Haiku Anthologies A-Plenty

speckled egg
the sunlight
on my thoughts

The Heron's Nest (XVI:1, March 2014)

So grateful to have had this haiku chosen to appear in The Heron's Nest. I'm looking forward to buying a copy of The Heron's Nest Anthology Vol 15, which comprises all the haiku from the 2013 editions of the journal, including three of mine. (See PayPal button at bottom of this page for purchasing.)

Congratulations to New Zealander Sandra Simpson for winning Favourite Haiku of 2013 and also being voted Poet of the Year in The Heron's Nest Awards. Go Kiwi 'Ku!

I also have a haiku in  fear of dancing: The Red Moon Anthology of English-Language Haiku 2013 and have just been informed my haibun 'Damaged Goods' will appear in Contemporary Haibun Vol 15. So that's two more anthologies to buy. Yikes!

How about buying a "Keep Calm and Haiku On" journal from my online shop Haiku On to write your haiku in, and support a poet with big dreams? :-)

http://www.cafepress.com/haikuon

Special thanks to hubby for creating this design.

The Chosen One

I am delighted (especially after a terrible migraine yesterday) to find out that one of my haiku has been chosen for the 2013 Red Moon Anthology, which collects the best English-language haiku published each year and puts them together in book form.

true north
the eucalyptus sheds
a length of bark 

The Heron's Nest Volume XV, Number 4: December 2013

I haven't had any haiku chosen for this annual anthology since 2010, when the below appeared within its pages:

coming home

to an empty house

so many stars

First published in Kokako 12 (April 2010) 

But between 2010 and 2013 I was lucky enough to have work represented in other anthologies that also strive to gather the best haikai published in that calendar year.

2012 saw my haibun 'hair ties' appear in Contemporary Haibun 14, and in 2011 three of my tanka were honoured to be amongst those in the forth and final volume of the Take Five: Best Contemporary Tanka series. 

So I'm travelling well, and in good company. Let's see what 2014 brings . . .

 

Happy National Poetry Day New Zealand!

That's right, today is New Zealand's Poetry Day.

How will you be celebrating?

Check out this link to find an event in your area.


I'm pleased to announce that I have finally finished putting my poetry collection together this month, and that is certainly something to celebrate! As I write, my manuscript is being read by three generous and talented poet friends so I can get some feedback before moving forward.

While we're all waiting to see my collection come out in book form (it will happen!) why not check out A New Resonance 8: Emerging Voices in English-Language Haiku, which I featured in this year with my biggest ever crop of haiku in one publication: 15. It's almost like having a chapbook, in an anthology with 16 other chapbooks! :-)

You can read the first New Zealand review here, written by Tony Beyer. He writes of my work . . .

"Kirsten Cliff's characteristic sensitivity is demonstrated throughout her contribution:

wind gusts--
the letter was not
meant for me

Nature and human nature, co-dependant in our existence, operate in harmony through her lines. She stands up well in this international company and richly deserves the wider audience her inclusion in A New Resonance should bring her."

I have for sale copies of A New Resonance 8 (Eds. Dee Evetts & Jim Kacian, Red Moon Press 2013). If you'd like your copy signed by me, sent from Hobbiton, and with one of my handcrafted cards as a free gift to you for your support, then please contact me here. I'd love to hear from you!

Me beside the "Welcome to Hobbiton, Matamata, New Zealand" sign in my hometown. (click on image to enlarge)

I have arrived . . .

By which I mean that my bounty of A New Resonance 8 books arrived yesterday . . . By which I mean that the postie left a card in the letterbox saying that the parcel was too big for said letterbox and that my driveway was "too scary" to ascend for the delivery, so I was to go into the post office to pick it up myself!

This huge, and quite heavy, US postal bag is what I found when I got there. Wow!

I am super excited to be in this volume with sixteen other "emerging" haiku poets, and to be the only Southern Hemisphere dweller amongst them. A New Resonance 8 is published by Red Moon Press and edited by Jim Kacian and Dee Evetts, and is said to be the finest volume yet.

Front cover (click to enlarge)

If you'd like to buy your copy from me, and have it sent from Hobbiton, I'm including one of my unique handcrafted cards in with every book. It'll be my gift to you for supporting my creative journey. Here are two examples of the cards I have to send out. I'm also happy to sign the book for you, just let me know. 

I can receive payments via PayPal if you're outside New Zealand. Or if you're a Kiwi, there are a range of ways you can make a purchase. Please email me. Book priced at NZ$20 / US$17 + P&P.

Back cover (click to enlarge)

My congratulations to all of the poets in this volume (see back cover image above) some of which I've had contact with, and others that I haven't. Didn't we do well? I hope readers enjoy what we all have to offer. I know I'll be enjoying the experience for a long time to come.

