Anthologised

My poetry has appeared in five anthologies this year, which is a record for me. I thought I'd do a round up of them here as part of my end of year review, with thanks to all the editors who've published my work in 2012:

I have one haiku in The Heron's Nest, Volume XIII 2011, which is a collection of all the haiku from all the issues of The Heron's Nest that appeared on-line in 2011. This was my first time appearing in this annual anthology, and, to date, is the only haiku I've ever had published in The Heron's Nest. Copies can be bought from this link (either cheques to the postal address, or scroll to the bottom of the page for a PayPal option). You can read my haiku here.

Three of my tanka were chosen for the final volume of Take Five: Best Contemporary Tanka, Volume 4. Again, this was my first time appearing in a Take Five anthology, and I'm honoured that my work was chosen from the eighteen thousand tanka read by the editorial team. You can purchase a copy here, or through Amazon. Read the tanka of mine that are included here.

A Blackbird Sings: a book of short poems is the second anthology to come from the River of Stones January small stone challenge (now renamed Mindful Writing Challenge for 2013-- Join us!). I have two small stones in this collection, which can be read here. You can buy a copy in print or Kindle from Amazon US and Amazon UK.

When one of my haiku won a Highly Commended placing in this years New Zealand Poetry Society International Haiku Competition I automatically made it into the annual anthology, Building a time machine. It was a bonus to have another haiku chosen for the collection by the editor. Read my two haiku here, and purchase your own copy here.

Last but not least, is the Haiku News Anthology 2009-2011, which is a collection of haiku, senryu and tanka chosen from the first three years of this unique on-line newspaper. I have one haiku in the collection that you can read here. Copies can be bought from here.

I can recommend all of these anthologies as Christmas gifts for yourself or the creative people in your life. My work is but a small part of these fine collections that comprise some of the best that short form poetry has to offer. Get into it!

With Cherries on Top

Super stoked to find that the pdf book of haiku and senryu from the 31 Different NaHaiWriMo Prompters in August 2012 is available now for FREE download! With Cherries on Top: 31 Flavors of NaHaiWriMo, edited by Michael Dylan Welch can be found here. 

I'm grateful to have the following four haiku included (hubby has one in there too!) along with so many other writers from the online haiku community. Thanks to Michael for the ideas and for putting them into action; thanks to the 31 daily prompters, and thanks to all those who took part in the Facebook haikufest that is NaHaiWriMo.


laundry day . . .
when did my feet
last touch the sand

     (Sand prompt from Vincent Hoarau) 


                              growing dusk . . .
                              the stillborn calf
                              is taken away

                              (Birth prompt from Christina Nguyen)

the lion in her  full moon

     (Lion prompt from Alegria Imperial)

                              psychiarist's office—

                              the painting of a boat
                              hung off-centre

                              (Boats prompt from Alison Williams) 



P.S. Also available for FREE download is the pdf book of small stones from Mindful Writing Day, edited by Fiona Robyn and Kaspa. You'll find that here. Enjoy all the weekend reading! :)

A Blackbird Sings

I'm very pleased to let readers know that the 2012 anthology of small stones is now available on Kindle, and for pre-order on Amazon. A Blackbird Sings: a book of short poems is edited by Fiona Robyn and Kaspalita and will have a special launch on November 1st, the first ever Mindful Writing Day. Once again, people from all around the world with gather to pay attention and write it down. These small stones will be gathered by Fiona and Kaspa and published on their Writing Our Way Home blog, where they'll be giving away five free paperbacks of A Blackbird Sings to their favourites. And also on this day the Kindle version of the anthology will be FREE! Find all the Mindful Writing Day info here. I hope you'll join us. :)

Here are my two poems in the anthology, which are in good company, including many of my haiku poet friends:

Cover by Ken Hurd

gold moon

my nose pressed against

cold glass

                         empty glass
                         the sound
                         of his sobs

