TANKA NEWS & HAIKU HEADLINES

Keibooks Announces Catzilla! List of Poets and Cover Cat

2010-07-31T18:56:00Z

*Keibooks Announces Catzilla! List of Poets and Cover Cat*

Keibooks announces the final selection for *Catzilla! Tanka, Kyoka, and
Gogyohka About Cats.*Edited by M. Kei, the anthology features the work of
forty-five poets from around the world. The poets have written tanka, kyoka,
and gogyohka (all five line poems originally from Japan) in homage to our
funny, friendly, and infuriating feline companions. *Catzilla* will appear
in print and ebook formats September 15.

The cover cat, Timmynocky (Swedish for ‘thingamabob’), is a ship’s cat
serving aboard a tall ship on the East Coast of the United States. This
summer ‘Timmynocky the Sailor Cat’ achieved notoriety when the editor, M.
Kei, detailed his exploits on his blog.

Kei says, “Timmy kept showing up on the arms of beautiful women, got busted
by the cops, and was thrown into the brig (confined on a leash) after his
adventures ashore. In the cover photo he uses his considerable charm to
persuade us to let him off his leash so he can continue his run ashore. As
such, he typifies the mixture of charm and mischief that defines a
‘catzilla.’”

The full account of Timmynocky’s adventures can be read at <
http://kujakupoet.blogspot.com/2010/06/adventures-of-timmnynocky-sailor-cat.html>.
Readers who would like to see more pictures of tall ships and sea cats are
invited to visit M. Kei’s photo site <http://picasaweb.google.com/Kujakupoet
>.

“Cats are highly evolved, intriguing, mysterious, ruled-by-no-one beings who
are mischievous bringers of unwanted gifts. Cats off to M. Kei for bringing
us a collection of tanka that tears at our heartstrings one moment and has
us gigling the next.” —Alexis Rotella, author of *Black Jack Judy and the
Crisco Kids*

List of Poets included in *Catzilla*!

Alexis Rotella, Amelia Fielden, André Surridge, Angela Leuck, Anne Curran,
Beverly Acuff Momoi, Bob Lucky, Bruce D. Reed, Carolyn Thomas, Christopher
L. Jorgensen, David Rice, Denis M. Garrison, Diane Mayr, Dorothy McLaughlin,
Edward J. Rielly, Geert Verbeke, Geoffrey Winch, Hortensia Anderson, Jacob
Kobina Ayiah Mensah, Jamila, Janick Belleau, Joanne Morcom, John Martell,
John Stone, Joyce S. Greene, Kath Abela Wilson, Kathy Nguyen, Kris Lindbeck,
Liam Wilkinson, Lorne Henry, M. Kei, M. L. Grace, Miriam Sagan, Owen
Bullock, Patricia Prime, Paul Mercken, Peggy Heinrich, Radhey Shiam, Richard
Stevenson, Rodney Williams, ruinedXfinery, Sylvia Forges-Ryan, Taro Aidu,
Vasile Moldovan, William Hart

*Catzilla! Tanka, Kyoka, and Gogyokha About Cats*
ISBN 978-0-557-53612-2
Perfect bound, cover cover, B&W interior
136 pp
Release date: 15 September 2010

Keibooks
P O Box 1118
Elkton, MD 21922-1118
http://www.lulu.com/Keibooks
Email: Keibooks (at) gmail (dot) com

Please share with all appropriate venues.

EOF

--
Keibooks
publisher of literature for discerning readers

P O Box 1118, Elkton, MD, 21922 USA
http://Lulu.com/Keibooks
Keibooks (at) gmail (dot) com

SPILLED MILK: Haiku Destinies by Gary Hotham

2010-07-24T20:25:00Z

SPILLED MILK: Haiku Destinies by Gary Hotham has been published by Pinyon Publishing.
Click on the following link to read what the critics have to say about this collection.
Go to http://www.pinyon-publishing.com/spilled%20milk.html for more information and purchasing.

2010 Poets House Showcase in NYC exhibits MET Press titles

2010-07-11T22:10:00Z

Modern English Tanka Press titles published from May 2009 to May 2010 were exhibited, by invitation, at the venerable Poets House facility and library in New York City. This year's Poets House Showcase aims to include all of the year's new poetry and poetry-related books, chapbooks, and multimedia titles published in the United States. Over 2,000 books were in last year's exhibit, representing close to 600 publishers—commercial, university, independent, small, and micro-presses.
• Books are organized by publisher and displayed face-forward.
• Books are exposed to national prize and library acquisition committees.
• Books are listed in Poet House's online Directory of American Poetry Books, the country's most complete bibliographic resource for contemporary poetry books.
• After the Showcase, all titles are incorporated into Poets House's 50,000-volume, noncirculating poetry library.

MET Press titles exhibited: A Poetic Guide to an Ancient Capital: Aizu Yaichi and the City of Nara by Michael F. Marra; Home to Ballygunge: Kolkata Tanka by William Hart; Peeling an Orange: Haiku by Peggy Heinrich; Elvis in Black Leather by Alexis Rotella; Black Jack Judy and the Crisco Kids: Bronx Memories, by Alexis Rotella; Sailor in the Rain and Other Poems by Denis M. Garrison; Hidden River: Haiku by Denis M. Garrison; Fire Blossoms : The Birth of Haiku Noir by Denis M. Garrison; The Breath of Surrender: A Collection of Recovery-Oriented Haiku Edited by Robert Epstein; The Time of This World: 100 tanka from 13 collections by Kawano Yūko, selected by Oshima Shiyo, translated by Amelia Fielden & Saeko Ogi; Where We Go: haiku and tanka sequences and other concise imaginings by Jean LeBlanc; Double Take: Response Tanka by Sonja Arntzen and Naomi Beth Wakan; Take Five: Best Contemporary Tanka (Vols. One & Two) edited by M. Kei, et. al.; Modern Haiga 2009 edited by Liam Wilkinson, et. al.; and periodicals: Ambrosia: Journal of Fine Haiku, No. 4, Summer 2009; Atlas Poetica: A Journal of Poetry of Place in Modern English Tanka No. 4, Autumn 2009; Concise Delight: Magazine of Short Verse Nos. 1 & 2, 2009; Modern English Tanka Vol. 3, No. 4, Summer 2009; Modern Haibun & Tanka Prose Nos. 1 & 2, 2009; Prune Juice: Journal of Senryu and Kyoka No. 2, Summer 2009.

At http://www.themetpress.com/news/poetshouse.html are photographs from the exhibit taken by Jean LeBlanc, author of Where We Go: haiku and tanka sequences and other concise imaginings, a collection published by MET Press. All photographs © 2010 by Jean LeBlanc and used by permission.

The new Sketchbook is now available on-line.

2010-07-11T18:00:00Z

The Sketchbook Editors: Karina Klesko and John Daleiden

To: Sketchbook Readers

Hello Sketchbook Reader,

The new

Sketchbook is now available on-line. The issue contains poems, art and features of sixty-one writers from thirteen countries. The Editors extend a warm welcome to all readers!

http://poetrywriting.org/Sketchbook5-3MayJun2010/0_Cover_Sketchbook_5-3_MayJun_2010_Cover_crossing_timelines_Mary_Davila.htm

This issue contains a diversity of poetry forms:　 Eastern Genre: Gogyokha, Haibun, Haiga, Haiku, Renhai, Sijo, Tanka; Western Genre: Free Verse, Cinquain, Double Dactyl, Experimental Forms: A Tab, Fusion Sonnets, Quatrain, Lanterne, Tetractys, and Ekphrastic Poetry.

