My Neighbor

Paul Miller, editor, poems by Garry Gay, David Grayson, Carolyn Hall, and Michael Dylan Welch.

San Francisco: Two Autumns Press, 2010, 32 pages.

The 2009 Haiku North America conference took place at the National Library of Canada in Ottawa, Ontario (equivalent to the Library of Congress in the United States). This was the second time that the conference had been in Canada, and was also the tenth conference in the biennial series (started in 1991). Some words from the introduction: “No one was ever more in his element at Haiku North America conferences than William J. Higginson. Always the quintessential haiku poet, scholar, enthusiast, advocate, translator, and critic, Bill found such a stimulating and inspiring outlet for his passions and talents at this conference that he surely wished Haiku North America happened multiple times every year instead of just once every two years. He was, too, the only person who had been to all nine conferences since it began in 1991. When he passed away in October of 2008, Bill left a gaping void not just in Haiku North America, but in the entire haiku community worldwide. It is therefore fitting that we dedicate this tenth HNA anthology, Into Our Words, to William J. Higginson.” You can also read the entire introduction. See also the Press Here page for this book. Here are thirty-four sample poems from the anthology, including one translation and several bilingual versions.

An excerpt from the book’s introduction, by Paul Miller:

Michael Dylan Welch has been writing haiku for many years, and his skill at relating an emotional scene is easily evident. In the following poem the future ups and downs of a relationship are tempered by an optimistic seasonal marker:

spring sun—

at the top of the roller coaster

she says yes

Lately, Welch has been experimenting with what he calls “created mythologies,” sets of poems similar to Ban’ya Natsuishi’s Flying Pope series in which the poems’ consistent subject is used in avant garde and surreal ways to question viewpoints, and even traditions. Such experiments help keep the genre fresh. A few are included in this volume from Welch’s Neon Buddha series. In particular, I enjoyed:

the dentist’s chair

could hold a hundred

neon buddhas

This is an interesting poem to parse: from the anxiety of a dentist’s chair in the first line, to an implied genocide in the second, to a third line that has the power to possibly vanquish both. It is a poem that keeps the reader on their toes, shifting perspective and understanding.

A selection of poems from the book (or see all poems):

crackling beach fire—

we hum in place of words

we can’t recall

cold rain—

the inning ends

with nobody on

drapes drawn—

just the edges done

on the daffodil puzzle

accumulating snow—

oven mitts

praying on the counter

scent of wisteria—

she finishes translating

the birth certificate

garbage strike

the neon buddha

eats the rainbow

rapture

the neon buddha

has nothing to declare

The 2009 Two Autumns book, titled My Neighbor, with cover art by Naia. Linda Papanicolaou did the layout and production. Paul Miller served as editor.

Six of my poems in My Neighbor.

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