Online internet courses by Call of the Page

Are you interested in a Call of the Page course? We run courses on haiku; tanka; tanka stories/prose; haibun; shahai; and other genres.

Please email Karen or Alan at our joint email address: admin@callofthepage.org
We will let you know more about these courses.

Call of the Page (Alan & Karen)

Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Notes from the Gean Ginko Samurai Gala Day, Aberdeen, Scotland, 17th September 2011

Gean Tree Press
Colin Stewart Jones
Gean Tree Press
photo by Cauliay Publishing
 
Alan Summers



















Notes from the Gean haikai literature and tanka poetry online magazine Editor-in-Chief/Resources Editor Colin Stewart Jones and myself as renga/renku editor will be holding our first live event together.





As part of our commitment to furthering the understanding of haiku at a grass roots level NFTG will be conducting:
 











Notes from the Gean Ginko
Samurai Gala Day, Aberdeen, Scotland
9a.m. - 1p.m. 17th September 2011

This event is part of Aberdeen’s celebrations for Thomas Blake Glover; “The Scottish Samurai” where Notes from the Gean will lead a Ginko (haiku nature walk), which will be free and open to the public, from St Machar Cathedral through Seaton Park along the Don River and on to the Brig O’ Balgownie past Glover’s old home and then proceed through the Nature Reserve to the Murchar (Don Estuary).

This should take around 2 – 2.5 hours, but we will cater to all ages and abilities.

PHONE NUMBERS TO CONTACT US ON THE DAY
If you miss us at the early start, text or call us at either my mob. 07979 656 775 or Colin's: 07756093433

People should bring a notepad and pen to take down notes of images from the ginko, and wear good shoes/boots and dress for the weather.

We will then hold a session (in a venue TBA) where the walkers can work on images gathered from the Ginko and we’ll newcomers to haiku to produce these into haiku.

I’ll also lead a Renga/Renku session and there will be an opportunity to perform the finished work too, in the special way renga is read.  You’ll love it!

Notes From the Gean will also run a special feature on the event which will be published along with selected haiku and renga from the ginko in the next issue of the NFTG: www.notesfromthegean.com


Alan Summers, renga editor, England, and Editor-in-Chief/Resources Editor, Colin Stewart Jones, Scotland.


Gean Tree Press
based in Scotland, which already brings you the highly successful Notes from the Gean; our flagship journal has recently undergone a major restructuring and is also currently undergoing a program to modernize it and, therefore, NFTG will now be completelyy aligned with its mission to "encourage excellence, experimentation and education..." The mission of GTP is no different.

Further to this, GTP is also committed to bringing quality book and e-books containing modern English-language haiku and/or related genres, to the wider reading public. Although poetry is a niche market, and haiku even more so, GTP understands its market and believes that haiku books should be, and must be, produced by specialist publishers. GTP is, at present, in discussions with various funding bodies and arts agencies with a view to producing a catalog to further this aim.

Though we are forward thinking, GTP is also a traditional publishing house which believes that the quality of the work is paramount and they poetry should stand on its own merit. We will, therefore, never charge reading fees nor ask our authors to contribute towards the costs of publishing their books. All our authors will be offered contracts and they will be paid a percentage of the profits from sales of their books.

GTP already has some very exciting projects in the pipeline and will be looking to bring even more to you very soon. A press release and a call for manuscript submissions will be forthcoming but in the meantime we ask that you do not send us any submissions.

Colin Stewart Jones
Gean Tree Press


Monday, August 15, 2011

Catch my haiku on the iPhone, iPad and iPod touch app



Eight of my haiku are part of a new iPhone app!

And it's free
and there's 365 haiku and growing.

THF Haiku 

By Luke Bradford

UK:

http://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/thf-haiku/id453464896?mt=8

USA:  

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/thf-haiku/id453464896?mt=8

Description

THF Haiku brings contemporary haiku to your Apple mobile device with a shake of your hand—literally.

Shake your phone or other mobile device and a new poem appears.

The app is loaded with 365 haiku from poets around the globe, showing the range of topics and form characteristic of today’s haiku.

Additional poem packets soon to be available!