Take Notice

This week is Mental Health Awareness Week and the theme is "Take Notice". To find an event in your area, click here, and look here for some tips on taking notice. Writing haiku and small stones starts by paying attention. I hope this week you'll stop and appreciate what's around you, and maybe write it down . . .

taking a mental health day--

the way sunlight moves

through the trees

Haiku & photograph by Kirsten Cliff

Published on Head Lines NZ

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! :)

2012 'River of Stones' Anthology: submissions wanted

Fiona and Kaspa will be putting together an anthology of small stones from this year's river. They'd love to have a submission from everyone who took part, so do send them your small stones whether or not you think they'll be included in the book. As last time this collection will be edited by the pair and they'll choose the small stones that resonate most with them.

Submission details: Email up to FIVE small stones and your name as you'd like to be included in the book to this address with the subject 'river book'. Submissions will close on Sunday the 19th of February. All contributors will receive a free PDF of the finished book as a thank you.

Fiona and Kaspa won't be acknowledging receipt, but they'll let you know whether your small stone will be included or not by the end of March. If you haven't heard from them either way by then do let them know and resend your submission.

2011 'River of Stones' Anthology

I didn't officially participate in the January River of Stones: I didn't blog about it or write one each day. But I did still spent time during the month, when I could, noticing moments and writing them down, usually in my preferred style of haiku. I asked Fiona if I should submit to the anthology or not and she said yes! So I'll be sending in a few of my observations from last month.

I look forward to reading all of the stones in the book when it comes out in a few months time, and hope I'll see some of my favourites from the regular bloggers I read who took part.

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!

October Round-Up - A Surprise Or Two Or Three...

I had a couple of great surprises this month: I was excited to receive a contributor's copy of paper wasp and to find that four of my haiku and four of my tanka were published inside! And I was absolutely ecstatic to be accepted as a contributor for Cycle 12 of DailyHaiku where 28 of my haiku will appear over the next six months. My first week of haiku started on 30 October and can be read here.

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

• week forty - submitted one haiku to the Polish International Haiku Competition (first time submitting here)
• week forty-one - submitted ten tanka (+1 for the contest) to Moonbathing (first time submitting here), one tanka accepted!
• AND submitted ten tanka to Notes from the Gean, one tanka accepted!
• AND submitted one haiga to Yay Words!, which appeared in Aubrie Cox's Tea with Trolls post
• week forty-two - submitted two haiku, two tanka and one haiga to tinywords (first time submitting here)
• AND submitted six small stones to a handful of stones, three accepted!
• week forty-three - submitted two haiku to the Sketchbook Sep/Oct 2011 "cemetery" Haiku Thread
• AND I submitted my second set of ten haiku for Daily Haiku

During the month, my haiku, tanka and haiga appeared online at DailyHaiku, Notes from the Gean, Issa's Untidy Hut, Chrysanthemum, Yay Words! and in paper wasp (print). And there's much more to come this November and December as all my diligence in submitting each week, and trying so many new journals, pays off. Only eight weeks left!

But wait, there's more...

I've left the biggest surprise 'til last...

Cameron and I eloped last week and were married at 2pm on 31 October in Auckland (NZ). Here's our favourite photo from the day, which was taken just after our first kiss as a married couple!

small stones of gratitude - day 1

It's day one of the July River of Stones challenge that will see hundreds of people across the world noticing something with their full attention and writing it down, then maybe sharing it by posting on their blog, Facebook or Twitter (#aros).

I've decided to practise gratitude and abundance this month in connection with my vision board so am calling my stones "small stones of gratitude" - to notice something, write it down, and be thankful for it each day in July.

I've almost finished my vision board re my fiance &
I living in our ideal home together. Part of vision board
work is keeping a gratitude journal so I'm using my
small stones this month to help me with this practise.

As July is also my birthday month and the anniversary of my engagement, I'm giving away two books here at Swimming in Lines of Haiku. Read the info about that here. It's all part of my commitment to the practise of gratitude and abundance and I hope you'll join me. It's going to be a joy-filled July :)

small stones of gratitude - day 1

Today I'm thankful that I turned my head at just the right moment, which meant I saw three goldfinches gathered on the unkempt lawn in a patch of winter sunlight, their red heads so vibrant against the lush green grass, before they flew away, out of the garden and out of my view.

