My July Challenge: I Quote, You 'Ku

Welcome to July, dear readers! The month of my birth in which I want to celebrate haikai with you.

Everyone loves a good quote, has a favourite or two, whether they're a writer or not. I am no exception and so have gathered together 31 quotes that have touched me for the month of July to bring you “I Quote, You 'Ku”. 

What you'll need to do to take part: write a haiku or tanka inspired by the daily quote posted on Swimming in Lines of Haiku to form a haibun (or tanka prose). Place it in the comments section, and then enjoy reading other participants 'ku! You can write a new haiku or tanka each day, or feel free to post previously published poems, or a mix of both.

This daily challenge was inspired by Aubrie Cox's I Doodle, You 'Ku, practices in Margaret D. McGee's Haiku - the sacred art (where she writes haiku sparked from bible passages), and Jim Kacian's Haibun Masterclass at the 2012 New Zealand Haiku Conference.

My gift to you: everyone that posts a poem in the comments section as least once will go into the draw to win a copy of A New Resonance 8: Emerging Voices in English Language Haiku (eds. Jim Kacian and Dee Evetts, Red Moon Press 2013). The last day of July is my birthday, but I'll do the draw on August 1st so that the Northern Hemisphere has caught up.

Call it a challenge, call it an experiment, call it a learning exercise, call it a daily writing prompt, call it a community collaboration. Either way I do hope that you'll call it fun!

• Find I Quote, You 'Ku - Day 1 here and post your 'ku in the comments section there.
• Find I Quote, You 'Ku - Day 2 here and post your 'ku in the comments section there.
• Find I Quote, You 'Ku - Day 3 here and post your 'ku in the comments section there. 
• Find I Quote, You 'Ku - Day 4 here and post your 'ku in the comments section there. 
• Find I Quote, You 'Ku - Day 5 here and post your 'ku in the comments section there. 
• Find I Quote, You 'Ku - Day 6 here and post your 'ku in the comments section there. 
• Find I Quote, You 'Ku - Day 7 here and post your 'ku in the comments section there.

A Fool's Paradise of Free Holiday Reading

electric blue

beds are burning

like a virgin

“Electric Blue” by Icehouse

“Beds Are Burning” by Midnight Oil

“Like A Virgin” by Madonna

Above is my short found poem from song titles that was published in Aubrie Cox's latest Yay Words! project, Fool's Paradise. You can find out all about it and download your free copy here. Enjoy!

Fool's Paradise cover by editor Aubrie Cox

Decemeber Haiku Share: The Week That Was #3

Another week of Cara Holman's December Haiku Share has past and more participants have joined us in this unique challenge. Below are the links to the last seven days of posts, and the haiku, tanka and haiga I've shared along the way. Come over and take a look! (Here's the link to the latest prompt - garden spider)

December Haiku Share - Day 15

spring tide . . .
a layer of dust
on the condom packet
– Kirsten Cliff

DailyHaiku, Cycle 12, December 16, 2011
Sea Bandits, September 2012 (Ed. Aubrie Cox)

December Haiku Share - Day 16

the night he left . . . 

the many sounds
of summer rain
– Kirsten Cliff

DailyHaiku Cycle 12, November 2, 2011

December Haiku Share - Day 17

leaf-fall
i finally have
my head shaved
– Kirsten Cliff

‘All the Words that Mean Cancer’ rengay sequence 

with Cara Holman, LYNX 27:3 (October 2012)

December Haiku Share - Day 18 

one side of the rose
has no petals:
hoping he’ll return,
I keep to my half
of the bed
– Kirsten Cliff

Kokako 13, September 2010

December Haiku Share - Day 19

hailstorm . . .
three red petals left
to scent this rose
– Kirsten Cliff

Caribbean Kigo Kukai, September 2012

December Haiku Share - Day 20

no mail today
a taste of woodsmoke
on the wind
– Kirsten Cliff

From ‘Between the Birdsong’ (with Cara Holman)
LYNX 27:3, October 2012

December Haiku Share - Day 21

(click on image to enlarge)

Appeared on Angie Werren’s blog as part of her 

National Poetry Month ‘Couplets’ posts, April 2012.

