S.O.L.A.R.

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This is a poem by Kobayashi Issa which makes good us of mushin elements. Read more about ushin and mushin. Read more poems by Issa.

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This is part of a series of translations of haiku poetry undertaken by Solar, according to the principals of quantum-physics, floating-lines, pivot-words and dialectics. We will attempt to post one new haiku translation every week. All translations © 2009 Solar and Dick Whyte. See more haiku translations. Read an essay on Haiku structure.

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This is a poem by Kobayashi Issa which makes good us of mushin elements. Read more about ushin and mushin. Read more poems by Issa.

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This is part of a series of translations of haiku poetry undertaken by Solar, according to the principals of quantum-physics, floating-lines, pivot-words and dialectics. We will attempt to post one new haiku translation every week. All translations © 2009 Solar and Dick Whyte. See more haiku translations. Read an essay on Haiku structure.

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This is a poem by Kobayashi Issa which makes good us of mushin elements. Read more about ushin and mushin. Read more poems by Issa.

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This is part of a series of translations of haiku poetry undertaken by Solar, according to the principals of quantum-physics, floating-lines, pivot-words and dialectics. We will attempt to post one new haiku translation every week. All translations © 2009 Solar and Dick Whyte. See more haiku translations. Read an essay on Haiku structure.

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The poems which make up “Figures of Speech” were “found” by Dick Whyte in the notebooks of Reginald Webber (c. 2002-2004). Read more poems from this series.

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This is a poem by Kobayashi Issa which makes good us of mushin elements. Read more about ushin and mushin. Read more poems by Issa.

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This is part of a series of translations of haiku poetry undertaken by Solar, according to the principals of quantum-physics, floating-lines, pivot-words and dialectics. We will attempt to post one new haiku translation every week. All translations © 2009 Solar and Dick Whyte. See more haiku translations. Read an essay on Haiku structure.

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The poems which make up “Figures of Speech” were “found” by Dick Whyte in the notebooks of Reginald Webber (c. 2002-2004). Read more poems from this series.

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The poems which make up “Figures of Speech” were “found” by Dick Whyte in the notebooks of Reginald Webber (c. 2002-2004). Read more poems from this series.

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This is a poem by Kobayashi Issa which makes good us of mushin elements. Read more about ushin and mushin. Read more poems by Issa.

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This is part of a series of translations of haiku poetry undertaken by Solar, according to the principals of quantum-physics, floating-lines, pivot-words and dialectics. We will attempt to post one new haiku translation every week. All translations © 2009 Solar and Dick Whyte. See more haiku translations. Read an essay on Haiku structure.

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The avant-garde modernist in me couldn’t help asking the internet if any one else had washed dishes and called it art (see my recent performance New Years Resolution: A Problem Shared is a Problem Halved). I haven’t found any “art” as such, but I did find two blogs which mention washing dishes (complete with photos). The first post I came across was called Dishwashing by Hand: A Masterclass, on a blog called A Wild Young Under-Whimsy (by Mel). It featured this photo:

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Dishwashing By Hand: A Masterclass

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Mel writes, “When I was a kid, dinners at my grandmother’s place would always be followed by a dishwashing session. Dishes were handwashed, dried by tea towel, and immediately put away. At my parents’ place, dishes were mainly left to drain dry. Then when we got a dishwasher, it was my chore to load and unload it. This required its own specialised skill, because every dishwasher and set of dishes are different, and only someone who regularly uses a given machine knows its capacity and the best spots to put particular objects.” (read full article) On the blog 1000 Words (by Anna) I also found two photos labeled “Art Before Dishes” of unwashed dishes;

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Art Before Dishes

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Art Before Dishes 2

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Anna writes, “In the morning, Stella goes to work and I avoid doing the dishes by heeding the admonition above the sink. I take photos of the dishes, rather than washing them, and then have to run off to my next yoga class before they are done. Later, I return to the Bike Kitchen, in the Mission, for the evening to work on my bike.” (see full post at 1000 Words)

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Print Journals

I have had a number of haiku, tanka and senryu published in print journals over the last little while. One of my poems was accepted for the most recent issue of Modern Haiku (Issue 40.3). You can read samples from Modern Haiku here. I also had two poems published in Acorn (Issue 23) and two poems in Frogpond (Issue 32.3). I also have a tanka in the latest issue of Eucalypt (an Australian tanka journal) and poems appearing in the January/February issues of Presence, Magnapoets and Bottlerocket. Since all these are print-journals (rather than e-zines) you will not be able to read the poems on-line (go buy a copy you cheap bastards!). I have just received copies of Acorn and Frogpond in the mail and highly recommend them - they are both beautiful magazines containing a high quality of poetry.

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On-Line Journal: Prune Juice

Two of my poems were also published in the latest issue of Prune Juice (specialising in senryu and kyoka - Japanese forms of poetry that concentrate on humour, satire and human affairs, unlike haiku which traditionally deals with “natural” subjects). Many thanks to the editor Liam Wilkinson for selecting my poems. Although there are a great number of haiku magazines (some of which publish senryu and kyoka as well) Prune Juice is the only magazine currently dedicated to the wild world of senryu. Originally edited by Alexis Rotella and published by Dennis Garrison’s MET, Liam recently took the reigns of the journal and continues to probe the contemporary landscape of senryu and kyoka. One of my very good friends Laurence Stacey also appears in this issue (and I would highly recommend checking out his work). Here is a selection of a few of my favourite poems from this issue (you can read the full issue of Prune Juice 3 on Scribd).

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………………(Bruce Boynton)

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………………………………(Bill Cullen)

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………………………………………………(C. William Hinderliter)

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………………………………………………………………(Laurence Stacey)

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Shreve Memorial Library Electronic Poetry Network

Five of my poems were also chosen by senryu poet Carlos Colon to appear as part of the Shreve Memorial Library’s poem of the day. Every week since 1997 Carlos has chosen 5 poems by a single poet to display over a week at the Shreve Memorial Library’s Electronic Poetry Network. The week of poems is then displayed both on-line and via screens in the library. My poems went up between October 26th and November 1st (the last poem stays up for the weekend as well). Unfortunately the Shreve Memorial Library website does not archive the poems and I was so busy at the time I completely forgot to post anything about it (I didn’t even manage to get a screen-shot of the poems on the website). Oh well - here’s hoping my poems brought a few library goers some amusement. Many thanks to Carlos Colon for supporting Solar Haiku. Currently showing at the Shreve Memorial Library are Penny Harter’s tanka.

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Simply Haiku R.I.P. (2003-2009)

Finally, I am very sad to report that Simply Haiku, one of the oldest and most well respected English language haiku e-zines has closed its doors (they also published senryu, haibun, haiga and haiku book reviews). I have published a few times in Simply Haiku and have found it to be one of the most enjoyable to deal with and read on-line. It is rare to find a journal that manages to walk a path between publishing those poets who are already well known and complete unknowns, while still maintaining such a high quality of poems. This, of course, is due to their excellent editors (Robert D. Wilson, Richard Gilbert, Lynne Rees, Carol Raisfield and Al Pizzarelli, to name a few). So, thankyou Simply Haiku for all the wonderful years of poetry. Thankfully the full archive of every issue from 2003 to 2009 will be remaining on-line, which I highly recommend having a flick through. Read the Haiku News article.

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