TED Talk : Transcript from the TEDx video: Amazement of the Ordinary: Life through a haiku lens by Alan Summers

TED is a nonprofit devoted to Ideas Worth Spreading. It started out (in 1984) as a conference bringing together people from three worlds: Technology, Entertainment, Design: http://www.ted.com/pages/about

Amazement of the Ordinary talk on haiku: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LxLTiR7AKDE

Transcript from the TEDx video:

Amazement of the Ordinary:  

Life through a haiku lens

“We see things not as they are, but as we are.”
That’s a quote from the Talmud, an ancient text, containing opinions of thousands of rabbis on a variety of subjects.

Now I’m sure many of us have been there, overlooking the ordinary because we feel it’s… well ordinary… mundane, boring, annoying, a distraction, or mostly unnoticed in our busy schedules.

I’d like to talk about how a tiny practice of reading or writing haiku, the world’s shortest type of poetry, can add an extra depth to our world.

I’m adding examples of my own haiku poems to attempt to inject some lateral shift time, as in our linear lives some of us can rarely take time to step off, safely, we’ve just got to keep going even if it kills us, even if it alienates those we love.

Lateral shift?   Bending time?  No.  

It’s just that sometimes we are only aware of how long time is if

1) it’s horribly boring, or

2) we are in great danger. 

This could be your third choice, your third option, and all without a safety net, to have something parallel on your timeline.

mist haze-

a crow cleans its beak

on a rooftop aerial

Ah, perhaps you are a driver, worried you might miss the early morning sights and sounds of birds getting up for their own day ahead?

traffic jam

a driver fingers the breeze

through the sunroof

One of the world’s greatest short story writers, Raymond Carver, back in the old century, wrote about people who worried whether their cars would start in the morning; about unemployment and debt; of individuals who make our day to day life tick.  He never pretended a wonderland still existed but said:  “a writer sometimes needs to be able to just stand and gape at this or that thing—a sunset or an old shoe—in absolute and simple amazement.”

Are we not writers of our own life, writing out cheques, or pin numbering our way to coffee and snacks;  those last minute remembered bunch of flowers at a supermarket, to filling our cars with petrol to get somewhere…

an attic window sill

a wasp curls

into its own dust

…and however much we can afford a mortage, or need to pay the landlord…

the rain

almost a friend

this funeral

As the 1931 song says: "Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?"

Brother, Sister, can you spare yourself a haiku moment?

sunlight breaks

on a bird

and its portion of the roof

A day consists of 86 thousand and 400 seconds: A haiku is six seconds. 

Try bending some time, maybe on your travels, catching a…

train whistle
a blackbird hops
along its notes

Mary Oliver, a poet, said, from When Death Comes:

When it’s over, I want to say: all my life

I was a bride married to amazement.

I don’t want to end up simply having visited this world.

I’d like to end with this last haiku, that takes less than six seconds to say,

and, time me if you’d like…

      this small ache and all the rain too robinsong

–end–

TEDx YouTube link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LxLTiR7AKDE

Other links:

http://www.ted.com/tedx/events/5181

http://tedxtalks.ted.com/video/Amazement-of-the-ordinary-life
 

Online courses in haiku and related genres:

Japan Times award-winning writer Alan Summers regularly teaches haiku and tanka, and other popular online courses.  

For more details please contact Karen at:  admin@callofthepage.org

www.callofthepage.org

haiku poetry publication credits:

mist haze-

a crow cleans its beak

on a rooftop aerial

First publication credit: 
Azami journal issue 38 ed. Ikkoku Santo (Osaka, Japan 1996)
Other credits: The Haiku Calendar 2003 (Snapshot Press); Watermark: A Poet’s Notebook - Crows (2004)

Anthology credit: First Australian Online Anthology (1999): Wing Beats: British Birds in Haiku (Snapshot Press, 2008)
Feature: Cornell University, Mann Library, U.S.A. "Daily Haiku" poet (October 2001)

