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XXV:1
February, 2010

LYNX  
A Journal for Linking Poets  
  
   
     
     

 

The sinking/shrinking/stinking economy has made itself visible in poetry books, also. I cannot remember a winter issue of Lynx that had so few books to review.

Spreading Ripples by Anna Holley and Aya Yuhki. Hardcover with dust jacket, 5 x 8 inches, 96 pages, English and Japanese, kanji and romaji,  ¥2000E. Order from Japan: letters@banraisha.co.jp

Spreading Ripples is a beautifully made book in the most professional Japanese style. Everything is absolutely perfect, including the poetry.

The poems originated, according to Aya’s Postscript in 2005 after her collaboration with Anna Holley on the book, White Flower in the Sky when Anna informed her that she was undergoing treatment for breast cancer. Then began a series of exchanges of tanka on various subjects between the two women. Sometimes Anna would send several tanka on a subject and Aya would respond to only one of them. Other times the exchanges consisted of only one or two tanka. By 2006 the project was over. After printing the various series in magazines, over the next two years, Aya suggested to Anna that they put them together in this book.

All of Anna’s tanka were written in English and translated into Japanese. Aya wrote her tanka in both Japanese and English. And thus, we have another marvelous book of tanka that easily cross the two cultures.

Aya Yuhki is now the Editor-in-Chief of the Tanka Journal, the organ of The Japan Tanka Poets’ Society and lives in Saitama, Japan.
Anna Holley lives in Dallas, Texas. Her first book of haiku, White Crow (1991) was published by AHA Books and though now out of print, is available as an Online AHA Book at:http://www.ahapoetry/com/wtcrowbk.htm. Even as Anna was writing exemplary haiku she was also one of the first American women to write tanka. Since then Anna and Aya have collaborated on three books of tanka.

Anna’s amazing ability to link the images in her poems is what attracted me to her work even when she was writing haiku. In addition, and this is what makes her tanka easier to translate, Anna has a spare, elemental style of stating her tanka so that there is not too much or too little information for the tanka in Japanese.

From the sequence “One String” – Anna writes:

dwindling
but still precious
this current
of my life flowing
back to its source

Aya responds:

matsumushi cricket
chirping
a silver strand –
tonight I free it
from its cage

and

rewinding
a picture scroll of memory –
could I relive
those happy days
with my dog

By reading through the three books of collaboration by this pair one is touched by the classic elegant beauty of Anna’s tanka and the more modern vocabulary and thought in Aya’s work. It is as if the two women had exchanged cultures; Anna being more ‘Japanese’ than Aya. Anna is the traditionalist whose linkage, and style, does not change although her life even though her inspiration has undergone major crisis. Aya has her finger on the pulse of modern writers and her work reflects that.

 

The Toddler’s Chant by Stanford M. Forrester. Bottle Rockets Press 2009. Perfect-bound, full color cover, 8.5 x 5.5 inches, 96 pages, color photo inside of author, foreword by Michael Fessler, $14.00. Order from Bottle Rockets Press, P.O. Box 189, Windsor, CT 06095

The spare open lay-out with often only one or two haiku to a page, with many blank pages and other pages given to an iconic religious figure, invites the reader to linger and to contemplate the poetry. Many of the poems relate to a religious life – one that seems to embrace more than ‘just’ Zen Buddhism, although that seems to be Forrester’s longest and current religious orientation. Due to this, the haiku have a strong leaning toward Japanese images and way of seeing the world, and yet there is something so American, so East Coast American, so clearly Forrester’s own way of experiencing his life.
Some of the sequences have titles and other sets form their own place within the book. The man is completely at home in arranging haiku. Perhaps from his years of editing the issues of bottle rockets (along with the book Stanford sent issues #20 and 21) shines through and illuminates The Toddler’s Chant.

Worth the price of the book alone, is Michael Fessler’s Foreword. Michael sheds light on Stanford the poet as well as the man behind the poems. Many times he, and he alone, gives the background or explanation for some of the poem. And he writes so well it is a pleasure to read what he has to say. Any compliments for the book could be quoted from Michael’s words.
The title for the book is taken from this haiku:

Shiva’s Temple –
a toddler chants along
in baby talk

 

Waiting in Silence / Wachten in Stilte by Ion Codrescu. ‘t schrivjverke, 2009. Perfect bound, 3 x 4 inches, 48 pages, color cover, and endpages, English and Dutch. Contact max@verhart.org to order.

