Special Feature: Selected Poems for Reflections on Russian Opposition to Putin and His War in Ukraine

                                                                                           Patriot: A Memoir

                                                                                           written in blood, sweat and tears ...

                                                                                           the battle 

                                                                                           continues from Navalny's grave

                                                                                           as the Kremlin is cloaked in shadows

My Dear Friends:

A much-awaited posthumous memoir by Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny was published worldwide on Tuesday. He began writing Patriot: A Memoir after his near-fatal poisoning in 2020, and his wife, Yulia Navalnaya,  helped piece together the book following his death in February.

The book recounts his youth, activism, personal life and his fight against Putin’s increasingly authoritarian hold on Russia. US magazine The New Yorker published excerpts from the book on October 11, titled Alexei Navalny’s Prison Diaries, an account of his last years and his admonition to his country and the world.

The book is set to be published in 22 languages; the English-language edition hit number one on Amazon’s bestselling book charts just hours after its release.

Now, I would like to share with you some of my published poems about Russian opposition against Putin and his war in Ukraine. 

Un/Truth

"George Orwell's novel tops all of the Russian bestseller lists in 2022. Really?" Raising her voice on the last word, the Foreign Ministry spokeswoman reacts to the West’s latest report on what's happened in Putin's Russia.

"I remember in the 1990s within the public school system," the spokeswoman pauses to clear her throat, then continues, "we were drilled that Orwell was describing the horrors of totalitarianism, instead of how liberalism would lead humanity to a dead end." 

"We now know that all the powers of liberal Europe had entered into an unholy alliance to corrupt the Russian youth who were hungry for truthful knowledge at the time. As Orwell wrote in his novel, 'There was truth and there was untruth, and if you clung to the truth even against the whole world, you were not mad.' This is our Russian stance." The volume of her last statement is amplified by the clicking of cameras.

a pink-haired teen

held face down in the mud

by plainclothes cops

her Nineteen Eighty-Four

torn apart page by page

Drifting Sands, 20, 2023

Russia Will Be Free

Putin's critic

given sentence after sentence --

inside the glass cage

he gestures to his wife

with hands shaping a heart

Prompted at the end of the documentary to deliver a message to his supporters outside the courthouse, Navalny emphasizes, “If they decided to kill me, then it means we are incredibly strong. We need to utilize this power to not give up.The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good people to do nothing." He flashes a smile at the end of the film.

He is moved from one prison to another to serve his 19-year sentence on charges of extremism. On one occasion, the contact with him is lost for three weeks; it is rumored that he is being denied food and kept in an unventilated cell. Finally he is located at a prison colony above the Arctic Circle, and he dies there months later.

a pink-haired teen

dragged and carried away

by policemen ....

Navalny's youthful face glows

in flickering candlelight

Drifting Sands, 26, 2024

FYI: "Russia will be free" is a century-old political slogan used by Russian dissents. And the documentary, "Navalny," won the Best Documentary Feature at the 95th Academy Awards.

To conclude's today's Special Feature post, I would like to share with you a video posted on Alexei Navalny’s YouTube channel by his widow, Yulia Navalnaya. In This 9-minute video, titled “I will continue the work of Alexei Navalny,”and the description read, “An appeal by Yulia Navalnaya. Alexei’s work will continue. The fight for a free Russia will not stop.”

By killing Alexei, Putin killed half of me, half of my heart and my soul. But I still have the other half, and it tells me that I have no right to give up...

But Putin also took Navalny away from you, where in a colony in the Far North, beyond the Arctic Circle, in eternal winter, Putin killed not just a man, Alexei Navalny, but together with him he wanted to kill our hopes, our freedom, our future...

I will continue the work of Alexei Navalny. Continue to fight for our country. And I invite you to stand next to me. To share not only the grief and endless pain that envelops us and does not let go. I ask you to share my rage. Rage and anger towards those who dared to kill our future. I address you with the words of Alexei, in which I believe. It’s not a shame to do little, it’s a shame to do nothing. It’s a shame to let yourself be intimidated.

Cool Announcement: New Release, Serendipity by Robert Witmer

My Dear Readers:

I'm happy to share with you this exciting news: NeverEnding Story contributor, Robert Witmer, had a new book, Serendipity , published by Cyberwit.et this year. The book is an "exploration of and meditation upon language and memory, while at the same time a set of narratives and poetic sequences about traveling the world and living in it." 