Requirements:  
Compatible with iPhone, iPod touch, 
and iPad. Requires iOS 3.0 or later


You can download THF Haiku from the App Store on your Apple device.
 

Tuesday, June 14, 2011

The 2011 Kids Count for Earthday Haiku Contest Results!






This competition, sponsored by HSA this year, was an incredible world-wide success.


Alan, With Words





REPORT

Hai Five To The Winners Of The Earthday Haiku Contest 2011!

HSA (Haiku Society of America) were our new sponsors, thank you HSA!

Other sponsors are:
 
With Words (UK); Sketchbook Haiku Journal (USA); and Planetpals (Worldwide).

From co-founder Judith Gorgone of Planetpals:

"It was quite and honor to receive so many creative entries from children and classrooms around the world. This year we decided to add comments written by the esteemed Judge from the Haiku Society of America, an'ya.  Her comprehensive commentaries help us all understand why the haiku were chosen as well as, helping us learn. We are quite pleased to have the Sponsorship of the Haiku Society of America who generously donated a years membership to the winner."

Haiku Art entries
Thanks to Planetpals and Judith, this year, many entries included Haiga (Art plus Haiku). So, we have featured them separately: http://planetpals.com/earthday-haiku-contest-2011-haiga.html

Earthday Haiku Contest for Children and Young Persons 2011 Contest Results


All 2011 entries will be published on Sketchbook Haiku Jounal http://poetrywriting.org/

Judges commentary (an'ya, representing HSA)

An excellent turn out of haiku!

Our main criteria was good writing which captured the haiku spirit. Not all the entries were necessarily 5-7-5, and as this was only a guideline, you will find the occasional exception.

A big thank you to all who entered, we enjoyed over 250 entries from various countries.

*All haiku comments below kindly written by an'ya, Haiku Society of America Judge

Overall First Choice


The overall winner for 2011 is Amy Claire Rose Smith (13) from Darlington, County Durham, UK for this wonderful haiku poem:


Earth Day dusk --
falling all around me
blackbird song



7-9 years old
First Choice:


the water is smooth
a bird dips down, and away
ripples on the water

Katy Smith
Fourth Grade,
Barrington, IL USA, Teacher: Michelle Pezzuto

Comment:
This haiku by Katy Smith still adheres to the 5,7,5 format we were originally taught in our various school systems (which is fine) although nowadays many haiku poets are using just a short, long, short count since the Japanese sound syllables differ in length from English syllables. 

Having said this, Katy's haiku moment is as smoothly written as her first line "the water is smooth" which opens the moment with a "wide setting", and then in line two she zeros or zooms in on a bird dipping down, then she takes that bird away and all that is left in line three, are "ripples on the water." 

A very good use of "showing" us this moment rather than "telling" us what to think about it. Well done!


Second Choice:


spring meadow
a single honey bee
sips nectar

Philip Painting,  (age 9)
The Paideia School, Atlanta, GA, USA  Teacher: Judy Cloues

Comment:
In this haiku by Philip, we are visually transported to the wide setting of a "spring meadow" full of flowers, and yet in line two we are given "a single bee"perhaps going from flower to flower throughout the meadow to "sip nectar." 

Nicely written with fine juxtaposition and continuity throughout all three lines. 

Thanks to this author for sharing his moment.



Third Choice

waterfalls falling
right over the mountainside
straight into a lake

Ben, 4th Grade
Teacher: Liana Williams, Pacific Palisades, CA USA

Comment:
Here we have a very good visual haiku by Ben of literally what a mountainside waterfall does, it falls from the top, right over the mountainside and straight into the lake. If we concentrate on writing exactly what we see in nature, the haiku will almost always come out good. 

Too often poets try to put too much into the moment and add poetic devices to enhance the image. Ben shows us that it isn't necessary and we should just accept each moment as a gift and leave it the way nature made it.


10 -12 yrs old
First Choice:

between trees
the moon rises
to let the light out

Camden Smith (12)
Keyser Primary-Middle School, USA

Comment: 
A fine haiku example written by Camden with well-thought out word choices. It is interesting where this author chose to break line 2 but because we all pause differently when we speak, another author might have chosen to place the words "to let" at the end of line 2, however in this haiku, I believe that Camden's version works very well.


