In March of 2020, as Covid-19 began making its presence known, I wanted to find a way to share a little joy with the Twitter short-form poetry community. To that end, between March 25 and May 18, I made 50 haiga for poets whose work complemented a series of my previously published soft-focus photographs.
The #DebbieMStrangeHaigaProject on Twitter is now complete. I'm beyond grateful to every writer who participated in this welcome distraction during the first two months of the Covid-19 crisis. The positive response to these 50 collaborations, and the enthusiasm with which short-form poets (from a dozen countries) responded to my call, has been both overwhelming and gratifying. It has been an honour to share your light during these dark times.
The "Looking Softly Upon the World" blurred-image series was the art feature for the Frameless Sky DVD Journal in 2018. These photographs were created in response to my deteriorating vision, and they have been languishing ever since their publication. My sincere thanks to all for bringing new life to old work, and for making this challenge so rewarding. Most of the artworks were created for poets who do not (or rarely) make their own haiga, with a few exceptions.
I'm pleasantly surprised by how hard it is to let this project go, but the time has come for me to push myself into resuming my daily writing practice/meditation. I extend my deepest gratitude to you for lending me your words. We couldn't have done this without each other! Poets in order of their appearance on Twitter:
Beez Laine
Joyce Brudenberg
Kathabela Wilson
Alyona Schatzman
Kathleen Gresham Everett
Tanja
J Matthew Waters
Eve Castle
Jonathan Roman
Brendon Kent
Deborah P Kolodji
Linty Chim
Mark Gordon
Matte Kishor
Kim Talon
Marion S Clarke
Eufemia Griffo
Tia Haynes
Nicholas Klacsanzky
M Shane Pruett
M Kei
Debbi Antebi
Tom Clausen
Alan Summers
Chen-ou Liu
Lori Minor
Christine Villa
an'ya
Kris Lindbeck
Christina Sng
Susan Burch
Madhuri Pillai
Caroline Skanne
R D Bailey
Mike Rehling
Andrea Cecon
Julie Thorndyke
kj Munro
Bisshie
Roberta Beary
Alexis Rotella
Susan Antolin
Charlotte Digregorio
Julie Boss Kelsey
Kala Ramesh
Stanford Forrester
Robin Anna Smith
Christina Chin
Hifsa Ashraf
Paul Chambers
The entire collection may be viewed by scrolling through the media section of my Twitter timeline, or by searching for the #DebbieMStrangeHaigaProject on Twitter. The photographs that were used for the haiga may be accessed under the Frameless Sky tag on this blog.
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