LYNX XXIV:3, October, 2009

Hi there and happy new year! I was reading this by you Jane (in Simply Haiku I think): The poet's job is to experience this earth, this life, and report it to fellow inhabitants in a manner that allows the reader / hearer to experience the insight for him/herself. The poet is the journalist for the spirit world. Yet our vocabulary for this illusive realm is as vague and undefined as the average person's ventures into it are. Therefore, in order to talk of feelings, sensations, vision, hunches, parallel world experiences, we must employ the concrete images by metaphor and simile.Recently I've been studying William Everson's concept of "the earth as metaphor" in which he view all the physical elements of our universe as substances standing in for greater deeper, finer truths. The Bach Flower Remedies are a practical application of this belief. Distillations of the essence of flowers are sipped, not for any medicinal qualities of the plants, but for the emotions of the other world which manifest in them. I believe it is this method of thinking that made Basho the great poet he was. When historians say "haiku degenerated" after Basho's death I suspect this decline was because haiku was denied its right to be a vehicle for poetry and poetical vision. I admit to finding most interesting the writing of persons, either Japanese or non-Japanese, who allow themselves to write as poets drawing on the devices of poetry and who are able to transfer ALL the previous poetic techniques into new forms inspired by the visions of poets of many cultures." I agree and thought you might enjoy these published by the Edward Bach Organisation Research Programme - 38 haiku:http://www.edwardbach.org/Research/docs/haiku/haiku.html
Much love, Paul Conneally

Hi Jane and Werner,
Your very nice card reached me this afternoon! Snail mail appears to be aptly named. You posted it the 16th. I received it today, the 29th, a day short of two weeks later. I have a picture of you and Werner being snowed in, but in spite of that hitching up the dog sled and mushing, mushing into town to mail Don his Christmas card. And here I was beginning to think no one cared!! And speaking of snow. We had a white Christmas, the first one in Denmark since 1995! It began falling a few days before Christmas, big, thick, feather-like flakes. It had stopped falling by Christmas day, but was piled and banked up. But, alas, it is almost gone now, only a few patches left. The stay over Christmas guest have left. I love the family, really, really do; but it is so peaceful and quiet now. Our son will be here over new year, just him, as his wife, a home helper, has to work. Then a new year begins. And I have so many poetic plans for 2010! Let me see, now, there is that 2,000 line poem in tanka stanzas for LYNX – only kidding! So, Jane, you and Werner take care, beware of falling book shelves, and ex-pat poets sending long poems. Don Ammons in Denmark

A small announcement, if you care to send it along through your lists and networks:

The 2009-2010 Xmas offering will also include the first showing of the complete film script, Emma Good - The Movie, as well as the traditional ballad. The screenplay has a few surprises that I am sure readers of past presentations will enjoy. Our performance is also a little different this year. The work is in pdf format and will be installed in increments (starting Xmas Eve) that correspond to the nine days of the ballad's time-frame. This should make it easier for those who would prefer to read the work in smaller 'chunks' and read along at the pace of the story itself. I do hope you enjoy the show. Please pass this along to any and all who might enjoy the performance. Thank you, and to all, a good night, Red Slider

Dear Jane, I just popped down to get my mail, and in it were my TS prizes. Thank you very much! I'm delighted. I've just skimmed Carol Purington's book. Each page a gem. I'm familiar with her country. I spent many summers up and around Amherst (Summer rentals from the multitude of students made it cheap.) I do believe Emily Dickenson shimmers through her, (although Carol should know her exquisite poems are read and savored.) Thank you Jane, for all that you do. Wishing you and yours, health and joy. Kind regards, Michele Harvey

By dawn and by dusk
deer nibble the fallen apples
of October
This at least - that I have not lived
on yesterday's sweetness