Selected Haiku:

rain rinsed air

spilling sunlight

in the steady stream

receding wave

the old surfer’s

hairline 

the sea roars

in an empty shell

dementia 

Happy Reading

Chen-ou

Cool Announcement: New Release, In Sun, Snow & Rain Edited by A. A Marcoff

My Dear Readers:

I'm happy to share with you this exciting news: NeverEnding Story contributor, A A Marcoff, edited a new book, In Sun, Snow & Rain: Tanka from a World of Song, which was published in January 2023 by The British Haiku Society. It's a tanka anthology as a tribute to the late tanka poet, Linda Jeannette Ward

Haiku strike a momentary chord. Tanka sing, and leave a lingering spell. -- James Kirkup

Selected Tanka:

the comfort of tears

mirrored in dragonfly eyes

thousands of lives

all at once in the sun

pulling me into their dance

Linda Jeannette Ward

steam rising 

from our coffee cups …

silence 

hangs in the air

of our hazy past

Chen-ou Liu

breeze off the lake

I drift in and out

of love

I kiss the berry stains

on little fingers and toes

Marilyn Ashbaugh

we meet again

not knowing what to say

who will speak first?

a clash of waves

from different directions

Sue Richards 

a sliver

of day moon ...

saree slips

from the shoulder

of a nursing mom

Vandana Parashar

Cool Announcement: Student Haiku and Senryu Anthology

My Dear Friends:

I just received a copy of Student Haiku and Senryu Anthology, a collection of contest-winning haiku and senryu edited by by Randy M. Brooks. 

"To commemorate the 30th Anniversary of the Nicholas A. Virgilio Memorial Haiku and Senryu Competition, the executive committee of the Haiku Society of America published this anthology of award-winning haiku and senryu. The student observations, insights, experiences, emotions and insights evident in these haiku and senryu are a wonderful testament to the fresh voices and vivid imagery of young people." I would like to share with you some of my favorite contest winners 

Selected Haiku and Senryu:

cold night 

a stray cat 

laps the moon

Gus Critz, Grade 8

spring fever 

back to 

the chemo ward

Vlad-Sergiu Ciobica, Grade 12

the barren branch 

impales 

a full moon

Grace Ma, Grade 9

our parrot shrieks 

my father’s name 

in my mother’s voice

Cole Mitchell, Grade 12

Friday morning prayer 

purple hijabs 

dance in the wind

Claire Reardon,  Grade 12

winter dusk 

the crows 

clotting the wind

Olivia Babuka Black, Grade 8

on the windowsill 

next to the box of ashes 

Jiro’s dog collar

Michelle Hosoda, Grade 12

winter night

cracks in the floorboards

widen

Mary Rice, Grade 10

tornado drill 

the hallways full 

of laughter

Nikki Savary, Grade 12

throwing stones 

through a broken window

summer dusk 

Travis Moore, Grade 9

earthquake ...

the horse hits the king

on the chess table

Pascu Dumitru, Grade 6

out of sight         o

                  ballo     n

and the child’s smile

Ben Meier, Grade 9 

Happy Reading

Chen-ou

Cool Announcement: A Freebie, Unfinished Conversations by Anne Curran

My Dear Readers:

NeverEnding Story contributor, Anne Curran, published a collection of tanka, Unfinished Conversations, (Title IX Press, 2021). You can read her tanka free online.

Author Bio: 

Anne Curran lives in Hamilton. She has been writing Japanese short verse forms for about ten years. She is grateful for the inspiration provided by editors, fellow poets and friends. Like a good wine she hopes only to improve her writing with age.

 

 

 

 

Selected Tanka:

 

my neighbor 

tells me to hold 
someone close ...
clenching my fist, I let 
the sky hold my thoughts 

my heart 
a kite string 
between continents. . . 
but first and last 
the tug of home 

no books 
on his shelves ...
but tales he tells 
of his sea-faring days 
riffle sky blue pages 

father's gold watch 
sits unused 
in a top drawer ...
time ceases to matter 
in the dementia ward 

her laughter 
quicker than mine today ...
a playful breeze 
on our faces 
as she pushes her walker 

daybreak 
with the curtains drawn 
my mind dark ...
then, the warble 
of a tui couple 

at night 
ice creaks on the river 
in a rising west wind ...
things I could have said 
things I could have done 

Happy Reading

Chen-ou

Cool Announcement: New Release, light packing, haiku of Elmedin Kadric

My Dear Readers:

I'm happy to share with you this exciting news: NeverEnding Story contributor Elmedin Kadric  published a new book, light packing, his second full-length collection of haiku just "as potent and ground-breaking as his award-winning first, buying time."

