Sunday, February 04, 2018

Incense Dreams, Issue 1.3 - Shadow and Light, December 2017

Cha No Keburi - Italian Blog of Haiku, Senryu and Short Poetry


Translated by Lucia Fontana


bird shadows
the play of light
on water


snowlight
outside my window
a flurry of finches


our names
escape her
fireflies


moon rays
between conifers
sifting snow


mixed clouds
the light and dark
of mood swings


supercell
a rainbow shows
its dark side

Featured Photographer

This series, "The Other Side of Light", explores the light that is found in the shadows of photographic negatives. These dreamlike images embody the idea that "there is more to life than meets the eye"!









Shadow and Light Video Anthology
(cover photo)










United Haiku and Tanka Society, Fleeting Words Tanka Competition, 2017

Seedpods - December 2017 (e-newsletter of the UHTS)

Message from Alan Summers - UHTS President


I am delighted and honoured to announce the results for the UHTS 'Fleeting Words' Tanka Competition.

The competition received 227 entries by poets from across the globe which was judged by David Terelinck. Everything was superbly coordinated by Marianna Monaco (USA) with unstinted dedication and patience. Note: Marianna made entries anonymous to send to the judge but the winners' names are given in this report. Please enjoy the winning entries and commentaries by the judge, David Terelinck (Australia).


the growth rings
of otoliths and trees . . .
when did she
become smaller
than her daughters

2nd Place

This tanka also has an effective metaphor for conveying change in just 20 syllables. Again, it is a tanka of satisfying construction that builds line by line to a solid conclusion. There are many ways to interpret this poem. We usually associate growth rings with maturity and coming of age; but there are several ways to grow older, yet become smaller in life and outlook. We do not know if the poet is implying smallness in physical stature, social situation, or spirituality and compassion.

The social context and times in which we read poetry will often influence our appreciation of the poem, and its impact upon us. This judge is no exception. At the moment Australia is going through a debate on changing the legislation to allow for same-sex couples to marry. This has seen, in some quarters, a schism of conflicting views between parent and child in terms of marriage equality. New generations can often have a larger world view of compassion and equality, and overtake their parents in challenging outdated notions. In this way, their views can grow to be "bigger" than the parent who raised them.


the pair bonds
of prairie voles . . .
she asks
if he used to be
her husband

3rd Place

A beautiful and fresh look at the anguish and pain associated with Alzheimer's disease. Just 15 words and 17 syllables to convey such depth of meaning.

Prairie voles monogamously mate for life. Even when one dies, the remaining vole is unlikely to take a new mate. This is a touching metaphor for the fading memory between this woman and her husband. We do not know if the woman is in an aged care facility or still living at home. What we do sense is the commitment to the relationship; he is either visiting, or still with her. Despite what memory and disease has taken away, the pair bonds for this couple remain strong. And a glimmer of this shines through in her faint recognition of him and her question.


the architecture
of impending storms . . .
every cloud
that hangs over me
has a given name

Honourable Mention
.

The Cherita, Book 6, October 2017

Issue: "let it rain" (honoured to have the title taken from my poem)


let it rain

yes, I know
you have been waiting

but here we are
inside this night,
alive with coming storms

A Cherita Lighthouse Award

World Haiku Association, December 2017

159th Monthly Haiga Contest





VerseWrights, 2017

Haiku Sequence (individual poems previously appeared in Brass Bell)


Seasons


wisteria
we step in puddles
of confetti

the hum of bees
I know every word
by heart

the bleached husk
of a small crayfish
summer wanes

ice skating
on a bluebird day
our winged feet

Stardust Haiku, Issue 13, January 2018

on the rise
a wapiti's antlers
cradle the sun

Stardust Haiku, Issue 12, December 2017

night harvest
the chaff of stars
in Dad's hair

Scryptic - Magazine of Alternative Art, Issue 1.3, December 2017






Otata, Issue 25, January 2018

brambles morph into resting stags morph into brambles


after the wildfires invisible sunspots visible


strung between a whale's bleached bones aurora


blue sky etched with gulls suspended animation


watersongs the differing frequencies of stones


NHK World TV, Japan, January 2018

Haiku Masters Online Gallery




(note: NHK holds copyright)


NeverEnding Story, January 2018

Translated into Chinese by Chen-ou Liu


cloudless sky
a pelican's pouch
full of light


Editors' Choices
The Heron's Nest, 18:2, June 2016


Chen-ou Liu's comments:

A moment is keenly captured in Debbie's pelican haiku through the cinematic aerial shot technique, and Ls 2 and 3 leave enough room for reader's engagement.

NeverEnding Story, January 2018

Translated into Chinese by Chen-ou Liu


two deep valleys
in a mountain's shadow
village children
pleading at day's end
for one more shaft of light


Certificate of Merit
8th International Tanka Festival Competition


Chen-ou Liu's comments:

A glimpse of village life is keenly captured in this deceptively simple, imagistic tanka.

Moonbathing, Issue 17, Fall/Winter 2017

seed pearls
dangle from the bodice
of her gown,
yellowed now with age
and broken promises

One Man's Maple Moon: 66 Selected English-Chinese Bilingual Tanka, Volume 3, 2017

Translated into Chinese by Chen-ou Liu



Featured Poet:

The daily practice of crafting tanka is akin to writing lyrics. It connects me more closely to the natural world, and to myself.


