Simply Haiku: A Quarterly Journal of Japanese Short Form Poetry
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Summer 2006, vol 4 no 2

MODERN HAIGA
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Shanna Baldwin Moore ~

haiga


Shanna Baldwin Moore Shanna Baldwin Moore traveled to Hawaii from the mainland for a vacation 36 years ago and ended up staying because of the "aloha spirit." She plays music--jazz and the blues--with a mountain group, sings classical music with a large chorus, and writes songs for her friends. She says of herself: "I'm just an old surfer girl from the beach generation living in a high place. I used to paint pictures of Pele, the lady of the mountain, when I was in Venice, California. Now I live next to her and write poetry for her."

She was the art director at the Gas House in Venice. The cook there, John Thomas, taught her haiku and the art of the short poem. Bob Dylan's advice to "turn one line on its head . . . to reach out and grab" was also an important influence in her journey from rhyme to stream of conscious poetry, and haiku with its "aha moment." She has now discovered senryu, which she describes as "straight from the heart," and also haiga. "What fun I'm having," she says, ". . . connected to this universe of verse again. The Hawaiian word 'aloha' says it all."

You can visit Shanna's creative universe at her blog:
http://hawaiian-poet-tree.blogspot.com/


Copyright 2006: Simply Haiku