Elmedin Kadric is a minimalist haiku poet writing out of Helsingborg, Sweden. His first full-length collection, buying time, was awarded second place at the Haiku Society of America Merit Book Awards for excellence in haiku poetry. His poetry has appeared in many prestigious journals and multiple volumes of the Red Moon Anthology, which assembles each year the finest haiku and related forms published around the world.

 

Selected Haiku:

from monologue
to dialogue
the river enters the sea

your absence
the only sound
faraway rain

driving home --
nobody to hold
the ashes

dandelion fluff
telling my long-lost sister
the story of us

at the touch
of birdsong

the first blush
of spring


a bourbon
on the rocks

on the house
autumn rain

Happy Reading

Chen-ou

Cool Announcement: New Release, Wind on the Heath by Naomi Beth Wakan

My Dear Readers:

I'm happy to share with you this exciting news: NeverEnding Story contributor Naomi Beth Wakan  published a new book, Wind on the Heath, a life-spanning collection of haiku, tanka and free verse spans roughly "sixty years of inquisitive thinking and creative writing. The foundation of Wakan's work is her dedication to living an examined life, which Wakan describes in this way: 

Seeking in the darkness

a crack through

which we may glimpse reality."

The poems in Wind on the Heath allow readers to "see the flicker of light showing through the crack. This is poetry to live by."

 

Naomi Beth Wakan is the inaugural Poet Laureate of Nanaimo (2014–16) and the Federation of British Columbia Writer’s Inaugural Honorary Ambassador. She has published over fifty books. Her most recent book of essays, On the Arts, came out in 2020 (Shanti Arts). Her trilogy, The Way of Tanka, The Way of Haiku, and Poetry That Heals was published by Shanti Arts in 2019. Wakan is a member of The League of Canadian Poets, Haiku Canada, and Tanka Canada. She lives on Gabriola Island, British Columbia, Canada, with her husband, the sculptor Elias Wakan. For more information, read "A Poet's Roving Thoughts: An Interview with Naomi Beth Wakan by Robert Epstein"

 

Selected Haiku and Tanka:

early sunlight 
the gulls etch their shadows 
on the cliff face 

a blanket spread 
under the cherry blossoms 
teens work their iPhones 

end of summer 
pinned to the park notice-board 
a bikini top 

this morning 
an early phone call 
and my life 
commits deeper to the play 
of black words on white paper

my small voice 
struggles its way 
onto the page 
hard to hear it when each moment 

trawls with it past memories

yet one more 
self-help book ... 
another trip 
around myself, another trip 
skirting the edge   

reflections
of anchored small boats ripple
in the lake
I too feel fragmented
when I think of past ventures

we lie together 
like a knight and his lady 
in a tomb effigy ...
only the rise and fall of the covers 
shows we are still of this world 

his tragic crash
headlines for two days
then is displaced
by a campus rape
and life continues

a pile
of detective stories
by my chair
as if solving murders
can help me deal with death

I conclude today's book promotion post with Naomi's view of reading/writing haiku and tanka:

On Reading Issa Each Morning

Every morning, 
as others open their papers 
to the sports page, or 
keep them closed on 
the grim rumors of the day, 
I receive a small, sweet message 
by e-mail; a message 
telling of simple things . . . 
midday naps, the scent of the lotus, 
deer rutting, and mountain rain, 
a sickle moon, a temple bell, 
muddy straw sandals, the beggar’s stove, 
first frost, and slush-splashed robes, 
plum blossom, Buddharupas, 
saké cups, radishes, 
garbage-removers, mosquitoes 
at the eaves, and a cottage door 
crushed by morning glories, 
tumbled down houses, and dogs 
mouthing down rice cakes. 
Only occasionally a bigger mystery 
presents itself for my morning 
consideration, such as 
a samurai’s discarded top knot. 

Writing A Tanka 

Writing a tanka
is like feeling
the breeze coming up
from the shore
on the first day of autumn.
It tells you that
the full blooming of summer
is over—
the seeds sown in spring
are now to be harvested,
and entropy moves center stage
as leaves fall and
stalks rot in the ground.
Yes, writing tanka
is like that.
Like a record of a full life
and the bittersweetness
of knowing that
it must come to an end.

Happy Reading

Chen-ou Liu

Special Feature: "American Carnage" on the Eve of the Senate Impeachment Trial

                               This American carnage stops right here and stops right now. -- Donald Trump, Inauguration Day, 2017

My Dear Friends:

On the eve of the Senate impeachment trial of the "Inciter-In-Chief" (David Remnick, The New Yorker, Jan. 9), I'm pleased to share this good news with all of you: 

American Carnage: The Rise and Fall of the Reality Show Presidency, a collection of Japanese short form poetry about four years of life in TrumpLand, Coming Soon!

