Patrick Sweeney & Chen-ou Liu: Wednesday Haiku, #228

Chess between adepts
persimmons on
a leafless tree

Patrick Sweeney

Photo by Brendan Adkins

the whiteness
of a cold moon ...
you, slanted eyes

Chen-ou Liu

Photo by Joe Stump

in cherry blossom shade
there are even those
who hate this world

Issa
translated by David G. Lanoue

best,
Don
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Shir Haberman & Judy Robinson: Wednesday Haiku, #124

 Snow at Tsukishima by Hasui

snowflake world
never the same
twice

Shir Haberman

 Photo by H. Koppdelaney

even lovers
own nothing
but the moment

Judy Robinson

Photo by Cuatrok77

 

the kitten holds it down
just a moment...
fallen leaf

Issa
translated by David G. Lanoue

best,

Don   

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Don Wentworth: an Interview, by Christien Gholson

If you'd like to know what it was (& continues to be) like to edit a small press poetry magazine (Lilliput Review) for 22 years and then publish your first book at age, well, old ... this is the place:

Christien Gholson's noise & silence

Christien, a long time favorite poet and, now, novelist, managed to ask all the right questions that elicited responses which informed me about my own work.  Usually it is the interviewer that is grateful; in this case it is the interviewee. 

To complement the interview, here's a review of William Hart's Home to Ballygunge: Kolkota Tanka I did recently for simply haiku.

all of a sudden
he shuts up...
crow

Issa
translated by David G. Lanoue

best,

Don

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Lilliput Review @ Bashō's Road

It is rare, indeed, for poetry to be reviewed or even noted, rarer still with the sensitive eye of someone like Norbert Blei, purveyor of the wonderful blog, Bashō's Road.  As a result, I feel obligated to share the following link for two reasons: one, in thanks to Norb and the poets he selected to highlight and, two, as a little promo for the three new issues of Lilliput Review, which are presently (and continuing over the next 4 weeks or so) wending their way in the mails to subscribers.

http://bashosroad.outlawpoetry.com/don-wentworth-lilliput-review-no-181-182-183/don-wentworth/haiku/

Thanks to all and, this go round, especially to Norb.  His tribute to Hugh Fox, above all, touched my heart.  In recognition of that, if you send my a stamped self-addressed envelope, I will be happy to send you a copy of Hugh's Lilliput broadside, Slides, which was issue #112, originally published in July 2000.

Subscriptions to Lilliput Review are available in either the 6 for $5.00 or 15 for $10.00 variety and may be paid for via Paypal at the top of the side bar on the right.  Or, if you are more of a traditionalist, you will traditional payment information at the Lilliput website.

Norb suggests giving a subscription to Lillie for the holidays?  Cheers!

Still not convinced?  Send me a self-addressed stamped envelope and I'll send you a free sample. 

he's also in no mood
to sweep the snow...
scarecrow

Issa
translated by David G. Lanoue

best,

Don

PS  Get 2 free issues. Get 2 more free issues

Lillie poem archive

Send a single haiku for the Wednesday Haiku feature. Here's how.

Go to the LitRock web site for a list of all 127 songs

Subscribe to Lilliput Review

Why I Give It Away Free

They say it's worth exactly what you pay for it.  So, in our consumerist society, when something is free, let the "buyer" beware, a maxim I follow faithfully myself.  There is, however, at least one assumption in that thought.

I've been giving it away free for 20 plus years.  Every time someone sends me an envelope of poems following the guidelines for submissions, they at least get a free issue of Lilliput Review in return.

So, this is bartering, a system of exchange if you will.  The issue is not really free - a stamp must go on the envelope, a SASE must be sent in return.  However, what is happening here is important if you are a poet with some forethought.  You get a chance to have a poem accepted for publication and, if not, you get a tiny magazine with 20 plus poems for "free."  This might give the poet a better idea of what the editor is interested in (you wouldn't believe how many poems I get that are over 20 lines, never mind the 10 line limit - but that's another rant).