 

 

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

Band Names + Song Titles + Poetry =

. . . Aubrie Cox's new challenge, of course! Over at her blog Yay Words! she's looking for short found poems using song titles, band names and the like. See all the guidelines here. Deadline is Thursday, 20th December, after which she'll put out one of her brilliant pdf books for us all to gush over. :)

Here's one of her examples:

dante’s prayer
lost in the echo
wild mountain thyme

“Dante’s Prayer” – Loreena McKennitt
“Lost in the Echo” – Linkin Park
“Wild Mountain Thyme” by Sarah Calderwood

A Happy Haiku Holiday Season . . .

December 2012 - Kirsten's Calendar of Haiku & Photography

The end of the year is upon us and it's time for me to look back and see if my ideas for 2012 came to fruition. My poetic leanings for this year were to:

• Make haiku and tanka a part of my everyday life -- I've certainly done this with having my own haiku calendar on my kitchen wall this year, the December page of which you see above. (See the pages for each month of 2012 at my side-bar link Kirsten's 2012 Calendar of Haiku & Photography.) I've created a second calendar for 2013 with all new photos and haiku, which I look forward to my family seeing for the first time come Christmas; and of course, having it on my own wall for the year. I also wrote haiku in cards this year, and made cards with haiku on them, giving them to family and friends. And I added haiku to the odd email or other message here and there, when I felt it might be appreciated. You can also read the post I did for New Zealand's National Poetry Day here about how I get my daily dose of haiku.
• Write more linked haiku and tanka verse -- Yes! All up this year I wrote 13 rengay with Cara Holman, all of which have been published, and three of which have been submitted to the rengay anthology. I had never written rengay before this and have found it very inspiring and enjoyable. I also wrote one rengay with Aubrie Cox, which was published in Kokako, and has been submitted to the rengay anthology as well. Mid-year I was part of a group that wrote a junicho; most of us for the first time. This was quite a different process to writing rengay, and a steep learning curve, but definitely something I would try again. The result of our efforts "Cold Sun" is in the December issue of A Hundred Gourds. Last, but not least, I wrote a tanka sequence with Margaret Dornaus, which was published in LYNX. This was another rewarding experience, and another first for me. We hope to write more together in the future.
• Write more haibun and tanka prose -- I wrote the most of these forms in a year than I ever had, and read a lot too! I decided that two of my haibun were worthy of polishing up and presenting to editors, and gratefully both were accepted; one in Kokako and one in Contemporary Haibun Online. Tanka prose I found a bit trickier and only in the last few weeks have I finalised two that I think are of a publishable standard. The first has been accepted to Haibun Today, and I'm waiting on news for the second. Needless to say I'm super pleased with my efforts and definitely want to keep writing more. I'm still interested in writing a poetic memoir in this fashion, although I'm keen to write it about a different time in my life than I'd originally conceived. Watch this space!

I did lots of other things in haiku-land for the first time, too, this year, like participating in kukai, judging a competition, and collaborating on photo-haiga. It's all made for a well rounded year of fun and challenges and learning and friendships. I'm looking forward to more! :)

There is a lot I'm interested in pursuing next year: collaborations of all kinds, finalising putting my first collection together, and entering the most haiku and tanka competitions I ever have in 12 months!

What will actually happen?

I don't know, because what I do know is that I can't do it all. I'm actually only a few submissions away this year from having done, what would work out as, one submission a week (which I did as a minimum in 2011). My coffers are running low. So it's a big period of concentrated writing that is needed right now. See you soon...

Here's to a happy haiku holiday season to all my readers!

May you eat, drink, write and be merry. :)

Launching into November . . .

Three launches that include my haiku are happening this month, and unfortunately I won't make it to any of them! Never mind because the books will arrive soon. :)

First is the launch of Building a time machine - the 2012 New Zealand Poetry Society Anthology, edited by Owen Bullock. I have two haiku appearing in this anthology: one that received a Highly Commended in the NZPS International Haiku Competition, and a further ku that was chosen by the editor. Order your copy here.

Second is the opening of the exhibition When North meets South, organised by Ruth Arnison. This is where artists of all kinds from the South Island chose haiku from poets from the North Island and made works of art inspired by them. I can't wait to receive my copy of the exhibition booklet that will include my four chosen haiku turned into works of art by four different painters. Hopefully I'll be able to link some photos soon!

