PaperclipsMichael Dylan Welch, Carol Purington, and Larry Kimmel, editors. Karen Klein, ink brush drawings. Press Here, Foster City, California, 2001, 40 pages, 101 poets (one poem each) plus five poems from a children’s haiku contest, ISBN 1-878798-24-3.
In 2001, the Haiku North America conference was held at the Boston Conservatory in Boston, Massachusetts. In the introduction, we wrote the following: “A sheaf of haiku may be held together by a paperclip until the clip grows rusty and stains the paper. But age stains do not accumulate on words containing the images and energy of a well-lived moment, nor does age touch the poet who can consistently find words to illuminate the unseen or the overlooked.” Here are twenty-four sample poems, including two translations, from the book.
spring sun— the carriage horse shakes off a cloud of dust
A. C. Missias Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
under and over the creaking pier a pair of swallows
Angelee Deodhar Chandigarh, India
mall about to close— from each store the clatter of clerks counting coins
Carlos W. Colón Shreveport, Louisiana
Good Friday service A branch of pussywillows throws spiky shadows
Carol Purington Colrain, Massachusetts
mammogram waiting room she rips a page from a magazine
Carolyn Hall San Francisco, California
autumn equinox— child of my child racing past without training wheels
Claire Gallagher Sunnyvale, California
the rusted paperclip has stained my old poem wind in the eaves
Cor van den Heuvel New York, New York
the puddles they run thru— the part of the sky that shakes
Gary Hotham Laurel, Maryland
furuike no kawazu oiyuku ochiba kana
Buson
the frog of the ancient pond grows old— fallen leaves
Haruo Shirane, translator New York, New York
Sezannu / iro nusumarete / shiro ajisai
Himeyo Kamiyama Koyama, Tochigi, Japan
Its color stolen by Cézanne white hydrangea
Hiroaki Sato, translator New York, New York
peeling paint she sorts the letters from her youth
Ion Codrescu Constanta, Romania
first warm day— two old women bring daisies to a gravesite
Jim Kacian Winchester, Virginia
July swelter in a paint store rumba of the mixers
Judson Evans Holbrook, Massachusetts
evening shower a lightly clothed woman holding her breasts
Kaji Aso Boston, Massachusetts
heat lightning the dampness along her hairline
Karen Klein Cambridge, Massachusetts
away from the party din Jupiter’s bold shine among black boughs
Larry Kimmel Colrain, Massachusetts
wild cherry blossoms the ritual adjustment of her short skirt
Lee Gurga Lincoln, Illinois
sidewalk sale— a corner bent over in the used paperback
Michael Dylan Welch Foster City, California
the NASDAQ plunges— a dark shadow between her breasts
Paul David Mena Cochituate, Massachusetts
narrow path a streak of pollen on one sleeve
Peggy Willis Lyles Tucker, Georgia
that path again snow over last night’s footprints
Raffael de Gruttola Natick Massachusetts
the rice-planting girl raises her head like the heron
Shokan (Tadashi) Kondō Nakano, Japan
the cat’s eyes so wide for a gnat
Tom Clausen Ithaca, New York
fire in the treetops the truck races down the street trailing its hose
William J. Higginson Santa Fe, New Mexico
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