Recent successes

Delightful surprise yesterday when I saw the results of the Martin Lucas Haiku Award – Second place! Apparently my letter of congratulations is still in the post (true statement, it seems they really have mailed the results).

Christmas eve –
the pop-up book’s manger
missing its baby

– Sandra Simpson

Judge Vanessa Proctor had this to say about my haiku: ‘Christmas eve’ presents the reader with a familiar domestic scene. It’s the night before Christmas when family members pull out those special Christmas books to read before the big day. Pop-up books are particularly magical, but this particular book is missing baby Jesus who is central to the story. How easily things can be lost. The wider message here is that in many ways the true meaning of Christmas has been lost too.

I’d almost decided not to enter many more contests, my results having been poor over the past couple of years so this result has helped boost my confidence.

And I’ve had a haiku published in a journal I haven’t tried before – Right Hand Pointing, an online US publication which has put out a couple of winter haiku editions collated by Eric Burke.

holiday cottage  –
the empty fruitbowl
at dusk

– Sandra Simpson

And the latest Red Moon anthology is out – dust devils – which includes three of my haiku published in 2016. As you may recall, I’m a nominating editor for the Red Moon anthologies so what happens when it comes to editors’ own work is: The haiku we vote on are without names or publication points (so judged ‘blind’) and we may not vote for our own work. The work of editors must receive at least 5 votes from the other 9 editors to merit inclusion – meaning our own work is held to a slightly higher standard than general nominations which need at least 5 votes from 10 editors.

All three of my haiku in dust devils have already been featured on this blog so I won’t bore you by repeating them. Instead let me include this one by a fellow Kiwi:

I would have given up
so many times …
we mend the tent

– Owen Bullock, Second place, Betty Drevniok Award (Canada) 2016

Advertisement

Publications

Spring has brought a number of publications to my letterbox and inbox …

A Hundred Gourds features a loving tribute to Martin Lucas by Matthew Paul, and two of my haiku.

summer solstice –
the flock passes into darkness
one by one

– Sandra Simpson, A Hundred Gourds 3:4

The Heron’s Nest also features two of my haiku, which means I’m in reasonably select company as few have been accorded that honour this time. I’m humbled, as always, to have anything accepted anywhere so to get two each into these fine journals is exciting.

pioneer cemetery –
here and there a name
faces heavenward

– Sandra Simpson, The Heron’s Nest XVI.3

Two of my haiku are to appear in the New Zealand Poetry Society anthology (editor Nola Borrell, launched in November), and Kokako 21 includes four of my haiku.

another lotto loss –
the sparkle of my mother’s
costume jewellery

– Sandra Simpson, Kokako 21

The latest paper wasp arrived by post from Australia today, the penultimate issue of the 20th anniversary series, this one dedicated to senryu and edited by Jacqui Murray, Vuong Pham and Katherine Samuelowicz. Individual issues are $A6 each. (I would link to the website but it appears out of date.)

The editors have shoe-horned the senryu into the 20 pages, no doubt about that. To be fair I should point out that production values are one of my (many) hobby-horses. I’m not sure how successful all the senryu are or why one by Vuong Pham is in twice (not the only proof-reading error). The journal is published four times a year … but is only 16 or 20 pages so I find the proof-reading and layout issues surprising.

I have on my shelf a copy of paper wasp from spring 1996, edited by Janice Bostok and Jacqui Murray which is 16 pages with, generally, five or six poems per page, compared to, generally, 13 or 15 per page for spring 2014.

Okay, that all sounds a bit negative and I’m sorry for that. Every person who edits a haiku journal should receive an award – Knight Companion of the Order of Basho, or somesuch. But, on the other hand, readers of haiku, tanka and haibun journals should be able to expect a minimum standard, evidence of some care.

Cool morning in the garden

Evenings and mornings are noticeably cooler now, starting right from March 1, although the middle of the day is still hot and little rain is forecast for the month.

I’ve been out watering my orchids, bromeliads, hoyas and things in pots this morning. A  pleasant job and very contemplative.

morning drizzle
my wife bends an orchid
to her will

— Christopher Herold from his excellent 2010 collection Inside Out.
Read a review of the book here.

 

end of summer
the rust on my scissors
smells of marigolds

— Margaret Chula, from her 2004 collection the rust on my scissors
Read a commentary on this haiku here.

 

roadside stand
the last lilies
before sunset

                                                                     — Sandra Simpson
 published 2006 in the NZ Poetry Society magazine