New book review of Does Fish-God Know haiku collection by Alan Summers

composite image by Dawn Gorman: http://www.dawngorman.co.uk/WordsEarsPage.html

 

 

Review by Paul David Mena

I've been meaning to write to tell you how much I've enjoyed "Does Fish-God Know", but I keep reading it over and over again and getting a slightly different impression each time.

I already knew how talented a poet you were, but you've elevated the art to a whole new level.

Granted, I have a bias toward urban and non-nature themes, but your ability to use language to create abstract imagery is downright enviable.

I keep coming up with different "favorites", but this one is poignant in a "classic" sort of way:

unlacing the shoe
on his sole
mud from the gravesite

and I love the irresistible menace of this one:

morning moon
I think I met the man
who kills you

and this one is surreal, but we've all thought it:

don't trust the cat
her eyes green the earth
with anti-matter

Never mind that you've used "green" as a verb in a way that seems at once fresh and natural.

I could go on, but instead I'll read it again...

Thank you for writing such a vital work.

Paul David Mena, Boston USA

Does Fish-God Know
by Alan Summers

Available through Amazon at these weblinks:
http://area17.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/does-fish-god-know-haiku-collection-by.html

Reviewer: 
Paul David Mena

Paul David Mena's blog:
http://www.extraspecialbitter.com/

a member of the Metro West Renku Association:
http://www.haikupoet.com/mwra/




tenement landscapes: English language haiku by an American poet 

This is a collection of haiku written by American poet Paul David Mena, with the Japanese translation; a bilingual book.

"tenement landscapes" is Paul's first book in which he cut out and described the landscapes of New York and people's daily life seen through tenement houses, lightly and sometimes cynically.

The first edition of this book was published in September, 2001,  just after September 11.

The author says, "I was raw with emotion and frankly had a tough time writing about it."

But he was able to look at the event objectively and could finally write about it, New York, again.



We added a haiku which he wrote after the event, in December 2010, in this book. 
(Web Press Happa-no-Kofu, non-profit translation project and literary and art publisher since 2000, based in Japan.)
  
tenement landscapes: Links
http://www.amazon.com/tenement-landscapes-English-language-American/dp/1475298358

http://www.amazon.com/gp/customer-media/product-gallery/1475298358/ref=cm_ciu_pdp_images_0?ie=UTF8&index=0&isremote=0

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French haiku / Haiku in French translation Analysis of the Haiku structure in the work of Alan Summers (French/Français)

Analysis of the Haiku structure in the work of Alan Summers (French/Français)
by Serge Tomé, Liège, Belgium


thunder snow
the wind-shifting scent
of fox

tonnerre de neige
amenée par le vent l'odeur
du renard


haiku: Alan Summers
trans. Serge Tomé

The last element powers the haiku.

Un détail situé à la fin fait découvrir le sens réel du haiku.

Keywords

thunder snow scent fox

Structure of the haiku

Technique(s) : yugen, multisens

* yugen - Le Yugen est un concept d'esthétique japonaise qui peut se traduire par profond, mystérieux, sombre, trouble... En critique de la poésie japonaise, il exprime une subtile profondeur des choses qui sont vaguement évoquée dans le poème.

* multisens - Haïkus mettant en oeuvre des effets sur plusieurs sens (ouïe, toucher, goût, vision, odorat). Ils jouent sur le phénomème de résonance entre les sensations (Synesthésie). Cela produit en général des haïkus forts parce que physiques.

* fin - Un détail situé à la fin fait découvrir le sens réel du haiku.




Gare du Nord
the slow change of snow
on fake fur

Gare du Nord
le lent changement de la neige
sur une fourrure fausse


haiku: Alan Summers
trans. Serge Tomé


Technique(s) : xxx atmosphere S1 allusion fin juxtaposition

* xxx - Haïku ayant quelque chose d'indéfinissable qui mérite une étude plus approfondie.

* atmosphere - Quelque chose se dégage de l'ensemble des éléments composant le haïku. Un climat, une atmosphère. L'auteur ne l'explicite pas. C'est le lecteur que la reconstruit à partir de son vécu.

* allusion - Fait allusion à quelque chose supposé connu du lecteur.

* fin - Un détail situé à la fin fait découvrir le sens réel du haik.

