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)

The Catch

afternoon moon
the catch of satin
across her breast

Presence #49 (February 2014)

It's Okay

stagnant water
he tells me it's okay
to give up

Presence #49 (February 2014)

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 . . .

Persistent Rain

bone marrow biopsy --
through my internal tears
a doctor talks
of the persistent rain
on his summer holiday

Kokako 19 (September 2013)

Thankfully all my treatments (and related procedures!) for leukaemia ended a year ago this month. Although I'm still considered high risk, a label that will stay with me for life, I have remained in remission for three years now, so all is looking good. I have also finally completed my collection of haiku and tanka that explore my journey through this experience. It is now with some very generous readers, and then I hope to enter it in the Snapshot Press Book Awards.

My work has just come out in Kokako, A Hundred Gourds and A Fine Line. I've recently had work accepted for Skylark, Presence and Contemporary Haibun Online. And have submitted work to The Heron's Nest, A Hundred Gourds, and the Australia-New Zealand Haiku Anthology. Now I'm getting my entry ready for the Kokako Haiku and Senryu Competition, as well as making haiku cards to take to the fair. Collaborations are still continuing, with Seanan Forbes writing haiku and tanka for some of my photos from Fiji. Never a dull moment!

Don't forget about the Svetlana Marisova Memorial Kukai 2013 (closing September 14th), which marks two years since Sveta's passing from cancer.

waking 
from a dream --
on my lips
I find the word
arohanui*

*Maori for with love/deep affection
RIP Svetlana Marisova

Decemeber Haiku Share: The Week That Was #4

The last full week of Cara Holman's December Haiku Share is complete, and we're now on the home stretch. Below are the links to the last seven days of posts, and the haiku, tanka and haiga I've shared along the way. Now that the Christmas rush is over, come and join in for the last few days! You'll find a supportive community of folks sharing their love of haiku and related forms. (Here's the link to the latest prompt - afternoon fog)

December Haiku Share - Day 22

storm clouds . . .
can hope be caught
in a spider’s web?
– Kirsten Cliff

NaHaiWriMo August 2012

December Haiku Share - Day 23

she advises
I’m at high risk
of a relapse
I breathe in air heavy
with crushed dreams
– Kirsten Cliff

Moonbathing 6, January 2012

December Haiku Share - Day 24

first spring day this breeze her hair
– Kirsten Cliff

DailyHaiku Cycle 12, Dec. 12, 2011

December Haiku Share - Day 25 

he creates
a new centrepiece
for the dining table
a size nine shoebox
full of medications
– Kirsten Cliff

Presence #44, June 2011

December Haiku Share - Day 26

on the morning
of her death, I sit
searching
for the small differences
between these wild finches
– Kirsten Cliff

~for Svetlana Marisova
Simply Haiku, January 2012

December Haiku Share - Day 27

(click on image to enlarge)

– Kirsten Cliff  

Notes From the Gean, 3:2, September 2011

December Haiku Share - Day 28

dragon fire . . .
the way he moves me
this night
– Kirsten Cliff

The Language of Dragons, January 2012
(Yay Words! project edited by Aubrie Cox)

Decemeber Haiku Share: The Week That Was #2

The second week of Cara Holman's December Haiku Share has finished and it's still going strong. Below are the links to the last seven days of posts, and the haiku and tanka I've shared along the way. Yes, that's right--tanka too! Come on over and share your previously published works, or write something new if inspiration hits you. You'll find a group of poets who care about haiku and tanka, enjoy reading it and commenting on it when they do. (Here's the link to the latest prompt - blue eucalyptus)

December Haiku Share - Day 8

cold moon
still the weight of her baby
in my arms
–Kirsten Cliff

DailyHaiku, Cycle 12, January 27, 2012

December Haiku Share - Day 9

shirtless
he weeds
between the gravestones
– Kirsten Cliff

Moonset 6:1 2010

December Haiku Share - Day 10

lost
in that deepest green . . .
the mountain alone
has left its imprint
on my psyche
– Kirsten Cliff

‘Forever Home’ tanka sequence with Margaret Dornaus, LYNX 27:3, October 2012
see this link for the image that inspired the tanka

December Haiku Share - Day 11 

*waka taua –
paua eyes reflect
the afternoon midges
– Kirsten Cliff

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

*Waka Taua is a Maori war canoe.

December Haiku Share - Day 12

winter afternoon
one empty space
in the library carpark
– Kirsten Cliff

Honorable Mention, Haiku International Association 2009 Haiku Contest

December Haiku Share - Day 13

thinking of you –
the light
on a paua shell
– Kirsten Cliff

Kokako 10 (April 2009)
Waiariki Institute of Technology 2010 Calendar

December Haiku Share - Day 14

for today
I have this one wish
not to feel
like I’ll always carry
that scared little girl
– Kirsten Cliff

Presence #44 (June 2011)

Take Five Tanka

I'm so very excited to have three of my tanka chosen for the latest (and last) volume of Take Five: Best Contemporary Tanka. M. Kei and a team of editors from around the world (two of which were New Zealanders! Patricia Prime and Owen Bullock) read over 18,000 tanka published over the course of 2011 and chose the best to come together in this fine anthology.

