Day: February 21, 2009

February 21, 2009

Saša Važić reviews Jack Fruit Moon by Robert D. Wilson

Jack Fruit Moon by Robert D. Wilson; published by Modern English Tanka Press, Baltimore, Maryland 21236, USA;  pp. 204; ISBN 978-0-9817691-4-1; preface by Dr. Steven D. Carter; forward by Sanford Goldstein.
You’ve known me for years, better than anyone else. That’s what Robert says. And I stop to think…. Never seen that man. Does he even exist? Could be as I used to get a coltrane’s e-mails with a bulk of haiku, tanka, haibun… almost every day for some two or three years… I did not even have time to take a breath, to calm down my feelings. It was almost unbearable. The e-mail man never asked how I felt nor such a banal question as is: do you like my poems? I used to call him shadowman….a man from the shadow during those days. He had nothing against each other… So, we agreed. I know him.

almost 60
this gnarled tree reminds
me of an old
man riding a bicycle
in his underwear

Continue reading “February 21, 2009”

WHAT IS HAIKU? – Week 12

Carmel Summers (Pennant Hills, NSW)

“A concise poem, based on a sensual observation of the natural
world, that bridges the gap between nature and human understanding,
behaviour, feelings and thoughts.”
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Karen Coller (Baronia, Vic)

“Haiku is wonder in a heartbeat; a moment to say ‘yes’ to life.
Haiku is brightness in a raindrop; a wing beat of thought
on the cheek and in the heart. Haiku pens a precious, funny
or insightful moment for us.”
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Mandy Langenhorst (Brisbane, Qld)

‘a connection with nature expressed as briefly as the synaptic
flash that registered it.’
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Greg Piko (Yass, ACT)

(1) ‘A haiku is a brief poem that evokes an insight into our
world and its peoples through the association of images.’
(2) …the following comment, attributed to Marcel Duchamp, is
especially relevant to haiku:
‘It is not what you see that is art, art is the gap.’

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Alexander Ask (Beaumont, SA)

‘Haiku is a unique perception of nature captured in a simple
verse.’