I'll show you my poems if you show me yours ...

That's how barter works.  Doing this for 22 years I've given away thousands of "free" issues, connected with poets, found new subscribers, and published some dynamite poems.  Did I mention the mag is not in the red, and never has been.

Hmn.  Am I giving a few people some ideas?

Cheers!

In addition to this, on the web side of things, there are three ongoing projects that result in free issues to those who participate.   The Near Perfect Books of Poems project, the ongoing Issa's Sunday Service project, and the Wednesday Haiku feature on the blog.

And, as always, you can just send a SASE (standard business size, one 1st class stamp) and get a free issue.

All of this must result in a real minimal circulation, I mean nobody's going to buy what they can get for free, right?  Well, right now Lillie has a subscriber list of nearly 300, as large as its ever been.

You know what they say - the first bag's free ...

Any questions?


-----------------------------------


This week's featured poem is from Lilliput Review, #165, from November 2008.  This fine translation of the magnificent Yannis Ritsos is by Scott King.  It speaks for itself.

The Shadow of Birds: 41
  I'm not listening to you—he says—
  I find the hill beautiful
  the tree beautiful
  the shadow of birds on the grass
  and myself
  beautiful—he says—
  in the water or in the mirror
  whatever you say
  my part isn't diminished
  in the river
  or in the rose.

Yannis Ritsos
translated by Scott King

dewdrops forming--
when might I become
grass...or a tree?

Issa
translated by David G. Lanoue

best,
Don

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Sam Hamill's Bashō

This little volume, translated with an introduction by Sam Hamill as part of Shambhala's Centaur Editions, focuses on 3 of the four major haiku poets (Bashō, Buson, and Issa), along with a handful of poems by other poets.  This post takes a look at his renderings of the haiku of Bashō

With just over 70 haiku by Bashō, this is a highly selective take on the master poet.  Many of the poems are familiar; all have a slight difference from other translations I've reviewed.  The most obvious difference is that the poems are slightly longer than most contemporary versions which, though running counter to the contemporary trend towards brevity, isn't necessarily a bad thing.  The first is briefer than most of its companions, is very unfamiliar in its presentation, and is quite good, indeed:

How very noble!
One who finds no satori
in the lightning flash

This poem is at once humorous, satirical (read biting), and serious.   The poet seems to be saying no to both obvious metaphor or easy enlightenment - notice, in English, the linguistic relationship between lightning and enlightenment.  Somehow, this seems very proscriptive, rather than descriptive, for a haiku poet.

But that's probably another reason they called him master.

This first fallen snow
is barely enough to bend
the jonquil leaves

This poem is familiar and captures a perfect moment.  The jonquil leaves are new to me, but the poem still carries its weight, literally and otherwise, very nicely.

Exhausted I sought 
a country inn, but found
wisteria in bloom

Again, a familiar Bashō poem, but in this version I get a sense that the traveler is lost and, in his confusion, has stumbled on a happy accident in this cluster wisteria.  Certainly, the lack of a roof is lamentable, but the view's not bad!  Philosophically, the contrast between lost and found, highlights what is fine in life, if you wish to embrace it.

Among moon gazers
at the ancient temple grounds
not one beautiful face

I've always liked this poem though it seems to run counter with Buddhist sentiment from one point of view.  Honesty here is the thing and the question arises: if a face is not beautiful, is it ugly?

Come out to view
the truth of flowers blooming
in poverty

This certainly is something of a radical rendering of the original which, as such, I don't remember at all.  Talk about direct pointing!   The poet tells us, here it is, the truth for you to see, despite of or because of the contrasting poverty.  This feels like a lesson of a Buddhist priest.

Kannon's tiled temple
roof floats far away in clouds
of cherry blossoms

The unstated, pervasive presence here seems to be a blustery spring breeze, causing the viewer to see the temple's roof floating amongst the swaying branches, an image worthy of Buson in its painterly quality.  Hamill adds an editorial note that Kannon is a Bodhisattva of compassion.

