haiku page...haiku page 2017 / 5 introduction i use the haiku project as an assignment for my...

Haiku Page 俳頁

Issue 8, 2017

Haiku Page

俳頁

Issue 8, 2017

Editor

Art Editor

John Zheng

Albert Wong

Haiku Page publishes haiku, haiga, haibun and short essays in the month of

July. Submissions can be emailed to [email protected]. Haiku Page has

decided to publish as an online magazine starting in 2017. All rights revert to

authors after publication.

Haiku Page

Copyright@2017

Cover art: “Beyond Illusory Space #011,” Watercolor on paper 20"x25" by

Albert Wong

CONTENTS

Haiga Introduction by Albert Wong 5

Monica Almeida 6

Alejandro Castaneda 7

Areli Rocha 8

Alfred Perez 9

Cynthia Carol Almodovar 10

Thomas Demoss 11

Dana Gomez 12

Edgar Bonilla 13

Eliazar Coyoc 14

Giovanna Banuelos 15

James Ahumada 16

James Burns 17

Jose Salazar 18

Lea Telles 19

Lorena Mondragon 20

Monica Pappatheodorou 21

Laritza Santiago 22

Perla Perez 23

Haiku and Haibun 5 haiku by Lenard D. Moore 25

2 haiku by Robert G. Cowser 25

4 haiku by Angelee Deodhar 26

2 haiku Joseph M. Kusmiss 26

2 haibun by Glenn G. Coats 27

1 haiku and 1 sequence by John Zheng 29

Book Review Journeys 2017: An Anthology of International Haibun

Reviewed by Miriam Sagan 30

Translation

Lenard D. Moore 33

Origa 34

Roberta Beary 35

Charles Trumbull 36

Beate Conrad 37

Zuzanna Truchlewska 38

Shrikaanth Krishnamurthy 39

Photoku J. Guaner 41

Haiku Page 2017 / 4

Haiga

Haiku Page 2017 / 5

Introduction

I use the haiku project as an assignment for my beginning graphic

design class (Graphic Design 2). By the time students get to this

class, they should have rudimentary knowledge of image-making

and the skills needed. In the second half of this semester, students

learn the basics of letter-forms and typography. I ask them to re-

search published haiku poems including classic poets such as

Basho, and more contemporary writers such as Richard Wright.

They are to read the poems aloud and think about their visual im-

agery. They are then asked to graphically interpret them using

typefaces, augmented by simple graphic images. Since haiku tra-

ditionally captures an introspective moment as we contemplate

nature and its relationship to our lives, they must capture the es-

sence of the haiku and limit their work to black and white. I point

out that haiku poetry awakens the tension and release between

man and nature; it evokes contrasting elements such as simplicity

and complexity, time and timelessness, part and whole.

This is first and foremost an exercise in typography in graphic de-

sign. Students should pay special attention to the expressiveness

of letter-forms. I ask them to be imaginative and not be bound by

conventions. Graphic images serve only a supportive role in this

project and should not overwhelm the text or be too direct and

simplistic an interpretation. I try to guide them away from using

the obvious solution and steer clear of the “greeting card” ap-

proach. Students should not resort to an explicit or decorative in-

terpretation of the poem.

The result should be a unified image using subtle typeface and im-

agery to capture the essence of the chosen haiku.

Albert Wong

Haiku Page 2017 / 6

MONICA ALMEIDA

Haiku Page 2017 / 7

ALEJANDRO CASTANEDA

Haiku Page 2017 / 8

ARELI ROCHA

Haiku Page 2017 / 9

ALFRED PEREZ

Haiku Page 2017 / 10

CYNTHIA CAROL ALMODOVAR


THOMAS DEMOSS


DANA GOMEZ


EDGAR BONILLA


ELIAZAR COYOC


GIOVANNA BANUELOS


JAMES AHUMADA


JAMES BURNS


JOSE SALAZAR


LEA TELLES

Haiku 17 / 20

LORENA MONDRAGON


MONICA PAPPATHEODOROU


LARITZA SANTIAGO


PERLA PEREZ


Haiku and Haibun


LENARD D. MOORE

St. Patrick’s Day Eve

the waiter announces

cabbage and corn beef

sunny evening

the hurdler’s shadow

turns the curve

spring shopping—

all the clocks stopped

on ten twelve

maple sap drips

into the tin pail

a honeybee hums

afternoon pollen—

where a farmhouse burned down

only the chimney

ROBERT G. COWSER

dusty school bus

the smell of a girl’s lemon

on the stale air

going home— the sun on the angler’s hook

released


ANGELEE DEODHAR

predawn rain

the whats–its–name bird’s

whistling cry

evening prayers-

coins of rain mottle

the temple verandah

after the funeral

a few rose petals cling

to the priest’s dhoti

such heat

an open beaked mynah

at the susurrating tap

JOSEPH M. KUSMISS

misty lake

dark shadow appears—

loon

the only thing

that remains—

Memorial Day


GLENN G. COATS

Closing Time

Towers of boxes sag in corners, books lean left and right. Warning

notes are taped to broken tiles. There are no new materials, no

white paper left on the shelf. Teachers make do with used work-

books, pages that have yellowed with time, a can of broken pen-

cils.