Second Choice:

rivers and oceans
with salmon going upstream
through the passages

Kristina Horchover, 6th Grade
Teacher: Scott Woodworth, The Out of Door Academy, Sarasota, Florida, USA

Comment:
A lovely haiku with an especially unique third line. We all know about salmon going upstream and we all know about rivers and oceans, but saying "through the passages" leaves Kristina's haiku open-ended so that each reader is free to imagine all sort of different passages. be it in between rocks, over the falls, even time a passage of time. etc. 

Keep up the good work!


Third Choice:


sun shows behind clouds.
shimmering rainbow appears -
river sweeps image away

Carl Mann (12) 7th grade
Kensington CT, USA Teacher: Elaine Kotler, Saint Paul School


Comment:
I like this haiku by Carl for its concept of the river sweeping the image of the rainbow away. To improve our haiku, we need to include articles such as "a" and "the" so when the haiku is read by others, it will be just as if we were speaking to them directly in person.
 
If we leave out articles, our haiku will sound choppy and not flow as smoothly as possible. Even so, as I said Carl's haiku shows depth, attention to detail and imagination.


13-15 yrs old
First Choice:

Earth Day dusk --
falling all around me
blackbird song

Amy Claire Rose Smith (13)
Darlington, County Durham, UK

Comment:
This particular haiku by Amy is absolutely stunning! and is what's known in the world of old-time haiku writers as a "wish-I-had-written-that-one-myself." Albeit, I would humbly recommend removing the emdash after line one in order to allow her haiku to pivot.

For instance it can be read two ways like so: "Earth Day dusk falling all around me" and then "falling all around me blackbird song." - a natural pivot in any haiku is desirable. 

The use of "d" sounds in line one is commendable, as well as the "l" sounds in line two carried over with the word "blackbird" in line three. I cannot overly stress the perfection of this write!


Second Choice:

the soft trill of birds
through the trees, straight to my ears
I listen to its claim

Michele H, 8th Grade
Teacher: Jane Scott, Kilo Middle School, Auburn, WA


Comment:
An intriguing haiku by Michele insofar as its 3rd line especially. Normally personal opinion or putting "self" into a haiku is to be avoided, however this author manages to include "I" in a way that is acceptable because of her use of one of the five senses (sound) via the word "listen." 

Also direct personification which is giving human characteristics to something in nature is not acceptable, but here again, Michele manages to subtly include the "soft trill of birds" as a claim which is subtle enough not to personify the birds. 

Excellent work Michelle.


Third Choice:

rolling in the grass.
rolling over little ants -
then helping them up.

Dallas Kaufman (14), 8th grade
Teacher: Elaine Kotler, Saint Paul School, Kensington CT, USA

Comment:
This haiku by Dallas reminds me of Issa (one of the old masters.) Issa wrote about the little things that are important in our lives and how to treat other creatures with kindness and respect -and many of his haiku were also written about insects. 

The empathy of this moment has "beauty of thought" which is often included in mainstream poetry and not nearly enough in our haiku, so kudos to you Dallas for sharing the tenderness of this moment with us, a fine example for Earth Day, which we should all heed.


16-18 yrs old

First Choice:


dark clouds-
he cuts out an akala
from an old tyre

James Bundi (17)
* James is the outgoing chairman of the Bambochaas Haiku Club
Bahati c.c Secondary School, Nairobi, Kenya, Africa

Comment:
Quite a fine haiku by James that links man and nature together nicely for this Earth Day Contest. If there had been more haiku submitted in this age category, I still would have most likely chosen this one. 

Akala (an example of a regional season word) are the tyre sandals worn by many people in Kenya who make good use of recycling what is already available to them. Wide setting in line one, subject and action verb in line two and follow through in line three. 

A perfect example of a typical haiku format, and in just 13 syllables and 11 words, we are walking right there in the moment.


