1 April 2022
The month of March 2022 has produced a fresh set of additions to Graceguts, including the following:
On the Essays page, the most significant addition is “Defining Moments,” recently published in Haiku Canada Review. On the “Go-Shichi-Go: How Japanese and English Syllables Differ” essay, I’ve added a third postscript. Also look for my thoughts on “Pronouncing Kireji and Senryu.” I’ve also added a meme (if that’s what it is) to my “Traditional and Modern Haiku: A Vibrant Dichotomy” essay—the meme (not created by me) quoting a passage from this essay.
On the Reviews page (also linked to from the Essays page) is my creative take on Kit Pancoast Nagamura’s Grit, Grace, and Gold, with star-studded play-by-play analysis by Matsuo Bashō, Fukuda Chiyo-ni, Yosa Buson, Kobayashi Issa, and Masaoka Shiki. This “review” appeared on the Books on Asia blog and was recently reprinted in Fireflies’ Light. I had fun with this!
On the Translations page, a large new addition is “Distant Train Sound: Michael Dylan Welch’s Haiku,” with translations into Persian by Sina Sanjari of 33 of my haiku, complete with a short introductory essay, published in Shahrgon magazine. And check out 23 of my haiku at “Akita International Haiku Network,” translated into Japanese by Hidenori Hiruta in 2010 and 2011.
On the Haiga with Other Artists page, available through Haiga, I’ve added a new “cedars and firs” image and a photo showing the poem’s “Golden Triangle” public exhibition in Washington, D.C.
Three smaller additions are these: On my Books page, I’ve added a listing for On Snails, Sage and AIDS: An Anthology Commemorating the 2001 Haiku North America Conference, a small publication I coedited in 2001 but had forgotten about. New to the Memorial Haiku page is a tanka for Robert Creeley, written in 2005. And on the Haiku Workshops page, a new PowerPoint offering is “A Dying Art: Death Haiku in Japanese and English.”
Look for several new events on the Appearances page, especially my presentation on “Jujutsu Kaisen: Haiku Training” for the huge Sakura-Con festival in Seattle on 16 April 2022.