I push two desks under a fluorescent light that flickers but still

shines, and enter two more lessons in my notebook. Compose

questions to follow up a story: Who does Fay want to help when

she finishes her classes? Do you like to work alone or do you en-

joy the company of others?

I wait for one student to climb the stairs. Charles will pull up a

chair, rub his eyes, slowly begin to read, and never mention the

shape of this room. Words on the page are all that matters.

summer dusk

the river holds me

for a while


GLENN G. COATS

A Myth of Mermaids

There are more dogs than children on the beach. Strangers share

stories of rescued hounds, runners, ones afraid of water. They flip

through galleries on phones. “Her coat was red and she had the

longest ears,” a woman says. “I miss her every day.”

A man with hair tossed like the sea stares at a spot near the fishing

pier. “I saw one yesterday, just the dark dorsal fin, a piece was

missing, that’s how you recognize them.” I study the waves for

any sign of a dolphin.

Water is cold. A few souls take off their shoes and socks, roll their

pant legs up and stand in the shallows. They shuffle their feet. One

of them reaches down and pulls up a round object. I step closer.

She shows me a live sand dollar, reddish brown and covered with

soft spines. “Have to throw it back,” she says. “Won’t last long in

the open air.”

A tall woman shows me odd shapes in the wet sand. “They could

be footprints,” she says. “But I’ve never seen anything like them.”

For a time, I study the receding water for signs of shells and

crabs—the sparkle of something. Weather is changing, a few rum-

bles of thunder, and the sound of a voice calling in the wind.

moonlit palms

the movement of songs

beneath the waves


JOHN ZHENG

In Memoriam: The 16 Service Members

somber salute—

a procession of white hearses

to the crash site*

*On July 10, 2017, a KC-130T Marine tanker exploded and

crashed in a soybean field west of Itta Bena in the Mississippi

Delta, killing all 16 service members aboard (15 Marines and one

Navy corpsman). On July 14, sixteen white hearses drove to the

site to carry the bodies to the Air National Guard Base in Jackson.

Requiem

morning waves

each a white wreath of mourning

morning waves

each a note of the requiem

morning waves

each a sound of a dream

morning waves

each a wing of a gull

morning waves

each a rhythm of sunshine

morning waves

each a roll of the sea

morning waves

each a message from heaven

morning waves

each a poem to his love


Book Review

JOURNEYS 2017: An Anthology of International Haibun, edited

by Angelee Deodhar. CreateSpace, 2017. ISBN 978-1541387034.

390 pp.

JOURNEYS 2017 is the newest in the series of international hai-

bun anthologies thoughtfully edited by Angelee Deodhar.

Of all of the originally Japanese forms that have exploded

across the globe—including haiku, tanka, and haiga—haibun’s

mix of poetry and prose seems to have the fewest fixed rules.

Much of the art of writing haibun is in finding the right mix be-

tween the haiku, which are momentary or almost ephemeral, and

the narrative. The prose in haibun can be handled so many differ-

ent ways—ranging from travelogue to diary entry to meditative

essay—that the form in its contemporary incarnation is very un-

constrained.

Jeffrey Woodward, always a readable authority, discusses

some of these issues in his introductory essay “Form in Haibun:

An Outline” His outline and examples will help both practitioner

and reader alike in terms of connecting to haibun.

The volume opens with a look at the “Early Adaptors” of hai-

bun form, which fascinatingly includes modernist John Ashberry,

who uses one-line haiku. A venerable part of the haiku communi-

ty, Jerry Kilbride’s haibun range through the personal and the his-

torical, as in the opening of his “Fort Mason”:

san francisco fog

a troop transport moves

through memory

Almost fifty years ago and still ghosts are encountered in the

parking lot whenever I return.

The second section of the book covers contemporary haibun writ-

ers. There are many well-known figures here, including Ruth Holzer and Gary Lebel. Holzer’s haibun “Smoking” evokes a

sense of the past and, like a tiny short story, hinges on a quarrel.

The third section, while fascinating, might make a book of its

own. This is excerpts from Japanese books as well as an essay by


Rich Youmans, which investigates the development of modern

haibun in conjunction with earlier Japanese travel diaries. All of

this work—including a selection from Kurita Chodo—is well

worth reading. This is valuable material, but it feels a little uneven

in a volume mostly slanted towards contemporary work.