NOTE:
All entries will also be published in the Fall issue of Sketchbook Haiku Journal, and will appear on the contest blogsite: http://kidsearthdayhaiku.blogspot.com/


Much thanks to the following people for their time and effort : 
an'ya HSA; Alan Summers, With Words; Karina Klesko and John Daleiden, Sketchbook Journal 

Previous blogpage to explain about the contest:







Updates and useful information re The Worcestershire Literary Festival, and the Haiku Walk led by Japan Times award-winning writer for haiku Alan Summers

2017 update: we still offer haiku walks from time to time. Keep checking our new website: www.callofthepage.org


The Haiku Walk:
Nature As Inspiration


Saturday,  June 18th, Orchard Café, Worcester

I'll be around for walks from 11am to the last one ending late afternoon in time to enjoy a last cup of tea with everyone wishing to chat about haiku





 Orchard Café
http://theorchardcafe.co.uk/home/















Fresh in from the Worcestershire Literary Festival organisers, some really useful information, and easy ways to get information about events and book them so you don't miss out!



The Festival Programme Is Now Online


The programme for the festival is complete and the countdown has begun to
the launch of the first ever Worcestershire Literary Festival.

NEW – Festival Hotline Number
The dedicated festival hotline number is 07971 379673

This number is now active and will be operational during working hours
(Monday to Friday 9.00am to 5.30pm) from Monday 6th June 2011 until Tuesday
27th June 2011.  

During the festival this number will be based in the
Festival Information Point in the Crowngate Shopping Centre in Worcester.

Calls to the Festival Office will still be answered but we would try to
encourage you to call the hotline number with any queries that you have
about the Festival.


TICKETS ARE AVAILABLE TO BUY NOW FROM THE FESTIVAL OFFICE FOR MOST EVENTS USING PAYPAL:

If you need any help with purchasing tickets for events, please contact the Festival Office on:
0845 652 0621 and they’ll do their very best to help you.

During the Festival itself we will be distributing information from Unit C7 in the Crowngate in Worcester as well as selling tickets for many of our events and merchandise. 

This will be the central information point for all things related to the Festival, and is situated next door to The Entertainer and opposite Huntingdon Hall and the Art House Café in The Crowngate Shopping Centre, Worcester.

Please do come and see them there, we will be open from 10am till 4pm from
Monday 13th June 2011 until Monday 27th June 2011.

You can download a copy of the Worcestershire Literary Festival brochure by clicking here.

Please note it is 5mb in size and may take a few minutes to download on slower connections. 

The brochure is currently being distributed to various locations throughout Worcester and Worcestershire: http://worcslitfest.us1.list-manage.com/track/click?u=d59f68bafcf8a9b599635da96&id=b4755ef20e&e=a9362e0037

Blog for the Festival!
Would you like to blog for the first ever Worcestershire Literary Festival?

They are looking for reviews, photos and videos of WLF events for our new blog
www.worcslitfest.blogspot.com  
so that they can leave behind a permanent record of this years Worcestershire Literary Festival.

If you are running an event, appearing at an event, volunteering or helping at an event or are an audience member at an event, we would love to hear from you.

Please send in your blog entries, photos, or videos to: blog@worcslitfest.com and they will upload them onto their blog.

We will give each contributor a full credit and link to your website where
applicable in your blog entries: blog@worcslitfest.com

WLF Mailing List


Want to sign up to our mailing list and receive the latest news, updates,
offers and information about the forthcoming Worcestershie Literary
Festival? 

Simply send an email to: mailinglist@worcslitfest.com
with SUBSCRIBE in the subject bar to start getting updates from the WLF team.

Press & Photography Passes

If you are a budding writer, blogger, reviewer or photographer you can request a press or photography pass to gain access to all WLF events during the festival in June.  Please apply and request one by emailing: info@worcslitfest.com


How To Find Events During The Festival

Please click here to find out information about Worcester and Worcestershire and how to get to some of the venues taking part in the Festival:
http://worcslitfest.us1.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=d59f68bafcf8a9b599635da96&id=20d485244a&e=a9362e0037

Map Of Worcester City Centre and Map Of Worcestershire:
 
Links:
http://worcslitfest.us1.list-manage.com/track/click?u=d59f68bafcf8a9b599635da96&id=a3bd62b8df&e=a9362e0037

http://worcslitfest.us1.list-manage.com/track/click?u=d59f68bafcf8a9b599635da96&id=4ac3399cc1&e=a9362e0037

See you there!



