December Daze

Things have gotten hectic this month. Even if you're not a big Christmas person you certainly can't help but get caught up in the rush of others as they proceed to shop, celebrate, and ready themselves for the big day. All this extra buzz and busyness makes things like supermarket parking difficult and appointments for haircuts hard to come by, even in a small country town!

So you'll find me at home making some Christmas cards for family and putting the finishing touches on my 2014 calendar of haiku and photography, which I invited my hubby to be a part of this year. We have six months each and it's pretty cool to have our two styles represented within the pages for our family to enjoy.

Below is my last calendar page for 2013. Click on image to enlarge.

I achieved some big things this year: the biggest of all being completing my first poetry collection and sending it in to the Snapshot Press Book Awards. It will be a long few months yet before I hear anything back about the contest, but it's exciting enough to have fulfilled my goal and the rest is out of my hands for now. 

Another big highlight of my writing year was being part of A New Resonance 8: Emerging Voices in English-Language Haiku (Red Moon Press). I still have copies of this for sale, so please get in touch if you'd like one to give as a Christmas gift to yourself or to someone else. Just send me an email.

2013 also included writing tanka sequences with Pamela A. Babusci and Seánan Forbes (a delight); judging the junior section of the NZPS International Haiku Competition (great fun); coming 5th in the open section of the NZPS International Haiku Competition (yay!), and editing a month of dream haiku thanks to The Haiku Foundation's 'Per Diem:Daily Haiku' feature. Hard to believe it's all coming to an end . . .

So, what does 2014 hold? In regards to the writing realm I'm not sure, but stay tuned!

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)

The Winner of the "A New Resonance 8" Book Draw is . . .

Carole Harrison

Congratulations, Carole! A copy of A New Resonance 8 will be on its way to you soon, along with one of my handcrafted cards.

Here's one of Carole's haibun created during the month:

Day 17

"Some of us think holding on makes us strong; but sometimes it is letting go." ~Hermann Hesse

murrumbidgee -
a submerged log letting go
of the morning

~CaroleH 
Note: Murrumbidgee, a large river in SE Australia

Thanks to everyone who took part in I Quote, You 'Ku this July. Your support of my month-long project is much appreciated, and I hope you enjoyed taking part. It was a great way to celebrate my birthday. :-)

If you'd like to buy your own copy of A New Resonace 8: Emerging Voice in English-Language Haiku (Eds. Jim Kacian and Dee Evetts, Red Moon Press 2013) then please drop me a line. Read the first New Zealand review here.

FYI: All the 52 names of poets who posted went into the online tool 'Pick a Winner!' from which one was randomly selected.

I Quote, You 'Ku - Day 31

The taste

    of rain

– Why kneel?

~Jack Kerouac 

Something a little different today, on my birthday. Above is my favourite haiku, which I wrote about here. You can either write a haiku response to today's "quote" or, seeing as it is a haiku, you can choose to write the prose portion of the haibun. It's up to you. Have fun! I look forward to reading your responses.

Click here for the first post on how I Quote, You 'Ku works. Every poet who posts a poem this month will be entered into the draw to win a copy of A New Resonance 8.

I Quote, You 'Ku - Day 30

"To begin writing haiku, and to make progress to any significant extent, requires two gifts: the ability to be alert to the subtleties of sensory or psychological experience (i.e. to notice things); and a sensitivity to the subtleties of language (i.e. to be able to express things). However it isn't necessary to know that you possess these gifts before beginning to write: the gifts are very often revealed – and developed – in the writing. The haiku path is an unfolding process of discovery , and the only magic words of access are the words of each haiku that you read and write. If there is some special or exceptional condition called 'haiku mind' then I, for one, don't have it. As far as I'm concerned, there are as many haiku minds as there are readers and writers of haiku."

~Martin Lucas, Stepping Stones: a way into haiku

Your challenge is to write a haiku or tanka (or choose one of your previously published works) that has a connection with the themes/feelings/images of the above quote, without just restating what has appeared in the text, to create a haibun. Play around with it and see what you come up with. Enjoy!

