The new issue of Otoliths (a magazine of many e-things) is out, issue number twenty-nine, and both Paul Pfleuger, Jr. and myself have some new poems inside it:
Paul Pfleuger, Jr.
Scott Metz
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Also of interest to R’r readers in the issue: Jack Galmitz has 8 visuals (one of which is the untitled piece up above), Camille Martin has 12 short poems, and Johannes S. H. Bjerg has two sequences and a visual.
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A few books linked to R’r got some recent kudos from The Haiku Foundation via their annual Touchstone Awards for best books of 2012.
Haiku 21: an anthology of contemporary English-language haiku (Modern Haiku Press, 2011), edited by Lee Gurga and myself, shared the Distinguished Book award for 2012 with 3 other books.
Here’s what the judges had to say:
Haiku 21 is a unique and startling anthology of twenty-first-century English-language haiku. Editors Lee Gurga and Scott Metz took upon themselves the daunting task of reading every single haiku published in journals from 2000-2010. They selected what they considered the most excellent work, attempting also to showcase the full range of contemporary English-language haiku, from traditional to experimental, exploring the question, “What can haiku be?” The poets answer, in alphabetical order, sans bio or notes, most represented by a single poem. Although the collection may trend more towards the experimental than the taste of some, the anthology renders a fascinating image of where English-language haiku is in this new millennium, and points the way toward its future
In addition to the award, we received these stones:
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Reviews of Haiku 21 by Ron Silliman, and Michael Dylan Welch (Modern Haiku 43.2);
additional kudos:
“Haiku 21 is a collection of the same old, same old unmemorable haiku-like poetry. [It] omits many well known poets, has many abysmal poems, and helps to further discredit haiku.” —Robert D. Wilson, editor of Simply Haiku: The International Journal of English Language Traditional Japanese Short Form Poetry
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“We find here a mania for running smugly free in hallucinations. It’s a public nuisance.” —Klaus-Dieter Wirth (Chrysanthemum 13)
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In addition, my own first collection, lakes & now wolves (Modern Haiku Press, 2012) received an Honorable Mention, sharing that distinction with 3 other books. Here’s what the judges had to say:
lakes & now wolves is the long-awaited, first full collection by a poet justly described as “one of the most innovative and challenging younger poets at work in haiku” (Montage). Few collections of haiku by a single author are as exploratory and wide-ranging. The book progresses from excellent, relatively normative examples of the genre:
end of summer
pressing her body against
the sea wallto more boldly imaginative one-liners such as:
meadow speaking the language she dreams in
Indeed, many of the poems exemplify the 21st Century trend towards writing haiku in one line, coincident with a linguistically playful turn, at its best. The following, which may be seen as a vertical one-liner, touches tenderly on romantic relationship through a subtle, unexpected line-break:
lakes & now wolves also offers some of the most striking haiku on the topic of war in English, alongside distinctive takes on classical and modern Japanese haiku. While some of the “ku” may disconcert traditionalists, this is a collection that inspires and provokes more than most.
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Reviews by Eve Luckring (Modern Haiku 44.1; p16 in the PDF),
and Francine Banwarth (frogpond 36.1);
additional kudos:
“[N]ot worth reading.” —Robert D. Wilson, editor of Simply Haiku: The International Journal of English Language Traditional Japanese Short Form Poetry
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Of the 30 poems I submitted, as editor, from the 2012 issues of R’r (and also 10 more from MASKS), one was shortlisted for a Touchstone, but ultimately did not receive an award:
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“Pencils” by Jack Galmitz
Otoliths #28 is now online and includes some new visuals by Jack Galmitz, two poems by Paul Pfleuger, Jr., and some of my own recent attempts:
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“Dragonfly” / Chris Gordon
click on the title ⬇ for a PDF scan of my chapbook
issue nine (winter 2009) of the journal ant ant ant ant ant
or head over to the ant ant ant ant ant blog
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Pleased to say that my first collection is now available from Modern Haiku Press.
Perfectbound, 64 pages
with an introduction by Philip Rowland
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“In his haiku (one wants to say “in these creatures”) Scott Metz is both shaman and surrealist, evoking both an archaic time-before and our contemporary end-time. Word by word, these poems carry a primal charge, and one takes them up like so many amulets. He is a master of Dichten = condensare, making leaps that can remind me of Philip Soupault, Michaux and Kitasono Katue, and still these radical poems always go literally to the roots of haiku—each an embodiment of unapproachable sabi.”
john martone
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“Over the last decade, Scott Metz has become one of a handful of innovators leading the way towards a new form and style for haiku in English. The poems within represent the fruits of that labor, their depth of emotion, range of expression and creative freshness articulate landscapes of rare intimacy. Here is haiku at its best, offering a nobility of spirit and a passion for poetry—for love itself.”