Here are the poems selected from my upcoming book for your reading pleasure: 

Go Trump graffiti

a stray dog

marking his spot

NeverEnding Story, January 23, 2017

bumpertobumperstrongertogether

Failed Haiku, 2:13, January 2017

Trump victory

the sky bursting

with crows

Failed Haiku, 1:12, December 2016

bald eagle's cry

cut off

Inauguration Day

NeverEnding Story, January 20, 2017

Not My President

In my dream, after the explosion of his twitter bomb, the fireball rises rapidly like a hot-air balloon into the sky, forms a mushroom cloud, and later the first black rain falls ...

on the sidewalk

outside Trump Tower

I p-i-s-s

and feel in my bones

old man winter

Skylark, 5:1, Summer 2017

A Stranger in a Land of Strangers

a bitter wind

after the inauguration

the white fence

between my neighbor and me

three feet higher

I peep through gaps in the fence

and see ... what do I see?

A dream house made up of words

and a neon sign on its roof,

flashing "Americans First."

I can't live in this promised land anymore.

The land is polluted by drunken words.

And the milk is sour, the honey tasteless.

Haibun Today, 11:2, June 2017

                                                                              to be continued ...

Happy Reading

Chen-ou 

Cool Announcement: Moving Forward Edited by Ignatius Fay

My Dear Friends: 

NeverEnding Story contributor, Ignatius Fay, edited and published a collection of haiku written by the members of the Ontario Region of Haiku Canada, titled moving forward: The Trillium Haiku Group Anthology 2020." And Dr. Fay feels confident to claim that "[t]his volume contains a lot of exceptional poetry, solid proof that the Ontario Region is a haiku force with which to contend." (p.5)

Selected Haiku:

another gray day

a desire to fly south

with the geese

Ignatius Fay

sleepless night

the forest's silhouette

slowly emerges

Ian Kenney

unspoken thoughts

the tongs jam

the cutlery drawer

Dorothy Mahoney

the glass shards

of a fallen angel

black ice

Roland Packer

To conclude this book promotion post, share with you two of my haiku included in this anthology:

backyard quarrel

deep into the night

wildfires 

a red leaf

drifts between light and shade

high school dropout

Happy Reading

Chen-ou

Cool Announcement: Applause Please by Jack Galmitz

My Dear Friends: 

NeverEnding Story contributor, Jack Galmitz, published a collection of minimalist (haiku-like) poems, Applause Please, "rang[ing] in theme from the social to the psychological values in our lives."

 

About the Author:

 

Jack Galmitz was born in NYC in 1951. He received a Ph.D in English from the University of Buffalo.  He is an Associate of the Haiku Foundation and Contributing Editor at Roadrunner.  His most recent books are Views (Cyberwit.net,2012), a genre study of minimalist poetry, Letters (Lulu Press, 2012), yards & lots (Middle Island Press, 2012; see my in-depth review here), not-zero-sum (Impress 2015) and Takeout (Impress, 2015).  He lives in New York with his wife and stepson.
 

 Selected Poems:

Fireflies

crossing the porch

small talk

In my bureau drawer

a copy of Das Kapital

and a leather glove

A police phalanx

moves backward

a black woman

On the thruway

a black man is pulled over

a coffin is waiting

Cool Announcement: Into the Warp and Woof edited by Christine L. Villa

My Dear Friends:

Frameless Sky published its first anthology, Into the Warp and Woof: Best of Frameless Sky, Volume 1, edited by Ribbons editor and NeverEnding Story contributor, Christine L. Villa. While the topics explored in the anthology are widely varied, there are "common threads twisting and turning in, out, and around, that knit together the many perspectives inside. These common threads reflect excellence, innovation, the human experience, and the natural world." You can watch its multimedia forward on YouTube (The anthology is now available in paperback. To purchase, here is the link)

Selected Poems:

the bridge

where recollections

drift to and fro --

am I slowly moving

through the realm of Noh?

Hazel Hall

there (not there) the swan's wake in moonlight

Mark E. Brager

squall line

on the horizon

I want

to be that golden leaf

rushing into gully

Pris Campbell

so many miles

to go before you rest ...

our eternity in question

or is it infinity

spun within our bones?