Last but not least is the launch of the Haiku News Anthology, edited by Dick Whyte (NZ) and Laurence Stacey (US). I have one haiku appearing in this anthology and look forward to seeing this unique collection. Presales are now being taken here to support the printing of the book.

November 2012 - Kirsten's Calendar of Haiku & Photography

Above is the November page of my calendar. The photo was taken last year at Papamoa Beach especially for this project. The haiku is one of my most published ku, originally taking out Third prize in the Katikati Haiku Contest (2008). I've been busy making a 2013 calendar to give to family and friends this Christmas. Lot's of new photos and haiku to enjoy throughout the year. Remember you can see all the pages from my 2012 calendar at the link on the side-bar: Kirsten's 2012 Calendar of Haiku & Photography.

Last month I did several new photo-haiga in collabortaion with Cara Holman. This was the first time for both of us working together in this way, and we've deemed it a great success! Three have already appeared in Margaret Dornaus' Day of the Dead post. Five more have been sent to Aubrie Cox, the new A Hundred Gourds haiga editor, for consideration in the next issue. All have used my images with Cara's haiku; plus I also sent in three that are all my own work. I've only submitted haiga twice to a journal and look forward to seeing how these collaborations fare, and to doing more of the same in the future. Happy haiku-ing, friends! :)

October Oops!

The beginning of another month and I'd usually be showing readers the corresponding page on my 2012 calendar of haiku and photography, but . . . I unfortunately got the last two months in the wrong order, missing out a winter page! So I've now put all the months, up to October, on a separate page, which you can view here. By the end of the year the whole calendar will be up and you can view them at your leisure.

Please click on the image to see full screen.

In place of my October calendar page I've posted the above haiku and image. The haiku is part of a rengay I wrote with Cara Holman on dreams, which was published in one of Aubrie Cox's Yay Words! projects. You can read the full rengay, "Dream Catcher" here, and download your own pdf copy of the ebook that it appeared in, Fox Dreams here. The photo is of the Kaimai Range (or My Mountain as I affectionately call it:) and was taken from my home on a misty spring morning last month.

Tomorrow begins a week of tanka and images here in collaboration with Margaret Dornaus and her blog Haiku-doodle. Our recently published tanka sequence, "Forever Home" (LYNX, October 2012) was written from our respective travel photos, and now we'll bring you the photos along with the tanka. Tune in each day as we bring you a pair of tanka and images between us. We hope you'll enjoy a further insight into our first tanka sequence together, as much as we enjoyed writing it. :)

September was a busy one for me: writing an essay on my favourite haiku for Haiku NewZ, sending in my huge submission of 100 haiku for A New Resonance 8, writing my November haikai column for a fine line, submitting to the 20th Anniversary Rengay Anthology, entering The 4th Kokako Tanka Competition and participating in a further two kukai. Hoping October will be quieter!

The Broken Latch: A Rengay with Aubrie Cox

The Broken Latch

Aubrie Cox & Kirsten Cliff

rain ripples

across my skin

fibromyalgia

finally home

I sink into tears

sunlight slips

between the bedroom

blind slats

no moon

my sleepless night

of silent prayers

thoughts tangled

in the thickening fog

lost butterfly

the broken latch

on this pill box

Published in Kokako 17 (September, 2012)

This rengay was written from our shared experience of living with the chronic illness Fibromyalgia.

Under the Waves: A Rengay with Cara Holamn

 

Under the Waves

by Cara Holman & Kirsten Cliff

searching for

an unbroken sand dollar

low-tide beach

kids dolphin dive

under the waves

message in a bottle

the wind steals

my words away

spaghetti western

the bandit rides out

toward the sunset 

 

playing pirates

we divvy up the loot

forgotten castle

the first touch

of this foreign sea

This fun rengay was written for Aubrie Cox's latest Yay Words! Project "Sea Bandits". You can download your own copy of this great new collection of haiku, tanka, haibun, haiga and other short form poetry here. My thanks to Aubrie for the inspiration, and to Cara for exploring the themes with me via rengay. Enjoy! :)

Thievery by the Sea

Aubrie Cox has come up with a new Yay Words! Project to challenge our haiku minds . . .