Featured Poems: The Poets Celebrate Independence Days Around The World; A Retrospective of Karen Anderson’s Poems; Video Reading by Jan Oskar Hansen.

Art Features: Üzeyir Lokman ÇAYCI, FR; Norman J. Olson; Iolanda Scripca, and Sandy Vroom.

Doug Holder joins Sketchbook in this issue as a Contributing Editor.

Read and enjoy the new issue.

Submissions are now open for the August 31, 2010 Sketchbook; the general submission deadline is August 20. Submissions are open to all writers.

The Editors: Karina Klesko and John Daleiden
kk/jd

Call for Content - Journal of Renga & Renku

2010-07-09T21:10:00Z

Journal of Renga & Renku

Call for Content - Journal of Renga & Renku

Hello

We're ready to begin accepting offers of content for the first issue of Journal of Renga & Renku. While some details remain to be ironed out, the journal will be:

1. published near the end of 2010
2. available in hardcopy only
3. available for purchase online using Paypal

We're looking for a variety of content along the lines of:

1. Academic/polemic articles on any aspects of the genre

2. Translations of old renga and renku

3. News of renku groups and happenings

4. Book articles/reviews

5. and of course, a showcase of current examples of the genre:

a) in English

b) in any other language, accompanied by an English translation

c) previously published or not (just let us have details of prior publication so we can acknowledge properly)

d) simultaneous offers are fine too, again provided you advise us of prior publication for purposes of acknowledgement

e) in any of the standard forms: kasen, triparshva, nijûin, jûnichô, shisan, rokku, hyakuin, yotsumono, etc.

f) in any explorations of the above forms in terms of experimentation with one-line, zip, 5/7/5 or other fixed counts and even rhyme

g) solo and group work

h) with (preferably) or without notes/reflections on the poem/process from sabaki or renju or both

6. We are also considering holding a contest, but have not finalised our thinking on that. Please send us any ideas you may have and/or indication as to whether you'd
be interested in entering and/or reading the results

7. We're open to discussing content ideas we've not covered above so please write

8. All communications will be acknowledged within one week

9. We are regretfully unable to pay contributors for content at this stage

Please send all contributions and other communications to RengaRenku@gmail.com (RengaRenku AT gmail DOT com)

We look forward to hearing from you.

Norman Darlington
Moira Richards
Journal of Renga & Renku

http://tinyurl.com/23n4yl6
Moira Richards
mr@intekom.co.za

SUBMISSION CALL : 3LIGHTS AUTUMN 2010

2010-07-07T17:25:00Z

SUBMISSION CALL : 3LIGHTS AUTUMN 2010

http://3lights.wordpress.com

3LIGHTS Journal of Micropoetry invites you to submit haiku, senryu, tanka and other micropoems for its autumn issue. The autumn issue's theme will be FAIRGROUNDS & THE CIRCUS.

Please submit up to ten unpublished micropoems on a theme of fairgrounds and the circus to threelightsgallery [at] yahoo [dot] co [dot] uk. We no longer require biographical details, but please include your name and location. The deadline for all submissions is September 1st 2010 and the issue will be published online in October.

Whilst we continue to accept and encourage submissions of quality haiku, senryu and tanka, from the autumn issue onwards we are also keen to receive submissions of micropoems (poems of no more than 140 characters including spaces). Micropoetry is a swiftly growing literary form and, thanks to microblogging sites such as Twitter, poets are continually discovering new forms of concise expression. As a result, 3LIGHTS now opens its arms to submissions of these short poems and dedicates itself to promoting these brief and engaging works.

For our complete submission details and to read our past issues, please visit http://3lights.wordpress.com. We look forward to receiving your work. Please feel free to share this submission call widely.

Our forthcoming issue, 3LIGHTS Summer 2010, will be released in August, featuring a selection of new poetry from some of the finest writers of short-form poetry. We're also delighted to present a selection of haiku and tanka from our featured poet André Surridge.

Best wishes,

Liam Wilkinson

3LIGHTS : Journal of Haiku & Related Forms

Edited by Liam & Diane Wilkinson

http://3lights.wordpress.com

Berry Blue Haiku's first online issue

2010-07-06T18:41:00Z

Cobalt Crow Productions is pleased to present Berry Blue Haiku's first online issue! The publication, although aimed at young readers up to age 13, promises to please readers of all ages.

To all our contributors, and to everyone who sent feedback and support, we couldn't have gotten here without you. And to our readers, we hope you enjoy this first issue, and perhaps feel inspired to write a haiku or two of your own. Please send us your feedback, questions, and ideas. Let us know you're out there!

Send email to berrybluehaiku@gmail.com

If you enjoy this free sample issue of Berry Blue Haiku and would like to purchase a subscription, please visit our ONLINE STORE. A one year digital subscription (4 issues) can be purchased for $4.99. Our next issue, due out September 15th, will also be available at a one issue price of $1.75.

We are also currently in need of haiku and nonfiction material for our September issue. For submission information, please visit our blog at www.cobaltcrowproductions.com. Thank you.

Peace and blessings,

Gisele LeBlanc
Executive Editor, Berry Blue Haiku
Cobalt Crow Productions

Simply Haiku, Summer 2010, Vol. 8, No. 1 is ONLINE

2010-07-02T18:25:00Z

An end to the rumors.

THE MOMENT YOU'VE BEEN WAITING FOR!

Simply Haiku didn't shut down. Only I and Sasa Vazić, co-owners of the Journal have the authority to do that, and why would we put an end to a journal that has become a beacon light illumination to the English speaking Japanese short form poetry world?

After a half year hiatus, Simply Haiku is online

and ready to rock the world like never before, with an exciting issue, featuring newly discovered pearls and wise old masters of Japanese short form poetry's golden heritage!

The International Journal of English Language Japanese Short Form Poetry, SIMPLY HAIKU, is read by over 6,000 people worldwide, and the number after this new issue will increase. Many view the journal as the beacon in their endeavors to write high quality haiku, tanka, and related genres. Today, the staff of Simply Haiku presents the fruit of hard work, sweat, a true team spirit, and sheer determination, to give back to you the gift some thought they could silence.

http://www.simplyhaiku.wordpress.com/

One Hot Summer Issue!!!

Scholarship, fine art and poetry, videos and music, the best in scholarship; a warmer, personalized spirit, packed into a journal unlike any other journal of its kind on the planet.

_______________________

Summer 2010, Vol. 8. No. 1

Co-Owner, Co-Publisher, Co-Editor in Chief

~ Robert D. Wilson

Co-Owner, Co-Publisher, Co-Editor in Chief

~ Sasa Vazić

Simply Haiku

Editor ~ Robert D. Wilson

Simply Haibun

Editor ~ Kala Ramesh

Slavica Anisija Blagojević

Johannes Manjerkar

Wende Skidmore DuFlon

Simply Haiga

Summer 2010 guest editor ~ Natalia L. Rudytchev

New editor ~ Silvija Butković

Simply Tanka

Summer 2010 guest editor ~ Pamela A. Babusci

New editor ~ Amelia Fielden

Kala Ramesh

Mary Lou Bittle DeLapa

A Showcase of Liam Wilkinson - Modern Free Verse Tanka Poet

Editors Showcase

Features

Interview with Andy Pomphrey by Sasa Vazić

Interview with Chen-ou Liu by Robert D. Wilson

Make Haibun New through Chinese Poetic Past: Basho's Transformation of Haikai Prose

by Chen-ou Liu

The Chinese Influence on Japanese Short Form Poetry by Robert D. Wilson

Konoshima's Tanka new translations by David Callner

A Crown of Roses - live poetry reading by Sayumi Kamakura

Defining Haiku by Robert D. Wilson

Interview with Marc di Saverio by Robert D. Wilson

Reviews

white fish by Ikumi Yoshimura a review by Robert D. Wilson

Breast Clouds by Noriko Tanaka - a review by Robert D. Wilson

Reprints

Interview with Professor Wang Ping by Daniel Kane

What Does It Mean to Read Haikai Linked Verse? A study on Haikai Linked Verse

by Toshiko Yokota

Interview with Ion Codrescu by Jeanne Emrich

Interview with Hortensia Anderson by Robert D. Wilson

Submission Guidelines

Tanka Online is pleased to announce its July update

2010-07-02T18:13:00Z

Tanka Online is pleased to announce its July update, featuring Australian poet, Kathy Kituai, her poetry, and “Writing Inside Out: an Interview with Kathy Kituai by Amelia Fielden.” Visit our tanka gallery for new verses by Jeanne Emrich, Michael McClintock, Margaret Chula, Tom Clausen, Amelia Fielden, and Mariko Kitakubo. Also, check out our latest addition to the TO Bookstore, Weaver Birds, by Amelia Fielden and Saeko Ogi. Visit www.tankaonline.com soon.

