Tan-renga: Seánan Forbes & Kirsten Cliff

(i)

wind
bearing winter on its back —
a silent crow

I add my ex's name

into the spell check

 

(ii)

cicadas’ cries
the sharp names
of lost loves

a phlebotomist asks

if I'm prone to fainting

 

(iii)

saying goodnight
when I mean goodbye . . .
Hunger Moon

condensation beads

on the cake's icing

Seánan Forbes

Kirsten Cliff

Kokako 21 (September 2014)

 

 

August Calendar Page

August 2014 - Calendar of Haiku & Photography by Kirsten Cliff

Can't wait to get back to this! Looks like it will be September at this stage. Doing my best to hang in there. (Click on image to see an enlarged view.)

Here's a pic from my birthday: Hubby made me a 'Happy Birthday' sign in Spanish. :-)

The t-shirt was one I purchased with some birthday money, and I was so pleased it arrived in time for me to wear it on the 31st. As well as being a rockin' tee (I love Frida Kahlo!), it was my way of giving a little on my birthday. It's a Shave for Cure supporter t-shirt designed by WORLD, and $17.50 from the sale went to Leukaemia & Blood Cancer New Zealand. Yay!

Roofless: 3+ months on . . .

July 2014 - Photo & Haiku by Kirsten Cliff

Here I am finally writing a post for my birthday month of July. I was really hoping that hubby and I would be back home by the 31st, but it's not to be. Thankfully I have lots of good news to share . . .

Firstly, a remission milestone: I found out last week that I've been downgraded from three-monthly clinic visits to six-monthly. That is progress, folks! Still monthly blood counts, and a special blood test every three months for molecular studies. But all in all I'm moving further away from cancer. Phew!

As to the progress on my home: we now not only have a new roof, but all the internal walls and ceilings have been erected, as well as some parts of the flooring that needed repair. It's all looking much more like a house now, instead of a barren womb.

I'm told that plasterers are starting this week (that may be "Gibb-rockers or stoppers" to some of you not in NZ). After that it will be internal and external painters, kitchen and carpet installers, plumbers and electricians. Such a big job - I'm so glad I'm not the one organising it all!

The good news includes our contents claim being settled in full, too. All that the insurers said they would repair they have; all they said that they'd replace they have; the rest has been paid out to us to buy the things we need. So yes, you guessed it - I plan to shop it up on my birthday tomorrow! :-)

Many of my fellow poets have their birthdays in July, and here I'll just mention a few. Margaret Dornaus invited poets to write a moon haiku or tanka in celebration of her birthday. You can read the results on her blog here. And Chrissi Villa is asking poets to join in her birthday fun by writing a poem for her inspired by the music that you'll find at the top of her blog here. There will be prizes - find out more about it on the Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/events/704682542937953/

It was also my late Granddad's birthday on July 10th. I wrote this tanka during the summer, the last months of his life:

dreading
the call that says
he’s gone …
two petals left
on the last poppy

A Hundred Gourds 3:3 June 2014

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 . . .

April Calendar Page

My apologies to all of my readers out there for letting my blog fall silent this month. I have big plans in the works and they've taken up most of my creative time. But I thought I'd at least put up the April page of the calendar I did last year with my husband, for our friends and family. Enjoy!




April 2014 - Photo & Haiku by Kirsten Cliff (click on image to enlarge)

Some good news to share: the haiku I choose as the winner of the NZPS Haiku Competition (junior section) last year has been shortlisted for a Touchstone Award. I nominated this haiku by Harry Frentz and am delighted to see it's made the cut. You can read my judge's report here and find The Haiku Foundation shortlist here. Congratulations to all the shortlisters!

At Haiku On Now - Beautiful Haiku Journals For You

I've been crazy busy for the past week getting a range of beautiful haiku journals ready for release in my online shop Haiku On. Now they're here for your writing pleasure! Buy yours now.

Choose from cherry blossoms, origami peace cranes, century old oaks, and more. All priced at US$11.99 with your choice of blank, lined, or task pages inside. Find your inspiration here.

Buy this journal and others at Haiku On

http://www.cafepress.com/haikuon

This range of beautiful haiku journals are ideal for writing down your haiku, poetry and other ideas throughout the year. Be inspired by the cover images taken by me, Kirsten Cliff, from the big backyard that I call home - New Zealand.

If you're anything like hubby and I, you'll love doing your writing in these ring-bound journals. Yes, I do write haiku and other ideas down on sticky notes, old envelopes, serviettes, and even a used ice cream stick one time at the beach! But I wouldn't be without the pages of a lovely journal.

So buy yourself a journal and come join me! :-) Haiku On - Taking you on a haiku journey.

Songs of Change: A tanka sequence with Seánan Forbes

Songs of Change

By Kirsten Cliff & Seánan Forbes

budding storm
in this hospital waiting room
a child's vacant stare
I write a recurring role
for her in my life

haunting my dreams
unscarred and innocent
the girl I might have been . . .
I carve a nest
for her in my life

pulling colour
from this stretch of pain
my poetic muse
the lengths I will go
for her in my life

songs of change
on this solstice night
an old friend's voice
I shape a new space
for her in my life

those days I wished
her dead and worse . . .
what shall I do now
with all this wanting
for her in my life

Presence #49 (February 2014)

Haiku On - My New Online Shop is Open for Business!

Since seeing me in my "Trust me, I'm a haiku poet" t-shirt, fellow haiku poets from around the world have asked to buy one for themselves. Now everybody can through my online shop, Haiku On - Taking you on a haiku journey.

