Last Thursday kicked off my month-long stint as the featured poet at Cornell University’s Mann Library’s daily haiku page. (Man, that’s a mouthful for a page dedicated to a minimalist form.)
This Substack has experienced a surge in new subscribers, a phenomena known in the trade as the Cornell-University’s-Mann-Library’s-daily-haiku-page-feature-poet bump.
All jesting aside, it has been a huge honor and a real joy working with Tom Clausen, the poet and photographer who curates the page. Tom’s photos of Ithaca and its environs always crank up my saudade for Ithaca, where I went to college. Thanks to social media, I’ve kept in touch with a lot of my old Ithaca friends, some of whom have remained and thrived in that lovely city at the foot of Lake Cayuga.
Ithaca is truly a place unto itself. Think Ithaca Hours, Moosewood Restaurant (and the internationally famous cookbooks that it generated), not to mention the many great writers linked to the schools there, such as Nabokov, Vonnegut, Lurie, Morgan, Serling, and many others. On top of that, The Grateful Dead’s 5.8.77 concert at Cornell’s Barton Hall is considered by many to be the band’s best show of all time. ALL TIME. No small thing to say.
So Ithaca is more than a college town with beautiful natural gorges and waterfalls everywhere you turn.
It is a place indeed.
Anyway…
haiku 20240129 (Berkeley, CA USA)
rainy day chores
we hang the laundry
in the garage
haiku 20240130 (Venice, CA USA)
the cookie dissolves
and the universe, too
a sip of tea
haiku 20240131 (Sunnyside, NY USA)
overcast morning
I walk the dog early
to beat the rain
haiku 20240201 (Alamo, CA USA)
soba noodles
roiling in the pot --
back to basics
haiku 20240202 (Joseph, OR USA)
tai chi class
the floorboards cold
under my bare feet
haiku 20240203 (Santa Cruz, CA USA)
sixty-two "likes"
is hers
among them?
haiku 20240204 (Briarcliff, NY USA)
rainy afternoon
playing online poker
across the globe
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
Usually I use this section to promote wonderful haiku books, classics, and anthologies. This week, however, I want to do Tom Clausen a solid and call attention to his published works.
One Day: Thirty Years of Little Poems
I just found out about this book when preparing this post. Tom really needs to be less shy about promoting his own work. Seriously. Buy it here!
Interchange: haiku, prose & photos
A wonderful collaboration with Michael Dudley. I have this slim volume and can’t recommend it enough. Buy it here.
a worn chest
Another great collaboration, with Joy McCall. Buy it here.
See you all in the haiku papers!
Loving this week's crop of haiku, and not just because I received one. :) Thanks, Andy!
Bravo on your terrific month-long stint on the Cornell library's daily haiku page. How cool, Andy! Applauding wildly for you!