A Happy New Year’s Eve to everyone, and 2015!

Happy New Year’s Eve to everyone!

Wishing you all 

an amazing 2015 fellow humans, and all living creatures!

Kirkstone Pass

a sheepdog gathers

its part of the world

Publication Credit: Muttering Thunder vol. 1, 2014

Kirkstone Pass:

http://www.visitcumbria.com/amb/kirkstone-pass/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kirkstone_Pass

hard frost-

the snail-hammerings

of a song thrush

Publication Credit: Muttering Thunder vol. 1, 2014

after rain midnight dreams a hedgehog

Publication Credit:   brass bell: a haiku journal

curated by Zee Zahava (Monday, September 1, 2014)

http://www.kirkstonepassinn.com/about.htm

.

Merry Christmas Everyone! Christmas and Winter haiku

Verse by Alan Summers
Artwork by Dave Alderslade
About Dave Alderslade: http://davidalderslade.com/info.html

Winter bonus

the mailman buys

a hot toddy

Publication Credit:   Asahi Shimbun (December 2014)

how does this swan
         sleep like a diamond
     frosted moon

Publication Credit:   Frozen Butterfly (October 2014)

heat and sunlight

a child starts building

snow castles

Publication Credit: Derafsh-e Mehr Issue#4 Winter & Spring 2014

falling clouds

the snow gathering

bits of moon

Publication Credit:   hedgerow: a journal of small poems (Issue 1, September 2014)

snowing

through the blizzard

particles of me

Publications credits:  

The Haiku Calendar 2012 (Snapshot Press); The Humours of Haiku (Iron Press 2012); The In-Between Season (With Words Haiku Pamphlet Series 2012); Cornell University, Mann Library (March 2013); Per Diem Archive: D. Wentworth April 2014, "Transcendence" 

Award credits: 

Winner, The Haiku Calendar Competition 2011 (Snapshot Press)

slowing

the french train passes

trees with mistletoe

Publications credits: Blithe Spirit vol.19  no. 1 (2009)

woodfire

flickering in the silence

corralled horses

Publications credits: Modern Haiku vol. xxvi  no. 3 (1995); Moonlighting  (Intimations Pamphlet Series BHS Profile, 1996); sundog haiku journal: an australian year  (sunfast press 1997 reprinted 1998); California State Library - 1997; First Australian Haiku online Anthology (1999); First Australian Anthology (Paper Wasp 2000); haiku dreaming australia the best haiku & senryu relevant in and to australia (Australia 2006); The Crow Walk haibun (HAIKU HIKE, World Walks, Crossover UK 'Renewability' project 2006)); Stepping Stones:  a way into haiku  (British Haiku Society 2007); Mann Library, Cornell University Daily Haiku (March 2013)

winter timetable-

the late train leaves behind

half a school trip

Publications credits: Blithe Spirit  vol 17 no. 1 (2007)

snow flurry

a child thrusts his anorak

into it

Publications credits: Simply Haiku vol. 1 no. 3 (2003)

field of snow

the horses

back to back

Publications credits: Blithe Spirit vol. 19 no. 1 (2009); Haiku Friends Vol. 3 (Japan 2009)

hot sandwiches

the railing spikes collect

children's gloves

Publications credits: 

Presence 41 (2010) ISSN 1366-5367; Does Fish-God Know (YTBN Press 2012)

.

Museum of East Asian Art event with sake tastings: The Musicality of Japanese Poetry: Haiku and Its Rhythm with Alan Summers, Karen Hoy, and Tony McNicol

Update!

We are now known as Call of the Page:

www.callofthepage.org

contact email for Karen & Alan for online courses or live events or workshops:

admin@callofthepage.org

Nihonshu sake supplied by Sake Samurai:
http://www.sakesamurai.co.uk/sake-how-to-enjoy.html

Museum of East Asian Art

12 Bennett Street 

Bath BA1 2QJ 

Thursday 5 March 2015

19:00 – 21:00

Friends and Students £15

Public £20

For Bookings please contact the Museum:

Tel:  01225 464640


Museum Managers/Staff:

www.meaa.org.uk/contact/contact-meaa.html

Just off the famous "The Circus"
Museum Directions:

www.meaa.org.uk/plan-your-visit/directions.html

An evening of the very finest quality Nihonshu sake throughout the evening!   Tony McNicol, a Japan expert, will be your sake host, ask him questions in a relaxed informal atmosphere.