Issue 4 of Prune Juice : Journal of Senryu & Kyoka has been published

2010-06-30T19:08:00Z

Issue 4 of Prune Juice : Journal of Senryu & Kyoka has been published. The new issue features poetry by Sanford Goldstein, Ed Baker, Patricia Prime, M. Kei, Alexis Rotella, Bob Lucky and many more fine writers of senryu and kyoka.

Visit http://prunejuice.wordpress.com to read the new issue or go straight to http://www.scribd.com/doc/33737884/Prune-Juice-Issue-4.

Submissions for issue 5 (Winter 2011) are now being accepted. Please send up to twenty senryu/kyoka to prunejuicejournal [at] yahoo [dot] co [dot] uk. We no longer require biographical details. Deadline: December 1st 2010.

Please feel free to spread this information as widely as possible. Your continued support is very much appreciated.

Best wishes,

Liam Wilkinson

Ed. Prune Juice

Prune Juice

Journal of Senryu & Kyoka

Edited by Liam Wilkinson

http://prunejuice.wordpress.com

AMBROSIA Journal of Fine Haiku #5 Summer 2010 published by MET Press

2010-06-28T21:43:00Z

Issue 5, Summer 2010, of AMBROSIA: Journal of Fine Haiku has been published by MET Press in both print and PDF online editions. This issue includes the fine work of fifty-four poets from around the world.

Print edition: http://www.lulu.com/product/paperback/ambrosia-journal-of-fine-haiku-no-5-summer-2010/11494952

Online edition: http://www.scribd.com/doc/33674571/AmbrosiaJournalofFineHaiku-5-Summer2010

Submissions for the Autumn issue will open on July 1st. Please send us some of your best, to:
ambrosia@themetpress.com .

Denis M. Garrison, editor
http://www.themetpress.com/ambrosiahaiku/masthead.html

Haiku Reality is Out

2010-06-27T19:58:00Z

Haiku Reality is Out

http://haikureality.webs.com\indexeng.htm

Contents:

Haiku Contests

Essays, Criticisms, Analyses:

Chen-ou Liu: The Breach of Meaning? Roland Barthess View of Haiku

Dietmar Tauchner: X-plain, Haiku & Syllogism

Dimitar Anakiev: Return to Birds and Flowers

Martin Lucas: Haiku and Haiku

Chen-ou Liu: Three Readings of Ezra Pounds Metro Haiku

Jim Kacian: A Haiku Primer

Ljubomir Radovančević: Why Is Haiku Healing?

Richard Gilbert: Plausible deniability: Nature as hypothesis in English-language haiku

Robert D. Wilson: Defining Haiku

Zinovy Vayman: Criticism on Haiku Criticism in the First Volume of the WHA Annals

Haiku Gallery:

Adelaide B. Show, Geert Verbeke, Jadran Zalokar, Malvina Mileta, an'ya, Robert D. Wilson, Marija Pogorilić

Book Reviews:

Milijan Despotović, Ranko Pavlović, David G. Lanoue: Slavko J. Sedlar, Таквост 2 (Suchness 2)

Denis M. Garrison: The Distant Mountain: The Life and Haiku of Kobayashi Issa by David G. Lanoue, transl. Angelee Deodhar

Dragan J. Ristić: Banya Natsuishi, Koncentrični krugovi (Konzentrische Kreise; Koncentrični krugovi; Концентручни кръгове)

Adam Donaldson Powell: Geert Verbeke and Jenny Ovaere, Rendezvous

Saa Vaić: Predrag Peićera, Grane pune zvezda (Branches under the Stars)

Valerio Orlić: Jadran Zalokar, Miris svitanja (Scent of Dawn)

Vladimir Devidé, Ban'ya Natsuishi: eljka Vučinić-Jambreić, Od Sunca do Mjeseca (From the Sun to the Moon)

Mircea Teculescu: Magdalene Dale, The Echo of Silence

Robert D. Wilson: Ikumi Yoshimura, white fish

Magdalena Dale: The Poetic Achievement of Banya Natsuishi

George Badarau: ion untaru, Paso doble (Passo Doble)

Mihail Popescu: About the Book From a Poem to Another by Valentin Nicolitov

Dimitar Anakiev: A Few Words on "Concentric Circles" by Ban'ya Natsuishi
Selected Haiku:
Announcement of the Best Haiku of the Issue (First, Second and Third Choices, Favorite Haiku, Selected Haiku)

Thanks to all the contributors!
Your further collaboration with Hiaku Reality is welcome!
Thanks to an'ya and Jasminka Nadakić-Đorđević, for their work on editing and selecting the haiku.
Special thanks to Patrick Gallagher and Branislav Miić for helping me to restore the web files and to relocate the website.

Best wishes,

Sasa Vazić, editor

Izaao je novi broj Haiku stvarnosti

http://haikureality.webs.com/

Sadraj
Haiku konkursi
Eseji, kritike, analize...
Chen-ou Liu: Izuzimanje značenja? Roland Bartov pogled na haiku
Dietmar Tauchner: X-ravan, Haiku i silogizam

Dimitar Anakiev: Povratak pticama i cveću

Martin Lukas: Haiku i haiku

Chen-ou Liu: Tri načina čitanja Ezra Paundovog haikua o metrou

Jim Kacian: Haiku bukvar

Ljubomir Radovančević: Zato je haiku ljekovit?

Dimitar Anakiev: O kulturnoj politici u haiku

Richard Gilbert: Plauzibilno poricanje: Priroda kao hipoteza u haikuu na engleskom jeziku

Robert D. Wilson: Definisanje haikua

Zinovy Vayman: Kritika Kritike haikua u prvom tomu letopisa SHA

Jadran Zalokar: to nije haiku/to haiku nije

eljko Funda: Lijepo je tragično, tragično je lijepo (dodela prve ludbreke nagrade Graevina)

Tomislav Marijan Bilosnić: Haiku to je to?

