Are things looking up in your corner of the universe? We’re still in a lazy stage at f/k/a, but three things happened this week to lift our spirits:
1) Edition #2 of Dustin Neal’s clouds peak arrived on line, despite computer glitches galore . In it, you will find several webpages of fine haiku, many quite original and challenging. Until two days ago, I would have added, “none of f/k/a‘s Honored Guest poets appear in Clouds Peak #2, so you can discover haijin you haven’t yet met here.” However, we are most pleased to say that there is a new, illustrious member in the f/k/a Family, and seven of her poems are included in Edition #2. Our next posting will officially welcome Laryalee Fraser to the Honored Guest honor roll, but here is a sneak peak from Clouds Peak:
two petals
left on the daisy…
her furrowed brow
toy windmill —
grandpa’s garlic
breath
autumn haze
a farmer dusts off
the “for sale” sign
. . . by Laryalee Fraser, Clouds Peak (#2, Oct. 2006)
2) The Harvest Moon has decided to return yet again to the delight of farmers and pickers of all kinds. Luckily, we put together several pages of excellent Harvest Moon haiku and senryu in 2004 and 2005, so you can click right on over to find bushels and bushels of tasty offerings of the season. Go to: this moon’s for you! (two dozen from Master Issa, translated by David Lanoue); more harvest moon haiku; and don’t forget to look up.
the sake gone
time to buckle down
and moon-gaze
. . . . . . . . . . . . . by Issa, translated by David G. Lanoue
a nightlight
for our Gulf Coast friends —
Harvest Moon 2005
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . by dagosan
3) Despite (or, probably, because of) the quiescence the past few months at f/k/a, another one of Your Editor’s alter egos officially launched a new weblog, on October 1, 2006, called shlep: the Self-Help Law ExPress. shlep will bring news and views about do-it-yourself lawyering, self-represented (pro se) litigants, and similar issues relating to achieving fuller access to justice for every person — so we don’t have to shlep toward justice with a lawyer on our backs any more. To keep myself from burning out, I’ve assembled a team of self-help law experts and advocates in Team Shlep. If you’ve missed our punditry, please check out shlep and you will, hopefully, be edified and entertained.
three-headed stranger –
on his shoulders a pumpkin
and a harvest moon
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . by dagosan