Shamrock Haiku Journal

Shamrock

 

Haiku Journal

of the Irish Haiku Society

Announcement

Shamrock Haiku Journal Readers' Choice Award 2009

 

BEST HAIKU

This year we have joint winners. The following two pieces, which were both published in our No 12, were voted the best haiku poems that appeared in Shamrock Haiku Journal in 2009:

 

funeral –
spring wind
wrapped in flag

 

Haiku in Spain

by Susana Benet

 

At the beginning of the 20th century, when haiku were first introduced to Spanish readers, another strict form of short poetry already existed in our language and was immensely popular among our people; it is called “seguidilla”. Apart from being the name of a traditional literary form, this word also describes a certain kind of Andalusian gypsy or flamenco songs. Seguidilla is a 5-7-5-7 verse; here is an example of it, a seguidilla written by the famous Federico García Lorca:

Hacia Roma caminan

dos peregrinos,

a que los case el Papa,

porque son primos.

 

(Federico García Lorca. Los peregrinos)

 

(Two pilgrims are walking / to Rome / to be married by the Pope, / because they are cousins)

 

There were several factors that contributed to the development of the haiku genre in Spain. First of all, our poets have always been in a close contact with their French colleagues. France was the first country where an attempt was made to adopt this Japanese genre making it suitable for Western readers. This was the age of modernism and symbolism, the two artistic movements that opposed realism and had as their utmost goal the quest for pure beauty, also assimilating elements of some exotic cultures, not only in architecture and decorative arts, but in literature, as well.

 

Another interesting phenomenon was the development of haiku in South America. In 1919, the first book of haiku in Spanish was published; it was titled “One day", and its author, the Mexican poet José Juan Tablada, used the words "haikai" and “synthetic poems" to describe this particular type of poetry. Tablada was inspired by classical Japanese haiku, although in his own poems he didn’t follow the 5-7-5 pattern.

Tierno saúz, / casi oro, casi ámbar,/ casi luz…

(Tender willow / almost gold, almost amber / almost light…)

 

When the poet Antonio Machado arrived in Paris, he discovered Chinese and Japanese poetry. According to Octavio Paz, Machado tried to mix haiku and popular songs, and consequently started creating poems based on a contemplation of nature and its transmutations. He followed the oriental tradition, but used the images he had chosen in the spirit of the Spanish cultural tradition.

 

Junto al agua negra / olor de mar y jazmines. / Noche malagueña.

By the black water / the smell of sea and jasmine. / Night in Malaga.

 

Another Andalusian poet of the so-called “generation 27”, Juan Ramon Jiménez, was also interested in haiku, which he probably read in English translation. Jiménez was an impressionist; he always used picturesque images and admired brevity in poetry writing, which can account for the fact that he was a big admirer of haiku.

 

Está el árbol en flor / y la noche le quita, cada día / la mitad de las flores.

The tree blooming - / each day the night removes / half of its blossoms.)

 

The years of the Spanish Civil War can be described as a period when haiku writing came to a standstill. Even after the war silence reigned for about thirty years. In the post-war period, many poets thought more important to develop poetry written according to their own cultural traditions.

 

The beginning of the 1970’s witnessed the resurgence of haiku due to the publication of “The Narrow Road to the Northern Provinces”, the major Basho's work translated into Spanish by Eikichi Hayashiya and Octavio Paz. Other factors that contributed to the newly found interest in haiku were the growing popularity of Buddhism, publications of English-language haiku poets and the influence of the beatnik writers, e.g. Jack Kerouac. Finally, there have always been contacts with the South American poets, and in those parts the interest in haiku never faded.

 

In 1972, Prof. Fernando Rodríguez-Izquierdo published his detailed haiku manual titled “The Japanese haiku" (Hiperión Publishing). The same Hiperión helped to promote haiku in Spain by translating classical Japanese poets, and the same did some other Spanish publishers, e.g. Pre-textos and Miraguano. Two other haiku scholars, Vicente Haya Segovia and Pedro Aullón de Haro, also published monographs on haiku, as well as their translations from Japanese masters of the genre. Notably, Pedro Aullón de Haro authored the book entitled “Haiku in Spain”.