Richard Gilbert
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Poem 812, from The Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson, Thomas H. Johnson, ed. (Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1961), 395.
/ Modern Haiku 39.1 (2008)
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“The Echoing Green” from Songs of Innocence and Experience by William Blake (New York: Penguin Books, 1995), 4–5.
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/ selected & created by Scott
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/ selected & created by Paul
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Le fils de l’homme / The Son of Man by René Magritte (1964)
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tr. by Burton Watson / From the Country of Eight Islands
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tr. by Burton Watson / Masaoka Shiki: Selected Poems
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1960 / Haiku: This Other World (#436)
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September 21 1965 # e b ’ / The Collected Poems of Larry Eigner
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/ Poems 1966-1967 [Pages, Random House, 1969]
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/ A 2nd Flake (1974)
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/ Modern Haiku 6.2 (1975)
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/ Gendai Haiku Kyokai Sakuhin-Shû (Modern Haiku Association Anthology), 1982 tr. by Fay Aoyagi
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/ Opera in the Human Body (1990) [Turquoise Milk, Red Moon Press 2011]
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/ Modern Haiku 35.1 (2004)
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/ Haiku Shiki (Haiku Four Seasons), October 2008; created from a tr. by Fay Aoyagi
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/ Ginyu 42 (2009)
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/ MASKS ONE (2009)
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/ R’r 9.1 (2009)
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Chris Gordon :: Jack Dander
MASKS ONE (2009)
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/ Ginyu 42 (2009)
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:: Jack Dander / MASKS 2 (2009)
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/ Ginyu 42 (2009)
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/ R’r 9.2 (2009)
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/ The Heron’s Nest 12.1 (2010)
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/ R’r 10.1 (2010)
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/ R’r 10.3 (2010)
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/ Haidan (Haiku Stage), September 2011; new arrangement using a tr. by Fay Aoyagi
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/ A Hundred Gourds 1.1 (2011)
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Andrew Young / ant ant ant ant ant 1 (1994)
Chris Gordon / Raw NerVZ 7.1 (2001)
Scott Metz / Modern Haiku 39.1 (2008)
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BOOKS RECEIVED IN 2011
Books (Poetry)
Fay Aoyagi, Beyond the Reach of My Chopsticks: New and Selected Haiku, Blue Willow Press (2011), 930 Pine St., Suite 105, San Francisco, CA, 94108 (Attn: the author)
Robert Boldman, everything i touch, Red Moon Press, Winchester, VA, 2011
Jorge Carrera Andrade, Micrograms, translated by Alejandro de Acosta and Joshua Beckman, Wave Books, Seattle & New York, 2011
Gary Hotham, Nothing More Happens in the 20th Century, Pecan Grove Press, TX, 2011
paul m., few days north days few, Red Moon Press, Winchester, VA, 2011
john martone, handbook, (samuddo/ocean, 2011), 1031 10th St., Charelston, IL, 61920
john martone, mother tongue, (samuddo/ocean, 2011), 1031 10th St., Charelston, IL, 61920
Ban’ya Natsuishi, Turquoise Milk: Selected Haiku of Ban’ya Natsuishi, translated by Jim Kacian and Ban’ya Natsuishi, Red Moon Press, Winchester, VA, 2011
Books (Other)
Steven D. Carter (translator), Haiku Before Haiku: From the Renga Masters to Bashō, Columbia University Press, New York, 2011
Jeffrey Johnson, Haiku Poetics in Twentieth-Century Avant-Garde Poetry, Lexington Books, MD, 2011
Kaneko Tohta, The Future of Haiku: An Interview with Kaneko Tohta, translated by the Kon Nichi Translation Group (Richard Gilbert, Masahiro Hori, Itô Yûki, Koun Franz, David Ostman, Kanamitsu Takeyoshi), Red Moon Press, Winchester, VA, 2011
Kaneko Tohta, Ikimonofûei: Poetic Composition on Living Things, translated by the Kon Nichi Translation Group (Richard Gilbert, Masahiro Hori, Itô Yûki, Koun Franz, David Ostman, Kanamitsu Takeyoshi), Red Moon Press, Winchester, VA, 2011
Journals
ant ant ant ant ant 11 (spring 2011), Eugene, OR (edited by Chris Gordon). / SAY WHAT THE FENCE IS THE ANSWER by Jim Westenhaver.
ant ant ant ant ant 12 (autumn 2011), Eugene, OR (edited by Chris Gordon). / THE COINCIDENCE OF STARS by Jack Galmitz.
Books (Anthologies)
Lee Gurga and Scott Metz (editors), Haiku 21: an anthology of contemporary English-language haiku, Modern Haiku Press, Lincoln, IL, 2011
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