Haiku galerija

Adelaide B. Show, Geert Verbeke, Jadran Zalokar, Malvina Mileta, an'ya, Robert D. Wilson, Marija Pogorilić

Recenzije knjiga
Milijan Despotović, Ranko Pavlović, Dejvid D. Lanu: Славко Седлар, Таквост 2 (Suchness 2)

Denis M. Garrison: The Distant Mountain: The Life and Haiku of Kobayashi Issa (Daleka planina: ivot i haiku poezija Kobajai Ise), David G. Lanoue, prevela Angelee Deodhar

ragan J. Ristić: Banja Nacuii, Koncentrični krugovi (Konzentrische Kreise; Koncentrični krugovi; Концентручни кръгове)

Adam Donaldson Powell: Geert Verbeke i Jenny Ovaere, Rendezvous

Saa Vaić: Predrag Peićera, Grane pune zvezda (Branches under the Stars)

Stevan Mihailović: etnja sa pesnikom (Srba Mitrović: "S Kalemegdana jesenja haiku slikovnica")

Valerio Orlić: Jadran Zalokar, Miris svitanja (Scent of Dawn)

Vladimir Devidé, Ban'ya Natsuishi: eljka Vučinić-Jambreić, Od Sunca do Mjeseca (From the Sun to the Moon)

Mircea Teculescu: Magdalene Dale, The Echo of Silence (Odjek tiine)

Robert D. Wilson: Ikumi Yoshimura, white fish (Belica)

Magdalena Dale: Poetska dostignuća Banje Nacuiija

George Badarau: ion untaru, Paso doble (Passo Doble)

Mihail Popescu: O knjizi From a Poem to Another (Od jedne do druge pesme) Valentina Nikolitova

Dimitar Anakiev: Nekoliko reči o "Koncentričnim krugovima" Banje Nacuiija

Izbor iz haiku poezije
Proglaenje najboljih haikua ovog broja (prvoplasirani, drugoplasirani, trećeplasirani; kandidati za najbolje haikue broja; izabrani haikui)

Hvala svim saradnicima!

Vaa dalja saradnja sa Hiaku stvarnoću je dobrodola!

Zahvaljujem se an'yi i Jasminki Nadakić-Đorđević na njihovom radu na redigovanju i izboru haikua.

Posebna zahvalnost Patriku Galageru i Branislavu Miiću na pomoći oko pronalaenja izgubljenih fajlova i premetaju veb sajta na drugu lokaciju.

Srdačan pozdrav,

Sasa Vazić, urednik

R.K.Singh's Sense and Silence: Collected Poems: 1974-2009

2010-06-22T19:56:00Z

Sense and Silence: Collected Poems: 1974-2009, ISBN 978-81-910588-2-6, a volume of the Indian English poet R.K.Singh's all previously published poetry collections and several new ones, particularly haiku, tanka, and haiku and tanka sequences, is now published.

Available to Indian readers, especially teachers and researchers, on 40% discount and free postage, the library edition of the poet's poems is priced at Rs.995/- and is available from: Yking Books, 18, Jain Bhawan, Opp. N.B.C., Shanti Nagar, Jaipur 302006, India.

Others may like to contact the publisher for special discount via email to: ykingbooks@gmail.com

The contents of the book include:

1. My Silence
2. Music Must Sound
3. Memories Unmemoried
4. Flight of Phoenix
5. I Do Not Question
6. Above The Earth’s Green
7. The Face in All Seasons
8. Sexless Solitude
9. The River Returns: Tanka
10. Every Stone Drop Pebble (Haiku)
11. Peddling Dream: Haiku
12. The River Returns: Haiku
13. Some More Haiku
14. Some Haiku Sequences
15. Some Tanka Sequences

Acknowledgements

Published Prefatory Notes/Forewords/
Front-Notes/Some Comments
______________________________
--R.K.Singh

Lyrical Passion Poetry E-Zine 2010 Short Poetry & Short Fiction Writing Contests

2010-06-17T16:36:00Z

For Immediate Release: 6.17.2010

New Postal Address - 2010 Writing Contests - We Welcome Your Energy, Spirit & Wit

Due to their recent relocation to the D.C. Metro area, Lyrical Passion Poetry E-Zine has extended their contest deadline. They have a new postal address. Please see the website "Contact Us" page for details. This online poetry venue has remained committed to publishing the very best of japanese short form poetry.

This young publication has launched exciting contests for 2010 and are also witnessing a tremendous growth in their readership and support. Lyrical Passion Poetry E-Zine is also calling for submissions of poetry and short fiction for their webzine. There are no e-zine submission deadlines or reading fees, they just welcome prolific writing of lasting literary value. Complete guidelines are available online at Lyrical Passion Poetry E-Zine

Read their inspiring interview with Lenard D. Moore, one of the most talented haiku and tanka writers today.The web-presence of this E-zine is profound with international winning writers such as Ruth Schiffmann, Richard Stevenson, Kathy Lippard Cobb, James Tipton, Keith A. Simmonds, Patricia Prime, Paul Smith and Ernest J. Berry.

Current prizes for writers total more than $500 dollars. They welcome snail mail and email submissions and have included the option of paypal payments online.

Visit Lyrical Passion Poetry E-Zine to learn more. Make 2010 a year to remember! Happy Summer.

Blessings,

Raquel D. BAILEY, Founding Editor lyricalhitmakers@aol.com
Follow us on twitter - "FoundingEditor"
Lyrical Passion Poetry E-Zine, Lyrical Passion Poetry E-Zine

Take Five: Best Contemporary Tanka, Volume Two (2009) Anthology, edited by M. Kei, et. al., Published by MET Press

2010-06-03T19:46:00Z

DATE: May 31 , 2010 PRESS RELEASE For Immediate Release

Baltimore, Maryland – May 31, 2010 – The Take Five editorial team consisting of M. Kei, editor-in-chief (USA), Sanford Goldstein (JP), Patricia Prime (NZ), Kala Ramesh (IN), Alexis Rotella (USA), and Angela Leuck (CAN), read all contemporary tanka published in English during 2009, more than 16,000 poems. Sources ranged from tanka journals to social media to musical performances to chapbooks and many other formats. The result is Take Five: Best Contemporary Tanka, Volume Two, showcasing tanka, tanka prose, and tanka sequences by 140 poets from more than a dozen countries, with cover art by Alexis Rotella. The inaugural volume has been honored by The Montserrat Review on their "Best Reading" list for Autumn, 2009.

The second volume contains an introduction that summarizes recent tanka developments in traditional and new media, as well as discussion of notable tanka from the anthology. New this year is tanka formatted on one and two lines, in contrast to the usual five line presentation for English. The age range of the poets spans more than six decades, from poets in their early twenties to their late eighties. Several poets had never or only rarely been published in the usual tanka media and were discovered via social media; they appear side by side with famous names known to the tanka world for decades. The resulting anthology is a treasury of tanka that shows the wide range of approaches, subjects, and traditions for contemporary tanka in English.

Originating in Japan over 1400 years ago, tanka has survived and evolved due to its strength and flexibility. Each tanka is as complete as a pebble, yet like a pebble thrown into the still pond of a receptive mind, becomes the center of ever widening ripples. Readers become co-creators by joining their own experiences and emotions with the images and ideas evoked by the poets. This is the most powerful kind of poetry: poetry that can span the gap between nations and meld itself with local traditions to provide a new—yet ancient—way to engage the world.

"Take Five: Best Contemporary Tanka, Volume Two—What a nice present for us! We, tanka enthusiasts around the world, welcome this anthology. And, I really appreciate the time and energy M. Kei has spent compiling this book. Take Five: Best Contemporary Tanka, Volume Two is certainly one of the best anthologies in the growing community of English Tanka." —Kozue Uzawa, Ph.D., Editor, Gusts: Contemporary Tanka, award-winning translator of tanka.

"The editorial team of Take Five is an international one. Its reading encompasses an impressive range of sources of tanka in English, both electronically ephemeral, or captured in print. Thus Take Five: Best Contemporary Tanka, Volume Two leads this diminutive genre to the next phase of accessibility and accurate representation of the times in which it is composed. In so doing, it is true to Japanese origins where poetry was, and remains, a widespread, integral part of everyday life." —Beverley George, Editor, Eucalypt.