About Nihonshu sake:

http://findingfukuoka.com/sake/#intro

Along with a relaxed journey into haiku poetry with Japan Times award-winning writer Alan Summers, and his wife Karen Hoy (poet and film-maker).

We can create a few poems in a friendly atmosphere that can be posted onto the Museum website and at Area 17.   

Alan's TEDx Talk about haiku, just dip in and out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LxLTiR7AKDE

NHK TV of Japan feature on Alan Summers and haiku:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3VS36AGVI6s

A little about the event itself

Interspersed with your sake glass being topped up and plenty of opportunities to ask Tony McNicol about sake, we will engage you with the world of haiku, and its own musicality:

“It’s not the notes you play; it’s the notes you don’t play.”  Jazz adage often attributed to Miles Davis

This is a relaxed poetry experience, delving into the techniques that lie at the heart of haiku, and being aware of its own music that it creates, as we try our own hand at writing.

All language has inherent rhythm and pitch: The notes of our voices as we read out loud vary with different reading styles and accents.

There is a core rhythm of spoken English language: Even when we read silently from the page, there is musically as we 'hear' the written word.

Haiku, originating from Japan, is the famous poetry of extreme brevity.  In a relaxed inclusive atmosphere, as part of the exhibition Music in China, we will experience the notes and musicality that are in haiku too.

Haiku, as Miles Davis states with music, has its own equivalent of what is not there i.e. negative space aka white space, creating a larger poem than the sum of its ‘visible’ parts.  

re negative and white space see also:
http://area17.blogspot.co.uk/2014/03/negative-space-in-haiku-writing-poetry.html

Distilling communication to its barest needs yet maintaining a strong clear message has never been so important.   Using musicality as a catalyst the evening explores what is there and not there, but still there, in haiku.

Japan Times award-winning author and Pushcart Prize nominated poet Alan Summers, with Call of the Page Course Director and Poetry Tutor Karen Hoy, will accompany you on your journey into haiku.

Tony McNicol, Co-Founder of We Do Japan will introduce premier award-winning sake (from Sake Samurai) to our taste buds as well as explain the magic, depth, and notes of Japan's signature drink: www.wedojapan.com/who-we-are/

The evening will act as a taster of both sake and haiku in a very friendly, inclusive, and informative atmosphere.

About Sake: http://www.sakesamurai.co.uk/about-sake.html

The Musicality of Japanese Poetry: Haiku and Its Rhythm

Thursday 5 March

 
19:00 – 21:00

Friends and Students £15; Public £20

Haiku is Japanese poetry, famous for its extreme brevity. An excellent accompaniment to Haiku is sake. This event will explore both in a relaxed and informal atmosphere. 

The event is part of the Music in China exhibition programme (January – May 2015). 

Alan Summers, Japan Times award-winning author, will give a brief introduction to the important elements of Haiku and its history, as well as exploring the musicality in this extraordinary form of poetry.

A selection of award-winning sake provided by the Sake Samurai UK will be available for tasting.

http://www.meaa.org.uk/upcoming-events/the-musicality-of-japanese-poetry-haiku-and-its-rhythm.html 

Music in China exhibition

17 January – 31 May 2015

This exhibition explores various aspects of music in China and the importance of music to the different levels of Chinese society. 

Music plays a significant role in Chinese society. 

The ruling class sees refined music as a tool to sustain a harmonious society. The masses enjoy the entertainment of popular music, which appeals to audiences in other parts of the world as well. 

