Recent News and One from the Archive

Cover by Bobo

Some misc. items of interest:

Jim Kacian, of Red Moon Press, has passed along the following "Call for Poems" that has a looming May 15th deadline:

Dimitar Anakiev is editing an international anthology of haiku dedicated to the topic of WAR. The editor invites all poets to submit their haiku written on the topic (particular interest: Vietnam, 9/11, Iraq . . . ). The poems may be previously published, no limitation in number of poems and style.

We are not interested in senryu. Japanese haiku is not free of human content but in fact links human with nature—in other words, it expresses the human in terms of nature. So "war" is human and nature is anything you want. Take for example famous haiku by Basho:

summer grass -

all that remains of

warrior's dreams

This poem has a natural topic (summer grass, a kigo) but its theme is human: "warrior dream" ( our theme: war!). We seek such haiku for the anthology and not senryu, which is another kind of poetry. Often Western poets confuse TOPIC with THEME. THEME in haiku is always human, and our choice is to do an anthology on human themes: WAR, DISCRIMINATION AND HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLENCE. (Like Basho above). So, please, do not send senryu. Thank you,

best wishes, Dimitar Anakiev

The poems should be sent by e-mail ASAP ( deadline: May 15) to"

haikukamesan at gmail dot com (written out to avoid bots ...)

For those who have not yet heard, nearly 200 years after his death, two new poems by Kobayashi Issa have been discovered. Here's an article from Mainichi Daily News with the details.

If you are not familiar with the work of the poet Lorine Niedecker, Ed Baker, the Hut's unofficial guru, has passed along this excellent website to share. Start with the poetry page; you won't be disappointed.

There is an interview with poet Noelle Kocot in a recent Publisher's Weekly. Over the years, Noelle has been very generous in sharing her work and has been published a number of times in Lillie.

After 4 months, I finished Anna Karenina. Don't ask. Of course, I read nearly two dozen books of poetry, plus Neil Gaiman's Graveyard Book, over the same period but, still, don't ask.

Recently, the always excellent Five Branch Tree website featured the following video, which I thought I'd pass on. There have also been some fine postings on David Young's book, Du Fu: A Life in Poetry. Along with great translations, some of David Young's own poems have been featured on Five Branch Tree. The music video, by the way, is entitled "Chinese Translation" and is by M. Ward:









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From the archives: Lilliput Review issue #35, from August 1992, was an all-women issue. Here's a handful of poems to enjoy:



Nocturnal

It was the leaves
louder than wind.
It was the hand
of darkness
in the leaves
came moving slowly
and the sound
of waiting in the leaves
louder than the wind.

Therese Arceneaux

Eve La Nuit

she was a sculptress
who felt eaten by men
gobbled up in their world
beaten
licked
her most famous piece
was an abstract view
some think of a bird
hungry
with a gaping mouth
or else a cock split open
or perhaps a serpent
who could tell an apple
from a woman

Belinda Subraman

our hearts beat

a flesh drum,
a circle cleared by
washing sorrow
far enough to see that

stars are round and
sea rim fans
to blue salt fingers
curving back to earth

Mary Schooler Rooney

Finally, yesterday was the anniversary of the passing of one of the blues greats, Reverend Gary Davis. Here's a very informal, yet powerful, performance of one of his great tunes, "Death Don't Have No Mercy:"

my dear one's hut--
lost amid blooming
blossoms

Issa
translated by David Lanoue

best,
Don