Updates: Haiku, Tanka Prose, House . . .

The first of three of my haiku appears in Pulse: voices from the heart of medicine this week. You can check it out on the site here and take a look around the rest of the issue while you're there. Submission information can be found here (scroll to the bottom for haiku).

I'm currently racing to meet a May 1st deadline for a commentary I'm writing on my tanka prose, The Taste on My Tongue, first published in Skylark. I usually don't leave things until the last minute, but I had been busy for the past six weeks and knew I had time to do this in the last two weeks of April. Then the roof came off, and here I am. The piece is for Haibun Today and will hopefully include reactions re its meaning from those that have since read it. You can read the tanka prose in question here and send me your thoughts by email here. I can't guarantee that what you send me will end up in my article. But if you'd like to be part of it then please send it through by the end of Monday 28th. I'd love to read your response! :-)

Last but not least, an update on my home. Well, we made it to page 3 of the regional newspaper, Waikato Times, as well as our local Matamata Chronicle. Read the web version here, complete with pic. The insurance assessor has been through both our home and contents claims and we're waiting to hear back. Meanwhile hubby and I are still living at my parents, but hope to move into more long-term temporary accommodation next week. It could be months before we get home, and there ain't no poetry coming to me yet . . .

touch wood

facing away
from the morning sun
in the bonds
of a silent friendship
my shadow       my grief 

the early bird catches the worm. a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush. make hay while the sun shines. the grass is always greener on the other side. only fools go where angels fear to tread. don't worry, be happy. shit happens. beggars can't be choosers. you can't have your cake and eat it too. if you can't take the heat, get out of the kitchen. out of the frying pan, into the fire. that's the pot calling the kettle black. make love not war. hugs not drugs. give peace a chance. communication is the key. the truth will set you free. no news is good news. cat got your tongue? 

this exhaustion
fills me up
& surrounds me . . .
every word carries
the weight of tears 

let the cat out of the bag. when the cat's away, the mice will play. the cat who got the cream. money makes the world go round. money is the root of all evil. life's a bitch, then you die. anything that can go wrong will go wrong. up shit creek without a paddle. it's just a phase. keep calm and carry on. just do it. break a leg. dream big. love they neighbour. no man is an island. time waits for no man. a stitch in time saves nine. out of sight, out of mind. an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. the writing is on the wall. you can't teach an old dog new tricks. you've made your bed, now lie in it. it'll be all right on the night. tomorrow's another day . . . 

the strain
of a spider's web
across my cheek—
dividing life into before
and after leukaemia 

Haibun Today, Volume 7, Number 1, March 2013

 

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. :)

April Round-Up - My First NaPoWriMo Complete!

NaPoWriMo kept me super busy over April as I followed the daily prompts at InkSeeds on personal mythology, writing a poem-a-day (PAD). I got four days behind on these prompts mid-way through due to illness, but still managed to write a poem each of the days I had off, penning a haiku from my sick-bed.

All the poems are up here at Swimming in Lines of Haiku: haiku, senryu, tanka, small stones, free verse and rhymed verse. I'm happy with all my poems (though some could do with a little fine tuning) and cherish the insights I've gained through this process.

The personal mythology prompts explored dreams, the elements, archetypes, memories - all that makes up your personal story. They're so much more than mere prompts - they're a conversation with your soul. And will be remaining up on InkSeeds: you can check out the first one here - Recycling the First Dream.

You can also read the poems other people wrote in response to the prompts on Fiona and Kaspa's Writing Our Way Home on-line community under April 2011 InkSeeds Poetry Project. Poems are still being posted and discussed here - come join us!

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

• week fourteen - submitted 15 haiku to the Anthology of English-Language Haiku by Women
• week fifteen - submitted tanka prose to Haibun Today (first time submitting here)
• week sixteen - entered three haiku in the Klostar Ivanic International Haiku Contest, closes May 31
• week seventeen - submitted my poem "A Journey in Three Masks" to Excellent Writing (first time submitting here)

This month saw one of my photos printed in the local paper as the Weather Spotters pic for that week. I was surprised and excited about this as it's the first time I'd ever sent a photo into the paper, and when I still hadn't heard from them months later I figured it was no good. Great to be proved wrong! You can check out the photo on my Photography page.

I also spent some time playing around with text on photos. I put a few of my previously published free verse poems onto images and think they look amazing. It's a striking way to showcase both my writing and photography on the Internet. I made a few into haiga, doing some with tanka for the first time. I use an old version of PhotoStudio as my editing software, which is limiting. So I'm going to look into downloading the free OpenSource software (as I'm already using OpenOffice as my word processing software) and see if this is easier to work with.

I'm enjoying getting more involved with my prose again. One of my articles was a Friday "Speak Out!" guest post on the WOW! Women On Writing blog - "Writing Each Day Keeps The Doctor Away". And three of my quick tips for freelance writers will be appearing in issues of Excellent Writing - an e-newsletter for writers edited by Janie Sullivan. You'll see above that I also sent her a poem as a filler, which was accepted for the May issue. My post about that here.

This month I look forward to creating some more collage-style haiga and reading and sharing haiku on the NaHaiWriMo Facebook page where many people continue to write a haiku-a-day.

Submitting to Haibun Today

I submitted my first ever piece of tanka prose (which is like haibun but with tanka instead of haiku) to Haibun Today last week. This was my submission for week 15 of 2011. It was my first time submitting work to this on-line publication, edited by Jeffrey Woodward, with New Zealand's own Pat Prime as Assistant Editor.

I received a quick email reply from Jeffrey, which was unfortunately a rejection, but a very encouraging one. And I will be submitting work here again in the future. You can find the submission guidelines here, and lots of helpful articles and interviews here. And don't forget to check out the current issue!