Big Announcement Teaser
All seven daily haiku from Haiku Andy 01.01.24-01.07.24
Well, big to me anyway.
I’ve been invited to be feature in a haiku-poet-of-the-month sort of thing hosted by a major American university. I’ve spent the last couple of weeks trying to select a handful from out of over 2,000 haiku.
And it’s rather humbling to confront the vast number of bad haiku I have put out in the world. And I mean godawful. Dreck.
Of course, I sincerely hope that in a few years I will look back on my more recent work (including the seven haiku below) and feel the same way. Ugh. Dreck.
Because that will mean I am growing as a poet. That all this work is leading somewhere, and maybe even spiraling up toward actual Art. Hey, a boy can dream!
This goes back to why I started mailing out haiku postcards in the first place. Just posting on Twitter or Facebook wasn’t incentive enough to try harder. I figured if I was mailing each haiku to someone I knew, maybe even someone whose own work I admired, well, I would make damned sure each haiku was my best effort, even if I was trying something that might fall flat altogether.
Anyway, I’ll provide more details as February approaches. Meanwhile, enjoy the latest batch…
haiku 20240101 » Berkeley, CA USA
new year's eve
dropping the ball
right out the gate
haiku 20240102 » Sausalito, CA USA
morning coffee
the pines up the hill
catch the light first
haiku 20240103 » Sacramento, CA USA
downpour drumming
against the roof
the cat's tail twitches
haiku 20240104 » Redding, CA USA
woodworking zen
rubbing stain into the grain
with a stinky rag
haiku 20240105 » Berkeley, CA USA
purple dusk
I pretend the clouds
are mountains
haiku 20240106 » Redding, CA USA
silver evening light
still the sound of rain
against the glass
haiku 20240107 » Grass Valley, CA USA
which way forward?
stalks of dry grass
poking through snow
That’s all seven! See you next week! And remember…
I STILL want to send you a card
It’s kinda weird you read my Substack but haven’t requested a card yet. I don’t get it. Please ask! It’s free. I ask nothing in return, aside from your good graces or maybe a cup of coffee if you’re so inclined.
Follow me on Instagram
If that’s your thing… https://www.instagram.com/haikuandy/
And I’m posting reels of each week’s haiku postcards on Instagram. The “live” photos feature lets you see my sloppy attempts to angle in on the best shot. Check it out!
Recommended reading
I heartily recommend all the books below. I get no commission, no nothing if you buy through my links. (Amazon Associates gave me the boot because I didn’t move enough merch. Oh well.)
Haiku: An Anthology of Japanese Poems, Stephen Addiss/Fumiko Y. Yamamoto/Akira Y. Yamamoto
With the exception of The Haiku Anthology (see below), this was the first haiku anthology I bought when I first started sending out haiku cards. I stumbled across this small, beautiful book, while making my requisite writer’s pilgrimage to Shakespeare’s Books in Paris (ooh la la). The richness and scope between the covers in this little book is simply amazing, featuring over 102 poets, many more if you include anonymous authors. It’s my go-to when packing for a trip. Buy it here.
The Haiku Anthology (Third Edition), Edited by Cor van den Heuvel
Want to know what modern English-language haiku really looks like? What it is capable of? Here is your answer, and a must for every haiku poet’s bookshelf. When I first started writing haiku, this volume served me very well. Many of the haiku within have remained with me throughout the years, and I have been privileged to now count some of the contributors as colleagues and friends. Buy it here.
Three Simple Lines: A Writer’s Pilgrimage into the Heart and Homeland of Haiku, Natalie Goldberg
Many writers will immediately recognize Goldberg from her forever bestselling Writing Down the Bones. As it happens, she has been writing haiku for her entire adult life, and has much to teach us. In Three Simple Lines, she intertwines memoir, history, and travelogue in a magnificent way as she journeys through Japan, chasing down the ghosts of Bashō and Buson, among others. She also draws much needed attention to women haiku poets, who were too often overshadowed by their male contemporaries. Buy it here.
Mountain Tasting - Haiku and Journals of Santoka … (tr. John Stevens)
I found Santoka challenging at first. Much of his haiku feels incomplete to me or dashed off. But he grew on me. Soon I felt like a companion on his journey, bouncing from inn to inn, begging for alms by day, pounding sake by night. Buy it here.
The Essential Haiku - Versions of Bashō, Buson, & Issa
Essential is right! Edited by Robert Hass, a great poet in his own right. Hass includes great essays on the history and evolution, as well as other writings by the poets themselves. A true master class in haiku! Buy it here.
Narrow Road to the Interior and Other Writings, Matsuo Bashō (tr. Sam Hamill)
Haiku poets have a tradition of wandering the countryside, and Bashō set the example! Buy it here.
Selected Poems, Masaoka Shiki (tr. Burton Watson)
I wrote a whole post about Shiki. Haiku might not exist today without his influence and renewal of the form. Buy it here.
Issa's Best: A Translator's Selection of Master Haiku, Issa Kobayashi (tr. David G. Lanoue)
Issa is probably the most beloved of the classic poets. His humility and joy in the face of unbearable loss and poverty endear him to haiku lovers everywhere. Lanoue seems to have made translating Issa his life’s mission, and I love his versions. Buy it here.
Congratulations, Andy! And good luck in your curation process -- it sounds overwhelming!