MahMight haiku journal: Donna Fleischer joins the MahMight jet stream & John Hawkhead goes all MahMight quantum with guests Ōmine Akira & Helen Buckingham

a jet

out of a cloud

white peony

Donna Fleischer

About my haiku:

“From the time of its writing this haiku is 20 days old, and I am fond of it for being new, and for springing anew each time it is read.

It mimes human perception as it collides within itself and within immediacy and brevity, and a juxtaposition of two very dissimilar nouns, entities: One manmade, mechanical, stealthy, and loud and the other of earthmade, organic beauty and quiet creation, holding a communal mnemonic of thousands of years of ancient Chinese wilderness and classical Chinese poetry.

Lastly, it unifies all of the above in time and space. Thanks to the postmodern imagination for listening.”

A favorite

On a night of insects

and in a sky of stars

the earth afloat

Ōmine Akira

Translated by Kōko Katō and David Burleigh

"This haiku is also the title of the new “The Earth Afloat Anthology of Contemporary Japanese Haiku” (Kadokawa Shoten, 2021), edited by Kōko Katō, and translated with commentary by Kōko Katō and David Burleigh. I favor it for being vast and timeless, momentary and small, and how it positions earth between time and space."

from Waiting for Godot:

Pozzo’s Shriek of Words to Vladimir:

Have you not done tormenting me with your accursed time! It's abominable! When! When! One day, is that not enough for you, one day he went dumb, one day I went blind, one day we'll go deaf, one day we were born, one day we shall die, the same day, the same second, is that not enough for you? They give birth astride of a grave, the light gleams an instant, then it's night once more.

from Withnail and I:

such zany, profane, and Godotesque dialogue, it’s difficult to choose, but here’s a favorite piece from Marwood —

“We are not drunks, we are multi-millionaires!”

Alan note:

Ōmine Akira

author of The Genealogy of Sorrow: Japanese View of Life and Death

Translated by Taitetsu Unno

published in The Eastern Buddhist New Series 25 (2),14-29 (1992)

Translator Kōko Katō is also co-editor of A VAST SKY, Anthology of Contemporary World Haiku (2015) ed. Bruce Ross, Kōko Katō, Dietmar Tauchner, Patricia Prime.

You also get a bonus haiku from Donna if you click onto the link:

https://donnafleischer.wordpress.com/2015/05/01/a-vast-sky-an-anthology-of-contemporary-world-haiku-2015-paperback-bruce-ross-koko-kato-dietmar-tauchner-patricia-prime-editors/

Translator David Burleigh is author of In and Out of Japan: The Contours of Haiku

In response to Professor Shirane's emphasis on literary allusion in Japanese haiku, David Burleigh notes the relative absence of allusion to Western literary or artistic history in haiku collections from the West, compared with several Japanese examples, with Paul Muldoon the notable exception.

see In and Out of Japan: The Contours of Haiku

Presented at the Haiku North America Conference, Ottawa, Canada, August 2009.

Parts 1 & 2

http://haikureality.theartofhaiku.com/archives/esejeng76.htm

http://haikureality.theartofhaiku.com/esejeng81.htm

The Earth Afloat: Anthology of Contemporary Japanese Haiku

Kôko Katô, Editor
Translated by Kôko Katô & David Burleigh

https://www.brooksbookshaiku.com/translations/earthafloat.html

Juxtaposition in haiku:

The Moon is Broken

https://area17.blogspot.com/2017/10/the-moon-is-broken-juxtaposition-in.html

And now John Hawkhead's haiku plus his nominated guest poet's haiku...

Scroll down further!

bar talk

his atoms and mine

mostly empty space

John Hawkhead

John says:

“I am fascinated by quantum physics and have tried to include some of its theories in haiku. Approximately 99% of the human body is empty space with the remaining 1% being particles that have existed for billions of years. Now that’s a bar room discussion worth a pint or two!”

Favourite haiku

the over

and over

of over

Helen Buckingham

“I read this haiku some years ago and it still resonates with me today. It is a bravura example of how brevity and concise simplicity can carry great depth and meaning when the writer is as skilled as this.The repetition over the word ‘over’ mirrors how we can struggle to come to terms with the end of a relationship and search for answers to life questions where none may be forthcoming.”

Waiting for Godot Quote - Vladimir:

To have lived is not enough for them

Withnail and I Quote - Uncle Monty:

There can be no true beauty without decay

Alan notes:

the over

and over

of over

Helen Buckingham

Publication credits:

moongarlic 5, 2015

ed. Sheila Windsor Brendan Slater