Overall, the collection of Bashō's haiku in The Sound of Water are honestly not my favorite renderings; there are enjambed lines, unnecessary uses of the verb to be, and lines sometimes just too long, though the ones I've cited here I do like very much, in one aspect or another.  There were a number of other fine translations here also, most so close to others I've noted recently that it seemed it would be repetitive to discuss.  The translations were fine; I just could bring nothing new to them.

----------------------------------------

Fall is upon us in a big way, suddenly full fall, not the usual easing in, the customary days of deep, beautiful, almost viscous light.  There is hope for a return of some milder days before heading to the big freeze.  This week's feature poem from Lilliput Review #129, March 2003 (which was the 1st issue highlighted when this blog began nearly 4 years ago), has in mind the deeper meaning of things our minds turn to in autumn.

Stragglers

when the geese fly away
it is always the stragglers who call to me

year after year
through the half-empty branches

I am in love
with the struggling ones

watching them pump and move
crying how little time we have left

Maureen O'Brien

a new face
in the flock...
rice field geese

Issa
translated by David G. Lanoue 

best,
Don

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Shelter | Street: Karma Tenzing Wangchuk

Karma Tenzing Wangchuk is a poet of the short form whom I admire very much. A new collection of his poems, Shelter | Street, pictured above, has been published by Minotaur Press (P.O Box 272, Port Townsend, WA 98368, $10) and found its way into my mail box. It is quite fine, indeed.

The volume opens with one of his best poems and its placement indicates the themes of struggle and homelessness that appear in its opening pages:

March winds-
a butterfly and I
struggle on

The poem is timeless and might just as well been written by one of the 4 haiku masters. So few words are used to capture a life, all of life really. Sorrow and pain permeate these powerful small poems:

Food Bank-
the wall we lean against
worn smooth

The detail is damning here, such a powerful image that passes unnoticed in more fortunate lives. In the following poem, the first two lines quickly state something many of us see each and everyday, yet the observation in the third line I would venture to say hardly anyone thinks:

the beggar
holding out his hand-
this too is work

In reading this first section of haiku and senryu, one is tempted to impose a narrative character to the whole. With these poems, I think of the persona as a true modern Everyman:

Palm Sunday-
the sign says FREE FOOD
but you have to kneel for it

I found the following poem, which I would characterize as a senryu rather than a haiku, though no person appears, devastating:

greasy spoon-
a fly emerges
from the plastic flower

For me, there is a powerful identification between the perceived and the perceiver; why they are there, what they are doing, and, frankly, their shared experience, their shared existence. The poet has found words to sketch what I would have thought simply beyond capturing in such a deep, resonating way. The sadness is huge, it is mind-numbing.

Further on in this volume, there are poems from an ongoing series that might be titled the "Stone Buddha" poems. In fact, the previous volume of KTW's I reviewed here is entitled just that, Stone Buddha. There is a selection of 13 here, 2 of which I recognize and singled out before. A few from this selection are either new to me or have struck me now when they didn't before, which amounts to much the same thing, eh? 2 more this time grabbed me and wouldn't let go:

first crocus-
the stone buddha's
gentle smile

stone buddha-
never a thought
for himself

The common quality here is that both of these are simply true. For me, the second resonates in such a profound way as to make it nearly perfect. Both have an enduring Zen quality, while remaining true to the "is." Another poem that captures a quality beyond its basic image is:

summer heat-
a fly relaxes
on the frog's back

There are a number of precepts in this collection reminiscent of the Four Nobles Truths and the Eightfold Way, all in less words than it takes to describe them. Least we confuse the moon with the finger pointing at it, the poet summarizes nicely:

Farmer's Market-
the fruit flies point out
the ripe ones

On one hand, what is being emphasized is the obvious; yet are we, poetry's audience, always attentive and aware, attentive and unaware, unattentive and unaware? Who better to point to the moon than the poet?

growing old
with the rest of me
...-my skeleton

Yes, obvious, but not often stated and, when stated, not often thought about in any extended way, such as:

my shadow ephemeral too

Sorrow and pain are never far from truth; a finger pointing at the path of paths:

no parents
left to shame now
...-winter rain

An almost traditional senryu, complete with seasonal allusion, and a near bottomless feeling, this poem, too, is timeless.

