In the Mail

First:  three new haibun accepted by Contemporary Haibun Online, due out in April:  "Once and for All," "In Repair," and "Taos Pueblo."  And my haibun "The First Cold Nights" just came out in the Winter issue of Frogpond. 

And, speaking of Frogpond, in the mail this week I got my first-ever copy.  Of course I've read it before but had never subscribed until now.  (I always subscribe to magazines that publish me; these magazines need our support so they can continue to publish others.) 

Frogpond is the journal of the Haiku Society of America.  You can find out more about Frogpond by going here:  http://www.hsa-haiku.org/frogpond/index.html

Frogpond is filled with haiku, haibun, rengay, renku, essays, and book reviews.  Some of the haiku from this issue I particularly liked were:

thaw
the snowman waters
the crocus

(John J. Dunphy)

sunset
warmth from within
the egg

(Johnette Downing)

Maybe it's that I have spring and warmth on my mind, but I think these are really fine examples of haiku.  Both stir with the promise of new life. 

Dr. Randy Brooks of Millikin University has an essay called "Genesis of Haiku:  Where Do Haiku Come From?"  I appreciate his point about haiku as a "collaborative co-creative act."  He discusses how much active participation is required on the part of the reader to interpret and enjoy haiku. 

There were so many exceptional haibun in this issue.  (I confess to having a personal preference for haibun).  I loved them all and look forward to savoring each again (and again).  Upon first read, two of my favorites are "Home" by John Stevenson and "Not Amused" by Ray Rasmussen.  "Home" is a complex story of loss, accomplished in so few lines as to be astonishing to me.  "Not Amused" is--well--a somewhat amusing take on loss.  Every loss has its sadness, but "Not Amused" takes the edge off the sadness with touches of irony, perfectly rendered. 

Also in the mail, two chapbooks by Red Shuttleworth, a gift from Red Shuttleworth, each signed by the author:

To Theresa,
a kindred spirit
Best Wishes,
Red 

To Theresa
Some chaos from
Western roads.
Best Wishes
Red

Red's previous work has received a Spur Ward from Western Writers of America.  He's been published in some of the great little mags, such as Concho River Review, Rattle, and Zone 3.  Rattle is a great favorite of mine.  If you have access to it, read it. 

I just received Red's poems today, but an early favorite is "At the Crest of Longing" in which a blackbird commits suicide during a wedding reception in Broken Bow and Beefalo burger is "on sale down the street."

THANKS, RED!

Goings On

I got up today to Valentine surprises. 

Allen had already been to town and bought the balloon (which I found floating up out of the bathtub), the flower, the onions (I love sweet onions--I can eat them like apples.  I've always, always loved onions.  When I was a baby, and my family was traveling across the country, my mother gave me green onions to suck on to keep me quiet.  Allen knows how much I love onions!)  He also brought two cream puffs, my favorite pastry, and he's going to cook my supper tonight. 

Such goings on.

In other news, I have two non-fiction pieces in an online magazine called Talking Writing.  You'll find them here: 

 

http://talkingwriting.com/?p=9663

 

and here:

 

http://talkingwriting.com/?p=12419

 

They've invited me to be a regular contributor.  It feels good to be writing essays again.  I love Talking Writing, since there's nothing I like talking about better than writing.  This magazine is all about "talking" writing, so leave a comment if you feel so moved. 

 

I had a short story published in September 2010 in The Sun. 

 

In April, I'll be flying to San Antonio.  I'll be on a creative panel there for the American Culture/Pop Culture conference, reading several of my haibun.  Go here:  http://twilliams-creative-writing.blogspot.com/  if you want to read some of the haibun.   Or click on the Publications Page on this blog. 

 

Such goings on.

 

 

 

 

New Publications

I've had some new publications recently:

A short story
"The World in Red" in The Sun Magazine

Three haibun
"Memorial Day" in Contemporary Haibun Online
"Cairo, Illinois" in Haibun Today
"Spring Passage, May..." in Notes from the Gean


You can read an excerpt of "The World in Red" by clicking on the link above. 

Bruce Ross, one of the editors of Contemporary Haibun Online, chose "Memorial Day" as his commentary piece.  Drop by to read what he says.

"Cairo, Illinois" is based on my Ohio River River journey of 2005.  Friends of this blog will remember my preparations and hopes for that journey.  It is only now starting to yield results in my writing.  
What to do with this little blog?  It's gone through so many incarnations.  I think from now on I'll be publishing less original poetry.  I have another (private) blog I've set up for the purpose of organizing and archiving poems and another for haiku.  This one will probably revert back to writing about process and experience in my world of teaching and writing.  Some photographs and art from time to time.

To the future.

New Haibun

A new haibun published in Haibun Today:  "All Night and Day."
Click on the link to read it.