Joanna Ashwell

a red cardinal

between heaven and earth

the grassy fields

of my desire for her

roll on under the sun

I want a divorce . . .

the snap, snap, snap

of bean pods

Chen-ou Liu

Cool Announcement: New Release, The Way of Haiku 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,The Way of Haiku, (the contact for purchase, mail@pagesresort.com), "a guide for learning to write the most popular form of Japanese poetry: haiku.... a comprehensive examination of the form and an eye-opening view into the way that reading and writing haiku can change the way one looks at life." 

"'Writing haiku helps you appreciate the wonder of ordinary things and ordinary days.' Wakan discusses the history of haiku’s development, its important literary elements, and the differences between haiku written in Japanese and those written in English. Numerous examples of haiku are provided, some written by Japanese haijin (haiku writers) and presented in translation, and some written by English-speaking writers. The rich explanation of the experience of writing haiku and the encouraging words of the author encourage readers to write their own haiku while remaining open to the possibilities it provides for personal growth."

About the Author: Naomi Beth Wakan is the Inaugural Poet Laureate of Nanaimo, British Columbia, Canada, and the Inaugural Honorary Ambassador for the Federation of British Columbia Writers. She has published over fifty books, including the American Library Association selection, Haiku - one breath poetry (Heian International). Her latest titles are The Way of Tanka and Poetry That Heals, both from Shanti Arts. Wakan is a member of The League of Canadian Poets, Haiku Canada, and Tanka Canada. She lives on Gabriola Island, British Columbia, with her husband, the sculptor, Elias Wakan.

Selected Haiku

spring memorial
the dampness
in a handful of soil

Alice Frampton

white on white roses
on her wedding day
her pale face

Angelika Kolompar

wet beach sand --
a sandpiper's song
of footprints

Michael Dylan Welch

a dewdrop world
though a dewdrop world
and yet ...

Kobayashi Issa

New Year's Day
dead chrysanthemums still
at the garden's edge

Masaoka Shiki

summer grasses --
the wheels of the locomotive
come to a stop

Yamaguchi Seishi

at the crescent moon
the silence
enters the heart

Fukuda Chiyo-ni

Cool Announcement: New Release, echoes of flight by Jane Williams

My Dear Friends:

I'm happy to share with you this exciting news: NeverEnding Story contributor Jane Williams just published her first book of Japanese short form poetry, echoes of flight: haiku & senryu. "Jane Williams’s first collection of haiku delights with all the insight and generosity that her readers admire in her longer works of poetry. In distillations that are alive to the small and fleeting moments of life and the echoes they ring in the heart, echoes of flight is joyous and life-affirming and a welcome addition to Australian haiku literature." ( Lyn Reeves, Vice President, Australian Haiku Society).

About the Author:

Jane Williams is an Australian poet based in Tasmania






Selected Haiku and Senryu:

low tide
in the gull's footprints
echoes of flight

spring afternoon
the paperbark sheds
layers of light

filling
the rusted-out car
frog song

twilight
birds shape-shifting
become one

skinny dipping
my sister leads me
into my fiftieth year

writer's block
crisscrossing my keyboard
the same ant?

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.

Cool Announcement: A New Release, Beyond the Fields

My Dear Friends:

I'm happy to share with you this exciting news: NeverEnding Story contributor Sandip Chauhan just edited and published a trilingual haiku anthology, Beyond the Fields (Aesthetics Publications, 2017). It's a first-of-its-kind anthology of haiku divided into two parts:  Part One, "Where Cotton Blooms," features the haiku by Punjabi haiku poets and Part Two, "The Hues of Sunset," is a sampling of some of the best contemporary English language haiku, offered as an introduction to the Punjabi audience.

About the Editor:

Sandip Chauhan holds a PhD in Punjabi Literature from Punjabi University in Patiala, India. She writes mainly in Punjabi and English. Publications include two haiku anthologies: In One Breath - a Haiku moment , 2013 and Kokil Anb Suhavi Bole /ਕੋਕਿਲ ਅੰਬਿ ਸੁਹਾਵੀ ਬੋਲੇ , 2014, where haiku and its aesthetics are introduced in Punjabi for the first time.