Sunday, June 12, 2011

Take Five: Best Contemporary Tanka Vol. 3. An anthology that provides a valuable snapshot of tanka in the 21st century.





Take Five: Best Contemporary Tanka Vol. 3 (2010) published by MET Press. ISBN 978-1-935398-27-1.

Price: $16.95 USD. 

A PDF ebook is also available for $8.95, ISBN 978-1-935398-28-8.  













I'm delighted to announce that some of my tanka are appearing in this anthology!

Take Five provides a valuable snapshot of tanka in the 21st century.

The Take Five editorial team for Volume 3 (2010), consisting of M. Kei, editor-in-chief (USA), Patricia Prime (NZ), Kala Ramesh (India), Alex von Vaupel (NL), Aurora Antonovic (CAN), Magdalena Dale (Romania), Amelia Fielden (AUS/JP), Andrew Riutta (USA), and James Tipton (MEX), read all contemporary tanka published in English during 2010, including more than 175 venues totaling 18,000 poems. 
 
Sources ranged from tanka journals to social media to musical performances to chapbooks and many other formats.

The result is Take Five : Best Contemporary Tanka, Volume Three, featuring tanka, tanka prose, and tanka sequences by 187 poets and translators from around the world.

With an introduction by editor-in-chief by M. Kei, and commentary by the editorial team,. Cover art by Aurora Antonovic.

.

Saturday, June 04, 2011

Haiku Jam To Raise Money For Japan Earthquake Charity

.
Haiku Jam - one of a limited edition series of six haiku jams each featuring haiku by Alan Summers with japanese translations by Hidenori Hiruta. 




















Haiku Jam - Paul Conneally 2011

This is a phototograph of one of a limited edition series of six jars of haiku jam created by artist poet Paul Conneally.







Each jar of haiku jam has a haiku by award winning haiku poet Alan Summers with a Japanese translation by Hidenori Hiruta (Akita, Japan) published on it.







This Haiku Jam series has been produced for the Japan Earthquake Appeal and will be available at Japan Earthquake Japanese Cultural Day at Derby Roundhouse on the 5th June 2011 11 am to 4 pm


A limited edition of Haiku Jam featuring haiku by award winning haiku poet Alan Summers with Japanese translations by Hidenori Hiruta will be on sale this weekend to raise money for the UNESCO Japan Earthquake Fund. There are six different haiku jams each with a haiku by Alan Summers on its label. The haiku jam can be eaten or just placed on a mantlepiece or shelf as a work of art made by cultural forager and artist poet Paul Conneally.

The haiku Jam will feature at the Japan Earthquake Charity Event at Derby Roundhouse this Sunday 5th June. The event is organised by The East Midlands Japanese Association, Derby Japanese School and Derby College. The Roundhouse is in Pride Park and the event will take place between 11am and 4pm. Click this link to see a poster about Japan Fundraising Event

Other featured activities on the day include Martial Arts, Origami, flower arranging and Sushi workshops and demonstrations; traditional Japanese sports competitions, Japanese refreshments and produce for sale, quizzes and competitions.

The Haiku Jam Series follows on from Conneally's art installation 'Snibston Preserves' for Transform Snibston at Snibston Discovery Museum. Summers and Conneally have worked together many times before and Conneally felt that Alan Summer's haiku were just perfect for the first haiku jam series:

"I was so pleased when Alan agreed to let me publish his haiku on the Haiku Jam jam jars. Alan's work is full of haiku spirit and exactly right for this project with its hope of raising money for and the spirits of those affected by the earthquake and tsunami in Japan"

The piece also forms a pre-event of Phrase and Fragment - The First World Haiku Games which is devised by Conneally for Loughborough University RADAR to coincide with the Japanese Olympic team being based at Loughborough University for the London Olympics in 2012.

Every single penny paid for the Haiku Jam will go directly to the UNESCO Japan Earthquake Fund via the East Midlands Japanese Society and the Derby Japanese School.

.

Saturday, May 14, 2011

New haiku entries email for the Global Walk Haiku Competition

 
 
 
 
 
 
Just to let you know, we have a new E-mail address to mail your Kukai
submissions: haikubanditsociety@zoho.com

Our deadline for submissions is Friday, May 20th, after which we will
post the haiku for participant voting.