Published Haibun #2

My second published haibun is here:  http://contemporaryhaibunonline.com/pages61/Williams_Song.html

Published Haibun

My first published haibun is here:  http://haibuntoday.com/ht41/index41.html

There are also many really fine haibun to read at this site.  Read them, enjoy them, write haibun of your own.  Post them, share them, submit them.

Progress

Ah, I've written 7 haibun so far. Two more today! I won't post the new ones quite yet. Something is building. A project. Songs for Ryokan.

Winter Journal: Haibun #3

UPDATE: This work has been accepted for publication at Haibun Today. As soon as it appears in early March, I'll let people know how to find it again. Working with Haibun Today has been a great experience. Response time was short and editorial assistance first rate.

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I have removed this haibun because it is currently under consideration at Haibun Today.

Haibun Moleskine Journal 2010: Entry #2

Photograph, pen & ink, acrylic wash, pastel.

Winter Journal: Haibun #2

I walk in the back field with the dogs. Snow is melting. The bare ground shows in places: brown stubble.

puddles
hold ice and leaves
bubbles on the surface

Plant heads are delicate baskets full of seeds. They wave on long stalks. The dogs want to run ahead. I call them back, afraid of the coyotes. Only when we turn toward the house do I let them go.

two black and white dogs
run toward home
disappear in silver fog

Haibun Moleskine Journal 2010: Entry #1

This is how the actual paper journal entry turned out. Collage: photo; pen & ink, acrylic wash.*

*Note: I amended the entry after it was scanned. The two haiku now read:

they sparkle
two dark eyes
in the brown face

black fields
and then a white house
no lights on

Winter Journal: Haibun #1

Tandoor: crowded tonight! We drink beer, toasting our dead relatives. Before leaving, my husband puts on his white hat. A small boy watches him from another table.

they sparkle
two dark eyes
in the brown face

We take the slow way home through solitary farmland and small towns.

black fields
and then a white house
no lights on.

The first entry

My next post is going to be the first entry in my new paper journal. I just spent about an hour drafting it. The new journal is a haibun journal, a combination of prose and haiku. Like haiku, the haibun has compressed language and it emphasizes the image over explaining. I'll try to put the entry in the new journal tomorrow.

Characteristics of haibun, according to The Haiku Handbook (Higginson & Harter):

1. Written in prose, usually concluded with one or more haiku
2. Brief
3. Abbreviated in syntax; grammar words, sometimes even verbs are omitted.
4. No explanation of the haiku; the connection between the prose and the haiku is often like linking in renga.
5. Imagistic; relatively few abstractions or generalizations.
6. Objective; the writer is somewhat detached, maintains an aesthetic distance, even when describing himself.
7. Often humorous.

I believe the haibun journal will be good for me for several reasons.

*For one thing, I'm requiring my poetry students to keep one. I think I should keep one as well.

*Two: one of my major breakthroughs for the novel happened as a result of writing haibun this past summer.

*Three: it's always good to get aesthetic distance from every day experience.

*Four: Compression is important for me to practice, as I have a tendency to be wordy.

*Five: focusing on imagery is also important for me, as I have a tendency to be vague.

*Six: Basho says we don't have to say "everything" in each piece that we write. Haibun will help me to accept that, to be happy with saying one thing as well as I can.

*Seven: humor; I need to practice giving my writings a lighter touch.

As for the journal itself, it is a Moleskinne with heavy paper.

Haiku #237

My husband hauled three large boxes of National Geographics home from an auction where they were about to be thrown out. Night after night we worked our way through the boxes until one evening he happened upon an issue about extinctions. Steller's sea cow was mentioned. It was a toothless, docile animal that fed on kelp.

"I used to read an essay with my students many years ago about the extinction of Steller's sea cow," I said, remembering how the male drove himself like an arrow upon the shore upon seeing its mate being butchered." I told my husband about this.

He looked sad for a moment. We were both completely still. Then his face brightened and he asked me what the Steller's sea cow must have "said" upon seeing what was happening to his mate. "Stella!" he hastened to reply. "Stella!" he said again. We didn't laugh, but now we were able to continue our lives together.

On a still evening
melancholy is dispelled
by a silly joke

Haiku #234

How astonishing
to be regarded by her:
praying mantis
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This evening I walked our field. Allen has mowed paths through the heavy brush, thistle and wild raspberry, blackberry. I took the camera with me so that I would get some practice. I hoped I would find suitable subjects. I snapped a rusty farm implement, a dragonfly, milkweed, a few insects. I felt little excitement. Then I spied this praying mantis and stepped closer to photograph her. I was looking through the macro lens and suddenly the mantis turned her head and looked directly at me. In that moment, the mantis ceased to be merely a photographic subject and became a consciousness. I was enlightened.