Selected Haiku

autumn leaves --
in grandma's tea set
a broken cup

Jaspreet Parhar

autumn moon ...
smoke from the clay pot
clings to my shawl

Roopinder Kaur Sidhu

winter drizzle --
another loose thread
in mom's sweater

Harvinder Dhaliwal

moonbow ...
in a grain of wheat
a farmer's song

Sandip Chauhan

first cold morning
the smell of mothballs
on her jersey

Patricia Prime

specks of dust
in the winter moonlight
a lines of migrants

Chen-ou Liu

another snowstorm
a child braids her doll's hair
over and over

Roberta Berry

fading light ...
pink-footed geese wade
into the sun

Claire Everett

cracked soil ...
a day laborer bent
over his shadow

Sasa Vazic

between beats
on the cardiogram --
patter of rain

Carl Seguiban

nights of stars
all along the precipice
goat bells ring

an'ya

winter quilt --
threads of conversation
between us

Anne Curran

grandma's funeral --
I stumble over the roots
of an old oak tree

Cristina-Monica Moldoveanu

Cool Announcement: New Release, The Way of Tanka 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, The Way of Tanka, "The first book of its kind in Canada, it attempts to get to the heart of this developing form and includes not only the author’s insightful commentary, but also quotes from some of the most eminent scholars, publishers and writers of the form today."

Written in a lucid and readable style, Naomi Beth Wakan's The Way of Tanka is a highly practical guide that instructs readers on how to write tanka. She doesn’t give a definitive answer to the question, “what is or is not a tanka?” Instead, she encourages readers to read as many tanka as they can and to feel out the qualities that  make a “good” tanka. In the book, she not only provides a good sampling of published tanka that represent a broad spectrum of stylistic and thematic varieties, but also includes her detailed comments on some of the tanka that are thematically or structurally significant. I particularly like the section on “Pivot Lines and Last Lines”  (pp. 35-47; see an excerpt in the endnote below). It give readers a  renewed appreciation of  this minimalisitc yet highly expressive genre -- tanka, “the perfect vehicle for capturing the swift, direct pulse of emotion.”

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 Tanka

grinding
a handful of coffee beans
I enjoy
this time of not chasing
this time of not being chased

Reiko Hakozaki

shimmering
on the desert track
a mirage
her smile radiant
for the man behind me

Rodney Williams

her plane disappears
into starlight...
and somewhere
in her luggage
my love poem

Michael Dylan Welch

walking at night
along the sea
I feel like a coconut
washed up
from nowhere

Takuboku Ishikawa

wrote GREAT
in the sand
a hundred times
forgot about dying
and went on home

Takuboku Ishikawa

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

George Swede

your side
of the wardrobe
empty
I wait to be filled
with possibility

David Terelinc


Note: Below is excerpted from "Pivot Lines and Last Lines" (pp. 36-7):
...

This link, this pivot, as I said earlier, is often the third line of the tanka,  In a way, it is hanging in the air so the poet can use it to swing from objective to subjective mood., or vice versa. To fulfill its function, therefore, the pivot line must make sense when read with the first two lines as well as when read as a precursor to the last two lines. In other words, the pivot line means one thing as a finish to the first couple of lines and something else as a herald to the last two lines. By this linking, both the initial image and the reaction to it  are not just joined, but are taken to deeper depths, and the full five lines resonate more fully with unexpected harmonies. The pivot line adds a richness to each section as well as revealing their connection....

...Let's consider this tanka by Francine Porad

a woman

holds a waving child high

as the train passes

where ... when ...

did summer disappear

The woman and child in this tanka do not have an obvious connection with summer until the line describing something passing speedily, "the train" is introduced. It links the two topics perfectly as the train passing speedily past the mother and child is compared with summer passing speedily in the consciousness of the writer, and may also be subtly suggesting that childhood moves to adulthood too fast ...

Cool Announcement: New Release, A Year Unfolding: haiku by Debbie Strange

My Dear Readers:

I'm happy to share with you this exciting news: NeverEnding Story contributor Debbie Strange just published her new collection of  haiku, titled A Year Unfolding, which "celebrates the changing seasons in Canada, with each poem written in Carolingian hand by JS Graustein before digitizing. Strange sews together a rich tapestry of wildlife, landscape, and love. Her poems lead us through the Canadian seasons, sharing the natural flow of a land that is still wild and raw."

About the Author:

Debbie Strange is the author of Warp and Weft: Tanka Threads, and she belongs to the Writers' Collective of Manitoba and several haiku and tanka organizations. Her writing has received awards and been published in numerous journals. She is a singer-songwriter and photographer whose photographs have been published and exhibited.  She is currently assembling a haiga collection. Visit her on twitter @Debbie_Strange. Read more of her poetry at Warp and Weft ~ Images and Words

Selected Haiku:

moonglow
a thousand jellyfish
in an ocean of sky

lake-light
a line of mergansers
ripples the clouds

on fence posts
the exclamation marks
of raptors

in the pond
a white begonia
and old news

on the tundra
caging a winter sky
caribou bones

Cool Announcement: The Bluebird’s Cry by Christine L. Villa

Tears are words that need to be written. -- Paulo Coelho

My Dear Readers:

NeverEnding Story contributor Christine L. Villa published her first collection of Japanese short form poetry (mainly haiku and tanka), titled The Bluebird’s Cry (Price: $12 from Amazon and Createspace ).