Sometimes, too, the magic and wonder and mystery of life can be encompassed in 9 brief words, 3 short lines:

it's the worm
inside the bird
sings the song

Is the finger pointing at the bird, or the worm, or the song, or something beyond? Oh, but the finger is mine not the poet's, you say. Really?

Bet you can read my mind.

One can go deep, deep into many of these poems and this is what gives them their close kinship to traditional haiku. Some are basic observations which, though they might not reward endless revisiting, still they grab hold when they bite, and they itch for sometime afterward.

Photo by Michael Dylan Welch

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Here are two poems, originally published side by side in Lilliput Review #148, February 2008, that make something of a set piece.

Rhododendron in a Time of War

Red petals clot on
its glossy exterior
then drop to stained ground.

Corey Cook

One

Tree sheds red petals.
Out of respect,
I forget my name,
too

Mat Favre

.赤い花頬ばって鳴きりぎりす

cheeks stuffed
with a red flower
the katydid sings

Issa
translated by David G. Lanoue

best,
Don

April ...

April is turning out to be one of the busiest months of the year. I find, due to a variety of circumstances, that I've fallen behind in a number of areas and need to play catchup.

I've a review due at Modern Haiku I need to polish off. Later this month, in close proximity of each other I will be leading a discussion on Elizabeth Bishop for the 3 Poems By ... discussion group, helping to judge a county-wide teen poetry contest in conjunction with a One Book, One Community book initiative, conducting another introduction to poetry session for Oasis lifelong learners, and doing a followup reading of my own work for the New Yinzer at Modern Formations. In addition, I've fallen woefully behind with the print magazine, Lilliput Review, and have a new chapbook in the "Modest Proposal" series which needs to go to press.

The "bad" news is that, for the month of April, I need to gear down a bit with the blog to catch up with all these things. The good news is, as hinted at before, I have a plan.

Besides cutting back on the blog for a bit, I've decided to put out a double run of Lilliputs, 4 issues instead of the customary 2, to be mailed together. I know this seems like more work but, trust me, in the long run, this will help me get the ship righted in very solid fashion. Though, of course, in the short run it will take a little longer to get all those issues together, printed, cut, collated, stapled, and shipped.

So posting will be intermittent. I'm thinking of April at Issa's Untidy Hut as being scattershot - a sort guerrilla blogging approach, if posting at all. I will forgo the daily Twitter Lilliput poems for the foreseeable future. Issa's Sunday Service, too, will be on hiatus for a bit.

I'll be putting my nose to the grindstone for the next couple of weeks. Wish me luck!

the silver dew
becoming round, this too
takes work!

Issa
translated by David G. Lanoue

best,
Don

Lilliput Review: the 20th Anniversary

Click on the cover to enlarge

Somehow, the day has arrived: it is the month of March and, incredulously, it is the 20th anniversary of Lilliput Review. I made (or perhaps that's dreamed) big plans for this moment. An anthology chapbook or, better still, a "best of" Lilliput, the first 20 years, a collection that another, adventurous press would be willing to take the risk and publish.

All of which I haven't taken step one toward.

Publishing the magazine and its imprint, Modest Proposal Chapbooks, got in the way. An impromptu haiku contest, prompted by an unexpected comment to a post about Bashô, resulted in the first annual Bashô Haiku Challenge, and a chapbook of the best work resulted (more about this below). I fell behind in getting the new issues out. There were piles of submissions to attend to. I got mixed up with Facebook and the wonderful deluge that's resulted.

To put it simply I was just too damn busy to do another thing. Life is what happens when you're busy making other plans, as the cliché goes.

And I wouldn't have it any other way.

So, for now, this post will serve as a celebration.

