Welcome to the latest episode of the Haiku pea Podcast, episode 14 of the second series. If you’ve not listened before, my name is Patricia and I host the podcast. This is a special podcast, because you are writing the haiku and senryu, and this month it’s all about trees. Why trees? Well, as I may have told you before I love trees, my husband has banned me from planting anymore in our garden, it’s only tiny but I have lots of trees, fruit trees, ornamental trees and trees for hedging. I haven’t gone so far as to give each one a name, but I will admit to talking to one or two of them, particularly the greengage tree, which is really not pulling its weight.
It seems that you all love them too, as I have lots of new poets to introduce to you and I’m happy to say, so many of our regulars have come up trumps as well.
As usual I have been surprised and delighted with the various forms, and ideas you have brought to the topic. Thank you to all of you who submitted.
Unfortunately due to my absolute incompetence I lost all the data on my computer the other day. I was trying to be clever, but only managed to wipe my memory. Happily, due to consistent nagging from my other half I had a back up but it was a few days old. He’ll never let me forget that. I think I got everyone back but if I had promised you a feature and you’re not here, just email me and I will make good in the next podcast.
Some of the verses that I have been reading in a variety of publications:
family reunion
the wind returns a leaf
to its branch
Edward Cody Huddleston
Haiku Dialogue — What’s at Hand Week 19 on the Haiku Foundation, edited by our very own Craig Kittner
tree
a life encoded
in rings
Pat Davis
from my roof
I could leap into that tree
and disappear
Bruce England
old pines
shoulder to shoulder
campfire ghosts
Randall Herman
The last three from “Full of Moonlight: Haiku Society of America 2016 Members’ Anthology”
lilac in full bloom—
bees bumping
into bees
Carole MacRury
“The touch of the moth. The 35th Annual Haiku Canada Members’ Anthology”
thunderheads
a squabble of crows
in the larch
Debbie Strange
“Hundred Gourds, Issue 5.1, December 2015”
Now I’d like to give you pieces of work which were written specifically for today’s topic.
Prof. R K Singh – India
vultures waiting for
the remains of sacrifice
on the temple tree
patches of shade
under a bare tree
sun in June
Professor R K Singh’s blogs
https://rksingh.blogspot.in
https://rksinghpoet.blogspot.in
https://collectedpoemsofrksingh.blogspot.in
https://profrksingh.wordpress.com
His books:
THERE’S NO PARADISE AND OTHER SELECTED POEMS TANKA AND HAIKU. It is now available on Amazon.
GOD TOO AWAITS LIGHT (tanka and haiku, September 2017, published by Cholla Needles, Joshua Tree, California)
GROWING WITHIN (regular poems, tanka and haiku, with translation into Romanian, published by Anticus Press, Constanta, Romania, December 2017).
His Collections:
THE RIVER RETURNS (2006)
SENSE AND SILENCE:COLLECTED POEMS (2010)
NEW AND SELECTED POEMS TANKA AND HAIKU (2012)
I AM NO JESUS AND OTHER SELECTED POEMS, TANKA AND HAIKU (with translation into Crimean Tatar , 2014)
I know many of you are interested in monoku and I’m happy to have a couple from
Hifsa Ashraf – Pakistan
old oak the deep rooted memories of the war
banyan tree the extroversion of my creative self
Short stories: published in a UK based English magazine
**William O’Sullivan – USA
William’s main occupation is that of an editor. He has long been involved in prose writing, but in 2017 took up haiku as a hobby. As many of us do, he started out using the traditional format, but has moved to a more contemporary style.
He is finding the writing of haiku to be very satisfying, and it could be that this process is giving him not just terrific haiku, but fodder for essays in the future.
William has had some success with his haiku. This year, for example, his haiku was highly commended in Anam Cara haiku/senryu competition which was a celebration of Ireland’s poetry day.