About the Author

 An animated story teller and an artist by nature, Christine L. Villa dabbles in children's writing, Japanese short-form poetry, and photography. She is the founder and editor of Frameless Sky -- a video journal showcasing poets, artists, and musicians in collaborative projects. She blogs her haiku, tanka, and haiga at Blossom Rain.

This book begins with a heart-wrenching tanka prose that introduces readers to the author’s great love of her life, John Augello (April 3, 1946—April 8, 2013), and tells how he died after almost a year of round-the-clock care (p. 19).

Glioblastoma

      Finally, we were asked to come in and let my husband lie down in bed and wait for the doctor to explain the results of his CT scan. He’d been complaining about not being able to play the piano like he used to. His left hand refuses to coordinate with the right. He’d been bumping into things. This morning he was frustrated by not being able to put his left foot inside his shoe. There was no way we were going to sit at home and wait for things to get better.

       The doctor walks in and drops the bomb. My heart explodes. My mind starts reeling from all the details I have to comprehend.

by the fountain

with a ring encircling

my finger . . .

all I knew then

was the word forever

... Few things in life are more frightening than the prospect of the death of a much-loved spouse. Christine L. Villa has faced this fear head on. She has turned to tanka and haiku to make sense of this pain, and has placed it in perspective of her journey through this landscape of loss... The poet treats the time-honored themes of loss and grief in a sensitive manner. In the echo of The Bluebird’s Cry, we hear not only a heart crying out in pain, but also the voice of spring and starting over... (Afterword, David John Terelinck pp. 95, 98)

Selected Haiku and Tanka:

a tea rose trembles
with the smell of rain ...
anti-seizure pills

moon cradle
the prayer that becomes
your lullaby

autumn chill
imagining our house
without his footsteps

tracing the cracks
on his leather chair ...
death anniversary

tumbling leaves . . .
I drift where grief
takes me today

fading star ...
the visit from an old friend
who died a year ago

winter's end ...
a part of me wanting
to live

spring sky ...
I bow down to what
each day brings

if I don’t say
the word cancer out loud
will the blackness
of this winter night
become unreal?

a dewdrop dangling
from the tip of a daisy . . .
I try hard
not to let him see
my tears

his stand on
chemotherapy . . .
a bluebird’s cry
nestles in the palm
of sunrise

pink clouds
behind skeletal trees . . .
nothing stirs
as I still wait
for a wisp of hope

sting
of the wind
this winter night . . .
who knows when
and where we will be

icicles
stabbing the pavements—
I tell him
his cancer is back
as if I feel nothing

morphine moon . . .
my courage fading
in and out
as you ask me
where you are

if only pain
fades like color . . .
the smell
of another laundry pile
drenched with pee

every now and then
the flicker of a firefly . . .
still in my hand
all of you I need
to let go

this morning
nobody fills up
the birdbath . . .
the blue jay and I
thirsty for you

Cool Announcement: A Freebie, Human All Too Human

My Dear Friends:

I just published a book of senryu, Human All Too Human,  in an e-book form for your reading pleasure.

This book is dedicated to Edo period haikai poet Senryu Karai (1718-1790), whose collection Haifuyanagidaru launched the genre, senryu, into the public consciousness.

And to Makoto Ueda, Stanford Japanese literature professor and author of Light Verse from the Floating World: An Anthology of Premodern Japanese Senryu

"Senryu differs from haiku in its rhetoric, too, since it seldom uses the common haiku technique known as internal comparison. Whereas a haiku often juxtaposes two disparate objects challenges the reader to make an imaginary connection between them, a typical senryu presents one unique situation and asks the reader to view it in the light of reason or common sense. The reader who does that will usually experience a feeling of superiority, or of incongruity, or of relief, which in turn lead to laughter." (Preface, p. vii-viii)