Award credit:

Runner-up, The Haiku Calendar Competition 2002 (Snapshot Press)

traffic jam

a driver fingers the breeze

through the sunroof

Publication credits: Snapshots 2 (1998); tinywords.com (2002)
Anthology credit: The New Haiku (Snapshot Press, 2002)
Feature: Travelogue on World Haiku Festival 2002, Part 2  (Japan, Akita International Haiku Network 2010)

an attic window sill

a wasp curls

into its own dust

Haiku of Merit: Ginko & Kukai event, London, England with Professor Hoshino Tsunehiko (1997)

Publication credits:

Woodpecker Special Issue, Extra Shuttle Issue (Holland, 1997); Snapshots Four  (1998); Swot, arts & literature magazine, Bath Spa University (2007);  Yomiuri Shimbun, Japan (for my birthday, September 16th 2002); tinywords (2002)

Award credit:

Highly Commended, Haiku Collection Competition, Snapshot Press (1998); Joint 7^th Best of Issue, Snapshot Five (1999)

Article: Travelogue on World Haiku Festival 2002 , Part 2  (Akita International Haiku Network, Japan 2010)

Anthologies:

First Australian Online Haiku Anthology (1999); Haiku International 2000 Anthology (Japan 2000); The Omnibus Anthology, Haiku and Senryu, Hub Editions (2001); The New Haiku, Snapshot Press (2002); Raku Teapot: Haiku Book and CD, Raku Teapot Press in association with White Owl Publishing Book (2003); First Australian Haiku Anthology (Paper Wasp 2003)

Feature/Showcase:

Cornell University, Mann Library, U.S. "Daily Haiku" poet (October 2001)

Japanese newspaper article:

Yomiuri Shimbun Go-Shichi-Go On-Line Language Lab (Japan, 2005)

iPad/iPhone/iTunes:

The Haiku Foundation haiku 2012 app

Education: 

HaikuOz Information Kit  HaikuOz, the Australian Haiku Society Getting Started With Haiku.

the rain

almost a friend

this funeral

Award credit: Highly Commended, Haiku Collection Competition, (Snapshot Press 1998)

Joint 9^th Best of Issue, Snapshot Five (1999)

Publication credits: Azami #28 ed. Ikkoku Santo (Osaka, Japan, 1995); Snapshots 4 (1998); tempslibre (2001); Birmingham Words Magazine Issue 3 (Autumn 2004); tempslibre (2010)

Anthology credits: First Australian online Anthology (October 1999); 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); The Temple Bell Stops: Contemporary Poems of Grief, Loss and Change ed. Robert Epstein (Modern English Tanka Press 2012); iTunes The Haiku Foundation THFhaiku app for iPhone/iPad/iPod Touch (2011)

Article: Blithe Spirit article On minimalism and other things  DJ Peel Vol 9 No.3 (1999); Travelogue on World Haiku Festival 2002, Part 2  (Japan, Akita International Haiku Network 2010)

Collection credit: The In-Between Season (With Words Pamphlet Series 2012)

Featured Poet: Cornell University, Mann Library, U.S.A. "Daily Haiku" (Oct 2001); Blogging Along Tobacco Road: Alan Summers - Three Questions (2010); Charlotte Digregorio's Writer's Blog Daily Haiku, June 17, 2015

Magazine feature: seven magazine feature: “Three lines of simple beauty” (2006)

la pluie

presqu'une amie

ses funérailles

la pluie

presqu'une amie

à cet enterrement

haiku: Alan Summers

French trans. Serge Tomé

Temps Libre analysis in French:

http://area17.blogspot.co.uk/2013/02/analysis-of-haiku-structure-in-work-of.html

sunlight breaks

on a bird

and its portion of the roof

hi   wa   torini   yane   no   ibasho   ni   sosogi   keri

Romanised version (Romaji) trans.

