Saturday 27 November 2021

Joseph P. Wechselberger and Elliot Nicely and the milk of human kindness





 
 
still warm in the cans
the village milk wagon
making its rounds
 

Joseph P. Wechselberger
 


"In 1954 when I was eight years old and living in a small village in northern France, there was a horse-drawn wagon that came down the street with large cans of milk fresh from the cows, unpasteurized and unhomogenized, the driver ringing a bell to signal its presence. Women came from the houses along the route with pitchers and small containers, and the driver would ladle milk into them. I’ve never forgotten it."



Joseph's favorite haiku is by Elliot Nicely:
 
 

in the icu
a ventilator’s slow exhale …
winter deepens
 
Elliot Nicely

first publication: Presence, Issue 66
anthology: 
a jar of rain: the Red Moon Anthology of English-Language Haiku, 2020
 
 
 
Joseph says:
"This poem speaks to me directly. I have lived the moment Elliot Nicely so succinctly captures. It was a cold February in 1972. My mother lingered in a coma in ICU for ten days, hooked up to various machines that kept her temporarily alive. I spent each day sitting in the waiting room, alone, popping in and out of the ICU to spend time with her. I was with her when she died."
 
 
 
Waiting for Godot:
“VLADIMIR: You should have been a poet.”
 
 
 
Withnail and I:
“MONTY: Loyalty isn’t a matter of selection.”
 
 
 
NOTES
 
 
 
Joseph P. Wechselberger
hails from Browns Mills, NJ USA
 
 
under stars our sleeping bags touching
 
Joseph P. Wechselberger
Frogpond 44.1 • 2021
 
 
 
schoolyard
how the saplings grew
over the summer
 
Joseph P. Wechselberger
The Heron’s Nest Volume XXII, Number 1: March 2020
 
 
 
another death . . . 
gathering fallen apples 
for tomorrow’s pies
 
Joseph P. Wechselberger, USA
Cattails October 2021 page 33
check out another on page 56
 
Also check out:
Prune Juice Issue #30 March 2020
 
 
 
Elliot Nicely
 
 




















in the icu
a ventilator’s slow exhale …
winter deepens
 
Elliot Nicely
first publication: Presence, Issue 66 





















anthology: a jar of rain: the Red Moon Anthology of English-Language Haiku, 2020

 
 

silence at her end ...
the cord around my finger
coiling uncoiling
 
Elliot Nicely
Blithe Spirit, 25:4,November 2015 ed. Shrikaanth Krishnamurthy
 
 
Elliot Nicely is the author of two chapbooks: 
The Black Between Stars (Crisis Chronicles Press, 2017) and Tangled Shadows: Senryu and Haiku (Rosenberry Books, 2013). 

He is an Ohio poet (USA).
 



Tangled Shadows: Senryu and Haiku (Rosenberry Books, 2013)
 


The Black Between Stars (Crisis Chronicles Press, 2017)
Nominated for an Ohioana Book Award and a Pushcart Prize.
 
Randy Brooks review:
 
The Black Between Stars by Elliot Nicely 
(2017, Crisis Chronicles Press, Parma OH) 16 pages, 21⁄4×7 ̋, perfectbound. ISBN 978-1-940996-40-0. $4.99 plus $3 shipping from Crisis Chronicles Press, 3431 George Avenue, Parma, OH 44134.
 
On the Crisis Chronicles Press website, Elliot Nicely notes that “We set out to develop a new work that is both startling and stark, a book which invokes a sense of disquiet and discomfort.”
 
The book is published backwards to English conventions with the cover and title page coming last, and the reading pages progress- ing from right to left in a reverse chronology sequence. 
 
The title haiku is waiting / for her lab results / the black between stars. I like the way this haiku shifts from a contemplative outdoors, to the inner consideration of a medical scan. 
 
The chapbook progresses through two reversed pages with white ink haiku on black pages for two death scenes: first prayer / of the wake / only the wine breathes and blackberry winter / in the cemetery / a fresh grave
 
Small chapbooks have always been an excellent way to present a short sequence or unified series. Nicely’s The Black Between Stars excels as an example of this haiku publishing tradition.
 
 
 

flowering bittersweet . . .
the chances
i did take
 
Elliot Nicely

A New Resonance 11: 
Emerging Voices in English-Language Haiku
editors Jim Kacian and Julie Warther
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Wednesday 24 November 2021

Alan Peat and Réka Nyitrai lunar and solar scapes, and invent a new kigo competition news!

 


 


 
 
day moon…
she feels for an eye
with her fingers


Alan Peat






Alan Peat says:
"This poem is about my grandmother. She continued to sew as her eyesight faded, eventually leaving her blind. I guess it’s also informed by surrealism. I co-wrote the catalogue raisonné of the surrealist artist John Tunnard  (1997) and this interest in twentieth century art often spills over into my writing."

See:
JOHN TUNNARD 
1900 1971

 


Alan Peat's favourite haiku by another writer:




February silence —
an old woman knits her sunset

Réka Nyitrai



Published:



Alan says:
"I’ve chosen this beautifully evocative poem by Réka Nyitrai. It’s one, among many, of Réka’s poems that I often re-read. 

