. . . 
Elfin Fun: This is the time of year to think about friends old and new, and wish you could be lots of places at once (often, not where you actually are). Thanks to my First Niece (graphic artist Kara LaFrance of Calabash, NC, and Vive LaFrance Design), I discovered the wonderful ElfYourself website from Office Max this week, and created a couple of clips of my elfself having a jingle-bellishly good time with some of my favorite people:
- two law-life cyberbuddies (to wit, Don and Stephanie)
- and (a younger, more limber dagosan) cutting the ice with with three haijin heroes (Torontonian AA, Bethesdan RB, and Schenectadian YC)
Warning: Elfing Yourself is free, but habit-forming, often leading to strained laugh muscles (my cheeks have been hurting for days). Don’t miss the encore Elf who hangs on screen between performances.
– Elf, I Need Somebody! Speaking of snow and friends, see/hear The Beatles perform “Help!” (lyrics).
tiny guestroom –
an old friend
on an old mattress
……………………… by dagosan
echoes 1 (Compiled by Jim Kacian and Alice Frampton, Red Moon Press, 2007; (ISBN: 978-1-893959-67-5, 78 pages, $10,00)
Recalling special moments with friends, renewing old acquaintances, and catching up on their news, are some of the best things about the Holiday Season. In the haiku community, the recently published anthology from Red Moon Press called echoes 1 offers a great opportunity for such joyous communing. Here’s how the publisher describes the book:
echoes is both a kind of yearbook and a compendium of outstanding work. It is an updating of the careers of the New Resonance poets which forms a community in its own right. It is also an almanac of the current state of affairs in English-language haiku, since so many who have appeared in this series have become the outstanding figures of our time in our genre, as poets, volunteers, speakers, officials, judges and most generally as the face of haiku today.
A New Resonance: (Red Moon Press, 1999) 
starry night —
biting into a melon
full of seeds…………………… by yu chang
Frogpond XXI:1 (1998), Museum of Haiku Literature Award
A New Resonance 2 (Red Moon Press, 2001)
Many of my first encounters with our f/k/a Honored Guest Poets came from reading the early volumes in Red Moon’s series A New Resonance: emerging voices in English Language Haiku. Each volume gives you enough poems from each poet to get a feel for his or her talents and unique voice, while leaving you wanting more. Yu Chang was featured in the first New Resonance volume in 1999. A New Resonance 2 (2001) brought Roberta Beary, Barry George, Carolyn Hall, Rebecca Lilly, paul m., Matt Morden, Pamela Miller Ness, Bill Owen, and Tom Painting into my ken and my home. And, I first concentrated on DeVar Dahl, Alice Frampton, and Billie Wilson, after seeing their work in A New Resonance 3 (2003).
loved ones return home
a harvest moon rises
over the bridge…………… by DeVar Dahl – Shimanami Kaido 1999, 3rd place
Over the past few weeks, I’ve posted poems from echoes 1 by Carolyn, Paul, Matt, Roberta, Barry and Dr. Bill. Here are selections from echoes 1 by DeVar and its co-editor Alice Frampton:
the flat ends
of a new pencil–
first day of school
a bare space
under the willow
overdue books
……………………………………… by DeVar Dahl in echoes 1 (2007)
“the flat ends” – Haiku Presence Award 2003 2nd place
“a bare space” – Haiku Canada Anthology 2006; Red Moon Anthology 2006
field of marigolds
a young boy uses
both hands
blossoms . . .
I dust off the last
jar of cherries
mallard pair
he rocks
on her wake………………………… by Alice Frampton in echoes 1 (2007)
“field of marigolds” – Haiku Friends 2
“blossoms” – Hon. Mem, Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival 2006
“mallard pair” – Hon. Mem., Harold Henderson Haiku Contest 2006
A New Resonance 3 (2003)
It’s not often these days that I find myself thinking “this haiku book isn’t big enough.” But, that’s definitely my response to echoes 1. Three poems each from the 70 New Resonance Poets is simply not enough. I know haiku publishers have to worry about budgets, but echoes 1 would have been far more satisfying for me, if each of these poets got a two-page spread, featuring a half dozen poems or more. Or, at the very least, another poem was squeezed in and the Christmas Letter-esque litany of achievements shortened or moved to an appendix. Despite that traditional family-holiday gripe, I say from the heart that echoes 1 is a great $10 stocking stuffer, or the perfect little gift to yourself for quiet moments after the holidays.