Decemeber Haiku Share: The Week That Was #1

The first week of Cara Holman's December Haiku Share has finished. Below are the links to the seven days of posts, and the haiku I have shared each day. I hope you enjoy reading all the haiku as much as I have been, and maybe you'll come and join us this week! (Here's the link to the latest prompt - night sky)

December Haiku Share - Day 1

coming home
to an empty house
so many stars
– Kirsten Cliff

Kokako 12, April 2010
evolution: The Red Moon Anthology of English-Language Haiku (Red Moon Press, 2011)

December Haiku Share - Day 2

suspended
from an evening cloud
the mountain
–Kirsten Cliff

the taste of nashi: New Zealand Haiku (Windrift, 2008)
Bay News, Wednesday, May 21, 2008
Waiariki Institute of Technology 2010 Calendar

December Haiku Share - Day 3

drifting fog
where does the dream end
and I begin
–Kirsten Cliff

“Dream Catcher” rengay with Cara Holman, Fox Dreams, April 2012 (edited by Aubrie Cox of Yay Words)

December Haiku Share - Day 4 

extinguished
after love-making
a single candle
– Kirsten Cliff

paper wasp 17:3 (October 2011)

December Haiku Share - Day 5

summer again
the dress I wore
to hospital
– Kirsten Cliff

‘All the Words that Mean Cancer’ rengay sequence with Cara Holman, LYNX 27:3 (October 2012)

December Haiku Share - Day 6

as I begin to sing
in my head
the sparrows scatter
– Kirsten Cliff

Kokako 9, September 2008
Waiariki Institute of Technology 2010 Calendar

December Haiku Share - Day 7

fallen blossoms –
loading empty beehives
on the truck
– Kirsten Cliff

Kokako 8, April 2008

Share a Haiku-a-Day for December

Cara Holman has come up with a great haiku sharing event on her blog Prose Posies for this month. As she points out, there's many haiku out there that we miss seeing because there is so much to read, or maybe it was published before our time, or in a journal in a country far from our own.

What Cara is inviting us to do is to share a haiku each day in the comments section of her blog that relates in some way to the haiku she posts each day. Easy peasy, and heaps of fun. Get into it folks! Here's the first post (sign up to her blog and receive her posts directly to your email inbox).

a stranger in the crowd
that looks like you
blue mist

Cara Holman

(Shiki Kigo Kukai, November 2012)

coming home
to an empty house
so many stars

Kirsten Cliff

Kokako 12, April 2010
evolution: The Red Moon Anthology of English-Language Haiku (Red Moon Press, 2011)

Breaking News of the Haiku Variety

Finally some good news!

I found out on Friday (while visiting Haiku NewZ) that one of my haiku was selected for evolution: The Red Moon Anthology of English-Language Haiku 2010, edited by Jim Kacian and the Red Moon Editorial Staff (Red Moon Press, 2011).

The exciting thing about appearing in the annual Red Moon Anthology is that you don't submit your haiku: it is chosen from the pool of haiku that is published internationally each year.

This from Johnye Strickland in her review of the 2008 anthology:

The key to the selection process for all works nominated by the editorial staff was that they should be considered to be "of exceptional skill." Those making the final cut had to receive approval of the editor-in-chief, as well as votes from five of the ten staff editors (50%). My PhD dissertation didn't receive this much scrutiny.

And these thoughts from Michael Dylan Welch in his 2000 essay A Survey of Today’s English-Language Haiku Activity:

Also of note in the last four years are annual anthologies published by Red Moon Press, primarily edited by Jim Kacian, that aim to collect the very best haiku poems published each year. Though the selection process remains flawed and the editor includes too much of his own work, this annual publication is beginning to serve a very useful purpose in attempting to collect the best haiku in English each year.

I am pleased as punch that I made the grade and promptly bought two copies of evolution from the Red Moon Press website.

My haiku sits alongside other New Zealand haiku poets: Ernest J Berry, Owen Bullock and Andre Surridge. And here it is: 

coming home
to an empty house
so many stars

Copyright © Kirsten Cliff
First published in Kokako 12 (April, 2010)

Call for Haiga: Deadline 25 February

Red Moon Press announces a call for haiga submissions through the rest of the month for consideration of publication in contemporary haibun Volume 12. contemporary haibun has published 16-32 haiga in each of its first 11 issues and looks to continue this tradition.

Submissions should be limited to 4 per contributor, and should be 300 dpi. Either jpg or tiff format is fine.

Snailmail submissions are also welcome but because of the timeline must be received by 25 February 2011 to be considered.

Email submissions to jim (dot) kacian (at) redmoonpress (dot) com, making the usual substitutions, or snailmail to Red Moon Press, PO Box 2461, Winchester VA 22604-1661 USA.