* juxtaposition - Utilisation d'images placées côte à côte afin de faire naître un effet supérieur à celui de chaque image séparée. Il ne s'agit pas d'un effet de résonance comme dans la similitude mais plutôt d'un effet de composition comme dans un tableau ou une nature morte.

Les images juxtaposées n'ayant pas ou très peu de sèmes communs, elles composent une image globale.

Comments

L3 creates the opening at the end of this haiku having a strange atmosphere.

Juxtaposition of the "death" of the snow and the death "intended" in the fur even if it is fake. That creates the embarrassment. Why "Gare du Nord"?

All those questions increase the lifetime of this haiku in our brain.

Archetypes and dialectics
* A_Mort - Death


the night train passes
along the mountain trail
garlic snores

le train de nuit passe
sur une voie de montagne
ronflements d'ail


haiku: Alan Summers
trans. Serge Tomé
Azami #51 (Japan 1998)



Technique(s) : S21 association detail fin

* S21 - Césure en L2-L3.

* association - Images mises en association. L'interaction provient du partage d'une partie seulement des sèmes. Il n'y a pas de similitudes ou d'oppositions qui créent une dynamique. La relation est cependant plus forte que dans la juxtaposition qui place des images côte à côte sans relations sémantiques entre elles.

* detail - La force de ces haïkus réside dans un détail. Soit par son rapport avec les autres éléments ou images, soit par sa force propre. C'est lui qui joue le rôle actif et que l'on retiendra.

* fin - Un détail situé à la fin fait découvrir le sens réel du haik.

Comments

Association between the noise of snores and of the train. "Garlic" is the humorous detail that is the second "engine" of this haiku.


fighting illness-
the darkness before the light
of the new year

luttant contre la maladie -
l'obscurité avant la lumière
de l'année nouvelle

haiku: Alan Summers
trans. Serge Tomé
tempslibres (2012)


Keywords
illness New-Year light dawn darkness

Structure of the haiku

Technique(s) : association archetype absence temps-lent

* association - Images mises en association. L'interaction provient du partage d'une partie seulement des sèmes. Il n'y a pas de similitudes ou d'oppositions qui créent une dynamique. La relation est cependant plus forte que dans la juxtaposition qui place des images côte à côte sans relations sémantiques entre elles.

* archetype - Présence d'archetype(s) ayant sélectionné les images.

* absence - Le haïku est organisé autour d'un élément non nommé auquel chaque image se réfère. L'intérêt est d'économiser la place qui serait utilisée par le fait de nommer l'élément tout en disposant de l'effet qu'il produit.

Le haïku peut apparaitre comme une voûte dont l'échafaudage a été retiré. Si le haïku est bien composé, l'élément principal est absent mais tout parle de lui.

* temps-lent - Lenteur du temps.


Associations :
- entre aube et année nouvelle.
- entre aube et fin de maladie espérée.
- incertitudes de la maladie et celle de l'année qui commence.
- entre obscurité et lumière

Absence : l'inquiétude, l'incertitudeAssociations :
- entre aube et année nouvelle.
- entre aube et fin de maladie espérée.
- incertitudes de la maladie et celle de l'année qui commence.
- entre obscurité et lumière

Absence : l'inquiétude, l'incertitude

Archetypes and dialectics
* A_LumièreNuit - Light in the Night
* A_Nuit - the Night
* A_Reveil -
* D_ClairSombre - Light <> Darkness
* A_Lumière - Light






the rain
almost a friend
his funeral

la pluie
presqu'une amie
ses funérailles

la pluie
presqu'une amie
à cet enterrement


haiku: Alan Summers
trans. Serge Tomé
Azami #28 (Japan 1995)

Keywords

rain sadness death cemetery humour friend 

Structure of the haiku

Technique(s) : meteo fin avis

* meteo - Utilisation dans un segment du haïku d'une référence au temps (conditions météo) qui apporte plus que la mention du temps comme décor. La référence désigne un état du temps qui a des effets physiques (pluie froide, grêle soudaine, givre, ...) ou psychologique (ciel couvert, avis de tempête, après-midi étouffante...). Ces effets sont essentiellement ressentis via la peau (contact, température,...); ce qui relie l'auteur/lecteur au Monde (son environnement direct).

Le temps mentionné et ses effets partagent un ensemble de sèmes (brutalité, imprévisibilité, "froid", climat psychologiquement étouffant, ...) avec la situation vécue par l'auteur.