Lilliput started on the floor of a bungalow at the Jersey shore, amidst books and sand and ubiquitous crickets, me on my knees, cutting and pasting little bits of paper on to other little bits of paper. It was inspired by other small press publications that took that term very literally, such as Pig in a Pamphlet and This is Important. As a regularly published poet in the little magazines in the 80's, it seemed a good way to tap into the creative juices when my own poetry would hit a wall. I received the support of many other small mags, that helped to get the word out and the mag afloat. The camaraderie of the small press, which is a blessed thing and continues to this day, is something I cherish.

The first "issue," which I put together in March 1989, was essentially a test run to see if I could actually do it and what it might look like if I did. For the test run, I printed up 10 copies of 7 of my poems in a 4.25 x 5.5" format which was to be the size for the first 8 issues, before switching over to the current 3.5 x 4.25." The cover is pictured above. I won't burden you with any of the work, which was in a slightly surreal style I was sporting at the time and, though I remember it fondly and still fall back on some its stylistic anomalies, is frankly painful to read beyond the circle of two it was intended for. Succinctly put, this was a set of poems for the woman I was dating who, happily, I married. Since I seem to be bandying about clichés, I'll avoid the next one and just say she's been there with me since the beginning and her understanding, care and support have been as important as any other element to make this work. It also helps that she's spent time as a proofer and has a high tolerance for bs.

You'll notice that the original title was Lilliput Revue. The title change came with issue #2, not because I wanted to change it, but because the artist, Bobo, incorporated a "new spelling" into the artwork for the cover and I didn't have the heart to ask him for a redraw. There is much to be said for serendipity and going with the flow. Here's the cover:

Well, appropriately enough, that's the short version of the 1st 20 years. Let the party begin. I intend to celebrate all year. I'm happy to say that the entire run of 168 issues is still in print and still available. The standard rate of 15 issues for $10 is applicable; however, if anyone is interested in the entire run, query me for special pricing. The email address is at the bottom of the right hand column. If there is any publisher out there that thinks a 20th anniversary collection of the best of Lilliput makes a lot of sense, I'm listening. Meanwhile, it's time to keep on keeping on. There's lots more to do.

This past weekend, I'm happy to announce, the contributor copies of the Basho Haiku Challenge Anthology went out and should begin arriving in a mailbox near you. The chapbook, which contains 25 poems by 19 poets, is now available for $3.00, postage paid. It far surpassed my expectations and I believe any regular reader of Lillie will find much to ponder over and enjoy.

In addition, yesterday the contributor copies of issues #167 and 168 went out in the mail. Over the next couple of weeks I'll be getting out the full run of subscription copies. Individual copies of both are available for $1.00 a piece.

The same price as it was going for in 1989.

Finally, if it's Tuesday, it's back issue archive day. In the inexorable march back in time, this week we arrive at October 1993. This issue, #49, was the second of two All Women issues. Here's a sampling of what you'll find there. Enjoy.





Cover me
I'm going out
to write
a poem. Keep
firing
over my head.

Karen Alkalay-Gut

Where once they lined up

according to size, your words come
muzzled, rushing straight out of
colonial history, Master

and slave.

Gayle Elen Harvey

Empowered

is to be filled with a tank of yes

seeing behind the light of morning stars

a readiness in veins, singing through
--bone and sinew

it is all I ever wanted and didn't want
--rolled into a tight cigarette
--smoked at the end of the day

-----------------Vogn

Always

I'll keep writing
these poems
in the dark
pretending you're
near me rain falling
on my lips this flower
budding for no other
girl somewhere
inside me
a song you'll
never understand

Gina Bergamino

Quasimodos

Because we are deaf and hear stone
we make the most unbearably beautiful music.

Lorene Moore

After Forgiveness

you only come
when trees lift their branches
to kiss my wounds

Vogn

Resurrection

If there is to be a second
coming I wish it would
be Chagall

Suzanne Bowers

Fairy Tales

An ever-ever land
where happy endings
hurtle off the pages
into the emergency wards
of
our lives.

Janet Mason

best,
Don