Cool Announcement: New Release, Poetry That Heals by Naomi Beth Wakan

My Dear Friends:

I'm happy to share with you this exciting news: NeverEnding Story contributor Naomi Beth Wakan just published her new book, Poetry That Heals (Shanti Arts Publishing, 2018; e-book edition of this title available from Google Play, Amazon Kindle, iBooks, and several other retailers). "In this inspiring memoir, Naomi Beth Wakan takes the reader on a journey through her lifelong experiences writing various forms of Japanese poetry, especially haiku and its related genres. She explains the rules and structure that distinguish the various forms, providing many examples of her own work as well as poems from well-known historical and contemporary poets."

Poetry has an interesting function. It helps people "be" where they are. -- Gary Synder

  

About the Author: Naomi Beth Wakan is the inaugural Poet Laureate of Nanaimo (2013-16). She has published over 50 books. Her poetry books include Sex after 70 and other poems and And After 80… (both from Bevalia Press) and Bent Arm for a Pillow (Pacific-Rim Publishers). Naomi is a member of The League of Canadian Poets, Haiku Canada and Tanka Canada and is the Inaugural Honorary Ambassador for the BC Federation of Writers. She lives on Gabriola Island with her husband, the sculptor, Elias Wakan.

Selected Poems:

the signpost
knocked over by the wind ...
our road points to heaven

Naomi Beth Wakan

empty cabin
the beached canoe
fills with leaves

Devar Dahl

wishing fountain
outside the cancer clinic
some heads, some tails

dried up pond
initials in alder bark
scabbed over

Alice Frampton

moss-hung trees
a deer moves into
the hunter's silence

Winona Baker

how do ducks
stay afloat
on the water
when here on land
I feel myself drowning?

Fujiwara no Shinzei

the years pass
yearning to fly free
love holds me still --
yachts moored near the pier
move just a little

Amelia Fielden

half a tanka
will probably suffice
to say
this blur on life's page
is ready for erasure

Sanford Goldstein

entering old age
I look less for truth
but find it more --
a mid-winter thaw reveals
pieces of sky

George Swede

a sudden loud noise
all the pigeons of Venice
at once fill  the sky
that is how it felt when your hand
accidentally touched mine

Ruby Spriggs

too soon
first leaves fall
from the maple
this fear of losing
what defines me

Susan Constable

Author's Note:  The book (Cdn. $25) is available in Canada from mail@pagesresort.com as the Shanti Arts web-site is for the USA.