International Echoes (16): 5th Place in International Kite Kukai

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5TH PLACE

a kite arches
under the rainbow,
over the spring tide

# 08. Caroline Gill, UK

I was delighted to discover that my 'kite' Haiku above had come 5th in the Second International Kukai over on Rita Odeh's Catching the Moment blog.

International Echoes (16): Publications from Romania and Colombia

With Professor Donald Riggs in Philadelphia

Those who speak Spanish may care to read an interview by Luis Benitez from Buenos Aires, Argentina. Luis asks Daniel Dragomirescu, editor-in-chief of Orizont Literar Contemporan, about his Romanian literary journal with its popular tagline, 'all the world in a magazine'. The interview appears on a website from Colombia, Red y Acción - and the link is here. 

Speaking of multicultural exchanges, I interviewed Don (through the medium of English) for the Romanian magazine when I was over in Pennsylvania back in January.

International Echoes (15): IMMAGINE&POESIA

The Boat House, Laugharne, South Wales, UK ~ childhood home of Aeronwy Thomas

I have just had the pleasure of having a poem published on IMMAGINE&POESIA, an international site run from Italy by Lidia Chiarelli, coordinator and ideologist of this global and ekphrastic artistic and literary Movement. 

IMMAGINE&POESIA was founded in Torino, Italy, in 2007, under the patronage of the late Aeronwy Thomas, daughter of Dylan Thomas. If you follow the link here, you will notice some familiar names - such as Peter Thabit Jones (The Seventh Quarry Press, Swansea, Wales, UK) and Stanley Barkan (Cross-Cultural Communications, New York) - among the members of the Movement.   

You can read my poem here, juxtaposed with the magnificent photography of Adel Gorgy. I won't say more as you may prefer to form your own impressions of Adel's work.

My poem, 'Thalatta, Thalatta', is a Folding Mirror Poem. The form was created by Dr Marc Latham, and appears - along with my poem - in The Book of Forms by Professor Lewis Putnam Turco (see e.g. entry for 4 May 2012 if you click the link to Professor Turco's site). The book is now available in its 4th Edition, published by the University Press of New England (and here). This new 'revised and expanded edition' has as its subtitle, A Handbook of Poetics Including Odd and Invented Forms, and Marc's Folding Mirror Poetry form constitutes one of these.    

• My post about The Book of Forms, A Handbook of Poetics Including Odd and Invented Forms
• Marc's post on his Folding Mirror Poetry site 
• Tenby in South Wales as inspiration (or why I wrote this poem)
• Some thoughts on Ekphrasis, a subject that has long intrigued me. It was also a key topic in my Quill and Parchment interview of January 2010 with USA poet-artist, Kay Weeks.  

Postscript ... another magnificent Adel Gorgy photograph has now been added and paired with Professor Lewis Turco's exquisite 'Flower Moon' poem. Do take a look here.

Poetry Matters (20): Heidi Williamson's 'Writer in Residence' Course

Heidi Williamson (supplied by Heidi Williamson)

I had a nostalgic train ride to Norwich - the 'Fine City' of my teenage years and new UNESCO City of Literature - on Saturday to attend another of Heidi Williamson's excellent courses for writers. Readers of this blog may recall that some weeks ago I had the opportunity of joining Heidi's course on preparing a first poetry collection. You can read about that day here.

This last Saturday's course on 'Becoming a Writer in Residence', was every bit as challenging and wide-ranging. Heidi spent two years as Poet in Residence at the Science Museum's Dana Centre and is currently Writer in Residence at the John Jarrold Printing Museum in Norwich. She also holds a residency here in Ipswich for the Arlington's Cafe Poets.

Heidi brings not only bags of enthusiasm grounded in personal experience to her courses but also meticulous preparation, borne out of incisive thinking and careful planning. There is always a good balance of 'input' and 'discussion', not forgetting time for personal note-making along the way. So am I hoping to follow this through with a residency? Well, who knows: ideas are brewing, so watch this space ... 

Heidi's collection, Electric Shadow, was published by Bloodaxe and is available here. Heidi's excellent courses are popular: they attract writers from a wide area, so do keep an eye open if you feel they might be for you!

News and Views (1): Norwich ... not just 'A Fine City'

Pull's Ferry, with Norwich Cathedral behind

Having lived in Swansea, which was chosen to host the UK Year of Literature and Writing (1995), for nearly 20 years, I now find that Norwich, a short train ride away and the home city of my teenage years, is the new UNESCO City of Literature!

•  Writers' Centre Norwich 

Caistor St Edmund, Norwich

On the train journey home from Norwich today, I took this photo of Venta Icenorum, the Roman town and one of the regional capitals of Roman Britain (can you see the square of the outer walls?). The village is now known as Caistor St Edmund: it is a place I knew well from my Norfolk childhood, but I had never seen the Roman walls so clearly before. The tower-like structure towards the left is Bastion 7136.

Competition Corner (3): Kukai Results

Sparrow in Philadelphia

I enjoyed taking part in the 1st International “sparrow” Kukai organised by editors, Rita Odeh from Nazareth and John Daleiden over at Catching the Moment. The kigo (season word/topic) was SPARROW/S. 

I read on the Haiku World site that 'a kukai is a peered review poetry contest. A topic is assigned by the secretary, and all poets submit their poems on that topic to the secretary. An 'anonymized' list is then distributed to all participating poets and they are invited to vote. Votes are returned anonymously to the secretary who tallies the votes and resends the poems to the participants, this time with names and points revealed.'

There were some excellent entries, and some real surprises in terms of the approach to the challenge. There were also some familiar Haiku words and phrases that popped up in more than one entry, e.g. cherry blossom, Spring, sun, rain, wind, silence, song ... and perhaps more surprisingly, mailbox.

As participants, we were invited to cast votes up to a total of six points, which could be divided between three entries. One of my Haiku failed to make the long-list, but the other two came in at 7th and 9th place. I hope to enter future Kukai, and to hone my Haiku skill as I go along.

• Catching the Moment
• International Kukai

There are various kukai on the web, e.g. the Romanian Kukai site. If you would like to enter Rita's next one, you can find the details here. You have until 10 May.

P.S. My thanks (once again!) to Crafty Green Poet, who drew my attention to the Sparrow kukai.