Haiku Chronicles

Join us to celebrate African American haiku with special guest poet, Crystal Simone Smith.  Featuring readings by Crystal, Lamont B. Steptoe, L. Teresa Church, Gideon Young, Lenard Moore, and Valeria Bullock.

To kick-off, National Poetry Month enjoy a delightful reading of haibun (haiku prose) by our special guest Welsh poet, Lew Watts.

Listen in and bug out with poet, naturalist, and Educator, Jeff Hoagland, who shares his presentation “Crawling with Insects” at the Haiku North America Conference 2019 in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Plus, a reading of favorite bug haiku.   

Come fly with us in celebration of our feathered friends the birds with special guests, poems, bird calls, music, and humor that is strictly for the birds. 

Poets/Teachers Tom Painting and Arlie Parker offer invaluable insights into the art of teaching haiku to students in the schools.  Guests include Henry Brann and Robin Palley from the Nick Virgilio Haiku Association.  A must for all teachers and haiku aficionados.

Join us for a lighthearted fun episode in observance of “Bad Poetry Day.”  Al and Donna discuss three books that fit the occasion.  Spoiler Alert!  Not ALL of the poems are bad. 

Alan Pizzarelli shares a letter from Professor Harold G. Henderson written to him in 1971. From his talk at the 2014 Seabeck Haiku Getaway in Seabeck, Washington. Harold G. Henderson (1889-1974) was a Japanese scholar and author of The Bamboo Room (1933) which became the revised version, An Introduction to Haiku (1958), the first notable works on modern English-language haiku. Henderson’s papers were given to the New York Public Library in 1974.

Sensei Akito Arima talks about haiku education in schools and retaining one’s originality in the art of haiku poetry. Outtake from Episode 25: Ginko - A Conversation with Dr. Akito Arima. Recorded on the Monterey Peninsula's "Refuge by the Sea" - Asilomar State Beach and Conference, California.

Haiku Chronicles is back on the fire with a discussion and review of two books by Gary Snyder, “Danger on Peaks” and “Back on the Fire” with hosts Donna Beaver and Alan Pizzarelli. This episode includes excerpts of Gary Snyder reading from his book, “Danger on Peaks” and more.

Al and Donna revisit the subject of parodies in senryu with guest poets Anita Virgil, Cor van den Heuvel , and a special cameo reading by Nick Virgilio.  This episode includes Anita reading from her essay, “New Wine from Old” followed by collaborative reading of modern English language senryu parodies and a discussion of creating  parodies today.

In this episode, the poetic form of sequences is explored with guest poets Cor van den Heuvel, Emiko Miyashita, and Bruce Kennedy. Featuring Alexis Rotella reading her classic sequence, “After an Affair; also, two new sequences by Cor van den Heuvel, "Scuba Diver" and "Long Stakeout." 

Guest poets Cor van den Heuvel,  Emiko Miyashita, and Bruce Kennedy join Al and Donna in an open discussion on haiku as a way of life.

A mad-cap romp at a wild Hallowe'en party with Al and Donna that tucks some classic senryu and parodies into the mouths of icons of horror and humor.

A reading of summer poems and brief discussion of season words (kigo).  

In "A Cool Assessment" poet Anita Virgil offers new insights to the underlying role Shiki's tuberculosis plays in many of his poems.

A review and discussion of Makoto Ueda's book of senryu, "Light Verse from the Floating World" with hosts Donna Beaver and Alan Pizzarelli. 

Kobayashi Issa, Japan's most beloved haiku poet is put under a microscope in order to distinguish and delineate three basic directions his poems take.  Written and narrated by Anita Virgil. The complete essay of, "Issa: The Uses of Adversity" is available in the Haiku Chronicles Reading Room at: www.haikuchronicles.com    

An invaluable guide to renku composition with renku master, Kris Moon Kondo. Al and Donna join guest poets Henry Brann, Robin Palley, Penny Harter to write the collaborative poetic form Renku. Read the final Kasen Renku (36 stanzas) by poets and learn more on the Haiku Chronicles Blog page: http://haikuchronicles.com/2010/10/e15_thundermoon/

Buson’s Two Candles” is a very private interpretation/expansion of appreciation for this poet’s breadth of subject matter and his variety of “styles" of writing. Anita Virgil, an artist by training, viewed Buson’s original artwork at Asia House in NYC. The complete essay of, “Buson’s Two Candles” by Anita Virgil is available in the Haiku Chronicles, Reading Room at: www.haikuchronicles.com  

Special guests Hiroaki Sato, Yuko Otomo and Steve Dalachinsky join us in a round-table discussion of the Tanka poetry and modern Women Tanka Poets.