Dear Werner: I realised afterwards that in the second paragraph I could give the impression that while on the surface seeming to accept Jane's caveat, as summarised in para 1, I was in fact covertly contesting it. Not at all. She's right, as stated in para 2. To make this , I hope, clear, I've made two small additions in para 2. I've taken the
opportunity to polish in a few other places...........dick pettit
     Jane Reichhold, in her renga article in the last issue, says I overestimate the extent to which 17th century rengistas composed unrestricted by existing templates or by placings of seasons, moon, blossoms & love verses.
       Well, yes, I do, especially in the following: "It seems as true to say that players knew these ingredients should be put in somewhere, and inserted them either at whim or following the exigencies of composition; as it is to say that they had a seasonal template in mind on which they made conscious variation." This does exaggerate, and by just how much can found out by those who compare the available translated renga for any one or all of the seasons. Now to business.
      In that essay, Jane also criticises the Omnipotent Sabaki, who often uses his/her power, knowingly or not, to cramp or inhibit the flow of the renga and the spontaneity of individuals. I was lucky enough to have John Carley as my first OS, than whom there must be very few as open-mined, creative and resourceful, both in analysis and persuasion. Even so, the shoe pinched occasionally, and later OS's caused chilblains and running sores: wrong choices, unconvincing rationales, lack of renga mind, and continual self-contradiction.
     These experiences led to a different system for e-mail composition, which evolved with the help, to mention only the non-Brits, of Vanessa Proctor (Australia),Paul Mercken (Netherlands) and, above all, Francis Attard (Malta). In this system, no-one is in
charge, though there is a convenor/secretary who may at times have a bit more weight.
     First, a rota is made for the whole renga. Then, for each verse, the named player offers two or more (usually three) alternatives. The player following chooses one, and may suggest alterations. If there is disagreement over these between nos 1 & 2, other players may offer suggestions; but the author has the last word. The verse fixed (for the time being), the second player offers, and so on. Someone must be chosen for the hokku, and someone else nominated to choose verse 36.
     This has worked well. Players who doubted their ability to produce for a spot on demand soon find they can offer two or three. This surplus, is in the spirit of renga: it shows that, while the feeling in a verse must be true, each verse is in persona, coming from a particular character and voice – even if, as often, that voice is the authorial. Occasionally the left-overs can be gathered to make a second renga.
     Another advantage is that the player who follows has chosen the verse he/she is following. There is thus a commitment to it - he may even have thought how to follow when choosing.
     There is value to all taking turns at being 'sabaki': everyone has a chance to estimate the quality of a verse, and to gauge the link.Also this work occupies people who might otherwise be bored or spend their energy less profitably.
     Some loose ends, such as articles (a, an, the, & -), poor phrasing and even repetitions can be left until the end, when there is a tidy-up, contributed to by all. Players polish or correct their own verses before giving their attention to those of others.
     OBJECTION 1: There is no-one in charge, and so the renga may wobble between different ideas of renga. ANSWER: Yes, though this may not be a bad thing. Also a general consensus will often arise, especially when the same group comes together for the second time.
     OBJECTION 2: As there is no authoritative figure in charge, the session more likely to be at the mercy of Nit-Pickers, Lovers of Argument, and Prima Donnas (available in both sexes). ANSWER: True, one just has to get along as best one can. It needs one or two peace-makers among the other rengista. However, the problem exists in sabaki-led
groups as well.
    Readers can weigh for themselves the possibilities of the renga as a poem shaped by a single mind, and one the product of a number.I can vouch that the latter is less anarchic than it seems, and I'm fairly comfortable with it. Dick Pettit, Denmark

Dear Jane, Reading Silva Rey's poems translated form the Dutch made we wonder
whether perhaps you would be willing to publish the Dutch version of a recent biforked rengay by Max Verhart, Bouwe Brouwer and myself. The Dutch version will appear in the summer issue of our journal Vuursteen, that is now in its 29th year. Yours Paul Mercken