At least once a month I go through a debate with myself. I have such a desire to make one of these tiny hand-sized books of my own poems that I cannot get the thought completely out of my mind. I design the book, even pick out poems, and yet when the words come closer to the ink, I always veer away and make at least the traditional-sized book of 8.5 x 5.5. I love these little books and think they make such a great little gifts to tuck into envelopes or friends’ hands. I do not enjoy reading them as the pages are so small, that my thumbs seem to occupy most of the space just holding on to the book. I find turning a page so fiddly that I will rarely read a tiny book from start to finish. I do love them when I can leave them lying around and on the spur of the moment, grab it, flip it open and read the poems on the two pages chance has chosen for me. Also, and alas, as I get older, the tiny 8 point fonts dim even that excitement. However, no other poetry form other than tanka and haiku lends itself to these little books. And I have such fond memories of the series of handmade booklets that Wim Loefvers made. Somehow it seems fitting that the tiny country of The Netherlands should stay the centerpoint of tiny books and I thank Max Verhart and Marlene Buitelaar for carrying on the tradition.
So even when Waiting in Silence / Wachten in Stilte is a tiny book, the poems by Ion Codrescu are giant. Ion has immersed himself into Japanese poetry and sumi-e, for so many years that one expects such fineness and expertise from him. Sometimes I think of Ion as a citizen that Japan has misplaced and forced him to grow up in Romania. It has been their gain, as Ion Codrescu, through his magazine Albatross, exposed and educated so many Europeans about haiku. For this I thank him with a deep bow.
And now I will take off my kid gloves. I am on a positive rant about people miss-using the haiku shape. I know we are finally accepting the impracticability of using the 5, 7, 5, count, but People! the haiku does have a shape! The lines should reflect the ratio of 5, 7, 5 syllables shouldn’t they? You know, if changing the shape made better haiku I would be tempted to shut up and let people write their haiku in willy-nilly shapes. But! Take this from page 18:

cumulus cloud –
the spreading ink blot
on the apprentice’s paper

Do you not think it would be better written as:

the spreading ink blot
on the apprentice’s paper
cumulus cloud

This way the riddle technique would work perfectly – what is the “the spreading ink blot / on the apprentice’s paper?” Answer: “cumulus cloud.” and written this way one could get rid of the punctuation. And see? – the perfectly shaped haiku. Editors, be alert. Writers, remember the source. Shape up or ship out and go back to writing free verse.

 

Shells in the Sand by Gerard J. Conforti. AHA Books, pob 767, Gualala, CA 95445. Perfect bound, full-color cover, 8.5 x 5.5, Preface by Pamela Miller-Ness, Introduction by Cor van den Heuvel, 90 pages. Order from Lulu.com

Shells in the Sand is a collection of four of Conforti’s book, some of which were published as AHA Online books. In addition to “Spirits of the Wind” and “Sometimes the Rain,” this contains the unpublished “A Dent in the Wood” and “All of Us Together.”
Conforti’s tanka have a strong personal flavor which is an acquired taste. Critics may complain about this or that but the fact that the man accomplishes as much as he does and to the degree of accomplishment he obtains is still a miracle in the light and knowledge of the disadvantages and obstacles he has to overcome just for his daily life let alone being a poet, too.
In spite of these (read his online books to get a feel for the problems he has – but rarely refers to in his poetry) he is a gentle loving soul with immense feelings of gratitude and thanksgiving. I know of no one who has suffered so much and yet remains so kind and thankful. His poems are gifts of love he has for his friends and family and it is an honor that he shares them with us. Thank you! Gerard!

 

Twenty Years Tanka Splendor, edited by Jane Reichhold. AHA Books, 2009. Perfect bound, color cover, 90 pages, $10 ppd. AHA Books, P.O. Box 767, Gualala, CA 95445.


