Residential Week-end Course just outside London: The Holistic Approach to haiku: self-development through poetry with Alan Summers

We have a wonderful group of people that have booked up, with some more enquiries that Claridge House are answering.
Look forward to seeing everyone over tea/coffee and biscuits (plus a wider range of hot refreshments, cordials etc...)
when we all meet up for the first time, and first day of the weekend course. 
 

Residential Week-end Course just outside London:

The Holistic Approach to haiku:
self-development through poetry
with Alan Summers

Friday to Sunday 21st- 23rd February 2014
Claridge House
Dormans Road, Lingfield, Surrey, RH7 6QH
Registered Charity no. 228102.

ENQUIRIES
Tel.  0845 345 7281 or 01342 832 150
Email:  welcome@claridgehousequaker.org.uk

You can phone Claridge House to ask about the course, and they'll have an info sheet I designed for them, so they can answer your questions about haiku poetry: 

0845 345 7281
or
01342 832 150

A friendly inclusive course that finds out just what makes a haiku poem really tick.  We'll look at how our experiences, both external and spiritual, can become haiku, and act as important records of our life.

There will be time for plenty of one-to-one feedback, and group discussions with lots of time for questions.

Plus there will be a debut of a number of new approaches to haiku to help both newcomers and those still learning.    A lot has happened with haiku in the last handful of years, and I'll show how we keep the traditional form but in Japanese style update it at the same time.

We'll also check out the popular new Yotsumonos derived from Chinese puzzle-poems for fun, and finish the course with the ever popular linked verse poem called renga.

Here’s the schedule of participation time from last time including:
http://area17.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/haiku-holistic-approach-week-end.html

meal breaks, rest breaks, tea, coffee and scrumptious cake and biscuit breaks, oh you lucky people, the food and refreshments are out of this world and available for those who are non-gluten, non-wheat, non-dairy, and vegetarian and vegan diets.

I love all the diets provided, and diet means lots of food if you want, but beware second and third helpings are addictive.

For more information:
http://area17.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/haiku-holistic-approach-week-end.html



ALAN's BIO
Alan Summers is a Japan Times award-winning writer and was awarded a Ritsumeikan University of Kyoto Peace Museum Award for haiku.

More bio details: http://area17.blogspot.co.uk/2013/10/london-haiku-poetry-event-plus-south.html

We also run:

Online Haiku Courses, tanka, and other genres:

We also run our regular and popular online With Words courses in haiku and tanka. 

For further details contact Karen at: karen@withwords.org.uk



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Renku poetry: A Cup of Snow - One of the earliest examples of the rokku form in English.

© 2013 Haiku Society of America
direct link: http://www.hsa-haiku.org/frogpond/2013-issue36-2/renku.html

A Cup of Snow

by

Hortensia Anderson, New York, New York
John E. Carley, Lancashire, England (sabaki)
Alan Summers, London, England
Carole MacRury, Point Roberts, Washington
Michael Dylan Welch, Sammamish, Washington

laughing with delight

a cup of snow

a moon-eyed girl           

John

half gone, the last jar

of ginger jam      

Carole

roadside shop

the chain-saw artist

asks me my sign          

Michael

a faint glow in the sky

before sunset          

Alan

first chill night

the smell of cedar

in the quilts       

Hortensia

tic by toc

the leaves begin to fall

John

***

           

dab, dab, dabbing

at her cards the old lady

yells “bingo!”       

Carole

a mosquito bite

on the toddler’s cheek        

Michael

their second date

she drinks him

under the table    

Alan

we roll with the waves

of the water bed       

Hortensia

and bathe eche veyne

in swich licour

of which engenderé́d . . .  

John

the scent of wild rose

in the birthing suite   

Carole

***

           

deepening depression

the telephone

stops ringing      

Michael

a late-night diner

the hum of the fridge       

Alan

constant as the

poverty of poets

autumn moon         

John

three generations

peddling fallen walnuts    

Carole

leftover candy

the pumpkin’s toothy grin

starts to sag        

Michael

candle wax obscuring

the way of light     

Hortensia

***

      

tamarisk honey

the el-tarfah of dry tears        

Alan

with each breath

the desert’s fire and dust         

Carole

searching for an airplane

without wings       

John

                     affair the after

way wrong the home coming       

Michael

each snowflake different

his wife’s kiss       

Hortensia

the lack of a sharp knife

and a whetstone        

Alan

***

           

abattoir—

the apathetic gaze

of man and beast     

Carole

from rock to rock

the grizzly’s nose      

Michael

the sniper scope

adjusted

on the Canon Sure Shot       

Alan

fighting through the shed

to reach the mower      

John

we fill our pails

with plum blossoms

and then?           

Hortensia

the spring dawn

spills down the mountain

Carole

Notes

el-tarfah ~ The manna of the Sinaitic peninsula is an exudation from the “manna-tamarisk” tree (Tamarix mannifera), the el-tarfah of the Arabs. At night it is fluid and resembles dew, but in the morning it begins to harden. The Arabs use it like honey or butter with their unleavened bread.

and bathe eche veyne/in swich licour/of which engenderéd . . .
~This verse is in Middle English. It is taken from the second couplet of the General Prologue of The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer, generally dated between 1340 and 1370. As with all texts of this antiquity there are many variants. A recent, re-versified translation by A.S. Kline gives the full couplet as:

And bathed each vein with liquor of such power
That engendered from it is the flower

Afterword
John E. Carley

“A Cup of Snow,” written by e-mail in the first months of 2008, is one of the earliest examples of the rokku form in English. The rokku is a mold-breaking type of renku sequence originated in the early years of this century by the Japanese poet and critic Haku Asanuma. 