Click here for the first post on how I Quote, You 'Ku works. Every poet who posts a poem this month will be entered into the draw to win a copy of A New Resonance 8.

I Quote, You 'Ku - Day 29

“The only reason for wanting to be a writer is because you love doing it. All the rest is confetti.”

~Susan Hill

Your challenge is to write a haiku or tanka (or choose one of your previously published works) that has a connection with the themes/feelings/images of the above quote, without just restating what has appeared in the text, to create a haibun. Play around with it and see what you come up with. Enjoy!

Click here for the first post on how I Quote, You 'Ku works. Every poet who posts a poem this month will be entered into the draw to win a copy of A New Resonance 8.

 

I Quote, You 'Ku - Day 28

“The richer our sensory environment and the greater our freedom to explore it, the more intricate will be the patterns for learning, thought and creativity.”

~Carla Hannaford 

Your challenge is to write a haiku or tanka (or choose one of your previously published works) that has a connection with the themes/feelings/images of the above quote, without just restating what has appeared in the text, to create a haibun. Play around with it and see what you come up with. Enjoy!

Click here for the first post on how I Quote, You 'Ku works. Every poet who posts a poem this month will be entered into the draw to win a copy of A New Resonance 8.

 

I Quote, You 'Ku - Day 27

“The idea that memory is linear is nonsense. What we have in our heads is a collection of frames. As to time itself – can it be linear when all these snatches of other presents exist at once in your mind? A very elusive and tricky concept, time.”

~Penelope Lively

Your challenge is to write a haiku or tanka (or choose one of your previously published works) that has a connection with the themes/feelings/images of the above quote, without just restating what has appeared in the text, to create a haibun. Play around with it and see what you come up with. Enjoy!

Click here for the first post on how I Quote, You 'Ku works. Every poet who posts a poem this month will be entered into the draw to win a copy of A New Resonance 8.

 

I Quote, You 'Ku - Day 26

"Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing there is a field. I'll meet you there. When the soul lies down in that grass the world is too full to talk about."

~Rumi

Your challenge is to write a haiku or tanka (or choose one of your previously published works) that has a connection with the themes/feelings/images of the above quote, without just restating what has appeared in the text, to create a haibun. Play around with it and see what you come up with. Enjoy!

Click here for the first post on how I Quote, You 'Ku works. Every poet who posts a poem this month will be entered into the draw to win a copy of A New Resonance 8.

 

I Quote, You 'Ku - Day 25

"Certain things catch your eye, but pursue only those that capture the heart." 

~Ancient Indian Proverb

Your challenge is to write a haiku or tanka (or choose one of your previously published works) that has a connection with the themes/feelings/images of the above quote, without just restating what has appeared in the text, to create a haibun. Play around with it and see what you come up with. Enjoy!

Click here for the first post on how I Quote, You 'Ku works. Every poet who posts a poem this month will be entered into the draw to win a copy of A New Resonance 8.

 

I Quote, You 'Ku - Day 24

"If you hear a voice within you say “you cannot paint,” then by all means paint and that voice will be silenced."

~Vincent Van Gogh

Your challenge is to write a haiku or tanka (or choose one of your previously published works) that has a connection with the themes/feelings/images of the above quote, without just restating what has appeared in the text, to create a haibun. Play around with it and see what you come up with. Enjoy!

Click here for the first post on how I Quote, You 'Ku works. Every poet who posts a poem this month will be entered into the draw to win a copy of A New Resonance 8.

 

I Quote, You 'Ku - Day 23

“I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”

~Maya Angelou

Your challenge is to write a haiku or tanka (or choose one of your previously published works) that has a connection with the themes/feelings/images of the above quote, without just restating what has appeared in the text, to create a haibun. Play around with it and see what you come up with. Enjoy!

Click here for the first post on how I Quote, You 'Ku works. Every poet who posts a poem this month will be entered into the draw to win a copy of A New Resonance 8.

I Quote, You 'Ku - Day 22

"Jung observed that dreams perform restorative, corrective, compensatory, prophetic, and developmental roles in our psyche; that to attend to our dreams is to attend to the cry of the soul."