For now let’s hear what William has written for us today:
stream crossing
grabbing the spiny tree
that won’t always be there
Twitter @billmatto,
**wendy c bialek -USA
Wendy is an internationally published/award-winning painter, photographer, sculptor, poet and she has some experience as an editor, having started an e-zine “haiku moments”.
Where she lives sounds absolutely idilic, in the desert, surrounded by mountains with an organic garden. She says she has inspiration everywhere she looks.
This year she is publishing an Anthology on Compassion, “this side of the fire” which includes haiku/senryu/tanka/kyoka/cherita/hiaga/and photomontage from poets around the globe prompted by last years California wildfires. It will be available near the 1st anniversary and proceeds will benefit the victims. She’ll let me know more details nearer the time and I’ll pass them on to you.
700 listings
we pick the house
with a weeping willow
**Shellie Ripple – USA
If I tell you that she is a “Green Bay Packers fan, you will have an idea where she hails from. She is a writer and a poet and in haiku terms I would say that Shellie is more of a contemporary English haiku poet, preferring not to be restrained by syllable count. Haiku for Shellie paints a moment in time, evoking feeling.
She’s kindly recommended a couple of books for those of us who wish to learn more about haiku:
Hass, Robert (editor/translator), “The Essential Haiku: Versions of Basho, Buson, & Issa,”
Swede and Brooks, “Global Haiku: Twenty Five Poets Worldwide”
Oaks rustling,
white noise as I nap
on the porch
along the Gulf inlets,
a matrix of Mangroves
Shellie’s website
**Rp Verlaine- USA
He has a certain sense of humour, which you might guess from the verses you’ll hear from him today. He suggests one way to write great haiku and senryu is to find a great muse and keep them happy.
hurricane
a child’s dolls in
two trees
in high tree branches
the breeze stirs a condom
with new life
Author’s page on Amazon
**James Young – UK
James has retired from his day job, but he still runs a medical website, writes poetry and he swims in the sea every day of the year, without a wetsuit, in Wales!
As I prepared James’s verses for the podcast we conversed back and forth and he said about the writing of a good haiku.For him it happens that “the writer sets out with a vague idea,” then there’s “the ‘getting it’ moment that the writer gets (long before publication), and in that moment of revelation the poet immediately realises that he has written a great haiku.” Does it happen like that for you? It doesn’t happen that often to me but when it does, it’s a fantastic moment, isn’t it?
lightening tree
black from light
buttercup shroud
the ocean wind
beats the sky blue trees
waves and waves
Twitter: @BaitTheLines
medical website
Blogs:
https://haikueye.blogspot.com/
https://baitthelines.blogspot.com/
**Thorsten Neuhaus – Germany
He works as a teacher (SEN) at a vocational college near Dortmund. Reading through his list of hobbies, I am surprised he has time to teach. Let me give you just a few to give you an idea, gardening, angling, jiu jitsu, learning languages, such as English, Dutch, French, Latin, Classical Greek, Hungarian and now Japanese.
Thorsten has been a long time lover of poetry, indeed his university thesis, written a while ago, was on Philip Larkin’s work, but he is a relative newbie to writing haiku, which he says helps him to relax.
What else are they good at? Thorsten says they are “a good remedy against prejudice”. That sort of stopped me in my tracks. I had to think about that, but he’s right isn’t he? Haiku do help us to see things from different perspectives.
rain on radar —
the olives remain
underwhelmed
if a man is
a man then what is
a staghorn sumac
Twitter account Totto @KenshoKevin.
Patricia -Switzerland
Ich habe genug
yellow traces your leaves
against the blue
**Marion Clarke – UK
Marion is a native of Northern Ireland, growing up on the shore of Carlingford Lough. She has been writing since school; poetry, flash fiction and non fiction and back to poetry again, becoming hooked on haiku.
She thinks that possibly haibun is her favourite of the short forms because it allows her to combine fiction and haiku. She’s only submitted a few pieces to Haibun Today and Contemporary Haibun Online, but is delighted that her work was accepted.
