The Ending Hasn't Happened Yet: A Theatrical Experience - Every Body Has a Story, May 7th and 8th, 2022

Two nights of unique virtual performances, presented by The Story Shepherds: Harper Hendrickson, Lana Phillips, Elizabeth Meade and Laura Hope-Gill. Based on the anthology The Ending Hasn't Happened Yet, edited by Hannah Soyer and published by Sable Books.

Director's Statement:

"Being and becoming Disabled fills a life as much as it creates challenges. This theatrical production, using as texts poems from the anthology The Ending Hasn't Happened Yet, edited by Hannah Soyer, presents the stories of being in a body that walks by or doesn't speak clearly, unaware of its own precarious normalcy. When we speak of our bodies, we speak of all aspects of life that they hold. These glimpses of life with disability reveal passion, love, grief, joy, beauty and humor through an unfiltered lens. We are disabled. Our entire lives are a creative process. Every body has a story."

—Laura Hope-Gill, deaf

Afflicted

as if I were

this ash-filled burl,

black veins

of decay winding through

my body like a river

hares boxing

in the flush of dawn . . .

it seems

impossible to defeat

an opponent I can't see

a raven

believed it could fly

through me

unaware that I am glass,

pretending to be sky

I have learned

how to keep silent . . .

these pebbles

under my tongue

seasoned with rue

Publication Credits

1st verse: Commended Tanka, Mandy's Pages, The Burning Issue 2020 Tanka Contest

2nd verse: Red Lights 15.2, June 2019

3rd verse: 3rd Place, 2020 San Francisco Int'l Competition for Haiku, Senryu and Tanka

4th verse: Cattails, April 2021

The Ending Hasn't Happened Yet, Sable Books 2022

Proceeds from sales of this book will go to Zoeglossia - A Community for POETS with Disabilities.

My thanks to the editor, Hannah Soyer, for including the following tanka sequence in this anthology:

Afflicted

as if I were

this ash-filled burl,

black veins

of decay winding through

my body like a river

hares boxing

in the flush of dawn . . .

it seems

impossible to defeat

an opponent I can't see

a raven

believed it could fly

through me

unaware that I am glass,

pretending to be sky

I have learned

how to keep silent . . .

these pebbles

under my tongue

seasoned with rue

Publication Credits

1st verse: Commended Tanka, Mandy's Pages, The Burning Issue 2020 Tanka Contest

2nd verse: Red Lights 15.2, June 2019

3rd verse: 3rd Place, 2020 San Francisco Int'l Competition for Haiku, Senryu and Tanka

4th verse: Cattails, April 2021

Poetry Pea: A Pea TV Reading, October 2021

The Haiku Pea Podcast

Series 4, Episode 19 - "Happy Haiku Birthday" - October 4, 2021

Grateful to Patricia McGuire for inviting me (accompanied by my husband) to read from my book, The Language of Loss: Haiku & Tanka Conversations, the winner of the Sable Books 2019 International Women's Haiku Book Contest. This book also received an Honourable Mention in the Haiku Society of America Merit Book Awards for 2021 (for books published in 2020)!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qhnp06XN61I

Haiku Society of America, Merit Book Awards, 2021

Thrilled to have received an Honourable Mention in the Haiku Society of America Merit Book Awards for 2021 (for books published in 2020) for The Language of Loss: Haiku & Tanka Conversations (Sable Books 2020).

https://sablebooks.org/the-language-of-loss/

My thanks to judges Ce Rosenow and Bryan Rickert for their lovely comments:

"True to its name, The Language of Loss explores the many facets of loss and survival using both haiku and tanka. One haiku and one tanka are paired beautifully on every page. Never predictable and always revealing, this book delivers consistent quality from start to finish."

This book was also the winner of the 2019 Sable Books International Women's Haiku Book Contest, judged by Roberta Beary, esteemed author of The Unworn Necklace and Deflection.

 

Sable Books - 2019 International Women's Haiku Book Contest

Overall Winner - Debbie Strange

The Language of Loss: Haiku & Tanka Conversations

I offer my gratitude to Roberta Beary, judge of the 2019 Sable Books Haiku Book Contest for Women, for her sensitive and insightful reading of The Language of Loss: Haiku & Tanka Conversations, and for her generous commentary. It is an honour beyond measure to receive the first place award from an esteemed writer I so admire.

My appreciation is also extended to accomplished writers Kala Ramesh and Christina Sng, for their support during the pre-reading process.

Thank you to John Barlow, editor of Snapshot Press, for his encouraging note regarding an earlier version of the tanka portion of this manuscript.

I am indebted to the Sable books team for administering this contest, and for their dedication to the promotion of diverse voices.


Judge Roberta Beary's commentary:

"These exquisite poems illuminate the skill of the author in pairing haiku and tanka in conversation, one page at a time. On one page, the long ago past talks to the recent past. On another, the sorrow of the natural world is juxtaposed with that of the human world.

The Language of Loss contains tanka and haiku of exceptional quality. But it is the remarkable way in which the poet links tanka and haiku that elevated The Language of Loss into the winner's circle. The poems on each page come together in a conversation of many layers. That these conversations will deepen and change for each reader is due to the author's expertise. I am delighted to congratulate Debbie Strange on her winning collection."