Senryū – KURT★BRINDLEY

Somehow I managed not to share this (age is a possible factor) very kind recommendation for Poems from the River that was posted by our good friend at Chronicles of a Blogaholic, who, with her daily musings and photography, brings us all a little bit of sunshine and happiness.

Chronicles of a Blogaholic

“Poetry is when an emotion has found its thought
and the thought has found words.”
Robert Frost

Poems from the River

There’s a blogger I’ve been following since I began my blog. He’s one of the first bloggers that found my blog and liked one of my posts.

Ever since that day, I’ve been following him daily. His stories and photographs are an inspiration.

Last week I ordered his book of poetry, Poems from the River, which arrived yesterday. His collection of poems are tender and beautifully written.

If you’re interested in visiting Kurt’s blog and buying his book, please check him out at: Kurt Brindley. I believe Kurt Brindley is and will become quite a prolific poet.

Shine On

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January 20, 2016March 17, 2016

A Review of Short Verses & Other Curses by Paul Xylinides of theliteraryreader

I am very proud and honored to have received such a warm review from the great Paul Xylinides of the theliteraryreader (theliteraryreader.com).

As you may be aware, Paul’s work is not unfamiliar to this site, as his THE WILD HORSES OF HIROSHIMA is reviewed here and is my favorite Indie Author read to date.

I strongly encourage you – it’s for your own good, believe me – to visit with Paul at both his literary review site and at his author site paulxylinides.com to check out the intellectually intriguing work he does. Make sure you follow his sites so you don’t miss out in the future.

To read my review of THE WILD HORSES OF HIROSHIMA, click here.

To read more of Paul’s writing found on this site, enter “paul xylinides” in the search box.

theliteraryreader

Review

Kurt Brindley’s

Short Verses & Other Curses
(Haiku, Senryū, & Other Poetic, Artistic, & Photographic Miscellany)

Paul Xylinides

paul_picture_03

A Warrior Poet’s Hard-Won Epiphanies

Self-made and/or naturally insight-endowed, Kurt Brindley has the soul of a poet; further, he has the soul of a warrior poet. He makes passing reference to the martial tradition that has also been a part of his life in the poem “If I Were A Samurai:”

…
I would know

when to bow
and when to ignore
when to speak
and when to be silent

when to eat
and when to fast
when to think
and when to meditate
when to advance
and when to hold
when to strike
and when to parry
when to kill
and when to die

All writers — the serious and the not-so-much — inevitably find themselves in a battle, as often as not Biblical in proportions, for the human…

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December 24, 2015December 25, 2015

Haiku, Senryū, and the Subtleties In Their Similarities and Differences

If I had a bit more courage and a lot more scholarship, I would have discussed the similarities and differences between a haiku poem and a senryū poem in the introduction of my newly released book of poetry Short Verses & Other Curses: Haiku, Senryū, Tanka & Other Poetic, Artistic, & Photographic Miscellany. However, seeing that I am woefully deficient in both, I will have to enlist someone adequately courageous and scholarly to discuss these subtleties for me.

What little I do think I know about these two popular Japanese poetical forms is that both are diminutive in structure yet powerful in purpose and meaning, with haiku typically involving nature settings and the zen-like moments often evoked by them and senryū typically involving the vagaries – and vulgarities – of the lives that we lead, often by employing humor and sarcasm. But then, what do I really know about it…

I have no answers
I know just that grass will grow
and that leaves will fall

For those of you who appreciate a little more scholarship and authority, here is what Richard Hass, former U.S. Poet Laureate, has to say about haiku in his beautifully edited and translated book The Essential Haiku: Versions of Basho, Buson, & Issa (Essential Poets). (I find no direct mention of senryū in the book; though it seems to me much of his discussion of haiku can also be applied to senryū as well.)

Robert Hass:

The insistence on time and place was crucial for writers of haiku. The seasonal reference was called kigo and a haiku was thought to be incomplete without it.

If the first level of a haiku is its location in nature, its second is almost always some implicit Buddhist reflection on nature.

When the hokku [what haiku were originally called] became detached from linked verse, it also cast off the room the tanka provided for drawing a moral (thought not all tanka do moralize, of course) and what was left was the irreducible mysteriousness of the images themselves.

There is so much to consider about these two subtle yet so often at the same time plain-spoken Japanese poetic forms. Considerations such as:

– Zen and its influence
– the influence of China and its poetry
– various poetic techniques found in much of traditional Japanese poetry, to include haiku and senryū, such as kake-kotoba (pivot words) and kireji (cutting words)
– the 5/7/5 structure and its relevance to the Western haiku poet

Hass’ book covers much of the list; however, instead of continuing to discuss about these poetic forms, let’s just experience some of the best of their kind and enjoy them as they are.

From THE ESSENTIAL HAIKU

Basho

Awake at night–
the sound of the water jar
cracking in the cold

A petal shower
of mountain roses,
and the sound of the rapids

How admirable!
to see lightning and not think
life is fleeting

Spring rain
leaking through the roof,
dripping from a wasps’ nest

Taking a nap,
feet planted
against a cool wall

Winter solitude —
in a world of one color
the sound of wind

Buson

Coolness —
the sound of the bell
as it leaves the bell

He’s on the porch,
to escape wife and kids —
how hot it is!

Cover my head
or my feet?
the winter quilt

Flowers offered to the Buddha
come floating
down the winter river

Issa

Don’t worry, spiders,
I keep house
casually

The man pulling radishes
pointed my way
with a radish

A dry riverbed
glimpsed
by lightning

All the time I pray to Buddha
I keep on
Killing mosquitos

Visiting graves,
the old dog
leads the way

No talent
and so no sin,
a winter day

From the website HUBPAGES

A horse farts
four or five suffer
on the ferry-boat

the matchmaker
speaks the sober truth
only when drunk

Zen priest
meditation finished
looking for fleas

The face of her husband
looking for a job —
she is tired of it

Richard Wright

The watching faces
as I walk the autumn road,
make me a traveler

An empty sickbed
an indented pillow
in weak winter sun

A falling petal
strikes one floating on the pond
and they both sink

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December 22, 2015December 27, 2015

Short Verses & Other Curses – Promotional Giveaway Until 12/26/15

Get your promotional edition here.

FROM THE INTRODUCTION:

I began focusing much of my poetry writing on the Japanese poetic forms of haiku, senryū, and tanka at the beginning of 2012 as a therapeutic effort when finding myself in the midst of an illness. And I continue to write them even as I find myself, at the end of 2015, in the midst of wellness – their therapy for me being more calmative now than curative.

The Short Versesin this collection are all either haiku, senryū, or tanka, with those in the latter half of the section being accompanied by a titled photograph or drawing…

The Other Curses in this collection are poems and sayings following no particular form or convention – in other words, they are quite informal and unconventional. Some in this section are accompanied with a photograph or drawing; many are not.

I discover truth and meaning in the concepts of no mind, living in the now, non-attachment, and the angst of existence as found in the practices and philosophies and Zazen, Stoicism, and Existentialism. Additionally, I admire greatly the concepts taught by the late Dr. Wayne Dyer.

You may notice these conceptual influences laced throughout this collection…

Please be kind and ~~rewind~~ review.
Please be kind and ~~review~~ reblog.
Please be kind and ~~reblog~~ tweet & retweet.

December 19, 2015December 21, 2015