Best Tanka:


migrating geese
writing cursive letters
across the sky
I finally read between
the white of your lies

Runner-up
British Haiku Society Tanka Awards, 2014/15


f i s s u r e s
and (whose) fault lines
cracking open
we try to mend the damage
of our quaking lives


Undertow Tanka Review 1, August 2014


Tanka of my choice:



the growth rings
of otoliths and trees . . .
when did she
become smaller
than her daughters

2nd Place
United Haiku and Tanka Society Fleeting Words Tanka Competition 2017


the pair bonds
of prairie voles . . .
she asks
if he used to be
her husband

3rd Place
United Haiku and Tanka Society Fleeting Words Tanka Competition 2017


the architecture
of impending storms . . .
every cloud
that hangs over me
has a given name

Honourable Mention
United Haiku and Tanka Society Fleeting Words Tanka Competition 2017






Irish Haiku Society, International Haiku Competition 2017

snowy field
the owls we thought
were stones


Honourable Mention
10th IHS, International Haiku Competition 2017


Note:

over 300 entries judged blindly by Anatoly Kudryavitsky



Ink Sweat and Tears - The Poetry and Prose Webzine - December 2017

The Twelve Days of Christmas Feature

Twelfth Day, January 2, 2018




This haiga received the Award of Excellence for the 2015 World Haiku Association Commemorative Haiga Contest.


Hedgerow Poems, Number 122, Winter 2017

Print Edition



A Selection from Warp and Weft: Tanka Threads:


folding into me


riding pillion
my heart against
your back
we unzip the highway
at the velocity of night


delivered
to your opening door
in mason jars
of wild plums and fireflies
you hold me in your hands


crossing over
the bridge of sighs
I felt you
folding into me
folding into prayer


The following haiga incorporates my 3rd place winning poem in the 2014 Hortensia Anderson Awards administered by the United Haiku and Tanka society:





The following poem is my contribution to the collaborative sequence of haiku, a stairway to the stars, written with Steve Hodge, Simon Hanson, Ron C. Moss, and Caroline Skanne:


frost-spun
a spider's web
unravels me








Haigaonline, January 2018

First Light: New Year's Exhibition


Wintering


The beauty of winter inspires me, and the long, cold nights are perfect for introspection and creativity. There is a quiet magic to this season of sundogs, hoarfrost and northern lights. Shadows inked upon snow are nothing less than poems.








Gnarled Oak, Issue 14, December 2017




Frameless Sky, Issue 7, December 2017

dense fog
the softened beacon
of an ambulance


howling wind
the clothesline billows
with ghosts


goblins . . .
leaves skitter down
the alley


vampire moon . . .
the blood orange
you gave me
grows sweeter
with every bite

Failed Haiku - A Journal of English Senryu,Vol. 3, Issue 25, January 2018

Retrospective Issue
 (with comments by the Editor, Mike Rehling)



wind quintet
the circular breathing
of our lives


"The wonderful symphony of our lives. The music of our breaths is in the tight sounds of a quintet for this poem. You don't need a hundred people to make a life, the few that we have and hold dear can make the most dramatic sounds that carry our heart. I love the thought behind this, and it makes a wonderful subject for a 'short poem'."





"The movement of light, in any occurrence, is always a miracle of change. That is even more powerfully on display at sunset. If I would correct the poet I would only say that light has no 'lines', but then the poem says just that more eloquently. No correction required. The image demonstrates the openness of light in all its wavelengths. This haiga is a lesson in art and astrophysics. Reminding us of the beauty of change and the variety in nature in the image drives home multiple layers of the poem."




Eucalypt, Issue 23, December 2017

secrets rise
from murky depths
into light . . .
this is the way
of water lilies


the fragility
of glass sponge reefs . . .
after all this time,
we learn something new
about each other

Daily Haiku, Charlotte Digregorio's Writer's Blog, December 2017

glassy lake
flocks of snow geese
pull up the moon


1st Place
Autumn Moon Haiku Contest, 2017

Ekphrasis, British Haiku Society Members' Anthology 2017

pinto horses
among the birch trees . . .
we look deeper

Bottle Rockets, Vol. 19, Number 2 (or #38), February 2018

goldfinch
one petal remains
on the cosmos

Blithe Spirit, Vol. 27, Number 4, November 2017

negative spaces the migrating silhouettes of geese


the patina
of age on her hands . . .
she brushes
thinning memories
until they shine


(encased)
in an owl's pellet
what remains
of the smallest lives
that get left behind

Autumn Moon Haiku Journal, 1:1, Fall/Winter 2017-2018

last embers . . .
bats flit between
constellations

Australian Haiku Society, 2017

Summer Solstice Haiku String, December 22, 2017


snowsongs
a wolf pack crosses
the frozen lake


solstice
northern lights dance
with the dark


snowdrift
the blue curve
of earth

Atlas Poetica Special Feature, January 2018

25 Tanka about Arthropods


a hammock
of tent caterpillars
sags with dew . . .
our differing opinions
on the nature of beauty

Asahi Haikuist Network, December 2017

New Year's Eve
frosty windows blossom
with candlelight

Akitsu Quarterly, Winter 2017

winter walk . . .
feathers of frost
in your beard


room with a view . . .
snowy elms peppered
with crows


candlemas . . .
a doe's eyelashes fringed
with light