Yes! the Tanka Splendor Awards have been around for twenty years. Each year tanka from around the world were sent in to be judged and have the best ones compiled into an anthology. The poems were not ranked in the old patriarchal way of first, second and third prize but the 31 poems garnering the most votes were then published as examples of what was being written in those years and what was admired.
For ten years a booklet of these winners was the prize for the writers. At some point sequences were added and the prize book grew larger. In 2000 the contest underwent a fundamental change when it moved online. Gone were the tanka greats who judged each year (Sanford Goldstein, George Swede x 2, Jane Hirshfield, Larry Gross, Geraldine C. Little, George Ralph, Tom Clausen, Hatsue Kawamura, and Leza Lowitz) and by e-mail the contestants themselves became the judges. The resulting booklet became an e-book and they are still available at http://www.ahapoetry.com
For the twentieth year Jane bowed to the wishes for a paper book again. So here it is with this year’s winners and lists of previous winners and judges. An Afterword recounts the complete history of this contest and announces that this is the last year. There are still a few copies of this book available and if you were ever a winner, and especially a winner during the online years, you should order a copy for your archive library.

 

Scarlet Scissors Fire by Jane Reichhold, 2009. AHA Books. Gualala, California. ISBN: 978-0-944676-46-2. Perfect bound, 5.75 x 8.25inches, 116 pages.
Poems, Preface. Cover and Book Design by Jane Reichhold.
Review by: Ed Baranosky, poet and artist
Toronto, Canada - October 2009

"I don't think there is anything that is really magical unless it has a terrifying quality."
Andrew Wyeth 1917-2009

five poems
coming from witches stranger
than he who owned
that heart furred with light
stored in a storm of blood

This is probably a little oversimplified, but the first feeling I have of Jane Reichhold's collection of verse is that it has the look of tanka with the feeling of sijo. They differ
from formal tanka in their comfort-level of seclusion, as internal voice monologues. The references are intense, but hinted at, as if one is overhearing a private conversation. In this way they act as discreetly framed paintings at an exhibition.

how many syllables
in the dark and light of suns
the clear birds
attack scarecrows who guard the farm
early evening grays cover the moss

But here we leave history behind to re-enter myth with sympathetic magic. In this grimoire of miniature spells, the words have an intrinsic power because the voice
of the poet has an invisible yet unmistakable presence. It is the magic of an authentic mystic rather than a staged performer, though here is impressive performance and
without a net. Poet's often walk in where Angels fear to tread. This is magic, but with an edge.

squirming basket of squid
I am peering down the long dark
snow on the ladder's rungs
here is the world, the forgetting
so much that was unacceptable

According to seasoned ingeneur, every great magic trick consists of three acts: The Pledge of something purportedly ordinary, The Turn to the extraordinary, and the revelation in the flourish dubbed The Prestige. This is the old gospel of competitive Victorian-era illusionists at deadly serious play.

pressure of ice
thick in the rock dripping water
restores the vacant
walk down into the catacombs
both inside and beyond ourselves

Scarlet; The Pledge, a kaleidoscope of images, phrases, and emotions, past, present, future, driven and blended by the poet; not so much to clarify, but to absolve the reader of
assuming misunderstanding.

while I thought
about the diamond edge of the mind
this is a test
to hear a bell ring with the bell in it
no more madness ate in Basho's heart

Scissors; The Turn, the unresolved challenges our senses and we are drawn into alternate slices of possibilities. The roller coaster climbs to a peak of perspective.

she would rise and walk
a swirl in air from the gray clay
so fragrant and seasoned
there is one wonderful moment
I was the eldest son of the Emperor

Fire; The Prestige, the Zen arrow is released to find the target. It seems to end too soon and we wonder how it happened.

of bronze and blaze
dreams are fine but waking is better
the heart has no banks
from this slim palace in the dust
who goes to dine will find a feast

A stunning collection and vintage Jane Reichhold; a gift well worth reading.

it's just a piece
of the middle of the night
the entire metaphor
a stamped and folded envelope
in the darkness of ribs

 

 

FINISHING LINE PRESS

IS PLEASED TO ANNOUNCE THE PUBLICATION OF

KICKING THE RAIN
by R.G. Rader

In Kicking the Rain, R.G. Rader gives us unforgettable imagistic poems that are both passionate and sensual. His work has enormous depth and subtlety and often takes surprising ironic turns. This is a book not to be missed.