Hiromi Inoue, Masegawa Kawauchi town, Ehime Prefecture, Japan

Publication credit:

Haigaonline vol. III (2003)
Anthology: Haiku Friends ed. Masaharu Hirata  (Japan 2003)

train whistle
a blackbird hops
along its notes

First publication credit:

Presence journal #47 (2012)

Anthology credits: 

naad anunaad: an anthology of contemporary international haiku ed. Shloka Shankar, Sanjuktaa Asopa, Kala Ramesh (India, 2016)

Last Train Home, an anthology of haiku, tanka and rengay ed. Jacquie Pearce (2020)

In Swedish:

tågvissla
en koltrast skuttar
längs med dess toner

trans. Marcus Liljedahl

Gothenburg, Sweden

theevandiude choolam
oru karutha pakshi thulli
athin swarangalil

Malayalam translation by Narayanan Raghunathan (2012)

neruppu vantiyin choolam
oru karuppu paravai thulliyatu
antha svarangalil

Tamizh translation by Narayanan Raghunathan (2012)

train seeti
ek kale rang ki chidiya naachti
vah svar lahiri me

Hindi translation by Narayanan Raghunathan (2012)

sifflet du train

un merle sautille

au long de ses notes

French translation by Serge Tomé

this small ache and all the rain too robinsong

Note: single line haiku also known as a one-line haiku or monoku

Publication credit: Modern Haiku vol. 44.1 winter/spring 2013

Anthology credit: naad anunaad: an anthology of contemporary international haiku ed. Shloka Shankar, Sanjuktaa Asopa, Kala Ramesh (India, 2016)

robin subsong: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ueSGPA2UPDk

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Bones Journal issue 2 is now out, full of new, experimental and gendai haiku

Bones Journal issue 2 is now out!
http://www.bonesjournal.com/

 

Editors:

Aditya Bahl

Alan Summers

Johannes S. H. Bjerg

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Alan Summers headlining the Words & Ears Poetry Event (The Swan Hotel, Bradford on Avon) July 25th 2013

Plus Open Mic opportunities!

The Swan Hotel:

photograph: https://plus.google.com/photos/at/106904345684679385847?hl=en

The Swan Hotel Events:  
http://www.theswanbradford.co.uk/index.html

The Swan Hotel Location: 
http://www.theswanbradford.co.uk/location.html

Less than five minutes from Bradford on Avon train station, go over the bridge towards the town centre (left hand side of the bridge, and enter via rear entrance through car park, coach house annex on your right where you see the silver people carrier vehicle).

http://www.booking.com/hotel/gb/the-swan-bradford-on-avon.html?aid=329009

w. W
Words & Ears organisers:
Helen Murray: http://www.helenmurrayphotos.com/
Dawn Gorman: http://www.dawngorman.co.uk/AboutPage.html

Cloud kigo: Alan Summers haiku in Asahi Shimbun (Japan newspaper)

Cloud Kigo©Alan Summers, Bradford on Avon 13th June 2013

Cloud kigo
a light rain patters across
your nightingale floors

Alan Summers
Publication Credits: Asahi Shimbun (Japan, 2013)



"In search of the ultimate season word to associate with clouds, Alan Summers observes how “rain writes its own story across floorboards that sing like a bird.” I like the idea of the cloud kigo. Readers will too. It is always my pleasure to work with you on haiku.”

David McMurray writes a haiku column for the Asahi Newspaper (Asahi Shimbun, Japan). He is also Professor of Intercultural Studies at The International University of Kagoshima (Japan) where he lectures on international haiku.


“season is the soul of haiku”
William J. Higginson (The Haiku Seasons, p20)



The Haiku Seasons
Poetry of the Natural World
by: William J. Higginson
http://www.stonebridge.com/shopexd.asp?id=88

"The Haiku Seasons presents the historical and modern Japanese usage of seasonal themes in poetry. It shows, as nothing else in the literature has done, the growing dialogue between poets in Japan and other countries...An extremely valuable work!"
—Elizabeth Searle Lamb, retired editor, Frogpond


A Little About the Kigo Technique in Haiku
by Alan Summers

Japanese kigo are a strong allusion device (there are others) and can contain cultural and emotional tones of extreme intensity within Japan. The possibilities of kigo as a tool or device of choice, can be equally considered as valid, as any other technique of haiku.