"I will take small poems until Saturday, September 15th about the sea and/or thieves/thievery. As I have with other projects, I will take up to 5, and I’ll at least take one. I reserve the right to ask you to try again if nothing really catches my eye, but don’t take it as a brushoff; that really does mean try again!

Theme/What to write about: The sea and/or thieves/thievery.

What form: Haiku, senryu, tanka, kyoka, gogyōka, renku, haibun, haiga (doodles most welcome!), small stones, short poems (up to 10 lines), etc. As is art!

How many: As many as you want! I will take as many as 5 and no less than 1.

When: Send them in by Saturday, September 15th (I will wait until the whole world has reached the 15th); I will post a PDF on this blog on September 19th (or as some know it, International Talk Like a Pirate Day).

Where to send: Email to aubriecox [at] gmail [dot] com - put “EVERY ROAD TAKES ME TO THE SEA” in the subject line, if you please."

I hope to see you there! :)

Into the Night: A Rengay with Cara Holman

Into the Night

Cara Holman & Kirsten Cliff

garden party

moths flitter

around the lantern

fairy dust

in her hair

pixie ring

dancing long

into the night

koi pond

the children hunt

for mermaids

tinkling laughter

clusters of coral bells

dark lantern

still the heady scent

of wild jasmine

This rengay was written especially for Aubrie Cox's solstice Yay Words! project featuring faerie folk and lanterns. You can download 'Winged Moon' here and take your time to enjoy this beautiful collection of short form poetry and artwork. Thanks to Cara for writing with me, and to Aubrie for inspiring us with her fun projects that are bringing our on-line haiku community together in exciting new ways! :)

Rengay Fever!

Ever since my long-time on-line haiku friend Cara Holman asked if I wanted to write a rengay with her back in February, I've been hooked! We have since written eight rengay together and all have been published or have been accepted for publication. And I must say we are pretty pleased with ourselves! It's not only great fun, but a really good learning experience, and it's kept me writing through though times when I wasn't otherwise regularly putting pen to paper.

There is something special and unique about writing in this way. It's kind of like a prompt but not quite; it's so much more than that. It's a conversation through time and place (Cara is in America and we write via email), it's a poetic dance that moves me to new heights, it's a wake up call to look deeper into haiku and Nature and relationship. I love it! :)

The first two rengay that I wrote with Cara have just come out in A Hundred Gourds (AHG) and can be read here - The Scent of Pine and Turning a Corner. I still really enjoy reading these two pieces, especially after a break away from them. This was the first time I've been in AHG as I'd never submitted there before. Please check out the publication if it's new to you.

The first rengay that we had published appeared in Aubrie Cox's Yay Words! project, fox dreams. You can read Dream Catcher here. Cara and I have just written another rengay for the new Yay Words! project, which has been accepted by Aubrie. To find out how you can get in on the fun, read Aubrie's latest call for submissions here. I also wrote a rengay with Aubrie last month; my first with a different partner. We will submit this for publication soon, and then I look forward to writing some more!

The biggest rengay task that Cara and I have taken on was to write about our cancer experiences: me with leukaemia and Cara with breast cancer. We came out with a rengay sequence comprised of four rengay that was at times hard to write, but that seemed destined to be written. We are very proud of this work and the places it took us, and are very happy to have it accepted by LYNX: A Journal for Linking Poets for their October 2012 issue.

So what next? In a couple of weeks I will be at the New Zealand Haiku Conference Haiku Festival Aotearoa 2012, where I'm taking the Introduction to Renku workshop with Sandra Simspon. She has just sent through some notes on the form 'junicho' and asked us to write some possible hokku to start us off on the day. And if you're a rengay writer, then don't miss this call for submissions by Michael Dylan Welch for a 20th Anniversary Rengay Anthology. Cara and I will definitely be getting ours submitted! Talk about rengay fever...

