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)

Sunday, August 26, 2012

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




Thursday, August 23, 2012

Ekphrastic haiku: Alan Summers wins the British Haiku Society journal's cover prize


















shahai (photo + haiku) 

photo by John Parsons, haiku by Alan Summers

I was surprised but very delighted to hear that I had won the prize for creating a haiku for this excellent artwork by John Parsons, artist and highly respected haiku writer in his own right.

does fish-god know?
rain can fall
from clear blue skies


Alan Summers

Publication credit: Blithe Spirit (vol 22 no. 3 2012)
 
Award credit: Winner of the Blithe Spirit Cover competition for issue 22/2  (John Parsons cover artwork Autumn 2012)


“Japanese culture is particularly ekphrastic, with image and poem deeply interrelated.”  

Poet and literary translator Peter MacMillan  






Catch the book named after the winning haiku:

Monday, August 20, 2012

Writing Memoirs: Alan Summers at the Holburne Museum



Alan Summers at the Holburne Museum
    
Writing Memoirs
http://www.holburne.org/writing-memoirs/view/2012-11-24?filter=1&filter_WhatsOnEvent_Category=Workshops&

Family Objects; Family Histories; Mini Memoir Writing
Saturday 24 November, 10.30am-4.30pm


Alan Summers, a widely published and award-winning writer, inspired by our exhibition Belfast Boy: cabinet of Home Heart and Hearth, will help you to conjure up memories (perhaps half-forgotten) of family lives and rituals. Using group discussion for feedback on the most interesting anecdotes and observations, we’ll choose which ones to write into short pieces for posterity. We hope you will be inspired to continue writing after the workshop!

Suitable for beginners or advanced writers looking for inspiration.

Ticket £40/£35 tel 01225 388569

Visiting the museum: http://www.holburne.org/visiting/
Getting there: http://www.holburne.org/getting-here/


Belfast Boy – Clarke’s Cabinet of Home, Heart and Hearth by Mark Clarke
27 October 2012 to 6 January 2013
Free Exhibition

http://www.holburne.org/belfast-boy/

This installation created especially for the Holburne to complement Secret Splendour by Mark Clarke explores life, love and loss and bears testimony to the constant and silent presence of bereavement within the family home.

The piece is inspired by the death of Clarke’s Uncle Robert, a Merchant Seaman who drowned at sea in 1955 off Curacao Bay, South America. He was 24 years old. The circumstances of his death still remain unclear.

The work revisits the mantelpiece and fireside of his grandparents’ home, half hearth, half shrine, and includes found objects scavenged from disparate sources to create a striking juxtaposition between old and new, witty and poignant.

Sponsored by the Norie Trust


Other work by Mark Clarke








Copyright  bookbird1 image: http://www.flickr.com/photos/10931699@N06/6066242941/

Enjoy the Garden Cafe:
http://www.holburne.org/garden-cafe/
Visit Bath/Holburne:
http://visitbath.co.uk/things-to-do/attractions/the-holburne-museum-p25111

Free Downloadable Maps for Bath areas:

City Centre Map:
http://visitbath.co.uk/travel-and-maps/bath-city-centre-map

Parking Map:
http://visitbath.co.uk/travel-and-maps/parking-in-bath/bath-parking-map

Regional Map: http://visitbath.co.uk/travel-and-maps/bath-area-map

Further maps:
http://visitbath.co.uk/travel-and-maps/downloadable-guides-and-brochures


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Thursday, August 16, 2012

Become Well-Versed in Haiku a Skills³ Haiku Course by Alan Summers at Wiltshire College, Trowbridge Campus

Become Well-Versed in Haiku 
a Skills³ Haiku Course by Alan Summers at Wiltshire College, Trowbridge Campus

Buy before 18 Aug 2012 and save £5.00
http://www.skills3.co.uk/experiences/detail.aspx?ref=CHAIKU&year=12%2f13





Wiltshire Colleges, Trowbridge Campus
http://www.wiltshire.gov.uk/wstan/wiltshire-college-trowbridge.htm

A marvellous opportunity to learn about haiku and stretch those haiku muscles if you get the bug to write your own, or increase your knowledge of haiku if you've already started.