Un changement brusque et peu agréable de situation partage des sèmes (brutalité, imprévisibilité, impact) avec un orage soudain, une grêle, une averse froide. Un moment dur à vivre, une déconvenue, avec une pluie froide. Un temps couvert d'avant la pluie en partage avec un moment où l'on redoute la survenue d'événements que l'on redoute.

Bien que la meteo serve souvent de marqueur (kigo - mot de saison), il arrive qu'elle apporte plus que la simple localisation dans la saison ou la mention du contexte du moment.

* fin - Un détail situé à la fin fait découvrir le sens réel du haik.

* avis - The author tells his/her views. The speech is not neutral at the first level of reading/writing.

Comments

A folded sentence at the first glance. But a caesura L1/L2 reconstruct the classical scheme 1+2.

The explanation is at the end of the haiku. It resolves and explains the apparent non-natural association between L1L2.

Rain is used as an element of setting to create the atmoshere.

sunday lunch
the chatter of children
among hard drinkers

diner du dimanche
les bavardages des enfants
parmi les soulards


haiku: Alan Summers
trans. Serge Tomé
Editor’s Choice, Haiku Harvest: 2000 – 2006 (Modern English Tanka Press 2007)

Keywords

child alcool dinner 

Dynamic

Use of external cultural reference

Le haïku s'appuie sur un élément culturel externe bien connu du lecteur. Il y a partage d'un environnement (lieu, situation...) ou élement culturel (musique, peinture...) qui va chercher des souvenirs ou sensations dans la mémoire, le vécu du lecteur. Cela permet une grande économie de place, il ne faut rien ajouter d'autre, l'effet est produit par l'apport du lecteur.

Structure of the haiku

Technique(s) : opposition pivot culturel fin

* opposition - Images ayant un groupe de sèmes opposés. Les images sont contraires l'une de l'autre. Les sèmes opposés se regroupent cependant en dialectiques. Une dialectique est composée de sèmes contraires, comme les deux faces, pôles d'une même qualité.

Par exemple :
- le Haut et le Bas.
- l'Intérieur et l'Extérieur
- Le Grand et le Minuscule

* pivot - Use of a pivotal element making the link between the two parts of the haiku. The pivot is an elemnt of each of the two parts.

* culturel - Le haïku s'appuie sur un élément culturel externe bien connu du lecteur. Il y a partage d'un environnement (lieu, situation...) ou élement culturel (musique, peinture...) qui va chercher des souvenirs ou sensations dans la mémoire, le vécu du lecteur. Cela permet une grande économie de place, il ne faut rien ajouter d'autre, l'effet est produit par l'apport du lecteur.

* fin - Un détail situé à la fin fait découvrir le sens réel du haik.

Comments

Opposition between two parallel worlds (children <> adults).

L2 is the pivot. it can be linked to L1 and/or L3. The meaning changes with L3.

Archetypes and dialectics

* D_GrandPetit -


Other haiku translated into French by Serge Tomé.


bag of beer
snail trails leave it
from all directions

casier de bière
des traces de limaces le quittent
dans tous les sens

verse: Alan Summers
trans. Serge Tomé
WHC Renku Tournament (2002)



Permission granted to reproduce notes and analysis by Serge Tomé:
Saturday February 23, 2013 11:16 am

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Alan Summers in an interview about teaching haiku in schools, the general public enjoying haiku, going on the road during Presidential elections, and universities

Haiku News Interviews
Episode 1: Alan Summers
Interview by Laurence Stacey

We are pleased to present the Haiku News Interview Series. This project will feature monthly interviews with some of the most insightful poets in the haikai community.

The purpose of this project is to chronicle how haikai poets are using their work to engage sociopolitical issues.

Weblink:  http://haikunews.bandcamp.com/album/episode-1-alan-summers-feb-2013


Alan Summers is among the most visible poets in the haikai community. Published worldwide, his poetry has been translated into 15 languages, including part of the first Sign Language Renga.

As much a teacher as he is a poet, Alan has been involved in over 100 haikai workshops. He is also the founder of With Words, a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting literature through workshops and annual events. Alan's work in both the literature community and general public is ensuring that haikai will be appreciated by future generations.


Haiku News is an organisation that publishes authentic haiku that cover the news in an intelligent, engaging, and inclusive atmosphere.


 HAIKU NEWS say:

One of the central structures of haiku is the juxtaposition of one “image” (taking up one-line) with another “image” (taking up two-lines). From these two elements meaning is created between the two images, in the spaces between words, in what is not said rather than what is said.