Haiku On is the place to find unique merchandise with haiku poetry and art on it, created by Kirsten Cliff (that's me!). I've started with my iconic t-shirts, as well as my photo-haiga on greeting cards, postcards, and note cards.

http://www.cafepress.com/haikuon

I'll be uploading new designs each week, and Haiku On will also be the place I'll sell my annual calendar of haiku and photography. If you're a Facebooker then you can like my page at https://www.facebook.com/haikuon where I'll be keeping fans up to date with new designs and other news of interest.

If there's something you don't see at Haiku On and would like to see then please let me know, and I'll try to create it for you! Haiku On - Taking you on a haiku journey.

The Edge of Hope: A tanka sequence with Seánan Forbes

The Edge of Hope

 

by Seánan Forbes, UK/USA

and Kirsten Cliff, New Zealand

 

moonstruck
in the fringes of my dreams
Mare Marginis
my evening meditations
on the edge of hope

falling again
down this hand-dug well
on the edge of hope
I recite lines of poetry
without moving my lips

circling your garden

I speak of love 

without moving my lips

I lift your name

to the gods

my fears

push against this ritual

to the gods

I pledge my truth

with the scent of myrrh

autumn leaf-song

we sketch memories

with the scent of myrrh

old dreams

become new vows 

Published in Skylark 1:2, Winter 2013

 

Still Heading Out

Still Heading Out: An anthology of Australian and New Zealand haiku edited by Jacqui Murray and Katherine Samuelowicz is out now!

How excited I was to receive this so close to Christmas.

still heading out

telling my track

by the Southern Cross

John Knight (1935-2012) 

This landmark publication marks a unique collaboration to honour the memory and legacy of paper wasp co-founder, the late John Knight, who had many friends on both sides of what is known affectionately as 'The Ditch'. Its is available for $A20 in Australia and New Zealand and for $US20 elsewhere in the world. Contact via email Jacqui Murray or Katherine Samuelowicz.

After the joint Australian and New Zealand tanka anthology this year, 100 Tanka by 100 Poets, it is so good to have a haiku version, and it's now on top of my reading pile!

Everyone has a generous selection of haiku represented, and I'm loving the short bio's, too. Get your copy today and read the best of what Down Under haiku has to offer. Enjoy! :-)

The Detour: A tanka sequence with Pamela A. Babusci

The Detour

A Tanka Sequence
by:  Kirsten Cliff, NZ
& Pamela A. Babusci, USA

a breakfast
of pills & cold toast
out the hospital window
this world i used to know
passing me by

who am i
trapped in this body
invaded with cancer?
looking at the infinity of stars
i touch the hand of grace

still unsure
of how long this ordeal

will last . . .
the stories i tell myself
between waves of nausea

losing all my hair

from chemo... 
gaining
more humility & compassion
on my life's journey
 
a new awareness
of my inner strength—
free in the wind
these Tibetan prayer flags
frayed, but full of colour


Kirsten Cliff is a Leukaemia cancer survivor   
& Pamela A. Babusci is an Ovarian cancer survivor

Published in Skylark 1:2, Winter 2013

You can now download a FREE copy of Skylark 1:1, Summer 2013 here. This tanka journal edited by Claire Everett is hands-down my favourite thing on the haikai scene. Have a read for yourself! :-)

Now on Twitter!

I've been finding my way around Twitter for a few weeks now. It's fun! You can find me @KirstenCliff. There's lots of #haiku and #tanka to read, and I've enjoyed connecting up with poets that aren't on Facebook. If you're on Twitter then look me up. If you're not, then come and join me! :-)

100 Tanka by 100 Poets

Cover & inside art by Ron Moss

Yesterday I received my copy of 100 Tanka by 100 Poets of Australia & New Zealand. It's beautiful!

My tanka included in this fine collection is:

planning out wedding
in the hospital chapel
while I have chemo
I am not dying
but a part of me is

Published in Presence #44 and Take Five vol 4


 It was also mentioned in the introduction by Kiyoko Ogawa (co-editor 2010-2011 Poerty Nippon 1967-2011) who wrote:

"Kirsten Cliff's tanka of 'our wedding / in the hospital chapel' sounds sad, yet her shadowed love must be all the more pure and profound."

This fine collection is edited by Amelia Fieldon and Beverley George of Australia and Pat Prime of New Zealand.

Reading through the tanka last night I was blown away. So good, so moving, so delicate. I'm over the moon to be included within the pages. And dare I say that tanka is edging ahead of haiku as my first love . . .

the relaxing haze (haiga)

(click on image to see enlarged view)

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)

After His Death

     at the roadside
     after his death
     wild roses










          am Straßenrand
          nach seinem Tode
          wilde Rosen

Chrysanthemum 13, April 2013

Haiku & photo by Kirsten Cliff

German translation by Editors

 

Orange Sunset

     merging with
     this orange sunset
     frog song










          
          in diesen orangenen Sonnenuntergang
          klingt ein
          Froschgesang

Chrysanthemum 13, April 2013

Haiku & photo by Kirsten Cliff

German translation by Editors

 

Winter Willow

                    bare
                    the willow
                    & I

kahl

die Weide

& ich

Chrysanthemum 13, April 2013

Haiku & photo by Kirsten Cliff

German translation by Editors

 

Off Road

                    
                    winter walking
                    we venture off-road
                    with my wheelchair

 Winterspaziergang

wir wagon uns ins Gelände

met meinem Rollstuhl

Chrysanthemum 13, April 2013

Haiku & photo by Kirsten Cliff

German translation by Editors

Road Trip: A Haiga With Cara Holman

(click on image to enlarge)

DailyHaiga, 19 May 2013

Haiku by Cara Holman / Image by Kirsten Cliff