 

Among the Spanish poets who tried their hand at haiku writing were Jesus Munárriz, José Mateos, José Cereijo, Antonio Cabrera, María Victoria Porras, Juan Francisco Pérez, Frutos Soriano, et al. Over the last decade several anthologies of Spanish haiku have been published; among them were such books as “Aldea poética”, “Alfileres”, “Poetas de corazón japonés” and “Tertulia de haiku”. We should give a special mention to the University of Castilla-La Mancha that held international Spanish-language haiku contests for a number of years and subsequently published anthologies of the award-winning haiku. In summer 2009 the same university organised also the “1º Encuentro Hispanoamericano de Haiku” in Albacete.

 

In recent years several associations of haiku poets have been founded in our country, e.g. the "Asociación Valenciana de Haiku" and the “Asociación de la Gente del Haiku en Albacete” (AGHA). Spanish haiku now have a significant presence on the Internet. There are several websites offering information about haiku. They also host forums where people can learn about the haiku form and post their own poems. The best known sites are “El rincón del haiku", "Paseos" and "No-Michi" (yet another important website dedicated to Spanish haiku, “Haikuweb”, has unfortunately gone off the web when Yahoo closed their Geocities hosting – ed.)

 

In conclusion, we should mention that the interest in haiku in our country is on the increase. We won’t be exaggerating too much if we say that haiku became firmly established as a genre of Spanish poetry.

 

 

Translated by the author and Anatoly Kudryavitsky 

Susana Benet is a Spanish writer, a haijin, a creative writing tutor and a psychologist; she lives in Valencia.

 

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"Fishing Boats" by Lopez (Spain)

 

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On the Way to Santa Fe

by Barbara A Taylor (Australia) 

desert surprise 

flapping balloons

under neon lights

 

It’s 1969. My girlfriend and I have left London, England, to travel across the United States. Man has just landed on the moon! Today, we’re heading for Santa Fe in the middle of a hot dry summer; thumbs are out, our destination sign is clear. The first lift drops us off close to a gas station/cafe/store, out in the middle of a dusty nowhere, except for a few tall cacti between the scattered tumbleweed. Two trucks are parked outside. On the cafe window is a painted message inside a large heart shape: “Congratulations to Mary-Jo and Glen”. Inside, a couple slouches at the counter in front of a bowl of red roses, a half-eaten wedding cake; plastic plates of nachos, sauce packets, wilting lettuce. White and yellow ribbons decorate each corner. A jukebox plays rowdy rock n roll. The soda fountain bubbles with some garish red liquid. There’s a warning: “For Adults only”.

the smell of onions                                   

sizzling hamburgers

at the reception

Welcoming us with his beaming smile, a robust character, neatly dressed in a blue satin shirt with white arm tassels. “I’m Mary-Jo’s pop,” he raises his Stetson. “Consider yourselves as our honoured guests. There’s plenty room.” He offers a drink, saying, “Here, there’s a kick to it. All’s on the house today!”

a little bleary…

on the blackboard

soup of the day

Two overfed ginger-haired children, a freckled boy and a freckled girl, spend time looking at different country badges sewn onto our backpacks. The various national flags make for excellent geography lessons. Mary-Jo guzzles that red liquid. She introduces us to her goggle-eyed children and to her new hubby. She seems a little tipsy.  Her face flushes. Glen, his check shirtsleeves rolled up, has one hirsute arm over her bare shoulder whilst hugging a beer with his other. We are invited to sign their wedding card, then, to have photographs with the proud father, the newly weds and their kids. “I’m tickled pink to have international folk at my big day!” she giggles, but suddenly bursts into sobs. More drinking, more music, more nibbles … Hours later, another check-shirted cowboy pushes through the slatted curtain doorway. We assume he must be a late wedding guest, but no, just a regular traveller, stopping to get petrol, pick up a cold drink. What good luck! He offers us a comfortable ride all the way to Santa Fe. Relieved, we leave the wedding party dancing around the piled-high plates of uneaten food. Next stop is a pretty adobe motel in the middle of town and the promise of a guided tour tomorrow. 

morning dew

a coyote and her cubs

at play in the sand

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DOGHOUSE Books have a limited number of copies left of two collections of haiku poems by two Irish haijin:

John W Sexton. Shadows Bloom. DOGHOUSE Books. Reviewed here

Anatoly Kudryavitsky. Morning at Mount Ring. DOGHOUSE Books. Reviewed here

One can get them postage free for the price of €12 to anywhere in the world.

Also, check out here the range of poetry books and anthologies we've published.

DOGHOUSE Books
PO Box 312
Tralee
Co. Kerry
Ireland

Tel: +353 (0)66 7137547
Fax: +353 (0)66 7137547
info[at]doghousebooks.ie