I love poems that create a vivid, resonating image. I see my grandmother in Réka’s poem too - it speaks to me directly and leaves enough space for me to personalise the words. 

A great haiku is one which the reader can inhabit  - this ku, in my opinion, achieves that distinction."




‘Withnail and I’ quote:
You bloody fool. You should never mix your drinks.



Waiting for Godot’ quote: 
Let us make the most of it before it is too late.
 
 
NOTES:


Alan Peat lives in Biddulph, Staffordshire, United Kingdom:
https://biddulph.co.uk 

The history of signs:





Alan Peat is a U.K.-based poet, author, and Fellow of both The Royal Society of Arts & The Historical Association.

He is an Independent Literacy Consultant and his unique INSET, conference and school-based training provides teachers and school leaders with practical, effective and enjoyable strategies for raising pupils' achievement in both reading and writing. 

Alan is the author of a number of books on a wide range of subjects including education, art and ceramics. 

The Magic Stone is his first story for children:

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Réka Nyitrai
 
 
 
 
 
 

 
 
About:
While Dreaming Your Dreams
by Réka Nyitrai
    
I appreciate these haiku that can go beyond the present moment: Everything is ongoing, it’s simultaneously past, present, and future. 

Sometimes we need to turn to surrealism as a way to embrace uncomfortable truths.

Alan Summers
founder, Call of the Page



while dreaming your dreams/mientras sueño tus sueños
Réka Nyitrai was the recipient of a Touchstone Distinguished Books Award for 2020 for her volume While Dreaming Your Dreams (Valencia Spain: Mono Ya Mono Books, 2020).

 
 




Réka reads out her different sunsets haiku:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oP1UwhI17Gs 



MODERN KIGO
COMPETITION NEWS!!!








Sunday 21 November 2021

Richard Matta and Debbie Strange in the lightning zone



Richard Matta says:

“As it turns out, Waiting for Godot was my favorite play in high school. I remember where my mother and I sat for the performance.”





unanswered proposal…
a teetering kite awaits
the wind

Richard Matta



Richard says:

"How long the wait for the wind as the kite balances on its edge, possibly falling forward or back, but either way requiring us to start over. Patience is required, and acceptance we are not in control, just as a proposal, say for marriage, puts us in a holding pattern…with hopes to soar."



Richard choose:



a wild sky
tethered to earth . . .
chain lightning
 

Debbie Strange
Gnarled Oak, Issue 1, December 2014
 


Richard comments:

“Having lived in Florida I know lightning and can relate to the wildness of the sky. The assonance in tethered and earth is wonderful, and the use of tethered and wild certainly makes one think of a wild monster with which you might try to use a chain.”




Waiting for Godot:

“Better hope deferred than none.”


Withnail and I:

“What about what’s-his-name?”



Notes:



Richard L Matta

Richard Matta was raised in New York’s Hudson Valley and now lives in San Diego, California. He practiced forensic science after attending university. Most often  he’s on or near the water, sailing or walking along the bay, usually with his golden-doodle dog. His walks provide the inspiration for his haiku and other poetry. His poetry has appeared in Healing Muse, Dewdrop, and Ancient Paths. He’s a practiced forensic science after attending Notre Dame. He is active in San Diego poetry circles.

https://thedewdrop.org/isolation-shorts/#richard-matta 



Debbie Strange

Interview:
 
























The Language of Loss: 
Haiku & Tanka Conversations
Winner of the Sable Books 2019 International Women’s Haiku Contest
“The Language of Loss contains tanka and haiku of exceptional quality. But it is the remarkable way in which the poet links tanka and haiku that elevated The Language of Loss into the winner’s circle. The poems on each page come together in a conversation of many layers. That these conversations will deepen and change for each reader is due to the author’s expertise. I am delighted to congratulate Debbie Strange on her winning collection.”
 

“These exquisite poems illuminate the skill of the author in pairing haiku and tanka in conversation, one page at a time. On one page, the long ago past talks to the recent past. On another, the sorrow of the natural world is juxtaposed with that of the human world.”

— Roberta Beary, final judge

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B08RZFYY5G/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1 

https://debbiemstrange.blogspot.com/p/book-language-of-loss.html


SEE ALSO

Prairie Interludes
Winner of the 2019 Snapshot Press eChapbook Awards
 
Mouth Full of Stones 
a book of haikai comprised of dark subject matter and black-and-white photographs released by Title IX Press, 2020
 







Friday 5 November 2021

Marcie Wessels and Keith Polette

 




cubicle curtain of falling leaves her whites yellow too
 
 
 
Marcie Wessels
 

 
 
Marcie’s STATEMENT:
"My friend has been battling stage four breast cancer. Over the past three years, I’ve accompanied her to appointments and been privy to some difficult conversations. Watching her decline has been hard. Every time we say goodbye, I wonder if it will be our last visit."
 