Cutting out pictures for my vision board - it's good to
look up now & then to appreciate what I already have.
(And check out my hair growing back!)

I'm in the river, are you?

The July River of Stones challenge kicks off in just a few days and I want to know - will you join me?

We believe that it's better to be connected to the world, than not to be. We believe that it's better to notice the unnoticed, the weeds in the cracks in the pavement and the aphid on the bud of the rose, than to let them slip by. And we believe that writing can help us pay attention to, and become intimate with, the world. (Fiona and Kaspa, River of Stones organisers)

Writing a small stone a day for the month of January was so much fun - it reignited my passion for words, it rehoned my observation skills, and I reconnected with my online community of writers and poets. Come and join us in writing a small stone a day in July and see where the journey takes YOU!

All the info you need to get started is here, and if you're blogging, then get your badge here.

Small Stone Blogsplash – we need your help…

Kaspa & Fiona have taken over my blog for today, because they need our help.

They are both on a mission to help the world connect with the world through writing. They are also getting married on Saturday the 18th of June.
 
For their fantasy wedding present, they are asking people across the world to write them a ‘small stone’ and post it on their blogs or on Facebook or Twitter.
 
A small stone is a short piece of observational writing – simply pay attention to something properly and then write it down. Find out more about small stones here.
 
If you’re willing to help, we’d love you to do things:
 
1) Re-post this blog on your own blog any time before June the 18th and give your readers a chance to hear about what we’re doing. You can simply copy and paste the text, or you can find the html here.
 
2) Write us a small stone on our wedding day whilst we’re saying our vows and eating cake, post it on your blog, and send it to us.
 
You can find out more about our project at our website, Wedding Small Stones, and you can also read our blog at A River of Stones.
 
We also have a July challenge coming soon, when we’ll be challenging you to notice one thing every day during July and write it down.
 
Thank you for listening, and we hope we’ll be returning from our honeymoon to an inbox crammed with small stones, including yours.

Kaspa & Fiona

STOP! Haiga In Progress. DO NOT DISTURB!

Finally! I have found a decent time/energy envelope to focus back on my collage haiga. I haven't made one in well over a month: exhausting myself with poetry prompts throughout April and having nothing left to give to my hands-on artwork/play. I've been itching to get stuck into it again! And I'm very excited about my first piece back.

About a week after NaPoWriMo ended for me (which was four days later than everyone else:) an idea flooded my vision for a haiga, as I knew it would: Create the space and the creation will come. (Note: Always have pencil and Post-It notes handy!)

So I started work/play on the idea last week and have had to leave it sitting for a few days at a time as health (or rather illness) demands. But I'm in the final stage now of sticking stuff to other stuff (one of my most favourite things to do!) and then I shall place my collage haiga on my easel and stand back to delight in the full 3D effect of my original vision.

My currently empty easel

I've found haiga are the artwork/play that most often turns out better than my original idea or vision in my mind's eye. And this is the magic for me.

My writing of prose pieces never turns out the same as first thought, which doesn't usually mean that it's better or worse than the first concept, just different. But I am sometimes left with a feeling that I haven't quite created what I set out to achieve. Granted this hasn't happened for some time as I haven't done much prose work; not as in previous years. I've been concentrating more on poetry and this has been wonderful: my diary has never been so empty of appointments and so full of haiku, senryu, tanka, small stones, one-liners, inspirations, poetry, Poetry, POERTY!

With my visual art I've learned (after much struggle!) to just go with my gut and NOT my head. I may think that a poem involving blood tests or transfusions should sit on red card, and so instinctively allow my mind to override my unconscious flow and grab for the red straight away. But when I just sit for a moment I find I want to choose blue card for this one. I can't explain why, and my mind tries to fight this, puts up an argument that there is no good reason to choose blue over red, red is of course the obvious choice for this haiga!

