United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization

 

Using the internet as "a tool for the exchange, communication and knowledge of contemporary poetry", the Italian National Commission of UNESCO is creating a website for poetic texts gathered from member States. Toward that project, World Haiku Review has been invited to participate with the Italian National Commission of UNESCO in World Poetry Day 2002.

Coinciding with UNESCO's World Poetry Day project, is the activation of WHCpoetrybridge, a WHC mailing list and outreach. With its basis in haiku, WHCpoetrybridge aims to span haiku and non-haiku communities, fostering dialogue, friendship, support and enjoyment of international poetry. Initiating WHCpoetrybridge, Director and Editor John E. Carley joined with Susumu Takiguchi and Debi Bender in a selection of haiku which would represent WHC in its international contemporary poetic production. It was decided to present two haiku, a complimentary pair from two generations -- and two representatives of WHC within the world haiku community. We invite our members and readers to visit the UNESCO Italia website at www.unesco.it and to reflect on the haiku of Sonia C. Coman and James W. Hackett.

 

WHC dedicates the March 2002 Issue to UNESCO.

the cranes are flying - at the neighbouring window an old man	That tenement child performing his long shadow somehow sustains the world.
Sonia Cristina Coman Constanza, Romania Poem published in ''Paperclips'', a Haiku North America (HNA) Anthology, 2001	James W. Hackett Hawaii, US Poem published in Haiku Spirit (Ireland), 2001 Gilles Fabre, Editor

 

Haiku is the poetry of suggestion, the poetry of evocation. Haiku does not seek to impose on the mind of the reader, to construct a narrative, or advance an argument. Instead the poem takes a perception, an observation or contrast, and invites the reader to explore it, to interpret it as they will. But this is no mere internal journey, for the poem always looks outward for its subject. Haiku create the exceptional from the commonplace, distil permanence from transience. The values of haiku are the human constants. Of the two poems here presented one is written by a young person in Romania, and the other by an older person resident half the globe away in Hawaii. The poems were submitted independently; so why does it seem that they are written about each other? - John E. Carley, Director and Editor, WHCpoetrybridge

 

Sonia Cristina Coman, b. 1988. Constanza, Romania was awarded the title 'Ambassador of World Haiku' by the WHC in 2000. A member of numerous international poetry organisations, Sonia Cristina Coman has already been published in anthology and collection in both Romanian and English. Sonia Cristina Coman campaigns actively in Romania for the recognition of haiku as a cultural gift from Japan, and abroad for the furtherance of poetry as a means to intercultural understanding.

James William Hackett, b. 1929. Seattle, USA is Honorary President of the World Haiku Club. A philosopher by training, Hackett began writing haiku in the 1950s. Encouraged by R. H. Blyth and Harold G. Henderson, Hackett rapidly established an international reputation for poetry of the finest quality. The annual international haiku award (est. 1991), administered by the British Haiku Society in Hackett's name, commands high prestige.

Chers Amis, à l’occasion de la Journée Mondiale de la Poésie, la Commission Italienne de l’UNESCO a l’intention de mettre en place le projet " Babele poetica " (Babel poétique). Il s’agit de créer un site web où accueillir des textes poétiques venant de tous les Pays adhérant à l’UNESCO. Nous sommes convaincus qu’Internet peut être un formidable instrument d’échange, communication et connaissance de la production poétique contemporaine... C’est dans nos intentions de présenter – à partir du 21 mars 2002 – tous les textes qui seront parvenus à notre site que voici : www.unesco.it Nous sommes à votre disposition pour tout complément d’information.   Cordialement, Prof. Gianni Puglisi Segretario Generale Consignes pour tout envoi : Vous Pourriez nous evoyer toutes les pieces jointes avant la fin du mois de février. Dear Friends, On the occasion of World Poetry Day the Italian National Commission for UNESCO has developed a project called "Poetical Babel". Our aim is to create a website where we can gather poetic texts coming from all the member States of UNESCO. We think the Net can become an extraordinary tool for the exchange, communication and knowledge of contemporary poetry. For this reason we have turned to your journal and to the other specialised publications which appear on the UNESCO website... Starting from 21 March 2002 we intend to show all the texts that will be sent to us on our website: www.unesco.it We remain at your disposal for any further information. Best regards, Prof. Giovanni Puglisi Segretario Generale

 

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