Haiku poetry relies on the reader to contemplate the two images and “unfold” them, rather than simply “read” them.

Because the haiku often relies on juxtaposition there are usually a multiplicity of potential meanings which could be taken from the poem, and the reader plays a part in creating their own “meaning” from the poem.

A good haiku will make the reader a poet, while still relating a deeply private and personal experience. 

  
Haiku by Alan Summers that appear in Haiku News


the names of rain
a blackbird’s subsong
into dusk


rain on the river–
when does white become
its darkest colour


zombie debt–
the practised slice
of a bread knife


long grass nights star systems in the Big Dipper
 
[one-line haiku]



Laurence Stacey is a 26 year old college student from Powder Springs, Georgia USA. In his spare time, he is an avid student of the martial arts. Laurence is interested in promoting haiku as a teaching medium in grade schools and universities.

Haiku News Anthology

edited by Dick Whyte and Laurence Stacey 

"Since its inception in 2009, Dick Whyte and Laurence Stacey's Haiku News – the newspaper written in the Japanese poetic form of haiku – has continued to promote the idea that ''the personal is the political is the poetical'', allowing writers to share their personal reflections on noteworthy news items, presenting the current political climate in a new, often very personal light. And it is certainly no arena for cheap attempts at word-game haiku. This is a very serious literary journal that documents our times in the short form poetry of writers across the globe. Indeed, the poems that have graced the pages of this unique newspaper since 2009 have, with and without the stories that inspired them, presented some staggeringly exquisite and moving moments of micropoetry."
- Liam Wilkinson from "Introduction to Haiku News"
http://www.lawrenceandgibson.org/p/haiku-news-edited-by-dick-whyte-and.html
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Alan Summers haiku as a Per Diem feature at The Haiku Foundation

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Easter wedding
the chauffeur in a tangle
with the umbrella

Alan Summers 

Tuesday 19th February 2013 

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UPDATE: Submissions now closed to the Haiku Section of the Lakeview International Journal of Literature and Arts

Due to the incredible response, of haiku/haikai submissions, to Lakeview International Journal of Literature and Arts, the haiku section of the journal is now closed.

My many thanks of appreciation to those who submitted to the first haiku section of this literary journal.

Other genres outside haiku such as short fiction, longer poetry etc... will be accepting submissions, please keep checking the website. 

A link to the digital copy:
https://issuu.com/lijla/docs/lijlaaugust2013

Lakeview International Journal of Literature and Arts: http://lijla.weebly.com/index.html

LIJLA Vol. 1 No. 2 August 2013

Published on Aug 3, 2013  

https://issuu.com/lijla/docs/lijlaaugust2013

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Modern Haiku, Alan Summers robinsong haiku (European Robin) one line haiku

this small ache and all the rain too robinsong  


one-line haiku by Alan Summers
Published: Modern Haiku vol. 44.1 winter/spring 2013




image information:

	English: A European Robin singing near Doolin, Ireland
	22 February 2009, 22:51:43
Source	Own work
Author	Scott Wieman

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:European_Robin_Singing.jpg

 

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Alan Summers featured haiku in Asahi Shimbun, Japan

The moustache

that you stole from me...  

plum blossom

I was delighted to find my haiku featured in today's Asahi Shimbun (Japanese newspaper) in their haiku column.

Artwork:

"Clustering Chinese Plum Blossoms" by Chen Xianzhang (1428–1500) of the Ming Dynasty  Ink on paper size: 41 cm x 461 cm Date     Between 1428–1500

This work is in the public domain in the United States, and those countries with a copyright term of life of the author plus 100 years or less.

NOTE:

Plum (Ume) blossoms are often mentioned in Japanese poetry as a symbol of spring. When used in haiku or renga, they are a kigo or season word for early spring. The blossoms are associated with the Japanese Bush Warbler and depicted together on one of the twelve suits of hanafuda (Japanese playing cards).[57] Plum blossoms were favored during the Nara period (710–794) until the emergence of the Heian period (794-1185) in which the cherry blossoms was preferred.[58]

Japanese tradition holds that the ume functions as a protective charm against evil, so the ume is traditionally planted in the northeast of the garden, the direction from which evil is believed to come. The eating of the pickled fruit for breakfast is also supposed to stave off misfortune.[59]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prunus_mume#Japan

