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Short
Verse Selections
by Guest Editor, Werner Reichhold:
tanka,
cinquain, sijo, rengay and other symbiotic (linked) verse |
Werner
Reichhold has honoured WHC and World Haiku Review by making the WHC
Shortverses column selections as a Guest Editor for the August
issue. In addition to making selections based on quality and merit,
he has provided valuable commentary in praise and positive critique,
both toward those poems as well as genres. Werner's work in Japanese
verse, especially in linked forms includes books he has written and
published. Since 1993, Jane and Werner Reichhold have been
co-editors of LYNX,
an International Journal for Linking Poets, published on the web
since 2000 by AHA
Books. An accomplished, innovative artist and poet who
continually breaks down barriers between genres, Werner's works have
been shown internationally. Since 1960, his works have revolved
around the concept of installation.
His
writing attempts follow the same principles as his artwork, blending
different genres into text-installations. His
books are as his symbiotic poetry: They
are multi-layered "rens" -- linked photographs of his
installations, drawings, photo-montage, prints and poetry. He has
coined the term, "symbiotic poetry" to apply to a variety
of linked verse:
"I
feel we should be somehow more and more open to the kind of writer,
who indeed is influenced by Far East poetry but at the same time out
to find a new personal way for a symbiosis of content and form. One
reason, as you know, I introduced the term Symbiotic Poetry was to
open the gates to all kinds of collaborations, to free the scene
from being too much fixed on a single imported form." [wr]
While
Werner concentrates on symbiotic verse collaborations rather than
solo verse, he has graced us with three of his tanka. He writes:
"Here
are several tanka, each composed over the third line, the pivot, and
molded into a certain proximity to one another until they generate
an enigmatic proportion between the clearly experienced and the
unknown. At that point, the poem leaves the reader alone with
literally no sign of sentimental compassion for one's own unattended
doubts and surmises." [wr]
How
much those words also describe his visual works.
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Dialing
the fiber
optics
lit by a stranger's question
incongruous the cry-
in the night of the matter
polishing leaves
in both of her darkened eyes
the glimmer
occurring as if it's not here
before one believes in
wings
from a long time absent
silk-feathered attention
cardinal
would you call
closer the color of coming?
...............Werner
Reichhold
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*(top)
photograph of a bird, page 105, Bridge
of Voices. Werner Reichhold. Perfect bound, 8 x 11; 140
pp., AHA
Books, 1990. ISBN:0-944676-13-8.
*(middle)
installation, page 1, Installation 1975-1985, Werner
Reichhold. Perfect bound, 8 x 11, 38 pp., AHA
Books (a catalogue collection of installations and drawings of
Werner Reichhold).
If
you are interested in renku, or linking poetry, you will want to
read one of Werner's online Aha!
Books, which includes essays and forms for kasen renga:
SYMBIOTIC
POETRY, Anthology
of International Collaborative Poetry
Biography
of Werner Reichhold
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