Birthday Eclipse Randomness
All seven daily haiku from Haiku Andy 04.08.24 - 04.14.24
During the total solar eclipse last Monday, I was far far away at a Honda dealership, getting a damaged tire replaced. While waiting, a woman named Candi came in and asked me where a lady might sit while her vehicle was being serviced.
(When I say her name is Candi, what image comes to your mind?)
Anyway, Candi was 92 years old and using a walker. I helped her get situated with a seat and a cup of the complimentary coffee. We wound up chatting for about a half an hour, and it was quite delightful. She had lots of stories, none of which concerned total solar eclipses.
When she told me her age, I was reminded that the following day, April 9, was my 62nd birthday. (Hard to believe from my strikingly youthful appearance, I know.) Moreover, Candi was an entire 30 year-old adult person older than me. In addition to numerous heartbreaks and catastrophes, she had survived several bouts with different kinds of cancer.
Candi’s stories gave me hope that not only might I be independent enough at age 92 to drive my own car to the Honda dealer’s service department, but that I could live long enough to experience another total eclipse.
I say another because when I was maybe ten or so, I witnessed a total eclipse. My hometown in New Jersey was smack dab in the path. If I recall correctly, I was playing in the yard, walking on a split-rail fence like a balance beam, when it suddenly got very dark and noticeably chilly.
I was alone, and no one was around. Such was the parenting paradigm of the era. The sky was patchy, cloud-wise, and I don’t remember observing the moment of totality (mostly because we had been warned about looking directly at the eclipse).
Then the sunlight and warmth came back. And fifty-odd years later, I’m still here, and wishing I had asked Candi if she’d ever witnessed a total solar eclipse.
Anyway, here are last week’s haiku postcards and where I mailed them to…
haiku 20240408 (El Cerrito, CA USA)
morning shower
the hot water
takes its sweet time
haiku 20240409 (Sacramento, CA USA)
solar eclipse
patches of snow
on my neighbor's roof
haiku 20240410 (El Cerrito, CA USA)
april evening
a cloud moves and
the light turns gold
haiku 20240411 (Richmond, CA USA)
spring morning
the world a bit greener
my hair a bit whiter
haiku 20240412 (Port Jefferson, NY)
drop in temperature
how much brighter
the moon
haiku 20240413 (Corte Madera, CA USA)
weather forecast
my iphone says one thing
my bones another
haiku 20240414 (Hebron, KY USA)
wind and rain and wind
my umbrella becomes
a satellite dish
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.
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Recommended reading
I heartily recommend all the books below. I get no commission, zip zero nada, 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.
Oh she would love that.
Happy Birthday and thank you for my haiku. What a great story about Candi. My mom is 92. She’s not driving but she still sharp.