She has many creative hobbies which include art, poetry, photography and cooking and somehow she finds time, not only to work in her local education authority but to moderate the haiku foundation workshop pages.
Naturally Marion recommends that we use the haiku foundation as it has so many useful resources available to us. She also recommends Alan Summers blog Area 17, which I would also recommend.
forest clearing
the sudden drone
of a bee
harvest moon
the bough bending
a little lower
facebook page marion.clarke.7
Blog “Creative Reflections” featuring her art and writing http://seaviewwarrenpoint.wordpress.com :
Twitter @MarionSClarke
Andrew Syor- USA
universe of Trees
beauty shelter food and air
enhance this planet
Andrew’s blog
David A Estringel- USA
Sentinels,
watch over a desolate field.
Leaves whisp’ring histories.
His feature-length collection of poetry and prose Indelible Fingerprints (Alien Buddha Press) that is now available on Amazon.com.
His website – david a. estringel
Twitter @The_Booky_Man
Facebook
Instagram
Patrick Stephens – France/USA
In my backyard
the tree I climbed at seven
has gotten smaller.
my old wood table
memories of leafy days
breathing in the sun
Kim Russell – UK
in silver glow
birches bare their branches
moon-bathing
poplars whisper
along the avenue
no one listens
Kim’s website
Publications:
The Emma Press: Anthology of Aunts and Second Place Rosette.
The dVerse Poets anthology, Chiaroscuro – Darkness and Light
Twitter: @kim88110
Debbie Strange – Canada
the last drop
of father’s cologne . . .
evergreen rain
She maintains a publication and award archive which also includes reviews of her books and hundreds of haiga and tanka art.
Twitter @Debbie_Strange
Instagram @debbiemstrange.
Peter Draper – UK
a silver birch
patched with moss
on one side
Peter’s website
John McManus – UK
skeletal trees
mum puts more meat
on my plate
Twitter: @johnnyhaikumcm1
John’s book ‘Inside His Time Machine’
David Oates – USA
climbing a tree
now this branch,
now that
that instant in winter
the trees start building
spring
Twitter: @witnwords1
David’s Website
David’s book “The Deer’s Bandana” at Brick Road Poetry Press
Robert Horrobin – UK
our world
the last few leaves
on the tree of life
** Soma Datta – USA
Soma describes herself as a Training Program Manager and Author. She obviously writes haiku but also prose poetry and flash fiction. Like Marion she also loves to paint and cook.
In April she committed to writing a haiku a day and is now managing around 3.
Swing to the tops of
the trees where verdant leaves
tickle my toes.
Instagram and Twitter: @somaxdatta
Facebook
Her book: “Fearless Follow-Up: How to Turn Conversations into Clients” is available on Amazon.
**Panagiotis Kentikelenis – Greece
I have had this one liner since last year, so Panagiotis has been very patient, waiting all this time. He has been reading and writing haiku for around a year and only 3.5 months when I received this, so I was very impressed.
You may have guessed from his name, even with my terrible pronunciation, that he might have Greek connections and you would be right. He lives off the grid in Halkidiki, Greece
He has some conventional hobbies such as road trips and haiku and then some more unusual ones like unconventional strength and cardio training such as stone lifting, running hills, pushing/pulling heavy sleds.
tree house a condom caught amongst branches
Instagram @g.k.still.I.rise
**David Wiggins- USA
Is another writer who is a relative newbie to the art of haiku. In his spare time he shares hobbies with many of us, like hiking and archery, but I don’t think anyone has mentioned bouldering, or board games before. Please correct me if I’m wrong.
juneberry jelly
early morning breakfast toast
crackle of thunder
Instagram is @david__wiggins
**Lovette Carter USA
It seems that she found out early on in her haiku career that you don’t have to stick with the traditional 5/7/5 format and that writing in the more contemporary style can be as challenging and enjoyable.
