Monday Musings

  It’s been quite a while since I’ve mentioned my books, but since this is my author blog, I will take the prerogative to remind you about my publications. I hope that one or all of them will speak to you. My first book,  Almanac: The Four Seasons  (2020), is a lighthearted journey through the year, with each section covering different months. The cover honors  The Old Farmer’s Almanac . Next,  Family Treasons  (2021) takes a serious tone as an autobiographical look at my experiences as a victim of child abuse and intimate partner violence. I am proud to be not only a survivor, but I also thrive. I dabbled in writing haiku over the years, but I’ve dedicated a significant amount of time and effort to writing short-form poetry since 2021. My third book,  Voyage: Vista and Verse  (2022), is filled with vista (color photographs) and verse (monoku, haiku, and senryu) derived from travel experiences. A fourth poetry volume,  KAR-KU  (2023, con...

Dear readers, I can now share some of my recently accepted and published poems, as promised in my last post. This is a big brag blog. First, a haiga (haiku superimposed on a photo/art). Published in the PRINT issue of  Meat for Tea, The Valley Review, Volume 17, Issue 2 Loaf  [Editor elizabeth macduffie Twitter  @elizabeef ] Heterodox Haiku Journal (Seven Deadly Sins Edition, Issue 3, Fall 2023 ) contains a second haiku in PRINT format. Now available in paperback at Amazon, I’m one of 26 poets in this volume. [You really didn’t think I would show you all of my work, LOL.] In addition, two haiku in  Haiku Girl Summer  [ONLINE at Substack, Editor Allyson Whipple Twitter  @quatrainquilts ] And released last evening from Switzerland,  The Poetry Pea, Inner Weather/Outer Weather PODCAST  [ONLINE Journal Editor Patricia McGuire Twitter  @ThePoetryPea ] This haiku will be included in the  1:23 Poetry Pea Journal  [forthcoming July 2023] I ...

I adore Sandburg’s poetry description: poetry provides a medium you can enjoy with all your senses. In his example, you can see, smell, and touch both items; you can taste the biscuits and hear the crunch as you bite.  I have been working diligently on various poetic forms over the past month, trying to stretch my poetic skills. Two forms involved more than inscribing a poem, so they were a new challenge. In the process, I have been steadily submitting poems to both print and online journals. [Note: I have not included copies of my work referenced in this article, which have been accepted for publication, because the pieces have not yet been published. I will be happy to share the poems once they are in “print”-online or actual print journals]. The first form I sent out was a haibun. The first recipient gracefully declined, but I was delighted when the second journal accepted my work. I’m even more pleased because this site produces a PRINT journal. What is a haibun? The following ...

This moment like every moment, is precious. Take a minute to stop and revel in the wonder. Are you at work, struggling to succeed? What do you really want; is it worth being away from your family and friends for innumerable hours? Is your goal possessions or happiness? Psychologists have examined the various facets that determine happiness. This  Brittanica link  describes their findings. True happiness comes from within. I have been writing and submitting to poetry/haiku journals like mad for the last few weeks. Already acceptance notes are pinging into my email inbox (as are rejections), but as some wise person recently said, “if you don’t get at least 100 rejections a year, you are not writing and submitting enough work.” Good news, more poems are on the way! I spent a few hours in the garden today; my vegetable garden is planted, and I can change my focus to perennial flowers. Time to head to my favorite garden center. Our small patch of land brings me great joy. What deli...

Recently, I’ve experienced a surge of creative juices, resulting in a high output of written work. The outpouring is fortunate because a writing colleague shared an updated calendar of haiku submission deadlines. I was excited to discover new journal opportunities around the country and the world. The Twitter writing community shares a wealth of experience and resources, and I’m blessed to be a part of them. The most recent deadline is today, May 15th. The good news is that I write nearly every day, so I have a lot of work products to pull from. I always carry a Moleskin notebook for jotting down spontaneous thoughts, most of which occur while driving (don’t worry, I don’t write until I’ve pulled over into a safe location.) My pocket companion and a mechanical pencil are step one in the writing process. The next step is to transcribe my notes into Word documents, which may consist of exciting words, snippets of overheard conversation, lines, and phrases of poetry. I keep a set of files...

Today haikuists around the world recognize and celebrate their fellow poet’s accomplishments. Writing haiku requires quiet observation, thoughtful consideration, and distillation of a moment into a crystalline nugget. This past weekend I drove to a neighbor’s memorial service. The road that morning was like the occasion, dark and foggy. The experience prompted a haiku inspired by Carl Sandburg’s famous San Francisco fog poem. As I drove, the cat analogy crept around my brain and emerged as the following haiku: Happy Haiku Day to my fellow poets. I hope the non-poets will enjoy this bit of micro poetry, too. You can follow the Author on her  Website  and on  Twitter .

Christians celebrate Palm Sunday on the Sunday preceding Easter Sunday. This occasion was my inspiration for a haiku using the concept of yügen. A haiku can be written to demonstrate yügen, “cloudy impenetrability,” mystery. The definition by Robert D. Wilson: yügen is like the echo after the clang of a brass bell. palm branches raising psalms on the zephyr   [by JL Huffman] Thank you to Patrica McGuire of Poetry Pea for the educational podcast,  Yügen for your Haiku Toolbox  [ S4EE11 ] demonstrating the concept of yügen. In addition, my thanks to Patricia for choosing the above haiku for podcast [ S4E16 ]  Original Haiku using Yügen  and for inclusion in the  Poetry Pea Journal: Summer 2021 . Is there something profound in your life? Try writing a poem or story or creating another art form to portray this intense sensation. You can follow the Author on her  Website  or on  Twitter .  

The term  march madness  conjures up visions of basketball and brackets.  In fact, as I write, NCAA Women’s basketball drones in the background. As a gardener, I imagine a different sort of insanity, wild weather swings that endanger new growth. Weeks of 60-degree warmth enticed forsythia, spring bulbs, and flowering trees into bloom. Grass greening, worms, and mud. As we basked in their beauty, a nasty cold snap with fifty-mph winds brought us back to reality. Tree limbs sagging, bowed under ice, fruit tree blossoms brown, dead, and withered daffodils. Fruit harvest threatened. Winter getting in her last licks. Have you seen weather fluctuations in your region? Did you have enough warning to cover and protect your plants?  You can follow the Author on her  Website  or on  Twitter.

I’m pleased to announce the publication of my third poetry volume,  Voyage: Vista and Verse , a compilation of monoku, haiku, and senryu. Some haiku are written in the classic 5–7–5 format; more follow the looser American tradition. A monoku consists of a one-line haiku. The senryu utilizes irony or satire rather than the usual nature subject of the haiku. They may be cynical or darkly humorous. This paperback book is packed with over 75 poems and illustrated with 50 full-color photographs, that follow the Author on her voyage, near and far, via vista and verse. The inspiration for this work arises from travels, stateside and abroad, internal and external. For those that prefer the electronic reading experience, the Kindle version will be out in a few weeks. My thanks to two haikuists,   Roberta Beach Jacobson , Editor of Cold Moon Journal, and  Patricia McGuire , Editor of The Poetry Pea, for their mentorship and encouragement. I hope you enjoy my latest poetic endeavor....