Kisetsu

Kisetsu (season, seasonal aspect)
The seasons. 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. [1]

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.

Haiku are 'seasonal' rather than 'nature' centered poems. If looked at in this way it allows for urban seasonal markers and seasonal celebrations; in other words from this perspective it would be legitimate to compose haiku centered on the human world because the human world is also seasonal.

I feel that non-Japanese haiku can achieve an aspect of kisetsu [1] with seasonal words and phrases.

[1] William J. Higginson with Penny Harter, The Haiku Handbook: How to Write, Share, and Teach Haiku, published by Kodansha International. Copyright (C) 1989 by William J. Higginson. (p289 & 291)

Amazon USA
http://www.amazon.com/Haiku-Handbook--25th-Anniversary-Edition/dp/4770031130/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1371118239&sr=8-1&keywords=The+Haiku+Handbook

Amazon UK
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Haiku-Handbook-Write-Teach-Appreciate/dp/4770031130/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1371118298&sr=8-1&keywords=The+Haiku+Handbook

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Haiku Workshops and Events: Alan Summers in London | Kensington Library

UPDATE!
There'll be a new program regarding the next haiku and rap workshop events, very exciting developments. 
 
A Pro Art Event
Haiku and Rap
Kensington Library 
http://www.rbkc.gov.uk/az/az.asp?orgid=858
Friday 7th June 4.30 p.m. - 5.30 p.m.

For workshops with sixth formers, and also older people.

• Introducing Haiku and its history
• How do you write Haiku?

I'll be showing both Classic and Contemporary examples of haiku, as well as reading from Does Fish-God Know.

There'll be a relaxed fun exercise that can be continued from home:

• Haiku: Another Way of Seeing

Does Fish-God Know:
http://area17.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/does-fish-god-know-haiku-collection-by.html

For anyone intrigued by haiku and unable to attend we do run online haiku workshops:  http://area17.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/dates-for-next-online-haiku-tanka.html

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Lakeview International Journal of Literature and Arts at the Saboteur Awards 2013, Runner Up in Best magazine category.

Logo image:
http://storify.com/richardtwatson/2013-saboteur-awards-the-party?utm_medium=sfy.co-twitter&utm_campaign=&utm_source=t.co&utm_content=storify-pingback&awesm=sfy.co_dJvU#

Saboteur Awards 2013
Best 2012 literature, best 2013 literature, Book Club, fiction anthology, Indie Literature, poetry pamphlet, Saboteur Awards, Spoken Word: http://sabotagereviews.com/2013/03/01/saboteur-awards-2013/

Saboteur Awards 2013: The Winners!
http://sabotagereviews.com/2013/05/30/saboteur-awards-2013-the-winners/


Best magazine category:

Winner: Rising.
Runner up: Lakeview International Journal of Literature and Arts.


'Lakeview' is the only runner up in the Best Magazine category of Saboteur Awards, London.

It's a great achievement for a magazine which has just one issue published and was competing with the established and emerging magazines of the UK and around the world. The winner 'Rising' has been around for twenty years, with Tim Wells a formidable force with a well-deserved win:
http://www.donutpress.co.uk/index.php?authors&id=9

We still have a lot to learn with Lakeview Journal, but what a great start!
http://sabotagereviews.com/tag/lakeview-international-journal-of-literature-and-arts/

Considering the amount of work, from all genres, it was also gratifying to see haiku mentioned, however briefly (no pun intended).

