Winston Plowes, whose work has appeared on The Ghazal Page, has established this Web site to showcase his work. I recommend that you have a look — and then linger to browse further.
Home – Winston Plowes
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New Issue of The Ghazal Page
Issue Two for 2012 is now online. Here’s the direct URL, although you can use the main page or the 2012 index.
This issue has a half dozen excellent ghazals. The poets are Robert Gifford, whose fine work has been here before, and Judith Skillman, who is new to TGP. I believe you’ll find her ghazals accomplished and fresh.
The New Ghazal Challenge
The guidelines for the new challenge are now online.
This challenge, as announced earlier, is for ekphrastic ghazals. The guidelines for the challenge define “ekphrastic” and have a link to further information.
This challenge is more demanding than the earlier ones, perhaps, but I’m looking forward to excellent ekphrastic ghazals.
Ghazals for the Music Challenge
Finally! The results of the music challenge are online. There are twenty-three excellent ghazals by fourteen poets. The Ghazal Page has several links to them. Here is the most direct.
These poets use the ghazal form in variously effective ways. Poetry, like music, is an art of sound; like speech, poetry is a means of communication. What poetry communicates can vary widely; what these poems communicate is a range of insights into music. I hope you will enjoy reading them as much I enjoyed editing and preparing this issue.
If you have responses to the issue or any of the poems, please post them as comments on this post.
January Love Song
January Love Song
moon glowing behind high vapors
as the earth erases its shadow
stringed instruments haunt the tune
oh, my Rosie, how hard to be
so far apart on this cold cold night
New Issue of The Ghazal Page
The first 2012 issue of The Ghazal Page is now online. The issue has six ghazals, two by Mary Cresswell and four by Vivek Sharma. It feels good to be able to pubish such excellent poetry.
If you have comments or responses to this issue, please post them as comments to this post.
The issue for the music challenge is nearing completion. I hope to publish it in two weeks and after that, to announce the next challenge. In the meantime, you may submit ghazals at any time. When there are enough (5 – 10) for an issue, I will publish them.
Thank you for your continued interest in the ghazal and in this project. If you wish to be removed from this list, please let me know, and I will remove your address.
Ekphrastic Ghazals and More for December
The December issue of The Ghazal Page is now online. You may access the index for the issue, through the main page, or the 2011 index. There are three pages this time, two presenting ghazals grouped loosely by theme and a third presenting two ekphrastic ghazals by David Jalajel. Ekphrastic poetry responds to a work of art; both artworks for these ghazals are reproduced with the poems, along with further information.
As announced on the main page, and in the information folder, I have slightly revised the submission policy and procedures. Submission for regular issues of The Ghazal Page in 2012 is open throughout the year; I will publish an issue when I have enough good ghazals, at least four and not more than eight or ten. Rather than quarterly, as in the last half of 2010 and all of 2011, issues will be published irregularly but, I hope, frequently.
The next challenge will be announced when the issue for the music challenge is published. It will involve art and especially ekphrastic ghazals; details will be in the announcement.
Challenges will have a set deadline for submissions. You may submit work for the current challenge before midnight on December 31. Use either the time zone in which you live or the Central Standard zone of the United States, whichever allows you the most time to get your submission to me.
I believe that 2011 has been a good year for The Ghazal Page and expect the same for 2012. Many thanks to the poets who have contributed their work!
Bird Song from Tashkent
The Language of the Birds: International Poetry Anthology, Azam Abidov, editor. Tashkent, Uzbekistan: Takkafur, 2011. ISBN: 978-9943-372-41-2.
Recommended
This anthology follows the Fish and Snake anthology, reviewed here in 2009. Like the earlier anthology, The Language of the Birds presents poems both in their original language and in Uzbek. Languages in this anthology include Spanish, German, French, English, Uzbek, Turkish, and Polish. When the original is a language other than English or Uzbek, it is presented without English translation. The number of languages (and cultures) included and the manner of their inclusion make this a truly international anthology. There are poets from the US, Uzbekistan, Israel, Lebanon, Switzerland, Turkey, India, Hong Kong, Argentina, and others. The quality of the poems is high; the reader will find new and powerful voices within.
This note isn’t really a review, as I don’t consider it proper to review a book in which my work appears. I am privileged that five of my haiku appear in The Language of the Birds. They come from my collection of haiku, Nose to Nose, published by Brooks Books in 1998.
The anthology has a double dedication: to the 570th anniversary of Uzbek poet, Alisher Navoi, and to the 20th anniversary of Uzbekistan’s independence. In addition to Azam Abidov’s Foreword, there are two articles on Navoi: “Why Our World Needs Poets like Alisher Navoi,” by Gary Dyck, and “Navoi’s Blooming Garden,” by Tursunoy Sodiqova. Western readers are mostly familiar with Rumi and Hafiz. Knowing about Navoi will expand their (my!) literary world. More information and insight related to Navoi may be found at Navoi’s Garden.
The Language of the Birds also features portfolios reproducing paintings by two Uzbek artists, Gulnora Rahmon and Nodira Ibrohim. Both sets of paintings feature imagery of birds. The paintings not only are a fitting accompaniment to the poems but are worthwhile in their own right.
To close this note, I’m quoting the entirety of a short poem. Please understand that this poem represents the quality of the poems in The Language of the Birds and not their specifics of technique. The poems are quite varied in voice, form, style, and so on.
night poem
by Easterine Iralu
late last night
a bird, startled
fluttered out of the shrubs
and flew far from me
how like my heart
startled by love for you
fleeing from fear …
Easterline Iralu comes from Kohima, Nagaland, in north-east India; she now lives in Norway. While this poem reminds me of ancient Sanskrit love lyrics, its simplicity and directness of feeling are universal. This poem merely indicates the riches to be found in The Language of the Birds.
