 |
Requiem for a
Poet:
haiku and senryu
by Robert Gibson |
| published
haiku & a haiku sequence |
the old house
seems older
winter rain
westport village
fisher folk drag life
from the sea
sea wind
fat paper fish
tug on the line
the lone crow
hurries across
the wide summer sky
she's gone . . .
rain beats and beats
on the skylight
the autumn moon
rising later and rounder
tonight
always just so
the shadow
of the rising hawk
mountain night
sleeping bag a woman
who smells of pine smoke
deep pools
and white water
baiting her hook
watching her bathe
over the western hills
an ivory moon
Love Song
mountain cabin
we undress
in the cold
our bodies
the giving
the alchemy
sometimes
after in the emptiness
nirvana
| several
haiku & senryu posted to WHChaikuforum |
saying something
i don't understand
my friend dies
Posted January 5, 2003
she is gone
yet a row of pencil marks
still march up my wall
Posted February 10, 2003
that man coming—
something different
about him
Posted April 29, 2003
as though
one could change their life
summer moon
Posted May 14, 2003
lawn daisies
i step on them
and they pop back up
Posted May 29, 2003 (Note:
"lawn daisies" was also expanded and written as tanka)
back— along the shore
not one track to tell
we passed this way
Posted July 17, 2003
moonset
the peonies face east
before daybreak
Posted August 7, 2003
cloudy morning
a world of light without
shadows
Posted August 7, 2003
a huge hitoshi backhoe
this strange desire
to own one
Posted August 15, 2003
over the last dune
the great blue ocean
still there
Posted August 16, 2003
aka-chan aka-chan
a daytime moon
in august
Posted August 17, 2003 (Note:
this poem was written as a tribute on the death his pet skunk of 14 years; the
subject title of the post "death of a friend")
a tiny dot
roams the wide oak floor—
a world it never made
Posted August 20, 2003 (Note:
This was one of Robert's last haiku posted to WHChaikuforum)
home to mother
lookin' for my cleanest
dirty shirt
Posted August 23, 2003 7:20 pm
(Note: This was one of Robert's last senryu posted to WHChaikuforum;
undecided on the final wording, a second version was offered with a change of
first line to clarify, "she's home to mother"; the post's subject line
is titled "ambivalent".)
Re:
In Praise of Non-Japanese Haiku (1)
Susumu Takiguchi
Posted 5/12/02 on WHChaikuforum
Some people assert that there is no such thing as American haiku or Japanese
haiku and that there could be only one haiku: namely, haiku.
They may well be right, though it also sounds like romantic idealism or a
refined fundamentalist view in the same sort of sense as when people say,
"We are all human". Either way, from a practical point of view, it is
at times convenient to make such broad distinctions, in full recognition that
there are similarities as well as differences between them. With that proviso, I
wish to pick up some of the haiku poems written by the founding members of
WHChaikuforum and present them as good examples of the haiku by non-Japanese
poets' hand, which I think have come off well. This will be part of my modest
contribution to this list and "my way" of celebrating and paying
tribute to those parts of non-Japanese haiku which have been successful.
In Praise of Non-Japanese Haiku
(1)
petals
...from an unseen cherry tree
........drift past my window
Robert Gibson
There are many poems I like of
Robert's, especially those in "Children of the Sparrow". This is
definitely one of them. It could be written by a Japanese or an American or any
other nationals. In that sense, it supports the "universality" school
of thought and challenges some others' view that there is absolutely no point
for non-Japanese to try to write a Japanese haiku.
Kengin,
Susumu
-
"westport village": Westport,
by Robert Gibson, 2002
-
"the old house": Haiku
Poems Inspired by Masaoka Shiki (1867-1902)
Finale to WHC's Two-year Celebrations of the Centenary of His Death
World Haiku Review Vol. 3-1 March 2003
-
"sea wind": Frogpond
(1998); Children of the Sparrow, by Robert Gibson (Holly House
Publications 1999)
-
"the lone crow": Children
of the Sparrow, by Robert Gibson (Holly House Publications 1999)
-
"she's gone...": Children
of the Sparrow, by Robert Gibson (Holly House Publications 1999)
-
"always just so":
Honorable Mention (English Haiku Section), Shozo Kajima, Judge, Daichu-ji Temple
Suruga-Baika Literary Festival
-
"mountain night": except
perhaps in spring, by Robert Gibson
-
"deep pools": except
perhaps in spring, by Robert Gibson
-
"watching her bathe": except
perhaps in spring, by Robert Gibson
-
"Love Song": except
perhaps in spring, by Robert Gibson
-
"saying something":
WHChaikuforum; Sun Jan 5, 2003 8:01 pm
-
"she is gone":
WHChaikuforum; Mon Feb 10, 2003 6:50 pm
-
"that man coming—":
WHChaikuforum; Tue Apr 29, 2003 12:09 pm
-
"as though":
WHChaikuforum; Wed May 14, 2003 1:11 am
-
"lawn daisies: WHChaikuforum;
Thu May 29, 2003 10:55 am
-
"back—along the
shore": WHChaikuforum; Thu Jul 17, 2003 11:48 am
-
"moonset":
WHChaikuforum; Thu Aug 7, 2003 1:09 pm
-
"cloudy morning":
WHChaikuforum; Thu Aug 7, 2003 1:09 pm
-
"a huge hitoshi
backhoe": WHChaikuforum; Fri Aug 15, 2003 2:25 pm
-
"over the last dune":
WHChaikuforum; Sat Aug 16, 2003 9:12 am
-
"aka-chan aka-chan":
WHChaikuforum; Sun Aug 17, 2003 8:09 pm
-
"a tiny dot":
WHChaikuforum; Wed Aug 20, 2003 11:35 am
-
"home to mother":
WHChaikuforum; Sat Aug 23, 2003 7:20 pm
Haiku Compiled by DW Bender
Tanka
by Robert Gibson
A two-part onlist
essay on haiku taboos by Robert Gibson
Requiem
for a Poet - Robert Gibson: No beginning, no end
Robert
Gibson: This is Your Haiku Life, by Susumu Takiguchi, (reprinted from World
Haiku Review, Volume 1, Issue 1, 2001)
Quotes from
Robert Gibson at WHChaikuforum