Links to the magazine, and the gendai haiku article:
http://area17.blogspot.co.uk/2013/02/lakeview-international-journal-of.html


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Lean times, lean moon haiku in Mainichi Shimbun by Alan Summers

 

lean moon—
the question mark
of a dog's tail

Alan Summers

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Online Tanka Courses and Workshops: The 'early bird rate' of £45 or US$68 for the online tanka course starting on July 1st is still open for another ten days

The 'early bird rate' of £45 or US$68 for the online tanka course starting on July 1st is still open for another ten days - please email: karen@withwords.org.uk for details including quotes from previous students.

Thank you!

Karen

Karen Hoy
With Words

 

Tanka are well-grounded in concrete images yet infused with lyric intensity, with an intimacy from direct expression of emotions tempered with implication, suggestion, and nuance. You can cover almost any subject, explicitly expressing your direct thoughts and feelings. 

Alan Summers, Decoding Tanka (Extract from Article in Progress)

http://area17.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/dates-for-next-online-haiku-tanka.html


140 And Counting is a collection of the best twitter literature from the first two years of the journal’s history, on relationships, nature, work, animals, seasons, science fiction and fantasy, and mortality:

• ISBN 978-1-937794-05-7 (epub) available for iPad, Nook, etc. from Goodreads.
• ISBN 978-1-937794-03-3 (mobi) available for Kindle on Amazon.com

sometimes

before falling in love

with my wife

again and again

the cries of swifts

Alan Summers (140 And Counting)

a small death

the cracked shell

of a snail

now this delay

at the train station

Alan Summers (Take Five: Best Contemporary Tanka Vol. 3)

 

One of my haiku selected as Best of Mainichi Shimbun, Japan for 2012 is about Sir John Betjeman, CBE, the poet and savior of St Pancras train station

As many of you know who read my haiku, I'm a big fan of writing about trains and train stations.

My two favourite train stations are St Pancras Station (London, England) and Gare du Nord (Paris, France) followed by two South West England stations Temple Meads and Bath Spa.  But really I love almost every train station I've visited/travelled to and from in the U.K.; Europe; and Japan.

St Pancras Station London photo from Chapman Taylor Architects 301107 www.e-architect.co.uk/london/st_pancras_station_concourse.htm

Sir John Betjeman CBE http://stpancras.com/the-station/history-and-restoration

St Pancras Station: http://stpancras.com/the-station/history-and-restoration
The artist behind the sculpture: http://www.martinjennings.com/

Two weeks left for the early bird for our online haiku course starting June 1st

It's half way through April, which means that the 'early bird' rate for our online haiku course (starting June 1st) expires in just over two weeks.

The early bird rate is £45.00 rather than £55.00 full price, so if you'd like to take advantage of this, please email karen@withwords.org.uk for a course description, and comments from previous participants.  There are only two places left currently, but the course will also run again from August 1st.

If you want to get your head around the technicalities of haiku without the pressure of writing yet, we  also run a one-to-one haiku reading and comprehension course by email.

The Blue Monkey Renga helps launch a new and important community centre: Paulton Library Community Hub at Hill Court Shopping Centre

I'll be at Paulton Library, at The Hub Tuesday and Wednesday to launch the community renga where visitors can add a short verse, even something akin to an anecdote, if the spirit moves them.

 

I've run highly popular renga for the public in previous times, always a brilliant experience, and occasionally with rengaistas from the internet helping out too, so we'd love help again!

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.  People can chose to listen or write, and above all share in the decision-making of each verse.  When completed the renga poem is jointly owned by everyone.

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

Councillor John Bull has very kindly provided an opening foray of verses so no one need be shy producing the first verse.

The Blue Monkey Renga

starlings swirl
like leaves against
the evening sky

daffodils
from verge to verge

on the allotment
an old man grunts
behind his spade

If anyone would like to add verses by leaving a comment on this blog, or  email: renga@withwords.org.uk and we'd love to add your verse!

Why is it called The Blue Monkey Renga?  Help us bring the Blue Monkey alive!  Send us your renga verses!