And if our readers are able, please consider a donation to a helping
organization for aid to the Tohoku region of Japan. 
 
Enjoy your Ginko walk!
 
For ffi: 
http://area17.blogspot.com/2011/05/join-us-in-global-haiku-walk-for-japan.html

Friday, May 13, 2011

Join us in a global haiku walk for Japan

As a blogger inspired initiative to honor 
the spirit and sacrifices of the people 
in Japan's stricken Tohoku region, 
we welcome you to

Cities of Green Leaves Ginko-no-Kukai 
May 14 and 15, 2011


We encourage everyone to join us in collaborating with like-minded poets and 
bloggers in combining your skills and talents, enter your haiku in a peer judged 
contest, and take the opportunity to offer aid and support to our friends in 
Japan in a consensus of thought, well wishes and kinetic energies to occur 
simultaneously around the globe.


It's no surprise the kukai's topic will take its cue from Sendai, Japan's annual 
Aoba Matsuri Festival, an event held originally to honor the city's founder, 
Date Masamune. The date has now become an annual celebration with thousands of 
visitors, a parade, sparrow dance, taiko drums and tree lined streets as part of 
the festival each year to rejoice in the arrival of spring's new greenery and 
rebirth.


Choose any place in your vicinity to hold your ginko walk, as long as it holds 
the attributes to inspire many to compassionate action in the beauty of poetry, 
and the celebration of the renewing power of nature's seasons.

Click here 
to send and submit your poems. Submissions deadline will be Friday, 
May 20th, 2011.

Send up to three haiku - your submissions will remain anonymous until we post 
the winner's results. Participants will be be able to vote on their favorites on 
this site when posted.

We encourage all participants to contribute to charitable relief for the 
residents of the Tohoku region of Japan. We've listed some organizations below.

Please, enjoy yourselves, and we look forward to walking with you!


Charitable Donations


Architecture for Humanity
Japanese Red Cross Society
Ngo Jen Official Website
Salvation Army in Japan


Participating Blogs

Area 17
ashley capes
Charlotte D's Writer's Blog
Green Tea and Bird Song
Haiku Bandit Society
Hailstone Haiku Circle Icebox
Issa's Snail
Red Dragonfly
Shiteki Na Usagi
Word Pond

please join us!

Sunday, May 08, 2011

The Haiku Walk: Nature As Inspiration - Alan booked for the first ever Worcester Literary Festival!

.The Haiku Walk:
Nature As Inspiration

Saturday,  June 18th
I'll be around for walks from 11am to the last one ending late afternoon in time to enjoy a last cup of tea with everyone wishing to chat about haiku.
 
Event details:
http://www.worcslitfest.com/the-haiku-walk-nature-as-inspiration/

Japan Times award-winning writer Alan Summers leads a relaxed friendly haiku-writing walk with Haiku Journal notebooks as complementary gifts!

“Nature half-writes the haiku before we’ve even put pen to paper. Become a co-poet with nature.”

There is more than one walk during the day, so please feel free to join in when you'd like a particular walk.  
 
You can also create your own walk and then meet me at the café for a chat about haiku and how your own walk and haiku writings came about.

Orchard Café: http://theorchardcafe.co.uk/home/
I'll always be based at the café when not on one of the walks:
 
 
Start:
Saturday, June 18, 2011 11:00 am
End:
Saturday, June 18, 2011 5:00 pm
Cost:
£5.00 (£4.00 for concessions)
Venue:
Orchard Cafe, Worcester Countryside Centre
Address:
Google Map
Wild Wood Drive, Worcester, United Kingdom, WR5 2LG 

Sunday, May 01, 2011

Cities of Green Leaves Ginko-no-Kukai, and International Haiku Competition

As a blogger-inspired initiative to honor the spirit and sacrifices of the people in Japan’s stricken Tohoku region, we are pleased to announce:

Cities of Green Leaves 
Ginko-no-Kukai
May 14 and 15, 2011






We encourage everyone to join in an international nature walk to be held May 14 - 15 followed by an international haiku contest.














image©With Words
artwork by Dave Alderslade

The address to submit your poems will be posted here this third weekend of May

Please return often until then for further updates and poetry.
We look forward to walking with you!

