My Dear Readers:
In celebration of International Women's Day, I am pleased to introduce you to Those Women Writing Haiku, an online AHA Book edited with notes, bibliography, and biographies by Jane Reichhold. It is the first English language book about "a history of women who wrote haiku (and tanka) from the beginning of recorded history in Japan, across the centuries to Europe, then to the North American continent and back to Japan ending in 1990." This historically significant book contains the following chapters:
Introduction
Chapter One - From the Islands of Beginning
Chapter One Anthology - Classical Japanese Tanka and Haiku
Chapter Two - Tanka and Haiku Come to America
Chapter Two Anthology - From Cinquains to Contemporary American Haiku
Chapter Three - Haiku Magazines in America
Chapter Four - Haiku in Canada
Chapter Four Anthology - Canadian Haiku
Chapter Five - Haiku in Germany & Holland
Chapter Five Anthology - Haiku in Germany & Holland
Chapter Six - Haiku and Tanka in Japan
Chapter Six Anthology - Haiku in Japan
Bibliography
Biographies
Selected Haiku (and Tanka):
my body
wasted by winter
if only I
like fields burned over
had hope for spring
Lady Ise
on her day off
the prostitute wakes up alone
the night's chill
Fukuda Chiyo-ni
window clouds:
under the quilt
our soft folds
Ruth Yarrow
returning home
only the pendulum
in motion
Betty Kendell Bennett
we dip in the lake the sun and i
Ruby Spriggs
a square of sunlight
on the worn-out seats
of the waiting room
Adri van den Berg
New Year's Eve;
a tin rattles out of
the empty street.
Gusta van Gulick
sitting in a train
a man holds back his tears
I close my eyes
Nicole Gagné
on the scale
my bathed and steaming body
this night of snow
Nobuko Katsura
the funeral home --
a birdbath
with no water
Ava Kar
my obituary ?
one candle and
a little wind
Maxianne Berger
four a.m.
in a corner of the tent
the moon
Hélène Leclerc
breast self examination
a moth batters
the screened window
Winona Baker
rain on the roof
the rhythm of our lovemaking
slower paced
Joanne Morcom
Dear Chen-ou and Jane,
ReplyDeleteIt is a gift to share Asian verse from a cross-cultural perspective and significant story of the evolution of haiku from different perspectives. Much is written about the males significant in the rich history, but much is left unsaid about the female contributors in the early evolution on this remarkable. As we journey forward--it is the artists that help haiku live beyond barriers especially in the general poetry genres.
Thank you for sharing this wonderful issue of NeverEnding Story. Wishing you both the best!
Blessings,
Karen