Maria Mazziotti Gillan
Winner of American Book Award
For All That Lies Between Us

From the title to the individual poems in this new and exciting collection, R. G. Rader’s work is rich in imagery and music. In these poems, the dialectic of observation is immediate and direct, filled with tension and conflict that underscore the drive toward wholeness. R. G. Rader is a close and sensitive observer of the world and of the people around him; Kicking the Rain is a collection filled with insight, intelligence, and art.

Adele Kenny
Poetry editor, Tiferet

These poems are shaped by their rhythms almost the way the smooth stones strewn along the bottom of a creek bed are shaped by the clear cold water running over them. There is a musical integrity, an honesty and clarity in the words that is a refreshing change from the stuttering opacity that seems to characterize so much contemporary verse. Nor are these poems, as is often the case, a visual nightmare; they were written not to dazzle the eye, but to mesmerize the ear.

Vincent Czyz, author of Adrift in a Vanishing City
Istanbul and New York City

R.G. Rader is an award-winning poet and playwright, actor, director and a professor of English and Theater. He is the founding publisher and editor of Muse-Pie Press, a poetry press founded in the early 1980’s (www.musepiepress.com). His poetry has been widely published in journals and anthologies throughout the US and abroad, and he is the author of two poetry collections: Neon Shapes (Merit Book Award winner) and Raising the Blade: Collected Haiku and Tanka 1980-2000 (poems that honor Japanese genres and published online by AHA Books (www.ahapoetry.com/raisbk3.htm).

ORDER ONLINE
at
www.finishinglinepress.com
click on “new releases”
find Kicking the Rain by R.G. Rader

BOOK REVIEWS

Spreading Ripples by Anna Holley and Aya Yuhki. Hardcover with dust jacket, 5 x 8 inches, 96 pages, English and Japanese, kanji and romaji,  ¥2000E. Order from Japan: letters@banraisha.co.jp

The Toddler’s Chant by Stanford M. Forrester. Bottle Rockets Press 2009. Perfect-bound, full color cover, 8.5 x 5.5 inches, 96 pages, color photo inside of author, foreword by Michael Fessler, $14.00. Order from Bottle Rockets Press, P.O. Box 189, Windsor, CT 06095

Waiting in Silence / Wachten in Stilte by Ion Codrescu. ‘t schrivjverke, 2009. Perfect bound, 3 x 4 inches, 48 pages, color cover, and endpages, English and Dutch. Contact max@verhart.org to order.

Shells in the Sand by Gerard J. Conforti. AHA Books, pob 767, Gualala, CA 95445. Perfect bound, full-color cover, 8.5 x 5.5, Preface by Pamela Miller-Ness, Introduction by Cor van den Heuvel, 90 pages. Order from Lulu.com

Twenty Years Tanka Splendor, edited by Jane Reichhold. AHA Books, 2009. Perfect bound, color cover, 90 pages, $10 ppd. AHA Books, P.O. Box 767, Gualala, CA 95445.

Scarlet Scissors Fire by Jane Reichhold, 2009. AHA Books. Gualala, California. ISBN: 978-0-944676-46-2. Perfect bound, 5.75 x 8.25inches, 116 pages.
Poems, Preface. Cover and Book Design by Jane Reichhold.

FINISHING LINE PRESS ANNOUNCES
KICKING THE RAIN

by R.G. Rader

 

   
     
     
 

Back issues of Lynx:

XV:2 June, 2000
XV:3 October, 2000
XVI:1 Feb. 2001
XVI:2 June, 2001
XVI:3 October, 2001  
XVII:1 February, 2002
XVII:2 June, 2002
XVII:3 October, 2002
XVIII:1 February, 2003
XVIII:2 June, 2003
XVIII:3, October, 2003
XIX:1 February, 2004
XIX:2 June, 2004

XIX:3 October, 2004

XX:1,February, 2005

XX:2 June, 2005
XX:3 October, 2005
XXI:1February, 2006 
XXI:2, June, 2006

XXI:3,October, 2006

XXII:1 January, 2007
XXII:2 June, 2007
XXII:3 October, 2007

XXIII:1February, 2008
XXIII:2 June, 2008

XXIII:3, October, 2008XXIV:1, February, 2009
XXIV:2, June, 2009
XXIV:3, October, 2009

 

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Next Lynx is scheduled for June, 2010.


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Lynx
P.O. Box 767
Gualala, CA 95445
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