Haibun speaks to—and for—contemporary writers in evolv-

ing ways. It is a hybrid form, yet one with an ancient past. Editor

Deodhar’s passion for the form comes through, and her work as

popularizer and promoter of haibun is a welcome addition to the

international dialogue.

Miriam Sagan


Translation


LENARD D. MOORE

early morning

the school bus flashes

downhill

清晨

校車一閃

開下山

blue water tower

across the fallow field

a pick-up bounces

藍色水塔

一輛小貨車顛簸

越過耕地

suburban sun

the helicopter’s shadow

crossing the road

郊區的太陽

直升機的影子

横過馬路


ORIGA

March snow

at the bus stop, footprints

of one person

三月雪

在汽車站，腳印

一個人的

late autumn…

moonlight preserved

in a glass jar

晚秋……

月光存放在

玻璃罐裡

tantric music

raindrops slide upward

on the windshield

神曲

擋風玻璃上

雨滴上滑

Credits: “March snow,” Mainichi Daily News May 1, 2017; “late au-

tumn,” 11th Haiku International Association Contest (2009). “tantric

music,” Asahi Weekly July 5, 2009. Translation by John Zheng with

permission from the author.


ROBERTA BEARY

True Love

After giving the dog a bath in the basement tub he comes to me

with his arms open wide. Smelling of wet dog, he plants a sloppy

kiss on my left breast. followed by a kiss where my right breast

used to be. Now I smell of wet dog.

tangled bed

the blue moon

on hold

真愛

給狗在地下室的浴缸裡洗完澡後，他張開雙臂來到我身邊。

帶一身濕狗的氣味，他在我左乳房上隨意地吻了一下。接著

又在我右乳房曾經的地方吻了一下。於是我也沾了濕狗的氣

味。

凌亂的床

藍月

一邊待著

Credits: “True Love,” Frogpond 38.3 (2015). Translation by John

Zheng with permission from the author.


CHARLES TRUMBULL

pansies we smile back

蝴蝶花我們還以微笑

on a diet

I weigh myself again

after shaving

在節食

剃須後我再

称称重

between

the chimes of the clock

shooting star

在鐘声的

间歇中

流星一閃

sunrise

among the silent earth movers

a fawn

日出

沉寂的推土机群中

有只小鹿

Credits: “pansies,” Modern Haiku 33:2 (2002); “on a diet,” Canadian Writer’s

Journal Contest 1997 1st Honorable Mention, printed in Canadian Writer’s

Journal 14:3 (fall 1997); “between the chimes,” The Heron’s Nest 3.8 (2001)

Editor’s Choice; “sunrise,” The Heron’s Nest 2.8 (2000) Editor’s Choice.

Translation by John Zheng with permission from the author.


BEATE CONRAD

Rising summer moon

I hurry for the speed lift

to the roof garden

夏月升起了

我追趕高速電梯

去屋頂花園

Slowly opening

the book of old tales

spring breeze

款款打開

这本老故事書

春风徐徐

Memorial Day—

I just sit and listen to

the sound of silence

陣亡将士日——

我僅僅是坐下聽

寂靜的聲音

just one clap—

the tree becomes a cloud

of starlings

僅拍響一聲

那棵樹遂成一群

椋鳥 Credits: “Rising summer moon,” Mainichi August 3, 2013; “Slowly

opening,” Mainichi June 26, 2012; “Memorial Day,” Mainichi July 6,

2012; “just one clap,” Mainichi October 25, 2012.


ZUZANNA TRUCHLEWSKA

wave after wave

your shadow

appears and disappears

一波一波地

你的身影

忽現忽隱

green tea leaf

on the bottom of a cup

a chinese dragon

綠茶葉

杯子底部

一條中國龍

Credits: “wave after wave,” Mainichi July 7, 2017; “green tea leaf,”

Polish Anthology about Animals (2013). Translation by John Zheng

with permission from the author.


SHRIKAANTH KRISHNAMURTHY

turning a corner

i bump into

the sun

拐彎時

我撞上了

太陽

soft drizzle...

the car park full

of pink petals

细雨纷纷

停車場落滿

粉色花瓣

Credits: “turning a corner,” Mainichi July 10, 2017; “soft drizzle,”

Mainichi July 28, 2015. Translation by John Zheng with permission

from the author.


Photoku


J. GUANER

abandoned house / shadow of winter dusk / creeps in

7 a.m. San Francisco / asking the doorman / about sunrise


meeting break / a walk to the Big Muddy / for fresh air

haiku page...haiku page 2017 / 5 introduction i use the haiku project as an assignment for my...

Documents