Although a tanka may be as small as a pebble, it creates expanding ripples in the mind of a receptive reader, ripples that touch far shores, with the polished perfection of the poem as the still center of meaning and experience. ~M. Kei

I'm honoured to be there alongside so many of my friends within the on-line haiku community, and especially two that we've lost to cancer - Svetlana Marisova and Hortensia Anderson. My three tanka to be included are all from my leukaemia journey and I'm grateful that they can now be read by many more people so that they might reach the very souls that need to read them.

browsing

the second-hand books

from my wheelchair

today I decide

not to feel ashamed

Eucalypt 10 (May 2011)

                    planning our wedding

                    in the hospital chapel

                    while I have chemo

                    I am not dying

                    but a part of me is

                    Presence #44 (June 2011)

                                        re-negotiating

                                        my drug regime

                                        with the doctors

                                        I tell them that today

                                        they may see me cry

                                        paper wasp 17:3 (October 2011)


My thanks to M. Kei and his editing team, and to the editors that first published my tanka. You can by your copy of Take Five from Createspace or from Amazon.com.

First Frost

I woke up early to a very chilly Wednesday morning. It's the last month of New Zealand's autumn and the first frost, looking out across the farm paddocks from the hill of our new home, was a truly beautiful sight.

Here is the May page of my calendar, which is looking much better than I thought up on the wall. The haiku was first published in Presence #40 (January 2010). The photo was taken at an open garden in Paengaroa, a small settlement in the Bay of Plenty. There is a great country cafe there called The Trading Post where hubby and I enjoyed going for their fresh pizza. I just loved the idea of 'The Kissing Gate' (click on image to enlarge).

May 2012 - Kirsten's Calendar of Haiku & Photography

As I did this calendar for my family, I wasn't thinking about literary merit: just what images my family might enjoy and what haiku I thought they might 'get'. That's also why I haven't called them haiga. You can see in this earlier post of when I was putting together the calendar, an alternate version of this May page. Which one do you like better?

Avoiding

 

          avoiding
          my old doctor
          at the Cancer Centre
          afraid to meet her
          as a person not a patient

Presence #45 (January, 2012)

Tanka & photograph © Kirsten Cliff

One Day You're In, The Next Day You're Out

This is one of my haiku and photo combinations that hasn't made it into my calendar. I love the image (taken at the entrance to Tauranga's Mission Cemetery in June this year) and the haiku - but found the pairing to be over illustrated, with not enough for the mind and eye to ponder.

Haiku first published in Presence #40 (Jan, 2010)

This haiku is now matched with another of my images taken around a similar time (just at the end of autumn). It still features a gate but it doesn't dominate the shot leaving room for the haiku to breath and the senses to expand. (Please click on the photo to see a larger image.)

Size Nine

he creates

a new centrepiece
for the dining table
a size nine shoebox
full of medications

Presence #44 (June, 2011)

Tanka and photograph © Kirsten Cliff 2011

While I Have Chemo

          planning our wedding

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

Presence #44 (June, 2011)

Tanka and photograph © Kirsten Cliff 2011 

August Round-Up - It Was All In The Cards

August saw me getting crafty making birthday cards for family members: see my mum's one here and the ones for my niece and nephew in Canada here. I also began on a card project of a different kind: thinking about a collage I could make with all the cards I received while in hospital. You can read my post about that here, and I will keep you updated on my (very slow) progress.

I had a haiku appear in Melissa Allen's Red Dragonfly blog post about dragonflies: see my contribution here and the full post in all it's glory here. A recommended read, for sure! And speaking of reading: I'm doing a daily one from Martin Lucas' Stepping Stones: a way into haiku. The haiku are top drawer and I'm learning new things all the time. You can get your copy here.

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

• week thirty-one - submitted five haiku, seven tanka and one haibun to Presence, one tanka accepted!
• week thirty-two - submitted ten haiku/senryu to Chrysanthemum (first time submitting here), one haiku accepted!
• week thirty-three - submitted ten tanka to Ribbons (first time submitting here), awaiting outcome
• week thirty-four - submitted five haiku to the Katikati Mural Festival collaborative arts project

August was a very low energy month for me so lots of resting was done.
This is a sight I saw often: the shadow of the trees and a bird ornament
with a crystal casting many shapes and rainbows on the drawn curtains.

September is already in full swing: the September issue of Kokako has come out with my paper cranes image on the cover, the new edition of The Heron's Nest has been released containing one of my haiku, and my first column as editor of the haikai section of a fine line (the Magazine of the New Zealand Poetry Society) is in NZPS members' in-boxes and mailboxes. Happy haikuing to you!