Equally, musical traditions from other cultures also enrich Chinese music and have a huge impact on its development. 
http://www.meaa.org.uk/future-exhibitions/new-exhibition.html

More about Karen and Alan
https://www.callofthepage.org/about-1/

and Tony McNicol:
http://tonymcnicolphotography.com

Hunter's Moon and the runes of mice haiku

I was delighted to hear that my haiku (above) was published by the Mainichi Shimbun (Japan) on the very first day of December 2014!

My many thanks, and appreciation to Isamu Hashimoto, and wishing you a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Circulation and Distribution of the Mainichi Shimbun
http://macs.mainichi.co.jp/english/03.html

Mainichi Shimbun 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mainichi_Shimbun  

Alan Summers, and With Words, offer regular and popular online courses in haiku; tanka; and other related genres.

For further information, please do not hesitate to contact Karen at: karen@withwords.org.uk

Christmas, Winter, and snow - haiku by Alan Summers

Merry Christmas and Holidays to everyone around the World from With Words!

Christmas, Winter, and snow haiku 

by Alan Summers

(online tutor of With Words)

hard frost-

the snail-hammerings

of a song thrush

Publication Credit: Muttering Thunder vol. 1, 2014 

northern lights 

a boy makes a ladder 

out of his telescope  

Publication Credit: Blithe Spirit 24.3 (August 2014)

dark snow the night begins its winter

Publication Credit:   brass bell: a haiku journal (Winter 2014)

waxing ice moon

through the alleys

a market sets up

Publications credits: Simply Haiku: September 2003, Vol. 1, No. 3

the limbs of trees broken Snow Moon

Publication Credit: Derafsh-e Mehr Issue#4 Winter & Spring 2014

Gare du Nord shifting art deco snow

Publication Credit:   brass bell: a haiku journal

One-Line Haiku curated by Zee Zahava (Monday, September 1, 2014)

Old Man’s Beard a cyclist wobbles the length of it

Publications credits: a handful of stones (1^st February 2011); A Blackbird Sings, a small stone anthology ISBN 978-0-9571584-2-9 ed.  Fiona Robyn & Kaspalita Thompson (Woodsmoke Press 2012)

NOTE:

Clematis vitalba L. is the UK's only native Clematis. Commonly known as 'Old Man's Beard', it can be seen scrambling through hedgerows and trees along the roadside, and is especially obvious in the winter months. Its Latin name refers to its flower colour and climbing habit (alba = white; clematis = climbing; vitalba = white vine). One or two other Clematis species sometimes escape from gardens and become established in the wild. Of these only Clematis flammula bears any resemblance but its flowers are somewhat larger than those of C. vitalba and pure white, and its leaves are a different shape (bi-pinnate).

David Morgan, The Clematis, the journal of the British Clematis Society, Winter 2002

dark morning...

the sushi bar opens up

for the train station

Publications credits: Aesthetics, (Bath Spa University 2007); Haiku Friends Vol. 3  ed. Masaharu Hirata (Japan, Osaka 2009)

Oxford Street

the sweet chestnut vendor’s

blackened fingers

Publications credits: Snapshot Press Calendar 2011

Award credit: Runner up, Snapshot Press Haiku Calendar 2010

a flink of cows

the blue before a night

of falling snow

n.b. Twelve cows are a flink

Publication Credit: Blithe Spirit 2014

twilight on snow shadows deepen the grip of stars

Publication Credit: Frogpond 37:2, the spring/summer issue (2014)

virgin snow

a fox makes prints

for the morning

Publications credits: 

Icebox, Hailstone Haiku Circle Japan (Japan, 2010); a little help from my friends (Red Dragonfly ePamphlet 2011); The Haiku Calendar 2012 (Snapshot Press); fox dreams ed. Aubrie Cox (April 2012); Inking Bitterns (Gert Macky Books December, 2013) 

ISBN-10: 0992678315 ISBN-13: 978-0992678319

Award credits: 

Runner Up, The Haiku Calendar Competition 2011 (Snapshot Press)

.

Spaces available on the early bird rate for haiku and tanka poetry international online courses

There are still places on the haiku and tanka courses starting January 2015, available at the early bird rate (a £10 or US$16 dollar discount) until the end of this week.  

Please email karen@withwords.org.uk for more details.

