R.
D. McManes Interview by Robert Wilson
Author
of six volumes of poetry, “Reflections
in a Poets Mirror”, Love from a Poetic
Point of View”, “Poetic Sighs”, “Don’t
Read Me Like Some Poem”, “We Ain’t
in Kansas No More” and “Pour Me
Another Poem”. Mr. McManes has been published
by Saucyvox, Literary Expresso, Prairie Poetry,
Write On, Short Stuff, Writer’s Hood,
HaikuSun, Scrivener’s Pen, and Baroque
Review. He has also been a featured poet at
Haikuhut.com . Mr. McManes is a member of the
Kansas Author’s Club and his author website
is www.macpoetry.com.
Some of his haiku are profiled in this issue
[McManes Haiku]
Q) How
long have you been writing poetry. And what
led
you to write haiku? A) Well Robert, I wrote
my first poem in 1965 so 38 years and counting,
I wrote a few haiku back in the late sixties
but didn't get serious about them until 1997.
My love of nature is what really led me to
write haiku. Q) You write long poems
and haiku. Do you find haiku to be an easier
medium versus writing long poems? A) Actually I find haiku
to be much more difficult to write. My longer
poems are usually free verse so I only have
to worry about flow and meaning, and while
I don't always follow the haiku rules and form
to the letter I do try and stay within my own
set of standards.
Q) When writing haiku, what
do you look for? What kind of mindset must
you be in?
A) I'm a stickler for detail
so I notice small things from the different
shades of pickles to the worn spots on a butterfly's
wings. It's all about the moment and I try
to let the haiku come to me and then express
it through those senses that captured the essence
of that
moment.
Q) You have written a new
book of haiku which is slated to be published
soon. Tell us about it?
A) It's a selected collection
of haiku and senryu that I have written over
the course of 6 years. I'm still adding to
it and making edits here and there. I want
something that feels special because that is
what I
feel haiku are. I also intend to use one of my haiku for the title in one breath
the haiku exhales
a butterfly
Q) Basho said that writing
haiku is a journey and the journey is our
home. Do you agree with him?
A) I agree with Basho, the
moments are all about the journey and all journeys
eventually lead home. I believe our time here
on earth is a journey to prepare the spirit
for a higher calling, what we do here dictates
the purpose of that calling; I also believe
once we pass from this earthly existence then
and only then are we truly home and that home
is of our own making.
Q) What haiku poet has had
the greatest influence on your writing and
why?
A) Tough question. I don't
know that I can pick one but I do know that
Basho has heightened my sense of what is around
me, Issa has shown me new shades of humor,
and Buson has touched my heart. I've grown
in understanding by reading many modern day
haiku poets,
Michael Rehling, Bruce Ross, Jane Reichhold, Peggy Lyles, and Beki Reese, to
name a few. My guess is I'll always be a student when it comes to the art of
haiku.
Q) How did your love for
nature lead you to write haiku?
A) It seemed like a natural fit because haiku are about nature. I
struggled with the brevity of haiku and while it took me years to trim away
the flowers, I can now capture the stem and I really never could do that with
any other poetry form.
Q) You mentioned a set of
standards that you follow when writing
haiku. What are they?
A) There
are 65 or so rules / guidelines which have applied to haiku at
various times. I’ve probably broken them
all at least one time and most of them several
times. My standards which I try to stick with
are: Seventeen syllables or less (usually less),
no complete sentences. It has to be readable
in a single breath. I normally use a three
line format, I like the middle line to be the
longest,and I try to stay in present tense.But
my main objective is to capture the moment,
so whatever I have to do to achieve this goal
is my real standard. Q) You say you've grown
in understanding by reading many modern day
haiku poets. How so? A) I
used to stick to a stringent 5-7-5 format,
which really limited
me, though I confess at the time I didn’t
realize it. I began to read other modern day
poets like the folks I mentioned before and
many others who made their haiku work without
being so rigid. This opened my eyes to a whole
different take of haiku and I’ve never
been the same since.
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