Hi Jane
1 BIG THANK U. it (the review of his book, slightly scented short lived words and roses), was luverlee. One eensy weensy error; the illustrator was – da dum - one, STANLEY PELTER. c'est moi, stanley. C'est la vie. I am being 'stabilized' for the time being, until I go back to the cardiologist for the results of various tests like the one where they recorded every breath for 24 hours. An interesting possible for a quaint haibun! very best wishes. Hope to finish book 5 fairly soon. Stanley Pelter

The ongoing Shiki Monthly Kukai is managed by George Hawkins [eriegarden@gmail.com] and Shiki Kukai team who have a Special Request: We have an immediate need for new workers on the Shiki Kukai Team. Please write to us at st-kukai@haikuworld.org if you are interested. Experience with MS Excel would be helpful.

Jane san, firstly all my best for this new year! I don´t know if you already remember me. Director of No-michi.com and President of ANAKU navarre haiku association. I have to tell you I enjoyed so much watching your video about haiku on commonwealth club. And I still enjoy it whenever I watch it. It is so excited to put a face and sound to your voice.
Next 23rd of January I have a poet meeting and I have been invited to talk about haiku and to a workshop after that, In barbarin, Navarre. I must say and invite you though it is in Spanish to the first international and national haiku magazine "hojas en la acera" entirely designed by me and in which the three Spanish haiku associations are working on. http://www.hojasenlaacera.co.cc (four numbers edited)

An historic event, Hidden Legacy LA, performance and discussion with artists of traditional Japanese arts in the World War II WRA(War Relocation Authority) camps will take place on Saturday, April 24 2010, 3pm at the historic Koyasan Buddhist Temple in Little Tokyo. It will feature teachers and artists who taught and studied traditional arts in the WRA camps, with performances of Japanese classical odori (dance), nagauta shamisen (classical Japanese music with shamisen), biwa (5-stringed lute), koto (zither) and obon odori (festival dance). A discussion with the artists will follow the performances. This special program is a joint endeavor by Shirley Kazuyo Muramoto, the Japanese Cultural and Community Center (JACCC), Koyasan Buddhist Temple, and the "George and Sakaye Aratani Endowed Chair," Asian American Studies Center, UCLA.
bkad

http://tobaccoroadpoet.blogspot.com Curtis Dunlap’s excellent source of news and information as well as his famous “three questions” and now his feature showing poets’ favorite writing places. He also sends emails announcing his updates.

http://lilliputreview.blogspot.com – Issa’s Untidy Hut is a delightful site that is a pleasure to visit.

AtlasPoetica.blogspot.comAtlasPoetica.com ModernEnglishTanka.com

http://beadsnjane.blogspot.com/ A lot about beading and only occasionally something about writing by Jane Reichhold.

THE EIGHTH ANNUAL ukiaHaiku festival 2010 Haiku Competition
Postmark Deadline for Submissions: Friday, Feb 26, 2010
Festival Date: Sunday, April 18, 2010
Awards will be presented in the following eleven categories:
General Topics (Regional*)
   1) Children, grades K-3
   2) Children, grades 4-6
   3) Youth, grades 7-9
   4) Youth, grades 10-12
   5) Adults
Haiku about Ukiah (Regional*)
   6) Haiku about Ukiah, grades K-6
   7) Haiku about Ukiah, grades 7-12
   8) Dori Anderson Prize** — Haiku about Ukiah, Adults
Haiku en Español, Temas Generales (Sumisiones Regionales*)
   9) Para menores de 18 años
10) Para mayores
International, General Topics, Adult:
  11) Jane Reichhold International Prize***
Check it out at http://ukiahaiku.org/

Basho Festival Haiku Contest results
http://www.ict.ne.jp/~basho-bp/eigo09.html
English haiku first place winner:

The winning poem comes from William Appel of Japan:

Leaf
falling off
the mountain
William Appel

The five runner-up poems, each of which will receive a book from Jim Kacian's red moon press (page down a bit at this link for the titles), plus a 6 issue subscription to Lilliput Review and two copies of the chapbook upon publication, are as follows:

waiting for you --
the window changes
into a mirror
Jacek Margolak

Up the river –
a boat splits
the Milky Way
Eduard Tara

in and out
of the ambulance's wail
birdsong
Terry Ann Carter

HSA 2009 Mildred Kanterman Memorial Merit Book Awards for Excellence in Published Haiku, Translation and Criticism
an'ya and Cherie Hunter Day, Judges
The First Place award is for Best First Book and is made possible by Leroy Kanterman, co-founder of the Haiku Society of America, in memory of his wife Mildred Kanterman.
First Place for Best First Book:: “a wattle seedpod” – Lorin Ford
Post Pressed 207/50 Macquarie St, Teneriffe, Qld, 4005 Australia.
Second Place: “Empty Boathouse: Adirondack Haiku” – Madeleine Findlay Single Island Press, 379 State Street, Portsmouth, NH 03801
Third Place: “An Unknown Road” – Adelaide B. Shaw
Modern English Tanka Press, P.O. Box 43717, Baltimore, MD 21236

Special Award for Anthology: “dandelion clocks” – edited by Roberta Beary and Ellen Compton, Haiku Society of America Members Anthology 2008
Available from HSA Treasurer, Paul Miller, 31 Seal Island Road, Bristol, RI 02809
Special Award for Themed Haiku Collection: “it has been many moons” S.B. Friedman, Lily Pool Press (Swamp Press). Copies available from S.B. Friedman: 119 Nevada St., San Francisco CA 94110-5722.
Special Award for Chapbook: “Distant Sounds” – Helen Russell
Edited by Connie Hutchison, Ann Spiers and Ruth Yarrow. Handmade limited edition.
Special Award for Haibun: “contemporary haibun, Volume 9” – edited by Jim Kacian, Bruce Ross and Ken Jones, Red Moon Press, P.O. Box 2461, Winchester, VA 22604-1661
Special Award for Haiku Criticism and Theory: “Poems of Consciousness” – Richard Gilbert, Ph.D, Red Moon Press, P.O. Box 2461, Winchester, VA 22604-1661
In the competition for this year's Mildred Kanterman Memorial Merit Book Awards for books published in 2008, 43 entries were received. The judges comments will appear in Frogpond Volume 33:1 2010. Carmen Sterba HSA 1st VP

The Betty Drevniok Award 2010
Haiku Canada established this competition in memory of Betty Drevniok, Past President of the society. With the exception of members of the executive of Haiku Canada, the contest is open to everyone, including Regional Coordinators of Haiku Canada.

• Haiku must be unpublished and not under consideration elsewhere.

• A flat fee of $5 Cdn (in Canada) or $5 US (for entries outside Canada) for up to 3 haiku is payable to “Haiku Canada”.

• Submit 2 copies of each haiku, each copy typed or neatly printed on a 3X5 card; one card in each set must include the author’s name, address and telephone number in the upper corner, while the other card with the identical poem must contain no identifying marks.

• Postmark Deadline: February 14, 2010.

• Winners will be announced at the Annual General Meeting in May 2010. First Prize $100; Second Prize $50; Third Prize $25 for haiku. The top eleven poems will be published in a Haiku Canada Sheet and distributed with the Haiku Canada Anthology.

• No entries will be returned. If you are NOT a member of Haiku Canada and wish a copy of the broadsheet with the winning haiku, include a SASE (business size, Cdn stamps) or a SAE and $1 for postage and handling.

• Send entries to The Betty Drevniok Award, c/o Ann Goldring, PO Box 97, 5 Cooks Drive, Leaskdale, Ontario, Canada L0C 1C0.

Winning poems from the Kusamakura Haiku contest can be seen at:http://kusamakura-haiku.jp/backnumber/2009/english_e.html. The Grand Prize Winner in the English section was

Found this ad for Caressa Diamonds in the New Yorker. Their ad-writer knows his or her way around a renga – not always the case as we have seen before. Now if we just had the chance to explain the use of italics in the work to them. . .