This course is designed for those considering learning a new skill; finding a new adventure; or new aspects they didn't know about themselves; for self-development; wanting to go further into haiku or tanka poetry; or consolidating their start into all types of poetry by trying haiku or tanka first.





Some of the aspects included in the haiku course:

An introduction to how haiku originated in Japan and is written throughout the world today.

The various styles of haiku inside and outside Japan.

A number of tools and techniques to your own contemporary haiku.

How to keep a Haiku Journal. 

How to catch the eye of haiku editors and publishers for those of you interested in pursuing that avenue.

I will also touch on forms related to haiku such as tanka, and the fun and interactive group poem called renga. 

All routes lead easily to Trowbridge:



N.B.
See further down for more details and maps on how to get to Trowbridge Campus.

 
Quotes from previous workshop participants:

"You have a very gentle and encouraging way with the students – and you have been generous with your time in giving them deep and positive comments!" Isabelle, Ireland

"...you are one of the poets I have been most interested in. I love your haiku style."  Keiko, Yokohama, JAPAN

"You have a remarkable talent for touching and enriching people’s lives." 
    Mark, London 2009

"Alan is able to work with people who have no experience of poetry to encourage them to try it.  He watches and listens with patience and respect and offers guidance that is flexible enough to empower the workshop participants but firm enough to support them." 
Rachel, Bristol (2010)


"Very many thanks again for all your constant and splendid help, support and patience.  I am well aware of the fact that I wouldn't be having such an amazing journey with my haiku if wasn't for you.

As you probably know by now, I use every corner of my life as a way of reflection of my psychological personal development - haiku in itself is great for this, but working with you has just elevated the experience a 100 fold.  I can not put into words how much this has meant to me, so as I tried to say on the phone the haiku is almost secondary, but of course both mean a lot to me.  Your support over the last couple of years or so have just been such an amazing gift to me - bless you."
  Frances, 2011-2012



Trowbridge Campus
http://www.wiltshire.ac.uk/trowbridge/

The College's largest campus is situated in a largely residential area on the outskirts of the town about one mile from the town centre. Trowbridge is the rapidly expanding county town of Wiltshire and is a well-established manufacturing and service centre set in the growth corridor between the M4 (15 miles) and the A36 and is surrounded by areas of outstanding natural beauty. The centre of the busy town is within easy reach. The historic town of Bradford-on-Avon and the city of Bath are just a short bus or train ride away.

Trowbridge is a friendly and lively campus to study at. There is always a lot to do with the student common room at the centre of student activities. Cafés and a restaurant provide meals throughout the day; there is a large Learning Resource centre, hair and beauty salons, a new STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) centre and dedicated studio space for our Arts students.

Trowbridge campus contact and maps:
http://www.wiltshire.ac.uk/trowbridge/contacts_trowbridge.asp
http://www.wiltshire.ac.uk/trowbridge/map.asp

Campus map:
http://www.wiltshire.ac.uk/trowbridge/trowbridge_centre.pdf


About Skills³
Skills³ is a new range of skills' experiences from Wiltshire College.

You could change your life in just one day by:

    Learning a new hobby or developing a new interest
    Challenging yourself to improve your existing skills for fun or work
    Meet new people who share the same interests as you or will do after the day
    Develop professional skills that will enhance your career prospects or change your career altogether


So much more than a course - all Skills³ experiences include lunch and refreshments throughout the day.

Who are Skills³?
All the experiences offered through Skills³ will be delivered by professional and highly experienced tutors.

Skills³ is supported by the expertise of Wiltshire College. The county of Wiltshire's leading provider of adult training and learning.

Why Skills³?
Practical, Flexible, Fast experience days for you and your friends to enjoy; whether you’re looking to improve on existing skills or you simply want to have some fun, Skills3 have an experience day waiting for you!