Just a bit more information below as well.
 















We invite you to walk with us on those days, collaborating with like-minded poets and bloggers in combining their skills and talents, enter your haiku in a peer judged contest, and take the opportunity to offer aid and support to our friends in Japan in a consensus of thought, well wishes and kinetic energies to occur simultaneously around the globe.

It’s no surprise the kukai’s topic will take its cue from Sendai, Japan’s annual Aoba Matsuri Festival, an event held originally to honor the city’s founder, Date Masamune

The date has now become an annual celebration with thousands of visitors, a parade, sparrow dance and tree lined streets as part of the festival each year to rejoice in the arrival of spring’s new greenery and rebirth.

You may choose any place to hold your ginko walk, as long as it holds the attributes to inspire many to compassionate action in the beauty of poetry, and the celebration of the renewing power of nature’s seasons.

Chin P'ing Mei
my sorrowing heart in need
of plum blossom
 

Alan Summers

Charitable Donations

Participating Blogs

.




Saturday, April 30, 2011

Emily Dickinson gendai haiku for NaPoWriMo aka National Poetry Writing Month










image©NaPoWriMo

National Poetry Writing Month

Gendai haiku challenge
inspired by Emily Dickinson 
.
last quarter
I save up for a chin of gold
and a new moon

4am moonrise
your chin of gold, and me
tucked in bed

moonrise
I shine your chin of gold
and dimities of blue

backscattered 
from the lunar surface
the universe my shoe 

.

Friday, April 29, 2011

haiku for a Royal Wedding

haiku for a wedding:

hornbeams and maples
Milton echoes round the vaults
of Westminster Abbey

Royal Wedding April 29th 2011
Prince William & Kate Middleton 


weblinks:

Royal Wedding video feeds:

Trees in Westminster Abbey:

Westminster Abbey:

20ft-high English field maples, six in total, along with two hornbeams.
The hornbeam is known for being extremely hard and is said to symbolise resilience. The English field maple is said represent humility and reserve. It is the favoured wood used for harp making and it is also used to create medieval loving cups.

John Milton, possibly the world’s most accomplished poet:

.

gendai haiku for NaPoWriMo aka National Poetry Writing Month







image©NaPoWriMo



National Poetry Writing Month
www.napowrimo.net 

Alan's gendai haiku challenge

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

.

Wednesday, April 27, 2011

gendai haiku for NaPoWriMo aka National Poetry Writing Month








image©NaPoWriMo


National Poetry Writing Month
April 27th concupiscence challenge

Gendai haiku challenge


Emperor of Ice-Cream
my life as concupiscence
in a kitchen stanza

 
A nod to Wallace Stevens and thanks to The Columbia History of American Poetry. Ed. Jay Parini and Brett C. Miller. New York: Columbia UP, 1993.
 

Tuesday, April 26, 2011

gendai haiku for NaPoWriMo aka National Poetry Writing Month




image©NaPoWriMo




National Poetry Writing Month
www.napowrimo.net


2 single-line English-language gendai haiku by Alan Summers for NaPoWriMo for Monday and Tuesday April 25th and 26th 2011



corn chaff realising oil as one colour



field of dreams an unborn child's colour isn't rapeseed


gendai haiku:

It should be our method that we create haiku which match the times. This is not a new idea and was prevalent in the old days; even Sanki Saito wrote about it before the association existed. Sanki believed:     
"To the difficult question 'what is new?'

I will answer: the new means how the emotions of today's society and people are expressed to fit the times. The haiku must be innovative in any time. 

So we should begin and continue to express the emotions of the people of this time and generation."

(Gendai Haiku, S.21.10)
Kiyoko Uda
President, Modern Haiku Association
Tokyo, JAPAN
(English Translation: Akiko Takazawa)

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Monday, April 25, 2011

Alan's haiku created into posters at StudioManchester's Japan Art Auction


An incredible collaboration with Hidenori Hiruta and Sarah Jane Robertson through haiku and art has created the opportunity that my haiku have helped in a small way with the disasters that Japan are suffering.