Paulton Library Community Hub opens at Hill Court on Monday 15 April.  Bath & North East Somerset Council has been working on the project with Paulton Parish Council and local ward Councillors John Bull and Liz Hardman.  The vision being that this facility will aid regeneration of the village’s shopping centre.

The new Hub will provide the same range of services as the current library plus the additional benefits of a coffee bar, WiFi and a meeting room that anyone will be able to hire.  The Hub will also provide the opportunity for a range of other organisations to deliver their services in an accessible, central village location.

Keeping the new facility open for as many hours as possible will be an important part of the project.  The old library wass staffed for 14 hours a week but by using a combination of existing staff, self-service machines and volunteer support the new Hub will be able to stay open for much longer.

Paulton - THE COMMUNITY HUB

• Address: 1-2 Hill Court, High Street, PAULTON, BS39 7QG
• Telephone: 01225 394041
• Email: councilconnect@bathnes.gov.uk
• Library Manager: Judy Terry
• Car Parking: Free parking available at the back of The Hub
• Location: Next to poppies flower shop 

Opening hours are:
Monday: 09:30 - 16:30
Tuesday: 09:30 - 18:00
Wednesday: 09:30 - 16:00
Thursday: 09:30 - 16:30
Friday: 09:30 - 16:30
Saturday: 09:30 - 12:30

World Monuments Fund invites entries for their second FREE TO ENTER annual haiku contest during National Poetry Month, April 2013

HAIKU CONTEST GUIDELINES
http://www.wmf.org/get-involved/haiku-contest

World Monuments Fund invites entries for their second annual haiku contest.

Haiku is a traditional Japanese form that emphasizes simplicity, intensity, and directness of expression.

Submission

Submissions are accepted April 1-30, 2013.

All haiku must be submitted through the online submission form:
http://www.wmf.org/get-involved/2013-haiku-contest

All haiku must be previously unpublished and submitted through the online submission form.

All haiku styles accepted.

One entry per individual.

Awards

First Prize, $100; Second Prize, $75; Third Prize, $50; and three semi-finalists.

All six winning haiku will be published on WMF’s website.


Adjudication

Alan Summers who runs With Words, will adjudicate.

Need inspiration? 
Explore World Monuments Fund's projects in Japan, or all field projects:

Japan:
http://www.wmf.org/our-projects/project-map?tid=All&tid_1=All&tid_2=All&tid_3=All&watch_year=All&country=Japan&funder=All&list=1

Rest of the World:
http://www.wmf.org/our-projects/project-map


Rights

All rights revert to the authors after publication.


More about the WMF Haiku Contest Judge Alan Summers

Alan Summers runs With Words, a nonprofit that provides literature, education, and literacy projects, often based around Japanese literary genres.

He is a recipient of the Japan Times Award and the Ritsumeikan University of Kyoto Peace Museum Award for haiku.

Alan is a founding haiku editor for Bones Journal, and serves as Special Feature editor of haiku/haibun for the Lakeview International Journal of Literature and Arts. He has four haiku collections, the most recent being Does Fish-God Know, and has also co-edited various haiku-based anthologies:
http://area17.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/does-fish-god-know-haiku-collection-by.html
http://area17.blogspot.co.uk/2013/02/new-book-review-of-does-fish-god-know.html
http://area17.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/a-must-have-book-for-any-haiku-fan.html

His haiku has appeared in 75 anthologies in fifteen languages, including Japanese, and has been printed in Japanese newspapers including Yomiuri Shimbun, Asahi Shimbun, Mainichi Shimbun, The Japan Times, and The Mie Times. A forthcoming work is Writing Poetry: the haiku way.