The Skills3 online community - you will have the opportunity to “meet” your fellow ‘cubees’ online before you attend and your instructor will contact you in advance so you feel relaxed and comfortable on arrival. Afterwards, there will be an opportunity for you to leave your feedback online.

Can a day really change your life? Try one and see!

Buy before 18 Aug 2012 and save £5.00
http://www.skills3.co.uk/experiences/detail.aspx?ref=CHAIKU&year=12%2f13

Alan Summers, is a Japan Times award-winning writer, and recipient of a Ritsumeikan University of Kyoto Peace Museum Award for haiku.

He has a Masters Degree in Creative Writing from Bath Spa University; and is a past General Secretary of the British Haiku Society.

Alan is an experienced workshop leader, and editor, in haiku and other haikai literature disciplines, and appeared in literary festivals, and readings, all over Britain. 


"Astonishingly moving haiku"  YOMIURI SHIMBUN (Japan) January 2005

As well as being published in over 75 anthologies, and translated into 15 languages, Alan has his own work in collections, and co-edited a number of anthologies himself.

Haiku Collections:
The In-Between Season (With Words Pamphlet Series 2012); Sundog Haiku Journal: an Australian Year (Sunfast Press 1997 reprinted 1998); Moonlighting British Haiku Society Pamphlet (1996).

A new collection of experimental haiku and short verse poetry is forthcoming this Autumn.

Anthology Co-Editor:
Parade of Life: Poems inspired by Japanese Prints ISBN: 09539234-2-8  (Poetry Can/Bristol Museum and Art Gallery/Japan21 2002); The Poetic Image - Haiku and Photography (Birmingham Words/ National Academy of Writing Pamphlet 2006); Fifty-Seven Damn Good Haiku by a Bunch of Our Friends published by Press Here ISBN 978-1-878798-31-2  (2010 USA); Four Virtual Haiku Poets (YTBN Press 2012)
 
An anthology showcasing new British, American and other writers in haiku is forthcoming late Autumn
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With Words runs regular and popular online courses in haiku, tanka and other related poetry.
Please don't hesitate to contact Karen for further information: karen@withwords.org.uk
 
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Wednesday, August 15, 2012

Alan Summers in the new haiku anthology by Iron Press: The Humours of Haiku

"Once again, Iron Press, an independent and feisty publisher, makes a solid contribution to the library of contemporary haiku."

Michael McClintock
Modern Haiku magazine (USA) Issue 44-2 Summer-2013


The Humours of Haiku where a number of my haiku appear includes these two: 

hummingbird
I pull its colors
to create my own state

Publications credits: see haiku here (haiga #531, 2011); haijinx IV:1 (2011); The Humours of Haiku (Iron Press 2012); Does Fish-God Know (YTBN Press 2012)

Iron Press anthology version:

hummingbird
I pluck its colors
to create my own state



snowing
through the blizzard
particles of me


Alan Summers

Publications credits: 
The Haiku Calendar 2012 (Snapshot Press); The Humours of Haiku (Iron Press 2012)


Winner, 
The Haiku Calendar Competition 2011 (Snapshot Press)



The Humours of Haiku
edited by David Cobb


    £7.00
    Publication date: September 2012
    76 pages A6 page size
    ISBN 978-0-9565725-4-7


For anyone who thinks haiku arouse only a very narrow range of emotions, this anthology - with 240 haiku by over 100 poets - is a challenge to think again.

Sadness, anger, jealousy, pity, compassion, regret and joy are just some of the emotions covered, and all within the confines of the small three line poems - confines that can often prove liberating to the practitioners of this increasingly popular literary form.