Lovette is a nurse who cares for fragile children in their own homes and in her spare time enjoys being in the midst of nature, which inspires her haiku. Unlike myself, she enjoys early mornings outdoors soaking up the natural atmosphere.
She has an interest in publishing her children’s books and says that she wants to incorporate haiku into them.
Sweetgum
the one leaf travels
by foot
wooden sky
a red alder touches
the blue pieces
**Mallory Rowe – USA
A stay at home mum, she agrees with Lovette about nature, in that she writes “the best resource” for haiku inspiration “is nature; sit and be still and let the universe speak through you.”
Silhouettes of trees
Against the white of the moon
Dancing in the wind
Links to Mallory’s book
Instagram is @malloryroweauthor
Twitter is @malloryrowepoet
John Hawkhead – UK
night river
a willow swirls ripples
through a curve of stars
John’s twitter account: @HawkheadJohn
John’s book “Small Shadows” available at Alba Publishing
Richard Bailly – USA
beautiful bonsai
miniature masterpiece
impeccably pruned
giant sequoia
generational presence
road running through rings
Barun Saha – India
from my window
a distant view of you
pine
Barun has been published in: Atlas Poetica, Blithe Spirit, NeverEnding Story, The Bamboo Hut, and Wales Haiku Journal.
Twitter
: @1barun
More about Barun
Joan Barrett – USA
ice giant
the shadow of a pine
at midnight
storm warning
the dead oak
consoles his neighbors
skeleton trees
dressed in white:
tuxedos
Goran Gatalica – Croatia
spring dawn –
birds’ cacophony
on each branch
The Haiku Foundation Author page:
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/tv/haiku_masters/gallery_ep007.html
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/tv/haiku_masters/event/201709/gallery20170925.html
First Basho-an International Haiku Competition in Tokyo, Japan.
Craig Kittner – USA
the triangulation
of its lean:
toppled pine tree
a clump of dead leaves
dangles in the green
the fickleness of rain
Craig’s book “Time’s Sweet Savor Poetry”
Twitter @craigkittner
Katherine E Winnick – UK
Under the bough
Of the cherry blossom tree
I meditate
Twitter @thewovenwords
Cyrille Soliman – France
two wooden deckchairs
under the shadow of pines
summer sun
a puppy’s first steps
in the cloudless sky
green leaves
Roger Watson – UK
bonsai trees
tortured
into obedience
Roger’s blog
His Book: Dewdrops Roger Watson and Su Wai Hlaing available in kindle on amazon available in hard copy if you email Roger rwatson1955@gmail.com Price for delivery in UK/Europe- GBP 4.50 for the rest of the world GBP 7.00.
Elancharan Gunasekaran – Singapore
evening walk
shifted canopy reveals
burning skies
His latest publications are Superatomicluminal (Hesterglock Press, UK), Gods of the Gonzo (Analog Submission Press, UK), The Cosmosnaut Manifesto (UndergroundBooks, New York), Sleeping with Wildflowers (Alien Buddha Press, Arizona/New York), Deviant Flames and Dark Revolver (Roman Books, India/UK).
Isabel Caves – New Zealand
winter stars
the chestnut tree
blooms again
Isabel’s website
You know, I think this episode features more poets than we have ever featured before. I am humbled to read so many excellent and diverse verses, from all over the world. My sincere apologies for my mangled pronunciations of your names, but I hope I have at least written them correctly. Thank you all so much for trusting me with your work. I am honestly so grateful.
Next time on the podcast I’m talking about verbs. Many of you will already know how I feel about them, but maybe I will surprise you and myself when I put the podcast together.
Next month the special podcast is all about synesthesia deadline 12th August and you know what? I have no new contributors yet, so spread the word…
Love to you all, thanks for coming along and listening. If you’ve never contributed before why not have a go, if you don’t fancy synesthesia there are other topics, check out the poetrypea website.
Take care everyone and until we meet again, keep writing….