The new issue of Contemporary Haibun Online has just been released. Good reading over the holidays. http://contemporaryhaibunonline.com/ Ray Rasmussen, Managing Editor,

the fib review, Issue # 5 is now on site at www.musepiepress.com
The Fib Review Issue #5 has been redesigned and posted to the Muse-Pie Press site. This issue features some outstanding Fibonacci poetry from new poets to award-winning poets. It has a diverse and rich blend of short and longer Fibonacci poems that represent works from the international community of poets representing Australia, Italy, New Zealand, the US, and the UK. Submissions for Issue # 6, due to be posted in April 2010, are now being accepted. Please send your submissions to musepiepress@aol.com. Be sure to put “For the Fib Review” in the subject line.

Dear haiku-friends, the monthly highlights on wortArt - January 2010 - are online with: haiku – Jacek Margolak, haiga – Carol Raisfeld, haiku-art-news In haiku friendship with best wishes for a healthy and creative year 2010. Ramona Linke

Modern Haiga 2009 print edition published. This 2009 final edition of Modern Haiga is a firework display of this year's sparks, each produced by artists and poets: Marnie Brooks, Mary Davila, Audrey Downey, M. Frost, Judith Gorgone, Dan Hardison, John Hawkhead, Colin Jones, Jacek Margolak, Ruth Mittelholtz, Elena Naskova, Linda Pilarski, Carol Raisfeld, Sarah Rehfeldt, Violette Rose-Jones, Alexis Rotella, Manoj Saranathan, and Liam Wilkinson. The full-color, letter-size, perfect bound paperback book is priced at $34.95 and is available at our Lulu store, http://stores.lulu.com/modernenglishtanka and at our MET Press website, www.themetpress.com/bookstore/journals.html. Liam Wilkinson (chief editor), Linda Papanicolaou, Raffael de Gruttola, Carol Raisfeld, and Ron Moss. This is the final issue of Modern Haiga.

The new issue of Shamrock Haiku Journal, the online magazine of the Irish Haiku Society, is now available at www.shamrockhaiku.webs.com/currentissue.htm Shamrock is an international quarterly online journal that publishes quality haiku, senryu and haibun in English, and has a home page at http://www.shamrockhaiku.webs.com This issue has an ample selection of Slovenian haiku in English translation, as well as an international section, an essay, haibun and book reviews. Also, all the winning haiku from the IHS International Haiku Competition 2009 appear in this issue. The results of the IHS International Haiku Competition 2009 can be found here: http://irishhaiku.webs.com/haikucompetition.htm
Shamrock Haiku Journal is calling for submissions from local, national and international haiku poets for the next issue, which will be out in early March 2010. Please submit your work to the editor at irishhaikusociety[at]hotmail.com The deadline for submissions is 30th April, 2010. See submissions guidelines at http://www.shamrockhaiku.webs.com/submissions.htm .Anthony "Anatoly" Kudryavitsky, Ph.D.Editor, Shamrock Haiku Journal Dublin, Ireland; e. irishhaikusociety@hotmail.com w. http://shamrockhaiku.webs.com

The Highly Anticipated Next Issue of The Best Damn Short Poetry Journal Ever
www.roadrunnerjournal.net

Hello Haiku Poets, Sketchbook is now accepting submissions for the next issue. We publish all genre: tanka, rengay, haiga, renku / renga or other eastern genre as
well as western genre such as free verse, cinquain, fibionacci, tetractys
sestina, sonnet, etc. Send to: submissionseditor@poetrywriting.org An e-mail notice will be sent to you when Sketchbook goes on line. Karina Klesko and John Daleiden

