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Friday, April 26, 2024

Haiku Journeys of One Kind and Another

 Hello and Happy Poetry Friday! Be sure and visit Ruth and her dream of Haiti at There is no such thing as a godforsaken town for Roundup.

Whew, what a National Poetry Month it's been! And it's not over yet...I travel today for a conference tomorrow...and then...MAY!!!

By the way, it has come to my attention that no one has received my annual NPM Live Your Poem postcard. I sent them out the first week of April, but they are LOST, I tell you. LOST! (I've been told several things...apparently there are big problems at the Birmingham USPS distribution center. I don't know, because I've mailed other things this month that made their destinations...but nary a postcard!) Sigh. Maybe they will find you eventually... I hope so.

Today I'm excited to share about Climbing the Volcano: A Journey in Haiku by Curtis Manley, illus. by Jennifer Mann (Neal Porter/Holiday House, 2024). It's a story of family's hike up South Sister Volcano in Oregon told in fifty haiku.

Here's the opening haiku:

dormant volcano—

but at sunrise each day

it blazes


Along the way, the child-narrator shares about encounters with other people are on the trail; change of temperatures; mosquitoes!; other animal encounters (marmot, dogs, owl, butterfly..); adventures at the summit (snowballs, anyone?); sliding down; and looking back up the mountain in wonder.


One of my favorite middle-of-the-book haiku:

lost—

the trail is under the snow

somewhere

The book ends with a ends with a great question... you'll have to read it to find out what! And back matter includes info about South Sister Volcano, Geology of the Cascade Mountain Range; What to bring to climb a mountain; A little bit about haiku; and more info about the Living things mentioned in the haiku (flora and fauna).

Check it out! It's a winner.

Perhaps inspired by Climbing the Volcano, this week's ArtSpeak: FOLK ART is a haiku...or rather, THREE haiku! This art by Mose Tolliver just speaks to me, I guess...I couldn't decide which one to post, so I offer you all three. :) Thanks so much for reading!

Night performs secret

mysteries—fire where there was

no flame before

- Irene Latham



Full moon large and low

crimson flame ignites the stars

night garden

- Irene Latham



My longing stretches

crimson across dark mountains—

where are you moon?

- Irene Latham

6 comments:

  1. It is funny how a month that celebrates poetry (and library) squeezes so much time away from poeming and librarying. Well, it does that for me. But, I wouldn't miss the celebrations for anything.
    Story in haiku fascinates me. I was blown away by 'Death Coming Up the Hill' by Cris Crowe. It's the first story written in haiku that I read (or at least the first one I read that I was aware of the form). A haiku series for this painting is called for. That red! It needs addressing...if you don't it's going to feel dissed. I'm a fan of the word crimson. It feels creamy and satiny and so, so red! Great post this week. Thank you!

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  2. Hi Irene, so sorry about the postcard debacle. Our mail is not exactly what it used to be! I love hearing about the new book, and you told a wee story with your three-haiku response. Love the idea of "secret mysteries" and "ignites the stars". Have a nice weekend!

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  3. Irene, Climbing the Volcano sounds like a wonderful book. That opening haiku with the blazing sunrise does have echoes in your own poems about the crimson flower. They are all beautiful. I think my favorite is the middle one that brings out the stars!

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  4. "fire where there was no flame before" - stopped me. Yes, a mystery. I want to simply sit with this - in the night.

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  5. Oh, WHAT is with the mail lately? Strange happenings here at times too. CLIMBING THE VOLCANO looks terrific.

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  6. Peace be upon you
    New here ♡
    loving your words
    God Bless

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