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Lakeview International Journal of Literature and Arts | The G-force of Blue | Touching Base with Gendai haiku

Lakeview International Journal of Literature and Arts

"Excellent Journal - Truly International!"
 Hanif Kureishi 

The Feburary issue contains poems, short fiction, photography, essays, interviews and paintings by the following writers/artists – Hanif Kureishi, George Szirtes, Sudeep Sen, K Satchidanandan, Meena Alexander, Antonio Casella, Alan Summers, Michelle Cohen Corasanti, C.S. Jayaram, Jose Varghese, Ampat Koshy, Mohammad Zahid, Mariam Henna Naushad, Jude Lopez, Collins Justin Peter, Jesto Thankachan, Kirpal Gordon, Gerrard Williams, Bijay Biswal, Balbir Krishen, Abdul Salim, Ananya S Guha, Mike Keville, Indran Amirthanayagam, Sofiul Azam, Sunandan Roy Chowdhury, Michelle D'costa, Kulpreet Yadav, Nepa Noyal, Krishna Girish, Kalpana, Maria Issac, Hari Krishnan, Kalpana N.S., Reshma G.S., Sethu John, Naina Dey, Archana Kurup, Minu Varghese, Markus Sailor, Glenn Andrew Barr, Barry Charrman, Aishwarya and Rosemary Tom.

The editorial board consists of:

Jose Varghese (Chief Editor - SH College), Aravind R Nair (Associate Editor – SH College), Mariam Henna (Student Editor – SH College), Collins J Peter (Student Editor - SH College), Alan Summers (Advisory Board - U.K.), Bill Ashcroft (Advisory Board - University of New South Wales, Australia), George Szirtes (Advisory Board - University of East Anglia, Norwich), Mel Ulm (Advisory Board - Canada), Rana Nayar (Advisory Board - Punjab University), Sanjukta Dasgupta (Advisory Board - University of Kolkata) and Sudeep Sen (Advisory Board - London).

Our editorial board members and contributors were either born or brought up in countries like India, United Kingdom, Pakistan, Hungary, Australia, United States of America, Israel, Palestine, Saudi Arabia, France, Sri Lanka, Peru, Bangladesh, Bahrain and Germany.

 

• website: http://lijla.weebly.com/index.html
• subscribe: http://issuu.com/lijla/docs/feb2013
• February issue: http://issuu.com/lijla/docs/feb2013#download

The current issue is now out, with an essay on gendai haiku by myself:

The G-force of Blue  |  Touching Base with Gendai haiku : http://issuu.com/lijla/docs/feb2013#download

 

I’m also launching a branch of the Kigo Lab Project : 

The Kigo Lab Project

Where fresh new approaches may be made in the experiment of certain well-known words and phrases within the English language, which have potential into being utilised, even evolving, into Japanese style kigo over time.  

This is a long term project, and I’m aware that kigo outside Japan could take anything from decades to hundreds of years. If it’s not started we will never find out if such a thing as a modern source of local/regional/national/global kigo can be made available for writers within the haikai genre, and prove useful to other genre writers.

I am not necessarily looking for nature poems, but haiku that successfully embrace today’s culture and an awareness of where we come from.

Season words, and the Japanese kigo system, are not only derived from observations of nature, they can allude to a country’s historical, cultural and literary past that hint or suggest a time of year.

Kisetsu:  

The seasonal aspect of the vocabulary (kigo) and subject matter (kidai) of traditional tanka, renga, and haiku; a deep feeling for the passage of time, as known through the objects and events of the seasonal cycle.

William J. Higginson with Penny Harter, The Haiku Handbook: How to Write, Share, and Teach Haiku, published by Kodansha International.

If anyone is intrigued into knowing more please contact me at:

haiku [at] dircon [dot] co [dot] uk

Alan Summers

Haiku Editor, Lakeview International Journal of Literature and Arts

The next issue of Lakeview International Journal of Literature and Arts will be out in early August 2013


For anyone wishing to submit short fiction, and the other genres covered in the journal please use this email address: lakeviewjournal@gmail.com 

Submission information webpage: http://lijla.weebly.com/call-for-submissions.html 

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Haiku by Alan Summers in Serbian magazine Haiku Novine

velum clouds–

through the small hours

this writing in rain

am I the ghost

of a child who died before me?

autumn deepens

Haiku Novine ISSN 1451-3889 (December 2012) 


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