However, my mind does NOT know best: definitely not when it comes to art anyway! So I've learnt to slow down, enjoy the process, quiet my mind, and go with what comes up without questioning.


"My Art is my Heart" February 2011
Paint, origami, transfers, stickers on stretched canvas.



Too often in the past I would complete an artwork, say a painting, and just not be satisfied by what I'd created because I could see where I had fought against a natural colour choice or natural stopping/finishing point. I had listened to my head instead of my heart/soul/spirit/unconscious.

Now I gain so much enjoyment from my art work/play and I know it's because this process of creation is one of the few times in a day that I really let my spirit have a voice, and this is vital to my well being.

The haiga I'm creating is for a senryu that's part of my collection exploring my leukaemia journey, and has been accepted for the next issue of Prune Juice. I hope to have it finished this week. Then I can sit back and wait for a new idea to pass through me and onto the page. Happy creating to you! 

"Peace is the Way of my Heart" February 2011
Paint, origami, transfers, stickers, brads on stretched canvas.

Passing On Some Gifts This Easter

Happy Easter weekend, dear writers and readers! In the busyness of travelling and family and outings: I hope you'll take some time out for yourself this long weekend to notice something fully each day and write it down.

Or maybe you could start with reading Fiona Robyn's FREE e-book How to Write Your Way Home. It contains simple instructions to help you feel more connected to yourself and to the world, information on hunting and polishing small stones, advice on how to build a creative network and much more.

You can also hear more about this practice of writing small stones in the video clip below by Fiona and Kaspa: the beautiful beings behind the river of stones project, which will be running again in July. Come join us!

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



January Round-Up - What a Month!

A warm welcome to my new readers and all those that have popped in over the course of January - international small stones writing month. I greatly appreciate your comments, and ticking of the 'like' and 'cool' boxes at the bottom of my posts :)

I've loved writing a small stone a day and adding it to the river, and have benefited greatly both mentally and spiritually from doing so. At the same time, I wrote up my small stones in my Mslexia Writer's Diary: a diary I bought for the first time this year and am so glad I did; highly recommend!

I've also enjoyed stopping into other stoners' blogs who I may not have found if it wasn't for this challenge, and I thank you all for sharing your stones. I look forward to submitting my ten best stones this month, and eventually reading many others' in the book to be put together by Fiona Robyn.

January saw me make a goal of submitting poetry to a publication or competition every week for 2011. Here's how I'm doing:

• week one - submitted six tanka to Eucalpyt (first time submitting here) won't hear outcome until after March 31st submission deadline for Issue 10
• week two - submitted one senryu to Haiku News (second time submitting here) was accepted, you can read it here
• week three - submitted five haiku and three tanka to Kokako; had two haiku and one tanka accepted for Issue 14, April 2011
• week four - submitted to Snapshot Press Haiku Calendar Competition (first time submitting here) results will be announced March 31st

I also created a 'My Photography' page here at Swimming in Lines of Haiku, and submitted images to (all for the first time):

• Four and Twenty (online short form poetry journal) - my image was chosen as the cover art for the January issue
• The Bay News 'Weather Photo' Page
• The Bay News 'Holiday Photo Competition' - closes Feb 4th
• And I'm very excited to have been asked to provide cover art for the next issue of Kokako (Issue 15, September 2011) Many thanks, Pat :)

I've continued making collage-style haiga for my collection: four this month, to make a total of twenty-three. I have written two new tanka so far this year for the collection, and still have several haiku and tanka already written to turn into haiga.

I had the opportunity to show them to my local fellow haiku writers at a small gathering in Tauranga on the 29th, which resulted in some good feedback. I'll carry on with this project while it still has meaning for me and the creative process brings me great joy.

January is extra special too because I made it to my first 100 blog posts! Thanks again to all those who have come along for the ride :)

So as you can see, there has been lots of great things happening for me, alongside my continuing treatment for leukaemia. Roll on February!