Poets appearing in the anthology: A. A. Marcoff, A. Thiagarajan, Adelaide B. Shaw, ai li, Alex von Vaupel, Alexis Rotella, Amelia Fielden, An Xiao, an'ya, Ana-Maria DiVera, André Surridge, Andrew Cook-Jolicoeur, Andrew Riutta, Angela Leuck, Annette Mineo, Audrey Olberg, Aurora Antonovic, Aya Yuhki, Barbara Strang, Becky DeVito, Belinda Broughton, Bell Gale Chevigny, Beverley George, Bob Lucky, C. W. Hawes, C. William Hinderliter, Carol Raisfeld, Carole MacRury, Carolyn Eldridge-Alfonzetti, Carolyn Thomas, Cathy Drinkwater Better, Chad Lee Robinson, Chen-ou Liu, Cherie Hunter Day, Claudia Coutu-Radmore, Colin Stewart Jones, Collin Barber, Cor van den Heuvel, Curtis Dunlap, Cynthia Rowe, Dave Bacharach, Dave Bachelor, David Lee Kirkland, David Rice, David Terelinck, Dawn Bruce, Deborah P. Kolodji, Denis M. Garrison, Don Miller, Dorothy McLaughlin, Elaine Riddell, Ferris Gilli, Francis Masat, Gautam Nadkarni, Geert Verbeke, George Swede, H. Gene Murtha, J. Andrew Lockhart, Jade Pandora, James Tipton, Jane Reichhold, Janet Lynn Davis, Jared Carter, Jean LeBlanc, Jeanne Emrich, Jeffrey Woodward, Jo McInerney, Joanne Morcom, John Martell, John Quinnett, Joyce Sandeen Johnson, June Moreau, Kala Ramesh, Karen Cesar, Kathy Kituai, Kathy Lippard Cobb, Kirsty Karkow, Kisaburo Konoshima, Kozue Uzawa, Kris Lindbeck, Larry Kimmel, Laurence Stacey, Lenard D. Moore, LeRoy Gorman, Liam Wilkinson, Linda Galloway, Linda Jeannette Ward, Lois Harvey, Lorelei Jolie Polden, M. Kei, M. L. Grace, M. L. Harvey, Magdalena Dale, Margaret Chula, Margarita Engle, Maria Steyn, Marian Morgan, Marilyn Hazelton, Marilyn Potter, Mark Rutter, Mary Mageau, Max Ryan, Megan Arkenberg, Melissa Dixon, Michael Ketchek, Michael McClintock, Miriam Sagan, Natalia L. Rudychev, Owen Bullock, Pamela A. Babusci, Pamela Cooper, Pamela Miller Ness, Patricia Prime, Patrick M. Pilarski, Paul O. Williams, Paul Smith, Peggy Heinrich, Philip Miller, Philomene Kocher, R. K. Singh, Randy Brooks, Raquel D. Bailey, Reiko Nakagawa, robert d. wilson, Robert Kusch, Roberta Beary, Roger Jones, Ruth Holzer, Sanford Goldstein, Sean Greenlaw, stanley pelter, Susan Marie La Vallee, Terry Ann Carter, Tess Driver, Thelma Mariano, Tom Clausen, Vasile Moldovan, William Hart, and William I. Elliott.

About the Editors:

M. Kei is an award-winning poet who lives on the Eastern Shore of the Chesapeake Bay, USA. He is a tall ship sailor who served his apprenticeship aboard a skipjack, a traditional wooden sailboat used to fish for oysters. He is the editor of Atlas Poetica: A Journal of Poetry of Place in Contemporary Tanka and the editor-in-chief of the anthology series Take Five: Best Contemporary Tanka. His second collection is Slow Motion: Log of a Chesapeake Bay Skipjack (2008), a log he kept in verse form while making extended cruises aboard a historic wooden sailing vessel. Over 1200 of his tanka have been published in ten countries and six languages. He also writes non-fiction articles about tanka and compiles the Bibliography of English-Language Tanka. He previously edited Fire Pearls: Short Masterpieces of the Human Heart (2006) and published a collection of short poetry, Heron Sea, Short Poems of the Chesapeake Bay. Most recently he has published a nautical novel, Pirates of the Narrow Seas, set during the Age of Sail and featuring a gay protagonist.

Sanford Goldstein, who lives in a village in Japan, continues to write his tanka for more than fifty years.

Patricia Prime is the co-editor of the New Zealand haiku journal Kokako, assistant editor of Haibun Today, reviews editor of Takahe and Stylus, and is on the panel of editors for the Take Five Anthologies, Vols. 1 & 2. She is also one of the judges for the Presence Seashell Game and Metverse Muse traditional poetry competitions. Her poetry, reviews, interviews and articles have been published worldwide.

Kala Ramesh is an Indian classical musician, having worked extensively on Pandit Kumar Gandharva style under Mrs. Shubhadha Chirmulay for more than 15 years, and has performed professionally in major cities in India. A recently turned haiku poet (since 2005), Kala writes haiku, tanka, senryu, haibun, renku and one-line haiku, and her work has appeared in leading e-zines and anthologies all over the world. Kala heads the World Haiku Club in India. As director, she organised the World Haiku Club Meet at Pune, December 2006. The four-day 9th World Haiku Festival she organized at Bangalore in February 2008 was sponsored jointly by Sri Sri Ravi Shankar Ji and Sri Ratan Tata Trust. She is the Deputy Editor-in-Chief of The World Haiku Review, and since April 2009, is also the Poetry Editor of Katha, New Delhi, a renowned Indian publishing house. In this capacity, she got together and edited an ebook of haiku, senryu, haibun, tanka and haiga to be published soon, encompassing the work of 35 Indian haiku poets, for the first time in India! Currently, she is also the lead poet (sabiki) of a Kasen renku with six other international renkujin: experimenting and incorporating the traditional renku with the Rasa Theory of India.