INTERNATIONAL ORDERS
Iron Press are not able to take credit cards at present. To pay by credit card go to their Inpress webpage: http://www.inpressbooks.co.uk/the-humours-of-haiku/

For US orders or Eurozone:
Click at the top right of the webpage for more currency choices (where it states GBP) and you get a choice of Euros or US Dollars. :-)

ORDERING FOR UK CITIZENS
If you live in the United Kingdom you can order our books by sending Iron Press a cheque for the appropriate amount, plus £1 per book towards postage and packing.

Click on the logo below to download and print our order form and price list.
http://www.ironpress.co.uk/orders.html
http://www.ironpress.co.uk/txtord.htm


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Four Virtual Haiku Poets: a new haiku anthology edited by Alan Summers and Brendan Slater

Four Virtual Haiku Poets
Yet To Be Named Free Press: www.yettobenamedfreepress.org

Available at Amazon U.S.
Price: $7.50 & eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25
http://www.amazon.com/Virtual-Haiku-Poets-Scott-Terrill/dp/1478307544/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1345126639&sr=8-1&keywords=four+virtual+haiku+poets

Available at Amazon U.K.
Price: £5.00 & this item Delivered FREE in the UK 
with Super Saver Delivery:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Virtual-Haiku-Poets-Scott-Terrill/dp/1478307544/ref=sr_1_sc_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1345012707&sr=8-1-spell

Or read the free eBook at:
http://www.yettobenamedfreepress.org/p/four-virtual-haiku-poets.html 



Authors: 
Scott Terrill, Brendan Slater, Colin Stewart Jones, Michael Goglia
 
Edited by Alan Summers, Brendan Slater




Excerpt:

Cage Fighting


An Introduction to Four Virtual Haiku Poets 
by Alan Summers

“Gritty, experimental, human and readable for a mainstream audience.”
Brendan Slater

The poem, in all its forms, perhaps, to paraphrase Ian Sansom - frequent contributor and critic for The Guardian and the London Review of Books - remains a most elusive thing.  One minute you think you have it pinned down, and the next it’s moved, both geographically, and in its mode of transport.  If you thought you knew everything about haiku poetry, here’s an exploration into other styles and approaches.

What of short verse, and in particular, haiku and other aspects of haikai literature in the fledgling 21st century?

This book covers three geographic locations, that of Britain, America and Australia, and poetry that’s an excitement of language yet still contained in tight cages called haiku.  That’s what we are invited here to see, “the where and how of poets” contained in tight enclosures. I want the reader in me to have these four poets excite me in their approach to poetry, to language, to words, and to their audience, while all the while using the constrained framework of haiku.

These poems offer up possibilities for the many aspects of existence that we embrace or fail to embrace, or should not embrace.  These may be poems living on, or off the edge, perhaps always living too dangerously close to the flame, but we need only read them, and back off, and then become relieved we are not in their universe of existence, and then revisit them with the shock of strong black coffee, or a splash of cold water.

How do we enter into conversation with these poets, or is a poem an argument? What are the basic intentions on offer that are indispensable to compose these poems?

--END OF EXCERPT--

We will leave that up to its readers, and how they engage with the original and different formats of the book as a whole.

Alan Summers, Co-Editor
Four Virtual Haiku Poets





Four Virtual Haiku Poets contains modern haiku tackling themes such as loss, aspiration, drugs, sexual abuse, fugitiveness, sex, poverty and the inner conflicts of humanity.

Four Virtual Haiku Poets
Yet To Be Named Free Press
Publication Date: Aug 14 2012
ISBN/EAN13: 1478307544 / 9781478307549






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Monday, August 13, 2012

Haiku and Tanka online workshops by Alan Summers


Hi, I'm Alan Summers, and our online haiku and tanka workshops are designed for those considering learning a new skill; a new adventure; for self-development; wanting to go further into haiku or tanka poetry; or consolidating their start into all types of poetry by trying haiku or tanka first.  

You might also be interested in haibun or tanka stories (prose with haiku or tanka)?

Check out our most recent online classes for:
https://www.callofthepage.org/learning/ 

Or email Karen at: admin@callofthepage.org for the latest news and courses.