The form is modular rather than having a set length, permitting as many verse movements as the participants wish to complete, up to six. Season and seasonality are important, but not in a structural manner; the same is true for moon and blossom verses. A high rate of change is guaranteed as nothing may endure for more than two verses. 

Also, the penultimate movement of any rokku is inclined towards experimentation. I served as sabaki, but the renku effectively wrote itself, the very different personal styles of the participants being vital to the effort to break new ground. Sadly, one of us is no longer present, though her writing, as ever, stands out from the page. So we dedicate this renku to Hortensia Anderson, who passed away in May of 2012.

Hortensia Anderson

June 24, 1959 – May 21, 2012

Her book:
The Plenitude of Emptiness
hortensia anderson : collected haibun
with an introduction by Jim Kacian

“I have my copy already dog-eared and it is brand new! The haibun are potent and profoundly moving. This is a must-read. Get this book!” —Denis M. Garrison, poet, writer, editor, publisher: The MET Press

“I have tried to read Hortensia’s haibun with a critical discerning eye but I cannot. Again and always, the flow of her words and the intense images they allow me to create pull me under and away into a riptide of emotions.” —Jane Reichhold, poet, writer, editor, publisher: AHA Books

“The term ‘essential reading’ is horribly overused, but this book really is essential reading for anyone interested in writing the best, direct, real haibun being written today.” —Alan Summers, renga poet-in-residence for the City of Hull

The Plentitude of Emptiness:
 
http://www.darlingtonrichards.com/index.php/updates/preview-of-the-plenitude-of-emptiness-by-hortensia-anderson/

http://www.lulu.com/shop/hortensia-anderson/the-plenitude-of-emptiness/paperback/product-10293919.html;jsessionid=F211C07FB1AB7624791D6636E2A574CA

'
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Renga Days with Japan Times award-winning writer Alan Summers, with haiku writer Jann Wirtz of Devon

Renga Days in glorious Devon at the Broomhill Arts Hotel:

Where to find Broomhill Arts Hotel:

http://broomhillart.co.uk/information/findingus.html

The Sculpture Gardens:

http://broomhillart.co.uk/sculpturegardens/index.html

What they say about Broomhill Arts Hotel:

http://broomhillart.co.uk/information/what-they-say.html

Contact and information details for the Broomhill Arts Hotel:

http://broomhillart.co.uk/information/contactus.html

This is a great fun inclusive ice-breaking activity, and a way to make friends, and crack a few jokes at the same time as learning one of the most famous of all poetry forms, yet one of the most mysterious.

What is Renga?
 

 

Renga is a traditional Japanese group poem that is ‘shared writing’: everyone is allowed the chance to write, or orally suggest a verse.

Renga is simply writing incredibly short lines (2 or 3 line verses) with almost teasingly invisible connections to each verse.

When completed everyone is a co-author of the renga poem.

For anyone new to renga, we'd love to receive your "micro-memories", whether childhood memories, or very recent memories.

Renga is very inclusive, creative, and encouraging, and the making of this communal poem is as important as the final result.

The cost is only £4.50 entry to the Sculpture Garden:

http://www.broomhillart.co.uk/sculpturegardens/index.html  

More about Renga

Of all the ‘poetic forms’ this is one that works for people who have never written before, and yet offers a great challenge for those who are already comfortable and established writers.

The renga verses are more than the sum of its parts as they capture our thoughts and feelings, which might otherwise be lost at end of the day; we can also share an experience wherein strangers and friends or colleagues connect for a moment.

Welcome to Barnstaple Tourist Information Centre for accomodation details etc... http://www.staynorthdevon.co.uk/

Make this an even longer stay and visit other places:

http://www.broomhillart.co.uk/information/around.html

Alan Summers has been writing haiku and renga for twenty years and as a Japan Times award-winning writer for renga and haiku poetry (haiku evolved from being a renga poem’s ‘starting verse’) he felt renga was ideal for a creative writing event that involved people who might feel they are not poets.

More about Alan Summers

Alan Summers has a Masters Degree in Creative Writing from Bath Spa University; founder and director of With Words; and a Japan Times award-winning writer for renga and haiku.

He has ran workshops at the Royal Festival Hall (London), with Japan-UK 150 and the Thames Festival. 

Alan is regularly published in Japanese magazines & anthologies; and newspapers such as Yomiuri Shimbun; and Mainichi Daily News, Tokyo, Japan.

Alan with some renga busting verses.

More information:

http://area17.blogspot.co.uk/2012/03/renga-days-with-alan-summers-and-jann.html

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The new issue of haijinx is out!

haijinx 2010
volume III, 
issue 1
December 2010



The new issue is out, our first new issue since 2002.

We have familiar faces and some new ones for you, enjoy!

Click here to enter our special 2010 issue: weblink

Alan Summers,
haijinx team editor