~ Jill Mellick in The Art of Dreaming 

Your challenge is to write a haiku or tanka (or choose one of your previously published works) that has a connection with the themes/feelings/images of the above quote, without just restating what has appeared in the text, to create a haibun. Play around with it and see what you come up with. Enjoy!

Click here for the first post on how I Quote, You 'Ku works. Every poet who posts a poem this month will be entered into the draw to win a copy of A New Resonance 8.

 

I Quote, You 'Ku - Day 21

"True morality consists not in following the well-beaten track, but in finding out the true path for ourselves and in fearlessly following it."

~Mahatma Gandhi

Your challenge is to write a haiku or tanka (or choose one of your previously published works) that has a connection with the themes/feelings/images of the above quote, without just restating what has appeared in the text, to create a haibun. Play around with it and see what you come up with. Enjoy!

Click here for the first post on how I Quote, You 'Ku works. Every poet who posts a poem this month will be entered into the draw to win a copy of A New Resonance 8.

 

I Quote, You 'Ku - Day 20

"Once I knew only darkness and stillness... my life was without past or future... but a little word from the fingers of another fell into my hand that clutched at emptiness, and my heart leaped to the rapture of living."

~Helen Keller

Your challenge is to write a haiku or tanka (or choose one of your previously published works) that has a connection with the themes/feelings/images of the above quote, without just restating what has appeared in the text, to create a haibun. Play around with it and see what you come up with. Enjoy!

Click here for the first post on how I Quote, You 'Ku works. Every poet who posts a poem this month will be entered into the draw to win a copy of A New Resonance 8.

 

I Quote, You 'Ku - Day 19

"You sometimes think you want to disappear but all you really want is to be found."

~Kid Cudi

Your challenge is to write a haiku or tanka (or choose one of your previously published works) that has a connection with the themes/feelings/images of the above quote, without just restating what has appeared in the text, to create a haibun. Play around with it and see what you come up with. Enjoy!

Click here for the first post on how I Quote, You 'Ku works. Every poet who posts a poem this month will be entered into the draw to win a copy of A New Resonance 8.

 

I Quote, You 'Ku - Day 18

"Let you life lightly dance on the edges of Time like dew on the tip of a leaf."

~Rabindranath Tagore

Your challenge is to write a haiku or tanka (or choose one of your previously published works) that has a connection with the themes/feelings/images of the above quote, without just restating what has appeared in the text, to create a haibun. Play around with it and see what you come up with. Enjoy!

Click here for the first post on how I Quote, You 'Ku works. Every poet who posts a poem this month will be entered into the draw to win a copy of A New Resonance 8.

 

I Quote, You 'Ku - Day 17

"Some of us think holding on makes us strong; but sometimes it is letting go."

~Hermann Hesse

Your challenge is to write a haiku or tanka (or choose one of your previously published works) that has a connection with the themes/feelings/images of the above quote, without just restating what has appeared in the text, to create a haibun. Play around with it and see what you come up with. Enjoy!

Click here for the first post on how I Quote, You 'Ku works. Every poet who posts a poem this month will be entered into the draw to win a copy of A New Resonance 8.

 

I Quote, You 'Ku - Day 16

"I would love to live like a river flows, carried by the surprise of its own unfolding."

~John O'Donohue

Your challenge is to write a haiku or tanka (or choose one of your previously published works) that has a connection with the themes/feelings/images of the above quote, without just restating what has appeared in the text, to create a haibun. Play around with it and see what you come up with. Enjoy!

Click here for the first post on how I Quote, You 'Ku works. Every poet who posts a poem this month will be entered into the draw to win a copy of A New Resonance 8.

 

I Quote, You 'Ku - Day 15

"You can't depend on your eyes when your imagination is out of focus."

~Mark Twain

Your challenge is to write a haiku or tanka (or choose one of your previously published works) that has a connection with the themes/feelings/images of the above quote, without just restating what has appeared in the text, to create a haibun. Play around with it and see what you come up with. Enjoy!

Click here for the first post on how I Quote, You 'Ku works. Every poet who posts a poem this month will be entered into the draw to win a copy of A New Resonance 8.