It wouldn't have been possible without Sarah Jane Robertson approaching me, and for Hidenori Hiruta to be so open and ready to help despite being in Japan amongst all the sorrow.  


For more of my comments scroll further down, but for now, enjoy the images and the story.

STUDIOMANCHESTER

Hulme Street, off Oxford St, Manchester



haiku©Alan Summers
translation©Hidenori Hiruta
image/poster © Sarah Jane Robertson www.sarahjrobertson.co.uk


 








 
 













Japan Art Auction
Thursday 7th April 2011

An exhibition and auction of creative work was organised to raise funds for the British Red Cross Japan Tsunami Appeal, including two of my haiku which were also translated into Japanese by Hidenori Hiruta, and made into beautiful art posters by Sarah Jane Robertson of Creative State.

More than 40 artists from the UK, Ireland, USA, France, Norway and Japan pledged to donate existing work or create new pieces. The artists range from photographers and illustrators to writers, ceramic artists and jewellery designers.

100% of proceeds donated to the British Red Cross Japan Tsunami Appeal.

Mike Joyce and Andy Rourke of the legendary Manchester band The Smiths opened the exhibition.

An initial £4,660 was raised on the night!  
[scroll down for later larger amount!]

A big thank you also to the Sponsors:
Samsi Japanese Restaurants
Jonathan Oakes
Studio Manchester
 




Sarah Jane Robertson, Creative Director at Creative State not only kindly created two stunning haiku mandalas for the auction, in collaboration with myself and Hidenori Hiruta, she also continued to sell them via her blog to raise another £400 for the Red Cross. 
Taking the new total to £5,160! 


My profound thanks to Sarah Jane Robertson for contacting me with the suggestion of haiku art to help raise funds.


My deep thanks, respect, and admiration, always, to Hidenori Hiruta (Secretary-General of the Akita International Haiku Network) for creating wonderful translations and being such a supportive colleague, in a time of great need.
 
Details




image/art © Sarah Jane Robertson



magnolia moon haiku©Alan Summers
image/art © Sarah Jane Robertson www.sarahjrobertson.co.uk












haiku©Alan Summers 
translation©Hidenori Hiruta

image/art © Sarah Jane Robertson www.sarahjrobertson.co.uk



image/art © Sarah Jane Robertson www.sarahjrobertson.co.uk




Alan's haiku translation©Hidenori Hiruta
image/art © Sarah Jane Robertson www.sarahjrobertson.co.uk 

Hidenori's translation of my haiku, and I took his literal translation in Japanese as my English translation.  Translations can work more than two ways.  
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image/art © Sarah Jane Robertson www.sarahjrobertson.co.uk 

printing process images/art © Sarah Jane Robertson www.sarahjrobertson.co.uk 












Leeds and Edinburgh-based graphic designer, Sarah Jane Robertson created this pair of A3 mandala letterpress prints. Entitled Sunshine & Moonlight, she worked with myself and Hidenori Hiruta, in response to the Earthquake and Tsunami and radiation threats. 

Sarah then created the prints in response to the poems and letterpress printed them to give greater depth and definition, adding to the original artwork. 




photo©Alan Summers
postcards © Sarah Jane Robertson www.sarahjrobertson.co.uk






photo©Molly Cockcroft 2011








Sarah contacted me with this idea with a very short deadline for both of us.   I don't know how Sarah pulled out all the stops to produce artwork and then have it created as a quality poster, but it happened.

Hidenori Hiruta came up with quality translations in a very short time, no easy task, and once Sarah received our work in no time she got a design idea working that could incorporate my haiku and Hidenori's translations.

Thanks to two fabulous sponsors of Sarah's who we thank profusely:
Blush Publishing from North Wales, using traditional printing techniques and vintage printing presses.

GF Smith: a specialty paper merchant from Hull, East Yorkshire going for over 100 years, and no need to say more, than if it's from Hull, it's always going to be special, friendly, and quality all the way.

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Sarah Jane Robertson:

Creative State is the trading name for Creative State Studio Ltd. Registered in England and Wales No. 6557792.
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Registered Office 6 Chapel Lofts, Commercial Street, Leeds LS27 8HL. VAT Number: 940 0169 54.