.

Bookings are now being taken for online With Words Haiku Courses and Tanka Courses starting in January 2015.

Bookings are now being taken for the next With Words Haiku Course and Tanka Course, both starting in January and later months throughout 2015.

Participants submit 3 times by email over a two-month period and receive detailed feedback from our widely published award-winning poet and experienced tutor Alan Summers.

The cost is £70/US$115, or £60/US$99 'early bird' rate if booking by the end of November.

For enquiries, and for a more detailed course description, please email karen@withwords.org.uk.  

Thank you!

Alan Summers is a Japan Times award-winning writer, and Pushcart Prize nominated poet, with over twenty years of experience with haiku and tanka.

.

Alan Summers performing haiku and answering questions about this intriguing micro-poetry

Alan Summers has just been booked to perform haiku and answer questions just after 5pm from MC Howard and the audience  about this intriguing micro-verse that is sweeping the world via books, magazines, music, and social media.

Sunday 9 November at 17:00

(17:00–22:00)

THE WELSHMILL HUB, 

Park Hill Drive, 

Frome BA112LE

How to find the venue:

http://www.edventurefrome.org/the-welshmill/find-us/

Google maps directions for car, train, on foot etc...

https://www.google.com/maps/dir//51.2382492,-2.3195676/@51.238249,-2.319568,15z?hl=en-US

From the train station:

It's about a 15 minute walk through town, walk along the riverfor a more pleasant journey. You get to a play park and it's down the small side road at the crossing.  The Welsh Mill Hub and Edventure Frome is based at The Welsh Mill, just above The Bicycle Academy. Look out for blue garage doors, and a glass door to the left.

Growerz Corner presents a one off evening of creative words, poetry, live music and one hour of open mic. 

We are pleased to announce our special guest for the night is Carrie Tree, one of the UKs leading female vocalists.

Carrie will be followed by Kuki and the Bard, another Small World act. This twelve and fifteen year old brother and sister marvel is taking festival world by storm!

With such a popular festival culture in Somerset November is that time of year where we all start to miss that feeling of community.

Growerz Corner has been set up to bring creatives together and supports all those wanting to perform, grow or just be entertained on a Sunday.

SHOW STARTS AT 5pm.

4.45 - WARM UP WITH THE FLOWER POT MEN. 

5.15 pm - POETS 

- Alan Summers 

(Japan Times award-winning author, and Pushcart Prize nominated poet)

- Helen Moore (eco poet and author), 

- Liv Torc (Radio 4 slam winning stand-up poet ) 

- 'XJX - Local Rhythm and Word performer'

- Jepson - From a galaxy far, far away 

6.45pm - LIVE MUSIC 

- Carrie Tree - amazing vocals 

- Kuki and the Bard - brother and sister only twelve and fifteen years of age.

8pm OPEN MIC - One hour pre-booked open mic acts free style session

9pm - Henry, Stu and Ben the flower pot men 

Open JAM sessions to finish off.

Bring a few pillows or a mat if you want to sit on the floor or make yourself comfy.

gET IN tOUCH IF yOU wOULD LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE tO gET oN sTAGE 

It's not easy to get on the stage and do your thing. But Sunday sessions is all about helping people to step up to what they really want to do ! 

- If you have a passion for spoken words email us at chloe@edventurefrome.org - explain exactly what you want to sing or say. Any video or audio links preferred but not essential.

Recommended donations on the door - £3/£5/£8

Under 18's free entry!

There will be a bar available serving a range of drinks.

======

Soup kitchen comes to Frome. 

Morwenna and friends will be cooking up some lovely soup from 6 till 9pm on Sunday 9th at the Growerz Corner. Its vegan and locally picked at Vallis.

Show starts around 5pm so get there early for a good seat at the front. Bring pillows or a rug for a comfy seat.

======

Alan does various kinds of haiku workshops (and also tanka - The Japanese Sonnet)

To find out more about what the courses involve and how they run, please email karen@withwords.org.uk for an information sheet and quotes from participants who have taken the courses over the years.

Many thanks!

Karen at With Words