A few days ago I heard from Fay Aoyagi, one of the editors of The Heron’s Nest, and I will have two haiku in the June issue. I am no longer behind on my goals for the year, and am actually ahead now!
One of my haiku published in 2014 will be reprinted in Haiku 2015, forthcoming this summer from Modern Haiku Press. Haiku 2015 will be the next edition following Haiku 21 and Haiku 2014, from the editorial team of Lee Gurga and Scott Metz.
Big thanks to all the editors!
A haiku of mine is featured today on Charlotte Digregorio’s Writer’s Blog. She regularly features haiku by some of the genre’s most outstanding poets. I am grateful to Charlotte for showcasing one of mine.
tapping trail dust
from the harmonica . . .
twilight stars
by Chad Lee Robinson
Turtle Light Press and I are steadily working toward publication of my contest-winning haiku collection The Deep End of the Sky. We finished editing last November, and I had blurbs in-hand by early February. An announcement of the competition results appeared on The Haiku Foundation forums, The Haiku Society of America website, and in the Haiku Poets of Northern California newsletter. I started this blog in January to help promote the book, and I am now on Facebook with a personal profile as well as a writer’s page in order to reach as many people as possible. Three newspaper articles appeared last fall, two in the Pierre Capital Journal and one in the Sioux Falls Argus Leader. Rick Black of Turtle Light Press is nearly finished with the layout and design of the book’s interior, and we have started considering images for the interior as well.
While we don’t yet have a publication date for The Deep End of the Sky, we are still on track for a spring release. It’s getting close!
I am happy to announce that the editor of Mariposa, journal of the Haiku Poets of Northern California, recently accepted a brand new haiku of mine for issue #32, due out this spring.
I will also have a new haiku in the spring issue of Acorn as well as four new haiku in Robert Epstein’s forthcoming anthology about the afterlife. And I mentioned before in my “Home Early” post that my forthcoming collection The Deep End of the Sky will have one previously unpublished haiku in it.
Even though it’s only mid-March, I am behind on my writing goals for the year, but I have some submissions still under consideration. If all goes well with those, I hope to be back on track by this time next month.
UPDATE 3/18
Just heard back from A Hundred Gourds, and I will have three new haiku in the June issue!
This is the fourth in a four-part series exploring the seasonal sections of my forthcoming haiku collection The Deep End of the Sky.
The Deep End of the Sky was the winner of the 2014 Turtle Light Press Haiku Chapbook Competition, and is scheduled for release in late spring or summer of 2015.
Originally called “Shiver”, “Home Early” is the title of the winter section of The Deep End of the Sky. This section is the longest of the collection, clocking in at 14 haiku. It had 11 haiku in the original manuscript, but it was agreed upon that the collection would be stronger by making “Home Early” slightly longer to bring the reader out of winter, which can be long in South Dakota (I have seen snow as early as October and as late as May), and into spring, or at least hint at the coming of spring.
As the section title suggests, many of the haiku found here are more introspective than in previous sections.
my body thinner these days I hear more of the wind
cleaning out
the dryer’s lint trap—
winter solitude
hunter’s retreat
the Christmas tree made from
racks of antlers
Despite the lingering cold and snow, spring always comes. Sometimes it’s just slow to start. When spring does come, so does the work. So does the fishing:
a line of rods
ready with lures
morning light
The last poem of this section, and ultimately of the collection, is a brand new, previously unpublished haiku. I won’t show it to you here though. I don’t want to spoil the ending.
Now that you’ve read about The Deep End of the Sky, how about pre-ordering a copy of the real thing. If you can relate to the poems, if it seems like a book you’d enjoy, please visit Turtle Light Press here. It’s $12.50 per copy with free shipping in the US.
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This is the third in a four-part series exploring the seasonal sections of my forthcoming haiku collection The Deep End of the Sky.
“Farm Lights” is the title of the autumn section of The Deep End of the Sky, my forthcoming collection of haiku from Turtle Light Press. “Farm Lights” contains 11 haiku and takes the reader into the work of harvest and chores before the onset of winter.
apple scent . . .
flecks of harvest dust
float in the wine
farm lights
halo the horizon
autumn dusk
“Farm Lights” also includes haiku about hunting. The opening of pheasant season in October in South Dakota is a huge attraction for hunters of all kinds from all over the world.
pink sky
a pheasant falls through
the gunshot’s echo
sunset clouds
the decoy’s touch-ups
in a different hue
This section also boasts the inclusion of one of my most recognized haiku:
migrating geese—
the things we thought we needed
darken the garage
Some of this haiku’s awards and honors include The Heron’s Nest Award, a Touchstone Award for Individual Haiku from The Haiku Foundation, and inclusion in Haiku in English: The First Hundred Years (W.W. Norton, 2013).
As in previous sections, there are a few haiku about family but not as many. There is one that I would like to end with that was not part of the original manuscript, but was later added in place of another haiku.
trail of leaves
the child’s plastic rake
missing teeth
If you have enjoyed the haiku in this post, and in my previous posts “The Tractor’s Radio” and “Rows of Corn”, then you should think about getting a copy of my forthcoming collection The Deep End of the Sky. You can pre-order it from Turtle Light Press for $12.50 with free shipping in the US. It is scheduled for release in late spring/summer 2015.
leaf shadows
the voice I make up
for my son’s giraffe
by Chad Lee Robinson
Mariposa #28, Spring/Summer 2013