 

 artwork by Marcie Wessels
 
 



Marcie’s FAVORITE HAIKU BY ANOTHER AUTHOR:
 
 
 

insomnia…
night rummages through me
looking for lost keys and loose change
 


Keith Polette
from The New World haiku collection









 
 
See Notes further down
 
 
 




Marcie says:
 
WHY I LIKE “insomnia” by Keith Polette
'I love the personification of night. The verb “rummages” is a brilliant descriptor for the way so many of us insomniacs relive our failures in the middle of the night. I admire the long phrasing of the second and third lines and the internal musicality from the repetition of the “L” sound."
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
WITHNAIL AND GODOT QUOTES:
"I’ve chosen the following quotes from Withnail and I and Waiting for Godot. They must be read together, in their entirety, and in order. They speak to the human condition and reflect my appreciation for the camaraderie that I’ve found in the #haiku community during the pandemic."
 
 
 
WITHNAIL AND I: 
Look at that, look at that. Accident black spot. These aren't accidents. They're throwing themselves into the road gladly. Throwing themselves into the road to escape all this hideousness. [to a pedestrian] Throw yourself into the road, darling, you haven't got a chance.
 
POZZO: I, too, would be happy to meet him. The more people I meet, the happier I become. From the meanest creature, one departs wiser, richer, more conscious of one's blessings. Even you . . . (he looks at them ostentatiously in turn to make it clear they are both meant) . . . even you, who knows, will have added to my store.
 
 
 
 
 
Notes:



 
Marcie Wessels is the author of Pirate’s Lullaby: Mutiny at Bedtime (Doubleday BFYR, 2015); as well as The Boy Who Thought Outside The Box (Sterling Publishing, March, 2020) named Best Informational Book for Young Readers by Chicago Public Library.
 
 
re: 
Pirate’s Lullaby: Mutiny at Bedtime
Take a peek at the illustrator’s amazing process
 
Pirate's take over studio...
 
 
Also check out:
 
 
Please do check out haiku by Marcie Wessels on Twitter
@MarcieDWessels
 

crying baby
the midnight ache
in these dried-up breasts
 
Marcie Wessels 2021

And Instagram for haiga and shahai
Marcie Wessels (@mwessels)
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Keith Polette




 



 

 


Keith Polette's haibun collection:


























Winner of a Merit Book Award, 2020, Haiku Society of America, and Shortlisted, 2020 Touchstone Distinguished Books Award (The Haiku Foundation)
 
Haiku Society of America
Merit Books Awards for 2021
Ce Rosenow and Bryan Rickert, judges
Best Haibun Book:
Keith Polette. Pilgrimage. Winchester, VA: Red Moon Press, 2020.
 
Keith Polette’s book is filled with intensity, imagery, and artistry. He draws us into his work using descriptive and poetic language, making us feel the moment with all our senses and immersing us into a fantastic and sometimes surreal world. It is an excellent collection of haibun.
 
Also see:
 
 

The New World 

Keith Polette's New World haiku collection:

And finally, check out:
three one-line haiku by Keith Polette

 












 

Monday 1 November 2021

Issa and Eva Zimet


 
 
 
 
iron-barred window
so high up, beyond reach,
birds call out there

Eva Zimet



Eva’s statement
“He was introduced to me as Rinpoche. Six months like this, he said, holding his wrists together in front. And six months like this, his wrists together behind. And then he repeated the gestures. The window was very high and small, but it was enough to share with the birds in the sky, and keep him alive.”







Eva’s favorite haikai poem by Kobayashi Issa



How much
are you enjoying yourself,
tiger moth?




translation by Robert Hass
https://inpressbooks.co.uk/products/the-essential-haiku-versions-of-basho-buson-and-issa
“Dialogue in haiku is so much fun! We don’t get the tiger moth’s reply, but it is clearly invited and the tiger moth is assumed capable of responding, if only we could understand the response. 

And thus the gist of the haiku, I think, is the narrator jealous?

The question is not “if” but “how much” enjoyment the tiger moth experiences. Is this simple state unattainable for the narrator? How poignant! Or is the narrator aware that a tiger moth lives for only a fraction of the human life-line and is making fun of its frolic? How dim and banal! And how clever of the writer, who (in this interpretation) steps aside from the narrator.

Or is it a moment of communion? How temporal, how temporary we are.”




Waiting for Godot
Pozzo (to Vladimir): Are you alluding to anything in particular?

Withnail and I
“I” (to uncle Monty): Perhaps it’s in the other bag.


NOTES:


Eva Zimet


Kobayashi Issa

1820
.どれ程に面白いのか火とり虫
小林 一茶

dore hodo ni omoshiroi no ka hitorimushi

Issa 

why is playing
with fire such fun...
tiger moth?

David Lanoue translation


David says:

In this haiku Issa questions the moth's Japanese name, hitorimushi: as Shinji Ogawa translates, "bugs that love to play with fire."

David Lanoue’s website about one of Japan’s most favourite haikai poets:

Search for Issa haikai verses:
http://haikuguy.com/issa/search.php









Lev Hart and Eric Amann

  Lev Hart said: “Please accept the following as my submission for the journal I might not like…” What’s not to like when something unexpect...