Dream Catcher: A Rengay With Cara Holman

Dream Catcher

Kirsten Cliff & Cara Holman

crosswinds

struggling not to recall

last night's dream

the morning sky

filled with rain

drifting fog

where does the dream end

and I begin

dream catcher

I tell myself what

I want to believe

across dandelioned fields

a hawk's shadow

river reeds

weaving daydreams

into stories

Published in 'fox dreams' - a Yay Words! project by Aubrie Cox

Dream Fragments

          gathering

          dream fragments

          in my mind's eye...

          a sheet of white paper

          with many coloured pens

Tanka and photograph © Kirsten Cliff

This tanka appeared in Aubrie Cox's latest Yay Words! project 'fox dreams'. Take a look for yourself here at all the amazing haiku, tanka, haiga, doodleku, rengay and other short form poetry. It's a beautiful and inspiring collection, and I'm sure I'll be asking a few of the contributors for their permission to reprint their haiku for my Dream Speak themed stint as the Per Diem editor at The Haiku Foundation. Enjoy! :)

All I have to do is Dream...

Click on image to enlarge

I've been writing a few more dream haiku just recently, inspired by Aubrie Cox's latest call for submissions over at Yay Words! She is putting together another project, this time with a focus on DREAMS and FOXES. Find out how you can be involved here.

I've just finished a dream rengay, especially written for the project, with Cara Holman. This is our third rengay together, and I find it a very enjoyable experience. The first two have been accepted to A Hundred Gourds, which comes out in June. I hope Aubrie likes our latest one, which we've titled 'Dream Catcher'.

Don't Miss Out!

Just because I can't keep up with all the cool things going on in the haiku world, doesn't mean that YOU should miss out! This month Aubrie Cox is hosting a Doodleku fest on her blog, Yay Words! Each day in March she will post a new doodle (sketch) and anyone who's up for it can post a haiku about the doodle in the comments section. At the end of the month she'll be putting together a .pdf book of the best. So get into it! You'll find the first one here where you can check out how it's done. And here is today's doodle. Enjoy!

The One That Got Away

My tanka that didn't make it into Aubrie Cox's The Language of Dragons...

I place on his finger

the wedding band

we chose together

ringed with Celtic dragons

my spirit fire roars

Tanka by Kirsten Cliff - Photo by Cameron Elliot



New Year's Dragonfest

A big THANK YOU to Aubrie Cox for sparking my imagination with her call for dragon/water/fire haiku, tanka, haiga and such like!

the water dragon

swimming through

my lines of haiku

flicks a tail at the sight

of his lover's name

                    dragon fire...

                    the way he moves me

                    this night

                              black robes dance

                              around the ritual circle

                              earth - air - water - fire

                              I draw in a dragon's breath

                              to lead the chant

                                        dragon daydream

                                        the streaks of fire

                                        in her hair

The New Year's Day blog post celebrating the beginning of 2012 (which is the Year of the Dragon) can be downloaded from Yay Words! I'm sure you'll enjoy this magical mix of artwork and short form poetry that has become The Language of Dragons.

December Round-Up - Week 52: TICK!

Here's how I'm doing on my 2011 goal of submitting poetry to a publication or competition every week:

• week forty-nine - submitted two haiku for the 2011 Touchstone Awards for Individual Poems
• AND I submitted my third set of ten haiku for DailyHaiku
• week fifty - submitted three tanka and two haiku to Aubrie Cox's New Year's Dragon blog post at Yay Words!, two haiku and two tanka accepted!
• AND submitted six haiku to The Heron's Nest, awaiting outcome
• week fifty-one - submitted one haiku to the Fujisan Haiku Competition (closes 20 January 2012)
• week fifty-two - submitted one haiga to the WHA Haiga Contest (first time submitting here)

And that's it. I've done it! For every week of 2011 I submitted a poem of some kind, some where :) Phew!

It's been a very rewarding year poetry-wise: not just because I reaped the benefits of so many submissions by being published much more, and much more widely, but because I also meet heaps of great haiku-folk through blogging and on Facebook, and through participating in a few PAD (poetry-a-day) challenges (small stones x2, NaHaiWriMo, NaPoWriMo) so that I'm now happily part of the on-line haiku community - a great place to be and to be part of :)

Thank YOU for being part of it with me through Swimming in Lines of Haiku. I'll be back next year with more poetry, and, knowing me, another challenge to be working towards...

Have safe and happy New Year's celebrations!