Ghazal Page Update
Herewith some information on the current status of The Ghazal Page and changes coming for 2012.
The December solstice issue is coming together but will probably be published after the solstice. I hope it will appear by New Year’s Eve.
The music challenge is going well, and there are still a couple of weeks to submit ghazals for this challenge, which ends on 31 December. I will prepare the music challenge issue in January 2012, to be published about 1 February 2012. A new challenge will be issued then.
The Ghazal Page has published on a quarterly schedule for a year and a half. That will change in 2012. Issues will be published as enough publishable ghazals arrive. Each issue will have at least four ghazals and no more then ten. There will be as many issues as there are good ghazals.
The page with information on submitting ghazals will change to reflect the new policy, with that change published by the beginning of 2012.
There is a cluster of holidays this time of year. Whichever of them you celebrate, or if you celebrate no holidays at this time of year, may you know peace and joy.
Taking Tanka Home by Jane Reichhold
Jane Reichhold, Taking Tanka Home. AHA Books 2011, second edition. Introduction and translation by Aya Yuhki. Perfect bound, 7.5 x 7.5 inches, 100 pages, Cover artwork by Werner Reichhold. Bilingual with kanji and romaji of each poem. $15 ppd. Order from AHA Books, Jane@AHApoetry.com
Recommended
Asian poetry, especially from Japan and China, have influenced American and Western poetry in many ways. Translations and advocacy by Arthur Waley and Ezra Pound were significant factors in this influence. Use of Asian forms by poets writing in English has expanded greatly in the last half-century. Japanese poets and organizations now accept tanka (and haiku) in English as legitimate uses of these forms.
Jane Reichhold’s new book, Taking Tanka Home, exemplifies the adaptation of Asian forms to American poetry and the positive reception of work by Western poets in Japan. Jane Reichhold has several decades of accomplishment as a poet and editor. Her role in bringing tanka into English is described briefly in Aya Yuhki’s Introduction to Taking Tanka Home and further in Jane’s “Author’s Notes” at the end. Recognition of Jane’s role is shown by her being invited (along with husband, Werner) in 1998 to attend the First Poetry Party of the Year at the Imperial Palace in Tokyo.
This collection comes from Jane’s participation in the International PEN conference in Tokyo in 2010. As a result of that conference. Aya Yuhki read Jane’s tanka and decided to provide Japanese translations for this second edition of Taking Tanka Home. Everything in this edition is bilingual, a feature which should make it especially valuable to students of language and culture.
The tanka is a traditional Japanese form based on counting syllables. A traditional tanka has five lines of five, seven, five, and five syllables respectively. English writers of tanka have dropped the strict syllable count but usually stay with the five-line form. Like haiku, tanka are not titled, nor do they rhyme. There is now a Tanka Society of America that publishes a quarterly journal. The Reichholds’ AHA Books sponsors a number of tanka-related items. You may purchase Taking Tanka Home there.
Jane’s accomplishments as a tanka poet are demonstrated in many of these poems. As with any collection, the reader finds some poems that immediately strike home and others that are more distant. Returning to the collection, the reader will find other poems that strike home. Here are some comments on a few of the poems that struck me immediately.
Dynamism
What kind of movement can a poem in five lines and less than 31 syllables have? How does it keep from being a static image? Well, what if the image itself moves? And surprises the reader in moving? For example,
roots
of the fallen pine
move again
a deer comes into view
with a fine rack of antlers
of the fallen pine
move again
a deer comes into view
with a fine rack of antlers
The roots of the pine move twice: first, when the tree falls, second, when the deer moves into view, its antlers at first appearing to be the roots moving again. This fine tanka exemplifies how Jane’s images can move and express/create surprise.
Leaps
One theme in the Chuang Tzu, a major Taoist book, is the importance of changing perspective, awareness that one’s perspective is always relative. There are several examples of leaps in perspective in this collection. The poem above is an example on a small scale.
granite basin
only inches deep
with snowmelt
yet the depths of heaven
bring every star to it
only inches deep
with snowmelt
yet the depths of heaven
bring every star to it
This tanka, of course, also has the leap in perception as the deer/pine tanka. The leap in the next one has a fairy tale resonance:
in high mountains
suddenly the round moon
full of concern
leaves her place in the sky
to check on the lone traveler
suddenly the round moon
full of concern
leaves her place in the sky
to check on the lone traveler
The reticence of tanka saves this poem from sentimentality. The care of the moon for the traveler seems very natural.
Sometimes the leap is internal, proprioceptive:
in a fog
with no east or west
my confusion
seems as if I am wearing
the day wrong side out
with no east or west
my confusion
seems as if I am wearing
the day wrong side out
Personally, I’ve worn more days “wrong side out” than I can count.
Metaphysical Tanka
The last poetry in the book is a series of five tanka, “Unrecognized Friends.” Aya Yuhki calls them “metaphysical.” They are abstract and epigrammatic; appropriately to the label “metaphysical,” the diction and imagery of these tanka is abstract, asking the reader to compile meaning from them. Fortunately, these tanka do not state their meanings as overtly as this description may suggest. These poems are my least favorite in the book, but that’s a matter of taste. Here is the one that speaks to me most strongly:
grief
the tunnel of love
lengthened
by our moments together
swift passing days
the tunnel of love
lengthened
by our moments together
swift passing days
Full disclosure: I became a contributor to Lynx during Terry Grell’s editorship and have continued under Jane and Werner Reichhold’s editorship. Ghazals by both Werner and Jane appeared in early issues of The Ghazal Page. Despite my association with AHA Books and the Reichholds, I would not have published this review if I didn’t think the poems to be good.