Shout, Shout, Shout It All Out

All seven daily haiku from Haiku Andy 03.18.24 - 03.24.24

I was delighted to find the Daily Haiku Actual Postcard included on a list of poetry Substacks compiled and posted by Ana Wang on her Left on Red Substack. Ana covers a lot of territory in her posts, including some interesting musings on the appreciation of poetry. You might want to check it out.

In other news, I just received my hot-off-the-presses copy of Alexis Rotella’s Milkweed: Selected Haiku & Senryu. If you’ve walked around Haikulandia at all in the last several decades, Ms. Rotella needs no introduction. Her work first blew my mind when I encountered it in Cor van den Heuvel’s Haiku Anthology (see Recommended Reading below). It blew me away and showed me what haiku could do.

I haven’t read it yet, but just a quick perusal shows her reliable precision, bite, and above all, heart. In a future posting, no doubt it will be included in Recommended Reading as well.

Bonus shoutout: Milkweed is published by Brooks Books, helmed by Randy and Shirley Brooks, who are also the publishers of the awesome haiku journal Mayfly, in whose pages my work has appeared on more than one occasion. (Randy and Shirley are also recipients of a couple of my haiku postcards.)

Without further ado, here are last week’s haiku and where they were mailed.

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haiku 20240318 Centerville, MA USA

hanging laundry

in the afternoon sun

the dogs don't get up

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haiku 20240319 Dolores, CO USA

spring equinox

everything under the sun

hangs in the balance

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haiku 20240320 Sunnyvale, CA USA

teenagers huddled

around a shiny car

I pass by unseen

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haiku 20240321 Youngsville, NC USA

washing and drying

the same old kitchen knives

family heirlooms

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haiku 20240322 Dolores, CO USA

bottomsides of clouds

cast into ruby relief

sierra evening

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haiku 20240323 Sacramento, CA USA

first hyacinth

now iris and tulip

what the garden does

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haiku 20240324 Akron, PA USA

sun after rain

tendrils of mist rise

from asphalt and roof

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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, 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.