Alexis Rotella is a well known poet who writes in many genres and who has published in hundreds of journals. A number of her haiga exhibits may be viewed at haiga online, ink sweat and tears, Simply Haiku, 3Lights Gallery and Modern Haiga. Rotella founded and edited Prune Juice, a journal of senryu and kyoka. Her latest books from Modern English Tanka Press include Black Jack Judy and the Crisco Kids: Bronx Memories, Elvis in Black Leather, Lip Prints, Ouch and Eavesdropping. Check out Alexis Rotella’s blog at
The editorial team consisting of M. Kei, editor-in-chief (USA), Sanford Goldstein (JP), Patricia Prime (NZ), Kala Ramesh (IN), Alexis Rotella (USA), and Angela Leuck (CAN), read all contemporary tanka published in English during 2009, more than 16,000 poems. Sources ranged from tanka journals to social media to musical performances to chapbooks and many other formats. The result is , showcasing tanka, tanka prose, and tanka sequences by 140 poets from more than a dozen countries, with cover art by Alexis Rotella. The inaugural volume has been honored by on their "Best Reading" list for Autumn, 2009. The second volume contains an introduction that summarizes recent tanka developments in traditional and new media, as well as discussion of notable tanka from the anthology. New this year is tanka formatted on one and two lines, in contrast to the usual five line presentation for English. The age range of the poets spans more than six decades, from poets in their early twenties to their late eighties. Several poets had never or only rarely been published in the usual tanka media and were discovered via social media; they appear side by side with famous names known to the tanka world for decades. The resulting anthology is a treasury of tanka that shows the wide range of approaches, subjects, and traditions for contemporary tanka in English. Originating in Japan over 1400 years ago, tanka has survived and evolved due to its strength and flexibility. Each tanka is as complete as a pebble, yet like a pebble thrown into the still pond of a receptive mind, becomes the center of ever widening ripples. Readers become co-creators by joining their own experiences and emotions with the images and ideas evoked by the poets. This is the most powerful kind of poetry: poetry that can span the gap between nations and meld itself with local traditions to provide a new—yet ancient—way to engage the world."—What a nice present for us! We, tanka enthusiasts around the world, welcome this anthology. And, I really appreciate the time and energy M. Kei has spent compiling this book. is certainly one of the best anthologies in the growing community of English Tanka." —Kozue Uzawa, Ph.D., Editor, award-winning translator of tanka."The editorial team of is an international one. Its reading encompasses an impressive range of sources of tanka in English, both electronically ephemeral, or captured in print. Thus leads this diminutive genre to the next phase of accessibility and accurate representation of the times in which it is composed. In so doing, it is true to Japanese origins where poetry was, and remains, a widespread, integral part of everyday life." —Beverley George, Editor, . Poets appearing in the anthology: A. A. Marcoff, A. Thiagarajan, Adelaide B. Shaw, ai li, Alex von Vaupel, Alexis Rotella, Amelia Fielden, An Xiao, an'ya, Ana-Maria DiVera, André Surridge, Andrew Cook-Jolicoeur, Andrew Riutta, Angela Leuck, Annette Mineo, Audrey Olberg, Aurora Antonovic, Aya Yuhki, Barbara Strang, Becky DeVito, Belinda Broughton, Bell Gale Chevigny, Beverley George, Bob Lucky, C. W. Hawes, C. William Hinderliter, Carol Raisfeld, Carole MacRury, Carolyn Eldridge-Alfonzetti, Carolyn Thomas, Cathy Drinkwater Better, Chad Lee Robinson, Chen-ou Liu, Cherie Hunter Day, Claudia Coutu-Radmore, Colin Stewart Jones, Collin Barber, Cor van den Heuvel, Curtis Dunlap, Cynthia Rowe, Dave Bacharach, Dave Bachelor, David Lee Kirkland, David Rice, David Terelinck, Dawn Bruce, Deborah P. Kolodji, Denis M. Garrison, Don Miller, Dorothy McLaughlin, Elaine Riddell, Ferris Gilli, Francis Masat, Gautam Nadkarni, Geert Verbeke, George Swede, H. Gene Murtha, J. Andrew Lockhart, Jade Pandora, James Tipton, Jane Reichhold, Janet Lynn Davis, Jared Carter, Jean LeBlanc, Jeanne Emrich, Jeffrey Woodward, Jo McInerney, Joanne Morcom, John Martell, John Quinnett, Joyce Sandeen Johnson, June Moreau, Kala Ramesh, Karen Cesar, Kathy Kituai, Kathy Lippard Cobb, Kirsty Karkow, Kisaburo Konoshima, Kozue Uzawa, Kris Lindbeck, Larry Kimmel, Laurence Stacey, Lenard D. Moore, LeRoy Gorman, Liam Wilkinson, Linda Galloway, Linda Jeannette Ward, Lois Harvey, Lorelei Jolie Polden, M. Kei, M. L. Grace, M. L. Harvey, Magdalena Dale, Margaret Chula, Margarita Engle, Maria Steyn, Marian Morgan, Marilyn Hazelton, Marilyn Potter, Mark Rutter, Mary Mageau, Max Ryan, Megan Arkenberg, Melissa Dixon, Michael Ketchek, Michael McClintock, Miriam Sagan, Natalia L. Rudychev, Owen Bullock, Pamela A. Babusci, Pamela Cooper, Pamela Miller Ness, Patricia Prime, Patrick M. Pilarski, Paul O. Williams, Paul Smith, Peggy Heinrich, Philip Miller, Philomene Kocher, R. K. Singh, Randy Brooks, Raquel D. Bailey, Reiko Nakagawa, robert d. wilson, Robert Kusch, Roberta Beary, Roger Jones, Ruth Holzer, Sanford Goldstein, Sean Greenlaw, stanley pelter, Susan Marie La Vallee, Terry Ann Carter, Tess Driver, Thelma Mariano, Tom Clausen, Vasile Moldovan, William Hart, and William I. Elliott. M. Kei is an award-winning poet who lives on the Eastern Shore of the Chesapeake Bay, USA. He is a tall ship sailor who served his apprenticeship aboard a skipjack, a traditional wooden sailboat used to fish for oysters. He is the editor of and the editor-in-chief of the anthology series. His second collection is (2008), a log he kept in verse form while making extended cruises aboard a historic wooden sailing vessel. Over 1200 of his tanka have been published in ten countries and six languages. He also writes non-fiction articles about tanka and compiles the . He previously edited (2006) and published a collection of short poetry, . Most recently he has published a nautical novel, , set during the Age of Sail and featuring a gay protagonist. Sanford Goldstein, who lives in a village in Japan, continues to write his tanka for more than fifty years.Patricia Prime is the co-editor of the New Zealand haiku journal , assistant editor of , reviews editor of and , and is on the panel of editors for the , Vols. 1 & 2. She is also one of the judges for the Presence Seashell Game and Metverse Muse traditional poetry competitions. Her poetry, reviews, interviews and articles have been published worldwide.Kala Ramesh is an Indian classical musician, having worked extensively on Pandit Kumar Gandharva style under Mrs. Shubhadha Chirmulay for more than 15 years, and has performed professionally in major cities in India. A recently turned haiku poet (since 2005), Kala writes haiku, tanka, senryu, haibun, renku and one-line haiku, and her work has appeared in leading e-zines and anthologies all over the world. Kala heads the World Haiku Club in India. As director, she organised the World Haiku Club Meet at Pune, December 2006. The four-day 9th World Haiku Festival she organized at Bangalore in February 2008 was sponsored jointly by Sri Sri Ravi Shankar Ji and Sri Ratan Tata Trust. She is the Deputy Editor-in-Chief of , and since April 2009, is also the Poetry Editor of Katha, New Delhi, a renowned Indian publishing house. In this capacity, she got together and edited an ebook of haiku, senryu, haibun, tanka and haiga to be published soon, encompassing the work of 35 Indian haiku poets, for the first time in India! Currently, she is also the lead poet (sabiki) of a Kasen renku with six other international renkujin: experimenting and incorporating the traditional renku with the Rasa Theory of India.Alexis Rotella is a well known poet who writes in many genres and who has published in hundreds of journals. A number of her haiga exhibits may be viewed at and . Rotella founded and edited . Her latest books from Modern English Tanka Press include and . Check out Alexis Rotella’s blog at

www.alexisrotella.com and see her readings on YouTube. Rotella is a practitioner of Oriental Medicine in Arnold, Maryland.

Angela Leuck was born in Vancouver in 1960. She obtained a B.A. from the University of Saskatchewan and an M.A. from McGill University. Specializing in Japanese-inspired short poetry forms—haiku, tanka, renga and haibun—she also combines her poetry with collage and photography in an updated version of the Japanese art of haiga. She served two terms as Quebec Regional Coordinator of Haiku Canada and is now Vice President. In 2005, she co-founded Tanka Canada and edited its biannual publication Gusts: Contemporary Tanka. She is a full member of the League of Canadian Poets and serves on the board of the Quebec Writers Federation. An award winning poet, her work has been published in journals and anthologies around the world. She is the author of haiku white/haiku noir (carve, 2007), Flower Heart (Blue Ginkgo Press, 2006) and has edited a number of anthologies, including Rose Haiku for Flower Lovers and Gardeners (Price-Patterson, 2005), Tulip Haiku (Shoreline, 2004), and, with Maxianne Berger, Sun Through the Blinds: Montreal Haiku Today (Shoreline, 2003). She lives in Montreal.

