*
Pris Campbell is a regular IS&T contributor who has published her
haiga and free verse in numerous online and print journals. She has
three chapbooks out, and now a full length poetry book – Sea Trails – by
Lummox Press (www.lummoxpress.com). She lives in the greater West Palm
Beach, FL, with her husband and a cat who sits on her poetry drafts.See her website at www.poeticinspire.com
skin like straw, bloodshot gaze, stretched
skin, wrinkled nicotine, old fat, pink fat, diabetic eyes, haggard as a Dowlais-wet
horse, drawn like dust, smell of beer, sweat and pee, dog damp coats, plastic
bags, alphabet hands (h a t e a n d l o v e a n d m a m a n d d a d a n d s t u
f f, lost coins, bent low, fag butts, scuffed shoes, grey rubber wheels
(kids
swear…)
prescription in hand, destination damned, tea
under grill, march, route planned, weekly thrill, daily trudge, cemetery face,
hair matted, greasy chips, pavement crack, commit to memory, fill in forms,
finish quick before the number 29…
(tomorrows?)
the sun will creep past, fast like sugar, without
stirring them, and the buses come and go, past allotments that grow, more
cabbages, while seeds that never sow, sink below, the poverty line
* Dave Lewis lectures IT & Photography. He also designs web sites,
takes photographs and writes stuff. His first poetry collection Layer
Cake can be bought on Amazon and he's just finished a short story and
prose collection. He adds that his second book is one publisher short of a publisher at the moment. www.david-lewis.co.uk/write.html And also check out www.welshpoetry.co.u
There is currently a heated debate taking place with UK haiku circles over the future of the genre: should we stay with the tradition 5-7-5 formula and aim to ape the Japanese tradition – or should we treat the genre as a living and evolving form? Over the next couple of days, we have two haiga artists who express their views on the sometimes narrow interpretation of the haiku form, starting with one of our regular contributors Alexis Rotella...
Sophie adds "These are haiku but are more focused on the philosophy and tone of original Japanese haiku rather than following the prescribed syllable count." And by coincidence, this will be the subject of our two haiga on Saturday
“Lou died,” my brother says when I pick up the phone. “I went to the funeral yesterday,” he sighs, “but Lou’s under the ground now, and I’ve been thinking about plans for the family reunion. Uncle Bill doesn’t think he can make it since he’s still recuperating from his lung operation. Butch and Dee are on vacation first two weeks of September and Jack and Bonnie are away the last two weeks of August.”
My brother is slurring his words again. Obviously he has gone over his two vodka soda limit.
“I went to visit Aunt Mary yesterday,” I said.
“Oh, how’s she doing?”
“She looks fabulous for an 86-year old, all dolled up, good skin. Only thing is, her perfume!”
“What about it?”
“It really got to me.”
“You mean you didn’t like her perfume?”
“Knocked me over. It was hard getting through lunch.”
“Then you better just not go anywhere; Jesus Christ, if a small thing like perfume bothers you, that’s pretty goddamn bad.”
And then the shoe drops as it always does when too much alcohol is in the picture.
“I just got back from a fucking funeral! My best friend died and you’re worried about Aunt Mary’s perfume. Give me a break,” his voice hurting my ear drums.
“People die, Fred. He suffered five years with brain cancer. He gave it his best shot.”
“All I do is bury my friends and you’re fucking bothered by perfume! You don’t know what worries are!”
“You’re yelling at me, Fred. Look, we’ll continue this conversation another time,” I say, and he screams, “Yeah, goodbye! goodbye!”
It was a peaceful Sunday until I picked up that phone.
One too many drinks my brother calls to yell at me because his best friend just died.
* Alexis Rotella is a regular contributor to IS&T – normally we publish her haiga but this time its a prose piece.
SUNDAY – a haiku sequence* early morning – long shadows follow a man and a woman flat bed truck – the wooden planks stronger than steel driving alone – rolling pastures in the rear-view mirror the church in a meadow – the colours of God porch light on a moth appears – flickering shadows her generous heart – birth and death join hands night comes – lilacs breathe softly laughter under the stars – the world ablaze in it
* This sequence of found senryu and haiku was compiled by Mike Montreuil and is taken from words in poems in the chapbook A complimentary Specimen of Poetry (Gaspereau Press, Canada, 2007) which was in turn a sampler of five books published by Gaspereau. Words & snippets for haiku 1, 3 & 6 are taken from sample poems in The Alma Elegies by Allan Cooper (ISBN 9781554470365). Words & snippets for haiku 2, 7 & 8 are taken from sample poems in Actualities by Monica Kidd (ISBN 9781554470419). Haiku 4 & 5 are by regular IS&T contributor Mike Montreuil.
Even an expectant, bright-eyed face couldn’t mask it. All show, no substance. Standing at the top of the zigzag iron-rail fire escape bolted to the 100-year-old brick building, there is a theatrical hue to what could be damn near magical. Her face is in auburn-hair shadows as she bends to near full lean over the guardrail. From a gentle – almost sexy – smile made dazzling by pixilated sunlight, her lips move to what appears to be the forming of a word. She spits. A clear dollop of her essence hits an upturned face more accurately than a seagull spotting a newly-washed car.
her soft sigh
fills an empty space
in a dream
* Jeffrey Winke is a haiku/haibun poet and public relations counselor. Recent publications include That Smirking Face, a haiku-art broadside collaboration with Matt Cipov (Milwaukee: Distant Thunder Press, 2008) and PR Idea Book: 50 Proven Tools That Really Work (Denver: Outskirts Press, 2006). www.jeffwinke.com