My Latest Follies

          I confide in her
          my latest follies
          it doesn't seem to matter
          that it's ten years
          since she died

Presence #44 (June, 2011)

Tanka and photograph © Kirsten Cliff 2011

This One Wish

for today

I have this one wish
not to feel
like I'll always carry
that scared little girl

Presence #44 (June, 2011)



Tanka and photograph © Kirsten Cliff 2011

Pegs

the weight
of this peg bucket
waning moon

Presence #44 (June, 2011)



Haiku and photograph © Kirsten Cliff 2011


Submitting to Haiku Presence

Presence is Britain's leading independent haiku journal, edited by Martin Lucas since 1996.

Presence is a haiku magazine, specialising in publishing high quality haiku, senryu, tanka, renku and related poetry. It appears 3 times per year. Each issue is typically 52–60 A5 pages, and contains original artwork, haibun (haiku prose), articles on haiku practice, news of haiku events and book reviews in addition to the poetry. We welcome submissions from experienced and novice haiku writers alike.

Martin holds a PhD from Cardiff University for his study of haiku as creative writing. I find this seriously inspiring as I look towards my dream of doing an MFA Creative Writing in the coming years.

Martin won first prize last year in the Katikati Haiku Contest, where I received third prize with:

he leaves in an ambulance -

the chrysanthemum buds

closed tight

I was honoured to be in the top three with him. Martin is a great editor to work with, always replying quickly to questions and submissions. Read the full submission guidelines here and subscription information here.

I had one haiku and four tanka accepted for the next issue #44, out May 2011. This was my submission for week 8 of 2011, towards my goal of submitting to at least one poetry competition or journal each week for 2011.


Presence #40 (January, 2010)



February Round-Up - A Month of Ups and Downs

Ah, February - the month of NaHaiWriMo (National Haiku Writing Month).

My enthusiasm waxed and waned throughout the month on this project. I did write a haiku-a-day for the whole 28 days, but it wasn't always satisfying, and sometimes done begrudgingly, or in desperation just before midnight!

However, I did write some haiku that I'm really proud of and will happily send in to haiku journals near and far. Some can be edited to rise up to a higher standard and some have already turned into tanka.

Challenges like this make you extend yourself as you have to find creative ways to respond to a prompt, or just to the daily practise when many other things may be going on in your life. This is why I will continue to participate in such projects, the next being the July river of stones challenge.

See my half-way through post for some more thoughts on the process. You can also read about when I set myself the challenge of writing a haiku-a-day for a whole year in 2007-2008 here.

Now that it's over I shall return to going with the flow and writing when the muse strikes. What I will continue is my daily reading from Haiku Mind by Patricia Donegan. Read my post about that here.

Funnily enough, I have easily written a haiku, or more, each day since NaHaiWriMo finished: must be the release of the pressure! But of course it was the challenge that helped hone my awareness of the haiku moment back to what it was before my writing stalled last year through cancer treatment.

February was also the month of a devastating earthquake in Christchurch, a large South Island city. Please see my blog post about it and read the haiku shared in the comments section, especially several by Michael Dylan Welch of his experiences in the 1989 earthquake in San Francisco.

Please feel free to share you own poems, haiku or other. I know poetry has been a great healer to me over the past year with my illness and I hope this opportunity to share will go a small way to helping others affected by the past two week's events.

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

• week five - submitted a free verse poem into the Spirit First Meditation Poetry Contest (first time submitting here) results out by March 31st
• AND submitted a haiku to Poem Cellars (first time submitting here) closed Feb 5th
• week six - submitted ten small stones to Fiona and Kaspa for the river of stones book and had one accepted
• AND submitted a previously published haiku to the HSA Haiku Wall (you can read about that here)
• week seven - submitted 10 haiku to Frogpond (first time submitting here) won't know outcome until after submission deadline April 15
• week eight - submitted a tanka to Haiku News and awaiting outcome
• AND submitted six tanka and six haiku to Presence (second time submitting here) and had four tanka and a haiku accepted for Issue #44 (May 2011). The haiku was written during NaHaiWriMo :)

I have written three further haiku for my collection (exploring my leukaemia journey) and created two more collage-style haiga, to make a total of 25 pieces. I also made two multi-media canvases this month using acrylic paint, origami, stickers, transfers and brads, which was something new for me and a most enjoyable process. See photos of my artwork below.

With my photography this month, I've been trying to get some good shots to submit as cover art for Four and Twenty. I've also been working on getting my cover art image ready for Kokako 15 (due out September 2011). I'm very excited about having my artwork feature on a haiku journal and hope to do more of this type of work in the future (not that it can really be called 'work'!)

No major plans for March except to continue with submitting to a poetry journal or competition at least once a week. So far so good on this resolve. Also, meeting with my local poetry group, Pacific Poets, Sunday 6 March, where we will be sharing poems we have written in response to the recent Christchurch earthquake.

Kia kaha to the people of Christchurch: my thoughts and prayers are with you daily.



My Art is My Heart

 


Peace is the way of my Heart