For media inquiries or to arrange an interview with the editor-in-chief, contact M. Kei by e-mail at: take5tanka@gmail.com Publisher information at: www.themetpress.com

This book is available from www.Lulu.com/modernenglishtanka. Information is available online at www.themetpress.com Price: $16.95 USD. ISBN 978-1-935398-20-2. Trade paperback. 200 pages, 6" x 9", perfect binding, 60# cream interior paper, black and white interior ink, 100# exterior paper, full-color exterior ink.

About MET Press:

MET Press (Modern English Tanka Press) is an independent publishing house in Baltimore, Maryland, dedicated to producing work of lasting literary value, especially fine verse. A family business, we treat our customers, authors, and partners in publishing like family. We use modern print-on-demand production and distribution methods. Our special mission is to promote the tanka form of poetry and to educate newcomers about this most ancient poetic form.

Contact: Denis M. Garrison, owner, MET Press / Modern English Tanka Press 443-559-2776 Email to dmg@themetpress.com www.themetpress.com ###

Haibun Today (June 2010) is now online

2010-05-28T23:12:00Z

ANNOUNCEMENT: Haibun Today (June 2010) is now online.

The summer quarterly issue of Haibun Today is now online for your reading pleasure at http://haibuntoday.com

Contributors to the current issue include Hortensia Anderson, Owen Bullock, Anton Capri, Glenn G. Coats, David Cobb, Tish Davis, Cherie Hunter Day, Charles Hansmann, Jeffrey Harpeng, Michele L. Harvey, Keith Heiberg, Graham High, Ruth Holzer, Marleen Hulst, Roger Jones, Bob Lucky, Mary Mageau, Johannes Manjrekar, Francis Masat, Renée Owen, Dru Philippou, Patricia Prime, Ray Rasmussen, Bruce Ross, Cynthia Rowe, Mark Smith, Richard Straw, Diana Webb and Theresa Williams.

Writers are now invited to submit haibun and articles for consideration in the September 2010 issue of Haibun Today. Consult our Submission Guidelines at Haibun Today. Forward any submissions by email to Jeffrey Woodward, Editor, at haibun.today@gmail.com

Dr. Angelee Deodhar’s Hindi-English translation of David Lanoue’s The Distant Mountain: The Life and Haiku of Kobayashi Issa

2010-05-23T02:44:00Z

The Distant Mountain: The Life and Haiku of Kobayashi Issa by David B. Lanoue, bilingual Hindi-English edition, translated and published by Angelee Deodhar, Chandigarh, India, 2009. Trade paperback, 202 pages, perfect bound, 5½" x 8½", B&W interior, full color exterior.

Price Information: $10.00 USD postpaid ($5 for the book and $5 for postage).

Contact Information:
Dr. Angelee Deodhar
1224, Sector 42-B
Chandigarh 160036, India Email: angeleedeodhar@gmail.com

I have had the great fortune to receive a copy of the estimable Dr. Angelee Deodhar’s newest Hindi-English book, her translation of David Lanoue’s The Distant Mountain: The Life and Haiku of Kobayashi Issa. This is an exquisite book in English (the haiku translations also are by Dr. David G. Lanoue, Professor of English at Xavier University of Louisiana) and so it is simply wonderful that it is now available to Hindi readers, and in a lovely edition, at that! In her acknowledgments, the translator notes that this is her sixth Hindi-English haiku book "and the first of its kind about Issa not only in India but also in the world." Dr. Deodhar further explains, "The idea is to expose the bilingual Indian poet to the poetry of the Japanese masters."

The Distant Mountain includes a very informative Introduction and Chronology prefacing the expertly selected haiku in five traditional seasonal sections: "New Year," "Spring," "Summer," "Autumn," and "Winter." The volume’s verso pages are in English with the Hindi translations on the facing recto pages. Very helpful notes are included with many of the haiku. As a lover of Issa’s haiku, I consider this a most valuable work. What a treasure this bilingual edition is for Hindi readers!

I recommend this book wholeheartedly. While this is seminal work in Hindi, it is also a very fine book for English readers. When I sat down to read it, I did not rise until I had finished it. It is a most enjoyable book and, for those unfamiliar with Issa’s haiku, it is a great introduction.

Denis M. Garrison

NOTE: Please feel free to share this review and post it on other websites. DMG, reviewer

Home to Ballygunge: Kolkata Tanka by William Hart, Published by MET Press

2010-05-21T02:52:00Z

DATE: May 2 , 2010 PRESS RELEASE For Immediate Release

Home to Ballygunge: Kolkata Tanka by William Hart portrays the poet’s Indian family and their city with accuracy, insight, and a bit of magic. Hart’s poems and stories have appeared in several hundred journals, newspapers and anthologies, including most periodicals that feature English-language haiku or tanka. Readers will be charmed by this new collection of tanka poetry.

Baltimore, Maryland – May 2, 2010 –Home to Ballygunge: Kolkata Tanka by William Hart, has been published as a pocket paperback by MET Press of Baltimore, Maryland. Preparations for the book were begun inadvertently in the summer of 1986, when William Hart married his graduate school girlfriend in Kolkata (Calcutta at that time) and met several hundred of his new Bengali relatives. Return visits to India in the years since have convinced Hart that he does indeed have a home in the largely middle-class district of Ballygunge. In writing the poems, Hart tried to portray his Indian family and their city with accuracy, insight, and a bit of magic, as the subjects require. The sixty poems in the cycle borrow from the Japanese waka or tanka for their form.

William Hart’s poems and stories have appeared in several hundred journals, newspapers and anthologies, including most periodicals that feature English-language haiku or tanka. Nine of Hart’s poetry collections have been published, along with two well-received novels. One of his haiku collections, Paris, won a Merit Book Award from the Haiku Society of America in 1996. Hart also produces documentary films with his wife for PBS. Website at http://home.earthlink.net/~hartsarts.

Reviewers’ comments on Hart’s earlier books about South Asia:

Monsoon (Timberline Press, 1991)

"Bash would have approved of Mr. Hart’s Monsoon, for it is a traveller’s book of haiku that shares with the reader the author’s common and extra-ordinary experiences had during his journey from Kathmandu to Calcutta, Hyderabad and Bombay." —Kevin Bailey, Haiku Quarterly

"Moments of sheer revulsion and delicate beauty clearly express the earthiness and spiritual immensity of India and Nepal. The reader is momentarily swept into the vast and minute universe of Vishnu." —Ebba Story, Frogpond

Rabindra Sarobar (effing press, 2005)

"I love the literary snapshots of [Kolkata] in motion—the homeless, the bicycles, chickens headed for market, car horns—the vast clattering babble of the city’s streets." —John Berbrich, Barbaric Yawp

"Hart’s writing is wonderful and makes something beautiful out of horrible realities . . . . Recommended highly for its excellent poetic qualities and provocative subject matter." —Melody Sherosky, The Blind Man’s Rainbow

About the Author:

William Hart is a poet and fiction writer living in Los Angeles. During college and after, he worked in several states at a variety of labor jobs. He then earned a doctorate in English from the University of Southern California and taught college writing courses in LA. Presently he writes books and produces documentaries with his wife, Bengali filmmaker Jayasri Majumdar Hart. William Hart has published nine poetry collections and two well-received novels. Four poetry collections were haiku, and one of those, Paris, received a Merit Book Award from the Haiku Society of America in 1996. His poems and stories have appeared in several hundred journals, newspapers and anthologies, including most English-language periodicals that publish haiku or tanka. Two feature documentaries from Hartfilms played nationally on PBS and one of them, "Sisters of Selma," received regional Emmy nominations. See Bill’s website at home.earthlink.net/~hartsarts for more.