Alan is currently working on two novels, and also The Kigo Lab Project. He blogs at Area 17 and is a featured haiku poet at Cornell University, Mann Library: http://tinyurl.com/MannCornell-AlanSummers

Alan also runs popular online haiku workshops:
http://area17.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/dates-for-next-online-haiku-tanka.html

National Poetry Month at WMF
http://www.wmf.org/national-poetry-month

Newstead Abbey is best known today as the ancestral home of Lord Byron
(1788–1824). http://www.wmf.org/project/newstead-abbey

The ties between poems and monuments are both ancient and contemporary, abstract and concrete.

As Myra Sklarew writes in her poem "Monuments": Each of us has monuments in the bone case of memory. Monuments secure a culture's present by honoring its past and ensuring its future. Poems about monuments fasten the cultural, socio-political, and aesthetic issues that monuments distill to the page.

At World Monuments Fund, we share these concerns in the conservation projects we undertake every day, some of which also directly support the conservation of poetry. At the Goethe Gallery in Weimar's Residenzschloss, we completed urgent conservation work on the stucco and painted surfaces of the walls and ceiling of the "Poet Rooms,” commissioned by Maria Pawlowna in 1834 to commemorate influential Weimar poets Goethe, Herder, Schiller, and Wieland. At Las Pozas, a Mexican surrealist landscape, WMF helped restore the Edward James Cabin, including the conservation of the poems he wrote on its walls. The Scottish capital's cemeteries, where many important poets are buried, was on the World Monuments Watch in 2010 and is the focus of a current conservation and stewardship project, while Newstead Abbey, the ancestral home of Lord Byron, is on the 2012 Watch.

Please join us this April in exploring the special relationship between monuments and poetry, highlighting the many poems that bear witness to the world's most treasured places: http://www.wmf.org/get-involved/national-poetry-month


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22nd to 31st days of Alan Summers as featured poet at Cornell University USA

Haiku poems by Alan Summers at Cornell University, Mann Library  

http://haiku.mannlib.cornell.edu/category/author/alam-summers/

 

blue brush stroke©Alan Summers

thunder snow
the wind-shifting scent
of fox

Alan Summers
fox dreams (2012) ed. Aubrie Cox; Temps Libre Coups de coeur – Favourites (janvier 2013) 

toy suns
the winter-dark rain
smashes the city

Alan Summers
Blithe Spirit (vol 23 no. 4 November 2012); Does Fish-God Know (YTBN Press 2012) 

Does Fish-God Know

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

the moon is broken
Battersea Power Station
from a train window

Alan Summers
Award credit: Winner, World Monuments Fund 2012 Haiku Contest

 

 

 

the names of rain
a blackbird’s subsong
into dusk

Alan Summers
Haiku News Vol. 1 No. 35 (2012)

subsong:
http://tinyurl.com/blackbirdsubsong


 

 

Hirst's butterflies disturbing the exhibits people

Alan Summers
Roadrunner 12.3 (December 2012); Lakeview International Journal of Literature and Arts Vol.1, No.1 (2013)

Damien Hirst: http://www.damienhirst.com/

 

 

 

chestnut moon shifting in my memory ghost floors

Alan Summers
Roadrunner 12.3 (December 2012); Lakeview International Journal of Literature and Arts Vol.1, No.1 (2013)

 

fading stars
a hedgehog haphazards
its way back home

Alan Summers
The Heron’s Nest Vol XIV, No. 2 (2012)

 

 

Valentine’s Day
my wife reads up
on Henry VIII

Alan Summers
Blithe Spirit vol. 20 no. 3 (2010); The Humours of Haiku (Iron Press 2012)

 

 

 

British sales: http://www.ironpress.co.uk/books/humours.html

International and card purchases: http://www.inpressbooks.co.uk/browse/anthologies/the-humours-of-haiku/

 

 

 

pull of stars turning cold the snail's navigation

 

Alan Summers
Does Fish-God Know (YTBN Press 2012); Blithe Spirit (February 2013) 

 

 

 

 

 

this small ache and all the rain too robinsong

 

Alan Summers
Modern Haiku vol. 44.1 (Winter/Spring 2013)

 

 

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