Dear Friends,
I am delighted and honored to have received a Touchstone Award for Individual Poems, for my one line haiku, from the Haiku Foundation.
while(the clouds turn into rain)the lily blooms
—Norma Bradley, whiptail: journal of the single-line poem, Issue 7; while the lily blooms, Yavanika Press (2023)
I have had conversations with some of you about haiku in its many forms, so I have attached a link so you can read comments from several on the panel. Reading the comments gave me an even greater understanding of this haiku that emerged so organically for me. Much appreciation and gratitude to my haiku family in India and other haiku poets from around the world. Special thanks to poet, editor, publisher, visual artist and mentor Shloka Shankar.
In the past almost two years, I have been introduced to many forms of haiku and have fallen in love with this short form of poetry which gives me the opportunity to capture fleeting moments of awareness with the written word.
Commentary from the Panel:
Most haiku unfold in a linear manner, first this (the fragment) and then that (the phrase). Here, the images and action occur simultaneously. The purposeful structure and word choices of the poet, opening with the word “while” and bracketing the clouds turning into rain, skilfully sets the stage so we visualize the poem in its wholeness, rather than its singular parts. The monoku form supports and suits this effort, and we slide easily across the single line of poem. The rain brings a tactile element to the poem and with the lily blooming, the interplay of sky and earth, the interdependency of the cycle of nature. A delicate and beautifully-drawn poem, and an innovative reimagining of the nature haiku. FOR MORE
Haiku Precepts by Brett Brady:
“They suggest rather than narrate. They can appear fragile but are in truth substantially robust and resilient. They are little epiphanies, which, at first, may seem elusive, but are rife with an ever-present constant:
an irrepressible hint-of something-other which
remains doggedly attentive, quietly subtle and infinitely far-ranging”.
Whiptail: Journal of the single-line poem
