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Simply Haiku: An E-Journal
of Haiku and Related Forms Foreword We met on the Belgian discussion list 'haiku.fr' moderated by Serge Tomé. In the past year or so we have exchanged haiku and grown to appreciate one another, thanks to a shared sense of humour and the occassional disagreement: Daniel Py, Lucia Supova, Pascal Quero and me--Micheline Beaudry. We found one another instinctively. Certain things we have in common, in other ways we are different--the perfect combination for a balanced collaboration. Daniel, who set out the structure of the kasen and patiently reminded us of the rules, is very accomplished at senryu. Lucia's hokku was chosen by vote--she is known for her awareness of juxtaposition (l'art de la discordance), in which she is very close to the Japanese sensibility. Pascal, a painter of haiga, had time during the course of the poem to become a father again and shares his joy with us through his verses. Personally, I found myself following the news and the winter and spring were full of rumours of war; the renku was written between the beginning of September 2002 and the end of June 2003. From the whole of the renga tradition we chose the kasen with its typical constraints: the three major divisions; verses on blossom, moon and love; the prohibition of certain themes, repetitions, etc. Of three different nationalities, we have translated the kasen into four languages: Lucia into Slovak; Daniel, the Parisian, into English; Pascal--from Ile-de-France (though with a surname as typically Breton as Kérouac)--into Spanish, as his wife is Argentinian; and myself into Italian--my partner's family being of Calabrian descent. Haikai is open poetry; we invite you to read our kasen and prolong the unfinished note of each verse. Copyright 2003/2004 Simply Haiku |
