader with links and shifts rather than presenting a lexicon of haiku topics.
another country is published by Gomer Press at £9.99. For orders and delivery prices please email Aled Lewis at orders-at-gomer(dot)co(dot)uk
Pay Attention: A River of Stones
Back in December Fiona Robyn (a small stone; a handful of stones) and Kaspalita Thompson conceived of the idea of a river of stones, a collective writing project that called on participants to write a short poem (could be a traditional Japanese short form, could be something else entirely) every day for the month of January. A whole lot of people did this and shared them on Twitter and blogs and Facebook and things.
Then Fiona and Kaspa had the brilliant idea of making a book of them. 320 of them, to be exact. It’s a whole lot of poetry. It’s a nice change from books of entirely haiku, while retaining much the same feel, poetically, as a book of haiku. It’s available for sale from Lulu: in paperback, hardback or as a PDF download.
editor's note: and don't miss Aubrie Cox's review in this issue...
Day’s End
At this brand-new website, guest editor Anita Virgil and editor Ray Rasmussen present a collection of haiku, senryu, tanka and haibun by 50 poets with images related to experiences with aging.
This is a very well-designed site with high-quality work from many excellent poets, most of it previously published.
Issa’s Snail
Issa’s Snail is not a new website. Under the proprietorship of Australian Ashley Capes, it’s been around for a couple of years as a web forum for constructing renku and has produced many fine pieces. But right now there is an opportunity to watch there the construction of an innovative new style of renku, as described by Ashley at the website above:
“In this form or style of Junicho, ‘dai’ or topics would not be seasonal. Instead, they would be replaced by something almost pop-culture, so that instead of a summer verse, there would be a ‘film’ verse for example.
“This ‘New’ Junicho would be traditional in that it relies on Allusion (a feature more in line with ushin renga) but the Allusion verses take the place of ‘love’ ‘blossom’ & ‘moon’ positions. Those positions become, for lack of a better phrase ‘cultural-allusions’ which constitute single verses relating to Literature, Politics, Art, Music, Religion, Film.
“Now, in order to contrast these, we’ve planned that other verses would be barred from addressing the prior mentioned Cultural Topics of Lit, Film etc. Instead, the remaining verses will fall into two other categories, Gendai, and Shasei. Therefore we have three Categories: Cultural, Gendai, and Shasei.”
Renku master John Carley is sabaki for this intriguing junicho, which is well underway — the discussion between the participants is fascinating to read and I am looking forward to reading the finished product.
See the Getting Together section below for a lengthy discussion of renku groups.
The Touchstone Awards
The Haiku Foundation has just released its Touchstone Awards for the best published individual haiku and haiku books of 2010. Their list of winning haiku and the commentary on it is a fine piece of writing in and of itself, and the list of winning books -- by Carolyn Hall, John Stevenson, John Martone, Christopher Herold, and George Swede -- may well form my haiku book-shopping list for the next few months.
|
