Back in 2014, when I mailed out the last of 1,001 haiku postcards, I figured it was time for Haiku Andy to make way for Fiction Andy. My novel Sleepwalking in Paradise (Numina Press, sadly defunct) had just come out the previous June and I was hot to work on several new projects.
Fourteen months, multiple short stories, and 10,000 words into a new novel later… a surprise cancer diagnosis suddenly demanded all of my attention. I pretty much spent the next year and a half in treatment and in recovery from that treatment. I didn’t get a lot of writing done, my brain being socked in by fog for a long, long time.
Now it’s 2024, about 535-plus haiku postcards into this round, I’ve found that Haiku Andy and Fiction Andy can happily coexist, and I am back to actively working on several projects, most of which have been stewing on the back burner for years.
To be honest, I thought retirement (since April) would open up the Muse Autobahn, but it has been an adjustment. Lots of other things were going on (not the least of which was expecting our first grandchild) that kept the Under Construction signs up and most of the lanes closed.
But now I am back at it. The Daily Haiku Actual Postcard project will keep going, no worries, and I am now working away at the second draft of a novel I first wrote in 2017.
Instead of boring you with that, here are last week’s seven postcards…
Oh, and stay tuned! Next week’s post will be about a huge haiku project I’m just as hugely excited about.
haiku 20240115 » London, United Kingdom
dinner prep
the last bit of sun
gilds the back fence
haiku 20240116 » Lagunitas, CA USA
knowledge and beauty
merging into dust --
used bookstore
haiku 20240117 » Sacramento, CA USA
winter rains
a seasonal creek block
our usual trail
haiku 20240118 » Seattle, WA USA
good morning good morning
my dog's tail thumping
against my desk
haiku 20240119 » Portland, OR USA
midnight and
the light over the stove
alone at last
haiku 20240120 » Oakland, CA USA
mountain rain
the pines on the ridge
turn into ghosts
haiku 20240121 » Sacramento, CA USA
dusty art book
the bookseller pauses
for one last look
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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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, 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.
Glad to hear novel writing is bubbling back for you. I have a signed copy of Sleepwalking in Paradise. “Yoga Poets night,” I called it. Jeff was host, and my social schedule packed with the many monthly literary, art, and film events then. I had a fog of my own to clear, and understand the non-operation time warp. When I see your haiku posts on IG, I only want to respond in haiku. Made a few of my own, and likely may have not done so without your nudge of inspiration. Through the most complex days, I can still find a haiku within me. Cheers, and happy Friday 🌸