For media inquiries or to arrange an interview with the author, contact William Hart by e-mail at HartsArts@earthlink.net. Publisher information at: www.themetpress.com.

This book is available from www.Lulu.com/modernenglishtanka. Information is available online at www.themetpress.com Price: $11.95 USD. ISBN 978-1-935398-17-2. Pocket paperback. 72 pages, 4.25" x 6.87", perfect binding, 50# / 75gsm white interior paper, black and white interior ink, 100# / 270 gsm exterior paper, full-color exterior ink.

About MET Press:

MET Press (Modern English Tanka Press) is an independent publishing house in Baltimore, Maryland, dedicated to producing work of lasting literary value, especially fine verse. A family business, we treat our customers and partners in publishing like family. We use modern print-on-demand production and distribution methods. Our special mission is to promote the tanka form of poetry and to educate newcomers about this most ancient poetic form.

Contact: Denis M. Garrison, owner, MET Press / Modern English Tanka Press
443-559-2776 Email to dmg@themetpress.com www.themetpress.com

Double Take: Response Tanka, by Sonja Arntzen and Naomi Beth Wakan, Published by MET Press

2010-05-21T02:47:00Z

DATE: May 17 , 2010 PRESS RELEASE For Immediate Release

Double Take: Response Tanka, by Sonja Arntzen and Naomi Beth Wakan is an extraordinary collection of responsive tanka. Michael Dylan Welch says, "You will surely come back to these poems for a closer reading, returning to each collaborative pairing to dwell in their candor, their echoes, their surprising turns, their drinking in of all it means to be alive." Angela Leuck writes, "Like the pleasure of a lingering, afternoon tea party, Double Take is a book that you’ll want to read slowly and savour." Beverley George says, "Double Take demonstrates the power of the compressed poem to delight and satisfy an attentive reader."

Baltimore, Maryland – May 17, 2010 –Double Take: Response Tanka, by Sonja Arntzen and Naomi Beth Wakan, has been published as a trade paperback by MET Press of Baltimore, Maryland. It is an extraordinary project, best described in the words of the authors, themselves.

"For many years, as part of teaching courses on classical Japanese literature, I created and participated in exercises where the students and I would write poems in English but in Japanese forms like haiku and tanka as a way to deepen our appreciation of Japanese poetry. It was only after coming to live on Gabriola Island that I shifted toward writing tanka as means of expressing my experience for its own sake. One catalyst was subscribing to a fledgling tanka journal Gusts started by a friend, Kozue Uzawa, which provided a venue for tanka submissions. The other catalyst was becoming friends with Naomi Beth Wakan, the well-known haiku poet and inspired provocateur of writing in others. Naomi involved me in workshops, where she taught haiku and I taught tanka. Naomi herself took up the tanka form enthusiastically. Recently, Naomi acquired a book of tanka poetry written by two Australian poets, Amelia Fielden and Kathy Kituai entitled In Two Minds, a book of what they called ‘responsive tanka.’ To have two short poems create a conversation with each other brought a whole new dimension into the presentation of tanka in English. Reading the book with delight, I mentioned to Naomi that we could try exchanging tanka for fun. ‘We certainly could and we’ll make a book out of it!’ was her response. Before I knew it, she had the book all planned out. Naomi is the only person I know who considers the writing of poetry seriously as a livelihood. And thus, this book was born. [ . . . ] The first poem on the page is the poem that launches the conversation, the second poem replies. We have taken turns with supplying the first poem. Sometimes the link between two paired tanka is by a single word, sometimes by shared subject, imagery, or tone. Sometimes the link is close, other times it is distant. Always between the two poems there is a resonance that expands the meaning beyond the sum of the two separate poems." —Sonja Arntzen, Introduction

"I had written in the disciplined form of haiku for many years. Resting in the senses of the moment, there is no room for past, future, emotions, ideas or metaphors in haiku, although these are often wrapped up implicitly inside. When I turned to tanka, with its total freedom, I felt a strange liberation. Yet tanka, the poetry that has been written for the longest continuous time of any form, has its own deep traditions. Originally songs to the gods in Japan, tanka moved on to being used for communication between friends and lovers. So, staying within these parameters, I trust my tanka have the intimacy of the confessional, along with the awe of things still unknown. For after all, I feel it is best to understand the universe by first studying the things close at hand and everyday. So I hope the simplicity and immediacy of haiku linger on in the familiar images I have chosen for my tanka."—Naomi Beth Wakan, Afterword

Critical Comment about Double Take:

"These tanka are worthy of a double take. You will surely come back to these poems for a closer reading, returning to each collaborative pairing to dwell in their candor, their echoes, their surprising turns, their drinking in of all it means to be alive. These call-and-response poems by Sonja Arntzen and Naomi Beth Wakan offer a fluid and fulfilling tanka dance." —Michael Dylan Welch, founder of the Tanka Society of America

"In their series of responsive tanka, experienced Gabriola Island writers, Sonja Arntzen and Naomi Beth Wakan, share their daily observations and musings, disappointments and joys. Like the pleasure of a lingering, afternoon tea party, Double Take is a book that you’ll want to read slowly and savour." —Angela Leuck, author of Flower Heart: Haiku

"This collection of paired lyrical responses embraces the linking dynamics that are a hallmark of traditional Japanese poetry. Such linking has the potential to increase the resonance of each poem in the way that an empathetic conversation can extend our understanding of human experience. As in any worthwhile conversation, neither voice dominates. Pauses for reflection are shown physically by the generous white spaces around each poem. Double Take demonstrates the power of the compressed poem to delight and satisfy an attentive reader." —Beverley George, Editor: Eucalypt: a tanka journal

About the Authors:

Sonja Arntzen The translation of poems written in Chinese by the Japanese Zen monk Ikky S jun (1394-1481) absorbed Sonja Arntzen for twenty years and resulted in the publication of Ikky and the Crazy Cloud Anthology (Tokyo University Press, 1986). Also drawn to the vast body of work produced by Japanese women writers in the 10^th and 11^th centuries, she has published a translation of a 10^th C. woman’s journal, The Kager Diary (University of Michigan, 1997). Retired from teaching at the University of Toronto, she is working on various translations and a history of Japanese women’s writing, along with writing poetry and doing a lot of gardening.

Naomi Beth Wakan has written over thirty-five books, including Haiku - one breath poetry, (Heian International). Recent titles are Segues, Late Bloomer - on writing later in life, Compositions: notes on the written word, and Book Ends – a year between the covers, all from Wolsak and Wynn. Her writing workshops inspire and empower the novice writer. Naomi is a member of Haiku Canada, Tanka Canada, The League of Canadian Poets, and Poetry Gabriola. Her poetry and essays have been printed in numerous magazines including Geist, Room of One's Own, Moonset, Resurgence and Red Lights. She lives on Gabriola Island with her husband, the sculptor, EliasWakan.

For media inquiries or to arrange an interview with the authors, contact Sonja Arntzen by e-mail at sonja.arntzen@utoronto.ca and Naomi Beth Wakan, also by e-mail, at naomi@naomiwakan.com. Publisher information at: www.themetpress.com.

This book is available from www.Lulu.com/modernenglishtanka. Information is available online at www.themetpress.com Price: $15.00 USD. ISBN 978-1-935398-19-6. Trade paperback. 88 pages, 6" x 9", perfect binding, 60# cream interior paper, black and white interior ink, 100# exterior paper, full-color exterior ink.

About MET Press:

Contact: Denis M. Garrison, owner, MET Press / Modern English Tanka Press,
443-559-2776 Email to dmg@themetpress.com www.themetpress.com