Alan Summers haiku in The Temple Bell Stops: Contemporary Poems of Grief, Loss and Change (Modern English Tanka Press 2012) Ed. Robert Epstein

The Temple Bell Stops: Contemporary Poems of Grief, Loss and Change (Modern English Tanka Press 2012) Ed. Robert Epstein

I was honoured to be invited to have my haiku included in this anthology, here is one of my haiku.


the rain
almost a friend
this funeral

 
Alan Summers



This haiku has connected with so many people and I feel privileged that it has been published and anthologised so many times.


Other publications, and original publication include:
Azami #28 (Japan 1995); Snapshots 4 (1998); First Australian online Anthology (October 1999): Blithe Spirit article On minimalism and other things  DJ Peel Vol 9 No.3 (1999); tempslibre (2001 & 2010); Cornell University, Mann Library, U.S.A. "Daily Haiku" (Oct 2001); The Omnibus Anthology, haiku and senryu  (Hub Editions Hub Haiku series 2001); Hidden (British Haiku Society Anthology 2002); The New Haiku (Snapshot Press, 2002); First Australian Haiku Anthology (2003); Seven Magazine feature: “Three lines of simple beauty”  (2006); Blogging Along Tobacco Road: Alan Summers - Three Questions (2010); Travelogue on World Haiku Festival 2002 , Part 2  (Akita International Haiku Network 2010); THFhaiku app for iPhone/iPad/iPod Touch (2011); The In-Between Season (With Words Pamphlet Series 2012)

Award credits:
Highly Commended, Haiku Collection Competition, (Snapshot Press 1998)
Joint 9th Best of Issue, Snapshot Five (1999)


From the publishers:

Young or old, healthy or sick, wealthy or poor, sooner or later all of us face losses in our lives. Whether these losses are big or small, they affect us and leave their mark. At the center of grief over the death of a loved one, job loss, financial hardship, divorce, miscarriage, and changes due to aging is a hardy seed of renewal.

As the poets in this collection attest, grief, sorrow and acceptance serve as a bridge between the past and future—a thread of love and courage that restores wholeness and continuity. Pause with the poets here in the present moment who happen upon a door that only looks closed but opens again and again to the Eternal Now—where departed loved ones and new possibilities await us.

Haiku helps to contain our grief and gently returns it to Nature, wherein true healing takes place. As such, haiku (and its related forms) can be considered the poetry of full catastrophe living, which points the way forward to the recovery of ordinary awe.

The Temple Bell Stops: Contemporary Poems of Grief, Loss and Change (Modern English Tanka Press 2012) 

Ed. Robert Epstein


Product Details
ISBN 9781935398301
Publisher Modern English Tanka Press
Pages 256
Binding Perfect-bound Paperback
Interior Ink Black & white
Weight 0.44 kg
Dimensions (centimetres) 15.24 wide x 22.86 tall

Merit Book Awards for 2013 (for books published in 2012)

The Haiku Society of America is pleased to announce the winners of the 2013 Kanterman Book Awards, for books published in 2012, judged by Paul MacNeil and Paul Miller.

Best Anthology

Robert Epstein, ed. The Temple Bell Stops: Contemporary Poems of Grief, Loss and Change. Baltimore, MD: Modern English Tanka Press, 2012. 256 pages, perfectbound, 6 x 9 inches. ISBN 978-1-9353983-0-1. $19.95. 

Epstein’s interest in the multiple sides of loss isn’t an interest in masochism; rather, he is interested in the courageous ways people confront a part of life that is completely natural. There are many kinds of loss, from simple goodbyes to the death of a loved one, and everything in between, and this volume contains them all. Life-affirming rather than morbid.

http://www.hsa-haiku.org/meritbookawards/meritbookawards2013.htm


Sadly the book appears unavailable now, but you can visit his page at:

https://www.amazon.com/Robert-Epstein/e/B00NH59UYW/ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_1?qid=1520243782&sr=8-1
amp

and

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Robert-Epstein/e/B00NH59UYW/ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_8?qid=1520243836&sr=1-8