Check out our past online classes for haiku and tanka:  http://area17.blogspot.co.uk/2017/03/call-of-page-online-courses-passion-of.html



Tanka are five line love poems, with a turn not unlike the longer Sonnet.


Haiku are usually three very short line poems, that rely on evoking emotions through concrete images.

There is a lot more to these two genres than the simple description, and many themes and approaches are allowed in these poems, to match your own style.

There is something for everybody.

FFI
Whether for bookings or for further information, please do not hesitate to contact Karen who will be delighted to give you answers to your questions.

Karen's email: admin@callofthepage.org




Alan Summers, is a Japan Times award-winning writer, and recipient of a Ritsumeikan University of Kyoto Peace Museum Award for haiku.

He has a Masters Degree in Creative Writing from Bath Spa University; and is a past General Secretary of the British Haiku Society.

Alan is an experienced workshop leader, and editor, in haiku and other haikai literature disciplines, and appeared in literary festivals, and readings, all over Britain. 


"Astonishingly moving haiku"  YOMIURI SHIMBUN (Japan) January 2005


As well as being published in over 75 anthologies, and translated into 15 languages, Alan has his own work in collections, and co-edited a number of anthologies himself.


Haiku Collections:

“Does Fish-God Know” (YTBN Press 2012)
“A must-have book for any haiku fan.”
Tracey Kelly, Chicago/Bath musician and journalist
 
“Thank you for writing such a vital work.”
Paul David Mena, author of Tenement Landscapes (New York) published by Happa-no-Kofu (The Leaf-Miner Press) just after September 11 2001
 
“The In-Between Season”

With Words Pamphlet Series (2012)
 
“Sundog Haiku Journal: an Australian Year”
(Sunfast Press 1997 reprinted 1998) California State Library - Main Catalog Call Number: HAIKU S852su 1997
 
“Moonlighting”
British Haiku Society Intimations Pamphlet Series (1996)




Anthology Co-Editor:
Parade of Life: Poems inspired by Japanese Prints ISBN: 09539234-2-8  (Poetry Can/Bristol Museum and Art Gallery/Japan21 2002); The Poetic Image - Haiku and Photography (Birmingham Words/ National Academy of Writing Pamphlet 2006); Fifty-Seven Damn Good Haiku by a Bunch of Our Friends published by Press Here ISBN 978-1-878798-31-2  (2010 USA); Four Virtual Haiku Poets (YTBN Press 2012); C.2.2. anthology of short verse and haiku (YTBN Press 2013).
Parade of Life Co-editors: Paul Conneally; Alan Summers; and Kate Newham


Quotes from workshop participants:

This was the first online class I have ever taken and I have thoroughly enjoyed it! Thanks for providing the opportunity and for making it affordable. I learned so much and integrated a lot of what I learned.

Alan is a fantastic teacher, as you already know. I would love to take another course with Alan.  

A B (March 2013)

"You have a very gentle and encouraging way with the students – and you have been generous with your time in giving them deep and positive comments!" Isabelle, Ireland

"...you are one of the poets I have been most interested in. I love your haiku style."
  Keiko, Yokohama, JAPAN


"You have a remarkable talent for touching and enriching people’s lives."     Mark, London 2009

"Alan is able to work with people who have no experience of poetry to encourage them to try it.  He watches and listens with patience and respect and offers guidance that is flexible enough to empower the workshop participants but firm enough to support them."
Rachel, Bristol (2010)

"Very many thanks again for all your constant and splendid help, support and patience.  I am well aware of the fact that I wouldn't be having such an amazing journey with my haiku if wasn't for you.

As you probably know by now, I use every corner of my life as a way of reflection of my psychological personal development - haiku in itself is great for this, but working with you has just elevated the experience a 100 fold.  I can not put into words how much this has meant to me, so as I tried to say on the phone the haiku is almost secondary, but of course both mean a lot to me.  Your support over the last couple of years or so have just been such an amazing gift to me - bless you."
  FT 2011-2012


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