The new issue of Haiku Reality is out. Please note: Haiku Reality has moved to a new address:http://sasavazic.50webs.com/indexeng.htm Contents: Haiku Contests, Essays, Criticisms, Analyses, Interviews: Verica Zivkovic: A Favorite Haiku, Dr. Rajni Singh: Haiku in English, Indian English Haiku and R.K.Singh, Matsuyama Declaration, Dimitar Anakiev: Haiku and Capitalism, Dimitar Anakiev: Basho's Sexual Life. Haiku Gallery: Marc di Saverio, Ed Baker, an'ya. Book Reviews: Zoe Savina, The House: Yolanda Pegli
Best haiku of the issue (selectors: an'ya and Jasminka Nadaškić-Đorđević)
http://sasavazic.50webs.com/index.html

Tanka Online is pleased to announce our latest update, featuring Indian musician and poet, Kala Ramesh. An interview with Kala by Amelia Fielden, "A Song in the Air: an Indian Musician's Path to Haiku and Tanka," recounts how Kala started writing the Japanese forms and also how her music background and the Indian concept of rasa shapes her poetry. Rasa, according to Kala, " means the aesthetic emotion — a flavor, the distilled essence of the mood created in the listener’s mind . . . the residue left in our minds after we appreciate a piece of art." Check out Kala's interview, her inspiring tanka, and also the latest verses of our regulars--Jeanne Emrich, Mariko Kitakubo, Michael McClintock, Maggie Chula, Amelia fielden, and Tom Clausen – at www.tankaonline.com_ (http://www.tankaonline.com) . Warmest wishes for a Happy New Year! Jeanne Emrich, Tanka Online Webmaster

Prune Juice Journal of Senryu & Kyoka Issue 3 is now online at http://www.facebook.com/l/152ea;prunejuice.wordpress.com/ under the editorship of Liam Williams. The Winter 2010 edition features new poems from the likes of Sanford Goldstein, Alexis Rotella and George Swede to name just three. Submissions for issue 4 (to be released July 2010) are now being considered. Please visit the submissions page for details. http://www.facebook.com/l/152ea;Scribd.com

Haibun Today - Call for Submissions:—First Quarterly Issue, March 2010 will become an online quarterly webzine in 2010 with issues in March, June, September and December. You can now find Haibun Today at http://www.facebook.com/l/5270b;www.haibuntoday.com as well as at its original http://www.facebook.com/l/5270b;haibuntoday.blogspot.com address. Full access to the Haibun Today archives will continue to be available via either site. You are invited to submit haibun and haibun-related articles and reviews for consideration in the March 2010 issue. Submission Guidelines are at http://www.facebook.com/l/5270b;haibuntoday.haikuhut.com/pages/submissions.html. Forward any submissions by email to Jeffrey Woodward, Editor, at haibun.today@gmail.com.

Atlas Poetica : A Journal of Poetry of Place will close to submissions on January 31, 2010 for issue 5. Poets who are planning to submit should get their tanka, tanka sequences, tanka prose, and articles in as soon as possible. Planned topics include: Vacation/Recreation, Women, Rainy Weather, and Microtanka. As always, we are open to book reviews, articles, announcements, and other items. We also collect international tanka resources, book notes, and other items which are published on a space available basis. Complete submission guidelines and a previous issue are available free online at: http://www.themetpress.com/atlaspoetica/masthead.html. Poets who are not familiar with tanka poetry of place are strongly encourage to read the sample issue carefully to understand what we seek. Please note: Atlas Poetica was published by Modern English Tanka Press of Baltimore, Maryland, for the first four issues. Those issues will continue to be available for sale through themetpress.com. As of 1 January 2010, Atlas Poetica will be published by Keibooks of Perryville, Maryland. A new redesigned website will be announced soon and will be the 'one-stop' up to date location for all Atlas Poetica archives and current information. Atlas Poetica was formerly published two times a year, but starting in in 2010, will be published three times a year. Atlas Poetica is pleased to welcome Alex von Vaupel as our new technical director. Alex is a fine tanka poet in his own right, and will be serving as webmaster of the revamped site and assisting in other matters. M. Kei.