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* Dogwood Blossoms -- Volume 1, Issue 3 -- Early July '93 *
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* editor: Gary Warner: (GLWARNER@SAMFORD.BITNET) *
* assistant editors: Matt Burke: (burke@beta.math.wsu.edu) *
* Nori Matsui: (NORIM@EARLHAM.BITNET) *
* special consultant: Gary Gach: (ggach@pandora.sf.ca.us) *
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Dogwood Blossoms, is an at-least-monthly publication of the
Internet community. The goal of this digest is to be a place
where Haiku can be shared and discussed with other lovers of the
art. Submissions are encouraged, both of original work,
published work by other authors, and comments and critiques of
works in previous issues. Articles of "short essay" length are
also welcome.
When you subscribe, please volunteer any haiku you would like to
see discussed, indicating if it is published or original...
also, if you would like to serve on the "editorial board" please
indicate so, or if you can serve as a translator for non-English
submissions (which are welcome) please indicate so.
If you are a list owner, and feel that this digest would make an
appropriate posting on your list, please send me a note
indicating so. In this issue:
I. Administrivia (you're there now!)
II. "A Look out My Window" -- haiku by our Subscribers
III. "My Job" -- haiku by our Subscribers
IV. Other original Haiku by our subscribers
V. Selected Haiku by Natsume Souseki
VI. Assignments for Future Issues . . .
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II. "A Look out My Window" -- original haiku by our subscribers
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(Gar-note: making the editorial call, I believe these haiku
to be more interesting WITHOUT explanation, and
have ommitted all narration. Sorry if this offends
anyone. Read and Experience.)
From: Tom Frenkel
muggy, thunderstorm
letting all the anger out
now comes clarity
From: Andreas Schoter
Crook-winged cruisers glide,
White against a fading sky,
Sailing coastal winds.
From: Debbie Blohm 's wife
sad lonely widow
tending late husband's garden
memories of love
roses growing in
a beautiful arch of red
tugging at my heart
From: Gary Warner
Singing cardinal
Hidden in pine branches
There! A streak of red!
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III. "My Job" -- original haiku by our subscribers
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From: "Robert M. Perry"
SYSTEM MANAGER
The system crashed again
the fault light glows angstfully
soon my phone will ring
From: Debbie Blohm 's wife
never ending job
lover, peacemaker, planner
being wife and mom
chauffeur, laundress, chef
gardener, diaperer
blissfully happy
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III. Original Haiku by Our Subscribers
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From: NORIM@EARLHAM.BITNET
1.Kitsutsuki no Busy woodpeckers
ookesutora hibiku orchestrating sounds
kyanpasu nai in the campus
2.Souchou to With the President
kaerikuru haiuei coming home on the highway
natsuno yoru a summer night
From: Gary Warner
Each footstep echoed
by a splash near sunning rocks
Nervous turtles!
From: Mykel Board
on the library step
the young secretary reads
Decoding Your Dreams.
From: Bill Blohm
The following two haiku, written against a challenge by a friend,
and submitted under the request for original work, a bit
of history. I am deaf. A friend challenged me to write a poem
or series of poems that describe several aspects of deafness in a
hearing world. One of these that I am working on deals
exclusively with music. I decided to attempt two preliminary
haiku on this subject. While I will welcome comments, I will pay
no attention to any criticism unless they are by totally deaf
people.
A Family Get-Together
Family gathers,
Talk, laughter, children. squeals, food...
my lonely silence.
Music
Emotional sound...
Spiritual rampages...
I weep, not hearing.
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V. Selected Haiku by Natsume Souseki
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(Gar-note: We are so grateful for the translations and comments
of Nori Matsui. Thanks for your work, Nori!)
By Natsume Souseki (All english translations are by Nori Matsui)
(beautiful and youthful)
1.Wakakusa ya Oh, green grass,
mizu no shitataru dripping water from
shijimi kago a basket of corbicula
(made by projecting himself into the cicadas)
2.Nakitatete Loud calls of
tsukutsuku boushi small cicadas,
shinuru hi zo nearing their last day
(about 1897)
(made by looking at himself from a distance )
(Natsume was suffering from nervousbreak-down,)
(ulcer in stomach, and pain & hemmorage. )
3.Akikaze ya Autumn wind!
hibi no iritaru a fissure cracked into
i no fukuro my stomach wall
(about 1910)
(In a Bhuddist temple, probably alone, hitting once)
(a wooden fish-gong, it spews a surprised mosquito )
(which probably was asleep. )
(Humorous but lazy, on a summer afternoon. )
4.tatakarete By being beaten
hiru no ka wo haku spews out a day mosquito
mokugyo kana a wooden fish-gong
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VII. Assignments for Future Issues
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Thanks to all who submitted things for this special all-haiku
issue! The next issue, which will be out late July, will be
especially on the idea of 17 syllable vs. "short" haiku. There
are a few assignments regarding the same. Thanks for the response
to previous assignments. If you have something you would like to
see people write about, please suggest it!
Assignments:
1a. Should English Haiku have 17 syllables? Much debate has passed
on this issue. Some authors use significantly less, others
"around" 17, and others always 17. What do you think, and why?
Well-thought essays will be printed intact, thoughts and comments
of our subscribers will be combined in a special section.
1b. Write an original haiku, following a strict syllable count,
rewrite on the same topic, using the most brief form that you
feel captures the same thoughts with pleasing sound. We will
have the two forms critiqued and compared. (If you would like
to volunteer to work on this, let me know!)
1c. Published examples of "shorter" haiku are welcome. If you can
find published 17-syllable haiku on the same topics these pairs
would be of even greater interest.
2. Original work. All submissions are welcome, to be included in
a future issue. Haiku, or articles about haiku are always
welcome.
3. Published work. Find a Haiku collection at your library, and
share with us some particularly striking works you find. If
you would like, find several by a single author, or several
on a single theme and send them together for a special section.
4. Send us a short note, telling what you thought of issue 3, or
responding to any of the Haiku that were included in this issue.
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