S elected Senryu:

oh, you're a poet ...
her rising tone
in the last syllable

Editor's Choice Senryu, Cattails, 3, 2014

(Comment by Senryu Editor, Mike Rehling: Every poet has been there, it happens a lot. If you say you are an accountant, or a gas station attendant there is immediate understanding of your role in our complex society. It just happens, but if you toss out the poet card you can never quite tell how it will be received. The other folks don’t have an easy way to relate to us poets. This one nailed it with the tone of the woman being unmistakable in her confusion as to how to react)

the pumpkin carriage
makes its first appearance:
her New Year's dream

A Handful of Stones, December 31, 2010

first sunlit morning
I recycle
last year's resolution

Cattails, December 2013

midnight argument
giving me the middle finger
she blocks out two stars

Failed Haiku, 1:7, July 2016

divorce talk
each sip of tea more bitter
than the last

Kokako, 24, April 2016

first day after layoff:
my Chinese take-away
without a fortune cookie

Cattails, September 2015;

recession ...
the care giver he hired
doubles as a mistress

Prune Juice, 6, 2011
Selected Senryu, "Senryu: Definition and Origins" (by Kris Lindbeck), Simply Haiku, 10:3, Spring/Summer 2013

between street lamps
a sex worker
and my shadow

Prune Juice, 17, 2015

a night off
the hooker plays with herself
in her sleep

Failed Haiku, 1:9, Sep. 2016

spicy chicken …
this impulse to ask
if she's married

Editor's Choice Senryu, Modern Haiku, 43:1

I'm married ...
ice cubes shifting
in her wine glass

tinywords, 16:2, 2016

a fork in the road …
she opens the map
while I read GPS

Third Place, Senryu Section, 2014 Haiku Poets of Northern California Contest;

lover's quarrel ...
she stoops down to draw
a line in the sand

 A Hundred Gourds, 2:1, December 2012

Valentine's Day alone
the neighbor's wife runs naked
through my mind

Failed Haiku, 1:9, September 2016

back from the washroom
her blouse buttoned lower:
blind date

Failed haiku, 1:10, 2016

bullfrog chorus...
I practice saying
I love you

Third Prize, 2011 Senryu Contest

a paper cut
from her dear john letter
Friday the 13th

Failed Haiku, 1:9, September 2016

politicians
blah blah blah...
snowflakes

Haiku News, June 12, 2010

(Editor's Comment: This is an incredible piece of work Chen-ou! This is actually one of my favorite poems submitted by you. The juxtaposition here is outstanding. The use of “blah, blah, blah” really illuminates the image of snowflakes. Lovely work my friend!

James Tipton's Comment: Another nice one. I particularly like the “blah blah blah” of the politicians set against the more real and more beautiful world of falling snow. It reminded me when I first read it of Walt Whitman’s “When I Heard the Learn’d Astronomer Speak,” in which a person patiently listens to the verbose professor:

When I, sitting, heard the astronomer, where he lectured with much applause in the lecture-room,
How soon, unaccountable, I became tired and sick;
Till rising and gliding out, I wander’d off by myself,
In the mystical moist night-air, and from time to time,
Look’d up in perfect silence at the stars)

noonday heat
a white man staring at me
me staring back

Kokako, 25, 2016

he lies
in a gold-plated casket…
just my size

Selected Senryu, Haiku Pix Review, 1, 2011

red light  --
the driver of a hearse
smiles at me

Notes from the Gean, 3:3,  2011


Happy Reading!

Chen-ou

Cool Announcement: Spring's First Caress: Tanka by Brian Zimmer

The leaf does not grasp or grieve its last day.

-- Brian Zimmer

My Dear Readers:

I'm happy to share with you this good news:  Brian Zimmer's first book of largely-unpublished tanka had been edited by Jill Rauh and Kay L Tracy and published by Kay L. Tracy, following his death in 2014. Spring's First Caress is the first in a series of poetry books and contains the tanka he wrote between 2008 and 2010. "These mostly unseen poems allow us to meet the poet in the intimacy of his private world; a world few of us were privileged to know while he was alive" (M. Kei, editor of Atlas Poetica: A Journal of World Tanka).

About the Author:

Brian Zimmer wrote from the banks of the Mississippi River in St. Louis, Missouri. His work had appeared in various international print and online journals. He took inspiration from a variety of sources, including the ancient Japanese poetic-diary (utanikki) and free-form, poetic "essay" (zuihitsu).

Brian was one of early supporters of NeverEnding Story and contributed the following tanka as a gift for its readers. It was published on  January first, 2013, on which NeverEnding Story was founded.

no abacus
for the task
ahead
where the mists part
I begin counting stars

Excellent Tanka, 7th International Tanka Festival Competition, 2012


Selected Tanka:

not for whom
but with whom I write
these lines:
the skipping stone
the creaking tree house

infants' cemetery
the soft white
of fallen snow
blankets the grave
of her cradled loss

this grief

not the grief expected
no tears
just miles of sand
and endless desert

the white rose
unpetals
at my touch
even death's perfection
fleeting

casting on the river
for an image
to rest me --
minnows sleeping
on the moon